We are proud to support Grist’s “extremes” packages, and looking forward to continued focus on extreme weather in the year to come.

In 2024, the CO2 Foundation supported the team at Grist to publish a 16-part series called “State of Emergency” on how climate-fueled extreme weather affects elections, from political priorities to how and where people vote. A short-run newsletter with thousands of subscribers and a virtual event with over a hundred attendees amplified this work. In addition, deep-dive reporting on extreme weather from numerous Grist journalists focused on intersections with food and agriculture, reproductive health, solutions, and much more.

Stories published under this project include (but are not limited to):

• Can chief heat officers protect US cities from extreme heat? – republished by USA Today and over 200 newspapers across the country through a partnership with Gannett; also featured on NPR’s Here and Now
• How the Marshall Fire sparked a political transformation in Colorado – republished by Homeland Security Newswire, shared by Yale Climate Connections, and featured on NPR’s Here and Now
• Fact-Checking the Viral Conspiracies in the Wake of Hurricane Helene – republished by outlets like Popular Science, Inside Climate News, Homeland Security Newswire, etc.; shared by numerous climate groups, other media, academics, and more
• Flood-ravaged North Carolina races to restore voting access after Helene – republished by Mother Jones, Scientific American, and Newsbreak; influenced reporting in The Guardian
• Extreme heat is forcing farmers to work overnight – republished at least 450 times, including outlets like The Guardian, The Associated Press, US News and World Report, Yahoo, etc.
• Four lost pregnancies. Five weeks of IVF injections. One storm. – co-published with Vox and The 19th; featured in the Apple News Top Stories section, and on NPR’s The World, Here and Now, and the What a Day podcast; listed as one of the best journalism collaborations of the year by The Center for Cooperative Media
• The libertarian developer looming over West Maui’s water conflict – republished by Fast Company, NewsBreak, and Inside Climate News, among others; winner of an Indigenous Media Award, and nominated for a Livingston Award (the most prestigious award for journalists under 35, often called the “Pulitzers for the Young”)
• The surprisingly simple way cities could save people from extreme heat – republished by at least 95 outlets, including MSN, Mother Jones, and Truthout; featured on NPR’s Here and Now

This work educated millions of people on Grist platforms, and many millions more through syndications by some of the biggest media properties in the world, like The Associated Press, The Guardian, and USA Today. Hundreds of local outlets — which generally lack climate reporters — republished this work for ideologically diverse audiences well beyond the “green choir”, and hundreds of radio stations featured stories via NPR programs like Here and Now. What’s more, Grist journalist Zoya Teirstein called her work on this series “the most rewarding of her career.”

Through its Local News Initiative, Grist has a local climate reporter based in western North Carolina who partnered with its national reporting team to produce on-the-ground climate reporting on Hurricane Helene. This was important to both local and national audiences, given that the magnitude of destruction from Hurricane Helene was so extreme and unexpected. One surprise was that Helene seemed to drive more western North Carolinians to the polls, shifted votes left, and deepened trust in government.

The next stage of this project is expected to center on the disaster economy — the businesses, labor forces, relief funds, and more that pop up in the wake of climate-induced disasters (and how that’s changing under the second Trump administration). Go, Grist, go.