Andrew Revkin witnesses a climate change demonstration while covering the Copehagen Climate Conference in 2009.
Andrew Revkin on expanding the palette of environmental journalism
By Katie Dalebout
Spring 2010
Former New York Times environmental reporter Andrew Revkin is grappling with a story on cities’ vulnerability to natural disasters when EJ reaches him by phone in his New York office.
It’s been three weeks since Haiti endured a devastating earthquake, and though he’s no longer a staff reporter for the Times, Revkin still occasionally writes for the paper’s print edition.
“Disasters will happen — it’s not even if, it’s when,” he says.
But the environmental journalism veteran faces a difficult task.
“I’m hoping I can engage people more meaningfully in understanding that these kind of things are not only an ‘Oh, dear, those poor people,’ but a mirror as well,” he says. “It’s what I’m trying to do with this piece. How much of the story actually gets into the paper, that’s the question.”
Revkin made a name for himself covering environmental calamities, like Hurricane Katrina and the Asian tsunami, and top climate change policy meetings. He’s also written a handful of books on the Amazon rainforest and global warming.
Last year, Revkin joined the ranks of many top newspaper reporters around the country when he took a buyout from the Times. He accepted a senior fellow position at Pace University’s Pace Academy for Applied Environmental Studies.
“Journalism is shrinking as part of an overall landscape of how people communicate, which is unfortunate, but it is just reality,” he says.
Revkin continues to write frequently for Dot Earth, a blog that lets him explore climate change, sustainability and natural resources issues.
“Being a newspaper reporter was not the end, big dream for me, I like to communicate effectively about things that matter and if that spills over to other realms besides journalism I’m perfectly willing to go into those other arenas,” he says.
But as his career path veers into academia, he hopes to dissolve the walls between education and journalism. Revkin will also spend time performing with his band Uncle Wade and updating his nearly 7,000 Twitter followers.
While putting the last touches on his story about vulnerable cities in early February, Revkin gives EJ Magazine the scoop about his career at the New York Times and about the future of journalism.
EJ Magazine: How did you come to cover the environment for the New York Times?
Andrew Revkin: “I had been writing about environmental issues in magazines for much of the ’80s and ’90s and then a slot opened up at the Times. There was an opportunity to create a regional environmental beat at the paper. I had a book that was not going in the direction I wanted, so I took the job in 1995.
“I started out doing regional coverage of the Valley, New York City water supply and PCBs in the river.”
EJ: Did you enjoy your time at the paper? what did you learn there?
AR: “Newspaper reporting is great and terrible at the same time — it’s just cycles of intensity. It was a great way to sort of explore the issues that I really care about: climate and biodiversity. I got to go to the Arctic three times and got to have a front row seat at a lot of meetings on climate change and policy. It was kind of a nightmare and a dream at the same time.”
EJ: Why did you leave?
AR: “It was a combination of factors — I explain some in a post on Dot Earth. I just felt the need to sort of expand my palette into more academia, particularly focusing on the Web as a learning tool.
“Ihe paper was trying to get 100 people to leave the staff by offering buyouts, little packages to get people to leave and I took one, so it all kind of coincided.”
EJ: What are your current projects?
AR: “For years, I’ve been trying to organize a book about the same issues I explore on Dot Earth and that will get into higher gear. At Pace University, I’m going to be a senior fellow for environmental understanding and the goal there is that I’m going to keep writing. I’ll be blogging either at the Times or elsewhere, and writing print pieces either at the Times or elsewhere, and doing research.”
EJ: You’re currently working on two books: one aimed at middle school students and the other at adults. How did you pick the topics?
AR: “I have done one book already aimed at 12-to-15 year olds called, The North Pole was Here. I think this related to the limits of newspaper reporting. I think I need to try and reach out to all ages in dealing with issues that affect every generation, climate being the ultimate multigenerational issue. So when I had a chance to go to the North Pole and write about climate change and its impacts on the Arctic, I just thought it made a lot of sense to write something for younger people as well.
“My other book — if I ever get to it, it’s way overdue — is on disasters. But it’s not just sort of a ‘gee wiz’ book, it’s on resilience on how we live in a world heading toward 9 billion people, many living in marginal situations exposed to environmental risk.”
EJ: What are effective ways for journalists to use the Web to interest a broad audience and educate them on environmental and science issues?
AR: “The web gives you the opportunity to use different tools, so you’re not just using text. You can do expository writing.
“The blog is a way to engage people that the story will not. I do a ton of video when it makes sense, and it doesn’t always make sense. But when it does, it’s another great way to reach people who may not otherwise spend time to read a print article.
“The web gives you more of a palette of methods for communicating. I grew up in magazine journalism mainly, where you’re dealing with imagery as well as print. And I think that taught me the value early on of mixed media. And on the Web, there is even more choice.
“I was kind of a Twitter skeptic initially, but I use it a lot now as a way to send out little brief notes. I use it sometimes as just a ‘Hey, look at this, this is interesting.’ But usually I try to synthesize two or three tiny little thoughts in 140 characters.”
