A tip sheet from our partners at the National Press Club Journalism Institute
Climate change and its impacts will continue dominating the news cycle as extreme weather events become more frequent. And journalists play a vital role in covering these disasters with context, clarity, and urgency.
While the overarching climate story can feel formidable, research shows that audiences tend to tune out when the news is overwhelmingly bad. Enter solutions journalism.
The Solutions Project is a nonprofit organization that connects journalists with community leaders to tell climate stories. The organization created a Storybank hub, which highlights stories of grassroots organizations working at the intersection of climate justice and other social challenges.
The National Press Club Journalism Institute reached out to Thelma Young Lutunatabua, the organization’s senior manager of narrative strategies, to learn how journalists can best utilize its resources.
Q: What are the biggest challenges you see with climate change coverage right now?
Young Lutunatabua: A major issue is that while most people understand the climate crisis is happening, they don’t see how climate is connected to the rest of their lives. There are opportunities to put issues like extreme weather and environmental laws in the larger context of climate solutions — like public transit, solar, and rain gardens that impact everyday health and living issues. Some news outlets are working to educate other desks in climate coverage, but we’d like to see this be the rule — not the exception.
Additionally, so many climate journalists are being laid off, and those who are left have so much on their plate. It is because of these factors that climate coverage doesn’t always have the capacity to cover the depth of climate stories and how it connects with communities now. The community-based groups featured in the Storybank are already actively witnessing and building solutions that weave climate with housing access, good jobs, health and safety, as well as other day-to-day priorities.
For example, PUSH Buffalo is ensuring there’s more affordable, energy-efficient housing, while also training local community members to have skills to land high-quality green jobs. … In Chicago, Blacks in Green envisions a Sustainable Square Mile — a walk-to-work, walk-to-shop, walk-to-learn, and walk-to-play village where African Americans own the businesses, own the land, and live the “conservation lifestyle.”
Too often, reporters define experts as only scientists or technologists, which misses the opportunity to understand climate within our everyday realities. The Solutions Project actively connects community leaders with reporters to tell solutions stories that sprout from the ground up and really make a difference in people’s lives.
Can you share some examples of how journalists have worked with The Solutions Project to provide impactful climate coverage?
TYL: There are incredible climate-justice solutions happening all the time and all over the country. However, grassroots groups often don’t have the budget to pay for communications work to tell the stories of their wins. This is where The Solutions Project tries to help build connections.
For example, when Good Morning America was looking for positive solutions around water, we connected them with New Alpha Community Development Corporation, an environmental justice nonprofit in South Carolina that adopted hydro panels — solar technology that converts water vapor in the air into clean drinking water — to provide their community with clean drinking water. … Frontline communities aren’t waiting for someone else to come in and save them — they are solving problems all the time, and it’s really inspiring for others to learn about!
We also let the producer know about New Alpha’s ribbon-cutting for the South’s first environmental justice training center. Good Morning America was then able to be there for that exciting moment. Just like our community partnerships, we build relationships with journalists for the long-haul.
How did the Storybank resource for journalists come together?
TYL: The Storybank came from celebrating the ideas and success of our grassroots partners over the last decade and hearing the reactions from anyone on the receiving end. What we hear from journalists, elected officials, donors, artists, even our own families, is that they wish more of these stories were documented and shared widely. …
So much of the struggle surrounding climate action is a crisis of the imagination beyond the doom and gloom. If people can’t see what is possible to build, then they won’t be able to advocate for it or imagine other solutions in their community. We know another world is possible — one that centers everyday people, health, justice, and a safe climate. We make it easy for journalists to find quality stories and climate justice experts.
The response has been incredible, with people feeling the hopeful synergy of all these projects. Journalists, readers, really most people want to learn about neighbors coming together to implement bold, practical solutions that make their lives better. …
We also included brief character profiles to showcase some of the people behind the work. People like Leimana Ritte-Camara with Hoʻāhu Energy Cooperative Molokai. When her sister’s mobile home caught fire recently, Hoʻāhu and the community came together to help her rebuild, including a small renewable energy system to provide energy to her family.
What do you see as the top climate solutions stories not being told in traditional journalism?
TYL: As part of telling the full climate story, it’s important that we see more stories that are about solutions grounded in communities most affected by extreme weather, polluting industries, and other consequences of the climate crisis. They are closest to the problems and offer the most effective solutions. …
These solutions are popping up across the country, like resilience hubs, which are community spaces for disaster recovery. More cities, counties, and states are experiencing the benefit of working with community partners as they build climate solutions.
Where can journalists find additional resources to help inform their climate reporting?
TYL: The Solutions Project’s Covering Climate Equitably guide offers helpful information and practical tips for journalists who want to produce climate and clean energy stories that accurately and appropriately feature the views, experiences, and leadership of community members, especially people of color and low-income people working on climate change solutions.
We also have other reports and research on our website — everything from case studies to impact metrics to media narrative trends. We also want to give a shout out to partners Uproot Project and Solutions Journalism Network, who are also working with journalists on these issues.
The Global Business Journalism program is pleased to share professional journalist tips from the National Press Club Journalism Institute. We are thankful to NPCJI executive director Beth Francesco for her kind permission to excerpt this from the National Press Club Journalism Institute's newsletter, "The Latest." It was originally published on December 2, 2024.
The Latest" newsletter is written and edited by the National Press Club Journalism Institute staff. Send your questions and suggestions for topics to cover. We recommend that you subscribe and donate. You also can view the archives of "The Latest."
Comments