Climate Tracker Weekly

Let’s take a trip down memory lane and revisit the experiences of some of our fellows for Climate Tracker Asia’s Digital Content Creators hub. Coming together from different backgrounds, each story is weaved together by reality and a persevering hope for a better world. As we approach the fellowship’s end—its KLIMAX—let’s hear how it has created an impact on the lives of a drag queen, an IP advocate, and an artist. (Speakers used a mixed of English and Filipino while recording this episode)

To commemorate International Women’s Day, Climate Tracker’s Africa Community Manager Joyce Chachu-Hilton talked to three female climate journalists from across the globe: Vaishnavi Rathore from India, Vishani Ragobeer from Guyana, and Jennifer Ugwa from Nigeria. They talked about their experiences as women journalists in their countries and regions, the challenges they’ve faced, how they’ve overcome them, and their words of advice for young women aspiring to share climate and environment stories with the world. For comments, suggestions and feedback you can email us at podcast@climatetracker.org. If you are listening on Apple Podcast, kindly leave a comment - it helps new listeners to find us.

In this episode, we talk to two journalists in the city of Davao - the largest city in the Philippines and the hometown of its current president, Rodrigo Duterte. Yas Ocampo and Marcos Mordeno of MindaNews talked about why they think writing about the environment is important, especially in a city where all eyes are glued to local politics. Note: The speakers in this episode are switching between English and Filipino. For comments, suggestions and feedback you can email us at podcast@climatetracker.org. If you are listening on Apple Podcast, kindly leave a comment - it helps new listeners to find us.

In this episode, we take you to Palawan a beautiful island in the Philippines but as Joel Contrivida tells us it has been struggling with energy security. Note: The speakers in this episode are switching between English and Filipino. For comments, suggestions and feedback you can email us at podcast@climatetracker.org. If you are listening on Apple Podcast, kindly leave a comment - it helps new listeners to find us.

In this episode, we talk about digital and video journalism with Reynald Ramirez and Alfredo Ruzol of ABS-CBN News to tackle the challenges of visualizing and simplifying climate issues. Note: The speakers in this episode are switching between English and Filipino. For comments, suggestions and feedback you can email us at podcast@climatetracker.org. If you are listening on Apple Podcast, kindly leave a comment - it helps new listeners to find us.

In this episode, we talk to Jonathan de Santos and Gaea Cabico of Philstar.com about their relationship as editor - reporter and why mentorship is important in the journalism world today. Note: The speakers in this episode are switching between English and Filipino. For comments, suggestions and feedback you can email us at podcast@climatetracker.org. If you are listening on Apple Podcast, kindly leave a comment - it helps new listeners to find us.

Our Climate Tracker Specials Asia is back and this time, you will hear from journalists from the Philippines on how they are reporting on climate stories. In this episode, Biena Magbitang talks to Joe Torres and Mark Saludes of LiCAS news on the importance of religion in the climate conversation and the role of the church in our fight against climate change. Note: The speakers in this episode are switching between English and Filipino. For comments, suggestions and feedback you can email us at podcast@climatetracker.org. If you are listening on Apple Podcast, kindly leave a comment - it helps new listeners to find us.

This week, we are talking to Cece Siago, a Kenyan journalist - passionate about women empowerment and gender equality. We talk about the impacts of climate change in Kenya and what are the stories she is planning to write in the future. For comments, suggestions and feedback you can email us at podcast@climatetracker.org. If you are listening on Apple Podcast, kindly leave a comment - it helps new listeners to find us.

Today, we head over to Italy to talk to one of our young Italian fellows, Marta Viganò. Marta was a part of our New Media Fellowship where she has been investigating the impact of Climate Change on mental health and the role of the Catholic church in shaping national climate narratives in Italy. She also recently published a collaborative story on Climate Tracker focusing on the environmental impacts of the global coffee trade from Guatemala to Italy. We recorded this April this year, and it’s full of COVID reflections, thoughts on the EU’s future, and the role of journalism in italy. I hope you like it.

Now, let’s head over to Nairobi - known to some as the green city of the sun, where we meet Kevin Lunzalu. He is a young environmental researcher who is one of our wildcard fellows, trying to build up his experience in the world of journalism and make a real impact in his home country of Kenya. For comments, suggestions and feedback you can email us at podcast@climatetracker.org. If you are listening on Apple Podcast, kindly leave a comment - it helps new listeners to find us. We recorded this in April this year.

For some, their first day as a journalist is unmemorable, boring even -- But it’s a different story for Jody Garcia. After turning her back on her job at an accounting firm to pursue journalism, Jody landed her dream job at a national newspaper, little did she know she would be asked to interview a convicted murderer, and one Guatemala’s most prominent gangsters on her first day. But after almost a decade of covering justice and politics, Jody is now focusing on the plight of environment defenders across Guatemala. For comments, suggestions and feedback you can email us at podcast@climatetracker.org. If you are listening on Apple Podcast, kindly leave a comment - it helps new listeners to find us.

Southeast Asia has seen the problem of plastic waste grow in urgency as fast-paced urbanization, a reliance on single-use plastic products, and continued plastic production have made plastic a convenient choice for its population of over 650 million people. This surge in plastic use is why we at Climate Tracker, in partnership with global movement Break Free from Plastic, attempted to assess media coverage of plastics in Southeast Asia before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We looked at articles published in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines from March 2019 to February 2021. In this episode, researchers from across the region shared their findings and the long-term change they want to see in the media discourse of plastics.

Welcome to Climate Tracker Weekly where we hear stories that matter to young climate journalists around the world. In this episode we talk to Lynn Ocharoenchai, a journalist and a youth leader from Thailand. She started her career in journalism at the age of 18, and shared why she believes so strongly that it's important to highlight indigenous communities in writing great climate stories. For comments, suggestions and feedback you can email us at podcast@climatetracker.org. If you are listening on Apple Podcast, kindly leave a comment - it helps new listeners to find us.

In this episode, we talk to Julie Bourdin a French and South African multimedia journalist whose work is focused on migration and human rights. She shared her experience as an activist and a journalist and the blurred lines between the two.

Growing up in Bangalore widely regarded as the Silicon Valley of India, Seema Prasad initially wanted to become a software engineer but ended up following the footsteps of her parents who are both journalists. At the age of 19 she was already in her first journalism internship and since then, has studied at the Times School of Journalism in Delhi, and believes that Climate Change has a massive untapped potential in what is the world biggest print journalism market. With over 100,000 newspapers across 21 languages and over 1 billion readers, Seema is passionate and hopeful about the future of climate journalism in India, even in what seems to be a shifting political climate.

In this episode we take a look at efforts done by local communities in Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Cambodia to keep their last forests intact.

In this episode we take a look at efforts done by local communities in Indonesia to keep their last forests intact. Climate Tracker's Kharishar Kahfi talks to Siti Isnawati a journalist from Pekalongan, Central Java. She has been working with Climate Tracker in reporting the forest restoration efforts in Southeast Asian countries.

In this episode, we talk to Quratulain Tejani, a climate journalist from Karachi, Pakistan who is currently in New York studying a masters in Journalism. She shares her journey and what it's like to compare environmental crises in Pakistan and the United States.

In this episode, we talk to Claudia Belaunde in Bolivia who got into journalism through a happy accident. She initially wanted to be a documentary filmmaker but was tapped into being a reporter to cover odd stories. But she proved her chops and is now reporting on climate, human rights, and politics.

In this episode, we talk to Russian Journalist Liubov Glazunova on how young journalists still write great stories even in her country's authoritarian environment, Siberia’s fires, and how to deal with climate change deniers, even among so-called “scientific experts”.