Ethan Brown is a writer and commentator, former Social Mobility and Middle East History and Peace fellow with Young Voices, and he is the Training Program Coordinator at the University of Rhode Island's Metcalf Institute.
Ethan Brown’s Success Story Interview:
You've managed to develop and expand your unique voice as a climate writer and commentator. How has your time in Young Voices' programs informed your approach to complex issues like climate?
Everyone wants clean air, clean water, and a healthy environment. Yet, climate change has become remarkably politicized, with the far right denying the problem is real and the far left claiming the apocalypse will arrive on Thursday. I was initially turned off to the climate conversation myself due to doom-and-gloom headlines. That's why when I launched The Sweaty Penguin podcast in 2020, I leaned on solutions journalism, nuance, and humor with the goal of making climate change less overwhelming, less politicized, and more accessible.
Young Voices gave me the opportunity to develop a more reciprocal relationship with this disengaged climate audience I hoped to reach. Rather than just "talking at" people, I got feedback on op-eds from editors with different political perspectives than me, discussed climate change with dozens of right-wing TV and radio hosts, and joined a panel at FreedomFest in 2024 to analyze a new movie spreading climate denial conspiracies. Through these experiences, I learned that people who express skepticism about climate science are not anti-intellectual or apathetic. They feel strong feelings of fear, anxiety, and distrust of institutions — ironically the same climate emotions as a leftist college student who's convinced the world is going to end. They see a false choice between Democrats promoting top-down climate policies and Republicans (often beholden to fossil fuel industry donors) offering few alternatives, and prefer to deny the problem entirely than accept the solutions currently on the table.
In addition to providing opportunities for me to listen to these perspectives, Young Voices introduced me to other thought leaders advancing climate solutions that do value free markets and individualism. I learned how anti-regulatory policies such as permitting reform, zoning reform, repealing the Jones Act, loosening nuclear energy restrictions, and accelerated depreciation are climate solutions too, and found sharing examples like these with climate deniers often alleviated fears and re-engaged them in the conversation. On The Sweaty Penguin, I was successfully able to reach audiences on both sides of the aisle by focusing on those universal emotions of fear and anxiety. My goal is never to advocate specific policies, but rather to shift the conversation away from "is climate change real" and toward "which solutions would be most effective." I am very grateful to Young Voices for introducing me to so many new people and ideas that could help shape that approach.
What topic do you think is the least talked about within mainstream media or opinion journalism that deserves more attention?
U.S. carbon emissions peaked in 2005 and have fallen about 20% since then. China's emissions peaked last year and are primed to decline. The European Union's emissions fell 8.5% in 2023 alone. Yet, when I hear people discuss climate solutions, they still say "we need to address climate change," as if we have not already started.
Policy played some role in existing progress, but a large share is due to dramatic improvements in the economic viability of clean energy. Last decade, the costs of solar fell by 85%, onshore wind by 55%, and batteries for electric vehicles by 85%. In 2020, 62% of new renewables that came onto the grid were cheaper than the cheapest fossil fuel alternative. And there remains only one coal plant in the United States where it costs less to operate the plant than it would take to shut down the plant and build a new solar or wind farm nearby. Climate solutions are no longer a trade-off between environment and economy, and markets are responding accordingly.
Of course, there are devastating stories of loss and damage from climate events that must be told. Climate progress also needs to occur faster to limit these damages and meet global goals set by scientists to avert physical climate tipping points. But mainstream media often fails to report on progress, and gives readers a false impression that no one is doing anything about climate change. Journalists have a responsibility to tell the whole story, and part of that story is identifying existing solutions, determining what they have achieved and how communities feel about them, and considering what limitations they have or how they can scale. Furthermore, studies show readers prefer and trust solutions stories over problem stories. By embracing solutions journalism, journalists can shift the conversation from the terrifying thought of "no one is addressing climate change" to the far more inspiring thought of "people are addressing climate change, and I can be a part of that progress."
Your commentary has also recently been drawing on your jewish identity, touching on issues from Israeli clean tech innovation to antisemitism in the climate movement. What inspired you to start speaking up on these issues?
In February 2023, I took my first trip to Israel for Jerusalem Press Club's Climate Innovation Press Tour, where I visited some of Israel's 850+ clean tech startups, learned how the country's entrepreneurs were helping address climate challenges around the world, and met leaders of joint Israeli-Palestinian initiatives such as the Arava Institute and EcoPeace Middle East using climate solutions to build peace and trust across borders — one of whom I welcomed onto The Sweaty Penguin for an interview. At a conference we attended, a large group of student activists shouted the Israeli government's Environment Minister off the stage in response to Netanyahu's frightening judicial reforms — democracy under attack, but real and in action. I later learned that Israel invented desalination and drip irrigation, and was the only country in the world with more trees in the year 2000 than 1900.
So it stunned me after October 7 when the climate movement began adopting practices to spread lies about Israel and cut off Israeli climate solutions from the rest of the world. Environmental activists helped quash Project Prosperity, which would have created a water-for-energy agreement between Israel, Jordan, and the UAE, because it would "normalize Israel." At the UN Climate Conference, only 28 Israelis could attend under tight security while delegates, demonstrators, and world leaders from Turkey and South Africa used the climate conference as a platform to bash Israel. My colleagues in climate journalism began deriding the carbon emissions of Israel's operations in Gaza while writing nothing on emissions from Russia's offensive in Ukraine which were several hundred times worse, and claiming the war in Gaza was really about stealing Palestinian fossil fuels even though Israel's offshore gas exploration was nowhere near Palestinian territory. Prominent climate activist groups such as Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil, and Fridays for Future led anti-Israel protests, attempting to align the Palestinian cause with the global climate cause and oppose anyone with a more nuanced view.
