Andy Revkin on America Adapts: A podcast with the legendary climate change reporter From the New York Times to Propublica: Talking climate change reporting and President Trump, a history of climate change journalism and much more!
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To get a tease how our conversation went:
DOUG PARSONS: \xa0Do you think the Scientist March is a good idea? \xa0 ANDY REVKIN: \xa0No.
ANDY REVKIN: \xa0People should visit Woodward County, West Virginia\xa0\u2014 the most climate skeptical county in the U.S.
ANDY REVKIN: \xa0Nothing we can do right now will change\xa0the course of climate change for at least a decade.
In the latest episode of America Adapts, Doug Parsons talks with legendary journalist, Andy Revkin.\xa0 Andy has been a long time reporter for the New York Times, covering climate change science, policy and impacts for decades. Andy also blogged at Dot Earth for the New York times, one of the most popular \u2018hang outs\u2019 for those wanting to learn more about global warming. Doug talks with Andy about his recent move to Propublica, an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.\xa0 Andy talks about his early days in science journalism, going all the way back to the 1980s when he started working for the now defunct Science Digest. In what becomes almost a climate change history lesson, Andy then explains how global warming awareness grew in the sizzling summer of 1988, with Yellowstone National Park on fire and famed climatologist James Hansen testifying before Congress. As Andy put it regarding his shift to climate reporting after these events, \u201cI never got off the bus.\u201d Discussing climate change with Andy is like rehashing an Indiana Jones movie: \xa0from his visit to the North Pole, writing on the Vatican and global warming, to the policy and science implications of the issue.
Andy has long been associated with his perch at the New York Times and we discuss the details of that identity pivot to Propublica. We talk about his long term goals of writing longer investigative pieces, to highlighting some of the daily reporting he\u2019s done during the first weeks of the Trump administration. Andy discusses the need for anonymous tips in climate reporting and how Propublica has created an encrypted page for these tips.
Other topics covered:
- Propublica has a section \u201cSteal our stories\u201d that encourages others to repost their work.
- Andy describes how the Obama administration went through their own secretive information sharing process especially regarding the work of scientists at the EPA.
- Andy revisits his reporting during the George W. Bush years,. This includes the tampering with NASA research by Bush administration officials.
- \u201cScience is like putty, unfortunately, in the policy arena,\u201d as Andy describes how administrations handle issues like science.
- Andy describes how natural gas fracking, went from officially \u2018unconventional gas\u2019 to a \u2018conventional gas\u2019 supply and how that affected climate emissions trends.
- For other countries, climate change has become a key issue like trade and security, so Trump just can\u2019t come in and ignore it.
- Andy describes his own podcast, Warm Regards, which he cohosts with Eric Holthaus and Jacqueline Gill.
- Andy discusses the positive aspects of adapting to climate change versus fighting global warming through mitigation.
- Andy thinks focusing on adaptation is a good thing, since it\u2019s a \u2018now\u2019 issue, with impacts impacting communities now, whereas mitigation will be an issue that takes decades to address.
- Encourage America Adapts to go on the road and talk to the communities facing these challenges first hand.
Key Quotes:
- Doug poased the question, \u201cDo you think the messaging that will come out of the upcoming scientist march on Washington will be helpful?\u201d \xa0Andy responds: \u201cNo.\u201d (Again, listen in to hear the nuance behind his answer.)
- \u201cThe global warming problem is too big for Trump to do much about\u2026\u201d meaning Trump\u2019s ability to impact action in a negative way. \u201cHe can\u2019t make it worse. Just like Obama couldn\u2019t make it better.\u201d (Listen to get the nuance of these quotes!)
- \u201cTrump can\u2019t order West Virginia\u2019s miners to go back in the mines\u201d meaning Trump\u2019s ability to get the country to switch back to coal.
- \u201cThe end of coal in America is a done deal, and Trump can\u2019t force that to change.\u201d
Andy\u2019s final message and it\u2019s a great one: \xa0\u201cAt the grandest scale, the thing I\u2019ve learned about the climate problem, it is so big and multi-faceted, that everyone can play a role.\u201d
Doug also brings on previous guest, Tristram Korten to discuss reporting in the age of Trump.\xa0 Tristram is the reporter who broke the viral story, \u201cFlorida Governor Bans Climate Change\u201d.\xa0 Tristram and Doug discuss the challenges of journalism in the face of a hostile government and what some options are for those in government who want to share information with reporters.
So please have a listen, it\u2019s an amazing conversation with a legendary figure in climate change circles.
\xa0
Additional Resources:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114029917
For those who didn\u2019t know, Andy is quite the accomplished musician (and toured regularly with the late, great Pete Seeger).
Stories in Propublica:
Final Dot Earth Post:
Books by Andy
https://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Revkin/e/B001IXNSRK/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1390325965&sr=1-2-ent
Andy on Twitter:
@revkin
Warm Regards
@ourwarmregards
America Adapts also has its own app for your listening pleasure!\xa0 Just visit the App store on Apple or Google Play on Android and search \u201cAmerica Adapts.\u201d
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