Maxine Joselow
Maxine Joselow follows how government decisions on climate and environmental policy translate into changes in pollution rules, public lands and scientific research. She covers climate change and the environment for The New York Times, with a particular focus on climate policy and politics. Her reporting traces the actions of federal agencies, lawmakers and states as they fight over the direction of climate action and environmental protection, with an emphasis on concrete impacts for communities and landscapes.
Climate Policy and Federal Agencies
Joselow’s core beat is the machinery of climate and environmental regulation inside federal agencies. She regularly explains proposals at the Environmental Protection Agency to loosen limits on pollution from trucks and power plants, showing how technical rule changes affect emissions and public health.
Her coverage of moves to erase climate pollution limits from power plants and to soften standards for heavy-duty vehicles breaks down what is at stake for industry, air quality and climate goals. She also reports on efforts to curb public input on large energy and technology projects, such as agency steps to restrict public comment on data centers, highlighting how process changes can narrow democratic participation in environmental decisions.
Across these stories, she foregrounds the connection between abstract regulatory language and specific facilities, communities near industrial sites and the broader trajectory of national climate policy.
National Parks and Public Lands in Turbulent Times
A distinctive strand of Joselow’s work follows how political priorities reshape national parks and other public lands. She has detailed how budget shifts, staff cuts and high-profile projects have disrupted maintenance and basic services in parks, using scenes from well-known sites to show the consequences of reallocated funds.
In coverage of court decisions allowing the continued removal of signs and exhibits about slavery and climate change, she examines how interpretive choices within parks mirror wider battles over history, science and identity. Her reporting on plans to allow logging in previously protected national forests tracks the rollback of longstanding safeguards for old-growth woodlands and roadless areas, with attention to ecological risk and local economies. She also follows how cuts to wildfire research and closures of government laboratories affect understanding of smoke, habitat and forest ecosystems, tying public lands policy directly to scientific capacity.
In one article on a shelved plan to end an ocean monitoring system, she places coastal and marine observation within the same pattern of attempts to weaken environmental monitoring and then reverse course under pressure.
State–Federal Clashes and Legal Fights
Joselow frequently reports on the friction between federal policymakers and states over climate and environmental rules.
She has covered multistate lawsuits challenging changes to endangered species protections, clarifying how states use the courts to resist weakened safeguards for at-risk wildlife. Her work on efforts to crush California’s climate policies traces coordinated steps by multiple federal agencies to undermine a state seen as a leader in environmental regulation, connecting legal maneuvers to the future of vehicle standards, energy policy and emissions targets.
In Congress, she follows votes to block California’s clean ship rules, showing how lawmakers intervene in state-level attempts to tackle pollution from maritime traffic. These stories often link legal strategy, agency action and political messaging, illustrating how climate policy fights play out simultaneously in legislatures, courts and regulatory offices.
Career on the Climate Beat
Joselow has built a career specializing in climate policy and environmental reporting. Before joining The New York Times, she covered climate change and the environment for The Washington Post, where she helped launch a daily climate newsletter and later served as a lead reporter on climate policy and politics. Earlier, she reported for an environmental news outlet focused on energy and climate issues, giving her deep familiarity with the regulatory landscape and the communities that navigate it.
Across these roles, her work blends accountability reporting on regulatory rollbacks and budget cuts with explanatory pieces that unpack complex rules for a broad audience. She consistently situates agency actions in terms of their effects on people living near power plants and industrial facilities, visitors to national parks, and residents of states pushing ambitious climate agendas.
The result is coverage that treats climate policy not as an abstract debate but as a series of decisions that reshape everyday environments and public institutions.
4 more environment journalists.
Adam Kovac
Adam Kovac is a breaking news reporter at Scientific American who explains fast-moving stories where science, climate and public policy intersect. His beat spans climate-driven extremes, El Niño, energy, infrastructure, space, mathematics and public health. He has written about super El Niño, extreme weather, ozone recovery, diesel prices, electric rain, peeling paint, wine chemistry, lunar craters, space missions, NASA telescopes, vaccines, IVF treatments, TikTok remedies and AI-created viruses. He also covers regulation, political campaigns and pressures on scientific institutions. His stories are fast-turn news features and explainers. He uses expert quotes and clear descriptions of underlying mechanisms to show why developments matter. He connects technical details to practical stakes, including risks to ecosystems, economies, patients, public safety, technology and long-term scientific work.
Angela Capobianco
Angela Capobianco stands out for reporting how policy, infrastructure and environmental decisions translate into concrete effects for workers, residents and vulnerable communities. She is a digital broadcast journalist at Global News and works as a general assignment video journalist with a focus on environmental reporting, municipal affairs, housing and labour. Her stories cover labour protections, municipal governance, environmental conflicts and social policy. She reports on how land use, climate and regulatory choices affect communities, from glyphosate spraying fears in Bear River to extreme heat and support for people sleeping rough. She also covers workers’ rights, long-term care strikes, municipal budgets, ferry service delays, heritage designation, housing reuse, and bridge replacement plans, with close attention to negotiations, official decisions and on-the-ground impact.
Arrthy Thayaparan
Arrthy Thayaparan is a CBC News reporter who shows how government decisions affect daily life. She covers climate, transportation, education, community issues, trade, tariffs and the cost of living. Her reporting examines how policy changes affect prices, public services, employers, workers, consumers and families. She has written about Ontario businesses facing tariff pressures, ticket resale rules, tariff support funding, transit changes after the Scarborough RT derailment, highway speed limits, education union talks and mandatory school platforms. She also covers public-service work rules, community-service funding, municipal campaigns, tenant protections and the economic effects of major events. Thayaparan reports through concrete numbers, program details and timelines. She gives space to governments, unions, workers, businesses and residents, and traces decisions from political debate to their effects on commutes, classrooms, budgets, workplaces and neighbourhoods.
Bianca McKeown
Bianca McKeown stands out for reporting the everyday consequences of climate change, infrastructure decisions, social policy and Indigenous governance in northern communities. She reports for CBC North across television, radio and digital. Her work focuses on how weather shifts, wildlife changes and development projects affect daily life, travel, safety and local economies. She covers large infrastructure and energy proposals, foster parent payments, cost of living, vulnerable families and Indigenous leadership. She also reports on national reconciliation efforts and the role of Inuit voices in decision-making. Her stories rely on practical details, community voices, interviews and clear descriptions of what residents, officials and advocates face on the ground. Her coverage is direct and descriptive, and it connects policy decisions to lived reality.