Mark Hemer
Mark Hemer writes about how a changing ocean reshapes coasts, wildlife and energy systems, translating technical climate science into clear, grounded analysis for The Conversation. He works as a principal research scientist in oceans and atmosphere at a major research organisation, and his journalism sits directly on top of his expertise in waves, sea level and coastal extremes. Within the environment beat he focuses on how physical changes in the ocean drive risks and opportunities, from erosion and extreme events to new forms of renewable energy and the fate of marine animals under more volatile weather.
Ocean climate, waves and coastal extremes
Hemer’s core subject is the behaviour of the ocean under a warming climate, especially sea level, waves and coastal hazards. His research background includes detailed work on wave climatology and sea level rise, and this carries through to his pieces that explain new estimates of future sea level and their implications for coastal communities and infrastructure.
In one widely cited explainer for The Conversation, he contributes to an article that unpacks a major climate report as “the most sobering report card yet on climate change and Earth’s future,” drawing out how changes in temperature, ice and oceans are already locking in higher seas and more extreme coastal events. Across these pieces he tends to start from the underlying physics - how waves form, how sea levels respond to greenhouse gas emissions, how storms and tides interact - and then move to concrete consequences such as flooding, erosion and disruption along coasts.
This combination of physical detail and practical framing distinguishes his coverage from general environment reporting that treats sea level rise in broader or more abstract terms.
Ocean renewable energy and climate solutions
A second strand in Hemer’s work is ocean renewable energy, where he connects long-term wave records and coastal dynamics with the prospects for harnessing the sea as a power source. He co-authors technical and policy-oriented pieces on the way forward for ocean renewable energy in Australia, analysing issues such as resource mapping, technology performance and the integration of wave power into wider energy systems.
His associated article for The Conversation, titled “Catching the waves: it’s time for Australia to embrace ocean renewable energy,” sets out why the country’s wave climate offers a significant resource, what the existing data show, and how investment and policy could turn that potential into actual generation. In these pieces he writes as both a scientist and a system thinker, linking climate mitigation, energy security and coastal planning rather than treating wave energy as a niche topic.
The tone is pragmatic: he recognises constraints and technical challenges, but keeps the focus on evidence-based pathways to expand ocean renewables as part of the broader climate solution set.
Explaining waves and climate science to broad audiences
Hemer regularly steps into an explainer role, breaking down complex ocean and climate concepts for non-specialist readers, including children.
He has written for The Conversation’s Curious Kids series on “why are there waves?”, turning core ideas about wind, distance, depth and energy transfer into simple stories that young audiences can grasp. That piece was also featured on the Imagine This podcast, reinforcing his position as a go-to voice when editors need clear, scientifically robust explanations of how the ocean works.
Beyond children’s content, his co-authored climate explainers take dense material - such as multi-hundred-page assessment reports - and distil them into a few key themes: what the latest science says, what is new, and what it means for the future of Earth’s systems. He writes in short, direct sentences, avoids jargon where possible, and uses everyday examples like beach waves, coastal flooding and changes in seasonal patterns to anchor abstract trends in lived experience. This educational bent makes his work useful when a story needs not just a quote but a full narrative that helps audiences understand context and mechanisms, not only outcomes.
Marine wildlife and extreme weather
More recently, Hemer has extended his coverage to the impacts of extreme weather on marine wildlife, especially young animals at vulnerable life stages.
In a co-authored piece at The Conversation on seal pups and seabird chicks, he examines how storms, heatwaves and changing ocean conditions are increasing mortality and stress for animals that depend on stable breeding grounds and predictable food supplies. The article links atmospheric and oceanic drivers - such as more frequent intense storms and marine heat events - to specific ecological consequences, including washed-out colonies, altered prey availability and greater exposure to predators. Hemer’s contribution reflects his broader habit of following the chain from climate forcing through ocean response to biological impact, showing how physical science and ecology have to be considered together when assessing risks to wildlife. This focus on the youngest and most fragile animals gives his environment coverage a sharp edge: he is not just describing climate change in general, but tracing how it plays out on shorelines and nesting sites where minor shifts in conditions can mean survival or loss.
Across these strands, Hemer’s work at The Conversation is defined by its integration of rigorous ocean and climate science with specific, tangible examples - waves breaking on a beach, tide gauges and satellites recording sea level, emerging wave energy projects, and seal pups and seabirds facing harsher seasons. He writes primarily in co-authored formats that bring together specialists from different fields, and his voice tends to emphasise the evidence base and longer-term trends while staying accessible to general readers. For stories on oceans, coastal hazards, renewable energy or wildlife under climate stress, his pieces show a consistent pattern: start with data and mechanisms, connect them to real-world risks and choices, and keep the narrative grounded in what the science can say clearly about the future of the marine environment.
4 more environment journalists.
Adelaide Lang
Adelaide Lang combines climate reporting with courtroom and Indigenous-focused journalism. She reports for The Daily Telegraph, with work also appearing in The Canberra Times, and contributes guest pieces to National Indigenous Times. Her environment coverage focuses on climate-threatened islands, community resilience and how policy decisions affect people facing direct environmental risks. She follows local campaigns, adaptation efforts and political pressure while keeping the human effects clear. Lang also covers court proceedings involving public officials, including the trial of State MP Gareth Ward over historical sexual and indecent assault charges. Her reporting examines how allegations are tested in court and how the justice system handles accusations against people in power. With more than five years in digital media and courtroom reporting, she writes clear, factual accounts of events, legal processes and their consequences.
Ashleigh McMillan
Ashleigh McMillan is a breaking news reporter at The Age. She stands out for covering the environment through public events, infrastructure and everyday city life. Her reporting tracks how protests, policy decisions and sudden incidents change routines, public safety and the spaces people move through. She covers fast-moving stories across Victoria, with a focus on community tension, access and the lived effects of official decisions. Her work includes protests and public demonstrations, crime and courts, transport and ticketing changes, traffic experiments, weather, and environmental conditions in the city. She reports on what people see and feel on the ground, with attention to victims, commuters, residents and the practical consequences of legal and infrastructure decisions.
Bareket Falk
Bareket Falk uses environmental stories to show how growing bodies handle physical stress, especially heat, during exercise. She is a pediatric exercise physiologist and kinesiology professor whose work focuses on how children, adolescents and adults respond to activity across growth and development. She writes evidence-led explainers for The Conversation that test assumptions about children’s vulnerability and turn decades of exercise science into clear, practical guidance. Her core piece looks at how children and adults cope with extreme heat, walking through basic thermoregulation and challenging the idea that children are automatically more fragile. Her journalism draws directly on research into blood flow, sweating, body size and growth, keeping technical detail tight and translating findings into concrete behaviours such as pacing activity, seeking shade and hydration. She is interested in how physical activity interacts with maturation, body composition and recovery, and uses data to check myths about kids’ risk.
Bec Lorrimer
Bec Lorrimer is a visual journalist and picture editor who tells environment stories through photography and careful image selection at the Guardian. She works at the intersection of climate coverage and visual editing, using picture-led formats to show how global heating and other environmental pressures play out in everyday life. Her environment beat centres on picture galleries that track the lived experience of climate extremes, including record high temperatures in South Korea, with in pictures sequences that foreground the scale of global heating over text-led analysis. She also contributes to monthly roundups of the strongest photos and human-centred features such as a nursing home story, focusing on people and places under pressure. As a global visual editor and assistant picture editor on international fronts, she selects images across environment, politics, culture and general news, drawing on her background as a photographer, video director and photo producer.