Straddling the Climate and Policy Divide: A Colorado Journalists’ Roundtable

Photo courtesy of Bobby Magill

Straddling the Climate and Policy Divide:
A Colorado Journalists’ Roundtable and
Interview with Will Toor, Head of the Colorado Energy Office

Watch the archived video

May 3, 2019
3:30 - 6:30 p.m. MT
CSU Denver Center, Second Floor Event Atrium

Colorado often takes center stage when it comes to droughts, wildfires and other events that are exacerbated by climate change. It is also a major producer of oil and gas, which both fuels the state’s economy and contributes to climate change and public health problems. Yet this increasingly progressive state is a leader in developing renewable energy, and it is charting its own path to decarbonization. How are the state legislature, the energy industry and cities addressing these challenges and opportunities?

Join leading journalists from across the region and nation, as well as others from government, academia, the energy industry and the nonprofit world for this robust public discussion. We’ll be gearing up to hold the world's largest conference of professional journalists who cover energy and environmental issues, in Fort Collins, hosted by Colorado State University, Oct. 9-13, 2019.

Click here to RSVP. Seating is limited.

Follow the conversation on Twitter with hashtag #SEJ2019

A World Press Freedom Day event — #PressFreedom

Welcome

Beth Conover, Director, Salazar Center for North American Conservation, Colorado State University

Beth Conover has spent her entire career working at the intersection of environmental policy and community development. Prior to joining the Salazar Center, she served as senior vice president at the Gates Family Foundation in Denver, where she worked since 2011. During her tenure at the city and county, Conover developed the Greenprint Denver sustainability office and created a climate action plan for Denver.

Speakers

Bobby Magill, Reporter, Bloomberg Environment and President, Society of Environmental Journalists

Bobby Magill, president of the SEJ board of directors, covers energy and climate change for Bloomberg Environment in Washington, D.C. His work focuses on renewable energy policy, science and technology. Previously, he was a senior science writer at Climate Central in New York and was an environment reporter for newspapers in the West, including the Fort Collins Coloradoan; the Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction, Colo.; the Post-Independent in Glenwood Springs, Colo.; the Taos News in Taos, N.M., and the Mountain Mail and Defensor Chieftain newspapers in Socorro, N.M. More.

Mike Nelson, Chief Meteorologist, Denver7

Mike Nelson joined Denver7 in 2004, however he has been forecasting weather for many years, including 25 in Colorado. He has won 20 Emmy awards for Weather Excellence. He is also a recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award and a two-time winner of the Colorado Broadcaster of the Year award. He has written two weather and climate books. Mike now spends considerable time writing and teaching about the science of and the solutions for Global Warming.

Will Toor, Executive Director, Colorado Energy Office

Will Toor became head of the Colorado Energy Office in January, a cabinet-level position under Gov. Jared Polis. He had been transportation program director for the Boulder-based Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP), which promotes energy-efficiency and clean-transportation programs and policies in Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. He also served as a Boulder County commissioner from 2005 through 2012, and as Boulder's mayor from 1998 to 2004. He has a doctorate in physics. More. Photo courtesy of The Denver Post.

Panelists

Bruce Finley, Environment Reporter, The Denver Post

Bruce Finley covers environment issues, the land, air and water struggles shaping Colorado and the West. He previously handled international news with on-site reporting in 40 countries, including work in Africa, Iraq and around the Arab world from Pakistan to Yemen. He is also a lawyer.

Daniel Glick, Independent Journalist, Author and Co-founder, The Story Group

Daniel Glick is co-founder of The Story Group, an independent, multimedia journalism company. His magazine work has been featured in National Geographic, Smithsonian, Rolling Stone, etc. He shared the 2018 National Press Foundation’s Thomas L. Stokes award for best energy and environmental reporting. Formerly, he worked at Newsweek, in Washington, D.C., and then as a roving Rocky Mountain correspondent.

Grace Hood, Energy and Environment Reporter, Colorado Public Radio

Grace Hood has worked at CPR since 2015, covering the intersection of politics, energy and climate change. Formerly, she worked for six years at KUNC in Greeley, Colo., where she produced stories on wildfires, land use, water and much more. She started her career at the Boulder Weekly in 2004.

Catherine Traywick, Editor, Bloomberg News

Catherine Traywick is a Denver-based editor at Bloomberg News, focused on energy policy and commodities markets. Formerly, she worked as a Bloomberg reporter in Washington, D.C., where she broke news on the Trump administration's efforts to bail out the U.S. coal industry and its attempts to single out government workers involved in crafting climate policy. She has reported for the New York Times, TIME, Foreign Policy, Ms. magazine and others.