Andy Revkin: Rest in Pace

The good news is Andrew Revkin will continue to post at his Dot Earth blog for the foreseeable future. The bad news is he will be doing so not as a staff reporter for the New York Times, which has allowed him the rare honor of specializing in something as specialized as climate change, for many years. Instead, it will be as Senior Fellow for Environmental Understanding at Pace University's Pace Academy for Applied Environmental Studies.

As a "mainstream" journalist, Andy operated under the constraints, baggage and inertia of a system that was ill-suited to cover a subject that fused science and politics so intimately. He came under relentless criticism from both the climate change pseudoskeptics and some of the more astute pundits, like Joe Romm, who called him on the carpet numerous times for falling back on discredited sources to supply the "balance" that his editors insisted on including in his reportage.

That doesn't necessarily mean he was doing a great job -- even if everyone hates you, it's still possible to be a hack -- but more of than not Andy managed to rise above the limitations of the business. His departure will leave the New York Times with a major challenge. There just aren't that many outstanding journalists capable of filling his shoes. I am doubtful that they'll even bother to try. The whole point of a buyout package, after all, is to reduce staff.

According to the Yale Forum:

Revkin said in a recent interview that he has grown increasingly frustrated with the constraints of daily newspaper journalism and that he is exhausted from the virtual 24/7 pace of reporting and blogging (so much so that he has considerably curtailed his passion for playing guitar and his involvement with the "Uncle Wade" blues and country band).

He said that from his full-time position as Senior Fellow for Environmental Understanding at Pace University's Pace Academy for Applied Environmental Studies, he will focus on Internet-based communications on issues related to sustainability, a growing global population, and energy/climate change, the staples of his Dotearth blog. He said he has no plans to do public relations or lobbying work for parties supporting or opposing climate change policy positions, but may collaborate with select agencies -- the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Foundation -- on communications issues.

For the moment, Seth Borenstein of the Associated Press will assume the mantle of the country's top reporter with the luxury of paying a lot of attention to climate change. And if the mainstream media still matter, that's quite a responsibility.