Award-winning Writer
Specializing in Science, Environmental Health, Conservation, Indigenous Issues, Wildlife, and Social Justice
A man of sincerity is less interested
in defending the truth than in stating it clearly, for he thinks that if
the truth can be clearly seen it can very well take care of itself.
--Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island.
Put it before them briefly so they
will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they
will remember it, and above all, accurately so they will be guided by
its light.
Joseph Pulitzer
In 2014, I won a reporting grant to write about mountain gorillas and the Batwa people in Uganda. Ended up moving there to found this nonprofit to support this minority Indigenous tribe. Visit our website. Donating or sponsoring a child literally changes lives in a beautiful way!
A short film co-produced by myself & Jokwiz Klean a few years back for Redemption Song Foundation.
All Aboard the Mothership. She once drove me crazy. Now I'd give anything to stay on board. PROVOKED by susan. July 2025.
"Mom, soon turning 80, asked, 'Do you want to join us on a cruise?' Everyone was going: she, my stepdad and three other family members. 'Maybe you'll find a boyfriend,' mom added. I rolled my eyes.
...
I chose to go because, after decades of pushing mom away and blaming her for my problems, I've recently realized she's kind of a goddess. And now WTF am I going to do when she dies?"
Inside the 13 Moons Curriculum How the Swinomish Tribe keeps traditions alive while teaching STEAM and helping to reduce chemical exposures. Other tribes can adapt the curriculum to their own communities. Buffalo's Fire, Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance. June 2025.
When the Refuge Becomes the Storm . For those of us who've experienced Intimate Partner Violence, the emotional scars will never fully leave our bodies or our minds. But we can reclaim our power by telling our stories. Twenty years later, this is the first time I've told mine. PROVOKED by susan. June 2025.
Wolves and Humans Can Coexist, Efforts Across the U.S. Borderlands Show. Apex predators are critical to healthy ecosystems. These determined biologists and wildlands advocates are out to prove that wolves and ranchers, scientists and politicians can coexist in the recovery of Mexican gray wolves. Deceleration News. May 2025.
Elon Vs. Wild: Do Expanding SpaceX Operations Signal the End for Beloved Ocelots? Deceleration News. May 2025.
Weight Expectations: Can we embrace weight loss medications without betraying the body positivity movement? PROVOKED by susan. May 2025.
Why I Became a Swifty at 50: How Taylor's Business Acumen, Creative Genius, and Clapback towards Misogyny Made Me a Swifty. PROVOKED by susan. Apr 2025. I loved this departure from science writing!
Jaguar Watch: What 'Finishing the Wall' Means for Borderland Cats. Deceleration News. Mar 2025.
"Honestly the story has that Mary Poppins quality of being practically perfect in every way." -Editor Greg Harman
The Devil Wears Trendy Trash: The True Cost of Ultra-Fast Fashion. PROVOKED by susan. Mar 2025. "Is ultra-fast fashion bad for the planet and people, or are sweatshops raising families and nations from poverty?"
"This is looking GREAT! Love the tone and such voicey insight, which I love! Thank you for offering such a smart piece!" -Editor Susan Dabbar
Madagascar's Plague: One Health Research Aims to Slow Its Spread. Feature article in Environmental Health Perspectives. Nov 2024.
It's Getting Hot In Here: How climate-change-related storms and fires are devastating wildlife and what we can do about it. Defenders of Wildlife Magazine. Summer 2021.
"The gigantic wall of flame engulfed massive pine and fir trees 'as if they were twigs in a bonfire,' wrote Peter Hess in Climate Abandoned. He described billowing clouds of smoke 10,000 feet high-so thick they blotted out the sun and turned day into night-and a sound 'like the whine of a jet engine at full throttle superimposed on the thunder of Niagara Falls.'"
"The Skagit Valley Chorale 'exists to enrich the lives of all interested singers and concert audiences... expressing the human spirit through choral music.' By practicing for their performance at the upcoming Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, they hoped to spread joy through music. What they spread instead was [the coronavirus]..."
Selected for a competitive Center for Cultural Innovation Quick Grant for Artists for professional development (to attend the 2025 Society of Environmental Journalists Conference in Tempe, AZ).
Received the Mongabay Prize for Environmental Reporting, a 6-month Special Reporting Initiative grant to report on how tropical forest conservation and human livelihoods can coexist.
