I’m standing in line for an oatmilk latte at Audrey’s Coffee in South Kingston, Rhode Island. Stayed overnight after having a lovely talk with my friend and fellow author, Liz Rush at the Metcalf Spring Lecture. We’re both alums of the Metcalf Institute at University of Rhode Island, which brings together scientists and journalists, helps both learn from each other. If you’re a journalist, I highly recommend checking out their fellowship offerings. The room was full of students and faculty, including from a couple new programs: environmental education within the fold of the College of Education and an Environmental Arts & Humanities degree. (Can I go back to school, please?)
The coffee line’s not moving.
“It’s not usually this busy,” says the guy in front of me as we wait. I tell him it’s my first time here. He asks where I’m from. I tell him Cape Cod. Ask if he’s a local.
“I’m a squidder, but it’s not so good ‘cause of climate change…”
The first thing he says. I swear. (And I’m pretty sure he used the word “squidder”…is that right?)
“You do that at night, right?” I ask, and his face lights up with my tiny morsel of knowledge. I know this fact because of my Metcalf fellowship.
He goes on to tell me his captain is seeing changes because of acidification, though he can’t elaborate. Admits it’s above his pay grade.
“It is my pay grade,” I say, laughing. “Climate journalist.” He laughs and we keep talking. He tells me about living in Narragansett. How it’s working class. But progressive. Surfers. Weed smokers. “No one voted for Trump,” he says. He can’t believe the new cluster of five million dollar houses that the new owners must have bought sight unseen, since they’re by the waste water plant and it stinks around there.
I ask him if he has to do other work since the squid’s not so great. Yeah, he says, his face boyish though he must be in his thirties. He’s started making fishing nets, but he misses being on the water.
The line moves forward. I learn his name is Joe and shake his hand before he picks up his coffee and leaves.
I tried to pursue a story about ocean acidification’s impact on shellfishing here in New England about eight years ago. Had a hard time finding scallopers or oysterfolks concerned about it, even as institutional reports warned of the impact.
So much has changed. Is changing. On the ground. In the water. I don’t know if squid are affected by ocean acidification. Maybe not, since it impacts shell production, making scallops and oysters much more at risk. But the fact that the warming climate is on the mind, and tongue, of a squidder from Narragansett named Joe, in line at a coffee shop, buoys me.
Here’s a bit more: “In New England, Climate Change Is Moving Fast. The Fishing Industry Is Not,’ co-authored by WBUR’s Barbara Moran, who I’ll be talking with….
A few upcoming events to share:
- Monday, April 6 (tomorrow!): I’ll be joining graphic novelist Katy Doughty in conversation with WBUR’s Barbara Moran for Picture + Panel, Boston’s monthly graphic novel series. Katy’s new book is How to Survive the End of the World. RSVP and details here.
- Wednesday, April 8: I’ll be joining hundreds of others at the MassEnergize Community Climate Leaders Annual Conference to explore story-telling with New Yorker cartoonist Tom Toro and how to support youth climate action with fellow MISI fellow Jaelyn Carr and others.
- Tuesday, April 14: This feels like the biggest event of our book tour! Danica and I will both be at Greenlight Bookstore along with (at least!) two of the youth featured in A Better World Is Possible. RSVP and details here.
Other news about A Better World Is Possible: Global Youth Confront the Climate Crisis: hardcover copies have sold out and are heading for a second printing; featured in Book Riot’s spring roundup; conversation with ecoRI News; Q&A with Katy Doughty and me at Smash Pages; and Shelf Awareness featured our new official book trailer:
Journalists & writer friends, take note…
- The Institute for Journalism & Natural Resources invites applications from early-career journalists for its 2026 Community Reporting Project fellowships. The three-day, expenses-paid, science and environment reporting workshop is produced by IJNR, the Uproot Project and partners and will take place May 27-30 and begin and end in Detroit, Michigan as they explore Great Lakes water quality and its intersections with public health and environmental justice. Deadline: Friday, April 26.
I’m reading/listening…
- Anne Fadiman’s Ex Libris. S. and I read “Marrying Libraries” in bed one night. Something we still haven’t done. 🙂
- This marvelous multimedia Guardian exploration of insect migration by Phoebe Weston, Ana Lucía González Paz, Prina Shah and Garry Blight.
- In the in-betweens, I’m listening to The Loneliness of Sunny and Sonia by Kiran Desai. Don’t know where the story is leading but the descriptive powers of her writing are inspiring.
- Joe at the coffee shop isn’t wrong. Nature covers a new study showing that climate change is speeding up, the rate of warming surging since 2015. These regular reports, along with the horror of wars upon humans and the environment within US borders and our great leaders carrying the decimation around the world, and I took a break to listen to…
- …RadioLab’s Snail Sex Tape. I will be on the lookout for love darts this spring.
Coda…
Haven’t you always been curious about…
