CNN correspondent sounds the alarm on climate change: ‘The fate of life on earth is at stake’
CNN Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir frets that American democracy isn't equipped to handle the ‘climate crisis.’
CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir has repeatedly engaged in alarmist rhetoric in his coverage and in his personal tweets since joining the network back in 2013, even wondering if Republicans could spell the end of life on Earth.
Bill Weir's Tweet About The Inflation Reduction Act
On Friday, Weir posted and then quickly deleted a tweet that accused Republicans in Congress of possibly ushering in the end of the world by failing to vote for the Inflation Reduction Act, the massive health care, energy and climate bill President Biden signs into law on Tuesday.
"Not a single Republican in either chamber voted for the first piece of ambitious climate legislation in U.S. history," Weir began. "Best case, they let their opponents become the party of Industrial Revolution 2.0. Worst case, their obstruction hastens the end of a livable Earth."
Just several hours later Weir deleted the post, and in a subsequent tweet admitted his original post was "poorly worded" and apologized.
CBS PUSHES STUDY BLAMING CLIMATE CHANGE FOR RISING CHILDHOOD OBESITY RATES
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 28: U.S. President Joe Biden gestures as he delivers remarks on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 in the State Dining Room of the White House on July 28, 2022 in Washington, DC. In a major reversal, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced his support for the legislation that includes provisions for climate change, tax hikes on corporations and health care subsidies. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
This is far from the first instance in which the CNN climate correspondent ruminated on the fate of life on earth and the Republican Party’s complicity.
Filibuster Is A ‘Made-up American Rule,’ U.S. Democracy Cannot Survive Crisis
In late July, while speaking with CNN anchor Jim Sciutto, Weir claimed the fate of American democracy and the planet was in jeopardy if Congress failed to take action on climate change.
"This is hung up on an old-fashioned filibuster, sort of recent, made-up American rules, where the fate of life on earth is at stake and doesn’t seem to match," Weir said. He added he did not believe the U.S. government had the capabilities to "stomach" a "climate crisis."
"What kind of governments can?" Weir asked. "And I think the proof that we see around us is that the American form of democracy, the 2022 version certainly cannot."
CNN's Year In Review Warns Of Climate Events
In December, Weir conducted a climate-edition year in review where he warned that the world is "close to a point of no return." When discussing Greenland, the climate correspondent asserted that the country’s ice could sink Miami, Boston, Bangkok and Shanghai were it to melt.
CNN GUESTS CLAIM CLIMATE CHANGE IS 'LARGER THAN THE HOLOCAUST'
PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 10: Journalist Bill Weir attends the 2014 TCA Winter Press Tour CNN After-Party on January 10, 2014 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by John Sciulli/WireImage) ((Photo by John Sciulli/WireImage))
Drumming up his dire wording, Weir echoed the words of the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change when he announced a "code red for humanity" and claimed the planet’s temperature was veering "dangerously close to a point of no return."
Another portion of the segment saw Weir state a shortage of the Colorado River, wildfires, and droughts were all connected, and warned"the worst is yet to come."
Bill Weir Offers Perspective On COVID-19 And Climate Change
In one CNN segment during the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Weir attributed the cause of the pandemic to deforestation.
"Virologists for years tried to warn us that an invisible enemy would come out of the jungles if we just kept cutting all of them down, and they were right," Weir said. "So if any good can come of this, maybe it's an understanding that the climatologists who are warning of an invisible enemy up in our skies and in our seas, maybe we should take them seriously too."
Weir also said there was a perception that the coronavirus had "helped humanity" buy some time in the fight against climate change. His words were highlighted by the Washington Examiner on Twitter, to which Weir fired back.
CNN'S BILL WEIR SLAMMED AS 'MISOGYNISTIC,' 'SEXIST' FOR TWEET ABOUT SEN. KELLY LOEFFLER'S MARRIAGE
Smoke plumes from a factory in Rugby, Britain February 10, 2021. (REUTERS/Matthew Childs/File Photo)
‘"That is such a false, s****** bad faith headline. The full question was ‘there seems to be this perception that coronavirus has helped humanity buy some time against global warning. Tell us what’s wrong with that assumption.’ The entire takeaway is THERE IS NO SILVER LINING," Weir wrote.
Letter To Newborn Son, Suggests Bible Is To Blame For Climate Change
Just days later, Weir penned an article for CNN in the form of a letter to his newborn son, apologizing for humanity's destruction of the planet, and suggesting the words of the Bible had provoked the planet’s downward spiral.
The piece, titled "To my son, born in the time of coronavirus and climate change," apologized to his child for how humanity "broke" his sea and sky, and admitted he would learn to walk on an Earth that has never been hotter, and drink from a milk bottle warned by fossil fuels.
"As you get older, this will be hard to understand. But we were under the spell of Genesis 1:28: to take dominion over every living thing. We had the strange urge to carve straight lines out of nature's curves and were under the spell of a uniquely human force called ‘profit motive,’" Weir said.
Weir and CNN didn't respond to requests for comment about how Weir views his role at the network, given his tendency to editorialize.
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Climate change has come back into the forefront of media coverage in the last several months as the Biden administration has pushed green energy policies. The Senate on Sunday passed the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act, which included $369 billion in spending for climate initiatives while imposing a 15% minimum tax on large corporations. The act could reduce U.S. carbon emissions by around 40% from 2005 levels by 2030, the research firm Energy Innovation found.
Fox News’ Lisa Bennatan, Gabriel Hays and David Rutz contributed to this report.
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