In a new collaboration between iSEE and the Department of Journalism, JOUR 473: Environmental Journalism has been added to the Certificate in Environmental Writing (CEW). Taught by Cassandra Troy, Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism, this course will give students the tools they need to effectively and thoughtfully report on environmental topics.
With her experience working in nonprofits and university sustainability roles, Troy offers a unique perspective that budding environmental writers will have plenty to learn from.
While developing an interest in how to effectively communicate about climate change in graduate school, Troy came to understand the polarizing nature of the environmental beat. Whether discussing specific environmental solutions, like electric-powered vehicles, or reactions to pro-environment policies, the media plays a key role in influencing the public’s opinion on environmental topics. To that end, thoughtful environmental reporting is crucial.
“Most people probably aren’t looking at environmental data in their free time,” Troy said. “I think the public deserves quality information about the environment, and a lot of that quality information is going to come from journalists.”
In JOUR 473, Troy wants students to walk away with the skills to talk to experts, recognize suspicious information, interpret complex topics, and report in a way that is accessible and thoughtful. Throughout the semester, students will put what they’ve learned into practice by writing a variety of news stories.
“Students get to tailor assignments to their interests,” Troy said. “They choose a focus topic for the semester and all their major story assignments relate to that topic. That way, they have a chance to develop some expertise that is more relevant to what interests them.”
In the past, JOUR 473 students have tackled hot topics ranging from environmental justice to air quality concerns to humanity’s ecological interactions with the world around us.
Troy encourages students to exercise nuanced perspectives when analyzing environmental topics. “I ask students to think about how they would report on the solutions to an environmental problem, or come at it from an environmental justice angle, or even think about the historical context. It’s important to think about whether or not environmental risks and benefits are experienced equally by different people.”
In her current research, Troy studies on the effects of positive media messaging, in which news that spotlights climate change solutions and success stories may be utilized to foster hope and collective action in audiences. This work is notable because the vast majority of existing research on the environmental beat examines the efficacy of threat-based messaging, in which the consequences of climate change are emphasized. This topic is a notable point of discussion in JOUR 473; students in the class will grapple with questions about the broader environmental news media landscape and how it may succeed or fail in engaging different audiences.
The motto of the CEW, “turning data into narrative,” is foundational to this course. Students are asked to draw on data and outside information in order to place things like events and organizations within the context of a broader environmental topic. The course also covers data visualization, which can be essential to effective environmental journalism.
Gillen Wood, English Professor and Director of the CEW, believes this course will empower developing environmental writers and teach them practical skills for their future careers. “Professor Troy brings a wealth of experience and energy to the teaching of environmental journalism and, as with all our CEW instructors, welcomes students from all across campus to her class,” he said.
JOUR 473 is designed to be a positive and approachable learning experience for students of all backgrounds, even those who have never taken a journalism course before. “I provide resources for journalistic writing, so students who don’t have that experience have some support,” Troy said.
JOUR 473 is planned to be offered every spring semester, including Spring 2026.
“The CEW student community is an eclectic and vibrant mix of environmental communicators,” Wood said, “and with the addition of JOUR 473 to the range of course options for the certificate, students can now take advantage of iSEE’s new partnership with the School of Journalism.”
An examination of the importance of centering Indigenous experiences when serving their communities, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign undergraduate Vivian La’s article was the grand prize winner in the fourth annual Janelle Joseph Prize for Environmental Writing through the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE).
In total, four U of I students won awards in the contest this year. In addition to receiving cash prizes, their work will be published in upcoming issues of Q Magazine.
Since the summer of 2020, Q Magazine’s generous benefactor, Janelle Joseph, has sponsored the Environmental Writing Contest.
The contest received a dozen entries this year. Entrants competed for cash prizes and the chance to have their work published in Q, a student-written, professionally curated publication of the undergraduate Certificate in Environmental Writing (CEW) program. The magazine tackles big environmental questions, such as the complicated relationships between humans and the species we share our planet with, battles for environmental justice, and the everyday items that clog our waste stream.
“Knowledge is Power,” by La, a senior in Journalism, took the $1,000 grand prize. An excerpt from an interview in her piece:
“Contextual engineering is just listening to people. I think if we can start respecting that and appreciating that, then not only will the field of engineering change, but you’ll just give everyone an appreciation of the communities around them.”
