MY BEST
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As wildfires worsen, burn scars hint at future of land recovery
After a 2,200-mile road trip across the burn scars of Arizona's most devastating wildfires, I dove into how these climate-change-fueled catastrophes have altered the ecology and biodiversity of forest ecosystems. This in-depth story, which made the front page of USA TODAY and The Arizona Republic, was one of the first to explore how land changes decades after a catastrophe. |
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How the race for a vaccine enriched poachers, endangered monkeys
Cambodia’s monkey business has always been murky at best. With a mind-boggling boom in macaque exports from Kingdom, mostly bound for American laboratories, I worked with NBC to investigate this billion-dollar global wildlife trade. We found a completely closed-door industry, federal indictments alleging years of corruption and monkeys missing from the wild. |
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Shorthanded specialists scramble to address resurgence of leprosy
During a month-long embed with leprologists, I covered their attempts to curb the dramatic rise of new leprosy cases in northern Brazil. This series of stories, which was selected as a 2020 Pulitzer Center Story of the Year and led to town hall meetings in former leprosy colonies, uncovered how the spread of this Biblical plague was fueled by a lack federal funding and a purposeful blind eye from local authorities. |
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When Southeast Asia's forests fall silent, human health is at stake
By stringing together narratives from snare patrols in Cambodia and wildlife markets in Vietnam, I investigated how ‘silent forest syndrome’ threatens human and forest health in Southeast Asia. This collaborative series with The Straits Times, which was selected as a 2022 Pulitzer Center Story of the Year, showcased how meaningful multimedia is the key to effective science communication. |
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Calls grow for undoing environmental damage of the border wall
By spending days along nearly every section of Arizona’s border wall with Mexico, I joined a trio of journalists who showed the full environmental impact of President Trump's wall, while also contextualizing growing demands for its removal. This front-page story for The Arizona Republic explored the possibility of deconstruction, as well as how the state’s borderlands may recover, if ever. |
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Reforestation follows Cambodian prime minister's intervention
Back-to-back investigations into a satellite city development within a protected area altered public opinion, eventually causing Cambodia’s prime minister to step in and cancel construction. But only after half the forest had been lost. This three-part series uncovered the companies and officials involved, as well as the flaws with the rushed reforestation that followed the prime minister’s rare intervention. |
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Presidential turnover renews public lands protection efforts
With millions of acres under federal management, public land policies are among the frontline political issues in Arizona. At the eclipse of the Trump Administration and the wake of the Biden presidency, this front-page story for The Arizona Republic covered contested public lands protection policies that had divided politicians, tribes, environmentalists, ranchers and residents. |
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Crocodile farmers and conservationists forge unlikely alliance
Through a first-time collaboration with The Third Pole, I delved into one of the strangest environmental partnerships in Cambodia and perhaps one of the country’s only conservation ‘success stories.’ I reported on how crocodile farmers, often blamed for pushing Siamese crocodiles to near extinction, were donating pure-bred specimen to help try and save wild populations. |
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'Natural fire' gave firefighters a tool, climate change took it away
In the midst of covering yet another historic wildfire season in Arizona, I began noticing how federal forest managers were reverting to historic wildfire suppression tactics. Lightning-caused, natural fires were once a tool, but for this front-page story for The Arizona Republic, I investigated how changing climates were rewriting state and national policies, leaving firefighters with one less tool. |
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Remnants of war cripple Cambodia's farmers, development
While the legacy of war in Cambodia tells a heartbreaking tale of the rise and fall of regimes in the 20th century, this legacy can be barely be considered history. This three-part series brings readers to the most landmine-contaminated regions in the country and looks into how unexploded remnants of war continue to set back the Kingdom and its people. |