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Meet SEJ member Ian Morse! Ian started his journalism career in rural Indonesia, where he lived for three years. Ian was drawn to environmental journalism by his friends there, who were concerned about poverty, Indigenous rights, disaster recovery, large-scale infrastructure development and, most prominently, mining. In 2019, he began investigating the actors, impacts and solutions to problems in nickel mining areas on Sulawesi Island, which has rapidly become the center of a global rush for nickel in lithium-ion batteries.
Ian moved to Seattle when the pandemic began, expanding his science reporting and starting Green Rocks, a newsletter "that doesn't want dirty mining to ruin clean energy." It keeps tabs on mining projects and reports on climate policy, science, justice and the mined materials associated with the energy transition. Ian worked with the BBC, Mongabay and The Gecko Project, an investigative nonprofit journalism outfit that partners with news outlets to publish investigations about land in Indonesia, resulting in an extensive investigation that won two awards.
More recently, Ian has broadened his reporting on corporate climate action, including carbon removal and urban development. His reporting has appeared in Mongabay, The New York Times, Washington Post, MIT Technology Review, Undark Magazine, New Scientist, Science Magazine and The New Humanitarian, among others. Ian will start a PhD program in geography in the fall and plans to continue Green Rocks and aiding investigations.
When asked if he would recommend SEJ membership to his colleagues, Ian said, "I attended my first annual SEJ conference in Boise, and I was caught off guard by everything there was to learn. SEJ is a wealth of expertise and kind people, and I'm grateful everyone is open to discuss ideas, support each other and work together to report on such an expansive beat." Join us — apply for SEJ membership.
Check out some of Ian's work:
- "Universalism and Sacrifice | News Round-Up #53," Green Rocks, May 9, 2024.
- "For Captured Carbon, Scientists Plot a Sub-Ocean Tomb," Undark, February 19, 2024.
- "The Heavy Price of Next-Day Delivery," Sierra Magazine, February 12, 2024.
- "Indonesia Turns Traditional Indigenous Land Into Nickel Industrial Zone," Climate Home News, February 6, 2024.
- "Vast New MPAs Are PNG’s First To Be Co-Managed by Indigenous Communities," Mongabay, December 14, 2023.
- "Inside the Little-Known Group Setting the Corporate Climate Agenda," MIT Technology Review, May 16, 2023.
- "The Moi Struggle for Land Rights," Dialogue Earth, November 15, 2022.
- "Who Gave the Battery Such Power?" Noema Magazine, September 29, 2022.
- "Topic: Plasma," The Gecko Project, 2022-23.
- "A Dead Battery Dilemma," Science, May 20, 2021.
- "On an Island Coveted by Miners, Villagers Prepare To Raise a Ruckus," Mongabay, September 13, 2019.
- "Behind Indonesia’s Tsunami Response, a Patchwork Army of Volunteers," The New Humanitarian, November 5, 2018.
- About Nickel, ian-morse.com.
Find Ian:
LinkedIn /ianmorse
Web ian-morse.com
X @ianjmorse
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