Selected Works
The True Cost of Tuna: Marine Observers Dying at Sea.
The harassment, abuse, and sometimes death of the marine observers who uphold sustainable seafood standards are the industry’s worst-kept secrets.
— Civil Eats
Betting the ranch.
Cody Easterday wagered hundreds of millions of dollars on the price of beef. He lost.
— High Country News
It’s His Land. Now a Canadian Company Gets to Take It.
Three thousand miles away, news of the project’s approval sent Bill Gow, a cattle rancher from southern Oregon, into a lasting funk.
— ProPublica/Underscore Media Collaboration
The Bloody Baron’s Crazy, Mixed-Up Robbery
When the cops turned up on the evening of April 6, 2012, George von Bothmer needed to be absolutely sure: “Are you the real police?” he asked. They were.
— The Daily Beast, with David Wolman
Sharecroppers of the Sea
Before you feel sorry for anybody in this story, meet Jared Bright. And remember your first impression, because he’s eventually going to call himself a serf.
— Seattle Weekly/InvestigateWest
Teen activists face US government in crucial hearing over climate trial
The key determination is whether kids get a trial over climate breakdown. Those stakes and the government’s handling of the case have catapulted it to rare courtroom celebrity.
— The Guardian
Spoils of the Sea Elude Many in an Alaska Antipoverty Plan
At more than $1 billion a year, there is no bigger fishery for human consumption on the planet. Pollock was meant to be a savior, part of a federal antipoverty plan that created a hydra-headed nonprofit money machine. But the results on the ground are deeply uneven.
— The New York Times, with Kirk Johnson
A Place for Old Chickens, Outside the Pot
Here, chickens are a symbol of urban nirvana, their coops backyard shrines to a locavore movement that has city dwellers moving ever closer to their food.
— The New York Times
Excerpt: The Fish Market
This book is the product of a lost bet. That’s the truth. In winter 2011, I had just written a story for a regional magazine about salmon fishing. And I was in a bar in Portland, Oregon, a wood-paneled place downtown called Cassidy’s, loudly proclaiming that I was never going to do it again... I was lucky the wager was only beer.
— Huffington Post