What the Grantham Prize Jurors Have to Say About the Winning Entries

2007 Grantham Prize Winner

“Altered Oceans”
Kenneth R. Weiss and Usha Lee McFarling
Los Angeles Times, California

Numerous authoritative reports in recent years have documented the degradation of the world’s oceans, predicting a catastrophic decline in marine ecosystems and the fish species dependent on them unless urgent remedial measures get under way.

But the decline of the oceans is one of those problems that seems so remote and so big as to be beyond the power of ordinary human beings to do anything about. Therein lies one of the great virtues of Kenneth R. Weiss’s extraordinary series last year, “Altered Oceans,” in the Los Angeles Times. The forces that are killing the oceans, he and colleague Usha Lee McFarling reported, are almost entirely the result of human actions. And the remedies will also depend on us humans.

The Times series describes in arresting and accessible detail profound disturbances in the ecology of the seas. Stresses resulting from human activities have not merely polluted the oceans but altered their basic chemistry. As a result, fish, corals and marine mammals are in retreat and the oceans’ most primitive life forms – algae, bacteria and jellyfish – are proliferating.

The reporters did more than simply research the literature and talk to the best minds. They went to the scene to make the case. Weiss swam to the mouth of a giant sewer pipe in south Florida, watched as a marine biologist probed the brain of a sea lion fatally damaged by algae, examined dying coral reefs off the coast of Jamaica, probed the causes of a harmful algal bloom in the Gulf of Mexico, and exhaustively inventoried the plastic junk and other detritus that fouls even the most remote beaches.

This extraordinary series gives life to all those generalities about the decline of the oceans in a way that should grab the imaginations not only of politicians responsible for taking corrective steps but also of ordinary readers. The leaders of the bipartisan House Oceans Caucus distributed copies to every member of the House with a cover letter urging that they review it because the “conditions it describes are a threat to our national security, economy and environment.” And hundreds of readers wrote in to thank the Times for describing the crisis in such vivid, persuasive detail and for educating them about where the blame ultimately lies: at humanity’s doorstep.

Award of Special Merit

“Our Climate is Changing ... Ready or Not”
East Oregonian Publishing Company

This project represented an extraordinary effort on the part of a group of small newspapers in the Pacific Northwest. The leaders of these papers – a 12,000-circulation daily in Pendleton, Oregon; a 10,000-circulation daily in Astoria, Oregon; and four weeklies in Oregon and Washington – combined their limited staff resources to report local impacts of global climate change.

The result is sophisticated, compelling journalism, extraordinary for publications of this size and scope. The series explored a range of phenomena, from the introduction of new species preying on juvenile salmon, to the loss of a spawning cycle by oysters simply finding the water too warm to procreate, to the consumption of recreational beaches by invasive Spartina grasses.

These journalists gave their readers a new connection with the problem of climate change, and new motivation to act to mitigate it. Their ingenuity and dedication fully justify this Award of Special Merit.

Award of Special Merit

The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations
Eugene Linden

In his Simon & Schuster book The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations, Eugene Linden manages the remarkable feat of bringing a new light to the most written-about environmental challenge of the era, climate change.

Our civilization is by no means the first to be challenged by changes in weather patterns - so were those of the Akkadians 4,200 years ago; the Mayans 1,100 years ago, the Norse in North America during the Little Ice Age, and many others.

Linden presents compelling evidence of climate as a "serial killer" of civilizations, fully acknowledging the uncertainties surrounding this hypothesis. For many years a reporter on global environmental issues for Time magazine, Linden in Winds of Change provides an entertaining and provocative read, culminating with an exquisitely disciplined cry of rage at the seeming inability of our own societies to address the threat of global warming.

Award of Special Merit

“Dimming the Sun: What Does This Climate Conundrum Mean for the Future of Earth?”
A DOX production for NOVA/WGBH and the BBC

“Dimming the Sun” brings to light a different, but critical, take on global warming. It’s the issue of global dimming – the decrease of sunlight hitting Earth.

Studies show that particle pollution is to blame – increased particulates in clouds attract more and smaller droplets of water, which reflect more sunlight back to space. In addition, the particles themselves block sunlight.

This situation actually appears to have counteracted much of the effect of global warming – in fact it may have contributed to the complaisance some feel about dealing with climate change. And the obvious solution to global dimming – decreased particulate pollution – undercuts efforts to combat global warming.

NOVA talked with “unsung” climate researchers – scientists whose evidence of global dimming initially had been downplayed. Even today, climate change models generally don't take global dimming into account. Reports like “Dimming the Sun” could gain the issue increased prominence.

NOVA takes inherently non-visual aspects and makes them visual, engaging and enlightening. Exceptional production values, great story-telling, and important subject matter make this fascinating and disturbing report worthy of a 2007 Grantham Prize Award of Special Merit.