Other winners:
Levi Beckett, a senior in Media and Cinema Studies, won the Memoir Prize with “Ego, Id, and the Flood.”
Sakshi Vaya, a senior in Earth, Society, and Environmental Sustainability, won the At Illinois Prize with “Why We Waste.”
Abby Culloton, a senior in Civil and Environmental Engineering, won the Feature Prize with “Blinded Me with Citizen Science.”
In addition to the four prize winners, one honorable mention award was selected. Helen Anil, a junior in both Accounting and Environmental Science, will have the opportunity to be published in an upcoming Q Magazine for “Thumbi Vaa — A Dragonfly’s Invitation.”
“Our latest crop of Janelle Joseph Writing Competition prizewinners is among the best ever,” said CEW Director Gillen Wood, Robert W. Schaefer Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences in the Department of English. “The winning stories, from students across the Illinois campus, range from environmental justice in the American West, to a deep dive on food waste, to the amazing potential of citizen science. These annual prize-winning stories are typical of the hard-hitting reporting we’re seeing from our Certificate in Environmental Writing students, and a tribute to Janelle Joseph for her continuing, generous support to reward and encourage them.
“Janelle is a valued member of our iSEE family, and we can’t thank her enough for her commitment to our undergraduates.”
The writing contest, which will be offered again next spring and summer, is open to Illinois undergraduates from any major and geared toward those with an interest in writing and the environment.
Anyone who’s thrown a baseball is familiar with Newton’s First Law: Objects in motion will continue in a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force. No one understands this concept better than Zack Fishman.
A 2019 graduate of the University of Illinois Grainger College of Engineering’s Physics program, Fishman now works as a reporter for NewsGuard Technologies, which rates the trustworthiness of news sites. How did he get from there to here? Like an errant particle, such a radical career shift involved a multitude of outside, and unplanned, forces — many of which hold lessons for future writers.
From the outset, Fishman seemed destined for a long and illustrious career in STEM. Along with his Physics degree, Fishman also holds a concentration in Science Journalism, a minor in Mathematics, and a Certificate in Environmental Writing (CEW) from iSEE and the Department of English.
“It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do career-wise,” Fishman said. “I had no interest in physics research.”
Throughout his college career at the U of I, Fishman found himself more and more attracted to exploring science in a different way.
“After a couple dead-ends, I found journalism and writing,” he said.
He wrote for The Daily Illini, took some writing classes, enrolled in the CEW, and eventually became copy editor of the student-run environmental magazine The Green Observer. Fishman also wrote several articles for Q Magazine, which features the best student writing from the CEW program.
“My CEW classes taught me about examining environmental issues from many perspectives and compellingly communicating my ideas through writing,” Fishman said. After those experiences, “I knew I wanted a more formal education.”
Fishman completed a one-year master’s program in journalism at Northwestern University’s nationally renowned Medill School. After graduation, though, another outside force was in store: Fishman finished the program in Spring 2020, during the first lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thankfully, like every good writer, Fishman seized an opportunity before him, allowing him to weather the worst of the pandemic. Earlier, during his master’s degree studies, Fishman had accepted a position as a finance reporter at a startup called Fastinform.
While not thrilled about finance as a subject matter, Fishman still found the work interesting. His task: write three, 400-word stories daily. Despite a relatively streamlined process involving a research team and several editors, “it was definitely a little too much,” Fishman recalled with a smile.
Then, in a move familiar to many writers, the career he set in motion was cut short. Fastinform folded after six months and rebranded itself as The Academic Times. Along with the name change, Fishman’s workload shifted significantly — he finally got to write about what truly interested him. It was a much more palatable, if slightly increased, workload. Five stories a week, all about new scientific research.
“Scientific issues are definitely the most interesting to me,” Fishman said. “I really enjoy being able to write about the intersection between scientific research and societal issues.”
“One of my favorite stories I wrote,” Fishman recalled on his stint at The Academic Times, “was about an interesting theoretical physics paper which showed the math that, by using a large quantity of mass to warp space-time, you could technically make something move faster than the speed of light.”
