CEJ in Focus

Five Questions for the Fellows: Cat Jaffee

Erin Ashbaugh — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 06:32:54 +0000

Five Questions for the Fellows: Cat Jaffee Erin Ashbaugh Mon, 03/03/2025 - 23:32 Isabella Escobedo

How are you enjoying the fellowship?

I love it. My only complaint is that it's too short, but I can totally see how it's a life-changing experience. It's too soon to say, but I think this is, for sure, one of the coolest things I've ever done. There's something very different about giving myself space and time to reflect on who I am, how I show up in the world, and what I want to do in this life. I think in a society that chases experiences, this is definitely top of the list.

I also think it's really encouraging to go down the rabbit hole and follow tangents and interests; you're in classes and learning interesting things every day, but you don't have to do the homework necessarily, or the tests. I think it actually gets to the heart of what education is all about – which is curiosity. It cultivates an ethos of curiosity, not just about the world around you, but the inner world. The fellowship puts an emphasis on seeing where the journey takes you.

Your project focuses on exploring the overlap between repairing human bodies and ecosystems. Can you tell me about how you became interested in that topic?

In 2020 I was diagnosed with cancer, which we found because I also had malaria and dengue fever, which I had contracted on a reporting trip in Angola. That reporting trip was also about this water system called the Okavango Delta that wasn't behaving in ways that it had historically. There were all these reasons why the water was changing in the way it was flowing. As I was exploring the science around the system and looking at ways that people were talking about water systems, I started seeing similar medical terms and explanations also being used around repairing my own body.

I wanted to explore the biotech, the ethos, the philosophy, the culture, and the mentality of how we fix things in a more intersectional way. I was excited to have this overarching theme to my work and then use the fellowship to build relationships with professors and try to find the stories underneath that. As far as tech goes, everything from geoengineering to geosciences to rewilding, there couldn't be a better place than CU. It's just so incredible in terms of all the different kinds of labs and research and experts that are here.

Are there any professors or classes in particular that have been helping develop your project?

Ben Hale's Environmental Philosophy course has been incredible for me. I'm working on reporting a story with Paul Sutter, an environmental historian, and I'm auditing his class. Michael Pappas’ Natural Resource Law class has been really helpful for me in understanding land management. Then I took this medical geography course that really helped me understand the interconnection between place and medicine. Especially the way that Colleen Reid teaches it. It's thinking about the implicit connections of environment and public health, and how the individual versus the collective has changed over time. She's such an incredible professor. I took these classes because I was interested in them, but every single one of them is connected to my project.

How have the other fellows impacted your project and experience?

I think something cool about our class is that everybody has their own medium. So each of us has such a different approach but obviously share a lot of the same ethos and inspiration. Like many of us were really inspired by the New York Times’ award-winning story “Snow Fall.” I have a dream that the five of us could do a collaborative project, each bringing some element. I think I've also been really inspired just to learn about everybody's journeys and I think the challenge of power has been core to all of our work. It reminds me of my own values and the kind of work that I want to do out there. So that’s been really helpful in calibrating my moral compass.

What do you like to do for fun here in Boulder?

I'm a really big dancer here, which is kind of hilarious because I don't look like a dancer and I don't really have good beat, but I dance probably two to three times a week. I dance at Streetside Studios and Avalon, I do West African dance, hip hop, West Coast swing, and Salsa. I live in Chautauqua with two Border Collies so I'm in a number of run clubs, I climb up the Flatirons pretty regularly, and I’m in Chautauqua at least twice a day hiking. I also spend a lot of time animal tracking while I'm up there because it's such a vibrant natural space. I feel like my life is intertwined with bears. I spend so much time with bears and lately wild turkeys and owls. Seeing all the different phases of seasons and how every day is so different there, I really have built such a strong relationship with that place.

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Five Questions for the Fellows: Steven Bedard

Erin Ashbaugh — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 06:58:45 +0000

Five Questions for the Fellows: Steven Bedard Erin Ashbaugh Mon, 02/03/2025 - 23:58 Isabella Escobedo

What is your favorite opportunity offered by the fellowship?

It's been kind of this expansive experience. We can study anything we want, we can reach out to experts here and set up interviews with them, or just a coffee or lunch date or whatever, to talk about the work that they do and how that might fit into our project. It has felt like this real gift.

