Mark Hertsgaard (born 1956) is an American journalist and the co-founder and executive director of Covering Climate Now. He is the environment correspondent for ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'', and the author of seven non-fiction books, including ''Earth Odyssey'' (1998) ''and Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth'' (2011).
[
He has covered climate change, politics, economics, the press, and music since 1989. His best-known work as an author is ''On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency'' (1988), which described the way the ]Reagan White House
Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over D ...
"deployed raw power and conventional wisdom to intimidate Washington's television newsrooms." He has also written for magazines and newspapers such as ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', '' Vanity Fair'', ''Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...
'',''Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'', '' Harper’s'', and ''Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
''. He has been a commentator for the public radio programs Morning Edition, Marketplace, and Living on Earth, and taught writing at Johns Hopkins and the University of California, Berkeley. Hertsgaard lives in San Francisco.
Career
Hertsgaard received a B.A. in international studies from Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
in 1977 and was one of the founders of the ''Baltimore City Paper
''Baltimore City Paper'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper published in Baltimore, Maryland, founded in 1977 by Russ Smith and Alan Hirsch. The most recent owner was the Baltimore Sun Media Group, which purchased the paper in 2014 from Ti ...
''. According to his fellow Johns Hopkins alumnus Russ Smith, he worked in the Institute for Policy Studies
The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) is an American progressive think tank started in 1963 that is based in Washington, D.C. It was directed by John Cavanagh from 1998 to 2021. In 2021 Tope Folarin was announced as new Executive Director. ...
in Washington, D.C., after graduation.
While compiling a feature article for ''The New Yorker'' in 1993, Hertsgaard broke the news that the three surviving members of the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
were going to issue previously unreleased music from the group's career, as part of their multimedia ''Anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors.
In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...
'' project. In addition, they were reuniting to work on new recordings. At this time, he was granted rare access to the band's EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...
recording archives in London, gaining insight that informed his 1995 book ''A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of the Beatles''. Writing in 2000, Nick Bromell
Nick Bromell (born 1950) is an American author and educator in the field of intellectual history. He is the professor of American studies at University of Massachusetts Amherst. In his writing and research, he specializes in media and public opin ...
, professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, i ...
and the founding editor of ''Boston Review
''Boston Review'' is an American quarterly political and literary magazine. It publishes political, social, and historical analysis, literary and cultural criticism, book reviews, fiction, and poetry, both online and in print. Its signature form ...
'', described ''A Day in the Life'' as "the best single book on the music of the Beatles".
During the 1990s, Hertsgaard's attention turned to the ecology of the Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
. He embarked upon a seven-year global tour to investigate the issue of environmental degradation
Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment (biophysical), environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; an ...
. The journey spanned four continents, 19 countries and hundreds of interviews.[ This resulted in the book ''Earth Odyssey: Around the World in Search of Our Environmental Future'' (1999), which was reviewed favorably in '']The New York Times Book Review
''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
'' and ''Time'' magazine.
Hertsgaard also wrote about climate change adaptation
Climate change adaptation is the process of adjusting to current or expected effects of climate change.IPCC, 2022Annex II: Glossary öller, V., R. van Diemen, J.B.R. Matthews, C. Méndez, S. Semenov, J.S. Fuglestvedt, A. Reisinger (eds.) InClimat ...
in ''Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth'' (2011), published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults. The company is based in the Financial Dist ...
. From 2011 to 2013, he was Schmidt Family Foundation Fellow at New America Foundation
New America, formerly the New America Foundation, is a think tank in the United States founded in 1999. It focuses on a range of public policy issues, including national security studies, technology, asset building, health, gender, energy, educa ...
researching the linked challenges of climate change, food security, poverty, and ecological agriculture.
In May 2013 19 people were shot and wounded during a neighborhood Mother's Day second line parade in New Orleans. The attack took place at the corner of Frenchmen Street and North Villere in the city's 7th Ward, where hundreds of people had gathered near the French Quarter. Victims included 10 men, 7 women, a boy and a girl. Three people were seriously wounded. The Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
reported that three suspects were seen fleeing the scene. Police authorities classified it as part of the gun violence in the city. Hertsgaard has written about being one of the victims.
Bibliography
* ''Bravehearts: Whistle Blowing in the Age of Snowden'' (2016)
* ''Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth'' (2010)
* ''The Eagle's Shadow: Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World'' (2002)
* ''Earth Odyssey: Around the World in Search of Our Environmental Future'' (1998)
* ''A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of the Beatles'' (1995)
* ''On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency'' (1988)
* ''Nuclear Inc: The Men and Money'' (1983)
Notes
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hertsgaard, Mark
American male journalists
Living people
1956 births
Johns Hopkins University alumni
The Nation (U.S. magazine) people
20th-century American journalists