Brady Walkinshaw: Empowering activists with solutions-driven environmental journalism (ep291)
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Brady Walkinshaw joins us in this episode to discuss:
why he led GRIST to focus on solutions-oriented journalism;
how nonprofit journalism explores environmental issues differently than corporate media; and more.
Musical feature: Trust The Sun by Irene Skylakaki (IG: @ireneskylakaki, Spotify: Irene Skylakaki)
“The estimate that I’ve heard is something like a billion dollars has come out of the local journalism ecosystem in this country over the past decade. As a result, you just don’t have the same capacity of newspapers and newsrooms to tell and report local stories.”
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Here’s Brady on the much-needed shift within environmental journalism:
“Twenty years ago when Grist was started as a publication, there were only about 30% of Americans who believed that climate change was real and human-made. Fast forward 20 years, the awareness gap has changed, but the reality is that we have a new gap.
Still, in America, fewer than 1/5 of Americans believe that we can solve the problem. Second, the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication found that fewer than 1/3 of Americans see climate change as an issue of social justice.
So today, our focus is: How can we tell a story about our solutions that makes people and humanity coalesce around the idea that the future can be better after [the era of fossil fuels]? And then, fundamentally, I think it’s really important that we look at solving climate change as deeply connected to social justice.”
About Brady Walkinshaw:
Brady Piñero Walkinshaw (Twitter: @bradywalkinshaw) is the Chief Executive Officer of Grist (Twitter: @grist; Instagram: @grist; Facebook: @Grist.org; YouTube: Grist TV), a leading national media organization on issues of environment, justice, and sustainability, reaching 2 million readers a month and syndicating content through over 20 major national publications.
Through an award-winning editorial program that explores solutions, exposes injustice, and emboldens readers to act, and a newly launched Networks program that fosters an unlikely network of leaders building a sustainable future that works for everyone, Grist is shining its “beacon in the smog” toward a better tomorrow.
Brady is a former State Legislator in Washington State, championing housing, environment, criminal justice, and mental health reforms. In 2016, Brady ran for U.S. Congress endorsed by groups from The Seattle Times to local columnist Dan Savage, who described him as “gutsy and effective.” Brady managed the publication of a 2016 special edition of Foreign Affairs launched at Davos authored by Kofi Annan, Sam Dryden, and Sir Gordon Conway on the future of African food systems and technology supported by the Gates family office. Prior to the Legislature, Brady spent five years at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Brady is a Fulbright Scholar and a graduate of Princeton University, where he served on the Board of Trustees. Brady has served on many local and national Boards including the Progress Alliance, Latino Victory Project, United Way of King County, the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, and previously chaired the Washington State advisory group for the Trust for Public Land.