How have you found the transition from working at bioGraphic magazine to becoming a fellow?

It's been easier than I thought it would be. Because bioGraphic is a very small operation, and I've been involved with it from the beginning, it's kind of been my baby that requires a lot of care from me. I questioned even if I was going to be able to step away from it for a while, and if so, how difficult that would be. I've found it very easy. I think I truly needed a break. I think my mind being able to shift focus and expand my view from this tiny world that I have been creating and living in for a long time has been really great. I have more free time than I've had in years.

With your newfound free time, what do you like to do for fun?

I came to the program from Montana—from the capital city of Montana, but it's really kind of a small town, and there isn't a whole lot going on. And so, in Boulder, to have so much opportunity, so much art, so much great food available, and so much variety, including food markets that I don’t have in Montana, that’s been wonderful and inspiring. I also like to hike with my dog, and I bike a lot.

And because I grew up here and have family here, I've also had the opportunity to reconnect with friends and be closer to family. I've also been trying to make a little bit of time for reading, for fun, just reading novels. For years, that has been hard to find time for. It's like I read all the time, that's part of my job. I'm reading a ton in the fellowship, too, even more than ever. But it's nice to have some time to read things that are not related to work or school.

What are your favorite classes this semester?

That's an easy one, and it might be the same one for a few of us, but Environmental Cinema with Erin Espelie is definitely a favorite. It's a favorite because it's enlightening and expansive. It’s getting me to think about film more broadly than I ever have. We do produce short films for bioGraphic, and I have been very involved with reviewing scripts and cuts and things like that, but the philosophy of film, history of film, and everything that is covered in this course has been really helpful in how I think about telling stories in that medium. It's also just a fun class.

How have the other fellows impacted your experience and work on your project?

Being part of this fellowship group and the camaraderie in that is possibly the biggest highlight of the fellowship. I live in Montana by choice, but sometimes I question that choice, because I work remotely and practically all of my interactions with people I work with are virtual. So, to be studying with, hanging out with, and just talking with—even if it's just walking across campus or on a hike during a field trip—and getting to know the other fellows has been so great on a personal level.

I think there's a lot of indirect influence in all the conversations that we’ve had, and hearing ways in which they think about storytelling, how they pursue their research, and work that they've done in the past is enlightening. And it presents opportunities to think about and learn about other ways of doing things.

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Five Questions for the Fellows: Taylor Dolven

Erin Ashbaugh — Sun, 29 Dec 2024 22:54:49 +0000

Five Questions for the Fellows: Taylor Dolven Erin Ashbaugh Sun, 12/29/2024 - 15:54

Isabella Escobedo

Your project focuses on how U.S. car dependence is impacting lithium-rich communities in South America as we move towards electric vehicles. Can you tell me what led you to pursue this topic?

In my role at The Boston Globe, I cover transportation, so transportation policy in the U.S.—how car focused it is—is a really big component of the transportation beat. If you're covering the sector in the U.S., you inevitably end up realizing just how car-heavy our investments have been. They’ve brought us to this point where we're kind of stuck in a situation where most of our urban areas are made for cars and not for people. A lot of the mining for minerals for electric vehicle batteries occur in communities that have contributed least to climate change and are having to bear the brunt of that extraction and the environmental damage that comes with it, especially in South America. I'm really interested in looking at other pathways and more just pathways for how we can do this.

How is the fellowship helping you put together this particular story?

I'm taking a law class with Kristen Carpenter, called Indigenous Peoples in International Law, where we're focused on some cases of mining. It’s exactly what I'm interested in, where indigenous peoples are trying to defend their rights to religion, to culture, to resources, up against some really challenging odds when it comes to states and corporations who have interests in extraction. Looking at ways that indigenous peoples are using mostly U.N. mechanisms and different legal forms there to assert their rights and push back and come together globally has been super interesting to learn about.

And then the other class that has been really helpful is my Spanish Literature class. We've read a lot of books focused exclusively on gothic literature from the 21st century, from Argentina and almost exclusively women authors. Two, maybe three, of the books that we've read are what is called “eco-terror” or “eco-horror,” having to do with extraction, climate change, things like that. Just thinking about challenges we're facing, creative ways to deal with them, and showing that other ways are possible, has been really eye-opening and interesting.

