-John Keats
I’m an independent journalist covering science and the environment from Portland, Oregon. I write stories—mostly features—about how the world works and how humans are changing it. My work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Science, Hakai, High Country News, and many other publications. I’m currently working on a book about grass and humans and our relationship to nature, for Ecco.
Here are a few of my favorite stories.
THE ATLANTIC Preserving the world’s great expanses of grass could be essential to combatting climate change. Once upon a time, not a blade of grass could be found on this planet we call home. There were no verdant meadows, no golden prairies, no sunbaked savannas, and certainly no lawns. Only in the past 80 million … More Trees Are Overrated
THE ATLANTIC ***Anthologized in the Best American Science and Nature Writing 2022*** ***Honorable mention for the American Society of Journalists and Authors’ 2022 science writing award*** We broke phosphorus. In a field of sugar beets outside Cambridge, England, Simon Kelly stands above a narrow trench gouged into the rusty earth, roughly 15 feet deep and … More Humanity Is Flushing Away One of Life’s Essential Elements
THE ATLANTIC ***Anthologized in the Best American Science and Nature Writing 2021*** ***Honorable mention for the Society of Environmental Journalists’ 2020 Outstanding Feature Story Award*** The “crazy worms” remaking forests aren’t your friendly neighborhood garden worms. Then again, those aren’t so great either. On a sweltering July day, I follow Annise Dobson down an overgrown … More Cancel Earthworms
Julia Rosen 