Meera Subramanian
  • Home
  • Books
  • Writing
  • Bio
  • Blog
  • Photos
  • Events
  • Speaking
  • Contact

Can young evangelicals change the climate debate?

November 27, 2018 By meerasub Leave a Comment

YECA fellow and Wheaton College student Chelsey Geisz and Representative Roskam take a nature walk and talk about climate change. Photo by Jessie Smith.

This is the eighth and final piece of Finding Middle Ground, a series I’ve been working on for InsideClimate News for the last year and a half.

This piece also made the Longreads Best of 2018 list for science and technology!

And I had a great conversation with Illinois Public Radio’s The 21st host Niala Boodhoo, along with Wheaton College sophomore Diego Rivera, whom you’ll meet in the story, and Riley Balikian of Young Evangelicals for Climate Action. Have a listen here, starting at 17:30.

Here’s the start of the piece:

WHEATON, Illinois — Diego Hernandez wasn’t thinking much about climate change until last summer, when he was traveling with his family along the Gulf Coast in his home state of Texas, where his ancestors—cowboys and politicians, he said—reach back to the 1600s. His mother suggested they take the “scenic route” for that summer drive, Diego said, his fingers making air-quotes because there was nothing “scenic” about it. All he saw were oil refineries.

“At that moment,” said 19-year-old Diego, who considers himself a libertarian, “the switch kind of flipped for me.” Why are we putting refineries in this beautiful place? he thought. The impacts from Hurricane Harvey, which had hit Houston the previous August and had affected some of Diego’s relatives, were also still lingering in his mind.

“I used to be like, oh, there’s oil, go start drilling, you know, because of course it’s all about the money, right?” he said, his voice tinged with sarcasm. But after that family outing, he began to ask questions—”What is it doing to our environment? How is it going to affect us in the next 10 to 50 years?”—and since then he’s had climate change on his mind.

Read the rest here. 

 

Filed Under: audio, climate change, InsideClimate News, journalism, religion Tagged With: Christianity, climate change, Creation Care, evangelicals, Illinois, Illinois Public Radio, interviews, politics, radio, The 21st, Wheaton College

Conversations Across America: Talking Climate Change with Conservative Voters

November 7, 2018 By meerasub Leave a Comment

As the InsideClimate News Finding Middle Ground series nears an end, I had a chance to speak with the lovely Heather Goldstone of WCAI’s Living Lab about some of the experiences I’ve had as I traveled across the country.

Click here to listen.

Filed Under: audio, climate change, InsideClimate News, journalism Tagged With: cape cod, climate change, InsideClimate News, interview, Montana, North Dakota, politics, radio, Texas, WCAI

KPFA Uprising with Sonali

December 4, 2015 By meerasub Leave a Comment

2015.11.6SF-9

Talking about A River Runs Again on Berkeley’s KPFA. Listen here: Uprising with Sonali

Filed Under: A River Runs Again, elemental india, readings Tagged With: A River Runs Again, book tour, Elemental India, events, india, radio, readings

return to oregon! KLCC

October 28, 2015 By meerasub Leave a Comment

Screen Shot 2015-10-28 at 11.11.07 AMI’ve landed on the West Coast just as my interview with Eric Alan of KLCC‘s gone live. Have a listen. Or better yet, if you’re nearby, come say hello as I do two events in that southern stretch of the Willamette Valley that I once called home.

I’ll be speaking at University of Oregon tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 (Straub Hall, Room 145. 1451 Onyx Street, Eugene, OR), in an event hosted by the Department of Geography, Barbara & Carlisle Moore Professor of English Fund, School of Journalism & Communications, Hearst Foundation Visiting Professionals Endowment Fund, Department of Sociology, Robert D. Clark Honors College, and the University of Oregon Bookstore. Details here.

And on Sunday, I’ll be down in my old stomping grounds of Cottage Grove, speaking at the Axe and Fiddle (657 E Main St, Cottage Grove, OR) at 7:00 pm. Details here.