What is your favorite part of the fellowship so far?

My favorite part of the fellowship is getting the much-needed time to step away from daily deadlines. I've been in daily journalism for 12 years without a break, and so this opportunity to really just pause and read books, several a week, and spend time with these other journalists who are in different fields and focus on different things and learn from them. The camaraderie with other fellows and a break for my brain to be curious and learn, just for learning’s sake, is really unique and special.

What do you do for fun in Boulder, outside the fellowship?

Boulder is such a unique place. I feel so lucky to live somewhere where I can walk out my front door and go and hike. My class schedule definitely allows me to spend a morning climbing up a mountain, which is such a joy, and something I never thought I'd be able to do. That's a really special part of living here. I went to more films than I can even keep straight at the Denver Film Festival, that was really fun. The fellowship has allowed me to have the time to be able to do things like that, where, if I'm at my job, I can't really do as much.

How have the other fellows impacted your experience and even your project?

I think the other fellows really are the best part of this experience. It would be so different to do something like this alone. They come from very different backgrounds from me, and also very different journalism mediums than I do, so their perspective is so, so, so valuable. I'm still defining what my end product is going to be, and they've all been so helpful in trying to help me figure that out. And they are always there to bounce ideas around with me, and they're super supportive.

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Five Questions for the Fellows: Leah Varjacques

Erin Ashbaugh — Sun, 29 Dec 2024 22:38:50 +0000

Five Questions for the Fellows: Leah Varjacques Erin Ashbaugh Sun, 12/29/2024 - 15:38

Isabella Escobedo

Your project focuses on the impact of Indonesia's future capital city on East Borneo’s Indigenous people. Can you elaborate on how you are putting together the story?

I’m focusing on this scientist group that is monitoring how the sound is changing in the forest. They use bioacoustics to monitor how the ecosystem is changing. They kind of wanted to record a baseline of what the biodiversity is like there, and then over time, see how that changes based on how the construction impacts different species that you can hear. This Indigenous group, the Balik, have lived there for generations and have a way of life and have used the forest. They're forest-dependent people. They source livelihood from the forest, historically, and they have some cultural markers--for example, when this type of monkey calls at whatever time, we know that it's dawn, or we know that it's going to rain. If the monkey is calling at a time of day that it doesn't usually call, then that means a death will occur in the village. It's kind of cultural and traditional ecological knowledge that this group has, and they are at risk of losing a lot of that heritage because of the construction. I'm hoping that my film is able to talk about the impact of this capital city on them through this sound science project.

What led you to pursue this story?

I was really interested in climate relocation stories and climate adaptation stories, so I just started reading academic articles. I read about how Indonesia is moving its capital city, because Jakarta is going to be underwater very soon. It's like 40% below sea level, and with sea level rise and flooding issues and all these issues that Jakarta has, the capital is already compromised, so they are building this whole new city, and that was crazy to me. I was like, “Why haven't I read about this?” Because just building a whole new city out of nowhere in Borneo, that seems crazy. Also, the fact that it was specifically framed as “this is a climate adaptation project,” because we know this existing capital city is doomed, so we're just going to build another city over here. That was crazy to me. And then I later learned that, internally in Indonesia, it's not really viewed as a climate-related project. It's really viewed as a nation-building project. A lot of people there don't see the relationship to climate change, which was very surprising to me. And so that is why I got interested in the story.

What is your favorite part of the fellowship so far?

I would say getting to know the fellows and building a little community in the CEJ is my favorite part so far. I've really enjoyed some of my classes and getting to learn new things. I've been taking two kinds of more arty-focused classes, and so I feel like that's helping inform my creative practice.

What are your favorite classes this semester?

I am really liking Environmental Cinema with Erin Espelie. I didn't think about how cinema has treated the environment, environmental issues, nature, and climate change. So that's been interesting, and it's been cool to get exposure to different kinds of films and see how that sparks new ideas for me.

I've also enjoyed my sound class Sound Practices with Betsey Biggs, because as a filmmaker, I have always focused more on the image side of the equation, but film is very much also about sound. And because my project is also focused on sound, I wanted to bring that more to the front of my mind and see how sound can be prioritized. And if I prioritize sound, how that might change the creative process? Hopefully it's planted a bunch of seeds that I will see sprout eventually.

