We recently expanded our residency program to include an expert on the vast topic of climate. Our first Climate Resident, Harri Weber, has been hard at work curating captivating stories for our climate newsletter and sharing her expertise in The Climate Exchange.

As a senior writer at TechCrunch and with bylines in Gizmodo and Fast Company too, Harri has been at the forefront of climate-tech journalism, making the complex topic more accessible via stories that explore everything from the future of textiles to the giant algae blooms burdening communities across the Gulf of Mexico.

We chatted with Harri about her unique approach to climate storytelling, everyday things we all can do to address this pressing issue, and her experiences in our residency program. We also talk about environmental justice, along with the solutions indigenous peoples contribute to addressing the climate crisis. 

How did you get interested in climate journalism?

I always loved nature and being outdoors as a kid. The first job I wanted was to be a geologist. I loved to collect rocks. And then, at some point, I sort of fell off environmental topics until I was working at Gizmodo, where I was working with some really talented climate writers and editors, like Yessenia Funes who’s at Atmos.Earth, and Brian Kahn, who now works for Bloomberg. I had that feeling that I think a lot of climate writers feel, which is, “I should be focusing on this.” Feels more important, and it’s also fun, because it could be anything — it’s so complex. 

Within the climate beat, what are your specialties?

Talking about it as level-headedly as I can. I’ve been writing a lot about electric cars and the infrastructure around them and about sustainable fashion… the fact that all our clothes are made of plastic. Biotech is interesting; carbon capture is super interesting and unproven. I like to talk about the emerging tech that has investors’ attention. 

Climate mitigation can be anything: it can be food. There’s a company I saw that is making bean-less coffee using marinated date seeds. There’s always a story coming out about how maybe we won’t have coffee someday because the growing regions are being disrupted by climate change. 

Basically everything is already a climate story. 

You mentioned the word “level-headed.” What does it mean to be level-headed on a topic that has so much urgency and fear attached to it?

You can’t strip the humanity of it. It’s going to be a scary and overwhelming topic, and it touches so many things. But to be level-headed means acknowledging what I know and don’t know. Talking to people who devote their lives to each field and tap into their expertise. 

So if I am writing about something that involves physics, I should talk to a physicist. If I’m writing about, say, renting clothes, whether that’s actually a solution to reducing emissions, I need to talk to someone who has studied this. You’ve got to turn to the experts to give you that gut check and spend a lot more time focused on figuring out who you can trust.

How do you figure that out? What do you look for in deciding this is someone I can trust?

Reputation. For instance, Berkeley has a good reputation when it comes to climate science. Sometimes it’s talking to my colleagues and asking: have you heard of this person before? How do you know this school? What do you know about this academic paper that this article was published in? Some of it is also understanding science journalism. I worked with Kelly Bourdet at Gizmodo, who taught me a lot about the basic questions that a science journalist has to ask, and then applying that every time. That’s sort of the craft of journalism: knowing I need to ask this question and I need to ask it five ways. And I need to check the answers that I get each time, because you’re not always gonna get a clear answer or the nuance might be lost. So it’s strategic. You want to be curious. It’s fun, it’s really complicated, and I enjoy the mystery of it all. 

Are you ultimately hopeful or scared for our climate future?

At TechCrunch’s climate conference last year, I asked renowned climate modeling expert William Collins, “Are we doomed?” Everyone laughed because it was uncomfortable. And he said no, which calms me down a bit. Well, he sort of said no; he said there’s reason to be hopeful. 

He shared a subjective view, saying that many people are suddenly becoming aware of climate change, to the extent that it’s causing extreme anxiety such that psychologists are having to adapt. I believe there is reason to believe that people and systems can change, and we’re already seeing significant shifts, such as moving away from relying on burning oil for energy.

There is a strong appetite for alternative solutions, but many aspects of the problem are beyond people’s everyday control. On the other hand, I’m holding a plastic container. [Holds up coffee cup] It’s made of oil. That is a single-use item housing my coffee. I feel guilty about it because I also have a reusable one. But it’s slightly annoying to clean it and bring it to coffeeshops that may or may not be accepting of it. So I know firsthand that behavioral change is hard and that some products are sticky, meaning they create habits that are hard to break, and are bad for the environment. 

