Hi ,

It's been a while, and we wanted to check in! Hope you are doing well, staying hydrated and finding inspiration around you?

🌏 It's been an exciting few months for us - we are headstrong in our mission to empower young journalists in developing countries to tell better climate stories. 

In this edition of our newsletter, we'll take you through the cool stuff that we've been up to and pssst... we're also spilling how YOU can be a part of it! Let's dive in, shall we? 👀

Titled “Uncovering the Plastic Crisis: Stories of Pollution and Solutions,” the initiative provided story grants to storytellers to produce journalism that shines light on the links between the plastic problem and the climate crisis, and highlights genuine and sustainable solutions. 🪜

📷 Photojournalist Mayank Makhija described the program as an amazing opportunity for budding storytellers like him.

“Not only it provides you with a platform to take your stories out, but also elevates them in terms of researching, building and nurturing them,” he said.

🌴 Pratch Rujivanarom, an environment reporter for Bangkok Post, said the program encouraged him to use a different approach in reporting by focusing on solutions rather than just exposing problems.

And you know what? Gerardo Reyes’ story on female informal waste pickers in Philippines’ Puerto Princesa resulted in the expansion of Project Eco Kolek to two more villages!

🌊 Not only that, local officials are now pushing for a review of the city’s environment code. This, on top of other international groups noticing Puerto Princesa and including it in pilot sites to address ocean plastics! A pat in the back moment, ain’t it? 🥺

As now as we gear up for the COP season, we want YOU to join our squad for COP28 in Dubai and take your reporting skills to a whole new level. 🎉

🔍 Need help to ace your COP28 application? We've got you covered!

We hosted a Community Hangout where climate journalists and past CT Asia COP fellows Stuti Mishra, Cheryl Tan and Made Anthony Iswara got together to share valuable insights on covering the annual climate summit. Give it a read here. 

Tune in to watch the recording.

We've even got some story ideas for you -

🏥 How the over reliance of your government on fossil fuels endangers the health and survival of people
🍶 Clean and sustainable energy alternatives
🩺 How plastic threatens human health
💊 Health benefits of moving away from fossil fuels
👨‍⚕️ Role of healthcare professionals on advocating for climate action

Or watch this webinar with experts and journalists so you can learn more!

If you have written on climate change before, great – but if not, we highly encourage you to take on the challenge and publish a story with a climate dimension to the topics or beats you currently cover. We are keen to review stories at the intersections of human rights, gender, health, travel, sports, lifestyle and more – climate change is impacting everyone 
and we want you to dive into the most pressing challenges of the time. 

⏰ So grab your pens, check in with your sources and get going - publish a story on the Health Impact of Fossil Fuels in the next two weeks and submit it here!

We are so excited to hear from you!

In case of any questions, respond to this email and you should hear back from us 🫱🏽‍🫲🏽

Ciao,
Aishwaryaa 🌻