Climate Change National Forum (CCNF) is a national platform, founded and led by climate scientists, to inform and educate the American public on the science of climate change and its policy implications. Our website, ClimateChangeNationalForum.org, debuted on January 1, 2014 and has quickly gained national attention as a “go-to” source for citizens wanting to hear what scientists have to say about climate change. The site is an open forum for climate, physical, earth, and life scientists to blog about climate science and share and debate ideas on aspects of the science relevant to policy making. Many of the nation’s leading climate scientists are now blogging in the Forum and fact checking and commenting on recent stories in the media. 

 

While the CCNF journalistic initiative covers both science and policy, we are starting with the science. As Texas State Climatologist and CCNF co-founder Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon explains: “You can’t develop policy in response to potential future threats or opportunities unless you know what those threats and opportunities are.” After a good foundation in the science has been set (meaning any and all necessary debate on the science has been exhausted by the scientists), Phase II will kick in, and the Forum will open up to subject matter experts and policy makers willing to compare and debate the benefits and costs of possible responses. 

 

CCNF has demonstrated some remarkable success since the Forum’s debut in January. With only 16 featured articles (as of 4/16/14), CCNF has garnered over 25,000 views and from over 6,000 unique visitors. Our social media play per post is far surpassing that of other climate blogs and reaching levels only seen on major blogs of the nation’s daily daily newspapers. Our Tweets have reached hundreds of thousands of feeds, thanks in large part to a diverse following of journalists and scientists all over the world. The CCNF Scientist Community has doubled in size and includes atmospheric scientists, oceanographers, physicists, and other scientists at the forefront of the peer-reviewed research in their fields. (CCNF is openly soliciting all Fellows and scientist-members of the American Geophysical Union, American Meteorological Society, and American Institute of Physics to join and participate, and the Forum is open to any scientist that can meet the CCNF scientist criteria, as determined by the scientists on the board.)

 

 

1. Hire a lead science journalist to run the fact checker section, moderate as needed, publish interviews and original pieces, tweet and post regularly in social media, create podcasts and possibly host a radio show, and provide ongoing reports that break down the Forum’s complex content so that it is accessible to the general public.
2. Hire an executive director and communications director to manage the site, assist and integrate the columnists, run a robust marketing/SEO/AdWords campaign, and build CCNF’s national profile. It will be incumbent on these two staff members to quickly grow a national audience and ensure that the scientists’ and journalist’s content is accessible to — and reaches — all facets of the American public.
3. Have the ability to compensate those science columnists that are taking a leadership role in the initiative and contributing posts regularly. Compensating a core group will ensure a regular stream of contributions from climate scientists at the forefront of the published literature on climate change.