Leading climate change reporters discuss reporting from the heart of the Chesapeake region for annual Caulfield Lecture

Loyola University Maryland will host a panel of leading regional climate change and environmental journalists for the Caulfield Lecture on Tuesday, April 11, at 5 p.m. in McGuire Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

The panelists will share their experiences, goals, and frustrations reporting on climate change in the current political climate, and as an issue that is much more than air and water quality. The five panelists investigate climate change in terms of science but also cultural and social issues, business, education, and more. As reporters who have been covering the Chesapeake Bay region for many years between them, the conversation is sure to tackle everything from sinking Black cemeteries on the Eastern Shore, to the impact on, and of, the fishing industry in the Chesapeake Bay, to the future of tourism throughout the region and more.

Rona Kobell is the co-founder of the Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative. She has covered the Chesapeake Bay and its people for 19 years, beginning at The Baltimore Sun, then at the Chesapeake Bay Journal, and most recently as the managing editor for Chesapeake Quarterly magazine.

Christine Condon is an environmental reporter for The Baltimore Sun. During her tenure at The Sun, she has focused on pollution problems at Baltimore's two wastewater treatment plants, and Maryland's role in the failing 2025 Chesapeake Bay restoration plan.

Aman Azhar is a Washington D.C.-based multimedia journalist who covers issues involving the environment, climate change, and social justice with focus on Baltimore-Maryland area for the Pulitzer Prize-winning news nonprofit Inside Climate News. He has previously worked as a broadcast journalist and multimedia producer for the BBC World Service, VOA News and other international news organizations, reporting from London, Islamabad, and New York.

Kasha Patel is the deputy weather editor for the Capital Weather Gang at The Washington Post, covering weather, climate change and the environment. Before joining The Post, she produced news stories, videos and features about the Earth sciences, climate change and satellite research for NASA.

John Lee is a reporter for WYPR-FM covering Baltimore County. John has worked in news for nearly 30 years and has been a news director, assistant news director, managing editor, assignment editor and reporter at various radio and television news stations. 

About the Caulfield Lecture:
Now in its 33rd year, the Caulfield Lecture series at Loyola was established by the family of Clarence J. Caulfield, a 1922 graduate who spent 26 years as an editor at The Baltimore Sun and was a mentor to such prominent writers as J. Anthony Lukas and Russell T. Baker. Hosted by the communication department, the Caulfield Lecture brings journalists and commentators of national stature to Loyola every year.