Putting Climate Change Front & Center: An interview with Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan
Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan is deputy editor of Outside Business Journal (OBJ). For the Winter 2022 issue of OBJ, Elisabeth used her influence as an editor to put the climate crisis on the cover. We asked her about her work on this issue and her interest in and involvement with climate action.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN CLIMATE CONCERNED?
I've cared and worried about climate change since I learned about it from my second-grade teacher, but the crisis became viscerally frightening during the awful smoke season of 2021. I'd experienced wildfire smoke before, but this was my first bad season as a mom. That made climate change feel very real, and it left me deeply concerned about the world we're leaving to our kids.
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO PUT THE CLIMATE CRISIS ON THE COVER OF THE OUTSIDE BUSINESS JOURNAL?
We began planning the issue in the fall of 2021, and the smoke season plus the summer '21 IPCC report meant climate change was in the front of my mind. I pushed for us to do a big report on the crisis for our audience, which is members of the outdoor industry. I felt very strongly that climate change is a subject of huge importance for our readers (and everyone else in the world!). And I also believe in the "agenda-setting" power of the media: Publications help people decide what's worth paying attention to. Choosing what subjects to cover, and in what way, is a huge responsibility of journalists, and I try to take that very seriously.
WHAT CHALLENGES DID YOU FACE?
It was challenging to balance reporting on the seriousness of the problem without making readers lose hope entirely. We tried to provide very actionable advice for companies to take to achieve net-zero emissions--because we need everyone tackling this problem in every way possible.
WHAT POSITIVE OUTCOMES HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED BECAUSE OF THIS WORK?
We got some good feedback from readers on the stories in the issue, and the fact that we put a spotlight on climate change in the first place. My dearest hope is that the magazine inspires many companies in the outdoor industry to take big action starting now. And my reporting for the stories in the issue showed me just how many people in the world really care about the climate and are working hard in many ways to turn this crisis around.
IS THERE A LARGER VISION OR INSPIRATIONAL SOLUTION FOR OUR FUTURE THAT YOU’D LIKE THIS WORK TO BE A PART OF?
My vision for the future is that everyone, in every job, figures out how to do what they do in a sustainable way.
TELL US ABOUT ANY RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS OR INSPIRATION THAT YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE.
My 4-year-old son has asked to make part of his next birthday party an "electric car protest," where he and his friends will make posters and banners and yell "We want more electric cars!" That's a huge inspiration to me!
DO YOU HAVE WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT OR WISDOM FOR PARENTS OR CAREGIVERS WHO WANT TO GET INVOLVED WITH CLIMATE ACTION BUT DON’T KNOW WHERE TO START?
Climate change is such a huge and overwhelming problem that it's easy to feel like you can't do anything about it. But you don't have to solve all the problems and save the entire world--you can't. What you can do is work for a better future within the reach of your arm. If everyone does that, we can make a real difference. Also, get involved with Families for a Livable Climate, or Climate Smart Missoula, or any other group that speaks to you. Getting together with other people who also care helps keep me optimistic when I'm tempted to give in to despair. And it's only by working together and supporting each other that we'll get this done.
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Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan is a freelance writer and editor who specializes in the outdoors, environment, science, health, parenting, and culture. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Backpacker, Sunset, 5280 (Denver's city magazine), Grist, Organic Life, Outdoor Retailer Daily, and more. She is deputy editor of Outside Business Journal and Backpacker's Rocky Mountain Editor and wrote the last two editions of Frommer's Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks travel guides. Elisabeth holds a Master's degree in magazine journalism from Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, where she earned both the prestigious McCormick Scholar designation and the Harrington Memorial Award.
Elisabeth's work has taken her from the broad shoulders of Chicago to Boulder, Seattle, and Montana, with many stops in between. She has reported on neuroscience research from a Utah canyon, the lives of off-the-grid professors in northern Wisconsin, wilderness survival techniques, the health benefits of quiet places, worm composting in a small apartment, and the rodeo cowboys of northwestern Colorado. On the multimedia side, Elisabeth has also produced four educational documentaries for teens as a senior editor with Human Relations Media. When she's not scaling peaks in pursuit of a story, Elisabeth loves cooking, paddling, cross-country skiing, and Forest Service cabins.
