The Poynter Institute and the Joyce Foundation are pleased to announce the recipients of four reporting grants focused on climate change in the Great Lakes region. The grant competition was linked to Poynter’s training program, Beat Academy. Applicants first attended three sessions that provided tools to highlight the local dimensions of this global issue. Their proposals centered on local responses and adaptations to climate change.

The winning projects

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In a four-part series, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel will highlight how Indigenous communities often stand alone on the front lines of environmental issues made worse through climate change. But even as larger forces press on Indigenous lands and waters, these communities have practices that can preserve both.

The newsroom will focus on the Ojibwe tribe and how it has managed the Menominee Forest, a natural structure that traps carbon, generates revenues and provides recreation. Tribal farmers plant and harvest crops in ways that let them use the soil over and over. Their methods of creating resilient land are replicable, but U.S. government regulations make it hard for them to show other farmers how to do it.

Milwaukee County has the highest concentration of Indigenous people in Wisconsin, who have much at stake when extreme heat exacerbates already harsh air quality conditions. The series will also explore the role of Indigenous communities in the response to climate-driven depletion and contamination of groundwater resources.

Planet Detroit

Metro Detroit stands to get a lot more rain in the coming years, but its water infrastructure is ill-equipped to handle the onslaught. A collaboration between Planet Detroit and Michigan Radio will examine how the Metro Detroit region’s water infrastructure stands to handle climate change, what actions and plans are being undertaken (or not) by local water authorities to get ready, and the regulatory and fiscal obstacles that impede such planning.

Ultimately, the project will look at which communities are doing it right, which officials are dragging their heels, and what needs to change to prompt genuine action. The goal is to help residents understand the best ways for Metro Detroit to address these challenges.

Fergus Falls (Minnesota) Daily Journal

In a conservative rural community in Minnesota that is generally skeptical of climate change, this local newspaper will use a series of news articles and short videos to broaden the conversation about climate change by examining topics that are already important to residents.

Jobs matter, and the story there is mixed. The regional electric utility is about to complete a 49.9-megawatt solar panel installation in Fergus Falls. The project replaced a coal-fired plant, and came with a loss of jobs. The Journal will follow up, telling the stories of individual workers and putting the solar facility into the larger economic picture.

Farmers are struggling with climate shifts, and the Journal will get into the adaptive tactics they can use. The county has 23 4-H chapters and will engage with them to bring the discussion of options to the broader farming community.

Milder winters have led to wasting disease among game animals. Warmer summers have affected lake water quality and fishing. All are vital to tourism, a key slice of the area’s economy. The series will show how those in the industry have changed their practices to manage the impacts.

Minnesota Public Radio

The federal government has provided massive incentives to make the country electric. In a series of three, one-hour, audio broadcast specials called “How to Go Electric in Minnesota,” Minnesota Public Radio will help residents decide whether and how to electrify their homes and lifestyles to reduce carbon emissions.

The project will demystify green home technology and explore how transitioning to electric is possible for the typical household. At the same time, the series will dig into barriers people face in electrifying their homes and highlight solutions where they exist.

There are many questions to answer: Can renters take advantage of rebates and subsidies for appliances? Are immigrant and low-income communities getting information and support? How can cash-strapped households take advantage of government subsidies that don’t cover the full cost of swapping in electric appliances?

Can the electric grid support the increased demand? Should there be more incentives and emphasis on improving efficiency and reducing electricity use?

After broadcast, content would be edited as a stand-alone podcast with a digital/web component.

Half a year to completion

A panel of five outside judges picked the winners from a group of 19 applications. Beat Academy lead Jon Greenberg said he was pleased with the care and breadth of perspectives the panel brought to bear.

“This was a diverse group, and they wanted to use the money to touch a variety of people across very different circumstances,” Greenberg said. “There were lots of tough choices, but they managed their way through them, and now I’m looking forward to seeing the results; from people in a rural community in Minnesota, to people in Detroit; from an Indigenous community in Wisconsin, to families across Minnesota. Each community, in its own way, grappling with climate change.”

Some projects will wrap up by December; others might take a bit longer. Each news organization will hold a community event to engage residents in the issues that each project brought to light.

The Poynter community will have the chance to learn from each team’s reporting experience. The last step in the program is an article for Poynter describing the steps and the learning that came through the course of the project.