Philip Shabecoff
Encyclopedia
Philip Shabecoff was a reporter for the New York Times from 1959 to 1991, who has since specialized on environmentalism
.
Returning to the U.S., he then covered economics and labor for the NY Times’s Washington Bureau. He was White House
correspondent during the Nixon and Ford administrations.
Mr. Shabecoff served as The NY Times’s environmental correspondent from 1977 to 1999. He has been described as “a pioneer” for breaking new ground in defining environmental news and setting a standard for coverage that earned him the sobriquet of “dean of environmental journalism.” He left the NY Times in 1999.
He then founded and, for five years, served as publisher of Greenwire, the daily online digest of worldwide environmental news coverage, which remains today a leading source of environmental news. It was bought in 2000 by Environment & Energy Publishing, with Shabecoff still working there.
He was one of the founding members of the Society for Environmental Journalists.
He has been a contributing author to American Government, by Charles Hamilton
, and The Presidency Reappraised, Thomas Cronin and Rexford Tugwell, editors.
Mr. Shabecoff has appeared on Meet the Press
, Face the Nation
, Washington Week in Review, CNN News, the Diane Rehm Show, C-Span
, National Public Radio, and the BBC
.
That was followed by A New Name for Peace: International Environmentalism, Sustainable Development and Democracy, published by the University Press of New England in 1996, which provides a history of international environmentalism from its beginnings, and uses the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to analyze the successes and failures of environmental actions worldwide; concluding that peace must be based on mutual care for the planet and the well-being of others with whom we share it.
Earth Rising: American Environmentalism in the 21st Century, published by Island Press in 2000, analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the American environmental movement, calling for a broader, more inclusive movement with a role in reforming education, politics, the economy and science to transform the future. In that book, he argued that environmental concerns can not be met without confronting other issues, mainly social and economical. He thus underlined the failure to "recognize and acknowledge that the decline of the environment is not an issue distinct from other flaws in our society" and that environmentalists "are in the same boat with other groups of Americans who are thwarted and victimized by the status quo".
In collaboration with his wife Alice, he wrote Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault on Our Children, published in 2008 by Random House; Chelsea Green published the paperback in 2010 with the title as Poisoned for Profit: How Toxins Are Making Our Children Chronically Ill.
for leadership in expanding the public's right to know and was an original selectee for the Global 500
award from the United Nation's Environmental Program.
He also received the National Wildlife Federation’s “Connie” Award for achievement in conservation, the Sierra Club’s David Brower Environmental Journalism Award, and the Worldwatch Institute’s Environmental Leadership Award “In honor of 20 years of pioneering environmental journalism”
He and his wife have two children, Alexa, who is the assistant dean for public service at the Harvard Law School, and Peter, who is the founder and CEO of Atlantic Street Capital, a private equity fund.
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
.
New York Times career
He was posted as a foreign correspondent in West Germany from 1964–1968, with responsibilities for covering East and West Germany, Scandinavia, and Czechoslovakia; then posted to Tokyo, from 1968–1970, with responsibilities for covering Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand.Returning to the U.S., he then covered economics and labor for the NY Times’s Washington Bureau. He was White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
correspondent during the Nixon and Ford administrations.
Mr. Shabecoff served as The NY Times’s environmental correspondent from 1977 to 1999. He has been described as “a pioneer” for breaking new ground in defining environmental news and setting a standard for coverage that earned him the sobriquet of “dean of environmental journalism.” He left the NY Times in 1999.
He then founded and, for five years, served as publisher of Greenwire, the daily online digest of worldwide environmental news coverage, which remains today a leading source of environmental news. It was bought in 2000 by Environment & Energy Publishing, with Shabecoff still working there.
He was one of the founding members of the Society for Environmental Journalists.
He has been a contributing author to American Government, by Charles Hamilton
Charles Hamilton
-People:* Charles Hamilton 1st Anglican bishop of Ottawa* Charles Hamilton, 5th Earl of Abercorn , Scottish peer* Charles Hamilton, Lord Binning , Scottish politician* Charles Hamilton , Member of Parliament for Truro...
, and The Presidency Reappraised, Thomas Cronin and Rexford Tugwell, editors.
Mr. Shabecoff has appeared on Meet the Press
Meet the Press
Meet the Press is a weekly American television news/interview program produced by NBC. It is the longest-running television series in American broadcasting history, despite bearing little resemblance to the original format of the program seen in its television debut on November 6, 1947. It has been...
, Face the Nation
Face the Nation
Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer is an American Sunday-morning political interview show which premiered on the CBS television network on November 7, 1954. It is one of the longest-running news programs in the history of television...
, Washington Week in Review, CNN News, the Diane Rehm Show, C-Span
C-SPAN
C-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...
, National Public Radio, and the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
.
Books
A Fierce Green Fire, published by Hill & Wang, in 1993 (and published as paperback by Island Press, 2003) was his first full-length book. It is the definitive history and analysis of American environmentalism, from its early seeds in efforts to preserve wilderness through its maturity as a social, political and cultural movement; it offers the hope that “we will be able to save ourselves from the grave dangers we have created by our destructive use of the natural world.”That was followed by A New Name for Peace: International Environmentalism, Sustainable Development and Democracy, published by the University Press of New England in 1996, which provides a history of international environmentalism from its beginnings, and uses the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to analyze the successes and failures of environmental actions worldwide; concluding that peace must be based on mutual care for the planet and the well-being of others with whom we share it.
Earth Rising: American Environmentalism in the 21st Century, published by Island Press in 2000, analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the American environmental movement, calling for a broader, more inclusive movement with a role in reforming education, politics, the economy and science to transform the future. In that book, he argued that environmental concerns can not be met without confronting other issues, mainly social and economical. He thus underlined the failure to "recognize and acknowledge that the decline of the environment is not an issue distinct from other flaws in our society" and that environmentalists "are in the same boat with other groups of Americans who are thwarted and victimized by the status quo".
In collaboration with his wife Alice, he wrote Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault on Our Children, published in 2008 by Random House; Chelsea Green published the paperback in 2010 with the title as Poisoned for Profit: How Toxins Are Making Our Children Chronically Ill.
Awards
Shabecoff has received the James Madison Award from the American Library AssociationAmerican Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
for leadership in expanding the public's right to know and was an original selectee for the Global 500
Global 500
Global 500 may refer to:* Fortune Global 500, a list of the largest companies published by Fortune.* Global 500 Roll of Honour, an award given by the United Nations Environment Program....
award from the United Nation's Environmental Program.
He also received the National Wildlife Federation’s “Connie” Award for achievement in conservation, the Sierra Club’s David Brower Environmental Journalism Award, and the Worldwatch Institute’s Environmental Leadership Award “In honor of 20 years of pioneering environmental journalism”
Background
Mr. Shabecoff grew up in the Bronx, New York, attended the Bronx High School of Science, and earned his B.A. from Hunter College; he earned his M.A. degree from the University of Chicago.He and his wife have two children, Alexa, who is the assistant dean for public service at the Harvard Law School, and Peter, who is the founder and CEO of Atlantic Street Capital, a private equity fund.