Jennifer McDermott
Jennifer McDermott covers how the transition to clean energy collides with politics, markets and everyday life, with a particular focus on the practical consequences of climate decisions. She is a green energy reporter on The Associated Press Climate and Environment team and describes herself as the masthead’s green energy expert, working with colleagues worldwide on spot news, features, profiles and analysis about innovations to address climate change.
Energy transition and US climate politics
McDermott’s core run of stories tracks the tug-of-war between fossil fuels and renewables through concrete policy moves and their fallout. She has covered Trump administration decisions to cancel plans for new offshore wind development and to rescind designated wind energy areas, documenting how federal permitting shifts affect the pace of speculative and utility-scale projects.
She reports on efforts by a new administration to target or unwind existing climate measures, including rules that curb pollution from oil and gas and policies that support clean energy deployment. Her work on Doug Burgum’s nomination to oversee public lands examines what an “energy dominance” agenda means for climate commitments and for the regulatory environment that governs drilling, mining and renewable projects.
She also follows geopolitical shocks, such as war in Iran, to show how turmoil in energy markets strengthens the case that backers of renewables make about resilience and price stability.
Across these pieces she pairs high-level policy with specific stakes, detailing which climate protections are at risk and how industry groups, environmental advocates and communities respond. Her reporting often places US decisions in a broader global context, linking domestic moves on oil, gas and wind to international climate goals and investment trends in clean technologies.
Climate impacts on sports and the Winter Games
McDermott also builds a recurring thread on how a warming planet is reshaping winter sports and the Olympics.
In coverage from an Olympic town warming up ahead of future Winter Games, she describes how rising temperatures and changing snowfall patterns challenge local organizers, businesses and athletes who depend on reliable ice and snow. She reports on prominent skiers such as Lindsey Vonn, Mikaela Shiffrin and Federica Brignone voicing concern over receding glaciers, treating them as witnesses to long-term changes on the mountains where they train and compete. In a separate story about Jessie Diggins and other Olympians visiting the Capitol, she shows athletes using their profiles to push for climate solutions and to connect the health of winter sports directly to climate policy debates.
These pieces distinguish her beat by treating elite athletes as sources on climate impacts, not just sports performance, and by binding Olympic narratives to questions of emissions, adaptation and the future of cold-weather venues. She writes these stories in the same register as her policy coverage, grounding emotional appeals in observed environmental changes and scientific expectations for snow and ice.
Everyday climate choices, technology and markets
Beyond government and sports, McDermott frequently reports on how climate and energy topics show up in ordinary decisions and emerging technologies.
For Earth Day, she co-wrote a practical guide to grocery shopping that helps people avoid “pointless plastic,” explaining where single-use packaging is common and which choices reduce plastic waste without sacrificing convenience. She has covered a fusion energy breakthrough as a milestone for climate and clean energy, outlining how advances in fusion research could fit into the broader mix of technologies needed to cut emissions.
In a story on what Americans think about the environmental impact of artificial intelligence, she uses polling data to show that many people are aware of the energy demands of data centers and are concerned about how rapid AI growth might affect climate goals.
Her business-facing work on markets and technology shows similar attention to lived experience. She traces how inflation, energy prices and climate risks influence support for renewables, and how financial signals affect companies deciding whether to invest in clean technologies. Across these stories she uses surveys, scientific milestones and consumer guidance to connect abstract climate targets to concrete choices in shopping, technology use and investment.
Climate Watch newsletter and deep-dive reporting
Alongside daily reporting, McDermott writes for The Associated Press Climate Watch newsletter, where she offers deeper dives into specific environmental issues.
In one edition she focuses on efforts to move the global shipping industry away from fossil fuels, unpacking negotiations on a green shipping deal and explaining how different countries and companies approach cutting emissions from maritime transport. In another, she examines the growing threat of microplastics, detailing the science on tiny plastic fragments in oceans and drinking water and the policy steps being taken to confront the problem.
Her own description of this work emphasizes collaboration with a global team to produce spot news, longer features, profiles and analytical pieces on green energy and climate innovation.
The newsletter format allows her to situate individual developments - such as regulatory talks, industry pledges or new research - within a broader narrative about the transition away from fossil fuels and the tools available to curb pollution. Taken together with her news stories, it shows a reporter who combines subject-matter depth in green energy with an interest in how climate change touches politics, sports, consumer habits and emerging technologies.
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.