iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

In print today in The Arizona Republic | @azcentral.com, my investigation on why anyone would try to drill for #oilandgas in northern Arizona — where there is no oil or gas — & what it may mean about cultural, political & physical forces reshaping our #publiclands: www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

HOW you complain about real harm can also cause different real harm. The media landscape is complicated and flawed, for sure. But there are MANY journalists out there still working hard to do the real work the right way. Putting them all on blast because you had a bad experience doesn’t help anyone.

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

It has been a wild week as a #climate reporter in Arizona. On Monday, I hiked to bottom of #GrandCanyon to report on the deadly flash flood. No one else has done that. Today, my story is front page of @azcentral.com. My photos are in WaPo. And I went on 12News to explain the role of #climatechange.

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

I dare anyone, including AI, to send this many messages in this amount of time with no mistakes. www.azcentral.com/story/news/l... Story for @azcentral.com by @debkrol.bsky.social

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

On the front page of The Arizona Republic | @azcentral.com today: my story about a small town in northern Arizona near an active wildfire that just wants to celebrate #America250 by lighting shit on fire, never you mind their history of starting brush fires with fireworks..

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

The American Southwest, my home, is burning — massive and deadly. That anyone could look at this map and still not think we have a real #climate problem (or that laying off firefighters saved us any $$) is so deranged. We all sadly predicted this, incl. me on our @azcentral.com podcast weeks ago.

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Come hear me talk about my reporting on #climatechange along the #ArizonaTrail this long weekend if you’re in the vicinity of northern Arizona.

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

I know there’s a lot of horribleness right now. But last night I attended the premiere of a new documentary about two brothers who walked across Arizona before the #ArizonaTrail existed. There was so much love & commitment to public lands in the room that it felt like a flicker of a pathway forward.

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

For the nerds out there, this story also includes some original analyses and data visualizations of Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs' track record on environment-related bills in the first three years of her first term, as she begins campaigning for re-election.

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Wait...are they putting a paywall of sorts on the White House website? We now can't read executive orders without signing up for Trump's email list?! Has anyone else run into this?

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

So much for AI knowing what I want and how to help. I have never once needed info about anime backgrounds or Persian cats.

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

It feels strange to celebrate a front page these days. But today’s marks the end of our print run of my #ArizonaTrail series in The Arizona Republic | @azcentral.com. Here’s to still fighting to preserve our humanity + climate through empathy + information sharing. www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Bold to market this months ahead of time. Anything could happen in the next seven weeks, much of which is likely to bring us closer to fascism. Curious how he is going about preparing this talk when every day is something new.

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

This funding news is a relief but WHY IS THE USDA (includes the Forest Service) NOT ON THIS LIST?

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Never in my life did I think that someday the front page of one of the United States’ largest newspapers (10th-17th, depending on which list you consult) would be all about me riding my bike to report on climate change. But today, it is. www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Today’s front page of The Arizona Republic | @azcentral.com (Landing the front page never really gets old…) Story link: www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

In June, I spoke with Flagstaff's @trevorritland.bsky.social about his new book on his search for the golden toad, the first terrestrial species to go extinct from #climatechange. Today that discussion has been published in print and online @azcentral.com. Enjoy! www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Video from the rainwater collector on this section, an essential addition to combating increasing heat and drought can be found here, with some mountain biking footage at the end :)

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

Today, keeping up with my monthly series profiling Arizona #climate leaders (as I bike across the state), I have a story out about a man who found such fascination and species #biodiversity on an overlooked, remote rim that he gave it a name: the Mogollon Highlands. www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

Newspaper page with story about a biodiversity researcher in print.

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

2nd weekly dispatch from my Arizona Trail ride to document #climate issues is live on @azcentral.com: www.azcentral.com/story/news/l... It takes us from a shutdown Grand Canyon, through cougar habitat, across a dusty ranch with a questionable wind farm & up past Arizona’s high point into Flagstaff.

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

This video from the Arizona Trail is slightly too long to post here, but you can use the QR code below to see an on-trail post-fire botany discussion and footage of some miles through the #WhiteSageFire burn scar.

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Anybody know what would turn water this color? (In an Arizona forest.)

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

You can see more photos, videos and commentary on Instagram at: www.instagram.com/joan_bikes_a...

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

I'm riding my mountain bike on the 850-mile Arizona Trail this fall to see and write about #climate impacts along the way. We're publishing weekly dispatches from the trail in The Arizona Republic | @azcentral.com as I go. The first one just dropped: www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

On June 9, I filed a public records request with the Arizona Dept of Health Services. I was promised a reply in 10 business days...but got nothing. Last week I published a story about how ADHS has fumbled their own data on heat-related hospital visits and won't share it. Today I got this email.

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Love when my climate stories feature propane ads...

