Climate change has been acknowledged as a major threat to international peace and security. From natural disasters to economic disruption, climate change has become a catalyst for social inequity and even violent conflict worldwide. The global scale and far reaching consequences of the climate crisis pose a particularly difficult challenge to journalists who attempt to provide the public with the information they need to make sensible decisions.

A feature in Nieman Reports noted that covering environmental justice requires meaningful crossovers between news beats as all sorts of systemic inequities are entangled with environmental harms. Journalists reporting on the climate crisis, then, find themselves having to articulate the complex workings of transnational discrimination along with challenging scientific debates in a highly polarized political moment... An absolute feat as journalism itself endures a financial sustainability crisis across the globe.

Panelists

Yessenia Funes

Yessenia Funes is an environmental journalist covering our ecological crises through an intersectional lens. She's presently the climate director of Atmos, an independent nonprofit magazine focused on where climate and culture meet. There, she publishes and curates the newsletter and vertical The Frontline, which zooms into climate and environmental justice. She has also written for The Guardian, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Earther, Grist, HuffPost, and more.

 

 

Steven Hunter

A native of Milwaukee, Steven Hunter is a proud graduate of Riverside University Prep. High School. After serving in the U.S. armed forces, Steven became a licensed wellness practitioner, founding Beans & Cornbread Wellness for African Americans. He has also worked with a number of arts organizations, such as Ko-Thi Dance, Milwaukee Public Theatre and Express Yourself Milwaukee, blending arts education with wellness practice in youth development for 25 years. Steven recognizes the need to reconnect African Americans to the healing power of nature and is very happy to do this needed work with Nearby Nature MKE.

 

Samantha Majhor

Samantha Majhor, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of english at Marquette University, specializing in contemporary Native American literature. She organizes and serves as a faculty mentor for the Marquette's Indigeneity Lab, particularly supervising the Native American Boarding Schools in Context project and consulting on the Wild Rice Revitalization project. Her current book project, explores the portrayal of natural and cultural materials like beaded dresses, houses, books, and bodies in prose and poetry by Native writers. She is an advocate for indigenous language revitalization efforts and a student of Dakota language. 

About the Moderator

Ayleen Cabas-Mijares, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of journalism and media studies and a faculty fellow of the Institute for Women’s Leadership at Marquette University. She worked as a reporter and copy editor of a national women’s magazine in Venezuela, her home country, before coming to the U.S. to pursue her graduate studies. Dr. Cabas-Mijares graduated with a M.S. in Journalism from Ohio University and a doctorate from the Missouri School of Journalism. Her research interests focus on the critical examination of the role of media and journalism in social change. Specifically, Dr. Cabas-Mijares investigates media activism in Latin America and the Latinx diaspora.

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About the Nieman Symposium

The Lucius W. Nieman Symposium, named after the founder of The Milwaukee Journal, Lucius W. Nieman, is an annual event sponsored by the J. William and Mary Diederich College of Communication. 

The Nieman Symposium and Speaker Series is currently chaired by Dr. Ayleen Cabas-Mijares, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Studies. Past Nieman Chairs include Dr. Ana Garner, Professor of Journalism; Dr. Bonnie Brennen, former Professor of Journalism at Marquette University; Philip Seib, Professor of Journalism at USC Annenberg; Richard H. Leonard of The Milwaukee Journal; Albion Ross of The New York Times; and Scott Klug, former U. S. congressman and CEO of Trails Media Group.