More events coming up in Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and Miami. Then…India! Full schedule here.

Filed Under: A River Runs Again, elemental india, readings Tagged With: A River Runs Again, book tour, books, Elemental India, Oregon, radio

living on earth

October 9, 2015 By meerasub Leave a Comment

photo by Meera Subramanian

photo by Meera Subramanian

It was a pleasure to speak with Helen Palmer of PRI’s show Living on Earth about A River Runs Again, exploring questions about organic agriculture’s ability to feed humanity, how to handle ambivalent respect for well-intentioned nonprofits, and vulture survival. Here’s the intro…

Investigative journalist Meera Subramanian crisscrossed India examining its environmental problems and searching for homegrown solutions described in her new book A River Runs Again. She tells Living on Earth’s Helen Palmer that everywhere she looked, she found serious concerns, but also hope for a better future.

Listen to the 17-minute segment here.

 

Filed Under: A River Runs Again, elemental india, News Tagged With: A River Runs Again, Elemental India, india, interview, pollution environment, radio

wnyc: bringing India back from the brink

September 12, 2015 By meerasub Leave a Comment

photo 1

It was with great delight that I entered into the studios of WNYC on Varick Street to sit down and talk with Arun Venugopal, who was guest hosting the Leonard Lopate Show. We talked about the costs of the Green Revolution, of Hindu priests who asked, “What is your duty?” to a farming family considering going organic, of holy waters. Our conversation ended too quickly, and I didn’t quite get to elaborate on my answer to his last question, about the direction PM Modi is taking the country. I said Modi has a choice. What I felt like I didn’t make clear enough is that he can develop India at the expense of the environment, the direction he seems to be heading now, or choose to tap into the exploding number of opportunities to develop in a more sustainable way, providing a model for the world. I’m rooting for the latter, and met the people in India who hope so too.

Listen to the full interview here.

Filed Under: A River Runs Again, elemental india, journalism, News Tagged With: A River Runs Again, book tour, Elemental India, india, New York City, organic farming, pesticides, radio, religion

WCAI the Point with Mindy Todd

September 3, 2015 By meerasub Leave a Comment

untitled-6-6

I love WCAI, the local NPR affiliate here on the Cape & Islands. I love the way sounds surprise me on it, as it shifts from reporting on Syria to a thirty-second Sonic ID of a boy describing the revving of an engine — vroom! vroom! — or a clammer telling stories from the old days. But I especially love the soothing voice and inquisitiveness of Mindy Todd on her show The Point. So it was with great pleasure that I got to sit with her for an hour in the cool WCAI studio this morning and talk about A River Runs Again.

Listen here.

And then, one can’t pass up the opportunity for a popover from the Pie in the Sky bakery across the street, so I didn’t. What should come lumbering by but a massive load of oceanographic equipment from WHOI, with solar panels and whirligigs and a tremendous aura of mystery and intrigue. #Ifuckinglovescience.

untitled-5-6 .

 

Filed Under: A River Runs Again, readings Tagged With: cape cod, Mindy Todd, radio, The Point, WCAI, Woods Hole

Join Meer’s Mailing List

for the very occasional bit of news.

Please enter a valid email address.
Subscribe

Thanks for subscribing! 

Something went wrong. Please check your entries and try again.

Categories

Tags

Alaska anthology A River Runs Again Art awards birds of prey books book tour Cambridge cape cod climate change conservation dissent Elemental India energy events Fulbright india InsideClimate News journalism kenya Knight Science Journalism middle east Nature New York City organic farming peregrine falcon pesticides photography plastics politics pollution environment Princeton University radio readings religion reviews science Society of Environmental Journalists teaching Texas travel USA vulture water

Archives by Month

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

© 2023 Meera Subramanian | All Rights Reserved. | Mastodon | Links | Website design by Sumy Designs, LLC