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Climate

Cómo cubrir las lluvias torrenciales

Radar Clima es el boletín en español de Covering Climate Now. Cada dos semanas repasamos un tema clave para periodistas -especialistas o generalistas- desde la conexión climática y la lente de los tres pilares del periodismo climático: Humanizar, Localizar y Solucionar.

No olvides hacer la conexión climática en tus historias y basarla en la ciencia. Conectar los hechos con el cambio climático permite explicar las causas, responsabilidades y soluciones, y ayuda a tu audiencia a entender por qué es importante.

Si has recibido este email de un o una colega y quieres suscribirte, o si quieres ver nuestros boletines en inglés, haz clic aquí. Puedes ver ediciones anteriores de Radar Clima aquí. 

LO QUE TIENES QUE SABER

Los episodios de lluvias torrenciales están aumentando en frecuencia e intensidad en todo el mundo; también en las Américas y España. Una atmósfera más caliente por la acumulación de gases de efecto invernadero hace que el aire pueda absorber más vapor de agua, de forma que cuando llueve, la lluvia cae de manera más intensa y localizada. El resultado son inundaciones repentinas, deslizamientos de tierra y sistemas urbanos desbordados en cuestión de horas. 

No todas las lluvias extremas se pueden atribuir al cambio climático, pero la ciencia está de acuerdo en que el calentamiento global está intensificando las condiciones que favorecen estos fenómenos. Además, el calentamiento de los océanos aporta más energía a los sistemas meteorológicos, elevando el riesgo de episodios de lluvia más fuertes y concentrados en menos tiempo. 

Las lluvias torrenciales son un riesgo social. Afectan de manera desproporcionada a comunidades vulnerables, ponen a prueba infraestructuras antiguas, revelan fallos de planificación urbana y tienen impactos duraderos en la salud, la economía y en el acceso a los servicios básicos. 

HUMANIZAR

Después de un episodio de lluvia extrema, hay personas que pierden su casa, su trabajo o incluso su vida, o que sufren impactos en su salud física o mental. Hay grupos sociales más vulnerables, por eso un buen lugar para reportear con un ángulo humano son las comunidades con viviendas precarias, infraestructuras deficientes o barrios que han crecido de manera descontrolada por una mala planificación. 

Ángulos clave

  • ¿Quiénes son las personas más afectadas por las lluvias? ¿Por qué?
  • ¿Cómo afectan las lluvias extremas a la salud física y mental de las personas de tu comunidad?
  • ¿Qué ocurre con quienes pierden su vivienda o su medio de vida?
  • ¿Cómo afectan las lluvias extremas a niños, personas mayores, inmigrantes o personas sin hogar?

Historias para inspirarte

LOCALIZAR

Las lluvias torrenciales siempre tienen un contexto territorial concreto: un barrio, un río desbordado o una urbanización construida en una zona inundable. Localizar la historia ayuda a tu audiencia a entender que el riesgo no es abstracto, ni está lejos, sino que está en la propia comunidad. Esto permite explicar por qué ese lugar es vulnerable, por qué otros lugares pueden estar en peligro, y qué factores influyen en el impacto. Estos son ángulos que puedes explorar sin necesidad de esperar que haya lluvias extremas.

Ángulos clave

  • ¿Qué barrios, municipios o regiones son más vulnerables a las lluvias torrenciales y por qué?
  • ¿Cómo influyen los factores locales como los drenajes, la planificación urbanística o la masificación de zonas inundables? ¿Qué personas y organizaciones tienen capacidad de decisión sobre estos elementos?
  • ¿Existen mapas de zonas de riesgo, sistemas de alerta temprana y planes de evacuación? ¿Funcionan?
  • ¿Cómo afectan las lluvias extremas a servicios clave como hospitales, escuelas, transporte o mercados?
  • ¿Qué papel juegan las autoridades locales antes, durante y después del episodio?

Historias para inspirarte

SOLUCIONAR

Ya existen medidas que mitigan el impacto de las lluvias extremas, desde infraestructuras verdes y sistemas de alerta temprana hasta cambios en la planificación urbana y políticas públicas más ambiciosas. Si incluyes este ángulo, puedes ofrecer a tu audiencia información útil para adaptarse y prevenir futuras tragedias. 

