My World's on Fire

By Colleen Hagerty

Extra, extra! Read all about it!

#89・ Apr 29, 2022

Stay up to date, be part of a community and show your support.

Become a member

Become a member $5 / month

114

issues

Extra, extra! Read all about it!

By Colleen Hagerty • Issue #89 • View online

Thanks for reading My World’s on Fire, a newsletter about disasters from journalist Colleen Hagerty. Let’s make this a regular thing – subscribe here for disaster deep-dives, Q&As, and context in your inbox on Thursday evenings.

Some exciting newsletter news to get you started this week!

Last week, My World’s on Fire was named a finalist in the 2022 Covering Climate Now (CCNow) Journalism Awards in the “newsletter” category.

Live look at me when I found out

Here’s what the judges had to say:

My World’s on Fire covers disasters at a local level but with an eye to the global picture that is both informative and gripping. A series on climate migration forced by extreme storms and flooding across the southern US focused on the particular challenges of low-resource communities. A story on a FEMA program dug into the difficulties of a small community in Three Forks, Montana complying with the complicated requirements of the funding application. Newsletters offer a chance for journalists to develop a personal voice, freed from some of the restrictions and conventions of more traditional formats. Hagerty strikes the right note, with a voice that is distinctive and engaging.

I am amazed to be in such good company with the other finalists, so I decided to share a few of the disaster-related works that I found particularly interesting and informative with you this week.

That’s right – we’re doing a links round-up.

I also included a few resources I’ve recently come across that I think do a great job of breaking down some basic disaster and climate terminology. These are great to save in case you come across a confusing policies or article in the future.

Now, let’s get into the links:

The Migrant Workers Who Follow Climate Disasters | The New Yorker ($)

This article is a CCNow nominee for investigative reporting, digging into work migrant contractors do for large firms that deal in disaster recovery. As the judges explained, “At the tail end of murky subcontracting chains, these laborers are routinely subjected to inhumane, even fatal, working conditions, with wage theft, assault, and labor trafficking all tragically common.”

www.newyorker.com • Share

The Karuk Used Fire to Manage the Forest for Centuries. Now They Want To Do That Again | KQED

If you were interested in last week’s newsletter on prescribed and cultural burns, I definitely suggest listening to this nominated audio feature on the efforts of the Karuk people to get more fire on the ground.

www.kqed.org • Share

Through Our Eyes | HBO Max

Linking to the trailer here since the show is behind the HBO Max paywall, but if you do have the streamer, check out the second episode of “Through Our Eyes,” a program that documents pressing issues through the experiences of young people. This CCNow-nominated feature focuses on a families displaced by climate change, including one in a hurricane-impacted area, something you rarely get to see from a child’s perspective. Unlike many of the other works I’ve linked to here, I was not familiar with this before seeing it in the nominations list, and I now can’t stop thinking about it.

www.youtube.com • Share

Hot Days: Heat's Mounting Death Toll On Workers In The U.S. | NPR

In Los Angeles, we’ve already had a series of unusually hot days this spring. This nominated investigation is a necessary and timely look at how vulnerable workers in fields like construction and agriculture are in this weather. As a reminder, heat is often not experienced equally across communities, and heatwaves are regularly among the most deadly disasters each year in the United States.

www.npr.org • Share

Disaster Glossary | Southerly

Southerly does great reporting on disasters, and now, they’ve compiled an incredible glossary of key terms related to preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disasters. A very good page to bookmark!

southerlymag.org • Share

A quick guide to climate change jargon | USC Dornsife

I also found this guide to common climate-related terminology really useful, as it breaks down some of the buzzwords that you’ll find in a lot of climate coverage these days.

dornsife.usc.edu • Share

Links to help you make sense of things | Revue

Finally, this is a throwback to one of my earliest links posts, where I shared some of my most relied-on resources. While a lot has changed since I sent this in 2020 (including this newsletter provider, so apologies for the funky formatting), these remain some of my top recommendations.

newsletter.colleenhagerty.com • Share

As always...

thank you for subscribing to My World’s on Fire.

This newsletter exists because of MWOF members – for $5/month, you can help keep this newsletter weekly and free for all readers. Plus, you get some exclusive perks!

Or, if you’re not into commitment, you can buy me a coffee (about two went into the making of this edition alone).

This week’s subscriber shout out goes to James Green, thank you so much for sharing MWOF on social media:

James Green

@TheJamesGreen

Confession Time:

I only subscribe to a few newsletters.

@colleenhagerty and @taylorkatebrown's are two of them, and they've joined forces and written a great article on "Demystifying prescribed burns" https://t.co/7wPjoJmO9Z https://t.co/Ef7xsIpyyo

4:40 AM - 22 Apr 2022

Here’s a little something for reading to the end.

Colleen