In a time of global environmental discussions, it is more important than ever to speak up and give a voice to our natural world. Our Writers on Earth Competition invites young writers to pen a letter to their nation’s leader in just 400 words, expressing the importance of protecting our planet. “The most important rule is to write what you truly believe,” says environmental journalist Dan Fagin, Guest Judge for the competition. “Don’t try to fake it because the most effective arguments are the sincerest ones.”
Read on to discover more about his background, his current projects, and his advice for writing a powerful winning entry.
You are an environmental journalist and the director of the science journalism program at NYU. Did you always know you wanted to be a journalist, and how did you choose to focus on the environment?
I’ve known I wanted to be a journalist ever since I was 11 and created a newspaper for my neighborhood—there was only one edition, but I had fun making it! I love learning about the world and then telling people what I’ve learned. Focusing on environmental issues came later. I’ve always been interested in the environment (my stepfather is an environmental lawyer and I loved hearing about his cases) but I didn’t get serious about environmental coverage until I started working for a newspaper on Long Island, in the New York City suburbs, and it just seemed like all of the most interesting issues involved the environment: pollution, open space, biodiversity, energy… I loved it all. I’ve never looked back since.
Your book Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 2014, tells the story of a town affected by industrial pollution and the cluster of cancer cases that emerged there. How do specific examples provide a lens into more important topics like pollution?
I tell my students that a writer should be like a camera with an adjustable lens: zooming in on the specific stories that readers can really grab onto, but also zooming out to show readers why those specific little stories are important, and how they relate to everything else in the world. And non-fiction writers should always try to be as accurate as a camera, too! The environmentalist and writer John Muir once wrote that “when we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” A very important job of journalists is to illuminate those connections and show how, ultimately, everything really is hitched together. I tried to do that in the Toms River book by showing that the story of what happened in a small New Jersey town is part of a much, much bigger story that affects us all.
You’re currently working on a book about monarch butterflies. What’s been your favorite part of researching for that project?
Going to Mexico and seeing millions of monarchs in their winter mountain hideaways was a truly amazing experience. I’ve been twice and I want to go again! I hope many of you will get the chance to see them someday, too, but we don’t know how much longer monarchs will be able to continue their annual migration. Climate change, industrial agriculture, logging, and land development are all creating huge challenges to the migration, and as a result the monarch butterfly is evolving alternative ways to survive on a planet increasingly dominated by just one species: us. The 3,000-mile monarch migration is a grand spectacle; I hope we don’t lose it!
Our young writers will pen a letter to their president, prime minister, or nation’s leader on a topic relating to one of the 2022 Earthshot Prize themes: 1) Protect and Restore Nature; 2) Clean Our Air; 3) Revive our Oceans; 4) Build a Waste-Free World; and 5) Fix Our Climate. What are some persuasive techniques that writers can use to get their point across?
The most important rule is to write what you truly believe, don’t try to fake it because the most effective arguments are the sincerest ones. Beyond that, here are a few tips:
1) Spend some time doing research before you write
2) Bolster your points with specific examples and other forms of evidence, including statistics
3) Try to make your readers feel something while also teaching them something that’s new to them
4) Don’t ignore or insult people who disagree with you, instead explore areas of disagreement in a respectful way with the goal of finding common ground
5) Look for creative and new ideas and observations—they’re exciting!
6) Don’t just focus on problems—solutions are interesting, too!
What are you looking for in a winning entry, and what tips do you have for achieving it?
I’m looking forward to reading work from writers who have researched an issue thoroughly and then, after considering multiple points of view, have developed an opinion they’re able to bolster with persuasive evidence as well as personal passion. Good luck!
About the Guest Judge: Dan Fagin is an environmental journalist and the director of the Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. He is a former president of the Society of Environmental Journalists and was also the environment writer at Newsday, where he was twice a principal member of reporting teams that were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. In 2014, Fagin was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for his book Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation, which was described by The New York Times as “a new classic in science reporting.” His next book is about monarch butterflies and the future of biodiversity in the Anthropocene.
