Editor-in-Chief Adrienne Tanner: My team gives it their all

As I review the breadth and depth of our 2023 climate coverage, I am grateful. Grateful to the team of dedicated writers, podcast producers and social media stars at Canada’s National Observer who start every day with enthusiasm. Their unwavering goal is, as always, to dig deeper, research more and bring you the most up-to-date news on factors that contribute to climate change and environmental degradation and solutions to these daunting problems. I’m grateful for our sharp-eyed editors who make our stories sing and catch the blunders. And I’m grateful for the team led by publisher, Linda Solomon Wood, that promotes CNO to ensure our hard work is read.

Did I mention fundraising? I will now. We need to raise $125,000 to meet our operational budget by the end of 2023, and while we’ve surpassed the $67,000 mark, we still have a long way to go and that’s where you come in.

Your donation is absolutely essential. To continue our journalistic impact into 2024, we need your financial support to reach our fundraising goal. If just 2% of our newsletter subscribers made a donation of $100, we would hit it. Will you step up and join our coalition of supporters?

Tax receipts are available for donations of $1,000+. Please see instructions on the giving page.

When you see where we were able to send our staff this year and recall the stories they delivered, you will see every cent donated to our mission goes to bring you stories that matter.

Where to start? We’ll begin on the West Coast where John Woodside travelled to Haida Gwaii to report on efforts by the Haida to gain stewardship of their land and seas. Their goal is to govern their territories sustainably, in ways that mesh with traditional values. This was an out-of-this world expensive trip that would not have been possible without help from our generous donors. John was also one of a very few Canadian journalists to travel to Dubai to cover the recent UN climate talks. It’s a long way to travel. But being face-to-face with Canadian government officials as they interact with other world leaders tackling climate change gives CNO’s coverage added depth you won’t find in any other publication in the country.

Rochelle Baker lives and reports from Quadra Island, which is not quite as far as Haida Gwaii, but remote by most Canadian standards. She criss-crossed her region with a special focus on climate solutions designed by coastal communities. Her stories were beautifully written and inspiring, a hopeful antidote to the typical gloomy climate reporting.

Marc Fawcett-Atkinson, who is no stranger to travelling on the cheap, drove, took ferries and even hitched rides to remote First Nations communities where he documented efforts to save dwindling salmon stocks. When he isn’t writing about fish, Marc is doggedly breaking stories on outrageous climate disinformation and lax pesticide regulations.

Matteo Cimellaro travelled to a First Nation in northern Ontario with no road access as part of a special series on education. And then dove into covering the devastating wildfires, which disproportionately impact Indigenous communities. His stories were compassionate, heartfelt and hopeful that solutions can be found.

Natasha Bulowski expanded her Parliament Hill coverage to examine the impact of the energy transition on jobs and labour. It’s exciting to watch unions embrace new opportunities and push hard for workers’ rights in this changing economic climate. She also won a fellowship that allowed her to travel to the European Union, where great progress is being made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global heating.

Abdul Matin Sarfraz spent months reporting the twists and turns of the Ford government’s Greenbelt scandal in Ontario. Matin’s salary was funded by Meta through Journalists for Human Rights (JHR). And due to the stalemate between Meta and the federal government, huge cuts to journalism and JHR have occurred. Your donations can help us retain Matin, who is an invaluable staff member.

Cloe Logan, our Halifax-based reporter, travels extensively, usually by camper van to keep costs low. She is doubling down on climate solutions reporting and has written compelling stories on heat pumps, new construction techniques and sustainable fishing gear.

I think you will agree when you look at the reporting I’ve highlighted, our stories are stronger when we travel to interview people in their own backyards. Being face-to-face opens the door to a tear or a smile, emotion and nuance impossible to capture by phone. It all costs money, though, and lots of it.

Which is why, at year end, when everyone considers where they want their donations to go, we are asking you to be generous.

Will you consider making a significant contribution to the company that has led Canada’s climate journalism scene for the last decade? Every donation my expert team at Canada’s National Observer receives helps us deliver you the very best climate stories in Canada.

Sincerely,

Adrienne Tanner

Editor-in-Chief