Phil Shabecoff

“I learned that these kind of people can be resisted, if there are resistors to do it.”

-Philip Shabecoff

The dean of environmental journalism calls on Americans to stop a regime bent on destroying the planet. This week on the Mother Earth Podcast, we sit down for a deep discussion with Philip Shabecoff -- the first major reporter to treat environmental news as its own beat in its own right. As the environmental correspondent for the New York Times from 1977 to 1991, Philip rang the alarm bell loud and clear on numerous environmental crises, including loss of species, the hole in the ozone layer, acid rain, toxic waste, and environmental racism. And he was one of the first reporters to give serious and sustained attention to the issue of the coming climate crisis. Philip has won numerous environmental awards, including the “Global 500” Honor Roll of the United Nations Environmental Program and the Sierra Club’s David R. Brower Award for Environmental Journalism.

In our conversation, Philip offers insight on the climate crisis and other pressing environmental problems that he tried so hard to prevent with his prescient reporting. He calls on Americans to rise up and resist the Trump administration and its assault on the environment. He does so from a unique vantage point: Philip was America’s leading reporter exposing the Reagan Administration’s myriad attempts to undercut environmental protections. He minces no words and, based on his decades of experience, this wise elder offers us timely lessons showing that those bent on destroying the environment can be stopped by a determined and organized citizenry.

Philip’s straight shooting as the New York Times’ environmental correspondent ultimately spelled the end of his job for America’s most prominent newspaper. He discusses with us his demise at the Times for being too focused on the harms and costs of pollution.

But Philip rose from the ashes of this defeat.  He went on to found Greenwire, the daily online digest of worldwide environmental news coverage, and to write several important books on the environment, including A Fierce Green Fire: the American Environmental Movement, which was made into a movie narrated by Robert Redford, Ashley Judd, Van Jones, Isabelle Allende, and Meryl Streep. The book called on Americans to launch a new wave of environmentalism to meet the new threats to people and planet. That wave is happening now.

If all this were not enough, as a sort of bonus track Philip takes us inside American journalism’s greatest moment: he served as the Times’ White House correspondent in the waning days of Watergate. Philip was right in the midst of it all and discusses the White House disinformation campaign that misled Philip’s own reporting right up through Nixon’s final day in office. The parallels to Trump are palpable.

Be sure to check out the end of the show when Philip reads a beautiful and moving piece from his memoir, Places: Habits of a Human Lifetime, which was named a best book of the year by Kirkus Reviews.

Philip saw the climate crisis coming and tried to save the planet. May we all contribute as greatly as he has to the benefit of humanity and the natural environment that sustains us all. 

For People and Planet, thank you for listening.

(Please note that this episode was recorded prior to the pandemic).