Ángulos clave

  • ¿Qué medidas de adaptación ha puesto en marcha tu comunidad para reducir el riesgo de inundaciones? Por ejemplo, drenajes, ordenamiento territorial o infraestructuras verdes como pavimentos permeables, techos verdes, parques inundables o restaurar humedales. ¿Cuáles de ellas serían beneficiosas pero no están disponibles, y por qué?
  • ¿Qué soluciones basadas en la naturaleza se están usando?
  • ¿Qué reflexiones y aprendizajes dejaron las lluvias pasadas? ¿Se aplicaron esta vez?
  • ¿Pueden solicitar ayudas las comunidades afectadas?
  • ¿Qué políticas públicas podrían reducir el impacto de futuras lluvias extremas?

Historias para inspirarte

VOCES EXPERTAS

  • Daniel Argüeso, Universitat de les Illes Balears, científico climático especializado en modelación atmosférica y fenómenos meteorológicos extremos. Para contactarle, puedes escribir a Andrea Arnal, coordinadora de Esfera Climática, una red de voces expertas del cambio climático en España, al correo esfera.climatica@creaf.cat o vía WhatsApp: +34 644 166 517
  • María del Carmen Llasat Botija, Departamento de Física Aplicada, Universitat de Barcelona, especializada en la física de los fenómenos meteorológicos extremos
  • Laura Gallardo, climatóloga del Centro de Ciencia del Clima y la Resiliencia, Universidad de Chile
  • Enrique Vivoni, Director del Centro de Innovaciones Hidrológicas, Arizona State University

RECURSOS

  • CopernicusLAC Panama Center, datos de observación de la Tierra gratuitos y abiertos en América Latina y el Caribe
  • Flood Hub, predicción de inundaciones en todo el mundo
  • Si tienes una idea para hacer un reportaje de soluciones, este chatbot te ayuda a desarrollar tu propuesta para que puedas presentarla con más seguridad a tu editor o financiador

BOLA EXTRA

  • En la última edición de Radar Clima hablamos de cómo cubrir los incendios forestales. Un estudio de atribución de World Weather Attribution reveló que el cambio climático hizo tres veces más probables las condiciones cálidas, secas y ventosas que precedieron a los incendios que arrasaron Chile y Argentina en enero.
  • Climática organiza una charla online para hablar sobre la crisis climática en películas y series: cómo se representa o se evita, qué trampas narrativas se repiten y qué ejemplos lo han hecho mejor. El jueves, 19 de febrero a las 6 pm CET. Puedes inscribirte gratis aquí.

En dos semanas Radar Clima vuelve para explorar otro tema de interés para periodistas. Si has publicado historias climáticas y te gustaría que considerásemos su amplificación en próximas ediciones de este boletín, por favor, envíalas a editors@coveringclimatenow.org

Necesitamos tu apoyo. Si te gusta lo que hacemos, puedes apoyarnos aquí


The post Cómo cubrir las lluvias torrenciales appeared first on Covering Climate Now.

Climate

Environmental groups sue Trump’s EPA over repeal of landmark climate finding

Lawsuit from health and environmental justice groups challenges the EPA’s rollback of the ‘endangerment finding’

More than a dozen health and environmental justice non-profits have sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its revocation of the legal determination that underpins US federal climate regulations.

Filed in Washington DC circuit court, the lawsuit challenges the EPA’s rollback of the “endangerment finding”, which states that the buildup of heat-trapping pollution in the atmosphere endangers public health and welfare and has allowed the EPA to limit those emissions from vehicles, power plants and other industrial sources since 2009. The rollback was widely seen as a major setback to US efforts to combat the climate crisis.

Continue reading...
Climate

Ancient microbes may have used oxygen 500 million years before it filled Earth’s atmosphere

Life on Earth may have learned to breathe oxygen long before oxygen filled the skies. MIT researchers traced a key oxygen-processing enzyme back hundreds of millions of years before the Great Oxidation Event. Early microbes living near oxygen-producing cyanobacteria may have quickly used up the gas as it formed, slowing its rise in the atmosphere. The results suggest life was adapting to oxygen far earlier — and far more creatively — than once thought.
Climate

Excruciating tropical disease can now be transmitted in most of Europe, study finds

‘Shocking’ data shows the climate crisis and invasive mosquitos mean chikungunya could spread in 29 countries

An excruciatingly painful tropical disease called chikungunya can now be transmitted by mosquitoes across most of Europe, a study has found.

