Welcome to
The Journey
of a Story

An exhibit and networking event by The Uproot Project

The mission of The Uproot Project is to bring diverse voices to the forefront of environmental reporting. With this event, we hope to not only feature prominent environmental journalists of color but also highlight the importance their voices, perspectives, and storytelling within environmental journalism.

This exhibit features work from environmental journalists of color who are Uproot members. The exhibit is intended to be interactive: through audio and video, you will learn about each journalist’s experience reporting on their story. As you explore the exhibit, we encourage you to take out your phones and scan the QR codes on the posters to listen to the audio.

Thank you to the Compton Foundation for their support of this event.

Digital Brochure | Table of Contents

(Click the links below to navigate)

Thank you to the Compton Foundation for their support of this event

About the Journalists

Adam Mahoney

Los Angeles, CA
National Climate and Environment Reporter, Capital B News
@AdamLMahoney

Adam Mahoney is the national climate and environment reporter at Capital B News, a local-national nonprofit news organization focused on the Black experience. Before joining Capital B, he was an environmental justice reporter at Grist and reported on police and prisons for the Chicago Sun-Times and the Guardian. Mahoney received the Peter Lisagor Award for best reporting on race and diversity in Illinois in 2021 and is a 2022 national finalist for best community-centered journalism from the Online News Association. He started his career in Chicago but currently resides in his hometown Los Angeles, California.

Shantal Riley

Hudson Valley, NY
Freelance Journalist
@shantalwriter
Website

Shantal is an award-winning, freelance health and environmental journalist. Before graduating from the health and science reporting program at Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, she worked as a print reporter in Newburgh, NY, where she covered the city’s PFAS water crisis. She continues to report on “forever chemicals” in drinking water and communities of color. Her work has been featured by Washington Post Magazine, Frontline PBS, NOVA PBS, WNYC / Gothamist and Vice’s Motherboard, among other publications.

Rachel Ramirez

New York, NY
Climate Writer, CNN
@rachjuramirez
Website

Rachel Ramirez is a general assignment writer and reporter on CNN’s Climate Team, covering climate change and environmental justice. She focuses on breaking news, trending stories, and deeply-reported narratives that help CNN readers understand how the climate crisis affects all aspects of their lives. Prior to joining CNN in 2021, Ramirez spent roughly a year freelance writing for publications including Vox, HuffPost, The Guardian, and was also a former fellow of Grist. She is also the co-founder of the Asian American Journalist Association’s Pacific Islander Task Force. Currently based in New York City, Ramirez was born and raised on the island of Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory just north of Guam.

Yessenia Funes

Queens, NY
Climate Director of Atmos
@yessfun
Website

Yessenia Funes is an environmental journalist currently serving as climate director for Atmos, an independent nonprofit magazine covering climate and culture. There, she publishes a biweekly newsletter The Frontline, which focuses on environmental and climate justice. Yessenia has been reporting on the climate crisis for eight years. She’s been published in Vogue, The Guardian, Grist, HuffPost, and more. Throughout the years, she’s reported on the ground in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, in Nicaragua’s Miskito Indigenous communities after hurricanes, and in the Arizona desert to experience how climate change is affecting migrants.

Lylla Younes

Brooklyn, NY
Staff Writer, Grist
@lyllayounes

Lylla Younes is a staff writer for environmental investigations at Grist. Previously, she was a data journalist at ProPublica and WNYC/Gothamist. Her work mapping cancer-causing industrial pollution in Louisiana helped lead to the suspension of Formosa Plastic’s permit in St. James Parish, and won the 2020 Nina Mason Pulliam Award for Outstanding Environmental Reporting. In 2021, she led an investigation about hotspots of toxic industrial air pollution across the nation.  That series was a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize and a National Magazine Award.

Nikhil Swaminathan

Atlanta, GA
CEO, Grist

Panel Moderator

Nikhil oversees Grist’s Editorial program, and the organization more broadly in this capacity as CEO. Under Nikhil’s direction, Grist Editorial has won numerous awards and published major investigations. Nikhil began his tenure at Grist as Senior Justice Editor, founding the Environmental Justice Desk. He’s held editorial positions at Scientific American, Al Jazeera America, GOOD, Archaeology and others. Prior to joining Grist, he was in the inaugural class of Ida B. Wells fellows at Type Investigations (formerly The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute).

About Uproot

The Uproot Project is a newly launched network for journalists of color who cover environmental issues, as well as students and others aspiring to cover this beat.

We want to bring diverse voices to the forefront of environmental reporting. As a network, we’re dedicated to advancing the careers of journalists of color who’ve been historically underrepresented in this field, imbuing journalistic coverage with critical and fresh perspectives. The Uproot Project will connect its member journalists with publications, offer training, and build community as we navigate the work ahead reporting on the environmental crises of our time.

The Uproot Project is open to journalists of all races, ethnicities and backgrounds, but its goal is to uplift and support journalists of color who have been underrepresented in the journalism industry for far too long. Our group is currently funded by and assisted operationally by Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. While we plan to one day operate independently, our first priority is to establish the network, welcome new members, and build a network that transforms who tells the stories of one of the most important issues of the century.

Initiatives

Environmental Journalists of Color Database

The Uproot Project Database is a critical resource for journalists who are seeking to connect with editors, mentors, experts, sources, and other journalists of color within the environmental space. As a network by and for environmental and climate journalists of color, The Uproot Project is committed to diversity in the media, which means spotlighting diverse voices. The people you will find in our database identify as Black, Indigenous, or other people of color, who have exercised expertise in climate, science, social justice, and environmental spaces.

Environmental Justice Fellowships

At The Uproot Project, we believe there are important environmental justice stories that need to be told. We believe that journalists of color bring critical and fresh perspectives to covering these stories. With The Uproot Project’s Environmental Justice Fellowship, we want to bring the two together — to help underrepresented journalists shed light on undercovered topics. Meet our 2022 class of fellows here.

The Seedling (newsletter)

We produce a biweekly newsletter aimed at getting our members up to speed on all things Uproot. It’s dedicated to sharing updates for future Uproot trainings, panels, and meetups as well as sharing job opportunities and reporting resources. It’s also a spot to amplify the work of our members and highlight our growing network of journalists of color. You can subscribe here.

Donate to the Uproot Project here

Explore the Exhibit

This exhibit features work from environmental journalists of color who are Uproot members. The exhibit is intended to be interactive: through audio and video, you will learn about each journalist’s experience reporting on their story. As you explore the exhibit, we encourage you to take out your phones and scan the QR codes on the posters to listen to the audio. For accessibility and convenience, links to the audio, transcripts, and articles can all be found below.

These Maps Show the Risks of the New Great Migration

Adam Mahoney | Capital B News

Listen to audioAudio transcriptRead the article

The New York Water Crisis That Nobody’s Talking About

Shantal Riley | Vice

Listen to audioAudio transcriptRead the article

This Colorado community was a ‘climate utopia.’ Now that vision is under siege

Rachel Ramirez | CNN

Listen to audioAudio transcriptRead the article

The Other Side of Disaster

Yessenia Funes | Atmos

Watch video (subtitled)Read the article

Poison in the Air

Lylla Younes | ProPublica

Listen to audioAudio transcriptRead the article

Thank You to Our Sponsor

Thank you to everyone who made this event possible including the generous sponsorship by the Compton Foundation, Grist, and all the journalists & publications who allowed The Uproot Project to feature them in this event.