Menu
Past ESI Journalism Fellows
In 2021, ESI launched our Journalism Fellowship by supporting five journalists to develop high-impact news projects with local newsrooms around the country, with reporting that connected local perspectives, values, and priorities with climate change science and solutions. To date, there have been two completed cohorts, from 2021 and 2023. Learn more about them and their projects below.
Meet our 2023 Fellows
Micah Drew
Kalispell, MT: The Flathead Beacon
Micah Drew covers local government, the environment and athletics for The Flathead Beacon in Northwest Montana. Micah earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Montana, a master’s in biomechanics and kinesiology from Boise State University and previously reported for weekly newspapers in Idaho and Montana. When not in the newsroom, Micah is routinely found running on alpine trails in Glacier National Park. Since 2007, the Flathead Beacon has been devoted to delivering free public-service journalism and commentary throughout Northwest Montana. Collaborating newsroom members include Tristan Scott, who has spent 15+ years reporting on Montana’s environmental issues, and Denali Sagner, a recent University of Pennsylvania graduate.
Fellowship Project: An eight-part series in The Flathead Beacon: “Montana’s Climate Change Lawsuit”
Joan Meiners
Phoenix, AZ: The Arizona Republic
Joan Meiners is the climate news and storytelling reporter at The Arizona Republic. With a background in science writing and a Ph.D. in Ecology, she publishes a weekly story aimed at helping readers understand how climate change is altering life in the southwest and what we can do about it. She previously covered water insecurity in southwestern Utah with The St. George Spectrum through Report for America and worked on an investigation into the injustices of petrochemical pollution in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network, The Times-Picayune and The New Orleans Advocate. She lives in Phoenix.
Fellowship Project: A five-part series in The Arizona Republic on climate and housing. Published pieces include: “As Arizona builds to solve a housing crisis, will its homes withstand future heat extremes?”, “How is your Arizona city using building codes to combat climate and housing crises? Check our map.” and “More homes mean more heat. Can new building codes help save metro Phoenix from disaster?”
Annie Ropeik
Portland, ME: The Maine Monitor
Annie Ropeik is a freelance journalist based in Portland, Maine, where she reports on climate change, energy and environmental issues for The Maine Monitor and other outlets. She is a board member with the Society of Environmental Journalists and assistant director of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, a reporting collaborative. Originally from Silver Spring, Maryland, Annie studied classics at Boston University and spent the first decade of her career as an award-winning reporter and host for NPR stations in Alaska, Delaware, Indiana and New Hampshire.
Fellowship Project: A five-part series in the Maine Monitor: “Hooked on Heating Oil,” and “Making Maine’s next generation of housing fossil-free—and affordable” in Energy News Network
Mike Tony
Charleston, WV: The Charleston Gazette-Mail
Mike Tony is The Charleston Gazette-Mail’s energy and environment reporter. He has written extensively about how West Virginia’s topographic and political landscapes make its residents vulnerable to climate impacts. Previously, he reported for The Uniontown Herald-Standard in southwestern Pennsylvania, his hometown newspaper. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
Fellowship Project: A four-part series in The Charleston Gazette-Mail:”‘We have to move on’: WV leaders pushing state flood risk upward by favoring resource extraction over climate action,””‘More intense, more water’: West Virginians call for greater flood protection amid climate concerns from extraction projects,” “‘Focus on the solutions’: Climate change communication looms large as WV faces flooded future,””Unfunded, uninsured and ignored: Experts urge support for flood protection solutions amid mounting disaster costs”
Ryan Van Velzer
Louisville, KY: Louisville Public Media
Ryan Van Velzer, Louisville Public Media’s Energy & Environment reporter, is dedicated to covering climate change and environmental issues across Kentucky. Ryan graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University and has more than a decade of experience in the industry. He has worked for The Arizona Republic, The Associated Press, The South Florida Sun Sentinel and as a travel reporter in Central America and Southeast Asia. He has won numerous awards including regional Edward R. Murrow awards, Associated Press Broadcasters awards and Society of Professional Journalists Louisville Pro Chapter awards.
