Panel: Reporting on Oceans Through an Equity Lens

Oceans are often framed narrowly as “nature” to be conserved. While protection matters, journalists can deepen their reporting by examining how oceans, lakes and rivers shape the livelihoods, cultures and sense of place of the communities who depend on them.

In 2025, the Metcalf Institute and Ocean Nexus Institutes at the University of Rhode Island partnered with The Uproot Project to support three journalists exploring how our relationships with the oceans are intertwined with systemic inequities, marginalization and exploitation. Working closely with Ocean Nexus scientists whose research is grounded in intersectionality and critical practice, fellows produced science-informed reporting on the cruise industry’s impacts on Caribbean communities, deep-sea mining controversies affecting communities across the Southern Pacific, and the global seafood trade’s effects on fishing communities in Louisiana and Mexico.

Attendees will hear from the 2025 fellows and receive resource guides to cover oceans and water systems through an equity lens in their own regions.

Moderator:

• Lucia Priselac, Grist, Director, The Uproot Project