This theory set off alarm bells; it seemed a little too good to be true. Fishman’s STEM education affords him a marked advantage: He brings an open-minded skepticism to suss out the truly scientific from bold, headline-friendly claims.
So, Fishman did what every good journalist should. He interviewed the researcher, while also getting input from other theoretical physicists for corroboration. After a lengthy verification process, “I couldn’t find anyone making conclusive arguments saying he was wrong.”
Therein lies an important message for budding writers. “For journalism you don’t need to be a subject matter expert in everything you’re writing about,” Fishman said. “But being comfortable with complicated issues and asking others the right questions is a really good way to do journalism.”
Unfortunately, The Academic Times followed the fate of Fastinform and went under. Fishman was once again a writer looking for work.
After a few months of job searching, Fishman landed where he is today. As a Senior Analyst at NewsGuard, an anti-misinformation platform, Fishman analyzes, reviews, and rates the trustworthiness of different websites. Even though his job at NewsGuard isn’t always science-focused, Fishman seems content.
“A lot of my work is very research-heavy,” he said. “I enjoy it and find it really interesting.”
Just like his time at Fastinform and The Academic Times, Fishman’s scientific expertise consistently resurfaces. One topic of misinformation that he sees often is climate denial. That Certificate in Environmental Writing he earned several years ago is coming in handy.
Looking at Fishman’s relatively young career from a bird’s-eye view can yield a bounty of lessons for aspiring writers. His work changed frequently and suddenly; sometimes he had to do work that he’d rather not but found a way to make it interesting. By approaching subjects with an impressionable mind, and after putting himself out there, Fishman gained some recognition.
It takes all of this and more to make writing your job. It’s possible but, like any object in motion, not without its share of outside forces. Still, writing as a career can work out in the end. As Fishman notes, “I took a bit of a winding path through college and my career to end up where I am today.”
A poignant reflection on birds and the dangers they face from urban buildings, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign undergraduate Eva Bein’s article was the grand prize winner in the third annual Janelle Joseph Prize for Environmental Writing, curated by the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE).
In total, three University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students won awards in the contest this year. In addition to receiving cash prizes, their work will be published in upcoming issues of Q Magazine.
Since the summer of 2020, Q Magazine’s generous benefactor, Janelle Joseph, has sponsored the Environmental Writing Contest.
“I am proud to donate and beyond proud to see talented environmentalists put their research and experiences on the page,” Joseph said.
The contest received a record-breaking 14 entries this year. Entrants competed for cash prizes and the chance to have their work published in Q, a student-written, professionally curated publication of the undergraduate Certificate in Environmental Writing (CEW) program. The magazine tackles big environmental questions, such as the complicated relationships between humans and the species we share our planet with, battles for environmental justice, and the everyday items that clog our waste stream.
“Small Birds, Big Impacts,” by Bein, a senior in Earth, Society, and Environmental Sustainability (ESES), took the $1,000 grand prize. Bein writes of a day spent helping collect data — and dead birds — for the U of I’s Bird Strike Survey. An excerpt:
“As I ventured into the engineering quad toward our 7 a.m. meeting spot, the morning sun was bright against buildings lined with clean, long, reflective windows. The University of Illinois campus proved a perfect example of why cities are major death zones for birds in migration. They get confused by the reflective glass and light from windows and accidentally strike them mid-flight, causing over 1 billion bird deaths a year in the U.S. and contributing to declining bird populations. The sheer weight of that number of dead birds is comparable to 550 loaded coach buses.”
Q veteran and senior in ACE Tyler Swanson was the feature category winner with his piece, “Farming the Sun in More Ways Than One.” He explores the potential of agrivoltaics — the co-location of agricultural production and solar energy generation.
Finally, Momo Wang’s piece, simply titled, “A Ladybug,” won the memoir category. In a thoughtful meditation on the fragility of life all around us, Wang reflects on our everyday interactions with the living world, from the humble ladybug to the catfish that will soon be cooked for dinner. Wang graduated in May 2022 with a degree in ESES.
In addition to the three prize winners, three honorable mentions were selected. These authors will also have the opportunity to be published in an upcoming Q Magazine: Gabe Lareau, a junior in English; Jorge Corral, a senior in ESES; and Elaine Guel, a junior in ACE.
