Mark Schapiro
San Francisco
As seen in:
The Guardian,
Los Angeles Times,
Newsweek,
SFGate,
Substack,
Yale Environment 360,
Smithsonian Magazine,
Mother Jones,
Yahoo,
Daily Kos
and
Most recent book: SEEDS OF RESISTANCE: The Fight to Save Our Food Supply; Lecturer, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Mark Schapiro
Can restoration save the Delta smelt?
This story was produced in collaboration with Bay Nature, a nonprofit news organization that connects the people of the San Francisco Bay Area more deeply with the natural world. Visit Bay Nature to read “Price-Tagging Nature,” Mark Schapiro’s in-depth look at the compensatory mitigation industry.
Back to the USSR: Shades of Stalin in the USA
In October 1939, one of the world’s most infamous scientific debates took place in a Moscow auditorium packed with scientists and Communist Party officials. After several back-to-back famines, the search was on for crops that could withstand the Soviet Union’s harsh climates. The debate between two scientists, each with a very different approach to plant adaptation, was the main event at the “Genetics and Selection” conference sponsored by the Soviet Academy of Sciences.
Meet the Italian 'Fruit Detective' Who Investigates Centuries-Old Paintings for Clues About Produce That Has Disappeared From the Kitchen Table
Renaissance paintings, medieval archives, cloistered orchards—how one Italian scientist is uncovering secrets that could help combat a growing agricultural crisis When Isabella Dalla Ragione assesses a Renaissance painting, she doesn’t immediately notice the brushstrokes or the magnificence of the imagery. The first thing she notices is the fruit.
Sen. Cory Booker Says FDA Proposal Could Worsen Antibiotic Resistance
A pending proposal from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could “worsen the catastrophic impacts of antimicrobial resistance” if finalized, according to Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey). On Tuesday, Booker sent a letter to commissioner Robert Califf expressing concerns about changes to “duration limits” in the FDA’s revised guidance on antibiotic use in animal agriculture. Continuously using drugs for long stretches is known to lead to antibiotic resistance.
In Brazil, a Powerful Law Protects Biodiversity and Blocks Global Corporate Piracy
This is the second of two articles about plant biodiversity and genetic resources. Read the first story here. In the center of Rio de Janeiro sprawls a lush enclave of tropical flowers, vines, and palm trees, with howler monkeys screeching from the leafy canopies. Just blocks from the traffic-clogged bustle of Rio’s boulevards, the Jardim Botanico do Rio de Janeiro is a remaining 130-acre patch of the rainforest from which the city was carved three centuries ago.
Meet the Italian ‘Fruit Detective’ Who Investigates Centuries-Old Paintings for Clues About Produce That Has Disappeared From the Kitchen Table
When Isabella Dalla Ragione assesses a Renaissance painting, she doesn’t immediately notice the brushstrokes or the magnificence of the imagery. The first thing she notices is the fruit. On a spring day earlier this year, I stride with Dalla Ragione into the National Gallery of Umbria, in a 14th-century stone castle built atop the hillside city of Perugia.
Give Climate Change the Name It Deserves: Fossil-Fueled Destruction
There’s always a lag between a rupture of the status quo and settling on a word for it. The planet is heating at a life-threatening pace. And yet the two words we use to describe this rupture — “climate” and “change” — are beginning to seem too stiff and one-dimensional for conveying the violence to life-sustaining ecosystems that threaten the world as we have known it.
The Net-Zero Challenge: Carbon Offsets Need to Stop
5 Mins Read By Mark Schapiro, Capital & Main Fossil fuel companies are no longer denying the realities of climate change — which many of them reported on privately for decades. Instead, they’re attempting to position themselves as key players in the “low-carbon transition.” And key to that is the companies’ embrace of the mantra of “net-zero” emissions.
Time to Kill Off ‘Net Zero’
Stop pretending planting trees can justify fossil fuel emissions. Fossil fuel companies are no longer denying the realities of climate change — which many of them reported on privately for decades. Instead, they’re attempting to position themselves as key players in the “low-carbon transition.” And key to that is the companies’ embrace of the mantra of “net-zero” emissions.
Time to Kill Off ‘Net Zero’
Fossil fuel companies are no longer denying the realities of climate change — which many of them reported on privately for decades. Instead, they’re attempting to position themselves as key players in the “low-carbon transition.” And key to that is the companies’ embrace of the mantra of “net-zero” emissions.
Time to Kill Off ‘Net Zero’
Fossil fuel companies are no longer denying the realities of climate change — which many of them reported on privately for decades. Instead, they’re attempting to position themselves as key players in the “low-carbon transition.” And key to that is the companies’ embrace of the mantra of “net-zero” emissions.
