Andrew Revkin
{{Short description|American journalist and author}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Andrew C. Revkin
| image = Andrew Revkin, Journalist.jpg
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| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1956}}
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| occupation = Environmental writer, professor
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| education = Brown University (BS)
Columbia University (MA)
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| genre = Science writing
| subject = Global warming
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| notableworks = Dot Earth (blog); The Burning Season: The Murder of Chico Mendes and the Fight for the Amazon Rain Forest
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| awards = Guggenheim Fellowship;
John Chancellor Award;
Feinstone Environmental Award
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| website = {{URL|http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com}}
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Andrew C. Revkin (born 1956) is an American science and environmental journalist, webcaster, author and educator. He has written on a wide range of subjects including the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, the 2004 Asian tsunami, sustainable development, climate change, and the changing environment around the North Pole. From 2019 to 2023 he directed the Initiative on Communication and Sustainability at The Earth Institute of Columbia University.{{Cite news|url=https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2019/07/01/andrew-revkin-earth-institute/|title=Journalist Andrew Revkin to Head New Communications Initiative|access-date=2019-08-10|language=en-us}} While at Columbia, he launched a video webcast, Sustain What,{{cite web | url=https://www.earth.columbia.edu/videos/channel/sustain-what | title=Sustain What? - Earth Institute Live - Columbia University }} that seeks solutions to tangled environmental and societal challenges through dialogue. In 2023, the webcast integrated with his online newsletter of the same name.{{Cite web | title=Sustain What {{!}} Andy @Revkin {{!}} Substack | url=https://revkin.substack.com | access-date=2025-02-22 | website=revkin.substack.com}}
Previously, he was a strategic adviser to environmental and science journalism at the National Geographic Society.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.org/newsroom/award-winning-writer-andrew-revkin-joins-national-geographic-society-as-strategic-adviser-for-environmental-and-science-journalism/|title=Award-Winning Writer Andrew Revkin Joins National Geographic Society|access-date=2018-06-17|language=en-us}} Through 2017 he was senior reporter for climate change at the independent investigative newsroom ProPublica.{{cite web|last1=Gordy|first1=Cynthia|title=Andrew Revkin to Join ProPublica as Senior Reporter on Climate Change|url=https://www.propublica.org/atpropublica/item/andrew-revkin-to-join-propublica-as-senior-reporter-on-climate-change|website=ProPublica|language=en-us|date=14 November 2016}} He was a reporter for The New York Times from 1995 through 2009. In 2007, he created the Dot Earth environmental blog for The Times. The blog moved to the Opinion Pages in 2010 and ran through 2016. From 2010 to 2016 he was also the Senior Fellow for Environmental Understanding at Pace University.[http://pace.edu/paaes/node/5##andrewrevkin "Andrew C. Revkin", Pace University, 2009.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120710052609/http://pace.edu/paaes/node/5%23 |date=July 10, 2012 }} Accessed: December 3, 2012. He is also a performing songwriter and was a frequent accompanist of Pete Seeger.
