Category Archives: Speakers

Environmental writer donates books to Knight Center library

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Gary Wilson

Gary Wilson, a widely known environmental commentator and independent journalist from Chicago who has written about the Great Lakes for over 20 years, has donated more than two dozen books to the Knight Center library.

His contribution honors Dave Poulson, the center’s retired senior associate director and founder of Great Lakes Echo, the center’s award-winning environmental news service.

The collection includes books by such Great Lakes authors as Jeff Alexander, Dave Dempsey and Jerry Dennis, as well as pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha’s inside look at the Flint Water Crisis.

Wilson reports on the Great Lakes and related economic and social issues for Great Lakes Now.

Remote sensing satellites are revealing global methane emissions

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Anna Barnes

By Anna Barnes

Methane gas is a cornerstone in the climate change conversation. Reducing emissions is a critical part of mitigation but there is one ever-standing issue of this elusive gas: it’s invisible.

At the Society of Environmental Journalists Conference 2025, one panel focused on locating and mapping methane pools to increase targeted action against the pollutant. The panel, “Revealing the Invisible: How Remote-Sensing Satellites are Transforming Methane Accountability and Climate Action,” included Deborah Gordon, the senior principal at the Rocky Mountain Institute’s (RMI) Climate Intelligence Program.

Gordon said identifying methane has always been a struggle for scientists.

“It’s invisible, it’s odorless,” she said. “It wants to escape from any system it’s in. So here I was early on in my career, given a bucket of soapy water and a paintbrush, and I was going around to see where the pressure would form with a bubble that would come.” Continue reading →

Knight Center researchers present studies on environmental journalism in Latin America

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Knight Center director Eric Freedman and Knight Center doctoral student and research assistant Iasmim Amiden dos Santos presented two papers on environmental journalism in Latin America at the 2025 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference, held August 7-10 in San Francisco, California.

Eric Freedman presenting at AEJMC

Freedman presented a case study of three Knight Center training programs for professional journalists and students in Bolivia, Chile and Peru. The programs were designed to strengthen skills, expand networks and build knowledge of environmental science and policy, while adapting to each country’s social, political and environmental context.

Freedman also addressed the challenges of conducting training during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Peru program shifted to a virtual format. Despite those hurdles, Freedman stressed the benefits of these initiatives in improving accuracy, ethics and fairness in reporting – especially in contexts with limited funding for investigative work, restrictions on press freedom and physical or legal threats that undermine journalists’ ability to cover environmental degradation and related social conflicts. Continue reading →

Knight Center researcher among AEJMC Diversity and Inclusion Career Development Fellows

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Iasmim Amiden dos Santos

Doctoral student and Knight Center research assistant Iasmim Amiden dos Santos was selected as one of this year’s Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Diversity and Inclusion Career Development Fellows. Organized by the Mass Communication & Society Division, the program supports graduate students from historically underrepresented groups in the U.S. as they prepare for academic and professional careers in communication fields.

Amiden dos Santos, from Brazil, researches environmental journalism practices, the roles of journalists, and discourses surrounding environmental issues and Indigenous peoples in Latin America. “I see this fellowship as a chance to strengthen my path while supporting more equitable representation in academia and media,” said Amiden dos Santos. Continue reading →