Suggested Stories: Climate and Environment

CHOOSE YOUR STORY

Climate and Environment includes stories about climate change and environmental damage, the communities most impacted, and how people are resisting and building solutions. Explore the stories below to find one that moves you. Then, use this worksheet to support you with writing your Fighting Words poem.

CONTEST GUIDELINES

Stories for Grades 3 and Up

Story	Media	Publication	Content Warnings
“Environmental Row Over ‘Last Chance Tourism’ in Canada’s Melting Arctic” by Daniel Wizenberg and Berta Vicente Salas	Photo, Text	The Guardian	N/A
“State of Change: How Planting Grasslands Fights Climate Change” by Michelle Lotker	Video, Photo, Text	PBS North Carolina	N/A
“Portraits of Drought: Farmers Struggle To Adapt to Arid Conditions in Kunene” by Mandile Mpofu	Photo, Text	Pulitzer Center	N/A
“I Visited a Beautiful Coral Reef in 2022. What I Saw There This Summer Shocked Me.” by Benji Jones and Jennifer Adler	Photo, Text	Vox	N/A

Stories for Grades 6 and Up

STORY	MEDIA	PUBLICATION	CONTENT WARNINGS
“The Race To Make Cocoa More Sustainable” by Olatunji Olaigbe and Muhammed Bello	Text	The SolutionsPaper	N/A
“Photo Essay: A Glacier-less Future?” by Marco Garro and Mitra Ta	Photo, Text	ReVista	N/A
“‘I Live in Constant Fear’: Surge in Giant Sinkholes Threatens Turkey’s Farmers” by Liz Cookman and Emre Çaylak	Photo, Text	The Guardian	N/A
“Humans Are Altering the Seas. Here’s What the Future Ocean Might Look Like.” by Delger Erdenesanaa	Text	The New York Times	N/A
“The Shade Gap: How Development Is Taking a Toll on D.C.’s Tree Canopy, Putting Human Health At Risk” by Lori Rampani and Francisco Rodriguez	Text	Hola Cultura	N/A
“Only 0.5% of 90,000 Oil Slicks Reported Over Five-Year Period, Analysis Finds” by Leana Hosea and Saroj Pathirana	Text	The Guardian	N/A
“Unmasking the Individuals Whose Lives Bear the Burden of Environmental Injustice” by Nitashia Johnson	Photo, Text	Photographers Without Borders	N/A
“The Race To Stop Wildlife Trafficking in Africa” by Arlette Bashizi and Yudhijit Bhattacharjee	Photo, Text	New York Times Magazine	Some disturbing images
“Dispossessed by Climate—Iraqi Refugees in Their Own Country” by Susan Schulman	Photo, Text	The Markaz Review	N/A

Stories for Grades 9 and Up

STORY	MEDIA	PUBLICATION	CONTENT WARNINGS
“How Two Teens in Niagara Falls Are Confronting Pollution and a Mental Health Crisis” by Jennifer Wybieracki	Photo, Text	Inside Climate News	Discussions of death by suicide and other mental health concerns
“In the Deadly Heat, Iraq’s Hospitals Have Become the Ground-Zero Battlefield in the Country’s Climate Crisis” by Susan Schulman	Photo, Text	Daily Maverick	Discussions of violence
“How To Recover When a Climate Disaster Destroys Your City” by Mariana Lenharo	Photo, Text	Nature	N/A
“Draining Cities Dry: The Giant Tech Companies Queueing Up To Build Datacentres in Drought-Hit Latin America” by Laís Martins and Francisco Amorim	Photo, Text	The Guardian	N/A
“Ugly Valentine: How ‘Fairtrade’ Roses Ravage Uganda’s Wetlands” by Musinguzi Blanshe and Annegina Randewijk	Photo, Text	The Africa Report	N/A
“Neglected and Exposed: Toxic Air Lingers in a Texas Latino Community, Revealing Failures in State’s Air Monitoring System” by Alejandra Martinez et al.	Video, Photo, Text	The Texas Tribune	N/A
“Climate Change Is Driving a Global Youth Revolution” by Sara Miller Llana and Stephanie Hanes	Photo, Text	The Christian Science Monitor	N/A
“‘Strategic Bargaining Chips’: Kachin’s Rare Earth Mining Pause” by Emily Fishbein, Jauman Naw, and Hpan Ja Brang	Photo, Data visualizations, Text	Frontier Myanmar	N/A
“Why Are Alaska’s Rivers Turning Orange?” by Alec Luhn	Photo, Text	Scientific American	N/A
“The Manmade Clouds That Could Help Save the Great Barrier Reef” by Ferris Jabr	Photo, Text	New York Times Magazine	N/A
“Young Activists Risk All To Defend Cambodia’s Environment” by Andy Ball and Marta Kasztelan	Video	Mongabay	N/A