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 "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 A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', '' 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, t ...

'', '' 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 research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consiste ...

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 (publisher), Russ Smith and Alan Hirsch. The most recent owner was the Baltimore Sun Media Group, which purchased th ...

''. According to his fellow Johns Hopkins alumnus Russ Smith, he worked in the Institute for Policy Studies 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 band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...

were going to issue previously unreleased music from the group's career, as part of their multimedia '' Anthology'' project. In addition, they were reuniting to work on new recordings. At this time, he was granted rare access to the band's EMI 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, professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst 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 surf ...

. He embarked upon a seven-year global tour to investigate the issue of

environmental degradation Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; and pollution. It is d ...

. 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 read ...

'' 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. 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. n ...

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

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hertsgaard, Mark American male journalists Living people 1956 births Johns Hopkins University alumni The Nation (U.S. magazine) people 20th-century American journalists