What do you do for fun in Boulder, outside the fellowship?

I like to hike, and I like to go skiing, and I like to make art and go dancing and just get together with friends and go see concerts.

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Five Questions for the Fellows: Neeta Satam

Erin Ashbaugh — Sun, 29 Dec 2024 22:30:20 +0000

Five Questions for the Fellows: Neeta Satam Erin Ashbaugh Sun, 12/29/2024 - 15:30

Isabella Escobedo

The Ted Scripps Fellowships have been bringing award-winning environmental journalists to 91��ý for 28 years. Fellows embark on a year of courses, projects, field trips, seminars and more— taking advantage of everything university life has to offer. This series is a chance to get to know this year’s cohort of talented journalists beyond what a typical bio page will tell you.

How are you enjoying the fellowship thus far?

I am having a wonderful time both professionally and personally. The fellowship has given me the much-needed break from the day-to-day grind, so I really appreciate this opportunity to take classes, attend seminars, and work on my project. I am particularly enjoying engaging with my cohort, students, and faculty.

It’s been an incredible experience so far, and I’m excited for what the next semester will bring.

How have you found the transition from working as a freelance journalist to becoming a fellow?

When I was moving to Boulder, I was a little nervous about how it was all going to work out. But the transition was seamless. The CEJ staff provided the incoming fellows with all the resources and support to make the transition easy. Being a freelance photojournalist is somewhat of a solitary pursuit, so I have enjoyed being surrounded by a community of like-minded people. I have lived and freelanced out of the Midwest for the past 10 years. I’m absolutely thrilled to be in Boulder, amidst a breathtaking landscape and wonderful community.

What has been your favorite part of the fellowship?

That’s a tough question because there’s so much I’m enjoying. One thing I love is auditing classes, as I’m gaining new knowledge and skills in areas outside my core expertise. Some of the courses are reading-intensive, which gives me the chance to slow down and read—something I couldn’t do enough when I was working full-time as a freelancer.

Two of my classes focus on decolonization and indigenous rights, which directly connects to the documentary work I’ve been doing. The insights I’m gaining are shaping my thinking and deeply informing my projects.

If you had to pick one, what is your favorite class this semester?

I’m enjoying all the classes I’m auditing, so it’s tough to choose a favorite. Some are reading-focused, while others are more skills-based. In terms of theory, I’m really enjoying a class called Arctic Society and Culture. It’s been fascinating. For skills, I’m taking two filmmaking classes—Short Documentary and Environmental Cinema—and both are challenging me to think creatively and push the boundaries of storytelling.

What do you like to do with your newfound free time?

I've been hiking a lot in my free time. Living in Boulder comes with the perk of easy access to beautiful trails in the Rockies.

I have hiked 27 trails since moving to Boulder. I started with easier trails, and I am now gradually tackling moderate ones—something I never would have imagined five years ago, when I injured my back and hip. Before that, I have hiked in the Sahyadri mountains (Western Ghats) of India and the Himalayas, but I had to stop after my injury.

Another thing I have been focusing on in my free time is getting back into my pranayama and meditation practice every morning. Having a set routine has really helped me carve out time for it. As a freelance photojournalist, my schedule was often unpredictable, especially with the travel and long hours, so having a structure during the fellowship has been a welcome balance.

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Accomplished journalists join newest class of Scripps Fellows

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 04:02:53 +0000

Accomplished journalists join newest class of Scripps Fellows Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 07/28/2024 - 22:02

Iris Serrano

The Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder has named five exceptional journalists to its 2024-25 class of Ted Scripps Fellows in Environmental Journalism.

“This year’s terrific incoming class of Ted Scripps Fellows hails from around the country and works across multiple platforms, including photography, podcasts, documentary, long-form narrative and daily news,” said Hillary Rosner, assistant director of the Center for Environmental Journalism—which oversees the Scripps Fellows program—and a teaching assistant professor at CMCI. “Together, they bring decades of experience and expertise to 91��ý, where they will learn from university researchers and share their knowledge with the community.”

