Pitches Wanted (Birds, Climate, Environment) | 50 cents to $1.50 per word

Hannah Waters, Editor at Audubon Magazine, is looking for pitches: I am looking forward to another year of Audubon journalism about how climate change is affecting birds and ecosystems, and new approaches to address the crisis. Writers, pitch me! Here are some examples of recent stories to show what I'm looking for:
- Scientific deep-dives into big unanswered questions in climate ecology, such as this Scott Weidensaul feature essay on how warming springs are altering bird migration and reproduction: https://www.audubon.org/magazine/spring-2022/a-matter-timing-can-birds-keep-earlier-and
- Stories that reveal how climate disasters can create opportunities to rethink conservation practice, like this lyrical, deeply reported Sarah Gilman feature on Big Basin's redesign after it was burned to the ground by wildfire: https://www.audubon.org/magazine/summer-2022/rebuilding-iconic-california-state-park-birds-and
- Explainers and reader service on present and future drivers of climate change, such as Spoorthy Raman on the air-conditioning conundrum: https://www.audubon.org/magazine/summer-2022/how-air-conditioning-creates-climate-conundrum
- As landscapes transform, conservationists are experimenting with new restoration methods, such as in this Jared Brey narrative news story about efforts to move NJ cedar swamp inland away from sea-level rise: https://www.audubon.org/magazine/fall-2022/how-new-jersey-plans-relocate-flooded-ghost-forests
- Stories that surface the deep tensions in renewable energy-wildlife conflict, like Kathryn Miles's rich feature on the obstacle course for migratory birds offshore the Atlantic slated to go up in the next decade: https://www.audubon.org/magazine/spring-2022/off-east-coast-massive-network-wind-turbines
- I can't resist a study story that reveals new challenges climate change presents for birds, backed by clean science, such as Lauren Leffer on how wildfire smoke can derail bird migration: https://www.audubon.org/news/new-study-first-explore-how-wildfire-smoke-derails-bird-migration
- And then there are the happy surprises amid dire climate impacts, such as Virginia Gewin's story on wetlands that emerged even as the Salton Sea shrinks: https://www.audubon.org/news/surprise-bird-rich-wetlands-emerge-dry-lakebed-shrinking-salton-sea
- One more: Experimental solutions to help wildlife survive what looks like inevitable extinction, like Lorraine Boissoneault on using biocontrol methods to address mosquito-board disease threatening Hawaiian birds: https://www.audubon.org/news/mosquitoes-rescue-last-ditch-effort-save-kauais-endangered-birds

Those are some approaches I am interested in — and many more, too. Here are Audubon's pitch guidelines: https://audubon.org/news/how-pitch-stories-audubon. I would love to work with you in 2023, don't hesitate to reach out and introduce yourself: hwaters@audubon.org Rates are roughly $.50/word online and $1/word for print.

- Submissions: hannah.waters@audobon.org
- Website: https://www.audubon.org/