Connor Giffin covers climate change and environmental issues in Louisville, Kentucky, for the Courier-Journal as the Report for America representative on the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk—a collaborative reporting network across the Basin. While earning his bachelor’s degree at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Giffin contributed to “Lost on the Frontline,” an award-winning collaborative project from Kaiser Health News and The Guardian documenting the deaths of frontline health care workers during the pandemic. He also reported on state government and the environment for the Columbia Missourian, the university’s community paper.
Beat: Pesticide runoff and climate change (Mississippi River Basin Project)
Kentucky is located in the Mississippi River Basin, and Louisville is along the Ohio River, a tributary of the Mississippi River. The reporter investigates pesticide runoff into waterways, examines how farmers deal with climate change, and reports on environmental problems that disproportionately affect people of color and low-income people. The reporter works on the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk: this initiative of Report for America, in partnership with the Missouri School of Journalism and the Society of Environmental Journalists, offers a network of collaborative reporting covering water, agriculture and environmental issues across the Mississippi River Basin.