Kate Dario
Kate Dario is a general assignment reporter at New Hampshire Public Radio whose work follows how policy, the environment and local economies intersect in people’s daily lives. She concentrates on stories that cut across traditional beats, connecting housing, agriculture, forestry and food insecurity with the experiences of children, older residents and other Granite Staters. Her environment coverage includes seasonal agriculture pieces, such as strawberry season starting around New Hampshire, alongside reporting on climate and land use.
Intersection of Policy, Environment and Daily Life
Dario’s reporting is defined by an interest in stories that sit at the junction of narrowly defined beats, rather than within a single silo. She covers how changes in regulation, including decisions by utility regulators, translate into concrete impacts for people on fixed incomes and other residents who feel those shifts first. Her work often traces how public policy on issues like school meals affects children’s health, framing policy debates through the lens of everyday consequences rather than legislative process. Even when a story starts in one domain, such as environment or education, she tends to follow it through to economic and social outcomes, keeping the focus on lived experience.
Housing, Land Use and Rural Change
A recurring strand in Dario’s coverage is how housing and land use reflect broader changes in New Hampshire’s identity as a rural state in the 21st century.
She reports on efforts to build ecofriendly housing at affordable price points, examining where sustainability goals meet constraints around cost, zoning and development. Her stories also follow disputes over projects such as proposed carbon offset sites on logging tracts, using those conflicts to show how different groups value and use the same landscapes.
Across these pieces, she highlights the tension between traditional notions of rural life and an evolving reality shaped by new economic pressures, climate concerns and demographic shifts. Tagging of her work under Coos County, Merrimack and Upper Valley indicates that she approaches these themes through specific communities and regions rather than in the abstract.
Agriculture, Forestry and Food Insecurity
Dario maintains ongoing coverage of agriculture and forestry, treating them as both economic sectors and parts of the state’s social fabric. Her reporting ranges from farm-level stories and seasonal cycles to larger questions about how land management and forestry policy affect workers and residents. Food insecurity is another repeated focus, where she connects supply, affordability and access to broader systems like housing and public assistance. Environment section placements show that she frequently frames these topics through the lens of natural resources and climate, rather than only as business or social service stories.
The combination of agriculture, forestry and food insecurity gives her work a through-line around how people secure basic needs in changing economic and environmental conditions.
Climate, Community and Public Debate
Many of Dario’s stories sit within the environment and climate change coverage of New Hampshire Public Radio, tying global issues to local communities. Tagging of her work under climate change demonstrates that she regularly reports on how shifting weather patterns, mitigation efforts and related policies play out in the state.
Her bylines also appear on pieces tagged with hate speech and other contentious topics, showing a willingness to cover how online and public discourse affects residents and local institutions. She contributes to general New Hampshire news as well, including coverage associated with political figures such as Kelly Ayotte, where her reporting situates individual actors within wider policy and community contexts.
Across these areas, Dario’s work consistently looks at how large-scale debates and environmental pressures reach the level of towns, schools and households.
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.