Restoring the Ground Beneath our Feet
This is the fourth and final story in a series. Listen to the rest at kalw.org/elements. We're like a construction company, but we're constructing wetlands and streams from damaged places. Adam Davis This story examins Earth, our last stop in the series Elements. Earth is where all the elements connect to support life. It’s all we have; where everything begins and ends. Some cultures evoke Earth as poised like a big ball, on the shoulders of a god.
A secret weapon against wildfire returns
This is the third story in a series. Listen to the rest at kalw.org/elements. "Beavers could really be a part of a mosaic of a more resilient landscape." Brock Dolman This story examines Fire. It's one of our most potent metaphors. It can be passionate, urgent and dangerous. And fire has always played a starring role in storytelling. The poets of ancient Greece described how a minor god, Prometheus, defied the wishes of Zeus and delivered fire to the mortals below.
Why it's dangerous to work in, live near, or fly out of an airport
This is the second story in a series. Listen to the rest at kalw.org/elements. "They're not building these airports in Brentwood, you know? They're not building them in Pacific Heights." David Huerta This story examines air. Our lives depend on it. But how much do we really know about the air around us? It’s where the climate story begins. It's only in the last several hundred years that we’ve had the slightest sense of what the air actually is.
Finding the most important spot in California’s water story
Today, we launch a new series, Elements, with reporter Mark Schapiro. Elements is a collection of stories about the four most elemental ingredients of life, and how they’re being reshaped by climate change. NASA is always looking for signs of water somewhere out there in the universe, because water is where everything begins, the source of all life. In fact, NASA's orbiting satellites found water on Europa, one of Jupiter's moons. And water has always been a part of the stories we tell.
“Flexicles,” story alert systems, and other ways AI will serve publishers, reporters, and readers
Understanding artificial intelligence has become an essential skill for a media leader. That isn’t simply because you need to determine whether to allow scraping of your website, whether to sue for copyright, or if you should do a deal with a company like OpenAI. It’s also because you need to figure out which aspects of AI you’ll use in the service of impactful journalism and audience engagement. AI will reshape the media landscape, and the organizations that use it creatively will thrive.
Evidence suggests Russia has been deliberately targeting journalists in Ukraine - a war crime
At least 15 media workers have been killed in Ukraine since Russia began its full-scale war in February 2022. Along with targeting civilians, hospitals, schools, orphanages, residential buildings, communications centers, and places of worship, the Russian state has been accused by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine of deliberately targeting journalists.
The Guardian launches Guardian Europe, its fifth digital edition
LINK: www.theguardian.com ➚ | Posted by: Laura Hazard Owen | September 20, 2023 On Wednesday, The Guardian launched its fifth digital edition, Guardian Europe, which joins the paper’s U.K., U.S., Australian, and international editions. Why Europe? A release offers a few reasons: The Guardian’s European audience is its third largest after the UK and the US, with recurring digital support from the continent seeing steady growth; three and half times larger than it was in 2016.
What Casey Newton learned in year 3 of running his Substack
LINK: www.platformer.news ➚ | Posted by: Laura Hazard Owen | September 19, 2023 In 2020, journalist Casey Newton left The Verge to launch Platformer, a tech news–focused Substack. We previously ran Newton’s wrap-ups of the first and second years of striking out on his own. He just published year 3.
A paywall? Not NPR’s style. A new pop-up asks for donations anyway
If you’ve visited NPR.org recently, you may have spotted something new. To read an article about the American hostages freed from Iran or the Danish artist asked to repay a museum after delivering blank canvases, you may have to click out of a new pop-up. The new message — which started appearing on NPR.org on Sept. 12 — is (again) not a paywall. NPR’s journalism remains free to read and hear.
The story of InterNation, (maybe) the world’s first investigative journalism network
“You Americans, you’re so obsessed with those mountains of facts,” was the response I recall during the early days of our efforts to establish an international investigative network, back in the days before the internet. The voice on the other end was Nils Gunnar Niilson, editor of Sydsvenska Dagbladet, a leading newspaper in southern Sweden.
Sea-Level Rise in the Bay Area
For more than 150 years, a tidal bench mark underneath a pier off the Presidio has been measuring the sea level in the San Francisco Bay. It’s been there since the Gold Rush and is the longest-running tidal gauge on the West Coast. According to that gauge, the sea level in the bay rose about 10 inches between the mid-19th century and the final years of the 20th century.
How scientists can help reporters cover disasters
This story originally appeared on Undark. Environmental disasters naturally spark anxiety as people fear for their personal safety, their homes, and their communities. And while a disaster can be viewed as a crisis, it can also be “a moment of opportunity,” writes ocean chemist Christopher Reddy in his new book, Science Communication in a Crisis: An Insider’s Guide.
