You get a laugh at the partisan message, even if climate partisanship itself is no laughing matter, as a toothy and partisan video message skewers policy makers in mock effort to have severe storms named after them.
A two-minute-38-second advocacy video by an organization affiliated with writer Bill McKibben’s 350.org is promoting a biting video suggesting that hurricanes be named not after common first names, but rather after policy makers it says are bent on denying climate change science and action.
A series of pretend weathercasters, victims and refugees of storms, and emergency response personnel are shown issuing forecasts and warnings with references to individual law makers.
Love it or hate it, the advertorial developed by New York ad agency Barton F. Graf 9000 “climatenamechange.org” cleverly uses a newsreel-type weather forecasting motif. It skewers a range of Republican policy makers — no Democrats — for what the group sees as their blocking of constructive climate change actions. Beware the likes of “Hurricane John Boehner” or “Hurricane Senator James Inhofe,” the video pokes, urging viewers to sign a petition supporting the planned renaming effort.
The group says it hopes by the end of November to attract 25,000 signatures to support its effort; as of late August it was approaching 20,000 signers.