Welcome to DC: Reporting Fellows Take Part in Climate Conference

More than 100 climate journalists from 20 countries took part in "Interconnected: Reporting the Climate Crisis," a conference organized by the Pulitzer Center and held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on June 9 and 10, 2022. Among them were three Climate Science Reporting Fellows who were awarded fellowships earlier this year after we put out a special call for proposals. In attendance were:

• Kristen Chin from Boston University College of Communication for “Snow Money,” a documentary centered on the impact of climate change on everyday people
• Christian Elliott from Medill School of Journalism for a project titled “The Search for Earth’s Oldest Ice"
• Brett Marsh from UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism for a Colombia-based project: "Where Coffee Is King, A Crisis Looms"

Three Reporting Fellow alums participated as panelists:

• Emma Johnson from Yale School of the Environment and Davidson College on the "Communicating Climate: Education and Outreach Strategies" panel
• Josephine Molavi from American University on the "Religion, Spirituality, and Climate" panel
• Brett Simpson from UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism on the "Full Circle: Reporting the Climate Crisis Across the Arctic" panel

All three are skilled reporters who have done amazing work producing stories from North Carolina, Puerto Rico, and the Norwegian Arctic. Josee reminded us that "Indigenous people have been telling us what to do, but we haven't been listening." As to her fellowship she said, "I went in excited about it and I came out really invested. That made me a better journalist."

Agostino Petroni, a 2021 Climate Science Fellow, joined the June 9 plenary session to say a few words. Agostino is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism, an author, and a gastronome. He also has a knack for choosing good titles for his Pulitzer Center projects: "The Olive Trees Apocalypse" and "A Parasite Ate My Ear." Agostino credited the Pulitzer Center with giving him opportunities and credibility he might not have had otherwise to pursue stories that were dear to him.

We also had a chance to gather with other D.C. based Reporting Fellows and alums at an outdoor gathering pre-conference and at a picnic lunch on Freedom Plaza during a conference break. It was a wonderful opportunity to bring together our Fellows past and present. We hope to plan many more such gatherings now that seeing each other in person is once again becoming the new normal.

And thank you to our Reporting Fellows for bringing to light climate stories that matter and helping to steer the world towards a sustainable future. For it is their children who will inherit our world. They’re the ones who will bear witness to climate change. They’re the ones who must continue to tell these stories.

Editor's note: Images by Kem Knapp Sawyer, United States, 2022, unless otherwise noted.