Higher temperatures due to the climate crisis mean infections are now possible for more than six months of the year in Spain, Greece and other southern European countries, and for two months a year in south-east England. Continuing global heating means it is only a matter of time before the disease expands further northwards, the scientists said.

Continue reading...
Climate

Environmental Groups Sue DOE Over Approval of CP2 LNG Export Application

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Environmental groups filed a lawsuit today challenging the Department of Energy’s (DOE) approval of Venture Global’s application to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from a future facility, currently under construction in Louisiana. NRDC is co-counsel with Earthjustice representing Sierra Club, in challenging the export approval based on ... [continued]

The post Environmental Groups Sue DOE Over Approval of CP2 LNG Export Application appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Climate

Waymo’s Remote Operations Strategy Highlights Why the Philippines is a Critical Hub

A report by David Shepardson for Reuters on the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee hearing into autonomous vehicle safety placed Waymo’s performance record under intense scrutiny. Cleantechnica reported on the industry developments beyond Washington point to how the Alphabet-owned company chose the Philippines as the location for its remote fleet response ... [continued]

The post Waymo’s Remote Operations Strategy Highlights Why the Philippines is a Critical Hub appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Climate

Sierra Club & SW Detroiters Celebrate $100M Penalty, Clean Air Wins in EES Coke Ruling

DTE and EES Coke were ordered to invest $20 million in community projects. Detroit, MI — A federal court today ruled against DTE and EES Coke for violating the Clean Air Act by allowing a Zug Island facility to emit thousands of tons of sulfur dioxide that led to asthma ... [continued]

The post Sierra Club & SW Detroiters Celebrate $100M Penalty, Clean Air Wins in EES Coke Ruling appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Climate

A satellite illusion hid the true scale of Arctic snow loss

For years, satellite data suggested that autumn snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere was actually increasing — a surprising twist in a warming world. But a new analysis reveals that this apparent growth was an illusion caused by improving satellite technology that became better at detecting thin snow over time. In reality, snow cover has been shrinking by about half a million square kilometers per decade.
Climate

Border Wall Closes in on Big Bend

Residents and elected officials are speaking out against a proposed border barrier through Texas’ biggest state park and one of the jewels of the national park system.

By Martha Pskowski

REDFORD, Texas—Plans for a border wall through the Big Bend region of West Texas are raising alarms among residents and elected officials.

Climate

Texas Alleges ‘Habitual Non-Compliance’ of Wastewater Rules at Dow Chemical Complex 

But the lawsuit, filed Friday by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office, could shield the petrochemical giant from harsher litigation from a local citizen group.

By Dylan Baddour

The Texas Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit Friday afternoon against Dow Chemical Co., North America’s largest chemical manufacturer, describing hundreds of water pollution violations from its industrial complex on the rural Gulf Coast in Seadrift. 

Climate

Waymo Looking to Buy 50,000 Hyundai Ioniq 5 Robotaxis for $2.5 Billion

Waymo is scaling up. How much, and how quickly? Those are the questions. We may have a hint at an answer. Reportedly, the self-driving tech leader is looking to purchase 50,000 Hyundai IONIQ 5 electric cars in the next few years, at a cost of about $2.5 billion. The IONIQ ... [continued]

The post Waymo Looking to Buy 50,000 Hyundai Ioniq 5 Robotaxis for $2.5 Billion appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Uncategorized

Hey Brett Kavanaugh, This Is On You:

“If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U. S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, they promptly let the individual go.” —Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, September 8, 2025

From that one line, which Anil Kalhan dubbed “Kavanaugh Stops,” we see story after story of just how disconnected from reality, and the Constitution, Brett Kavanaugh was in that statement.

In short: Brett Kavanaugh has some explaining to do.

Just a few quotes:

My name is George Retes. I am — I was born and raised here in Ventura, California, I’m 26 years old and I am an Iraq combat veteran…. I was going to work like normal. I show up. ICE is there. There’s kind of like a roadblock. I get out. I identify myself, that I’m a U.S. citizen, that I’m just trying to get to work…. I’m getting ready to leave and they surround my car, start banging on it, start shouting these contradictory orders…. Even though I was giving them no reason, they still felt the need to — one agent knelt my back and another agent knelt on my neck. And during that time, I’m just pleading with them that I couldn’t breathe…. I was an isolation. I was in basically this concrete cell. I was stripped naked in like a hospital gown. And they leave the lights on 24/7…. They just came out and they said that I was violent and that I assaulted agents. Why lie when it’s on video of everything that happened? Why lie?