Fellowship Project: A four-part series in Louisville Public Media: “Coal’s Dying Light”
Meet our 2021 Fellows
Meet the Fellows
Tristan Baurick
New Orleans, LA: The Times Picayune | New Orleans Advocate
Tristan Baurick is an environment reporter for The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate. His work focuses on coastal restoration, fisheries, and the oil industry. He was named the 2018 Louisiana Newsperson of the Year by the state’s managing editors association and was a Pulitzer Center Connected Coastlines grant recipient in 2019. He worked with ProPublica on a series about industrial pollution that earned the Society of Environmental Journalists’ top investigative award last year. Before joining the Times-Picayune, he spent a year as a Ted Scripps environmental journalism fellow at the University of Colorado and worked for his hometown newspaper, the Kitsap Sun, near Seattle.
Fellowship project: Winds of Change: How the Gulf of Mexico could be the next offshore wind powerhouse, a five-part, front page investigative series in The Times Picayune | New Orleans Advocate
Dustin Bleizeffer
Casper, WY: WyoFile
Dustin Bleizeffer has worked as a coal miner, an oilfield mechanic, and for 22 years as a statewide reporter and editor primarily covering the energy industry in Wyoming. He is a 2021-22 Report for America Corps member covering education at WyoFile, a nonprofit news organization based in Wyoming. Previously, he served as Communications Director for the Wyoming Outdoor Council, a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford, and WyoFile editor-in-chief. He lives in Casper, Wyoming.
Fellowship project: A three-part series in WyoFile: “Wyoming climate data holds ominous clues about life, economy,” “Wyoming residents observe a changing climate and quality of life,” “Gilette, Campbell County plan for post-coal economy”
Nora Hertel
St. Cloud, MN: St. Cloud Times
Nora Hertel is the government and investigations reporter for the St. Cloud Times in central Minnesota. She likes to tie personal stories to policy, data, and public records. Before moving to Minnesota, Nora reported for the Wausau Daily Herald in central Wisconsin, The Associated Press in South Dakota, and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. She earned her master’s in journalism at UW-Madison. She’s a big fan of solutions journalism, Irish music, dog walks and time with family.
Fellowship project: Six reported pieces on farm and forest carbon sequestration in the St. Cloud Times, a short explanatory video on “How plants can help combat climate change through photosynthesis,” and the six-episode podcast series “Future-Facing Farms”
Awards and recognition: Nora’s reporting on carbon sequestration in Minnesota was featured in the Best of Gannett 2021 journalism awards, and her series “Solutions in the Soil” was the first place social issues story in the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s 2022 Better Newspaper Contest.
Melba Newsome
Charlotte, NC: North Carolina Health News
Melba Newsome is an award-winning independent journalist with over 20 years of experience contributing news, health and investigative features to some of the country’s most widely-read publications. In the past decade, her reporting has focused primarily on education, health and issues of social justice. Thanks to a grant from Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, she has reported extensively on the physiological, emotional, and societal impact of the novel coronavirus on the Black community. That reporting revealed the role environmental racism has and continues to play in the pandemic.
Fellowship project: A two-part series in NC Health News: “Unchecked growth of industrial animal farms spurs long fight for environmental justice in Eastern NC” and “Decades of legal battles over pollution by industrial hog farms haven’t changed much for eastern NC residents burdened by environmental racism,” and an interactive map project forthcoming in 2022
Alex Schwartz
Klamath Falls, OR: Herald & News
Alex Schwartz is an environmental journalist and Report for America corps member at the Herald and News in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Originally from Central Florida, he has traded subtropical swamps and beaches for the mountains and high deserts of Southern Oregon and Northern California. Alex earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in science journalism from Northwestern University, and his freelance work has appeared in Popular Science, Gizmodo and Atlas Obscura. His current position focuses on water issues, research on endangered species and the largest dam removal effort in U.S. history. In his free time, Alex enjoys baking and exploring the outdoors.
Fellowship project: An interactive website “Project Klamath: Saving a watershed in an era of climate change” produced with the Herald & News
Awards and recognition: Alex’s Project Klamath was recognized with an Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communication from the National Academies.
Read our MIT ESI Journalism Fellowship Impact Report 2021 to learn more about the accomplishments of our first class of fellows.
Learn more about the ESI Journalism Fellowship program.