{"id":11441,"date":"2020-09-11t05:56:13","date_gmt":"2020-09-11t05:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dpetrov.2create.studio\/planet\/wordpress\/from-planet-forward-to-mongabay-my-environmental-communications-journey-has-just-begun\/"},"modified":"2020-09-11t05:56:13","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11t05:56:13","slug":"mongabay-environment-communications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/mongabay-environment-communications\/","title":{"rendered":"from planet forward to mongabay: my environmental communications journey has just begun"},"content":{"rendered":"
when i entered college as an international affairs major, the idea of reporting for a news outlet never really crossed my mind. i wanted to study the intersections of international affairs and environmental issues, but i didn\u2019t have an idea of how i would pursue those interests exactly. i could talk about the environment for hours and loved finding ways to get others to care for the planet, but i was not aware of the growing field of climate communication until i attended the planet forward summit my freshman year.<\/p>\n
after the summit, planet forward hooked me in with its mission, and i wanted to learn as much as possible about the art of environmental communication. i produced content for planet forward and my university\u2019s sustainability department, and to my surprise, two of my stories<\/a> were finalists<\/a> for the 2020 storyfest competition. to gain more academic training, i enrolled in science reporting with gw\u2019s national geographic visiting professor lisa palmer. this was the first reporting class i took at gw, and i gained valuable skills in environmental science communication and writing.<\/p>\n professor palmer gave the class valuable insight as an accomplished environmental writer, and she brought in a variety of speakers in the field of science communication. one speaker in particular was a representative of mongabay, an international news site known for its environmental and conservation reporting. as someone particularly interested in communicating international issues that don\u2019t typically receive mainstream media coverage, i always admired mongabay\u2019s niche reporting and wanted to gain experience with them one day.<\/p>\n that day came sooner than i had expected. professor palmer encouraged me to apply for an internship with mongabay, and a month later i was offered a role. at first, i was slightly intimidated because i was their only summer intern and had only taken one reporting class prior. studying international affairs, i didn\u2019t have the traditional training that most journalism students receive during their undergraduate years. i knew i would have to really dive into the role at mongabay and learn the art of desk reporting as i went.<\/p>\n the skills that professor palmer taught me in science reporting helped me tremendously with my stories. for my first three stories, my editor, jeremy hance, assigned me to write articles based on recent environmental and conservation research. i covered the discovery of a new crocodile species<\/a> in new guinea, the dramatic decline of a keystone peccary species<\/a> in mesoamerican forests, and the dangerous impacts of climate change on canada\u2019s unique glass sponge reefs<\/a>. one of my most enjoyable tasks was interviewing the scientists themselves, as they were so passionate about their research and gave me useful insight that their research reports did not provide.<\/p>\n my story about the keystone peccary decline, in particular, gained much international traction, as one of the first articles that sounded the alarm on this groundbreaking discovery. in fact, the story made mongabay\u2019s list of most popular articles published in july, amassing more than 40,000 views online. to this day, it blows my mind that someone like me, with such little reporting background, could write stories that reach such a wide and international audience.<\/p>\n