That’s just one person’s story in that PBS piece. There are two others as well. And we already know hundreds of other US Citizens have been kicked, dragged, beaten, and detained for days. It feels like every few days we hear about more such stories. And those are only the ones that get attention. You have to assume that there are many more ones that haven’t yet reached the public.

It feels like perhaps Justice Kavanaugh owes us all an explanation. And an apology. And a new ruling that makes it much clearer that immigration enforcement officials have no right to just randomly stop and detain people without a reasonable suspicion, based on specific articulable facts, and those facts need to be more than “skin color” or “they were being annoying to us.”

Uncategorized

Australia’s Social Media Ban Is Isolating Kids With Disabilities—Just Like Critics Warned

We’ve been covering Australia’s monumentally stupid social media ban for kids under 16 since before it went into effect. We noted how dumb the whole premise was, how the rollout was an immediate mess, how a gambling ad agency helped push the whole thing, and how two massive studies involving 125,000 kids found the entire “social media is inherently harmful” narrative doesn’t hold up.

But theory and data are one thing. Now we’re getting real-world stories of actual kids being harmed by a law that was supposedly designed to protect them. And wouldn’t you know it, the harm is falling hardest on the kids who were already most vulnerable. Just like many people predicted.

The Guardian has a deeply frustrating piece about how Australia’s ban is isolating kids with disabilities—the exact population for whom social media often serves as a genuine lifeline.

Meet Indy, a 14-year-old autistic girl who used social media to connect with friends in ways that her disability makes difficult in person:

While some young people were exposed to harmful content and bullying online, for Indy, social media was always a safe space. If she ever came across anything that felt unsafe, she says, she would ask her parents or sisters about it.

“I have autism and mental health things, it’s hard making friends in real life for me,” she says. “My online friends were easier because I can communicate in my own time and think about what I want to say. My social media was my main way of socialising and without it I feel like I’ve lost my friends.”

As the article notes, the ban started just as schools in Australia let out for the summer, just when kids would generally use communications systems like social media to stay in touch with friends.

“I didn’t have all my friends’ phone numbers because we mostly talked on Snapchat and Instagram. When I lost everything I all of a sudden couldn’t talk to them at all, that’s made me feel very lonely and not connected,” she says.

“Being banned feels unfair because it takes away something that helped me cope, where I could be myself and feel like I had friends who liked me for being myself.”

This is exactly what critics pretty much across the board warned would happen. Social media isn’t just “distraction” or “screen time” for many young people with disabilities—it’s their primary social infrastructure.

Advocacy group Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA) says social media and the internet is “often a lifeline for young people with disability, providing one of the few truly accessible ways to build connections and find community”.

In a submission to the Senate inquiry around the laws, CYDA said social media was: “a place where young people can choose how they want to represent themselves and their disability and learn from others going through similar things”.

“It provides an avenue to experiment and find new opportunities and can help lessen the sting of loneliness,” the submission said. “Cutting off that access ignores the lived reality of thousands and risks isolating disabled youth from their peer networks and broader society.”

This goes beyond people with disabilities, certainly, but the damage done to that community is even clearer than with some others. We were among those who warned advocates of an age ban that nearly every study shows social media helps some kids, is neutral for many, and is harmful for some others. The evidence suggests the harmed group is less than 5% of kids. We should do what we can to help those kids, but it’s astounding that politicians, advocates, and the media don’t seem to care about those now harmed by these bans:

Isabella Choate , CEO of WA’s Youth Disability Network (YDAN), says they are concerned that young people with disability have been disproportionately affected by losing access to online communities. “Young people with disability are already isolated from community often do not have capacity to find alternative pathways to connection,” Choate says.

“Losing access to community with no practical plan for supporting young people has in fact not reduced the online risk of harm and has simultaneously increased risk for young people’s wellbeing.”

A few years back we highlighted a massive meta study on children and social media that suggested the real issue for kids was the lack of “third spaces” where kids could be kids. That had pushed many into social media, because they had few unsupervised places where they could just hang out with their friends. Social media became a digitally intermediated third space. And now the adults are taking that away as well.

Ezra Sholl is a 15-year-old Victorian teenager and disability advocate. His accounts have not yet been shut down, but says if they were it would mean “losing access to a key part” of his social life.

“As a teenager with a severe disability, social media gives me an avenue to connect with my friends and have access to communities with similar interests,” Ezra says.

“Having a severe disability can be isolating, social media makes me feel less alone.”

There’s a pattern here: every time kids find a space to gather—malls, arcades, now social media—a moral panic emerges and policymakers move to shut it down. It’s almost as if adults just don’t want kids to gather with each other anywhere at all. But the kids still figure out ways to gather.

As Ezra notes in that Guardian piece, most kids are just… bypassing the whole thing anyway:

But he adds that many of his friends have also evaded the ban, either because their original account was not picked up in age verification sweeps or because they started a new one.

“Those that were asked to prove their age just did facial ID and passed, others weren’t asked at all and weren’t kicked off,” Ezra says.

So the kids who follow the rules, or whose parents enforce them, lose their support networks. The kids who figure out the trivially easy workarounds keep right on using social media. And the politicians get to take victory laps about “protecting children” while the most vulnerable kids pay the price.

It doesn’t seem like a very good system.

Remember, this is the same Australia where that recent study found social media’s relationship with teen well-being is U-shaped—moderate use is associated with the best outcomes, while no use (especially for older teenage boys) is associated with worse outcomes than even heavy use. Australia’s ban is taking kids who might have been moderate users with good outcomes and forcing them into the “no use” category that the research associates with worse well-being. Even if you’re cautious about inferring causation from that correlation, it should, at minimum, give policymakers pause before assuming that less social media automatically means better outcomes.

And yet, the folks who pushed this ban remain unrepentant. The Guardian quotes Dany Elachi, founder of the Heads Up Alliance (one of the parent groups that advocated for the ban), taking credit for starting the “debate” and saying that it’s a “win” in his book that kids are suffering now, because… that’s part of the debate, I guess?

“So the fact that this was a debate that was front and centre for over a year means that the message got through to every parent in the country, and from that perspective alone I count it as a win,” Elachi says. “What happens further from that is a bonus, we are trying to change the social norm and that takes years.”

He’s essentially shrugging off the actual harms as collateral damage, which is quite incredible, because you know that he would be screaming loudly about it if any tech company ever suggested any harms to kids on social media were collateral damage.

“Ultimately we don’t want to have platforms policing what is going on, we just want parents themselves to say ‘this is not good for you’ to their twelve or thirteen year old children, and saying the new standard is that we don’t get on social media until we’re 16 – just like we don’t think twice about not giving cigarettes to kids any more or about not giving them alcohol to drink in early teens.”

Right. Except the law doesn’t let parents make that call. It makes it for them. That’s… the entire point of the ban. Parents who think their autistic kid benefits from social media connections don’t get to decide their kid can keep using it. The government has decided for them.

This is what happens when you build policy on moral panic instead of evidence. You end up with a law that:

  • Cuts off support networks for kids with disabilities
  • Does nothing about the kids who just bypass it
  • Ignores the actual research on what helps and harms young people
  • Was pushed by an advertising agency that makes gambling ads
  • Lets politicians claim victory while vulnerable kids suffer

But sure, think of the children.

Climate

Will The MiBot Work In Amsterdam? Here’s A Biased Comparison

When KG Motors handed over the first customer MiBots on December 30, 2025, it did more than complete a ceremonial delivery. It quietly placed a fully engineered, road-legal micro-EV into real-world use — and set the stage for a production ramp beginning in April of 2026. In one particular case, ... [continued]

The post Will The MiBot Work In Amsterdam? Here’s A Biased Comparison appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Climate

Electric Trucking: Why Ecosystem Readiness Matters In South Africa

Global adoption is accelerating, but South Africa’s freight sector must balance innovation with operational certainty as it prepares for an electric future. Electric trucks are no longer a speculative technology. Across major global markets (particularly North America, Asia, and Europe), they are increasingly visible in urban delivery fleets, port operations, ... [continued]

The post Electric Trucking: Why Ecosystem Readiness Matters In South Africa appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Climate

Electricity Prices Decreased In South Australia Because Of Clean Renewables

There are some examples of renewable energy success right now in this world. Over 98% of electricity in British Columbia is generated by clean, renewable sources. Norway generates about 98% from renewables as well. This northern European country also leads in electric vehicles, as in fully electric vehicles, not hybrids ... [continued]

The post Electricity Prices Decreased In South Australia Because Of Clean Renewables appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Pubmedia

“Cared For” Podcast Debuts From Good Get and PRX, Hosted by Kelli Dunham

Host Kelli Dunham is an acclaimed storyteller, nurse, comedian, and former nun bringing listeners companionship, care, and community

Award-winning independent production house Good Get and public media organization PRX today premiered Cared For, a new podcast about how we care for ourselves and our communities. Hosted by acclaimed storyteller Kelli Dunham — queer comedian, nurse, former nun, Edinburgh Fringe Festival solo performer, and a fan favorite of The Moth — on each episode, Kelli tackles universally personal topics: aging, grief, helping your neighbor get groceries, and beyond.