Early life
Andrew Revkin was born and raised in Rhode Island. He graduated from Brown University in 1978 with a degree in biology.[http://alumni.brown.edu/news_events/reunions/08gallery/revkin.html Reunion 2008: Retrospective: Alumni Reunion Forum: “Dot Earth: Pursuing Progress on a Finite Planet”], Brown University, Alumni He later received a Master's in Journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.[http://daily.swarthmore.edu/2007/04/11/journalist-author-and-singer-andrew-revkin-examines-climate-change/ Journalist, author, and singer Andrew Revkin examines climate change], The Daily Gazette, 11. April 2007[https://environmentalstudies.vassar.edu/news/announcements/2005-2006/060410-climate-change.html New York Times Climate Change Expert Speaks During Earth Week. 20. April 2016]
Career
Early in his career he held senior editor and senior writer positions at Discover magazine and Science Digest, respectively.[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/23/learning/askareporterscience/revkin_bio.html Revkin's Biography], The New York Times, 23 April 2006
From 1995 through 2009, Revkin covered the environment for The New York Times. In 2003, he became the first Times reporter to file stories from the North Pole area and in 2005-6, he broke stories about the Bush administration's interference with scientific research, particularly at NASA.Cristine Russell, [https://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/revkin_taking_nyt_buyout.php?page=all "Revkin Taking NYT Buyout: Veteran climate reporter to leave paper after Copenhagen summit], Columbia Journalism Review, December 14, 2009
In 2010, he joined Pace University's Academy for Applied Environmental Studies as Senior Fellow for Environmental Understanding.{{cite news|url=http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/my-second-half/ |title=My Second Half |author=Andrew Revkin |work=Dot Earth |publisher=The New York Times |access-date=21 December 2009 |date=21 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091224104645/http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/my-second-half/ |archive-date=24 December 2009 |url-status=live }}
Revkin has also written books on the Anthropocene,{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LEapDwAAQBAJ | isbn=978-1-68335-880-0 | title=The Human Planet: Earth at the Dawn of the Anthropocene | date=7 April 2020 | publisher=Abrams }} humanity's weather and climate learning journey,{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jQSfEAAAQBAJ | isbn=978-1-4549-3245-1 | title=Weather: From Cloud Atlases to Climate Change | date=20 May 2018 | publisher=Union Square + ORM }} the once and future Arctic, the Amazon, and global warming.{{cite web|url=http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/bullpen/andrew_revkin/backgrounder_an/ |title=Backgrounder: Andrew Revkin |author=Molly Webster |work=Bullpen |publisher=NYU Journalism |access-date=14 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026154310/http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/bullpen/andrew_revkin/backgrounder_an/ |archive-date=26 October 2009 }} He was interviewed by Seed magazine about his book The North Pole Was Here, which was published in 2006. He stressed that "the hard thing to convey in print as journalists, and for society to absorb, is that this is truly a century-scale problem."{{cite web |url=http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/skipping_ahead/ |title=Skipping Ahead |publisher=Seed |date=21 April 2006 |access-date=14 May 2009 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090422184450/http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/skipping_ahead/| archive-date= 22 April 2009 | url-status= unfit}}
Revkin is among those credited with developing the idea that humans, through growing impacts on Earth's climate and other critical systems, are creating a distinct geological epoch, the Anthropocene.{{cite journal|last1=Steffen|first1=W.|last2=Grinevald|first2=J.|last3=Crutzen|first3=P.|last4=McNeill|first4=J.|title=The Anthropocene: conceptual and historical perspectives|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences|date=2011|volume=369|issue=1938|pages=842–867|doi=10.1098/rsta.2010.0327|pmid=21282150|bibcode=2011RSPTA.369..842S|doi-access=}} He was a member of the "Anthropocene" Working Group from 2010 to 2016. The group is charged by a branch of the International Commission on Stratigraphy with gauging evidence that a formal change in the Geologic Time Scale is justified.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}
File:Andrew Revkin of The New York Times on Sea Ice Near the North Pole.jpg
Books
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=gvwC4Ojo9fEC&q=Andrew+Revkin The Burning Season: The Murder of Chico Mendes and the Fight for the Amazon Rain Forest]. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2004 [1990], {{ISBN|978-1-55963-089-4}}
:-- translated and published also in Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, German, Portuguese, Japanese and Thai editions[http://www.worldcat.org/title/burning-season-the-murder-of-chico-mendes-and-the-fight-for-the-amazon-rain-forest/oclc/21335871/editions?cookie=&start_edition=1&sd=desc&se=yr&referer=null&qt=show_more_ln%3A&editionsView=true&fq=&fc=ln%3A_25 WorldCat.] Accessed: July 31, 2012.
- Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast. New York: Abbeville Press, 1992, {{ISBN|978-1558593107}}
- The North Pole Was Here: Puzzles and Perils at the Top of the World. Boston: Kingfisher, 2006, {{ISBN|9780753459935}}
- Weather: An Illustrated History, from Cloud Atlases to Climate Change. New York: Sterling, 2018, {{ISBN|1454921404}}
- The Human Planet: Earth at the Dawn of the Anthropocene. New York: Abrams Books, 2020, {{ISBN|1419742779}}
= Films based on his work =
Two films have been based on Revkin's writing:
- The Burning Season (1994), a prize-winning HBO film starring Raul Julia and directed by John Frankenheimer, was based on Revkin's eponymous biography of Chico Mendes, the slain defender of the Amazon rain forest.
- Rock Star (2001), starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston, was based on "A Metal-Head Becomes a Metal-God. Heavy," a 1997 New York Times article by Revkin. The article described how a singer in a Judas Priest tribute band rose to replace his idol in the real band.
Songwriter and musician
Revkin is a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who led a Hudson Valley roots ensemble called [https://www.facebook.com/BreakneckRidgeRevue/ Breakneck Ridge Revue]. He was also a member of Uncle Wade, a blues-roots band.[https://www.facebook.com/UNCLE-WADE-49075702975/?ref=br_rs Uncle Wade.] Accessed: June 24, 2012. Revkin performed frequently with the folk singer (and environmentalist) Pete Seeger from 1996 until Seeger's death in 2014.
Revkin's first album, A Very Fine Line, featuring guest contributions by Dar Williams, Mike Marshall and Bruce Molsky, was released in November, 2013.{{cite web|last1=Revkin|first1=Andy|title=Why Singing, Not Typing|url=https://medium.com/@revkin/why-singing-not-typing-5508e6f7cf55|website=medium.com|date=10 November 2013}}
Awards
- His book, The North Pole Was Here, was "A Junior Library Guild selection"[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/61362740 WorldCat.] Accessed: July 31, 2012.
- Honorary doctorate, Pace University
- 1983 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award, for a magazine article "on the worldwide death toll from misuse of Paraquat"
- 2002 and 1986 American Association for the Advancement of Science (climate change, nuclear winter)
- 2003 National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine joint National Academies Communication Award{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20190611100951/https://www.keckfutures.org/awards/2003winners.html "National Academies Communication Awards."]}} Accessed: December 4, 2012.
- 2006 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship
- 2007 Honorary Sol Feinstone Environmental Award, SUNY-ESF, Syracuse, NY[http://www.esf.edu/communications/news/2007/09.13.feinstone.htm "New York Times Reporter Receives Honorary Feinstone Award", SUNY-ESF, September 13, 2007.] Accessed: June 24, 2012.
- 2007-2008 Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award, Tufts University[http://www.tuftsgloballeadership.org/programs/mayer/mayer-award-recipients/2007-2008 Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award/Series, 2007-2008, Tufts University.] Accessed: December 3, 2012.
