News

Actions

Meteorologist goes on rant about climate change

Meteorologist goes on rant about climate change
Posted at 10:10 AM, Jan 08, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-08 11:10:34-05

Meteorologist Eric Holthaus admits he loses sleep over climate change. That admission came during a long Twitter rant Holthaus went on Friday about the status of climate change. 

Holthaus, a writer for Slate and former Wall Street Journal contributor, said that he has struggled every day after the the November 2016 election about climate change. He said the struggle was enough to make him see a counselor about it on Friday.

"There are days where I literally can't work. I'll read a story and shut down for rest of the day. Not much helps besides exercise and time," Holthaus wrote in one of his tweets. 

During Holthaus' rant, he criticized Donald Trump's pick for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Tillerson was the CEO of oil giant Exxon until has was nominated to be Trump's head of state.

"You feel powerless. You feel like nothing matters. Your relationships suffer. You feel guilty for 'not doing more,'" Holthaus said, "but what the hell am I supposed to do? Write another blog post? Our secretary of state is the (expletive) Exxon CEO."

Although a record number of Americans according to Gallup are worried about climate change, fewer Americans in 2016 considered global warming a dangerous threat. Adding to Holthaus' concerns, Trump said he doesn't fully trust scientists' conclusions on climate change. Trump has also said he is considering dropping America's commitment the nation made to limit carbon emissions last year in Paris. 

Holthaus is trying to find hope despite signs that scientists are losing the battle to stop climate change and the seas from rising. 

"The more I talk about my despair, the more I realize other ppl feel same thing. That makes me hopeful—we are more powerful than we think," he said.