Established in 1993, the Ted Scripps Fellowship has been based at the University of Colorado Boulder since 1997. The program, which is supported by a grant from the Scripps Howard Fund, aims to give full-time journalists working in any medium the knowledge and tools to report on today’s pressing environmental issues in ways that resonate with diverse audiences. Over a nine-month period, fellows attend classes at the University of Colorado Boulder, participate in weekly seminars and field trips, and pursue their own journalistic projects on a wide range of environmental topics.

The incoming class includes:

Steven Bedard, co-founder and editor, BioGraphic. Bedard has spent the last 25 years writing and producing science stories on everything from archaeology to evolution. During the fellowship, he will explore how species are responding to global change, looking at the intersection between systems-scale events and the individual organisms’ biology.

Taylor Dolven, reporter, The Boston Globe. Dolven focuses on how transportation intersects with climate change and economic inequality. Previously, as a reporter at the Miami Herald, she exposed how cruise companies kept workers at sea without pay during the pandemic. As a fellow, Dolven will research how Americans’ reliance on cars and the transition to electric vehicles impacts lithium-rich communities in South America.

Catherine (Cat) Jaffee, founder and audio producer, House of Pod. Jaffee will spend her fellowship developing an audio series that explores how both ecosystems and human bodies repair themselves, and how overlapping biomedical and bioengineered solutions apply to both. Jaffee has produced more than 1,000 podcast episodes for outlets such as PBS and National Geographic.

Neeta Satam, independent photojournalist. Satam is an Indian photojournalist and National Geographic explorer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post and elsewhere. As a fellow, she will expand a long-term project that documents the impact of climate change on a community in the Himalayas, with an emphasis on gender inequity.

Leah Varjacques, visual journalist and documentary producer. Varjacques has produced and edited digital and television documentaries for The New York Times, The Atlantic and Vice News, where she won an Emmy in 2021. She plans to study climate adaptation and human geography to produce a short documentary about the impacts of Indonesia's future capital city on East Borneo's Indigenous people.

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Former Fellow Documents Environmental Crimes in Brazil

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 21:32:53 +0000

Former Fellow Documents Environmental Crimes in Brazil Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/18/2024 - 15:32

Devin Farmiloe

When Sasha Chavkin came to the Ted Scripps Fellowship in 2021, he was interested in exploring how crime and corruption is fueling climate change. After constructing an independent study that included a rigorous amount of reading and research, Chavkin came to a conclusion: illegal deforestation is the largest contributor to climate change among criminal activities. In addition, Chavkin found that the majority of products obtained from illegal deforestation were going to China. “As of about five years ago, there was more deforestation embodied in international trade going to China than to the United States and European Union combined,” Chavkin said.

This led Chavkin to produce two articles. One covered PMI food systems, an American meat trader that primarily ships beef from Brazil to China and had links to illegal deforestation in its supply chain. The other was about a Chinese state-owned food importer, Cofco, and its link to illegal deforestation through soy and palm oil imports.

During his field reporting, Chavkin found that some sources had such a drastically different worldview that they didn’t bother trying to hide their role in illegal deforestation. One plantation owner who sold soy to Cofco was criminally deforesting, and Cofco continued to purchase soy from him. This violates the soy moratorium, which is a promise by companies to not buy soy from farmers that illegally clear forest.

When Chavkin visited the plantation, he expected the owner to put up some resistance. “I was worried he was going to kick me off his property,” Chavkin said. “I just started talking to him and hadn't even brought up the question of the soy moratorium violation. I just asked him about Cofco, and he volunteered that he was working with Cofco. Like, ‘They're great. They're still buying from me, even though these other companies stopped buying from me because I violated the soybean moratorium.’” In the end, the plantation owner said he would only abide by Brazilian law, and the soy moratorium was separate from Brazilian law.

In some cases, such as the article about PMI Foods, Chavkin’s investigations pave the way for meaningful change. The article uncovers how an American meat trader that has shipped massive quantities of Brazilian beef to China has avoided scrutiny for enabling Amazon deforestation. After the story was published by the Associated Press, PMI Foods joined industry working groups on sustainability, promised to plant a million trees, and said it would consider a pledge against rainforest destruction.

“PMI admitted that it needed to change its practices,” Chavkin said “I don't think it has gotten very far in actually making those changes yet. But I think it was important to draw attention to PMI’s role, because it's a major American company that completely avoided scrutiny.”