“The awards committee was hugely impressed by the range of environmental topics taken up by students in this year’s writing competition, and the standard continues to rise,” said Professor and CEW Director Gillen Wood. “The winners this year showcase the very best writing in our program — urgent, well researched, and with a flair for the poetic.”
The writing contest, which will be offered again next spring and summer, is open to Illinois undergraduates from any major and geared toward those with an interest in writing and the environment.
Tyler Swanson, a University of Illinois senior in Environmental Economics and Policy, is the image of a student who can never have their hands in enough work.
As an iCAP Team clerk, a member of the first Environmental Leadership Program student cohort, Q Magazine author, and writer/host of his own blog and podcast, he maintains a tight schedule of academic and personal activities. Driven by passion and supported by his talent, research, and connections to numerous campus and local organizations, he is paving the way for concrete steps to be taken on environmental initiatives.
Originally from the small north-central Illinois town of Pecatonica, Swanson enrolled at Illinois in Fall 2019 in Agricultural and Consumer Economics, with a concentration in Public Policy and Law. He intended to pursue a path to law school — but in a change of heart familiar to many first-year students, he altered that plan.
His decision followed the worldwide climate strike that took place his first semester, organized by climate activist Greta Thunberg and the Fridays for Future organization. He had not planned to attend but stumbled across the strike on the U of I campus, and immediately felt empowered. He switched his concentration from Public Policy and Law to Environmental Economics and Policy.
“I’d always been interested in policy, but now I have an avenue to direct it,” he said.
Top Tyler Swanson. Credit: Quinn Wolski, iSEE Communications Intern. Above: Swanson, right, and classmates Jenna Schaefer, Jamie Abbot, and Christina Garcia (left to right) visit the State Capitol in Springfield to meet with legislators and policy makers as part of iSEE’s 2022 Environmental Leadership Program. Credit: Provided
“I also really loved to write,” he said. So, with a newfound passion for environmental policy, he launched a website called The Bipartisan Post where he and some peers could have an outlet for writing and sharing major news stories from an unbiased, policy-based perspective. The mission of this news outlet is to provide information in a way that does not feed the growing political divides in America. The focus slowly narrowed from broad political issues to environmental policy specifically, such as carbon taxation.
The blog eventually led Swanson to start a related podcast called “The Bright Green Light” with influential guest speakers. His first interview was with Lynn Englum, an Instagram blogger whose goal was to “travel to a lot of Island Nations or communities that were essentially drowning because of climate change.” He has continued using the podcast to promote other voices he believes need to be heard, including a climate activist in D.C. who works with congressional committees. He recently interviewed two U of I alumni who work in the circular economy: Alexa Smith, who focuses on the circular economy and food waste; and Mona Fang, creator of Karma Trade, a recycled clothing organization in Urbana.
As Swanson continued working through his freshman year while managing the website and podcast, a friend introduced him to the sustainability honors minor at Illinois — the Sustainability, Energy, and Environment Fellows Program offered through iSEE. The minor complemented his workload and career goals perfectly, so he added it to his schedule.
During the 2020-21 academic year, Swanson served as a student senator and a member of the Illinois Student Government’s Sustainability Committee, but he wanted to work on sustainable initiatives in a position with more individual responsibility. After completing his senate term in Spring 2021, he learned about clerk positions available on the Energy and Transportation iCAP teams, part of a network of student/faculty/staff committees that work to advance goals in the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP).
“Sustainability was at the core of my education and what I wanted to do,” he said. “What better way to do that than to help that occur on campus?”
Swanson believes that energy and transportation are the two most crucial aspects of sustainable societies. “Everything that we do requires energy. And if a majority of our energy is powered by fossil fuels, we’re not really going to get anywhere, no matter how much plastic we eliminate,” he said. He was ecstatic to be hired to work with both teams in Spring 2021 and to begin making concrete progress on issues in the community.
In addition to the primary goal of constructing an all-encompassing campus plan for sustainable and resilient energy by 2050, the Energy iCAP team is working to improve energy efficiency in campus buildings. The vast majority of buildings are more than 50 years old and highly inefficient. The challenge to Swanson and his team is to make them more energy-efficient in a cost-effective way. Meanwhile, the Transportation iCAP team is working on an active commuter program to encourage faculty and staff to forgo parking passes and instead use buses, bike shares, or carpool programs to reduce commuter emissions and avoid clogging streets.
