Eric Holthaus (born 1981) is a

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

and climate journalist. He is the founder of a weather service called Currently and started a publication called The Phoenix on Ghost. He was formerly a writer for ''The Correspondent'', ''Grist'', ''Slate'' and ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' and is known for his mentions of

global climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

Biography

Eric Holthaus grew up in Kansas. His writing during

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

resulted in a substantial following. During his career, he has advised numerous groups and individuals on coping with changing weather, including, for example,

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

n subsistence farmers. In 2013, feeling that his extensive air travel was contributing to the climate problem, Holthaus vowed to stop flying. Holthaus is a co-founder of the podcast "Warm Regards" with paleoecologist Jacquelyn Gill and journalist Andy Revkin of ''The New York Times''. Holthaus left ''The Correspondent'' in November 2020 and started ''The Phoenix''; ''The Correspondent'' itself ceased publication on January 1, 2021. He is a proponent of the

Green New Deal Green New Deal (GND) proposals call for public policy to address climate change along with achieving other social aims like job creation and reducing economic inequality. The name refers back to the New Deal, a set of social and economic refo ...

and identifies as an

eco-socialist Eco-socialism (also known as green socialism or socialist ecology) is an ideology merging aspects of socialism with that of green politics, ecology and alter-globalization or anti-globalization. Eco-socialists generally believe that the expansi ...

Projects

On November 6, 2022, Abbie Veitch and Eric Holthaus announced Project Mushroom, an initiative to create a safe social media service centered on climate protection. The proposed service is to be run by users and its formation is in response to the harmful effects and biases embedded in established platforms like

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

''The Future Earth''

Holthaus's book ''The Future Earth'', about imagining a future where society has reversed the

effects of climate change The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice ( glaciers), sea le ...

, was released on June 30, 2020. Paperback edition. The book employs a "speculative journalism" approach to imagine how communities and society will respond, while interviewing and using sources from contemporary thinkers and scientists. Holthaus focuses on the large scale organizing and social change needed to address the

climate crisis ''Climate crisis'' is a term describing global warming and climate change, and their impacts. The term and the alternative term ''climate emergency'' have been used to describe the threat of global warming to humanity (and their planet), and to u ...

rather than relying solely on technological solutions. Reception of the book was generally positive. Kirkus reviews called the book "an encouraging and diligently researched call to action"

Undark Magazine ''Undark Magazine'' is a non-profit, editorially independent online publication exploring science as a "frequently wondrous, sometimes contentious, and occasionally troubling byproduct of human culture." The name Undark is a deliberate reference to ...

called the book "a welcome antidote to more dystopian climate writers such as David Wallace-Wells". The podcast Warm Regards highlighted the book in comparison with

Kim Stanley Robinson Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American writer of science fiction. He has published twenty-two novels and numerous short stories and is best known for his ''Mars'' trilogy. His work has been translated into 24 languages. Many ...

's ''

The Ministry for the Future ''The Ministry for the Future'' is a climate fiction ("cli-fi") novel by American science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson published in 2020. Set in the near future, the novel follows a subsidiary body, established under the Paris Agreement, ...

''—noting that they both share a similarly optimistic and future forward approach to the climate crisis.

References

External links

Eric Holthaus
at '' Slate'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Holthaus, Eric American meteorologists Slate (magazine) people 1981 births Living people