Climate Chaos Is Outpacing Science and Outrunning Journalism
The cascade of climate extremes thus far this summer calls out for a new type of disaster reporting. Over the past month, reporters on the weather “disaster” beat could barely catch their breath in the face of the heat, floods, fires, the disturbances in ocean currents and numerous other climate-related catastrophes. Many a fine wordsmith has mastered the skills of on-the-scene description of such individual disasters.
Climate Chaos Is Outpacing Science and Outrunning Journalism
A new type of disaster reporting is needed to keep up. The cascade of climate extremes thus far this summer calls out for a new type of disaster reporting. Over the past month, reporters on the weather “disaster” beat could barely catch their breath in the face of the heat, floods, fires, the disturbances in ocean currents, and numerous other climate-related catastrophes. Many a fine wordsmith has mastered the skills of on-the-scene description of such individual disasters.
Bumps in the air: What’s climate change got to do with it?
Add shaky planes, weather delays and cancellations to our new reality under unfriendly warming skies A United Airlines passenger jet prepares to land at Reagan National Airport on February 5, 2020 in Washington, DC (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) This article originally appeared on Capital & Main. Cups bouncing off trays, flight crews strapping on to their seats midflight, bumps in the sky: Into this zig-zagging volatility we fly.
Climate Chaos Is Outpacing Science and Outrunning Journalism
The cascade of climate extremes thus far this summer calls out for a new type of disaster reporting. Over the past month, reporters on the weather “disaster” beat could barely catch their breath in the face of the heat, floods, fires, the disturbances in ocean currents and numerous other climate-related catastrophes. Many a fine wordsmith has mastered the skills of on-the-scene description of such individual disasters.
Bumps in the Air: What’s Climate Change Got to Do With It?
Cups bouncing off trays, flight crews strapping on to their seats midflight, bumps in the sky: Into this zig-zagging volatility we fly. That is, if you make it off the ground. This past weekend — high season for summer travel — about 2,450 flights were cancelled across the country, driven by the sequence of rollicking extremes wreaking chaos in our lower atmosphere.
Is Linear TV Dying?
The traditional TV world that we all grew up with is gone. The adoption of streaming platforms continues to encroach on the monopoly that broadcast and cable networks have had on U.S. consumers for nearly a century.
For Babies with Unknown Diseases, Genome Sequencing Can Deliver a Diagnosis
Babies born with genetic diseases — especially rare diseases — may begin to show symptoms very early. But when they’re admitted to the hospital for help, getting the right diagnosis so doctors know how to appropriately treat them is a major challenge. In many of these cases, clinical teams will run a battery of tests to understand what’s going on. All too often, though, results are inconclusive.
Adaptive Reuse Project Brings Retro Chic to a Revived Waterfront
By the time the restored Pier 70 in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood is ready to debut in the mid-2020s, it will have been more than a century since the shipyard’s waterfront was open to the public. But for the rehabilitated Building 12—a World War II ship-hull plate shop and mold loft built in 1941 and restored as part of the Pier 70 project’s Phase 1—it was not the past century that concerned stakeholders, but rather the next 100 years.
News Alert: We Don’t Read It Anymore
Not only do we not read the news, but in a growing number of cases, we actively avoid it. And that is a problem, not just for journalists and media, but for a well-informed democracy. The Reuters 2023 Digital News Study is a pretty depressing look at the current news media landscape. The study came out just before Independence Day in the U.S. In a moment when we should be celebrating freedom of the press and the right to unfettered information, we’re tuning out.
How to Build a Zero-Waste Economy
It wasn’t until Sarah Paiji Yoo became a new mother that her journey into plastic-free living really began. Specifically, it was the switch to baby formula that changed her worldview. Yoo had been breastfeeding her son for a few months and was looking to transition him to a dissolvable formula in 2018. But she found herself wondering what kind of water to mix it with — bottled or tap. There were no good options.
AI Is Already Making a Difference in Medicine
With so many false starts, the idea that AI could reshape medicine may seem like a joke by now. But for the family of a six-month-old baby with a seizure disorder, the clinical utility of AI is no laughing matter. In this case, scientists and physicians were involved in a special genomics program at Stanford University designed to diagnose rare diseases quickly in babies. They were pointed to an infant suffering from seizures.
When Insuring Crops Ensures Climate Mistakes
Welcome to summer. This should be a hot one. Which means bad news for cherries, grapes, pistachios, almonds and most of California’s other cash crops that suffer in extreme heat. The story of this summer, and of many more to come, is in the crop insurance reports; they make for dense reading, but they reveal the deep vulnerabilities of California’s multibillion dollar agriculture industry to the changing climate.
When Insuring Crops Ensures Climate Mistakes
Welcome to summer. This should be a hot one. Which means bad news for cherries, grapes, pistachios, almonds and most of California’s other cash crops that suffer in extreme heat. The story of this summer, and of many more to come, is in the crop insurance reports; they make for dense reading, but they reveal the deep vulnerabilities of California’s multibillion dollar agriculture industry to the changing climate.
