Flooding in Texas. Fires in LA. Hurricanes in the Carolinas.

The science is clear that climate change is making these unnatural disasters far more catastrophic. Yet despite the rising toll, there has been little nationwide television coverage making the connection.

Urge mainstream media outlets to talk about human-caused climate change when covering storms, heat waves, and other unnatural disasters!

Graphic urging TV news to cover the climate crisis

Friend,

The summer of 2024 was the hottest on record. 2025 is on track to break into the top three.

More than eight in ten Americans say they are experiencing extreme weather, but three in ten still think it's caused by natural changes in the environment. [2] And if you don't believe climate change is affecting you, you're far less likely to act.

Almost half of Americans get their news from television, yet major outlets often fail to link extreme weather events and climate change. This leaves too many people unable to understand the connection. And this is critical, because more accurate reporting of climate-caused extreme weather can help spur action.

Responsible journalism must tell the truth about what's driving these unnatural disasters: Urge them to do better now.

In a report, watchdog organization Media Matters found that the volume of climate change coverage on corporate broadcast news programs decreased 25 percent from 2023 to 2024.³

Unfortunately, supported by the corporate polluters who helped elect him to office, Trump is bullying institutions to avoid topics he considers "controversial." This has resulted in some outlets erring away from covering things that they fear will displease the administration, like climate change. We need to hold TV news accountable for covering science, not corporate propaganda!

Act now to pressure NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and others to follow the science when they cover unnatural disasters.

Personal messages have a big impact! Have you or someone you know experienced climate impacts? Add a sentence or two about your experience to make your letter more powerful.

Act Today

We also must encourage our media outlets to hold big polluters, including the fossil fuel and other industries, responsible for this crisis.

Big Oil has known for over 40 years that fossil fuels are causing dangerous climate change, all while lying to maintain the status quo for the sake of their profits.⁴ Their actions include pushing news outlets to keep the climate crisis, and their responsibility for it, out of the media.

✍️ "The goal of climate denial is not actually denial. It's doubt and delay. That is why the fossil-fuel industry created climate denial in the first place. It was never to get everybody to deny climate change; it was to make climate change too politically controversial to touch, so that people just wouldn't feel comfortable talking about it, and so that would just fade into the background. What journalists are doing when they don't mention climate change for fear of the reaction is actually that they are being biased towards the fossil-fuel industry."
-- Emily Atkin, Heated⁵

TV news must cover the facts. Will you write to the CEOs of major news outlets to demand that their coverage of storms, heat waves, and other unnatural disasters connect the dots to human-caused climate change?

Thank you for acting to ensure TV news follows the science to better educate our friends, family, and communities about the true effects of climate disruption for our present and future.

Together, we can resist corporate greed and build a more just, sustainable future powered by clean, renewable energy.

In solidarity,
Sierra Club

Sources

1."Media reaction: The 2025 Texas floods and the role of climate change," CarbonBrief, July 10, 2025.
2. "Climate Change in the American Mind: Beliefs & Attitudes, Spring 2025," George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, July 7, 2025.
3. "How broadcast TV networks covered climate change in 2024," Media Matters, March 6, 2025.
4. "Why won't US TV news say 'climate change'?," The Guardian, September 2, 2021.
5. "Why won't anyone ask why?," Heated, June 22, 2021.

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