How CNN Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir Writes

39 min • 19 april 2024

Emmy-winning TV journalist and CNN Chief Climate Correspondent, Bill Weir, spoke to me about finding his beat, seeking “hope in a changing world,” and his debut, Life as We Know It (Can Be).

Bill Weir is a veteran anchor, writer, producer, and host who joined CNN in 2013 after a decade of award-winning journalism at ABC News. After writing and hosting four seasons of the primetime CNN Original Series “The Wonder List with Bill Weir,” he was named the first Chief Climate Correspondent in network news in 2019.

His debut book is Life as We Know It (Can Be): Stories of People, Climate, and Hope in a Changing World, described as a “... positive and unabashed approach to exploring the science, politics, and human behavior that must be addressed to solve our most pressing problems.”

New York Times bestselling author and CNN anchor Jake Tapper said of the book, “Bill Weir provides insightful, alarming, but ultimately hopeful coverage of the climate crisis. His new book is a gorgeous love letter to his son but also to Earth and humanity,” and New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Safran Foer called it, “... a clear-eyed, heartfelt argument against despair.”

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In this file Bill Weir and I discussed:

How he incorporates the math and physics of storytelling into his journalism

The “crappy elf” method of writing and penning letters to his kids in the future

Why connection is more important than ever in the “golden age of distraction”

The difference between writing for the screen and the page

When he decided to focus on the dreamers and the doers

And a lot more!

Show Notes:

Bill Weir CNN Chief Climate Correspondent

Life as We Know It (Can Be): Stories of People, Climate, and Hope in a Changing World by Bill Weir (Amazon)