Greta Moran

Hi! I'm an independent journalist living in Queens, New York. I have written for The Atlantic, Grist, Pacific Standard, The Guardian, Teen Vogue, The New Republic, Quartz, Civil Eats, The Cut, Popular Science, The New Yorker online, and elsewhere. I am mostly interested in writing narrative-based stories about public health, climate change, and environmental justice, especially with a lens on the people working towards solutions. I have a degree in science journalism from Columbia Journalism School and have taken coursework at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health and The Earth Institute.

I currently am covering hurricanes for Popular Science and writing a Digiday award-winning newsletter for Inverse.com where I muse about recent science news.

My email is greta.l.moran@gmail.com. Please use it!

Independent journalist writing about public health and climate change.

The New York Times • 11th August 2020

When Disasters Overlap

Cities around the world are facing more frequent and more deadly heat waves, and New York is no exception. But community organizers say the city’s response could use some help in one key area: communication.

Popular Science • 19th July 2020

A potential wave of mass evictions could make this year’s turbulent hurricane season even worse

The confluence of a pandemic, mass evictions, and a particularly nasty hurricane season could make the rest of 2020 even more of a nightmare.

Teen Vogue • 22nd June 2020

What a Democratic President Could Do On Climate Change Right Away

It didn't take long for the Green New Deal, a framework and policy package designed to meet the scale of the crisis by addressing far-reaching inequality and decarbonizing the United States economy at once, to gain quick traction — and the support of the majority of Americans.

Guernica Magazine • 15th June 2020

Poison Route

National Grid’s North Brooklyn pipeline will funnel fracked gas through largely low-income neighborhoods of color. Can it be stopped?

Teen Vogue • 2nd January 2020

The Real Reason California’s Wildfires Are Getting Worse

California’s beautiful stretches of forest and grassland are meant to burn. Fire is a natural part of the state’s diverse ecosystems, and native plants (including sequoias and redwoods) have adapted to withstand periodic fires. But California was never meant to burn the way it is now.

Civil Eats • 18th November 2019

High Plains Farmers Race to Save the Ogallala Aquifer

About a decade ago, Chris Grotegut realized that he had to start pumping much less groundwater out of his wells. It dawned on the cattle rancher and grain farmer that if he didn’t act soon, there may not be enough water to sustain his 11,000-acre farm in Hereford, Texas—much less to support the next generation on his land.

Teen Vogue • 2nd November 2019

What If the Public Took Control of the Energy Grid?

Earlier this month, Pacific Gas & Electric, the investor-owned utility company that supplies power to much of California, cut off electricity to over 700,000 customers. The company argued that such a drastic measure — the largest planned power outage in the state’s history — was necessary to prevent wildfires.

Vice • 1st November 2019

The Companies That Invest in the Earth's Destruction Must Be Held Accountable

You may not have heard of the company BlackRock, yet you are certainly feeling its impact. The global investment management corporation, responsible for managing $7 trillion worth of assets, is a massive backer of climate destruction, investing billions in new coal plant construction and the deforestation of the Amazon.

The New Republic • 25th October 2019

The Missing Piece in Democrats’ Health Care Plans

Democratic presidential hopefuls so far have mostly debated health care policy and climate policy as separate issues, with the former getting far more debate time. Given the way the two topics intersect, it’s critical not just for climate plans to talk about public health implications, but also for any articulation of health care policy to acknowledge that health care will increasingly take place in a changed environment.

Massive Science • 24th September 2019

An interview with Mary Anne Hitt

This week is Climate Week, coinciding with the UN Climate Change Summit. On September 25th, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will release its newest report. Every day this week Massive will be publishing articles and interviews with scientists, policy experts, and activists about climate change, all aspects of the new report, and the future of the planet.

Autostraddle • 24th September 2019

Here’s What 7 Youth Activists Want To See For Our Green New World

“Our house is on fire,” Greta Thunberg has said (at Davos and, most recently, the Climate Strikes) to sound the alarm on the ecological and climate emergency. But let’s imagine for a moment that the house stopped burning. We came together and put out the fire. Older generations didn’t let young people shoulder the burden of activism and acted, too. Global leaders honored their climate pledges. What would that world look like? What would we grow in that future? What new systems would be in place

Civil Eats • 31st July 2019

Environmental Defenders—Often Fighting Agribusiness—Are Being Violently Silenced Around the World

When armed gold miners in military uniforms last week invaded protected land in Northern Brazil and murdered Emyra Wajãpi, a 68-year-old activist and leader of the Wajãpi indigenous community, it was not an isolated incident.

Grist • 30th April 2019

Climate-friendly farming is taking root in New York

Didi Barrett, a New York state assemblymember, has visited Stone House Grain, a farm in the Hudson Valley, enough times to be a seasoned tour guide. That’s what it felt like, at least, as we drove in a Jeep down a narrow road, through fields blanketed by cover crops and perennial pastures spread out like a gold-and-brown checkerboard.

The Guardian • 25th September 2018

Border walls are life-threatening and 'waste of tax dollars', report says

A few weeks after US Customs and Border Protection completed a border wall along Arizona’s southern boundary in 2008, a monsoon arrived. Floodwaters rose to 7ft, nearby patrol roads eroded and debris clogged the wall’s mesh fencing and grates, turning it into a temporary dam.

Why This Community Is Fighting Wildfires By Setting Fire To Itself

Last month, Dean Hunt set fire to his own land. He waited until the weather was just right ― sunny, clear skies and relatively dry ― for the fire to spread quickly, licking up the dense grasses blanketing the steep mountain. When the flames died down, they left a layer of ash. This wasn’t a case of reckless destruction; Hunt was trying to save his land.

Bitch Media • 26th July 2019

Rebecca Gomperts Brings Abortion Care to the Open Sea and Your Mailbox

Abortions are as inevitable as the sun rising. Every year, around 56 million people around the world induce their own abortions, but this doesn’t need to come in the form of a “back-alley” abortion. Dutch activist and doctor Rebecca Gomperts has made it her life’s work to ensure the abortion pill is accessible—even in places where it is outlawed.

The Guardian • 20th August 2019

The Lion King missed an opportunity to talk about the climate crisis | Greta Moran

The Lion King was my first, brief encounter with grief. When watching the original 1994 movie, I bolted from the theater the moment the benevolent lion king Mufasa died, not yet able to stomach the idea of a life so abruptly lost.

Teen Vogue • 6th May 2019

Sexual Harassment at Music Festivals Doesn't Have to Be the Norm

By the middle of La Dispute’s set, the crowd has merged into a single shape, pushing up against the barricade surrounding the stage. Jordan Dreyer, the vocalist of the post-hardcore quintet, harpoons the air with his entire body, while singing with a controlled anguish. The tone then decidedly shifts as Dreyer addresses his audience with emotional openness.

Grist • 15th October 2018

We’re just beginning to understand the toll climate change takes on mental health

We’re just beginning to understand the toll climate change takes on mental health When psychiatrist Janet Lewis thinks back to the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo in 1989, she still remembers the horizontal trees and the collective grief.

Massive Science • 30th April 2019

While Congress does nothing, New York City passed its own climate legislation

Under a bleak gray sky last Thursday, Maritza Silva-Farrell, the executive director of ALIGN, mounted a podium in front of New York City Hall. She reminded an enthusiastic crowd of labor, environmental, and community organizers of what brought them together —the devastating impact climate change has already had on the city. “

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