Effective climate communication: 140 characters at a time

Jeff Nesbitt (@jeffnesbit), the Executive Director of Climate Nexus, shows how powerful a tool Twitter can be in communicating the global warming story.
     Here's how it started. Nesbitt had tweeted:

Record snow in a warming world? The climate science is clear.bit.ly/WXOLUB

Nesbitt was challenged by a leading Christian pastor and popular southern California radio talk show, David Housholder (@LibertyHous):

@jeffnesbit Dude. Weather is complex. Climate has never been stable. Can you name a more random set of data? davidhousholder.com

What did Nesbitt did next is really compelling. He told the real climate story in 140 character (the size limit for the Twitter uninitiated) bursts:

@LibertyHous Yes, weather is complex. So is God. Scientists, and theologians, study complex sets of data in order to understand patterns.

@LibertyHous Let's start. Pattern #1. 13,950 climate science studies in past 20 years. Only 24 deny a CO2 connection. http://www.jamespowell.org

@LibertyHous Pattern #2. NASA satellites 2003-2010 show 1,000 cubic miles (4.3 trillion tons) of ice melt worldwide. http://1.usa.gov/z9pj26

@LibertyHous More Pattern #2. 1K cubic miles of ice lost in last 10 years caused half inch of global sea level rise. http://1.usa.gov/z9pj26

@LibertyHous More Pattern #2. 1K cubic miles of ice lost in 10 years is enough ice to cover the U.S. 1.5 feet deep. http://1.usa.gov/z9pj26

@LibertyHous Pattern #3. 1,700 different species worldwide migrating either north or south to avoid global warming. http://bit.ly/S2IhqV

@LibertyHous Pattern #4. Keeling curve shows atmospheric CO2 growth rate has more than doubled annually since 1950. http://bit.ly/V1WgL6

@LibertyHous Pattern #5. Arctic ice volume minimums drop 75% since 1986, on track for ice-free summers by 2020. http://bit.ly/Qul5Ks

@LibertyHous Pattern #6. Greenland's ice sheet ability to reflect sun (albedo effect) dropped every year since 2000. http://bit.ly/11yT4xv

@LibertyHous Pattern #7. Atmospheric methane (another GHG) two and a half times pre-Industrial Revolution levels. http://nyti.ms/sqpKZO

@LibertyHous Pattern #8. The number of dry areas in the world doubled in the last 50 years due to climate change. http://bit.ly/GTyGeC

@LibertyHous Pattern #9. Total number of floods (due to more climate-driven precipitation) has tripled in 15 years. http://bit.ly/WPee4x

@LibertyHous Pattern #10. Record high temperatures in the U.S. are now twice that of record lows. http://bit.ly/LfM0hv

@LibertyHous Pattern #11. Seven times more wildfires in western U.S. greater than 10,000 acres compared to 1970s. http://bit.ly/OC5vlM

@LibertyHous Pattern #12. The number of climate-driven natural catastrophes has doubled in the past 30 years. http://buswk.co/PIUNuI

@LibertyHous Pattern #13. 20 warmest years occurred since 1981; all 10 of the warmest years in the past 12 years. http://1.usa.gov/Z3box0

@LibertyHous Pattern #14. Rate of global sea level rise in past decade double that of the past century. http://1.usa.gov/14LkaiE

@LibertyHous Pattern #15. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, ocean acidification increased 30 percent. http://1.usa.gov/12gBaKD

@LibertyHous Pattern #16. Extremely hot temps covered 0.2 percent of the planet in 1951; extreme temps now cover 10%. http://bit.ly/V1Da8Z

Nice work!