Why Journalists Shouldn’t Be Neutral on Climate Change

Calls to Keep Politics Out of Science Reporting Ignore a Core Responsibility: Minimize Harm

Can we, and should we, ever really be neutral? In a new series, Zócalo explores the idea of neutrality—in politics, sports, gender, journalism, and more. In this essay, journalism scholar Perry Parks makes the case for favoring evidence over equivalence when it comes to climate change.

Last year was the hottest summer on record in the Northern Hemisphere. Earth’s ocean surfaces were warmer in the first month of 2024 than any previously recorded January. And by the end of this year, global climate-related deaths since …

by Perry Parks | August 12, 2024

A hand holds a polaroid picture of Vancouver, which looks bright with green hills and mountains. Behind the polaroid, the rest of the Vancouver landscape is visible. It is darker, with the city and mountains lit in orange and red.

An Elegy for Vancouver Summer

Rising Temperatures and Raging Wildfires Have Me Dreading My Favorite Season—And Mourning the Splendid Days of My Childhood

by Paloma Pacheco | June 20, 2024

Last summer was my first in my new apartment. I’d moved into the building in the fall, several weeks into a cool Vancouver November. The trees were bare, and our …

In California, It’s 72 With a Chance of “Weather Whiplash”

For All the Cliches About Endless Sunny Days, the Golden State’s Seasonal Forecasts Are Hard to Get Right

by Joe Mathews | February 13, 2024

California weather is harder to predict than it looks. Even Harris K. Telemacher came to learn that.

Telemacher was a Los Angeles TV weathercaster with an ocean of knowledge—he had a …

Finding a Good Society in the Mud of Burning Man

Humans Are Human—And Governments Need to Help Them Achieve Self-Reliance and Avoid Panic in the Face of Disaster

by Micah Weinberg | September 20, 2023

Since leaving Burning Man, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the role that principles play in a society, and what to do when people don’t live up to …

Will Hawai’i Succeed in Killing Me?

A Weather Forecaster on the Big Island Predicts More Disasters If the State Doesn’t Heed Scientific Warnings

by Michael Phillips | September 5, 2023

Hawai‘i is a spectacular place—not just visually exciting, but also located above incredible geological forces and beneath amazing atmospheric conditions. As a meteorologist who reports on earth science news, I …

Extreme Heat Is Boring

But Can Feeling Trapped Indoors Motivate Us to Climate Action?

by Caroline Tracey | August 3, 2023

The first time I met someone from Tucson, Arizona, I asked him a burning—pardon the pun—question. How did people there tolerate the summer heat? I pictured my childhood summers in …

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