CBC N.L.'s Adam Walsh joins Oxford Climate Journalism Network

One of the really amazing parts about being a journalist is that you get to learn new things almost every day.

On top of that privilege, every so often an opportunity comes along where you can really dig into a subject.

In my case, I will be spending the next six months learning about climate change with the Oxford Climate Journalism Network, a programme of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford.

I won't get to go anywhere, the learning is virtual, but this thing is a ticket to a world of knowledge that is invaluable.

The point of the network is to bring together journalists from around the world in order to improve the quality, understanding and impact of climate coverage.

I am part of the eighth cohort of 100 journalists to do this. In my group there are journalists and editors from 59 countries.

The program brings in world experts for us to learn from. We will attend virtual sessions on everything from climate basics, to extreme weather attribution, greenwashing, disinformation, finance and more.

Each of us brings a different perspective and experience that we will share with one another so we can improve on connecting climate change to stories people care about.

In a previous cohort, a conversation about Egyptian mangoes being less tasty than before led folks to ask: what is your mango? What is something in your country or region that everyone cares about but is being impacted by climate change?

So for us, what's our mango in Newfoundland and Labrador? And how is climate change affecting it? And how is climate change affecting other things we care about here and in our region and country?

WATCH | Adam Walsh speaks about the project with Here and Now's Carolyn Stokes:

100 journalists from around the world are improving climate coverage — including the CBC’s Adam Walsh

16 hours ago

Duration 4:41

Adam Walsh, host of CBC Radio’s The Signal, is one of 100 journalists from around the world selected to take part in Oxford University’s Climate Journalism Program at the Reuters Institute. It’s a program that supports a global community of reporters and editors across beats and platforms to improve the quality, understanding and impact of climate coverage around the world. He spoke about the project with the CBC’s Carolyn Stokes.

These are great questions for the start of my journey with the OCJN.

I will attend these sessions and learn from my colleagues as I continue to host and produce The Signal for CBC Radio.

My show takes one topic a day and dives into it with the intention of connecting communities, building empathy and learning about the world around us.

Guests on the show can be experts, politicians, community leaders, folks with lived experience and people who are passionate about a given topic or issue.

We regularly cover climate change on The Signal.

But it's time to up our game.

We can have better, more thoughtful conversations about climate change, its impacts on us and what we can do about it.

As I learn, my CBC colleagues will learn with me, and my hope is that so will you.

Let's take this journey together.

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