His experience with the iCAP teams led him to look for other ways to get involved in iSEE initiatives. During his summer internship with U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, another intern mentioned how cryptocurrency has harmful consequences for the environment. Swanson decided to research this issue and wrote an article called “Crypto’s Dark Secret” that won the grand prize in the 2021 Janelle Joseph Environmental Writing Contest and was published in iSEE’s Q Magazine.
Swanson and his ELP classmates presented their proposal for a plastic bag tax to the Champaign City Council in March 2022. Credit: Mark Herman, iSEE Communications
In the Spring 2022 semester, Swanson was accepted to iSEE’s new Environmental Leadership Program (ELP). The program is designed to help students develop the skills necessary for environmental communication, mobilizing social resources, and implementing sustainability plans, all while fostering networking opportunities in the field. The week before classes started, he and other ELP participants attended a two-day intensive training where they spoke with officials from State Rep. Carol Ammons’ office and the Urbana and Champaign city councils about environmental policy. The students then formed groups based on which the policies they wanted to pursue.
With his focus on economics, he was excited about a “green tax” proposal suggested by Council Member Grace Wilkin of Urbana. Swanson and four other students spent the first eight weeks of the semester developing a green tax plan for Urbana. They invited different representatives from the environmental movement to speak to them each week about ideas and advice for achieving their goals. After extensive research and consultation with politicians, the students decided a green tax would be most effective as a plastic bag tax.
“Not only do you reduce people’s likelihood of using plastic bags,” he said, “but it also generates a lot of revenue for the city — for community solar, community composting, EV charging stations, and infrastructure.”
The five students then prepared a fact sheet with the costs and benefits of a plastic bag tax and presented it directly to the Urbana and Champaign city councils during public comment sessions.
“It was very exciting to be up there in front of these people and show them what you’ve been working on and really advocate for the environment,” he said. “That was a great experience.”
The pinnacle of the ELP was a spring break trip to Springfield, where the students met with state legislators and policymakers on a range of sustainability issues. Swanson described it as “a phenomenal couple of days to be able to not just have the experience of lobbying and advocating for environmental issues, but for connecting with people who also have interests in those issues. I think it was a very good program not just for education, but also great fellowship.”
Although his work in the ELP is technically complete, Swanson is committed to following through on the issues and is diligently keeping in touch with council members about the plastic bag tax: “It’s kind of like we had achieved our part of the program, but we still hadn’t achieved the goal.”
He recently received an update from Urbana council members that a plastic bag tax can, and will, be implemented in the city, but it could take time. “It’s already a policy in Chicago and Edwardsville, so we kind of used that to get Urbana on board. And maybe if we get enough cities on board, we can go to the state and say all these cities have it, make it a statewide thing because it’s a good policy,” Swanson said.
The 2022 ELP cohort met with State Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Champaign, and other legislators as part of their visit to Springfield in March 2022. Credit: Mark Herman, iSEE Communications
Outside of his rigorous academic and professional schedule, his leisure time is precious. He finds refuge in the many beautiful green spaces around campus. Athletics are important to him as well, so he tries to go to as many football, basketball, and volleyball games as possible. As a lifelong baseball fanatic, Swanson also loves seeing the White Sox play in Chicago.
Still, he has big plans for his senior year, including research with the Bock Agricultural Law and Policy Program on agricultural sustainability — specifically, the idea of “solar grazing.” As he described it, farmers sign a contract with a solar farm saying, “Instead of you hiring a lawn care service, hire me. I’ll bring my sheep. My sheep will graze and eat all the long grass, and then you’ll pay me instead of them, and I’ll be able to feed my sheep.”
He is also preparing for a graduate program in Economics related to energy and the environment, the next step toward his long-term career goals in academia, research, and environmental policy. Judging by his undergraduate career, he clearly has the skills and passion necessary to make long-term strides toward a sustainable future — locally and beyond.
— Article by iSEE Communications Intern Quinn Wolski
An exploration of the Bitcoin gold rush — and its impact on the fossil fuel industry — is the top winner in the second annual Janelle Joseph Prize for Environmental Writing, curated by the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE).
