‘Climate Is Every Story’
An academic-yearlong series on journalism and climate change hosted by the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society will conclude on April 8 with a panel discussion on the business end of climate change coverage.
“The Business of Climate,” which will take place at noon at 245 Beacon Street in the Schiller Institute Convening Space (Room 501), will feature remarks by Associate Professor of Economics Edson Severnini, a Schiller Core faculty member; Carroll School of Management Marketing Professor Gergana Nenkov; SuperCool co-founder Josh Dorfman, host of the company’s podcast; and National Public Radio Climate Desk correspondent Michael Copley. Anissa Gardizy, a San Francisco-based reporter at The Information, will serve as moderator.
The panelists will discuss how journalists can incorporate climate coverage into business and economic stories such as shifting insurance markets, the fate of electric vehicles, and the consequences of consumer habits.
“The Business of Climate” is the final event of “Climate is Every Story,” a four-part series aimed at fostering dialogue among leading journalists and Boston College faculty and students on how to cover the climate crisis. Other events in the series have included “Public Health, Common Good”; “The Climate Crisis is Local News”; and “Forced Migration and Changing Communities.”
Among the panelists were BC alumni: Reuters immigration reporter Ted Hesson ’02, New York Times Senior Editor Amber Williams ’10, and New York Times Economy Editor Patrick McGroarty ’06. Other guest speakers included Boston Globe climate reporter Sabrina Shankman, National Public Radio correspondent Jason Beaubien, and freelance journalist and author Meera Subramanian.
Faculty and representatives from the BC School of Social Work, Engineering Department, Earth and Environmental Sciences Department, Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good, Corcoran Center for Real Estate and Urban Action, and Office of Global Education took part in the previous panels.
BC journalism students were able to cover the events, getting clips for their portfolios and freelance fees in the process.
A recent panel included, from left: Ted Hesson '02, immigration reporter for Reuters; freelance journalist Meera Subramanian; and, from the BC School of Social Work, adjunct faculty member Maryanne Loughry, an Australian Sister of Mercy, psychologist, and senior advisor for Jesuit Refugee Service, and Associate Professor María Fernanda Piñeros-Leaño, a faculty affiliate at both BC's Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society and Institute of Early Childhood Policy. (Photo by John Sexton '26)
The idea for “Climate Is Every Story” came from two faculty members in BC’s Journalism Program who were leading media training at the Schiller Institute: program Associate Director Scott Helman, a long-time Boston Globe executive producer, creative leader, and editor, and staff writer, among other positions; and Janelle Nanos, journalism fellow at the Institute for the Liberal Arts (ILA) and Boston Globe assistant business editor.
Wanting to support the journalism program while underscoring that climate change is central to every beat, Nanos and Helman assembled a group of co-sponsors on a grant from the ILA, including now-former Schiller Institute Executive Director Laura Steinberg and Environmental Studies Program Director Tara Pisani Gareau.
The goal was to build a program that was a win-win-win, Nanos said. “We wanted to establish BC as a place where working journalists could look when they need smart people to talk about tough topics. We wanted students to be able to incorporate climate into any beat. And we wanted to bring journalists to campus to meet and interact with students and faculty.”
The program model has been successful, Nanos added, because there’s no bigger story than climate right now.
“To succeed in this business, you need to have tactical opportunities,” Nanos said. “That means building a network, getting in the door and getting internships, and knowing how to think critically about stories.”
For Madeleine Mulligan ’27, the series has been a chance to write and grow her portfolio, gain reporting experience, and form industry connections. Mulligan, who’s studying English, political science, and journalism, published articles on the series’ microsite about the lectures, including a profile of McGroarty; the two have stayed in touch and McGroarty has provided Mulligan with some mentoring.
“Pursuing a field that is highly competitive is a very stressful experience, but having mentors like those I’ve met through this series has been beyond helpful and rewarding,” Mulligan said.
Schiller Institute Director of Finance and Operations Gregory Adelsberger said one of the institute’s goals is to create programming that brings together the existing expertise at the University in new and collaborative ways with the aim of addressing the world’s most pressing challenges.
“This series has offered a great opportunity to do that, and the Journalism and Earth and Environmental Studies programs have been ideal partners. At the onset of the series, we collectively sought to center Boston College as an institution whose faculty are engaged in groundbreaking climate research and help prepare those faculty to share their findings with the world.”
To register for “The Business of Climate,” to watch previous event recordings, or to explore student reporting on “Climate is Every Story,” visit the program website.