I think there’s cause for concern, but also reason not to be entirely doom and gloom about it. The problem is that focusing on the negatives leaves us less equipped to act. When I get depressed about climate change, I don’t do anything and just lie in bed. That just makes me less effective and less considerate about my own behavior. 

What are some things any of us can do to be better stewards of the environment?

Compost. A lot of food is wasted, and when it goes to landfills, it generates methane. Composting allows natural processes to break down the waste, becoming food for worms and bacteria. It’s important enough that Los Angeles recently started to mandate composting, which I am super excited about. Composting is probably more impactful than a lot of things people talk about.

Public transit is way better for the environment, if you can take it. Walking is incredible for the environment and it feels good if you can do it. 

If you believe in electoral politics, there are definitely some politicians who want to respond more urgently to the climate crisis than others. Many of those people are Democrats, but not all of them. 

If you work in fashion, your job is affecting the climate, because fashion has a huge environmental footprint. 

Find your issue, instead of trying to be the perfect citizen. Everyone’s got fascinations and those are motivating. For me, I love to garden so composting is a natural thing that I am doing. I can make soil that way. For other people it may be, I don’t know, getting their friends into public transit. 

We can’t take on everything. Do the basics and find something that you’re passionate about. Maybe it’s upcycling furniture. Reuse as much as you can. Avoid the bad actors if you can, like oil and plastic products. You can’t do everything because there are too many giant systems that need to be reoriented around the earth. That’s why it’s scary. A lot of people need to get on board and create a lot of changes.

What kind of stories are you curating in The Climate Exchange? What are you looking for?

I’ve been focusing a lot on electric cars. That’s because at TechCrunch I’ve been working with our transportation editor Kirsten Korosec, who has automotive experience, while I have tech experience. We’ve been collaborating on climate-focused electric car coverage. Electric cars are interesting to me because cars are a significant part of American culture. I live in Los Angeles, the land of cars, and I don’t like cars. I’m using my passionate dislike of cars to explore why they’re important and what can change.

Food is another topic. Food has a large carbon footprint and environmental costs, so it’s important to discuss. I find fake meat fascinating because it’s a divisive topic. I like that there’s emotion invested in the topic. It’s a sign that it’s important.

I also like fashion. I don’t know how fashionable I am but I like to talk about it. What doesn’t get enough attention in general is the intersectionality of climate and tech so I like to share stories about that. I share climate stories that aren’t just about climate, like stories about environmental justice; the issue of environmental justice is a racial justice issue. All of the extreme weather or rising sea levels, all of the disruptive things related to climate change are going to hit and—are already hitting—indigenous peoples and marginalized people first. We owe it to our fellow humans to talk about that.

Studies consistently show that empowering—basically giving land back to be overseen by indigenous peoples–works. It is not just socially the right thing to do, but it also turns those areas of land into places that store carbon instead of emitting carbon. Western society, like everything that’s come out of imperialism, has done a really poor job of managing land, so we really need to turn to people who know what they’re doing. We have to talk about the fact that climate is everyone’s issue, and it is an indigenous rights issue. So I tried to feature those perspectives too.

Amazing, that’s a really powerful place to end. Do you have any parting thoughts?

We can talk about climate in a million different ways. One of the things I like about the way you’ve structured this residency program is that it ends. [Ed. note: Most Flipboard residencies last for 3-6 months.] I have my lens on it, which is very tech-focused and often touches on the money behind climate solutions. There are other interesting areas that will grab other people in different ways or that are more pressing. Hearing from more and more people who have their areas of focus is super important.

If you are a climate journalist, scientist or other expert, reach out! We would love to invite you to The Climate Exchange and see if there’s a fit for our residency program in the future. As Harri says, it’s really important to us to have a diversity of voices contributing to this topic.

You can follow Harri on Flipboard at https://flipboard.com/@harriwrites 

— Mia Q, head of creator community, is reading The Climate Exchange