2019 Oppenheimer Ethics Symposium
Kendra Pierre-Louis, a climate reporter with The New York Times, will deliver the keynote lecture for the University of Idaho’s 2019 Oppenheimer Media Ethics Symposium.
Pierre-Louis will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 28, in the Administration Building Auditorium, 875 Campus Drive, Moscow. Her talk is free and open to the public.
“Climate change is the leading environmental issue of our time,” said Kenton Bird, an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Media who is coordinating her visit. “Kendra Pierre-Louis is reporting from the front lines about the science, politics and social dimensions of climate change. Her visit to Idaho could not be more timely.”
Pierre-Louis’ talk is titled “Is Gloom my Beat? Reporting on our Changing Planet.” She will describe the challenges of covering the global effects of climate change, as well the ways in which climate change already has begun affecting how humans exist in the world through drought, wildfires and insect-borne diseases. She will also address the current status of action on climate change.
While in Moscow, Pierre-Louis will meet with U of I faculty who are researching the effects of climate change in the Northwest, speak to a journalism class and meet with student journalists.
Pierre-Louis also will speak at 11:45 a.m. Mountain time Wednesday, March 27, 2019, at the Grove Hotel in Boise at a forum sponsored by the City Club of Boise and the School of Journalism and Mass Media.
Before joining the Times, Pierre-Louis was a staff writer for Popular Science magazine, where she wrote about science and the environment. In addition, her writing has appeared in FiveThirtyEight, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Modern Farmer and Slate. She is the author of “Green Washed: Why We Can't Buy Our Way to a Green Planet.”
The Oppenheimer Symposium, organized by the School of Journalism and Mass Media, has been supported since 2011 by U of I graduates Doug and Arthur “Skip” Oppenheimer of Boise. Skip Oppenheimer graduated in 1968 with a degree in history before moving on to Harvard for his master’s degree in business administration, while Doug Oppenheimer graduated in 1974 with a degree in journalism.