“Cared For is about how we care for each other and how we care for ourselves, and perhaps just as importantly, how we create a world where it’s easier to do both,” said Dunham. “This show is important now because everyone is exhausted. And maybe that just comes with the territory, but maybe we don’t all need to be.”

Cared For

The weekly podcast is available free across all major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and NPR One with new episodes on Mondays. In the debut episode, out now, Kelli focuses on the steps anyone can take to get to that doctor’s appointment they might be putting off while sharing relatable anecdotes.

The Cared For production team includes Erica Getto (Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness) and Myrriah Gossett (Nobody Should Believe Me), co-founders of Good Get.

“Kelli has a unique ability to speak with candor and humor about some of life’s toughest topics,” said Gossett. “It’s been a joy to develop this show together, and to have PRX’s support.” Getto added: “Our hope is that listeners can feel as comforted and empowered hearing these episodes as we’ve been recording them.”

“We’re so pleased to partner with the thoughtful, talented producers of Good Get, and with Kelli, who embodies the authentic, personal connection listeners seek,” said Stephanie Kuo, VP of Content at PRX. “Cared For is a balm during a time of turbulence. We’re proud to help bring the show to listeners everywhere.”

Listeners are also invited to connect with Dunham on Substack.

Cared For

About Good Get

Founded by producers Erica Getto and Myrriah Gossett, Good Get is an audio-first creative production company that specializes in comedy programming. Original series include the award-winning shows One of Us with Fin and Chris and Worse Than You with Mo Fry Pasic; Drag Her! A RuPaul’s Drag Race Podcast, hosted by Mano Agapion and Oscar Montoya; and Art To Me, hosted by Nic Scheppard and Jenson Titus of Very Gay Paint. Good Get also produces the ACLU’s podcast.

About PRX

Celebrating more than 20 years as a nonprofit public media company, PRX works in partnership with leading independent creators, organizations, and stations to bring meaningful audio storytelling into millions of listeners’ lives. PRX is one of the world’s top podcast publishers, public radio distributors, and audio producers, serving as an engine of innovation for public media and podcasting to help shape a vibrant future for creative and journalistic audio. Shows across PRX’s portfolio of broadcast productions, podcast partners, and its Radiotopia podcast network have received recognition from the Peabody Awards, the Tribeca Festival, the International Documentary Association, the National Magazine Awards, and the Pulitzer Prizes. Visit prx.org for more.

“Cared For” Podcast Debuts From Good Get and PRX, Hosted by Kelli Dunham was originally published in PRX Official on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Journalism

4 potential places for journalists to lead walking tours

Your coverage can inspire your routes

There’s practical and editorial considerations for a good walking tour route. It also might not be where you first expect. Justin Rivers, chief experience officer at Untapped New York, developed his first tour at New York’s notorious Penn Station as a guerilla marketing tactic for a play.

“That is not something anybody on the planet would have ever thought to give a tour of,” Rivers said. “It’s one of the worst public spaces in the world.”

A decade later, Untapped New York still offers a “Secrets of Penn Station” tour, so how did that work out?

Rivers’ play was about the 1963 demolition of the “much more beautiful” Penn Station and he identified visible remnants of that highly ornate historic building. This very niche tour held people’s interest, and kicked off his partnership with Untapped New York.

The tour he gives today isn’t the same either. He has to change the route about every six months, as the space keeps evolving.

Here are four places, found all around the U.S., that might work for a journalism-driven tour

1. Main Street/Downtown

For local news organizations focused on a specific town or city, look to the commercial hub. Many are walkable and are home to businesses and government agencies you may cover. They are also prime for partnerships, maybe with a downtown business association or other sponsors.

Pew Research found the majority of U.S. adults value local news and local journalists. Use your proximity to your advantage, adding a physical presence downtown (without the overhead of an office!).

