The Pulitzer Center journalists produced major investigations showing how governments and multinationals have destroyed some of the most critical areas of the planet, and what citizens and consumers can do about it.
Destruction of the world’s rainforests will be the focus of a Wednesday, Sept. 25, talk by two international journalists who carried out major investigations for the Pulitzer Center.
Fernanda Wenzel and Andrew Lehren, both Rainforest Investigations Network Fellows, will speak at 5 p.m. at the School of Communications in the Jane and Brian Williams Studio in the McEwen Communications Building at 123 Williamson St.
Lehren, a Pulitzer Prize and Emmy winner for The New York Times and now NBC News Investigations, documented how products by Tesla, Toyota, Adidas and other multinationals have contributed to the destruction of tropical rainforests.
Wenzel, a Brazilian journalist for The Intercept, Mongabay and CNN, used advanced data analysis to demonstrate how businesses, politicians, and public servants redrew and razed public rainforest lands to sell off the Amazon at enormous profit.
As part of Elon’s participation in the Pulitzer Campus Consortium, the journalists will be on campus Sept. 24 to 26 speaking to classes and meeting with students and journalism professors.
Lorraine Ahearn, assistant professor of journalism and Elon’s consortium coordinator, noted the relevance to this year’s Common Read, The Intersectional Environmentalist, by Leah Thomas.
“These journalists made public how some of the most critical areas of the planet are being endangered, and with them, indigenous communities,” Ahearn said. “This reporting also shows us what we as citizens and consumers can do about it.”
Elon News Network Executive Director Avery Sloan ’25 will moderate the Sept. 25 conversation. The journalism major was awarded a Pulitzer Fellowship grant for her ongoing reporting project on incarceration in Denmark.
Protecting the Planet: Investigative Reporters’ Panel
Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 5 p.m.
Jane and Brian Williams Studio
McEwen Communications Building
123 Williamson St.
Elon, NC