Experts agree: Climate trade is a weapon of mass destruction.
Skip to content HomeWorldExperts agree: Climate trade is a weapon of mass destruction. As each the intelligence neighborhood and the insurance coverage business title international warming as a best danger, US states give help and luxury to the enemy. By Mark Schapiro for Capital & Main TheAnnual Threat Assessmentused to be created within the aftermath of 9/11 to centralize findings throughout the entire US govt intelligence businesses in regards to the largest threats to nationwide safety.
When Insuring Crops Ensures Climate Mistakes
Welcome to summer. This should be a hot one. Which means bad news for cherries, grapes, pistachios, almonds and most of California’s other cash crops that suffer in extreme heat. The story of this summer, and of many more to come, is in the crop insurance reports; they make for dense reading, but they reveal the deep vulnerabilities of California’s multibillion dollar agriculture industry to the changing climate.
Experts agree: Climate change is a weapon of mass destruction
As both the intelligence community and the insurance industry name global warming as a top threat, U.S. states give aid and comfort to the enemy. By Mark Schapiro for Capital & Main TheAnnual Threat Assessmentwas created in the aftermath of 9/11 to centralize findings across all of the U.S. government intelligence agencies about the greatest threats to national security.
Experts agree: Climate change is a weapon of mass destruction
The intelligence community and the insurance industry have named global warming as a top threat A forest is incinerated by the Oak Fire near Midpines, northeast of Mariposa, California, on July 23, 2022. (DAVID MCNEW/AFP via Getty Images) This article originally appeared on Capital & Main. The Annual Threat Assessment was created in the aftermath of 9/11 to centralize findings across all of the U.S. government intelligence agencies about the greatest threats to national security.
Experts Agree: Climate Change Is a Weapon of Mass Destruction
The Annual Threat Assessment was created in the aftermath of 9/11 to centralize findings across all of the U.S. government intelligence agencies about the greatest threats to national security. The assessment, published in a declassified form each year, is essential reading for journalists and others interested in the new hot spots of tension and change. For 2023, the assessment lists six major threats.
It’s Payback Time
Until now the fossil fuel industries have not had to account for the full costs to society of their products. Billions of dollars in climate-related expenses have been hidden inside the budgets for disaster recovery, health programs, national security and numerous other accounting sleights of hand that shield the rippling financial impacts of climate change from the press and the public.
The climate crisis is a health crisis
The scientific press is filled with examples of how the changing climate is opening new pathways for insects following the heat, fungi following the moisture, algal blooms proliferating in warming waters fed by phosphate-based agricultural runoff—and how all are being buffeted by the frequency of the extreme swings in temperature and rainfall. Start with disease-bearing mosquitoes—whose range israpidly expandinginside the continental United States.
The Climate Crisis Is a Health Crisis Too
The direct and indirect health impact of climate change are one of the most underreported aspects of the climate crisis. The medical and scientific journals are filled with examples of diseases shifting along with the shifting climatic conditions, but the links between the environment and personal health rarely make it into the media. In the last column I talked about the direct impacts of greenhouse gases on our health.
The Climate Crisis Is a Health Crisis
The direct and indirect health impacts of climate change are one of the most underreported aspects of the climate crisis. The medical and scientific journals are filled with examples of diseases shifting along with the shifting climatic conditions, but the links between the environment and personal health rarely make it into the media. In the last column I talked about the direct impacts of greenhouse gases on our health.
Greenhouse Gases Are Also Poisoning You
Last month, the Canadian province of British Columbia became the largest school jurisdiction in North America to commit to switching entirely from diesel to electricity-powered school buses. Buses currently transport more than 100,000 students there.
Double Threat: The Greenhouse Gases That Are Also Poisoning You Now
Last month, the Canadian province of British Columbia became the largest school jurisdiction in North America to commit to switching entirely from diesel to electricity-powered school buses. Buses currently transport more than 100,000 students there.
Teenagers go to court to force climate action
In Montana, a group of youths, who ranged in age from 2 to 18 at the time their lawsuit was filed in 2020, arealleging the statehas failed to protect them from the ecological degradations of climate change. “Children are uniquely vulnerable to the consequences of the climate crisis,” states thecomplaint, which damages their “physical and psychological health and safety” and causes “economic deprivations.” The case is coming to trial in a state court in Helena this June.
Teenagers Go To Court To Force Climate Action
Teenagers Go To Court To Force Climate Action - Honolulu Civil Beat
Teenagers Go To Court To Force Climate Action
Grandson of White homeowner who shot a Black teen who rang his doorbell said he ‘wasn’t shocked’ by the news. His brother has a different take
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Mark
Contact Mark, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack