The World from PRX

Adam WernickAW

Adam Wernick

Freelance writer
Adam Wernick is a freelance writer, playwright and composer. Since 2014, he has written numerous articles for pri.org and theworld.org, with a particular focus on the environment, health and science. In his parallel career as a composer and writer for theater, Adam has worked with major companies throughout the US, such as The Guthrie Theater, The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Denver Center Theater Company, Classic Stage Company, The Kennedy Center, and others.After living in Philadelphia for many years, Adam Wernick now lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Old growth Douglas fir trees stand along the Salmon river Trail on the Mt. Hood National Forest
Environment
1 in 6 trees in the US threatened with extinction
City view at McCulloh apartments at Druid Hill Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland, June 2019.
Climate Change
Rental housing stock in the US faces huge challenges adapting to climate change
The trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange
Business, Economics and Jobs
Proposed SEC rule would require companies to disclose risks from climate change
A natural gas power plant of RWE AG in Lingen, Germany
Ukraine
Can heat pumps help bring peace to Ukraine?
An aerial view of Fairbourne village in Gwynedd in Wales, Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021.
Refugees
Climate change may be the leading driver of tomorrow’s refugee crisis
Floodwaters slowly recede in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Lafitte, Louisiana, Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021.
New IPCC report says climate change poses an extreme risk to billions of people
The Thwaites Glacier is one of the hardest places in Antarctica to access, and scientists have only recently been able to go there to study it.
Climate Change
The melting and collapse of Thwaites Glacier could affect sea levels for years to come
Jennifer Lawrence attends the world premiere of "Don't Look Up" at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021, in New York.
Climate Change
‘Don’t Look Up’ exposes the absurdity — and consequences — of climate change denial
A boy plays in a fountain to cool off as temperatures approach 100 degrees Fahrenheit, July 18, 2019, in Kansas City, Missouri. 
Health & Medicine
A warming climate leads to more pediatric ER visits, study shows
Plumes of smoke rise in the vicinity of Lake Steffen caused by a wildfire, near Rio Villegas, Argentina, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021.
Climate Change
Fire and climate change are altering Patagonia’s ecosystems
The Shell Norco refinery in Norco, Louisiana, Thursday, March 8, 2018.
Health & Medicine
A new interactive map can help assess carcinogenic emissions risk
Workers prepare to replace older water pipes with a new copper one in Newark, New Jersey, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021.
Health & Medicine
Scientists link childhood lead exposure to adult mental health problems
Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, center, arrives for a great chanting ceremony at Vinh Nghiem Pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on March 16, 2007.
Lifestyle & Belief
‘Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet’
A fire still burns in a home destroyed by the Marshall Wildfire in Louisville, Colorado, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021.
Environment
Colorado’s catastrophic winter firestorm may be a sign of more to come
E.O. Wilson in his office at Harvard University
Environment
Remembering naturalist E.O. Wilson
Ecologist Tom Lovejoy is being remembered for his decades of research and bringing people together to protect the Amazon rainforest and other ecosystems on the planet.
Environment
Remembering Tom Lovejoy, champion of biodiversity and the Amazon
In this Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016 file photo, a man guides a raft through a polluted canal littered with plastic bags and other garbage in Mumbai, India.
Environment
YouTube influencers work to stem the flow of trash to the seas
Humpback whales undergo one of the longest migrations of any mammal on Earth — over 6,000 miles.
Arts, Culture & Media
A NatGeo documentary reveals ‘Secrets of the Whales’
President Joe Biden speaks about Russia in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, April 15, 2021, in Washington.
Climate Change
Biden’s Earth Day summit tests US, global commitment to slowing climate change
Image of an illegally deforested area on Pirititi Indigenous lands.
Climate Change
The Amazon rainforest is likely adding to global warming, says a new study
An illustration of blue and black magnetic field lines that Earth generates today.
Science
Scientists link Earth’s magnetic reversals to changes in planet’s life and climate
A selection of silver refrigerators on display at an appliance store.
Environment
A climate reporter walks into an appliance store…
Red and white trucks flank a tall drilling well pictured against the sky
Environment
Trying to measure fracking’s toll on human health
In this July 27, 2018, photo the Dave Johnson coal-fired power plant is silhouetted against the morning sun.
Environment
Fossil fuels cause 1 in 5 premature deaths worldwide, study says