In all, five University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign undergraduates were honored in the contest, created through the generosity of iSEE supporter Janelle Joseph.
Entrants competed for cash prizes and the chance to have their work published in Q Magazine, the flagship student environmental writing publication at Illinois and a product of the undergraduate Certificate in Environmental Writing (CEW) program. Q tackles big environmental questions, such as human-caused climate change and threats to the environment, wildlife, and health.
The Joseph Prize winners used their talent to highlight key environmental concerns, from bioenergy research to climate activism to waterway ecosystems.
“We continue to be impressed by the caliber of our student writers, who bring fresh perspectives to these important issues,” said Professor Gillen Wood, CEW Director for iSEE and Q Editor. “Thanks to the generous support from Janelle Joseph, we are able to share their research and insight.”
The Grand Prize Winner was Tyler Swanson, who will receive a $1,000 award for his piece, “Fossil-Fueled Revenants: How Bitcoin is Revitalizing America’s Defunct Fossil Fuel Operations.” Swanson highlights the case of Dresden, N.Y., a village near Seneca Lake where Bitcoin “revived a once dead fossil-fueled power plant into a veritable goldmine, destroying the local ecosystem along the way.
“As demand for Bitcoin grows, more companies emerge to mine for this digital gold, resulting in the resurrection of long-dormant power plants, creating revenants from the fossil-fueled past America is trying to leave behind for a clean energy future,” writes Swanson, a junior majoring in Agricultural and Consumer Economics with a concentration in Environmental Economics and Policy. His article will highlight next spring’s issue of Q.
The category winners:
Memoir: Michelle Verlinsky for “Your Life in America,” about her personal struggle with the effects of industrial agriculture on our air and water. Verlinsky is a senior majoring in Social Psychology and Earth, Society, and Environmental Sustainability (ESES).
Feature: Erinn Dady for her article on riparian zones, the lush and incredibly biodiverse areas along waterways, with a focus on the Vermilion and Wabash rivers. Dady is a senior majoring in ESES.
Op-Ed: Kayla Vittore for “Biofuels: Maybe not a Silver Bullet but Silver Stepping-Stones,” outlining the promise and pitfalls of bioenergy research. Vittore is a senior majoring in Plant Biotechnology.
Illinois-Themed Article: Julia Marsaglia for “The Ripple Effect of Activism,” which examines climate activism through the eyes of Illinois scholars and sustainability advocates. Marsaglia is a senior majoring in ESES.
All four category winners will receive $500 prizes and have their work published in upcoming issues of Q.
The writing contest, which is offered annually, is open to Illinois undergraduates from any major, geared toward those with an interest in writing and the environment. Stay tuned to the iSEE website for details on the 2022 contest!
A haunting reflection on a New Mexico landscape ravaged by wildfires was the top winner in the inaugural Janelle Joseph Prize for Environmental Writing, sponsored by the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE).
Janelle Joseph has boosted iSEE programs with annual donations — the last three of which have gone to help students author articles for Q Magazine.
In all, six University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students were honored in the contest, created through the generosity of iSEE supporter Janelle Joseph.
“I am proud to donate and beyond proud to see talented environmentalists put their research and experiences on the page,” Joseph said.
Entrants competed for cash prizes and the chance to have their work published in Q Magazine, a student-written, professionally curated publication of the undergraduate Certificate in Environmental Writing (CEW) program. Q tackles big environmental questions, such as the threat of black carbon, battles over water resources, and the everyday items that clog our waste stream.
The Joseph Prize winners used their talent to highlight pressing environmental issues, from the degradation of the coal industry to sustainable fashion to the future of lawns.
“Burn Zone,” by Illinois senior Andy Sima, was the Grand Prize winner, carrying a $1,000 award. Sima writes of working in a camp near Philmont, N.M., in the summer of 2019, just over a mountain ridge from a “shell-shocked” landscape left behind by a wildfire the previous year.
“It was eerie. Thousands of acres of land hung just north of us like a specter, out of sight behind a ridge. A looming corpse of the earth over the cliff. That cliff stopped the fire from reaching out camp; the stone was too steep for the tongues of heat to consume their way down. But that thin strip of projected stone marked a stark contrast; one side was a standard southwestern alpine forest, tall trees and stubby grasses. The other was seemingly death incarnate.”
