Rainforest Investigations Network Fellows Will Speak at Elon University

Fernanda Wenzel and Andrew Lehren, both 2022 Rainforest Investigations Network Fellows, will visit Elon University on September 24-26, 2024. They will speak in classes, meet with students, and join a panel with professors and students.

For his RIN project, Lehren reported on how products by Tesla, Toyota, Adidas, and other multinationals have contributed to the destruction of tropical rainforests. He has worked on some of the 21st century’s most important stories with The New York Times and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), including the Implant Files, China Files, and the FinCEN Files.

Lehren currently works for NBC News. Among many accolades, he has won Emmys, a Polk Award, Peabody, and two duPont-Columbia Awards. He teaches at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and lectures at Columbia Journalism School.

For her RIN project, Wenzel reported for the Intercept Brasil on how businesses, politicians, and public servants go about redrawing and razing public rainforest lands in Brazil for private use to sell them at an enormous profit. In addition to an animated informational video and written work, Wenzel also shared a rigorous research methodology. 

Wenzel’s work has been featured in the Intercept Brasil, Agência Pública, Repórter Brasil, Revista Piauí, Valor Econômico, Folha de S.Paulo, CNN International, BBC Brasil, and Mongabay.