champagne new year

On to 2021. And not a moment too soon.

Here's hoping the new year brings the climate change coverage we need.

Here in Georgia, 2021 begins on January 5, because we won't find out until then who our two U.S. Senators are.


Come to think of it, the U.S. won't know who controls our Senate until then. So America ends the detestable year 2020 by filing an incomplete. Not to mention the quadrennial one-day bonus for leap year.

Here are a few wishes that I'd like to see fulfilled in 2021. I'm not holding my breath. But maybe, just maybe the American media will fully recognize the climate crisis.

Al Roker, who reportedly earns $10 million and has won seven Daytime Emmy Awards for weather casts on NBC networks, to be cut loose to focus more on how climate change will haunt the entire 21st Century the way COVID-19 has for the past year (he does a good job when permitted to do so).

More network correspondents like ABC's Clayton Sandell who report regularly on climate politics and the links between climate change and extreme weather or wildfire events. We have breaking news as we come on the air: ABC laid Sandell off last month. Joyeux Noël, Clayton! And certainly not a good signal that climate change is a good topic to build a network career on.

I'd like to see more of CBS News's Scott Pelley, who did a thorough 60 Minutes segment this year, possibly even better than the one previous he did in 2006. Maybe it becomes a more regular feature.

More superb storytellers like CNN's Bill Weir, whose role as "Chief Climate Correspondent" wrongly suggests he's not the only climate correspondent (pretty much anywhere on US news nets, not just CNN).

And a slightly different wish, have you seen the API ads that flood the Sunday morning cable and broadcast talkshows about all their members doing to lower carbon emissions? That's not the Application Programming Interface(s) that help drive your social media. Rather it's the American Petroleum Institute. I'd love to know more about those ads, and similar ones from API members like ExxonMobil and Shell US. Like how much money do local and national broadcasters and websites make from airing falsehoods like these?

There are scores of journalists at dying newspapers who have been tossed on the layoff wagon because they're on a low priority beat that's often criticized as biased, incorrect, or both. Even if their beat -- climate and environment -- gets vindicated on a daily basis by both predictive science and on-the-ground fact.

Tragically, that beat looks smarter every year. Cheers.

Peter Dykstra is our weekend editor and columnist and can be reached at pdykstra@ehn.org or @pdykstra.

His views do not necessarily represent those of Environmental Health News, The Daily Climate or publisher, Environmental Health Sciences.

Banner photo credit: Al404/flickr

A view of solar panels and wind turbines in the background

‘Not based in reality’: Climate groups pan study added to Maryland's major energy bill

The Maryland Utility RELIEF Act cost study draws criticism for bias against wind and solar energy, while supporters say it clarifies costs for ratepayers.

A view of an oil refinery at sunset

Climate hopes dim in New York even as Western states join on cap-and-trade

Even as California and Washington state prepare to merge their cap-and-trade climate programs, New York's retreat from creating a similar program has sparked renewed debates about energy costs.
A view of a street with houses with cracked facades

'Shrinking-swelling’ phenomenon is putting 12m French homes at risk. Is climate change to blame?

More than half of the detached houses in France are under threat by rising temperatures, spurring the government to fight back.
Three firefighters fighting a wildfire

These maps show exactly where the West might burn this summer

Drought, low snowpack, and a winter heatwave have left every state in the Western U.S. facing an above-average risk of summer wildfires.
A pile of red and green coffee beans

Brazilian researchers remix coffee varieties to confront climate challenge

Researchers in Brazil are crossbreeding arabica coffee with rare, more resilient species to help the crop survive rising temperatures, drought and disease.

A female scientist standing at a lab table looking into a microscope

Opinion: One year in, the anti-science agenda of the Trump administration is evident

We are now more than a year into President Trump’s second stint in the White House, establishing a grim and undeniable record of attacks on science.

Poster reads "The UN Summit of the Future is the Summit of Our Future
Credit: UNICEF/Unsplash

Global climate panel faces strife, potential funding crunch

Major reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are still on track, but procedural gridlock and a looming funding shortage hint at future problems.
From our Newsroom
Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

One facility has emitted cancer-causing chemicals into waterways at levels up to 520% higher than legal limits.

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

"The reality is, we are not exposed to one chemical at a time.”

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro speaks with the state flag and American flag behind him.

Two years into his term, has Gov. Shapiro kept his promises to regulate Pennsylvania’s fracking industry?

A new report assesses the administration’s progress and makes new recommendations

silhouette of people holding hands by a lake at sunset

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.