Dear Writers,
There are a growing number of publications that are focused on the topic of climate change, in addition to the publications that are starting to have regular coverage of the topic.
Here are eleven such publications. All of them pay freelance writers. We’ve researched payment rates, and found contact information for all of these publications.
If you’re interested in this topic, you should also search for publications that cover environmental justice, a topic that overlaps quite strongly with climate change, and is very important, in terms of the long-term impact of policy changes on people’s lives.
— Jacob Jans
The Women’s Media Center is a nonprofit organization that is working to make women and girls more visible and powerful in the media. They publish articles written by a diverse group of journalists on their website every week. They look for stories on a wide range of topics including feminism, violence, online harassment, freedom of expression, digital security, and climate change. They also look for stories written by Latinx women. They pay $200 per story. To learn more, read their pitch guidelines.
Capital & Main is a publication that “reports on inequities related to class, race, immigration, gender, corporate accountability, climate change and energy, education and health, both in California and nationally.” They publish daily and accept pitches from freelance writers all the time. They pay $250 to $500 per story. For more information, refer to this page.
Footprint Magazine (formerly known as the Sustainability Action Network) is a solutions-focused journalism platform that focuses on the future of our planet. They cover climate change, sustainability, scientific innovations, green policies, human ecology, and more. They are looking for story pitches. They do not want stories that report problems within the sphere of climate change, they want stories about active, positive change. They pay £100 per 800 to 1,200 words. If interested, send your pitches to hello@sustainact.net. Read their contributor guidelines here and learn more about them here.
Ours to Save is a new journalism initiative that focuses exclusively on the climate crisis. Their interactive map shows “crowdsourced, breaking climate news from all over the world.” They pay £50 per article. To learn more, refer to this page.
The Real News Network is an independent, nonprofit news network that is focused on providing uncompromising and fact-based journalism. They cover politics, prisons and policing, racial justice, climate crisis, and economy and inequality. According to payment reports, they pay about $1 per word. If interested, contact them at contact@therealnews.com. To learn more about them, refer to this page.
It’s Freezing in LA! (IFLA!) is an independent magazine about climate change. They are looking for pitches for articles about environmental issues. They will pay £150 for 1,000 words. The deadline is February 7, 2020. For details, refer to this Twitter post and this page.
Grist is a non-profit online publication that covers climate and sustainability. They welcome “a wide range of freelance pitches, from reported essays to in-depth investigations to changemaker profiles and Q&As.” Their “core topics include clean energy, sustainable food, environmental justice, livable communities, and reinventing the economy through cutting-edge science and cleantech.” Payment reports indicate that they pay up to $0.27 per word. Details here.
The Trouble is a magazine that focuses on the development of political strategies to confront climate change. They do not see climate change as a human error or a psychological defect, but see it as a fundamentally political phenomenon. They publish articles on a broad range of topics. Their contributors include a diverse group of writers, academics, journalists, and activists. According to their contributing editor, they pay $150 to $250 per piece. Details here.
The Revelator is “an online news and ideas initiative of the Center for Biological Diversity.” They cover climate change, endangered species, wildlife, conservation, pollution, and more. For about 1,000 words, they pay $300 to first-time contributors and $350 to returning contributors; they publish one freelance article per week at this rate. They also publish one slightly more involved story per month, for which they pay up to $500. Details here.
Informed Comment is a website covering news, politics, and foreign policy, especially about the Middle East, South Asia, and the United States. Topics include religion, human rights, women’s rights, workers’ rights, and religious discrimination, and energy and climate change. Payment is $100 per article. To learn more, read their submission guidelines.
The Shoestring is a web magazine that covers culture and politics in Western Mass. They are accepting pitches. Pitches that feature “themes of food/environmental justice, housing rights, organizing with & by societally marginalized groups or deep dives into local history are extra welcome.” They pay $50 per piece (600 to 1,000 words). They pay over $100 for more time consuming investigative pieces and deep dives. Pitches should be sent to theshoestringmag@gmail.com. To learn more, refer to their Tweet and their website.
