WATCH: Covering Climate
Scientists tell us the climate crisis is no longer a theoretical construct that could play out in the distant future. It is here, today. We can see it, feel it, in the wild weather that we are experiencing around the globe — unusually destructive hurricanes, floods and tornadoes that lash communities without mercy, soaring temperatures that turn already parched forests into tinderboxes that burn for weeks. This panel looks at how to translate the arcane science behind global warming into everyday language that is understandable to an often confused and skeptical public.
Covering Climate Panel Speakers:
- MODERATOR: Scott Brinton is a special assistant professor of journalism at Hofstra University. He co-directs the university’s Summer High School Journalism Institute, which recruits students from nearby communities of color, and he is the editor of the award-winning Long Island Advocate, the online multimedia publication showcasing the best student work from their classes and internships. He previously worked as an award-winning executive editor of Herald Community Newspapers.
- David Abel is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and documentary filmmaker who currently covers the environment, including climate change, for The Boston Globe. Over the years, he has covered war in the Balkans, unrest in Latin America, national security issues in Washington, D.C., terrorism in New York and Boston, and poverty throughout New England. Abel’s most recent film, “Entangled,” chronicles the efforts to protect North Atlantic right whales from extinction, the impacts of those efforts on the lobster industry, and how government has struggled to balance the vying interests.
- J.D. Allen, a native Long Islander, is managing editor of WSHU Public Radio, an NPR member station that covers Long Island, Connecticut and the rest of New England. J.D. also leads WSHU’s Long Island News Bureau at Stony Brook University. He hosts the climate podcast “Higher Ground,” which tells the stories of communities exploring solutions to climate change. Allen has reported for public radio stations across the Northeast, healthcare and small businesses for Long Island Business News and real estate and land use for the Express News Group newspapers in the Hamptons. He is a lecturer at Stony Brook University, Quinnipiac University and Suffolk County Community College. He is vice president of the Press Club of Long Island.
- Jase Bernhardt is an assistant professor in the department of geology, environment and sustainability at Hofstra University and also director of the department’s MA in Sustainability program. His research is funded by the National Science Foundation and New York Sea Grant, the former a project to engage student teams in research, and the latter an initiative to improve rip current outreach to Long Island Latinx communities. He served as president of the Middle States Division of the American Association of Geographers in 2021. Jase received a BS in atmospheric science from Cornell University.
- Dharna Noor is the Boston Globe’s climate producer. Prior to joining the Globe’s climate team, Noor worked as a staff writer at Earther, Gizmodo’s climate vertical, where she co-produced a season of the podcast “Drilled” on the fossil fuel industry’s influence on education. Before that, she led the climate team at the Real News Network. Her writing has also appeared in Jacobin Magazine, In These Times and Truthout, and was also featured in a 2021 book from The New Press called The World We Need.