EJ: How do you interest distracted readers when using less traditional news outlets like Twitter and blogs?
AR: “It’s hard. … I think that’s the danger with the Web — it’s so compartmentalized that you miss the mainstream. It’s hard to find the average reader because they’re not looking for you.
“There isn’t a front page that’s similar to the reader reading a printed page where they might glance at something in a corner that they might not otherwise think about. I don’t think anyone’s answered that question yet. I just don’t know if there is a good answer, but I guess the answer is a lot of experimentation.”
EJ: How is the Internet and dwindling newspaper revenue changing environmental journalism as it moves into other outlets? How have you seen it evolve in your career?
AR: “It is a work in progress — there are so many changes. There was a rhythm to the day, just 10-15 years ago. A story had a beginning, middle and an end. You wrote it, it got published, you moved on the next thing. And now the news cycle has gone away and it’s just one big flow.
“Even just today, on Twitter and on blogs, there has been an online debate between George Packer, a New Yorker writer, and Nick Bilton, one of The New York Times’ future media guys, about the importance of synthesis and being reflective versus the importance of being fresh, quick and agile, and using Twitter and that kind of thing. I think they’re both right in the sense that you have to have both somehow. We used to be able to take the audience for granted, and that’s not there anymore at all.
“The line between opinion and fact is murkier, and the line between journalism and just simple communication is getting murkier. Even at the Times, I’ve written on the blog about what we call ‘living documents.’ I recently rewrote our global warming topics page — not a story — basically a Wikipedia entry on climate.
“The idea is that it becomes dynamic and evolving and it’s the place you go to if you want get the latest thinking on global warming. Reporters will increasingly find themselves doing things like updating a topics page more than just sitting back reporting a feature story.”
EJ: How are journalists responsible for educating and informing the public on environmental issues?
AR: “There is still an ongoing debate in the newsroom. I have colleagues who swear up and down that the task of the newspaper is not to educate the public: We inform and step back. The education part is another artificial wall that is crumbling. The Times is pushing more into the education arena, specifically, where our content and even newsroom work hours are devoted more to thinking about how Times’ knowledge and archives can play a bigger roles in classrooms.
“The walls are dissolving in ways, that I think, frankly are good. But they’re distressing for conventional journalists who, when news breaks, want go to the paper and then go home. I think that’s becoming an endangered model.”
EJ: What advice do you have for students preparing for a career in environmental journalism?
AR: “There will forever be a thirst among people to understand what’s going on with the connection with the human relationship with the environment and with each other. So there will always be a demand for reliable analysis and description.
“The way for an emerging or young communicator to go at is to get as much of a skill set as possible in storytelling — whether it’s using Java or graphics, [which are] things that I wish I had more skills in. As well as knowing how to handle a video camera — always having one with you, so when that weird thing happens, you’re ready. Also, being able to conduct a cogent interview and the traditional things like not being afraid to ask a stupid question and not being too quick to assume that just because global warming is a hot story that the story is global warming. They’re underlying issues, and being able to step back from something like global warming and think critically and not look at something for just what it’s labeled but rather for what it really is.
“I think in this arena, this century and this time, the best chance of succeeding as a communicator of environmental information is to be as willing to put something on YouTube as much as into a magazine or to think about how something you’re writing on could turn into someone’s curriculum.”
EJ: What environmental and social effects do you think the Haiti tragedy will have on the world?
AR: “I would like to think it will be seen as a wake up call — that there is extraordinary vulnerability in developing countries. Whether we can sustain interest is another thing. People have a really bad habit of tuning in and tuning out.
“Haiti was an easy place to get to, since it was right in our backyard, so I think it was covered powerfully by many. The underlying issues are harder to get into the conventional media of ‘why in the world is Haiti so poor’ and ‘why is there this enormous vulnerability?’ Those things are harder than covering the wonderful stories of the baby pulled from the wreckage. The key, again, still is how do you build coverage that also illustrates that we live in a time when unprecedented, large, urban poor populations are exposed to hazard and what is or isn’t being done to limit that exposure?”
EJ: Can you tell EJ readers about your folk band, Uncle Wade?
AR: “It’s semi-dormant, but it’s four working, semi-professional musicians and me. And we just love playing together. We do rootsy, twangy, blues-country-folk stuff. It can be loud and Grateful Deadish or soft and string bandy, depending on our mood.
“It’s a great release for me from journalism. I’ve been involved in music since high school. I was a musician before I was a journalist. I’m really over due to record an album. I’m a songwriter and I’ve just for years had no time, so I’m hoping to have at least a little time. Everyone needs to have something like that, a mix.
“I think in this arena, this century and this time, the best chance of succeeding as a communicator of environmental information is to be as willing to put something on YouTube as much as into a magazine or to think about how something you’re writing on could turn into someone’s curriculum.”
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- Andrew Revkin witnesses a climate change demonstration while covering the Copehagen Climate Conference in 2009.By Katie Dalebout