The Media and the Environment, Climate Change and Biodiversity: Reporting in a Troubled Age

With Jacki Swearingen '73

After a year of fires ripping through Los Angeles neighborhoods and the boreal forests of Canada, after historic floods in places such as Texas and Pakistan, the ravages of climate change loom larger each day in our individual and collective lives. Reporting on the causes of rising temperatures and droughts along with biodiversity loss, as well as the resulting disasters, has become an increasingly important task for journalists around the world. Yet these journalists now must file their stories about the current administration’s assault on renewable energy, about global deforestation, and about aggressive mining in the oceans and remaining wildernesses just as today’s media landscape is shifting to digital modes. How can journalists best meet the challenge of alerting us to the threats to the Earth and the policies that endanger it or offer hope of protection?

Join us October 30 at 12:00 pm for a ClassACT HR’73 discussion led by Jacki Swearingen ‘73 about doing environmental journalism at a time when the press itself is under threat.

JACQUELYN SWEARINGEN '73

Jacquelyn Swearingen is a retired journalist and historian who has written about environmental issues ranging from the conservation of the Florida Everglades to the legacy of atomic war in Hiroshima. She covered international trade and manufacturing for the Detroit News, and Congress, foreign affairs, and federal regulatory issues for the Miami Herald. Her work as an investigative reporter for the Times Union in Albany included reporting on health and environmental justice issues in New York state. While living in Tokyo, she also wrote for the Asian Wall Street Journal and The Japan Times.

At Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Dr. Swearingen taught East Asian and European history, international relations, and an introduction to science and technology studies. She served as the managing editor of Cultural Anthropology. She concentrated in Chinese history at Harvard and received a Ph.D. in Japanese and Chinese history from the University of Chicago.

As National Guard and regular troops appear in support of Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel on the streets of America’s largest cities, ClassACT HR73 is hosting an online forum to address “The Changing Role of the US Military.” The panel discussion takes place on November 11, 2025, at 7:00 pm and will focus on the Trump Administration’s deployment of the armed services within US borders. Examples include the policing effort in response to this past summer’s anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles and subsequent interventions of both National Guard and regular troops in Washington, DC, and other major urban centers. Panelists will also consider the deployment of troops in newly created “national defense areas” along the southern border to support operations of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The US military has historically been seen as an apolitical force committed to defending the Constitution, whatever party holds Congress and/or the White House, and has assumed a domestic policing role only in cases of extreme unrest. The current administration’s rhetoric and its engagements, whether actual or intended, suggest that that historical standard no longer holds. Forum panelists will assess the normative aspects of US military history, current deviations from those norms, and ways in which military and non-military citizenry alike can champion the US armed services’ commitment to their founding principles.

Our panelists for the evening include three distinguished national security experts:

• LTG (Ret.) David W. Barno, Professor of Practice at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and co-author of Adaptation Under Fire: How Militaries Change in Wartime
• Juliette Kayyem, Belfer Senior Lecturer in International Security at Harvard Kennedy School, CNN Senior National Security Analyst, and author most recently of The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in an Age of Disasters
• Kori Schake, Director of Foreign and Defense Policy at the American Enterprise Institute and author of Safe Passage: The Transition from British to American Hegemony

The panel will be moderated by Leigh Hafrey ’73, Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, ClassACT HR73 Board Member, and author of War Stories: Fighting, Competing, Imagining, Leading.

In order to help our Bridge Partners to further their objectives, we are offering assistance in a variety of skills related to the success of non-profits via the Bridge Toolbox Series. These webinars are recorded and archived on our website for public use. 

Many nonprofits derive almost all of their funds from cash gifts. This webinar will discuss alternative fundraising vehicles that can enhance charitable giving and are easy, readily available options for donors.

Julie Wilson Sakellariadis '78 and Nick Sakellariadis '73 are the volunteer leaders of planned giving both at Harvard  and at the New York Botanical Garden. Among other topics, they will cover the potential impact of estate gifts, the donation of appreciated securities,  and the power of gifts from IRA’s for those over 70.

Meet Our Bridges is ClassACT HR73’s way to introduce our classmates and extended community to our Bridge Partners by letting them create awareness of their mission as well as solicit volunteer help and/or donations.

This December, we feature Ron Dieckmann '73, Founder and Executive Director of Kids Care Everywhere, an organization which empowers clinicians in under-resourced health systems by providing free, continuous access to current, evidence-based medical information.

RON DIECKMANN '73, MD, MPH
Founder, Executive Director, Kids Care Everywhere

Dr. Dieckmann was educated at Harvard, Stanford Medical School, and the Berkeley School of Public Health. He is a Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics and Medicine at University of California, San Francisco and was the Director of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital for 25 years. Triple board certified in pediatrics, pediatric emergency medicine, and general emergency medicine, Dr. Dieckmann has edited five first edition medical textbooks, is a frequent speaker at national and international medical conferences, and has received national awards for service to American medical education and training. In 2003, he co-founded “PEMSoft-The Pediatric Emergency Medicine Software”, a decision-support software knowledge system which is now owned by EBSCO Publishing in Ipswich, MA. His international family travels led him to found KidsCareEverywhere, and to donate medical software to under-resourced health systems.

Food Imperatives and the Global Agricultural Trade

With Michael Schechtman '73

Michael Schechtman '73, Former Biotechnology Coordinator at the United States Department of Agriculture, will discuss food imperatives and the global agricultural trade. Stay tuned for more information.