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.

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?

The Intercept • 26th October 2020

The Dark Money-Funded Women’s Group Rallying Behind Amy Coney Barrett

The Independent Women’s Forum and its sister group have received millions from dark-money groups advancing conservative control of the courts.

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.

Popular Science • 26th October 2020

We didn’t track hurricanes hundreds of years ago—but trees did

Researchers are trying to extend the tropical storm record by looking inside ancient coastal trees.

Popular Science • 12th October 2020

Toxic waste sites aren’t prepared for hurricane season

The EPA has ignored reports that Superfund sites are not resilient to climate change, and communities are at risk.

The Intercept • 7th October 2020

The House Just Passed Another “Save Our Seas” Act. Here’s Why It Won’t.

In narrowly focusing on marine plastic debris, the law fails to address the behavior that is at the root of the plastic crisis: the fossil-fuel intensive production of plastics

Popular Science • 14th October 2020

Slow, meandering hurricanes are often more dangerous—and they’re getting more common

Hurricanes are often described as “barreling” through a region, yet some of the most dangerous storms in recent years have exhibited just the opposite behavior: meandering, roaming, and hovering for days on end.

Al Jazeera • 12th October 2020

Is the climate crisis creating a mental health crisis?

A growing network of psychiatrists is tackling a mental health crisis spurred by climate change.

Popular Science • 26th October 2020

Severe storms are increasingly leaving us without power. Microgrids can help.

Severe storms are increasingly leaving us without power. Microgrids can help. As climate change spurs worsening hurricanes, renewable microgrids have the potential to generate and redistribute power.

Popular Science • 30th July 2020

Nursing homes aren’t equipped to provide life-saving A/C in the event of a power outage

Despite tragedies, there is no federal requirement for nursing homes to have backup generators capable of restoring power to the air conditioning.

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.

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.

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