Chelsea Harvey
Chelsea Harvey connects cutting-edge climate science to the systems that govern data, policy, courts and everyday risk. She covers climate science for Climatewire at E&E News, focusing on the big questions researchers are asking about global temperatures and the uncertainties that still shape climate debates. Her reporting stands out for following scientific findings into the federal agencies, legal fights and energy markets where they are contested and put to use.
Climate research, federal agencies and data loss
Harvey tracks how climate research is generated, funded and constrained inside federal science agencies. She covers the disappearance of climate information from government platforms and the efforts of scientists and advocates to preserve critical datasets, including work on how removed federal data are being tracked and saved. She reports on cuts to science funding under recent administrations and the downstream impacts on small businesses that depended on research grants and programs, tying budget decisions to concrete economic consequences.
Her coverage of federal attacks on climate science lays out what the underlying research actually shows, contrasting political arguments with peer-reviewed evidence in pieces that detail “the facts” behind contested claims. Across these stories, she treats data infrastructure and agency policy as core elements of the climate beat rather than background context.
Extreme heat, disasters and gaps in resilience
Harvey is a member of an extreme weather rapid response team, where she reports on the links between rising temperatures and worsening disasters. Her work on deadly heat examines how escalating heat risk collides with limited funding to protect vulnerable populations, including a piece that pairs projections of dangerous heat with the absence of resources to save lives.
She co-writes coverage of record heat and wildfire seasons in which countries resort to drastic measures, connecting global spikes in temperature and fire activity to emergency responses and policy experiments. In joint reporting on a wildfire that destroyed hundreds of buildings while officials still labeled the fire risk “moderate,” she highlights mismatches between official risk assessments and on-the-ground reality.
These stories combine scientific context, disaster metrics and public-sector responses to show where resilience planning is failing to keep pace with climate-driven hazards.
Climate evidence in courtrooms and energy systems
Harvey follows climate science into courtrooms and infrastructure planning.
She co-authors coverage of a major climate report that becomes a central piece of evidence in a billion-dollar legal fight, explaining how specific findings are used by plaintiffs and defendants and why scientific credibility matters to the case. In another investigative piece, she reports on campaigns to discredit key climate science reports before they can be introduced in court, tracing how various actors work to sideline stronger climate evidence and what that means for future litigation. Her analysis of a potential “super” El Niño explores how shifts in global climate patterns could disrupt renewable energy, forecasting changes in solar generation in regions such as California and southeastern China and declines in hydropower in places like the Pacific Northwest and southern Africa.
Taken together, these stories show her focus on translating technical climate assessments into their implications for lawsuits, grid planning and investment decisions.
Institutions, equity and the climate research workforce
Harvey also investigates how institutional changes and equity issues shape climate science itself. She reports on restructurings and cuts at federal science agencies and connects them to the capacity for climate research, weather forecasting and disaster preparation.
Her professional work includes in-depth investigations into diversity, equity and inclusion in science, examining who participates in climate research and how staffing, culture and opportunity affect the questions being asked. By pairing these workforce and institutional stories with her coverage of data loss, funding gaps and extreme events, she treats the climate research enterprise as a system whose internal dynamics directly influence public understanding and policy outcomes.
4 more environment journalists.
Alan Halaly
Alan Halaly is a water reporter at the Las Vegas Review-Journal who treats the Colorado River as a working system, not a backdrop, making its governance, infrastructure and risks central to his beat. He covers how policy decisions and infrastructure projects shape the region’s water future, linking high-level choices on the Colorado River, dams, mining and data centers to everyday consequences under mounting heat and growth pressures. He reports deeply on new laws, lawsuits and regulatory shifts, focusing on on-the-ground impacts. His coverage spans Colorado River cuts, Hoover Dam operations, extreme weather, heat and parks, septic system rules, workplace and public health risks, lithium and gold mines, protected landscapes, data centers, AI infrastructure and public funding. Previously he reported for metropolitan dailies, digital outlets and public media, including the Miami Herald, WUFT, The Daily Beast and Miami New Times, with work recognized by Hearst, ONA and the Society of Environmental Journalists.
Alejandra Borunda
Alejandra Borunda reports on how climate change affects human health for NPR. Her work treats global warming as a direct cause of physical and mental health risks. She covers extreme heat, including undercounted deaths, lost sleep and local efforts to track heat-related fatalities. She also reports on wildfire smoke, hurricanes, disease spread such as dengue fever, trauma, stress and unequal health impacts. Her stories examine how communities protect themselves and recover, as well as practical solutions involving climate-resilient crops, agriculture and diet. Before NPR, she wrote about climate science and environmental issues for National Geographic, including glacier retreat, shade and heat inequity, and shrinking ice-fishing seasons. A former climate scientist, she combines field reporting with scientific data to connect atmospheric research to everyday risks, choices and people’s lived experiences.
Alex Lubben
Alex Lubben is an environment reporter at The Times-Picayune/The Advocate who connects climate risk to policy, industry and community change. He covers Gulf warming, flood protection, coastal restoration, wetlands litigation, industrial projects such as SpaceX’s possible expansion, invasive species and local ecosystems. His reporting tracks how law, politics and corporate decisions shape levees, drainage, marshes and long-term resilience. He also examines climate relocation, housing and labor, showing how hurricanes, floods and wildfires displace vulnerable communities and expose gaps in government systems. He works on a small environment team and brings an investigative background to document work, data analysis, legal and policy research, and field reporting. His work has appeared in VICE News, The Center for Public Integrity, The Nation, Jewish Currents and NBC News.
Alex Wigglesworth
Alex Wigglesworth reports on how climate, land use and public policy shape California communities. She covers the Inland Empire and Mojave Desert for the Los Angeles Times and is part of its environment team. Her beat includes wildfires, megadrought, extreme weather, desert development, conservation, wildlife, industrial hazards, aging infrastructure and regulatory enforcement. She has covered Western Joshua trees, desert tortoises, beaver-led restoration, toxic lead pipes, air-quality concerns after industrial fires and the effects of nuclear war on food systems. Earlier, she was a general assignment reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com. She combines breaking news with detailed reporting grounded in scientific studies, modeling and expert interviews. Her work connects fires, drought and other hazards to climate change, while examining how agencies, companies and land-use decisions affect people and ecosystems.