Andrew Revkin

NY Times Columnist and Acclaimed Author

Andrew Revkin has spent a quarter of a century covering subjects ranging from Hurricane Katrina and the Asian tsunami to the assault on the Amazon, from the troubled relationship of science and politics to climate change at the North Pole. He has reported on the environment for The New York Times since 1995, a job that has taken him to the Arctic three times since 2003. That year, he became one of the first journalists to file stories and photos from the floating sea ice around the North Pole.

He conceived a three-part Times series and award-winning one-hour documentary on the transforming Arctic. He recently exposed efforts by political appointees to rewrite government climate reports in the White House and prevent NASA scientists from conveying their views on warming.

Revkin’s third book is The North Pole Was Here: Puzzles and Perils at the Top of the World (Kingfisher, 2006), the first account of global and Arctic climate change written for the whole family. In a rare double accolade, it was named an Oustanding Science Book and Social Studies Book by the Children’s Book Council. The Washington Post concluded simply: “Bundle up and read.”

He has written two other books. The Burning Season (1990; 2004 updated edition, Island Press) chronicles the life of Chico Mendes, the slain leader of the movement to save the Amazon rain forest. The book was published in 10 languages, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and was the basis for the HBO film of the same name, starring Raul Julia and directed by John Frankenheimer. The film won three Golden Globe awards and two Emmys.

Revkin also wrote Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast (1992), which accompanied the first museum exhibition on climate change, created by the American Museum of Natural History. The Los Angeles Times said the book “takes a devastatingly quiet tone that proves far more effective than the bludgeon-the-reader-with-guilt brand of environmental journalism.”

On June 1, 2007 the United Nations held a special event exploring global warming from the perspective of young people, linking students from the Arctic town of Yellowknife, Manitoba, to Karachi, Pakistan, in southern Asia and New York City via live Web video links.  Revkin made a presentation and answered questions about Arctic warming, human activities, and the challenges and opportunities facing the generation that will inherit the climate being shaped now. He was joined by United Nations Secretary General Bam Ki-moon.

Revkin has a biology degree from Brown, a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia, and has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Pace University for his pioneering focus on climate change. He has taught at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism and Bard College and has written two book chapters on the media and the environment.

He lives in the Hudson River Valley with his wife and two sons. In spare moments, he is a performing songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who occasionally accompanies Pete Seeger at regional shows and plays in a roots-blues band, Uncle Wade (www.myspace.com/unclewade).

See a description and review of Andrew Revkin's new book, "The North Pole Was Here."

NPR on Andrew Revkin