Update: The Grist team recognized an opportunity to focus on the impact of extreme weather specifically on political participation, and created a newsletter called State of Emergency about how climate disruptions are reshaping elections. Check it out HERE.

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2024 is expected to be particularly intense for extreme weather, and at the same time the election cycle will be a looming national narrative. The CO2 Foundation is supporting Grist, a leader in nonprofit journalism when it comes to extreme weather and climate change, to educate the public about the connections between extreme weather and climate change, risks their communities face, and resilience strategies. 

Grist’s strategic focus areas — climate impacts, environmental justice, and solutions — drive content creation that generally aligns well with the goals of CO2 Foundation. With this funding, the Foundation is supporting the expansion of Grist’s extreme weather journalism via production of an anthology of stories focused on how 10-12 different communities are dealing with extreme weather, and publication of more investigative and deep-dive reporting by focusing its data journalism and visualization unit on extreme weather. This work will be published and promoted stories on the Grist site, third-party aggregators like Apple News, and social channels (potentially producing derivative content that is native to Instagram and TikTok – keep an eye out for this!).

Through this expanded reporting, Grist reporters will travel to visit swing districts and battleground communities, and examine extreme weather and elections at the local and national level. The series will explore how extreme weather is changing where people live, their political views and coalitions, and how they vote. The work is intended to inform millions of people on Grist platforms and millions more on partner outlets: Grist has 2 million monthly readers and 350+ syndications in national, regional, and rural media per month; it has the potential to reach a broad general audience outside of the “choir.” The team also anticipates numerous radio appearances that will inform listeners locally and nationwide, and opportunities to influence policymakers at all levels of government and other people and institutions of power.

Grist assesses impact and influence based on three objectives: (1) attract a broad audience; (2) deepen reader engagement and commitment; and (3) drive the national conversation. In addition to tracking readership and syndication, the team tracks number of monthly shares from policymakers, cultural icons, other media makers, institutions, advocacy groups, etc. and qualitative examples of impact, including influence on government, business, and culture. 65% of readers report taking action based on Grist content. Readers regularly share examples of how Grist’s content inspires them, from joining a climate justice protest to contacting their representative about clean energy to talking about climate change with family and friends. 

Grist is a trailblazer in the climate justice and climate solutions spaces: it launched the nation’s first-ever Environmental Justice Desk in 2017, the first-ever environmentally focused Indigenous Affairs Desk in 2020, and the Uproot Project, a national network convened by Grist that supports journalists of color in environmental media, in 2021. Last year, Grist published a 40-story package on extreme heat called “Record High” that resulted in hundreds of syndications across the country. This seemed to drive a major uptick in local syndications, which is especially important because many local media outlets are depleted and unable to adequately fulfill their roles as the fourth estate in our democracy (which is especially important in an election year). 

Journalism is about seeking out the truth, and sharing what you find by publishing it for public consumption. The CO2 Foundation enthusiastically awaits the reporting, as well as the data and metrics they produce, which will be used to strengthen best practices in the journalism and communications field on these topics.