Journalist John Schwartz joins Plutopians to discuss journalism and climate science. After two decades at the New York Times, John has joined the faculty at the University of Texas School of Journalism as a professor of practice concentrating on climate science.

UT has been very good to me and it turns out that I love teaching, and the students are great. And it’s also not a bad thing to be trying to launch people into the world of journalism, and especially – I’m teaching a course in covering climate, covering the environment. And I really feel it’s important to get people into that field especially – the science communication/climate communication field – and have them be good at it and have them come from not necessarily the Ivy Leagues but from every part of the country. And so doing this from Texas is especially satisfying.

John has written extensively about climate science and environmental issues. He is a strong advocate for science communication, and has argued that journalists have a responsibility to report accurately on climate science and to help the public understand the issue. He argues that climate journalists need to be more proactive in telling stories about the impacts of climate change that are already happening. He has also said that journalists need to do a better job of explaining the science of climate change to the public.

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