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Thank you @coveringclimatenow.org for the "#Climate in every beat" award! I'm happy to see this collab btw @azcentral.com & @19thnews.org on the intersection of climate concerns + abortion access get recognized. Award: coveringclimatenow.org/projects/the... Story: www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

I have a custom frame bag on order, but this is the basic setup on my Salsa Timberjack, @davidho.bsky.social. :)

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

Today, as part of my series on local climate leaders, I have a profile of Phoenix’s Hazel Chandler, who — even at the age of 79 & while fighting terminal cancer — is making time to stand up against the Trump administration’s rollbacks of climate work and policy. —> www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

Heyo climate + outdoorsy folks! I’m about to embark on a big reporting project & I’d love for you to follow along. I’ll be riding my mtn bike across the entire state on the 850-mile Arizona Trail. I’ll try to post here too but more updates & info can be found on IG @joan_bikes_arizona Thank you!

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

For the 50th anniv (today) of Ed Abbey’s “The Monkey Wrench Gang,” I interviewed desert adventurer + climate scientist @ryantchoi.bsky.social about how the writer influenced environmentalism, the ways in which his legacy lives on & what Abbey might think about Trump www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Ash is starting to fall on my computer as I write. The sky just got a lot more grey. #DragonBravoFire #GrandCanyonLodge

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

I’m at the #GrandCanyon South Rim today, talking to people about the #DragonBravo fire that yesterday closed the North Rim for 2025 & burned its historic lodge. 💔 Do you have memories at the North Rim? Thoughts/worries/theories about what happened? —> Joan.meiners@arizonarepublic.com; 435-231-4840

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 13/07/2025

The historic lodge at the North Rim just burned. I’m gutted.

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

I might expect this from WaPo. But it’s actually insane how many other so-called journalism outlets are doing Bezos’ advertising for him today, as if making billionaires richer isn’t the biggest problem and risk society faces right now. (This is small sample of the “journalism” hawking prime deals.)

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

In need of some #climate inspiration these days? That's why I'm profiling Arizona's climate leaders on the first Sunday of the month. Yesterday's -- about Tucson youth climate activist Ojas Sanghi and what he's working on at MIT this summer -- will give you hope: www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

So easy these days to find examples that make you want to shout from the rooftops: "THIS IS WHY BILLIONAIRES SHOULD NOT EXIST."

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

Big, beautiful … styled front page in The Arizona Republic | @azcentral.com today — my story on whether what happened w/ devastating urban wildfires in Los Angeles earlier this year could happen in forested Arizona cities, and what leaders are doing to prevent that. www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

Weekend vibes. Being an environmental journalist in 2025 is an exercise in aggressively seeking sanity through work-life balance.

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

The 4th in my monthly series answering readers’ #climate questions & profiling local climate leaders is in print + online today — on how Arizona’s most polluted region came to require a special blend of cleaner-burning gasoline during summer & whether it’s worth it. www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

To be honest, I've been waiting for the rest of you to be drafted into this fight since 2016. I decided then that leaving academia was the only way to do the work I felt most needed doing. And now here we all are. Your role here is clear and unavoidable. @hormiga.bsky.social

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

Major pet peeve: When websites include content citing "today" but there is ABSOLUTELY NO DATE TO REFERENCE anywhere on the page. Hello incompetence, wtaf!! The subject here is about something implemented in the 90s, btw. This happens way more than you'd think and is infuriating.

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Neat! Thanks @sabew.bsky.social. Stories here (supported and free to read thanks to a #FundforEnvironmentalJournalism grant from @sejorg.bsky.social): 1 - Fight: www.azcentral.com/story/news/l... 2 - Investigate: www.azcentral.com/story/news/l... 3 - Win: www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

Photo of an award plaque to Joan Meiners at The Arizona Republic from the Society for the Advancement of Business Editing and Writing for an honorable mention recognizing work in the Energy/Sustainability/Climate Change category.

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

This is a really cool + needed project to “amplify the voices of federal scientists & researchers affected (silenced) by federal budget cuts & grant terminations.” There’s no overstating how much standing, power, wealth, solutions & wellbeing the U.S. stands to lose here. silencedsciencestories.com

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

As I emerge from my post- #SEJ2025 sleep coma & reflect on a whirlwind conference, I want to again publicly thank these badass leaders — @amywestervelt.bsky.social & @heyhelina.bsky.social — for getting on stage w/ me last minute for real talk about this moment in climate & environmental journalism.

Climate journalists Helina Selemon, Amy Westervelt and Joan Meiners before the Friday lunch plenary session at the 2025 Society of Environmental Journalists conference in Tempe, AZ.

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

I'll be at the #ElectrifyExpo in Phoenix/Glendale this afternoon as a guest panelist on stage at 1pm -- talking about the environmental advantages, costs, tradeoffs & myths of electric vehicles as a top #climate solution in Arizona and beyond. (No, I'm not endorsing the event or any manufacturers.)

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Joan Meiners, PhD @joanmeiners.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Spent the morning in a helicopter touring central Arizona water infrastructure!

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