Five Climate Journalists Launch Pop-Up Newsroom

Five independent climate journalists have launched a collaborative initiative called "Betting the House," designed as a "pop-up newsroom" to explore new models for independent journalism. This project aims to counter the isolation often experienced by solo journalists by fostering collaboration and shared resources. The team comprises Emily Atkin, founder of the climate newsletter HEATED; Rachel Ramirez, a former CNN climate reporter and current newsletter author of The Confluence; Chase Cain, creator of the YouTube channel Chase What Matters and formerly with NBC; Ben Tracy, a former CBS climate reporter and current video producer at Climate Central; and Tracy Wholf, who now leads WereWHOLF Media after being laid off from her role as coordinating producer for CBS's climate team. The project received financial support for reporting expenses from Covering Climate Now, an organization established in 2019 by Columbia Journalism Review and The Nation, in association with The Guardian and WNYC, to bolster climate journalism. Over a five-month period, Atkin, Ramirez, Cain, and Tracy collectively selected housing as their reporting focus and produced individual stories across the United States. Emily Atkin investigated housing in Florida's "climate danger zone," while Chase Cain reported on the escalating home insurance crisis impacting New Orleans. Rachel Ramirez examined the conflict between private property rights and public beach access in Hawaii, and Ben Tracy created a video detailing how homeowners in coastal North Carolina and Connecticut are adapting to evolving shorelines. Tracy Wholf assumed an editorial and coordination role, similar to her previous position at CBS, by organizing team meetings and reviewing story drafts. Wholf stated that the project's core idea is to demonstrate how independent journalists can operate effectively, emphasizing that while it is fundamentally a climate story, it also serves as a test case for innovative journalistic structures. This initiative addresses the challenge of major publications often covering similar topics with limited depth, suggesting a need for alternative approaches to in-depth reporting on critical issues like climate change and its multifaceted impacts on society and infrastructure.