Extra, extra! Read all about it!

April 28, 2022

Thanks for reading My World’s on Fire, a newsletter about disasters from journalist Colleen Hagerty. Let’s make this a regular thing – subscribe here for disaster deep-dives, Q&As, and context in your inbox on Thursday evenings.

Some exciting newsletter news to get you started this week!

Last week, My World's on Fire was named a finalist in the 2022 Covering Climate Now (CCNow) Journalism Awards in the "newsletter" category.

Here's what the judges had to say:

My World’s on Fire covers disasters at a local level but with an eye to the global picture that is both informative and gripping. A series on climate migration forced by extreme storms and flooding across the southern US focused on the particular challenges of low-resource communities. A story on a FEMA program dug into the difficulties of a small community in Three Forks, Montana complying with the complicated requirements of the funding application. Newsletters offer a chance for journalists to develop a personal voice, freed from some of the restrictions and conventions of more traditional formats. Hagerty strikes the right note, with a voice that is distinctive and engaging.

I am amazed to be in such good company with the other finalists, so I decided to share a few of the disaster-related works that I found particularly interesting and informative with you this week.

That's right – we're doing a links round-up.

I also included a few resources I've recently come across that I think do a great job of breaking down some basic disaster and climate terminology. These are great to save in case you come across a confusing policies or article in the future.

Now, let's get into the links:

This article is a CCNow nominee for investigative reporting, digging into work migrant contractors do for large firms that deal in disaster recovery. As the judges explained, "At the tail end of murky subcontracting chains, these laborers are routinely subjected to inhumane, even fatal, working conditions, with wage theft, assault, and labor trafficking all tragically common."

If you were interested in last week's newsletter on prescribed and cultural burns, I definitely suggest listening to this nominated audio feature on the efforts of the Karuk people to get more fire on the ground.

Linking to the trailer here since the show is behind the HBO Max paywall, but if you do have the streamer, check out the second episode of "Through Our Eyes," a program that documents pressing issues through the experiences of young people. This CCNow-nominated feature focuses on a families displaced by climate change, including one in a hurricane-impacted area, something you rarely get to see from a child's perspective. Unlike many of the other works I've linked to here, I was not familiar with this before seeing it in the nominations list, and I now can't stop thinking about it.

In Los Angeles, we've already had a series of unusually hot days this spring. This nominated investigation is a necessary and timely look at how vulnerable workers in fields like construction and agriculture are in this weather. As a reminder, heat is often not experienced equally across communities, and heatwaves are regularly among the most deadly disasters each year in the United States.

Southerly does great reporting on disasters, and now, they've compiled an incredible glossary of key terms related to preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disasters. A very good page to bookmark!

I also found this guide to common climate-related terminology really useful, as it breaks down some of the buzzwords that you'll find in a lot of climate coverage these days.

Finally, this is a throwback to one of my earliest links posts, where I shared some of my most relied-on resources. While a lot has changed since I sent this in 2020 (including this newsletter provider, so apologies for the funky formatting), these remain some of my top recommendations.

As always...

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Here's a little something for reading to the end.

Colleen