Now, a Temperature Check
Dear reader,
In my other role as engagement coordinator at the USC Annenberg Center for Climate Journalism and Communication, I surveyed almost 150 climate communicators for our first annual Temperature Check report. I learned that the biggest challenge when talking about climate change was the complexity of the crisis itself, followed by apathy and lack of knowledge among people.
Interestingly, when asked about what news sources they turn to most often to learn about climate change, climate communicators overwhelmingly picked national media and climate-centric publications. Zero respondents say they get their climate news through local media.
Now, whether you’ve been with us from the start or only found us last week, you might realize that The Xylom is neither of the above. As the only Asian-American serving science newsroom, we don’t just cover climate, nor do we just cover one locality or even one country (although we do zero in on the American South and the Global South.) This newsroom model is an experiment because covering a complex crisis requires a complex solution.
Yet, thanks to you, more and more people are turning to The Xylom as a trusted source for climate news that makes a real difference in our world: October’s not even over yet, and we’ve already exceeded last October’s readership by 160%!
We’re excited to build on this success by releasing our budget for FY2025, which began earlier in the month. At $150,000, it is triple that of our past fiscal year. The numbers may seem daunting but we’re confident: our fundraising has increased tenfold since just two years ago when we participated in our first NewsMatch, a powerful collaborative fundraising movement to support independent journalism.
Any contribution you make, up to $1,000, from November 1 until December 31 will be quadrupled(!) With the support of passionate readers like you, we hope to earn $15,000 throughout our third NewsMatch go-around, enabling us to fund full-time reporting staff for the first time and keep delivering in-depth, insightful journalism.
We'll be emailing a bit more often than usual starting next week (and through the end of the year) — so that you’ll learn more about this important time of year in the life of our organization and how to take advantage of this great opportunity to make a donation go further. Thanks in advance for your support and understanding of our increased communication — we can’t do this work, and keep climate information accessible to all, without folks like you supporting us.
With gratitude,
Rhysea Agrawal
Managing Editor
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THINGS YOU SHOULD READ
FAMILY NEWS!
Check out some cool photos by our editor-at-large Kang-Chun (KC) Cheng for Bloomberg, where she looks at the impacts of trash-eating flies on floods in Nairobi, Kenya.
Alumna Fayth Tan comes out with another piece in Prism focusing on intergenerational ecological knowledge among Palestinians about their land.
Our collaborator Rachel Jones from the National Press Foundation just published a report focused on rare diseases around the globe.
A SOUTHERN FLAIR
ATLANTA, Georgia — I’ve Lived Through Three BioLab Fires in 20 Years. I Fear the Impact. (Sydney Sims, Capital B News)
“Local officials must prioritize transparency and communication to ensure that residents feel safe and informed during these turbulent times. The events of this past weekend underscore the ongoing risks associated with hazardous materials in our midst…”
LEWISVILLE, Arkansas — Deja vu comes to Arkansas as lithium follows oil. (Katie Myers, Grist)
“[Some community members] see a looming renaissance, even as other community members acknowledge the mixed legacies of those who earn their money pulling resources from the ground. Such companies provide livelihoods, but only as long as there is something to extract, and they often leave pollution in their wake.”
Conyers, Georgia — A Toxic Explosion in Private Equity Payouts (Maureen Tkacik & Luke Goldstein, The American Prospect)
“There are conflicting indications from authorities about safety and air quality. According to local reporting, residents are already exhibiting symptoms such as shortness of breath, lung tightness, coughing, and eye irritation. A law firm is investigating the matter and offering free consultations with affected residents, advising a local news site that victims ‘may be entitled to compensation.’”
WHAT ELSE WE'RE READING
YORK, Pennsylvania – The Pawpaw, a Beloved Native Fruit, Could Seed a More Sustainable Future for Small Farms (Ben Seal, Civil Eats)
“The pawpaw is not only a part of Appalachian heritage. Its abundance in the wild helped sustain Indigenous tribes across its range for centuries, including the Susquehannocks… Indigenous people first cultivated it in woodlands, using the tree’s fibrous inner bark to make ropes and string and its leaves and stems as medicine.”
BASTAR, India — WhatsApp vigilantes in India are converting Christians by force (Parth MN, Rest of World)
“We were all alone [and] didn’t know what to do. We needed a sense of community. [Christianity] gave us hope.”
- Jaldhar Kashyap, a 32-year old subsistence farmer.
The Chasm Between Oklahoma and Connecticut (Kalena Thomhave, The American Prospect)
“[Sociologist Jennifer Montez] and her research team found that Connecticut passed the most progressive policies between 1970 and 2014, while Oklahoma passed the most conservative ones. Connecticut has passed a refundable Earned Income Tax Credit, while Oklahoma cut income taxes and refused to expand Medicaid until voters passed a ballot initiative and forced the state to do so.”
THE XYLOM’S RECENT STORIES
Perspective: These specimen jars aren't too jarring
In an age of high-tech science, research involving museum specimens might seem like an anachronism. But as Don Lyman writes, museums have high value even in modern days due to the quality and quantity of biological specimens they house, which are essential even in high-tech research.
Black fever, brought to you by climate change
Aliya Bashir reported about the rise of infectious vector diseases in India due to climate change, especially the dangerous Kala Azar disease caused by the parasite Leishmania.
For tortoise beetles, feculence is the best defense
Tortoise beetles can be quite bizarre, moving around leaves with their colorful and iridescent upper shields that resemble miniature turtle shells. As Carolyn Bernhardt reports, they occupy a unique place in the food web that could be important to unlocking how organisms develop survival techniques.
Perspective: In new song, Bad Bunny lights up Puerto Rico’s political corruption, climate inaction
Puerto Rico continues to live with the devastating consequences of Hurricane Maria, even seven years after the initial landfall. In his latest song “Una Velita,” Caribbean artist Bad Bunny calls out political corruption and energy inequality in his native Puerto Rico, and asks us all to remember the ones who were lost due to the disaster, Angely Mercado reports.
Maternal Deaths Keep Increasing in Nigeria. Healthcare Services Still Remain Underfunded.
Three years after ambulance trikes were introduced to southwest Nigeria, maternal death rates have raised, while the ambulances sit largely unused. What went wrong? Read this piece by Mohammed Taoheed to find out more.