Author: Kevin Krajick4

Kevin Krajick is the Earth Institute’s senior editor for science news. He grew up in the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley of upstate New York, where he worked at his high-school newspaper. He started his professional career as a reporter covering crime, police and prisons across the United States. He has since reported from all 50 U.S. states and 30-some countries, writing about science, medicine, immigration and other subjects. His work has been featured in National Geographic, Newsweek, The New Yorker, Science, Smithsonian and many other publications. He was a 1981 finalist for the National Magazine Award for Public Service for his reporting on organized crime’s links to the toxic waste-disposal industry. He is two-time winner of the American Geophysical Union’s Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism, and his work has been featured repeatedly in the yearly book “Best American Science and Nature Writing.” His widely praised 2001 book “Barren Lands” is the true account of how two prospectors discovered diamonds in Canada’s remote far north. Krajick holds degrees in comparative literature and journalism from Columbia University. He lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with his wife and a tiny white dog.

A Study Offers New Insights Into the Record 2021 Western North America Heat Wave

Several weeks during summer 2021 saw heat records in the western United States and Canada broken not just by increments, but by tens of degrees, an event of unprecedented extremity. To what degree was it climate change, bad luck, or a combination?
Building Green Energy Facilities May Produce Substantial Carbon Emissions, Says Study

Moving from fossil fuels to solar panels, wind turbines and other renewable energy sources will by itself create a new stream of carbon emissions with the construction so much new infrastructure. The good news: Speeding the transition would greatly reduce this effect.
She Led Scientists Advising New York on Climate Change. Did the City Listen?

Cynthia Rosenzweig co-chaired the New York City Panel on Climate Change, an expert body advising the mayor, from its inception four years before Hurricane Sandy, and well after. Here, she assesses what was learned, and done, before and after.
The ‘Cassandra of the Subways’ on Hurricane Sandy, Ten Years Later

Klaus Jacob predicted for years how the New York City subways would flood in a superstorm. Finally, authorities began to listen, but long-term preventive action came too little, too late.
New York City’s Former Top Climate Official on the Lessons of Hurricane Sandy

Engineer Daniel Zarrilli advised both the Bloomberg and deBlasio administrations in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. He is now a special advisor on sustainability and climate to Columbia University.
A Climate and Weather Expert on What We Know About Giant Storms Since Sandy

A scientist and writer reflects on the links between climate and extreme weather, New York City’s preparedness, and the role of the media in informing the public.
Scientists Are Mapping New York City Wildlife. And We Don’t Mean Rats, Squirrels or Pigeons.

Raccoons, coyotes, possums and other wild mammals are becoming more common in the country’s most densely populated city. New research aims to map their populations and habits in hopes of decreasing conflicts with humans.
How Is Climate Change Affecting Ocean Waters and Ecosystems?

Biological oceanographer Hugh Ducklow describes decades of work in far-flung places to understand the evolving ecology of the oceans. The picture is not always clear.
Scientists Say a Shipwreck Off Patagonia Is a Long-Lost 1850s Rhode Island Whaler

In 1858, a sailing ship left Warren, R.I., to hunt the globe for whales, and never returned. Where did it end up? Researchers from the southern and northern hemispheres joined to investigate.

A Study Offers New Insights Into the Record 2021 Western North America Heat Wave

Several weeks during summer 2021 saw heat records in the western United States and Canada broken not just by increments, but by tens of degrees, an event of unprecedented extremity. To what degree was it climate change, bad luck, or a combination?
Building Green Energy Facilities May Produce Substantial Carbon Emissions, Says Study

Moving from fossil fuels to solar panels, wind turbines and other renewable energy sources will by itself create a new stream of carbon emissions with the construction so much new infrastructure. The good news: Speeding the transition would greatly reduce this effect.
She Led Scientists Advising New York on Climate Change. Did the City Listen?

Cynthia Rosenzweig co-chaired the New York City Panel on Climate Change, an expert body advising the mayor, from its inception four years before Hurricane Sandy, and well after. Here, she assesses what was learned, and done, before and after.
The ‘Cassandra of the Subways’ on Hurricane Sandy, Ten Years Later

Klaus Jacob predicted for years how the New York City subways would flood in a superstorm. Finally, authorities began to listen, but long-term preventive action came too little, too late.
New York City’s Former Top Climate Official on the Lessons of Hurricane Sandy

Engineer Daniel Zarrilli advised both the Bloomberg and deBlasio administrations in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. He is now a special advisor on sustainability and climate to Columbia University.
A Climate and Weather Expert on What We Know About Giant Storms Since Sandy

A scientist and writer reflects on the links between climate and extreme weather, New York City’s preparedness, and the role of the media in informing the public.
Scientists Are Mapping New York City Wildlife. And We Don’t Mean Rats, Squirrels or Pigeons.

Raccoons, coyotes, possums and other wild mammals are becoming more common in the country’s most densely populated city. New research aims to map their populations and habits in hopes of decreasing conflicts with humans.
How Is Climate Change Affecting Ocean Waters and Ecosystems?

Biological oceanographer Hugh Ducklow describes decades of work in far-flung places to understand the evolving ecology of the oceans. The picture is not always clear.
Scientists Say a Shipwreck Off Patagonia Is a Long-Lost 1850s Rhode Island Whaler

In 1858, a sailing ship left Warren, R.I., to hunt the globe for whales, and never returned. Where did it end up? Researchers from the southern and northern hemispheres joined to investigate.