“Jesus said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does but as human beings do. Those who want to come after me must deny themselves, take up their crosses and follow me.’”
In his 18 years as a TV meteorologist, Chris Gloninger at Des Moines’ KCCI has gotten his share of angry calls and e-mails from viewers: Why did it rain on my daughter’s wedding? How could you miss a storm that dropped eight inches of snow on our town? Can’t you make it cool off? It goes with the job.
But of late, the messages have reached a new and terrifying level of rage. Gloninger has been assaulted with violent messages and death threats because of his coverage of climate change and the environmental crisis. The e-mails and phone calls accuse Gloninger of perpetuating the “hoax” of climate change and promoting the “liberal conspiracy theory” buy reporting on weather extremes – like the 100-year-floods and droughts that have become near-annual events in Iowa. “I saw it as my responsibility to our audience to connect the dots between climate change and extreme weather events in the region,” Gloninger says. “Iowa is a state, after all, where livelihoods are at the mercy of Mother Nature. Agriculture-related industries accounted for nearly 11 percent of the state’s total economy in 2021. And in 2022, 64 percent of its electric grid was powered by wind; turbines are a source of income for farmers.”
Journalists are expected to grow thick skin,” Gloninger acknowledges, “but with each new e-mail, it became more difficult to recover. Something had to change, but one thing was certain: I would not be deterred from addressing an issue I saw as an existential global crisis.”
The most chilling e-mail to Gloninger read: “What’s your home address? We conservative Iowans would like to give you an Iowan welcome you will never forget.
Station management took the threat seriously, putting Chris and his wife Cathy up in a hotel. Police apprehended the writer of the harassing e-mails, but the stress had become too much – Gloninger resigned from the job he loved at KCCI this summer. But he’s not abandoning his commitment to raise awareness about climate change. He is now senior scientist in climate and risk communication at the Woods Hole Group, an environmental consulting firm. In his new role he develops educational programs in climate and science literacy and works with communities to respond and adapt to climate change.
Station management took the threat seriously, putting Chris and his wife Cathy up in a hotel. Police apprehended the writer of the harassing e-mails, but the stress had become too much – Gloninger resigned from the job he loved at KCCI this summer. But he’s not abandoning his commitment to raise awareness about climate change. He is now senior scientist in climate and risk communication at the Woods Hole Group, an environmental consulting firm. In his new role he develops educational programs in climate and science literacy and works with communities to respond and adapt to climate change.
Gloninger says, “While thoughts about the impact of climate change, as well as the sometimes toxic discussions about it, might seem paralyzing, we should not lose hope.”
(Boston Globe Magazine, July 9, 2023)
Looks like we can add meteorologists to the list of people – educators, health care workers, scientists, librarians and store employees – targeted by some for daring to do their jobs. At times, we’re all Peter in today’s Gospel: we diminish or deny whatever challenges our perspective, whatever forces us out of our comfort zones, whatever requires us to change our ways of thinking and doing things – and it seems our rejection of what we do not want to be true is becoming more and more strident and divisive. No, Jesus warns us, following him often demands accepting realities we refuse to accept, walking roads we seek to avoid, rejecting people we want nothing to do with. To take up our crosses in the spirit of Jesus begins by accepting the reality of our failings and abandoning our self-centered view of the world in order to transform our lives into the life and love of God.
Anybody praying for good weather for Labor Day?
Fr. Glenn