Chris Mooney
@chriscmooney.bsky.social
Climate and science journalist and Julia G. and Alfred G. Hill Chair of Excellence in Science, Technology, and Medical Writing at @utknoxville.bsky.social. Former WaPo climate writer. Views are my own. For my latest: https://reportearth.substack.com/
Smoke from Canadian #wildfires affecting Great Lakes/NE US in recent days predicted to continue out to the N Atlantic in the #CopernicusAtmosphere aerosol optical depth forecast from 16 July 00z atmosphere.copernicus.eu/charts/packa... @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social @ecmwf.int
Underrated? A little. Essential? Absolutely. The Brazil Current is the South Atlantic's western boundary current, carrying warm water southward and driving circulation across an entire ocean basin. It doesn't have Gulf Stream's PR team, but WHOI scientists know it's doing the same critical work.
🧪 If science journalism is going to survive and thrive, it has to reorient itself and rethink the incentives that currently drive it. Reflecting here on some great @chriscmooney.bsky.social pieces about where we might be headed. nobreakthroughs.com/adrift-in-a-...
Adrift in a Sea of Similar Science Stories
For six months in 2025, I spent my days working from a small office on the bottom floor at the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies. My window was almost roof to ceiling, looked out onto the I...
nobreakthroughs.com
There are more papers being published than ever before but at the same time it increasing seems like the whole paper thing isn't working so well — I've literally never talked to a scientist ready to praise the state of publishing. (Chart by @chriscmooney.bsky.social, www.datawrapper.de/_/8Fd8M/)
"And the army of PhDs (sic PhD holders) will groan, but not know what to do about it, except complain on their BlueSky accounts." @chriscmooney.bsky.social this is too real.
Amazing graphic that says a lot of about many things science- and publication-wise, including why it's so difficult to find good peer reviewers. 🧪
Mark A. Hanson@hansonmark.bsky.social · 2mo agoA timely piece on scientific overload reportearth.substack.com/p/how-mega-s...
"The period over which a tripling of research publications has occurred ... is also a period of convulsive media change... Simply put, even as there are more scientific papers than ever, there are fewer journalists covering science." 🧪 From @chriscmooney.bsky.social:
How ‘mega-science’ helps explain the plight of science communicators right now
How do we communicate about -- or as journalists, cover -- 3.5 million scientific studies per year?
reportearth.substack.com
Newspaper jobs are showing a noticeable fall in early 2026, continuing a longstanding pattern of decline, based on preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (1/3) (Data source: www.bls.gov/web/empsit/c...)
ICYMI: climate journalists Andy Revkin (@revkin.bsky.social sky.social) and Chris Mooney (@chriscmooney.bsky.social) in conversation.
Meet Chris Mooney, a Climate Journalist Now Exploring the Turbulent News Climate
YouTube video by Andrew Revkin
youtube.com
Talking LIVE with @chriscmooney.bsky.social at 2 pm about climate journalism so far and what's next, and about his new ReportScience deep dives into the #climatenews process.
Science journalists, science communicators, science folks of all stripes — if you read nothing else today, read this post by @chriscmooney.bsky.social : 🧪
The scientific "study story" has a questionable future. That may be a good thing
The way we do science journalism is going to change
reportearth.substack.com
I've been experimenting with narrative or storytelling through graphics, and came up with this one. My own life with Y as temperature. See here for a broader essay on the links between data and story, which ends with this chart reportearth.substack.com/p/life-is-an...
The Arctic sea ice maximum for 2026 was just called by @nsidc.bsky.social. It was very low. Tied for record low with 2025. Here's my chart of the data, updated to reflect this news
Friday ice update - #Arctic sea ice extent is currently the 2nd lowest on record (JAXA data) • about 390,000 km² below the 2010s mean • about 980,000 km² below the 2000s mean • about 1,430,000 km² below the 1990s mean • about 1,970,000 km² below the 1980s mean More: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...
Thanks so much for sharing my story, @jeffsharlet.bsky.social ! If you go back to 1990, there are actually over 450,000 U.S. newspaper jobs. The number has been declining ever since, but faster during/after the Great Recession. The overall decline is over 80 percent. www.datawrapper.de/_/sqclG/
Over 80 percent decline in newspaper industry jobs, 1990-2025 | Created with Datawrapper
Jobs in other publishing industry sectors also declined, but not as rapidly.
datawrapper.de
Jeff Sharlet@jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 5mo agoI can't get over this number: in 2007, there were 360,000 newspaper jobs. Now, there are 80,000. "My local paper sucked!" Sure. What sucks even more? The void. "I get all my news from the Guardian!" No, the Guardian doesn't report on your town council, your school board, local cops.