Newsberg Founding Editor Branden Andersen used this approach for his pilot, making a loop around the downtown area of Newberg, Oregon. The route passed public spaces, local businesses, and cultural organizations.

2. Where development is happening

Communities are constantly changing, and that’s newsy. Is there a public park or space you can access that overlooks new development?

In Oakland, California, for example, there’s new housing and commercial spaces going up near the Oakland Estuary, which could be incorporated into a route along the nearby San Francisco Bay Trail.

Future Tides’ tour route in Seattle’s Lake Union Park includes two development projects. Over the past two years, we’ve observed one property complete construction and start adding new tenants, while the other finally broke ground (a bit behind schedule!).

Untapped New York’s tours feature historical development, like with Penn Station, but also sometimes provide access to abandoned buildings or spaces trying to raise funds for renovations.

3. A theater or performance space

Theaters and other arts spaces literally can offer a “backstage” experience. Untapped New York, for example, takes guests to the Metropolitan Opera House.

Not all communities have a Met, but most have a performance arts venue. In Seattle, there’s a dozen venues that might fit the bill. While in nearby North Bend, Washington, population 8,000, there’s a historic theater built in 1941 that continues to be a community hub.

From volatile ticket sales to a rapidly shifting grant landscape, arts organizations around the U.S. are also navigating uncertainty, making them prime partners for a tour initiative.

4. Attractions (but in the offseason)

Locals might avoid the “tourist destinations” in their own backyard, but these sites are often intertwined with the community through both history and economics. Consider how to tap into a nearby attraction during the offseason, and different angles to help your audience connect with a local landmark in a new light.

Offbeat attractions are also an opportunity. Untapped New York’s core audience are local New Yorkers whom they promise to help “discover the secrets of NYC.” What secrets can you help your community discover?

Final thoughts

Rivers also recommends news organizations look to their analytics for tour inspiration. 

“If you have a high performing piece on your publication, turn it into an experience,” he advised.

A route is a good starting point for crafting a tour, but it’s also like an outline, waiting for the right details and reporter to fill it in.

“Routes are important, but they’re still not as important as the enthusiasm and the passion of the guide,” Rivers said.

Find practical tour guide tips and more route recommendations in my RJI Fellowship project: A Tour Guide for Journalists (launching March 2026). Subscribe to receive occasional email updates about my work, including when the guide launches.

Cite this article

Kuhlman, Cara  (2026, Feb. 17). 4 potential places for journalists to lead walking tours. Reynolds Journalism Institute. Retrieved from: https://rjionline.org/news/4-potential-places-for-journalists-to-lead-walking-tours/

Climate

Tesla’s Change in Market Share in 13 European Countries

This is the third and presumably final article in a series I’m doing on Tesla sales trends in a bunch of European countries in January. The first article explored year-over-year changes in sales and market share for Tesla. However, under that article, some readers suggested looking further back and examining ... [continued]

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Climate

Claims that AI can help fix climate dismissed as greenwashing

Industry using ‘diversionary’ tactics, says analyst, as energy-hungry complex functions such as video generation and deep research proliferate

Tech companies are conflating traditional artificial intelligence with generative AI when claiming the energy-hungry technology could help avert climate breakdown, according to a report.

Most claims that AI can help avert climate breakdown refer to machine learning and not the energy-hungry chatbots and image generation tools driving the sector’s explosive growth of gas-guzzling datacentres, the analysis of 154 statements found.

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Climate

XPENG Demonstrates Real-World AI Driving To Global Delegates At UN Vehicle Regulation Harmonization Forum In China

Shanghai, CHINA — XPENG showcased its AI-driven ADAS system to global delegates this week, hosting live road demonstrations during the UN/WP.29 Informal Working Group on Automated Driving Systems (IWG ADS) session in Shanghai. The international forum, which brings together stakeholders from regulators to industry experts and consumer groups to develop ... [continued]

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Climate

‘Daunting but doable’: Europe urged to prepare for 3C of global heating

Advisory board member says Europe already paying price for lack of preparation but adapting is ‘not rocket science’

Keeping Europe safe from extreme weather “is not rocket science”, a top researcher has said, as the EU’s climate advisory board urges countries to prepare for a catastrophic 3C of global heating.

Maarten van Aalst, a member of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC), said the continent was already “paying a price” for its lack of preparation but that adapting to a hotter future was in part “common sense and low-hanging fruit”.

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