Al Roker on climate change: ‘I think people want action, and they are taking it into their own hands’
clock Al Roker, 67, is a producer, an entrepreneur and the weather anchor for NBCs Today show. He lives with his wife and children in New York City. No one seems to trust anyone these days, but it occurs to me that you are one of the very few people who can claim to be trusted by almost everyone. Maybe more people are aware of what you say each day than what the president says. Well, thats flattering, but I dont know if I live up to that. But in some sense thats the DNA of the Today show and the relationship we have with audiences. I remember taking an airline and their catchphrase was We get you there and thinking, Well, thats pretty much why I pay you! Thats not a big claim . Similarly, thats part of what we do. We know that people hopefully trust us, and its our job to be truthful and to do the best we can every day. You do a lot on the show, but does that issue of trust present an extra burden when it comes to weather? One could argue that , comparatively, a lot more daily decisions are made based on your reporting than the rest of the show. What I appreciate, and am very grateful for, is that my executive producers pretty much leave me to my own devices and our NBC climate units devices to make a decision each day about what the most important story is. It goes all the way back to my first news director when I worked in local TV WHEN in Syracuse. He said our job each broadcast is to answer the question that is foremost in a viewers minds, and I think weather in many cases is that question: Is it going to be good weather, bad weather? Weather affects everybody, no matter who you are or where you are. And as weather becomes a bigger story, i.e. climate change , more resources are being put into our efforts. To that point, does the climate change story suggest that news programs need to rethink the traditional, somewhat secondary place of weather in the broadcast? I cant speak to other broadcasts, but on any given day we have different units within the division medical, business, news. We go in and aggregate not just climate but how climate impacts the other units. A warming climate makes pandemics more likely, for example, so that gives us connection with the medical unit. I just did a story about how climate is making it more hospitable to grow in the California coffee belt. And thats a business story. We have a mechanism that allows us to look at weather/climate organically and how it impacts all the different coverage we do. I lived in Chicago for a couple of years each in the 80s, 90s and 2000s, and I would swear to you that it was colder in the 80s than it is now. I have no evidence for that whatsoever but my gut and my coat choices. People say similar things about their town or region all the time. How right are they about that? I think they are absolutely right. I think people intrinsically know our climate is changing. You may get a fight about whats causing that, though I dont think theres really any question about it. I think its pretty well determined now that its due to human activity, what we do and how we power our cars, homes and factories. The planet is warming, our oceans are warming. That ship has sailed. People feel it, they know it. Thats why I think the populous is far ahead of their elected officials. So where is the disconnect for action? In the politics? In the storytelling? In whos doing the telling? A little of all of the above. I think this is an example of from the bottom up. You see towns, you see individuals, cities, states taking the lead, and almost in a way forcing higher action to happen. I think people want action, and they are taking it into their own hands. Solar power, creating bike lanes, banning and limiting different types of activities: This movement is happening at a grass-roots level. Has there been a point when youre covering a storm, or been someplace in the world in your travels, and said to yourself, Okay, Ive seen the science. I know climate change is a thing in theory, but right now, at this moment, I know this is real? I think Superstorm Sandy was that moment for me, when it was like Somethings really happening here. And it was that whole year we had Sandy, we had a blizzard. In 2005, we had [hurricanes] Katrina and Wilma. Were seeing these systems more frequently. Theres a lot of joking about the live shots you do in bad weather. Lots of fun on Twitter this year. Beyond just good TV, is there more storytelling value to that dramatic shot of the weather person trying to stand up in a storm? Well, let me first say that I dont ever put the crew or myself in harms way. If its looking bad, I listen to the crew, the satellite dish comes down and we get out of there. That said, the old bromide a picture is worth a thousand words is true, and when you actually see the power of water and what a warming ocean is doing, and you see storm after storm rapidly intensify when they get close to shore when normally these things die out then I think theres a value, as safely as humanly possible, in showing that. How should we judge recent developments in Glasgow at COP26 , in the U.S. rejoining the Paris agreement ? Truly positive developments? All talk? We cant stop; we have to keep going. Yes, nobodys doing everything that could be done, everything is a compromise. At what point is there a tipping point where its too little, too late? I dont know. But the idea that people are talking about and trying to deal with gives one hope. You can do good and do well. The idea that you see automakers moving away from the internal combustion engine to cleaner energy and solar panels [becoming] cheaper and cheaper. These are business that may want to do good, but they really see how the bottom line is impacted by how environmentally conscious they are. Consumers some consumers, not all expect that the companies they buy things from share their values. I realize in these questions Im assuming that everyone in the business of weather agrees that climate change is an issue, but are there pockets of pushback in your industry as well ? There may be some, but nobody takes those people very seriously. I dont worry about other people in the business; the people I take seriously are the viewers. And in the last 10 years I can count on one hand and foot the amount of people who have given me pushback on climate change from any of the segments that we do. We dont scream, Its climate change! We try to make it as organic as possible, and if theres a connection we point that out, and if not, we dont. Joe Biden, in a Today show interview years ago, suggested he might want you as head of NOAA [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] if he became president. Did that offer never come? It did not and thankfully it did not. There are so many other people who are much better and know what theyre doing. Im a messenger, Im not an administrator. Eric Easter is a writer and producer in Washington. This interview has been edited and condensed.