About The Pacific
The Pacific is a journal that celebrates the work of the advanced writers, storytellers, and journalists in EARTHSYS 277C: Environmental Journalism at Stanford University from 2023 and 2024. At The Pacific, we recognize our collective power to address climate change and its disproportionate impacts on marginalized communities through storytelling and journalism. Through our work, we hope to elevate and empower the voices that are often ignored in our society, increase empathy, and motivate behavioral change in our readership. The Pacific also recognizes how the mediums and story forms of journalism are rapidly changing; as such, we publish a wide array of pieces, some of which emphasize personal narrative, and others that incorporate multimedia.
Our Guidelines for Effective Journalism
This is the rubric that we’ve built together as a class from our analysis of environmental journalism pieces. While these might not apply to every piece you write, they serve as general guidelines that can help inform how you craft an effective environmental journalism piece.
Content
-Piece focuses on a single story and then extrapolates the material to show the larger implications of the topic (i.e. singular news events to larger systemic issues)
-Piece is solutions-based while acknowledging the conflicting perspectives that exist on a given topic
-Solutions-based doesn’t necessarily mean a call to action, as this can sometimes detract from complex issues
-Solutions-based perspective is more societal rather than rooted in individual behavioral change
-Piece thoughtfully introduces new words (i.e. “greenlining”) and offers accessible, accurate, and clear definitions for complex ideas
-Piece clearly articulates its main takeaways and incorporates apt examples
-Piece integrates thoughtful use of multimedia, including (but not limited to) humanizing interviews, photos, and color-coded data visualizations throughout the piece
-Piece is internally-consistent
-Piece incorporates a narrative or storytelling component and includes characters
-Author considers having characters that are relatable to the reader and highlights the similarities between the two to increase empathy
-Piece has elements that (primarily) aim to inform the reader and accurately capture ongoing reality
-Piece pushes back on subject and interviewee’s statements when necessary
-Piece addresses the nuance between diverse perspectives of all stakeholders (i.e. avoids tropes like urban liberals vs uneducated rural conservatives)
Style/Delivery
-Author understands the expectations of the medium and audience they are writing for and tailors content and language accordingly
-Piece establishes context and specificity early on
-Piece expounds on the narrative in a length appropriate to the subject matter
-Journalist adopts a strong voice, especially in moments of personal narrative
-Shocking/hard-hitting sentences are showcased at the start of the piece
-Sentences are thoughtfully constructed and avoid redundancy
-Links to cited sources clearly exhibit where the information discussed in the piece is coming from
-Cited information combats misinformation by using reliable sources
-Piece respectfully examines and engages with opposing perspectives. If publishing, piece is wide-reaching, or strives to go beyond “echo chambers”
-Piece feels like it comes from an individual voice
Meet The Instructor
Chloe Peterson-Nafziger is a photographer and storyteller rooted in the Bay Area. In addition to her role as the instructor for EARTHSYS 277C, Chloe runs BIOSPHERE, her freelance multimedia environmental communication company. BIOSPHERE utilizes the mediums of photography, videography, and design to amplify the narratives of environmental non-profits. Specializing in stories that highlight the impact of climate change and the pursuit of environmental and social justice, the company strives to make environmental communication more accessible, increasing empathy and motivating behavioral change, elevating and empowering voices that are often diminished in our society.