Despite PMI dragging its feet, Chavkin’s goal in his reporting was clear from the start: He wants to hold companies accountable. “I want to make corporate practices better,” Chavkin said. “I want to help communities that are harmed by abuses and environmental harms. I think the way we do that is by putting the truth out there.”

*Photo credit: Giovanny Vera/Pulitzer Center

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Five Questions for the Fellows: Clifton Wiens

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 19:43:10 +0000

Five Questions for the Fellows: Clifton Wiens Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/18/2024 - 13:43

Devin Farmiloe

The Ted Scripps Fellowships have been bringing award-winning environmental journalists to 91��ý for 27 years. Fellows embark on a year of courses, projects, field trips, seminars and more— taking advantage of everything university life has to offer. This series is a chance to get to know this year’s cohort of talented journalists beyond what a typical bio page will tell you.

Prior to being a Scripps Fellow, Clifton Wiens was a writer and filmmaker with National Geographic, where he worked on documentaries such as “Strange Days on Planet Earth,” which focuses on the climate crisis around the globe, as well as Jared Diamond’s “Guns, Germs, and Steel.” During the fellowship, Wiens is developing a documentary film exploring the apocalyptic impulse in American culture and how such beliefs and attitudes influence the politics and policy related to climate change and other environmental issues.

Could you tell me a little bit about your fellowship project?

The elevator pitch for my project is Mad Max meets Billy Graham: The film is an archival project that examines American religious and secular culture over the last one hundred years through the lens of the apocalyptic strain in both of these worlds, and how this apocalyptic impulse is particularly dangerous right now at this time in U.S. history. It leads to apathy, to fatalism, or for some to escapist expectations.

By apocalyptic I mean an expectation that the world’s end is coming soon, whether through natural or supernatural means.

So I’m going through enormous amounts of film footage from really the beginning of film as a medium until now. It’s quite a range of material, from tent meeting evangelists to secular apocalyptic mainstream films.

I’m interested, in part, in how the apocalyptic style in American life and politics has now become dominant within at least one of America's major political parties, and how this cultural strand is becoming more overt in national politics, but perhaps more importantly, how the apocalyptic tradition manifests in voters’ attitudes across the political spectrum.

What led you to this line of research?

A couple of factors, at least. I grew up in a culture where, as a kid, I was surrounded by this idea that the world was going to end soon. And then when the pandemic began, the uncertainty surrounding a vaccine at first made for a lot of television and radio chatter that related sometimes tangentially, sometimes specifically to apocalyptic expectations. These expectations can be positive or negative, depending on a person’s beliefs and culture.

If you think that you're either going to escape through some supernatural means or the world's going to end and we are all doomed, your concern for the world beyond your own small world tends to be very limited. Fatalistic beliefs and escapist beliefs are equally dangerous.

Part of my objective with this archival film is to make a broader audience aware of this apocalyptic strand in American culture which is sometimes subtle. We don’t need a Mad Max scenario for society to collapse.

Switching gears, how has your time in the fellowship been so far?

It's been great. It took a bit of time to adjust to being around others after being solitary in the mountains or other lonely landscapes during the peak pandemic years.

My fellow fellows and everyone that is part of the CEJ, including the fellowship’s directors, have made that transition from solitude to society beautiful.

The field trips and the seminars are always a highlight of the week, such as the first field trip in the fall semester, when we trekked through Boulder cemeteries, creeks, and the town’s century-plus old ditches with legendary western water expert Bob Crifasi. It’s a different water world in the West than east of the Mississippi River in ways I never understood until Bob’s walking seminar.

I love being on a campus, wandering the corridors of the Norlin Library at random, and pulling books off a shelf that catch my eye.

You took a little bit of a different approach from most fellows and designed your own syllabus the first semester. Could you tell me how that is going?

For me, developing my own syllabus for one of my courses was freeing and enlightening. I wanted to do an independent study that examines the monotheistic world’s concepts of linear time, utopias, and apocalypses from the era of Alexander the Great until the present. Alexander and the Hellenistic era still influence our worldviews in the West more than most people realize. So my self-designed course is entitled “Time, Utopia, and Apocalypse in the Monotheistic World from Alexander the Great to The Anthropocene.” I’m happy to supply the syllabus to anyone who is interested.