Other award-winning pieces included:
Op-ed: “The Façade of Corporate Sustainability,” by Jennifer Coronel, who decries the practice of “greenwashing” by corporations that create a false image of sustainability.
Q&A: “Tackling the Fashion Industry,” by Jane Halloran, a conversation with a U of I sophomore who founded a sustainable fashion swapping service.
Memoir: “Paradises in Peril,” by Maria Maring, a reflection on “solastalgia” — the distress caused by environmental degradation — pegged to John Prine’s song about his hometown in Kentucky’s coal country.
Feature: “The Grass Isn’t Always Greener,” by Nicolas Ramkumar, an exploration of the environmental and health costs of the ideal American lawn.
Graduate student: “Children of the Future: Challenging Climate Change Through TEK,” by Kutasha Silva. She argues that holistic Traditional Ecological Knowledge transferred down through generations should be infused into 21st century environmental education to help children fight climate change and develop a sustainable future.
All five category winners received $500 prizes, and the four undergraduates will have their work published in Q.
“We were thrilled with the response to the contest. We had so many thoughtful and inspired entries that we hope to publish some of the other pieces on our websites,” said Professor Gillen Wood, Director of the CEW Program and iSEE Associate Director for Education and Outreach. “Congratulations to all the winners!”
The writing contest, which will be offered again next year, is open to Illinois students from any major, geared toward those with an interest in writing and the environment. Stay tuned to the iSEE website for details on the 2021 contest!
AUG. 30, 2019 — Founder and Director of Editing Nature Natalie Kofler is joining the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) as its first Stuart L. and Nancy J. Levenick Resident Scholar in Sustainability Leadership.
Kofler, a molecular biologist and bioethicist, has authored numerous scientific research articles, reviews, and commentary pieces, and chaired international seminars and summits.
Kofler is passionate about ensuring diverse voices and viewpoints steer science and technology.
“At Editing Nature, we think a lot about how to tap into collective wisdom to steer responsible technological development,” Kofler said. “I am so excited to learn from and collaborate with the faculty and students at U of I. Together, I think we can come up with some really innovative ways to integrate cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural perspectives and address some of our most pressing environmental challenges.”
The Levenick Resident Scholars in Sustainability Leadership Program was funded by a generous endowment in early 2019 from U of I Alumnus Stuart Levenick and wife Nancy Levenick of Naples, Fla., to iSEE and the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES). It was created to bring in experts from other universities, the private sector, and nonprofit organizations to share fresh perspectives and innovations with the Illinois community.
Kofler’s work with Editing Nature advances and supports the responsible and ethical decisions guiding the development of genetic technologies released into the environment.
“We are excited to have Natalie on board as our first Resident Scholar,” iSEE Baum Family Director Evan H. DeLucia said. “She is known for engaging experts from different backgrounds worldwide to examine wicked sustainability and environmental issues — those that don’t have a simple answer and affect multiple stakeholders. She was a vital, vibrant voice during our Critical Conversation on genetically modified mosquitoes this past spring, and we feel there is much more we at Illinois can learn from her expertise.
“Scientists, educators, and students on campus will have access this year to a unique thought leader who takes a very holistic approach to her work.”
During her time at iSEE, Kofler will also serve on the Editorial Board for Q Magazine, a publication of the Undergraduate Certificate in Environmental Writing (CEW) at Illinois. Also among her academic duties, she is delivering a MillerComm Lecture on Nov. 7 in the Spurlock Museum Auditorium. And she is teaching a graduate-level seminar in NRES in Spring 2020.
In early Spring 2020, NRES expects to name a Levenick Sustainability Chair, the Department’s first endowed chair, who will oversee the Resident Scholars Program.
With backgrounds from a variety of disciplines, Resident Scholars will enhance and accelerate the broader impact of sustainability research and innovation, DeLucia said. As the Levenick Chair leads the program, it will help “close the circle” on sustainability efforts already established among the College of ACES, iSEE, and NRES.
“This campus will become a destination for worldwide sustainability experts — offering them creative opportunities and exposing faculty, students, and staff on our campus to real-time sustainability solutions from across the globe,” DeLucia said.
