Writer & Editor

I'm a journalist specializing in science and the environment, and the assistant director of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where I teach as well as oversee the Ted Scripps Fellowships. (I was a Scripps Fellow myself in 2018.) I’m currently at work on a book about how Earth’s non-human species move around the planet, how we’ve cut off many of those routes and pathways with our infrastructure and other human activities, and the passionate people who are working to try to reconnect the world for the rest of the creatures that live here. It will be published by Patagonia Books in 2025.

I’ve reported from across the U.S. and around the world—Indonesia, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Gabon. But my favorite place to work and play is the American West. Luckily, there’s no dearth of stories right in my backyard.

I write about the strange and disturbing ways human activity is altering our planet, and also the innovative strategies we’re devising to understand, adapt to, and counteract those changes. I’ve covered the environment for National Geographic, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Wired, Men’s Journal, Scientific American, bioGraphic, Mother Jones, Popular Science, Discover, Ensia, High Country News, The Boston Globe, The Denver Post, OnEarth, Audubon, Smithsonian, Slate, Grist, Town & Country, and many other publications.

I’m proud that my work has won several awards, including two AAAS-Kavli Awards and others from the Society of Environmental Journalists and the National Association of Science Writers. I’ve also been both an Alicia Patterson Fellow a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. I’m a frequent speaker at workshops and seminars on science communication. I have an MS in environmental studies and an MFA in creative writing.  

You can reach me at mail@hillaryr.net.