About Me

I’m a climate reporter focused on how climate change reshapes housing, land use, real estate, and insurance markets. My stories often center on displacement, grief, and migration associated with extreme weather.

Most recently, I reported for NBC News’ national Climate Unit, where I wrote news features and produced digital explainers and short documentaries on climate science, politics, and finance. I also write freelance science stories on the weird and wonderful for national outlets like Popular Science and Live Science. Currently, I'm covering AI, tech, and market news for B2B news publication Industry Dive.

Before I covered hurricanes and insurance markets, I studied the feeding patterns of sea sponges native to South Florida. My background in biology, field research, and narrative journalism drives my storytelling and my passion for reporting on communities. 

Read and watch some of my favorite pieces below...

Battered by hurricanes and tired of rebuilding, 90% of population has left this coastal town

CAMERON PARISH, La. — Seven days a week, Tressie LaBove Smith makes the two-hour round trip from Lake Charles to what’s left of her Cajun restaurant in Cameron, Louisiana, an unincorporated town perched along the stormy Gulf Coast. Business once boomed at Anchors Up Grill, which opened in 2014 as Cameron's only sit-down restaurant. In 2020, Hurricane Laura destroyed the restaurant along with most of the town.
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Evangelical environmentalists push for climate votes as election nears: 'Care for God's creation'

When groups of evangelical students canvass for climate votes at their Christian colleges later this month, they’ll have a tagline: “Love God, Love Your Neighbor, Vote for Climate!” It’s the first such in-person campaigning on campuses that the nonpartisan group Young Evangelicals for Climate Action has organized since it launched in 2012.The volunteers — members of chapters at six Christian colleges — aim to draw connections between communities affected by the climate crisis and the Christian d...
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How weather driven by climate change helped fuel the Southern California fires

The wildfires that ravaged the Los Angeles area last month were driven by monthslong, climate change-fueled weather patterns, according to scientists studying the meteorological factors behind them.
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