National Geographic Explorer and wildlife DJ Ben Mirin.
Music
‘Nature is always singing’: Now you can make your own music from nature’s sounds
A worker arranges yellow ginseng displays behind glass cases
Business, Economics and Jobs
American ginseng farmers battered by trade wars and pandemic
Nuclear reactors of No. 5, center left, and 6 look over tanks storing water that was treated but still radioactive, at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
Energy
Plan to dump Fukushima’s radioactive water into ocean causes outcry
Protesters demand the release of Indian climate activist Disha Ravi
Protest
India cracks down on climate activists supporting farmer protests
Joe Biden climate executive action
Biden administration
Biden vows to take a ‘whole of government’ approach to climate change
Enbridge Energy Line 3 protest
Environment
Native tribes in Minnesota pledge to continue fighting new Line 3 pipeline
An axis deer looks up at a giraffe on Sir Bani Yas Island near Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Friday, June 9, 2017.
Environment
A new book explores culture within the animal kingdom
A Native American elder performs a ritual ceremony using a feather.
COVID-19
COVID-19 deaths among tribal elders threaten cultural loss
A portrait of Mamphela Ramphele
Lifestyle & Belief
Joe Biden has called for unity. The African concept of Ubuntu offers a path.
North Atlantic right whale with calf in blue-green waters
Environment
Little time left to save the North Atlantic right whale
Joe Biden inauguration
Environment
Biden brings US back to Paris climate accord. Now what?
Brown arches naturally formed from stone in Arches National Park
Biden administration
Under Biden, US Interior Department will undergo a major directional shift
A photo of Leydy Pech, a Mayan beekeeper
Environment
Mayan beekeepers launch legal battle to protect the environment
The Biden administration's nominee for secretary of interior, Democratic Rep. Deb Haaland, from New Mexico, speaks at The Queen Theater in Wilmington, Delaware, Dec. 19, 2020.
Biden administration
Deb Haaland, Biden’s interior secretary nominee, says she’ll be ‘fierce for our planet’
Merrick Garland nominated for attorney general
Biden administration
Merrick Garland — once blocked from high court — is set to become attorney general
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge caribou aerial
Environment
Trump administration tries to sell off Arctic wildlife refuge in its final days
Kristal Ambrose, Bahamas Plastic Movement
Environment
Bahamas Plastic Movement founder wins Goldman Environmental Prize
Stacey Abrams 2020 election
Politics
Georgia’s green voters helped deliver the Senate to the Democrats
A volunteer receives a shot
Health & Medicine
Demographics, preparedness may explain Africa’s low COVID-19 fatality rates
Fossilized tree rings
Climate Change
The history of the world is written in tree rings
White-tailed buck
Health & Medicine
Lead in hunted meat poses health risk to families and food banks
A person wears colorful, pride-themed boots as they await the start of a queer liberation march for Black Lives Matter and against police brutality
Lifestyle & Belief
A queer nature photographer on the great outdoors and hiking in 6-inch heels
A protester holds a sign that reads SOS among other protesters on a street in Austria.
‘A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety’: Coping strategies for young activists
A vast, white sheet of ice
Climate Change
Rapid ice melt and sea-level rise will be part of our global future — no matter what
Judge Amy Coney Barrett speaks and gestures into a mic during the third day of her Senate confirmation hearing.
Environment
How would a Justice Amy Coney Barrett rule on the environment?
The Endurance, trapped in sea ice along the Weddell Sea.
Books
‘Pathways to possibility’: New book argues optimism is key to endurance through tough times
A photo of a tan beavor
Environment
Beavers bring rich biodiversity back to Devon, England
RBG memorial at Capitol
Environment
Ruth Bader Ginsburg left behind a powerful environmental legacy
A 1790 Treaty of Muscogee (Creek) Nations and the US, written with elegant cursive script
Conflict & Justice
Supreme Court recognizes Native sovereignty in much of Oklahoma
A group of runners carrying staffs and smile for a group shot
Books
‘Spirit Run’: A new memoir details one man’s journey to reconnect with nature and his Indigenous heritage
A person wearing a finger sack points at an "I Voted" sticker after casting ballot for the upcoming presidential election as early voting begins in Houston, Texas, Oct. 13, 2020. 
2020 US presidential election
Environmental groups work to mobilize Black and Latinx voters
Biden and Harris wear masks, clasp hands, and Harris points at Biden, smiling with her eyes.
US politics
Biden-Harris ticket highlights historic stance on climate and environmental justice
An image of blue water surrounding the Galápagos Islands.
Environment
Chinese fishing fleet threatens Galápagos Islands
gray and white smokestacks billow
Conflict & Justice
Green groups grapple with a history of racism and exclusion
Green trees in the corner with wide swath of cleared forest in the center
COVID-19
Slowing deforestation could save humanity from the next pandemic
Dakota Access pipeline protest
Environment
How Trump is weakening the National Environmental Policy Act