Who Are the Green Journalists?

One way to get at the nature of green journalism is to identify green journalists. There are not many around, unfortunately, although that could change as climate disruption gains more gravity in the mainstream media.

In the 1970s, following the founding of Earth Day and passage of the Clean Air Act and other environmental initiatives, a new genre of news reporting arose. I was environmental reporter for The Seattle Times in the mid-1970s and there were a lot of us. Most major news organizations assigned reporters to an environmental beat.

Today, I don't know of any mainstream news reporters assigned specifically to green issues. And in fact mainstream media do not cover green very well, as we've noted. An emerging exception is The New York Times, which yesterday (March 7, 2007) had a special section devoted to green (the Wall Street Journal also has published green-issues sections). The articles tend to be business-oriented, dry and predictable, but the fact there are advertising dollars to support "special" sections gives notice that other media may follow suit.

We would rather see "green" incorporated into daily coverage on an ongoing basis, e.g., when a tornado destroys a school, at least indicate a passing awareness that global climate disruption is a factor. It may be coming; The New York Times had a couple of decidedly green stories last week on disappearing bee populations and havoc in the maple-sugar industry due to warm winters.

As for green journalists, the list I come up with is fairly short:

Elizabeth Kolbert of The New Yorker gets top kudos for pioneering work on global warming, including her exceptional profile on Amory Lovins and book, "Field Notes to a Catastrophe." Kolbert is not a greenwasher nor a green booster but does classic journalism right, asking the tough questions and doing the tough research to enlighten, inform and illuminate.

On the blogging front, Jeff McIntire-Strasburg of Sustainablog and Joel Makower of Two Steps Forward are leaders in the field.

Dave Roberts may be the leading green pundit and opinion-maker, writing for Grist and Huffington Post as well as contributing to Newscloud, the best example of community/citizen journalism on the Web.

Who am I missing? Michael Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma," might be considered green because his focus on diet incorporates the health not only of humans but the planet as well. HUGG is a wonderful repository for the many hands of the Green Blogosphere. Otherwise not too many individual names jump to mind.

Here at GreenforGood.com we hope to compile an ongoing resource of green journalism. Comments? Suggestions? Don't be shy! And feel free to post your own green journalism in the community blog on the GreenforGood.com site itself!

Paul Andrews, for GreenforGood.com

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