Lastly, what do you like to do outside of journalism?

I absolutely love the mountains, long treks, and the occasional summit of a Fourteener. Backpacking, bicycling, anything that can take me out of myself and into nature is what inspires me. And Colorado, of course, is one of the great places in the world for that. I love music from classical to alt-country to punk. One day it’s Bach, the next it’s Iggy Pop.The next Max Richter and Maria Callas. The next day Patti Smith. And Dylan. Always Bob Dylan. I love dogs and during the pandemic I spent many weeks caring for other people’s pets and dogs in whatever state I happened to be in. I still do that occasionally and have a few favorite animals and people I’ve come to know around Boulder, though I won’t mention any names.

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Five Questions for the Fellows: Ishan Thakore

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Feb 2024 15:31:14 +0000

Five Questions for the Fellows: Ishan Thakore Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 02/17/2024 - 08:31

Devin Farmiloe

Before becoming a Ted Scripps Fellow, Ishan Thakore worked as a multimedia producer and investigative journalist. During his career, Thakore has been the recipient of IRE’s Journalist of Color Fellowship, a Fulbright-National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellowship, and a BBC/Sundance Institute Fellowship. Thakore’s work can be seen in THE CITY, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Netflix, the BBC, National Geographic blogs, and Al Jazeera.

During the fellowship, you’re reporting on the Army Corps of Engineers’ plan to protect New York from storm surges. Could you tell me a little bit more about that?

In 2012, Superstorm Sandy took this pretty gnarly left turn into the city and knocked out a lot of neighborhoods for a while, and flooded a bunch of subway tunnels. That was 11 years ago, and it's not clear that the city has made enough progress to prevent a freak storm like that from happening again. And in the 11 years since Superstorm Sandy, there have been what the city calls “significant rainfall events,” where we've gotten a ton of rain in four hours, and a lot of homes and basement apartments get flooded. There are all these weather challenges that we're facing in New York, and the city has this unique kind of topography also–it's like a series of islands and has these protected bays, and the Hudson runs through it. But that also means there's a lot of water that can quickly rush into the city and a lot of people want to live on the water because it's beautiful. But as New York looks to the future, there's this sense that if it doesn't prepare now, what's going to happen?

The Army Corps is the premier U.S. institution that builds large infrastructure projects. There are all these laws that dictate why the Army Corps can dam rivers and build levees and stuff. At the same time, there's a lot of criticism towards the Corps because historically, they've been very much a gray infrastructure agency, like, “Let's pour some concrete,” “Let's build a seawall,” “Let's engineer our way out of nature's periodic problems,” and that's proven to be really challenging. The reason I'm fascinated by this story is that New York combines all these elements: it's the future-looking strategy of the Corps as climate change becomes more prevalent, the historical past of how the Corps has built things, and also, how the richest, biggest city in America, has a choice to make on how it'll protect itself. People have a lot of opinions about this because everyone agrees that the city shouldn’t flood, but there's not that much agreement about what can be done.

When the Army Corps released its plan last year, there was a lot of criticism about how it was short-sighted and how it didn't account for different types of storms. You know, one source told me, when the project is done in 2045, it “would be horrible to get a screwdriver when we really needed a wrench.” What she meant was that, if we're going to spend all this time building something, it should work for the myriad problems that are going to exist in New York.

What led you to this line of research?

I was having a beer with a friend and he was telling me about his friend who was advocating against a huge wall in the Hudson River to protect the city from storm surges. I just laughed. If you look at Jersey City from Battery Park, it's not that far, you know, and we're gonna build this vertical wall, how is that even gonna work? I thought it was one of the craziest things I've ever heard. Then I talked to his friend later, and this isn’t just one wall, it is actually a series of walls and gates and some of the most intense engineering that would be done around a coastal city in the U.S. That just kind of captivated me because I’ve always been interested in this idea of how we try to tame nature and how it goes poorly.

It is very clear that you love New York. How are you enjoying Boulder and your time in the fellowship so far?

It's such a nice change of pace to do weekend trips. It’s so much harder in New York to go anywhere. I've really been enjoying the outdoors. I've been to Rocky Mountain National Park and Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and it's been fantastic. It was a bit of an adjustment to settle back into being a student again because it's such a different schedule. I felt a little unmoored with all this free time, like, what am I supposed to do? Or how am I supposed to best use it? And now I feel much more settled.