- 2008 John Chancellor Award, Columbia University{{cite web|url=http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/cs/ContentServer?pagename=JRN/Render/PrintThisPage&childpagename=Journalism/JRN_Page_C/JRNSimplePage2&cid=1212609887109&c=JRN_Page_C |title=Award Winner Andrew Revkin |year=2008 |access-date=14 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100623043514/http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/cs/ContentServer?pagename=JRN%2FRender%2FPrintThisPage&childpagename=Journalism%2FJRN_Page_C%2FJRNSimplePage2&cid=1212609887109&c=JRN_Page_C |archive-date=23 June 2010 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/cs/ContentServer/jrn/1175295293574/page/1175295288088/simplepage.htm |title=Origin of the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism |publisher=Columbia University |access-date=14 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923001553/http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/cs/ContentServer/jrn/1175295293574/page/1175295288088/simplepage.htm |archive-date=23 September 2009 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/cs/ContentServer?pagename=JRN/Render/PrintThisPage&childpagename=Journalism/JRN_Page_C/JRNSimplePage2&cid=1212609887159&c=JRN_Page_C |title=Q & A with Andrew Revkin |year=2008 |access-date=14 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100623054121/http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/cs/ContentServer?pagename=JRN%2FRender%2FPrintThisPage&childpagename=Journalism%2FJRN_Page_C%2FJRNSimplePage2&cid=1212609887159&c=JRN_Page_C |archive-date=23 June 2010 }}
- 2011 National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine joint National Academies Communication Award[http://newswire.blogs.law.pace.edu/2011/09/16/%E2%80%98dot-earth%E2%80%99-blog-earns-a-second-national-communication-award-for-pace-university-senior-fellow-and-new-york-times-blogger-andrew-revkin/ "'Dot Earth' Blog Earns a Second National Communication Award..." Pace Law School, September 16, 2011.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113210254/http://newswire.blogs.law.pace.edu/2011/09/16/%E2%80%98dot-earth%E2%80%99-blog-earns-a-second-national-communication-award-for-pace-university-senior-fellow-and-new-york-times-blogger-andrew-revkin/ |date=November 13, 2012 }} Accessed: December 4, 2012.
- 2015 American Geophysical Union, Robert C. Cowen Award for Sustained Achievement in Science Journalism{{cite journal|last1=AGU|title=Andrew C. Revkin Receives 2015 Robert C. Cowen Award for Sustained Achievement in Science Journalism|journal=Eos|date=7 January 2016|volume=97|doi=10.1029/2016EO042921|url=https://eos.org/agu-news/andrew-c-revkin-receives-2015-robert-c-cowen-award-for-sustained-achievement-in-science-journalism|doi-access=free}}
- 2021 Sigma Xi Honorary Member{{Cite web | url=https://www.sigmaxi.org/programs/prizes-awards/honorary-membership | title=Honorary Membership }}
- 2021 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards Gold award for travel books, The Human Planet: Earth at the Dawn of the Anthropocene, with George Steinmetz{{Cite web | url=https://satwf.com/archives-2021-lowell-thomas-competition/ | title=Travel Book }}
References
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External links
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- [http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/andrew_c_revkin/index.html Andrew C. Revkin] - Biography at the NYTimes
- [https://www.youtube.com/anrevk Revkin Videos] - Revkin's YouTube channel
- {{twitter|Revkin}}
- {{IMDb name|720923}}
- {{C-SPAN|1022847}}
- [https://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/qa_andrew_revkin.php Video of Revkin accepting the John Chancellor Award]
- {{Charlie Rose view|7723}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20091022143205/http://www.q2cfestival.com/play.php?lecture_id=8251 "9 Billion People + 1 Planet = ?" Andrew Revkin's interview with Vaclav Smil] at the Quantum to Cosmos festival at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.
- [https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/16/arts/tv-weekend-little-guy-as-hero-the-death-of-chico-mendes.html New York Times review of "The Burning Season."]
- [https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/27/arts/a-metal-head-becomes-a-metal-god-heavy.html New York Times article that inspired "Rock Star."]
- [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1128379 National Public Radio interview with Revkin about the making of "Rock Star."]
- [https://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/qa_andrew_revkin.php "Q&A: Andrew Revkin"], The Observatory December 16, 2008 Columbia Journalism Review
- Chris Hayes. [https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/exploring-wicked-problem-climate-change-andrew-revkin-podcast-transcript-ncna900526 Exploring the wicked problem of climate change with Andrew Revkin] (Aug. 14, 2018)
- {{Muckrack}}
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Category:The New York Times columnists
Category:American non-fiction environmental writers
Category:Brown University alumni
Category:Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni
Category:Columbia University faculty
Category:Pace University faculty
Category:Environmental journalists
Category:Folk musicians from New York (state)
Category:Songwriters from New York (state)
Category:Environmental bloggers
Category:American online journalists
Category:People from Garrison, New York