I can't get over this number: in 2007, there were 360,000 newspaper jobs. Now, there are 80,000. "My local paper sucked!" Sure. What sucks even more? The void. "I get all my news from the Guardian!" No, the Guardian doesn't report on your town council, your school board, local cops.
It looks like the U.S. newspaper industry lost about 8 percent of its remaining employees in just one year in 2025. I wish I could say that was unusual, but as this recently updated graphic shows, it has been going on for a long time... My story here: reportearth.substack.com/p/2025-was-a...
🏆 The 2026 Covering Climate Now Journalism Awards are now open! 🥇 🆓 There is no fee to enter ⏳ Entries will be accepted through March 31 at 11:59pm US ET 🌍 Work published anytime in 2025, from anywhere in the world, is eligible 🔗 Learn more and apply: coveringclimatenow.org/projects/the...
Just updated: My chart showing trends in climate change coverage at the big 5 U.S. newspapers, with data via @media-climate.bsky.social. Data now run through Jan 2026, and are pretty timely with the recent Washington Post news For more of my charts: reportearth.substack.com/p/reporteart...
I was told today my Washington Post job is being eliminated It's just a job, but it's one that I was proud to do for 8+ yrs alongside the best in the business I'm here for opportunities to tell stories about the natural world and how we impact it dino.grandoni@gmail.com
First NY Times veteran @jswartz.bsky.social transitions to teach journalism at the University of Texas, now former Washington Post Pulitzer winning climate reporter @chriscmooney.bsky.social moves to teach at the other UT, the one on Rocky Top. Both grew up on Gulf Coast. cci.utk.edu/blog/2026/01...
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist Chris Mooney Named Julia G. and Alfred G. Hill Chair of Excellence - College of Communication and Information
Photo courtesy of the University of Virginia This article was written by Noreen Premji. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s College of Communication and Information is proud to announce Pulitzer ...
cci.utk.edu
A little bit of news about me! cci.utk.edu/blog/2026/01...
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist Chris Mooney Named Julia G. and Alfred G. Hill Chair of Excellence - College of Communication and Information
Photo courtesy of the University of Virginia This article was written by Noreen Premji. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s College of Communication and Information is proud to announce Pulitzer ...
cci.utk.edu
2025 was an exceptional year for the Earth's climate ⬆️ Warmest ocean heat content ⬆️ Tied as second warmest surface temps ⬆️ Second warmest troposphere ⬆️ Record high sea level and GHGs ⬇️ Record low winter Arctic ice New State of the Climate over at Carbon Brief: www.carbonbrief.org/...
🌡️ WMO confirms 2025 was one of warmest years on record. 2025 was one of the 3 warmest years on record, with the global average surface temperature at 1.44°C ± 0.13°C above the 1850-1900 average, according to WMO’s consolidated analysis of 8 datasets. 🔗 https://bit.ly/49xpkWP
Most 2025 global temperatures are now out (degrees C above 1850-1900 baseline) 1.41 HadCRUT5 1.44 Berkeley 1.46 JRA-3Q 1.47 Copernicus 1.53 DCENT-I NOAA and NASA GISS values will be public at 2pm UK time and but based on already public Jan-Nov data they will likely be between 1.3 and 1.4 degC.
South Korean RV ARAON is indeed the only ship in the world regularly visiting Thwaites Glacier, Antarctica. US no longer has a dedicated Antarctic RV. ARAON headed south now, with Raymond Zhong (NYT) & Miles O’Brien @pbsnews.org on board documenting! Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/27/c...
Bound for Antarctica: A Voyage to Earth’s End Is Underway
nytimes.com
📣 New estimates shed light on late-18th century temperatures! 🕰️🌡️🌎 New research provides the first global record from near-surface air temperature measurements, peering back in time to the late-18th century. Read more about it here: brnw.ch/21wYn3Z
Climate Lab Book
Discussions on various aspects of climate science. Click to read Climate Lab Book, by Ed Hawkins, a Substack publication.
brnw.ch