What is your favorite class so far?

I've been taking French, which has been really fun. And oceanography, which is getting me to appreciate the ocean much more. And then two law classes that are much more technical, but they complement each other quite well.

What do you like to do outside of journalism?

I love to go hiking, so moving to Boulder has been a great boost for the hobbies that I've been able to only sporadically indulge in when I was in New York. I really like playing sports. I've been able to play tennis here a couple of times, which is nice. In New York, I would have to wake up at six am and sign my name onto a clipboard, so that I could come back seven hours later to play. It was absolutely insane. Here I can just roll up to a court and play with a friend.

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Five Questions for the Fellows: Rebecca Halleck

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 21:28:32 +0000

Five Questions for the Fellows: Rebecca Halleck Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 12/28/2023 - 14:28

Devin Farmiloe

As a senior editor for The New York Times, Rebecca Halleck contributed to coverage of COVID-19, extreme weather events, policing, and racial justice protests. Prior to her work with The Times, she was a digital editor at the Chicago Tribune. During her fellowship year, Halleck will examine the legal and policy frameworks surrounding climate change and climate action.

Halleck sat down with CEJ graduate assistant Devin Farmiloe to talk about her work and experience as a fellow.

Could you tell me a bit more about your fellowship project?

When I came into the fellowship, I was really focused on climate litigation, specifically the case Held v. Montana. The premise of that case is that children are suing the government on the basis that they will not have the constitutional right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness because of climate change. I was also interested in the political momentum behind states passing environmental rights amendments or adding similar language to their constitutions.

But the two law classes I’m taking made me realize that the outcome of the Montana case, while positive for the youth plaintiffs, is actually quite limited in scope. It was a state case, so it only applies within the state of Montana and it doesn’t have any direct impact on emissions. It merely allows state entities to consider climate change when making policy decisions.

So since arriving at CU, I’ve become much more interested in examining the full legal landscape – policy, market-based solutions, litigation – surrounding climate change and related environmental concerns.

What led you to this line of research?

I think I’ve always been interested in how laws and the legal system intersect with the real-life problems they seek to fix. For better or worse, I think there are infinite stories — both good and bad — to be told about how public policy reacts to and shapes society. And when you combine that with something as complex and pressing as the climate crisis, as a reporter it just felt like the most important topic at the most important time. Like we’re on a precipice and the way our legal system responds, the way our policies are written, will create new winners and losers. As journalists, how we cover that in real-time as it unfolds is absolutely vital.

That sounds like a lot of heavy knowledge to grapple with. Are you enjoying your time in the fellowship so far?

I'm loving it. I really like all the activities; the guest speakers and field trips are really fun. The crew we have here is really nice too. I was afraid that I wouldn't have any friends and that I would be really lonely here, but we are like a family. That's been really great. I've also been really excited about the number of experts and professors on campus who are willing to give their time. The classes that I get to take are great too. I've been telling people this is the most fun version of school I've ever gotten to do because I don't have to do the assignments, but I get to do the learning.

What are your two favorite classes?

I am taking environmental law as well as climate change law and policy and I like both of them for different reasons. Environmental law has done a really good job of explaining how we got to this moment, especially in terms of climate legislation and litigation. But then climate change law and policy are more future-focused. It's like, what's coming up? What are the avenues still available for reducing emissions? What kind of policies are actually working? They're very different.

The interesting thing that I wasn't expecting is that in these law classes, there are actually a fair number of students who aren't law students at all. They come in with a scientific or engineering background, so they can kind of explain that half of it. And then there are law students that are actually already interning really interesting places like the EPA, and so they can add some additional backstory. The other students have been kind of a big surprise like I expected to really be interested in what the professors had to say. But the other students have been a resource as well.

What do you like to do outside journalism?

I love hiking. That's one of the best things about being here in Boulderyou just walk out your door and there's a trail. I love reading. So having some time to read fiction and nonfiction that's not related to any work I'm doing has been really nice. When you're working in a newsroom, you feel like all you have time to do is read the news. When you're a little bit separated from that news cycle, you actually have time to read for learning's sake, which has been really nice.

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