Laurel Whitney is an up and coming contender in the climate change arena. Currently residing in New York City, she is an adjunct professor in the Environmental Studies department at Pace University, where she gets to depress aspiring freshman about how the world is riding a flaming rollercoaster towards ecological disaster. She also works as an environmental/climate change consultant, working on a diverse array of projects including documentary production, environmental education, activist organizing, and the occasional spout of journalism. She has lectured around the country, and will be published in an upcoming book called The Next Eco-Warriors.

Laurel takes the newfangled attack on scientific integrity quite personally as she doesn’t ever remember taking a class on How to Make Up and Manipulate Your Data 101 or How to Get Rich Off of Government Research Contracts 110 while attaining her multiple science degrees. She received her BS in marine science and chemistry from the University of South Carolina, where she researched Arctic biogeochemistry for several years. Realizing scientists had a knack for articulating but not captivating, she went on to study the many ways (well, failures) climate change is relayed to and perceived by the American public. She received her multidisciplinary MA in Climate and Society from Columbia University where she had the honor of working with and learning from many leading scientists at the International Research Institute of Climate and Society and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Since then, she’s focused on cultivating creative media projects that poke at the emboldening battle between multinationals, politicos, and the scientific community. Now she spends her days feeding her obsession to save the world and illuminate these crucial issues with an additional spoonful of comedy, satire, and logic. Past collaborators include Earthjustice, The Age of Stupid, The Yes Men, Rainforest Alliance, and hopefully many more to come.