Mary Annaïse Heglar: SEAL Award Winner 2020

A selection of this year’s best environmental journalism

But the Greatest of These is Love

“Climate change has risen to the top of the priority list for voters in the much-awaited Democratic Primary and one of the most talked-about pieces of legislation this year was the Green New Deal. The crowded field of Democratic presidential candidates, heeding the call of their would-be constituents, have called for a debate centered around climate change, and the Democratic National Committee just might bend to that will.”
Source: Medium (Approx. 5 minutes)

When Climate Change Broke My Heart and Forced Me to Grow Up

“The planet has already warmed by 1 degree Celsius. We’d actually passed that threshold right around the time of the Paris Agreement in 2015. The Paris Agreement was meant to keep us from surpassing 2 degrees, and to make best efforts to keep it below 1.5 degrees. Between every single piece of a degree lies untold levels of death and disease and generalized destruction.”
Source: Medium (Approx. 5 minutes)

Why Is It So Hard to Talk About Food and Climate Change?

“I’ve never met a Climate Person who wasn’t also a Food Person, and I’ve never met a Food Person who wasn’t at least climate-curious.”
Source: Hot Take (Approx. 7 minutes)

No Better Time for Climate Reparations

“In the past few years, the conversation around climate change has become far more intersectional. It is no longer radical to connect the climate crisis to slavery and colonialism and prison reform and immigrant rights. You don’t have to spend forever explaining and arguing those connections.”
Source: Hot Take (Approx. 7 minutes)

What Works in Climate Narrative + BP’s Nonsense + Climate Grief + Remembering El Paso + Interview with a Disasterologist

“When the pandemic first shut the country down back in March, we immediately had the terrifying thought: how is this going to interact with climate change? What if this is still going on at the height of hurricane and wildfire season?”
Source: Hot Take (Approx. 8 minutes)

Read the SEAL Awards 2020 Environmental Journalism Award Announcement