My heart breaks for the thousands of innocent Palestinians and Israelis killed in this war, and I pray for a hostage deal and end to the war. I believe both groups need new leadership interested in peace and security, and I have no qualms criticizing the Israeli government. I also believe Jews have the right to live and self-determine in our ancestral homeland of Israel and I saw with my own two eyes how that has resulted in environmental successes. I feel the global climate movement should embrace that, not resist it. I had no intention to voice these concerns at first, but after a few months of seeing no one challenge the climate movement on this issue, I realized I'd have to speak up. Young Voices helped me publish initial op-eds in The Hill and National Interest, and later supported me through the Middle East History & Peace fellowship in sustaining a Times of Israel blog. I also lived in Israel for two months in 2024 volunteering primarily with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, returned for another week in 2025 to do agricultural volunteer work, and moderated a "Jews & Climate Change" panel at the 2024 Society for Environmental Journalists conference. The Young Voices network has offered considerable support as I pursued such a deeply emotional and divisive topic, and I could not have done it without them.
Which media placement that the Young Voices content team helped you place are you most proud of?
What a hard choice! A recent piece I am particularly proud of was published in Times of Israel and explored how the anti-Israel Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement has opposed and undermined climate action. I had not seen anyone research that topic before. I expected to find that BDS would present challenges for Israeli academics and clean tech entrepreneurs, but I had no idea how much deeper the problem was. Most alarming to me, BDS specifically called for the boycott of the Arava Institute and EcoPeace Middle East — the two environmental peacebuilding initiatives I learned about in Israel which are co-led by Palestinians — just because they "normalize Israel." I have a lot of sympathy for college students who support BDS resolutions on their campuses and are misled into thinking it is a movement for peace and social justice. I was proud of this op-ed for discovering and illuminating what is a much more disappointing reality.
You recently started a new role at the University of Rhode Island's Metcalf Institute. What most excites you about the work you are doing there?
Metcalf Institute works to support journalists and scientists with accurate and accessible climate communication. I am the Training Program Coordinator, so I work to develop and oversee fellowships and programming to advance this mission. After interviewing over 150 scientists during my time at The Sweaty Penguin, I observed poor communication and trust between scientists, journalists, and community, so I am thrilled to be in a position to support dialogue and learning between these groups.
My proudest achievement at Metcalf Institute so far has been the Climate Ready Newsroom fellowship. Prior to my arrival, Metcalf focused primarily on training individual journalists and scientists. I was tasked with building a new program that focused on local newsrooms, aiming not just to train individuals within the newsroom but set up entire organizations for long-term, sustained, scientifically accurate, and community-centered climate coverage. Our first cohort launched last winter with seven local newsrooms in southern New England: Boston Globe, Bay State Banner, Nantucket Inquirer & Mirror, Rhode Island PBS & The Public's Radio, East Bay Media Group, Hearst Connecticut Media Group, and WSHU Public Radio. After giving the newsrooms six virtual trainings on topics such as scientific uncertainty, climate attribution science, and solutions journalism, we provided three months of coaching and supported them in the pursuit of goals to make their newsrooms "climate ready." Projects included building a “rolodex” of climate scientists in the community, developing a newsroom-wide protocol document for climate disaster coverage, soliciting climate questions from readers to inform future reporting, and launching pop-up newsrooms to more deeply engage the community.
I am so grateful that the fellowship I spearheaded has already had such a transformative impact on local climate coverage in my region. The next cohort is open to all local newsrooms in New England, and applications are live! And anyone interested in science communication training can connect with us here!
With you having such a strong background in journalism and academic education, what advice would you give to young professionals aspiring to build a career in these fields?
Seek community. Ask for help. My career would never be where it is today without the support of my friends who helped launch The Sweaty Penguin and groups like Young Voices, WNET, Solutions Journalism Network, Boston University's Build Lab, Covering Climate Now, Jerusalem Press Club, Masa, and a whole lot more. There's so many people and partners to thank.
Both journalism and academia are facing scary and frankly unconstructive attacks from the current administration. Mainstream media often has flaws in its coverage, but slashing funding for PBS and NPR and barring the AP from the White House press pool puts journalists on the defense and reduces capacity for journalists to proactively improve our skillsets through, for example, a Metcalf fellowship. Antisemitism on college campuses is alarming, but halting foreign student visas across the board and slashing NSF grants does nothing to address the systemic issues underlying antisemitism, instead blocking talented young people from entering our country, preventing scientists from doing critical research, and degrading the academic experience countless Jewish students actively seek.
At this difficult moment, I would encourage young professionals in journalism and academia to look out for our mental health, uplift one another, and be willing to call out both missteps within our industries and policies that are hostile and obstructive. If journalists and academics find ways in this political environment to still pursue the hard work of honing our craft and rebuilding trust with our communities, maybe that will help sustain our industries and allow more talented young people to enter the fields in the future.
Support Young Voices' work in empowering rising leaders for liberty like Ethan!
