Around the world, people are feeling the impact of climate change. With floods in Nigeria displacing over 400,000 people in August, wildfires in California destroying over 16,000 structures earlier this year and a 13-year drought in Chile leaving more than half of its population suffering from “severe water scarcity,” for many, the realities of the climate crisis have become undeniable. And, while scientists have been sounding the alarms for quite a while, it seems that simply citing frightening statistics will not be enough to inspire collective action. In his role as The Washington Post’s “Climate Coach,” Emory University alumni and journalist Michael Coren (02C) is rewriting the climate action playbook with a personal, solution-focused approach.
“Climate Coach” — an evidence-based column centered around navigating the climate crisis — redefines how we look at our changing planet and provides a road map for individuals to take action in their own lives.
Earlier this semester, Coren returned to his alma mater as part of the creative writing department’s reading series. The journalist spent three days on campus discussing his career trajectory, his work on “Climate Coach” and the lessons he has learned after 20 years in journalism.
During his time at Emory, Coren double-majored in environmental science and journalism — a now-defunct program. As an undergraduate, Coren was unsure what career he wanted to pursue. However, he knew he was interested in science and journalism and resonated with the commonalities between the two fields.
“They were looking for something fundamental about the world,” Coren said. “They were asking these basic questions, they shared this love of facts and testable hypotheses and there was a willingness to be wrong.”
An Emory graduate with “no plan,” Coren was awarded a Henry R. Luce Fellowship in 2002 and traveled to Cambodia to work as a writer for the Phnom Penh Post. He said his time in Phnom Penh was pivotal for his journalistic skills, and he spent the year reporting on topics like government corruption, embassy burnings, illegal logging and Buddhism.
“It was no better way to learn how to do that job than to be in a place where you had to do everything and you had the opportunity to do everything,” Coren said.
After a year as a writer, Coren assumed the role of managing editor for the Phnom Penh Post. At 22 he became one of the newspaper’s youngest managing editors and spent another year in Cambodia overseeing a 15-person newsroom.
When he returned to the United States in 2005, Coren began working as a science producer for CNN. Soon after starting at CNN, he pitched a special report on climate change, a topic he believed to be “the story of the century.”
With a group of volunteer graphic journalists, data experts and producers, Coren put out the network's first climate change special. His intuition about the importance of this story proved to be correct, and the special went on to guide CNN’s climate coverage for years after, according to Coren.
Coren left CNN in 2006, seeking a stronger understanding of policy, science and the economy. He went on to attend Yale University’s (Conn.) School of the Environment, where he received a Master of Environmental Science in 2009.
Over the next few years, Coren established himself as a jack of many trades. He consulted for the World Bank, designed conservation projects and even built his own startup, a digital publishing company called Publet.
Even during his other ventures, Coren continued to foster his love of writing. As a freelance reporter for The Economist, Foreign Affairs, The Christian Science Monitor and other publications, Coren lived and reported in Jakarta, Indonesia, New York City and Washington. In 2016, Coren found himself drawn back to journalism as he felt most at home in the newsroom.
“I had never lost my deep curiosity, my love of words and this deep suspicion of authority of all kinds,” Coren said. “And that is not a great fit for most workplaces, but it is a good fit for the newsroom.”
With this realization, Coren began writing for Quartz, covering economics, climate and technology for the next six years. As the deputy editor of climate and technology at Quartz, Coren led a Pulitzer Center-backed investigation into the presence of leaded aviation fuel on children in California and its impact across the United States. However, during his time at Quartz, Coren grew frustrated with the pessimistic nature of climate coverage.
In 2022, Coren joined The Washington Post and launched his “Climate Coach” column. In this role, he sought to approach the climate crisis from an individualistic and solution-based angle.
“We thought of it as this way to address the fact that climate is this deeply personal, impactful thing that's happening to millions of people who feel very helpless when facing it,” Coren said. “At the same time, similar columns, these advice columns, these environmental advice columns, have failed.”
Through “Climate Coach,” Coren tackles everyday climate decisions — like comparing the cost of filling up gas and electric vehicles on a hypothetical road trip, why you should eat lentils more, the regions where climate change poses the most risks to homeowners and more.
Coren’s thesis for “Climate Coach” is simple and he believes it is this simplicity that makes the column so effective.
“The solutions to our environmental problems are not economic, they are not technical — they are political,” Coren said.“And so I wanted to go to the source and change the culture.”
Although his work is classified as an advice column, he considers himself to be someone in the “business of culture change.”
In his role as the “Climate Coach,” Coren seeks to reshape how traditional media engages with audiences, shifting from one-way reporting to fostering modern dialogue and community. With only 31% of Americans expressing substantial trust in journalistic institutions, Coren conveys his goal to experiment with his column and begin building back trust.
“Legacy media has been very bad about having a conversation,” Coren said. “We're very good about speaking to, but I would not say we've been very good at conversing. If you want to look at new media, it is a conversation. It is the journalist as the curator and the starter of conversations.”
By reframing climate action as a cultural and personal issue, Coren is carving out a space in journalism that feels both urgent and empowering. “Climate Coach” offers something rare: the invitation not just to listen, but to participate.