Won the 2013 American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) Award Best Science/Tech/Biz Mag article. The judges wrote, "Wendee's Did Tap Water Kill Lou Gehrig is science writing as it should be: sharp, clear prose that builds into a great story about an intriguing, sophisticated topic. Wendee's story stood out in a large and unusually strong field this year."
Q&A with Paul Epstein, author of Changing Planet, Planet Health, Harvard professor, at Climate Central. Praised by the book's co-author Dan Ferber as "The most probing, incisive, interview that either of us have done so far."
"I'm almost finished with the first sweep through your guide and it is awesome! Great style and by far the cleanest copy I've received yet." -Editor Craig Guillot, for AOL Travel Guide to Houston.
"I just read Many Bayous, One River [Dec 2006 TX Parks & Wildlife Magazine]. Thank gosh we have writers like Wendee who have the history, the passion and the reporting and writing chops to take on a story like this. Kudos to her!!" -Tom Harvey, Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept Photographer.
I received 1st Place 2006 IRMA Award (International Regional Magazine Association) for Best Nature Feature, Save the Monkeyface, published in Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine, April 2005.
Seeing the Forest for the Trees: How "One Health" Connects Humans, Animals, and Ecosystems. Environmental Health Perspectives May 2014 cover story (my photos too!)
Tipping the scale: How the late Economics Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom could save the world's forests. Mongabay, May 29, 2014.
Ecotopia emerging: Sustainable forests and healthy livelihoods go hand in hand. Mongabay, Jun 26, 2014.
I interviewed the amazing Jane Goodall for Animal Planet for her 80th birthday, and wrote 10 Reasons Why Everyone Should Love Jane Goodall! (no longer online) Apr 3, 2014.
Pig Poop Power: Scaling up waste-to-energy technology could transform the hog farming industry. Discover Magazine, Mar 2014.
Think for Yourself: Critical thinking skills are more important than ever in today's information environment. Ensia.com. Spring 2013 online only.
The Tiniest Catch [PDF here] Marine scientists are prowling the Bering Sea to learn how climate affects minute sea creatures and the lucrative fishery that depends on them. Nature. Nov 4, 2010. I also wrote 9 posts for Nature's Great Beyond blog when I was on the ship (that goes to the final one, with previous posts linked at the bottom).
Save the Birds - With Doppler Radar. The first article I wrote for the award-winning Pacific Standard (then Miller-McCune) magazine, Apr/May 2011.
Picked up in a blog post on the Knight Science Journalism Tracker: "Evocative, focused, surprising, and narratively pure." - Charlie Petit, KSJ blogger.
Fighting for the Firefox. Nepal's red panda is getting help from a small group of local forest guardians, but the highly endangered mammal still faces a troubled future as its habitat is lost to deforestation. National Wildlife Magazine. Feb/Mar 2009.
DIVING WITH SHARKS! In April 2008, Discovery Channel sent me to Australia's Coral Sea with biologists and the Expedition Shark documentary crew. The first post, Fear, about our relationship with and to sharks, is one of my faves. The
rest are here.
Learn to write for magazines and get paid for it. Originally designed for students interested in writing 'green' - anything environment, science, outdoor travel, natural history - it can and has been modified by students interested in writing about health, parenting, spirituality/religion and other topics.
Do What You Love!
I've been at this for more than 20 years, and I love nothing more than going on
adventures with scientists around
the world and writing about it for magazines. Whether you're an aspiring or professional
writer, the course materials will meet you where you are at.
If you're a professional writer and would like to write for more nature,
conservation, travel and outdoor markets, this course is for you.
If you enjoy nature, wildlife, and conservation; or if you like writing or
journaling and are considering a career in writing, you might be pleasantly
surprised to learn how easy it is to publish with the right guidance and
careful instruction.
In 2014, I won a reporting grant to write about mountain gorillas and the Batwa people in Uganda. Ended up moving there to found this nonprofit to support this minority Indigenous tribe. Visit our 
How the Swinomish Tribe keeps traditions alive while teaching STEAM and helping to reduce chemical exposures. Other tribes can adapt the curriculum to their own communities. Buffalo's Fire, Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance. June 2025.
For those of us who've experienced Intimate Partner Violence, the emotional scars will never fully leave our bodies or our minds. But we can reclaim our power by telling our stories. Twenty years later, this is the first time I've told mine. PROVOKED by susan. June 2025. 
The Devil Wears Trendy Trash
Defenders of Wildlife Magazine. Summer 2021.
The judges wrote, "Wendee's 
Perspectives May 2014 cover story (my photos too!) 
transform the hog farming industry. Discover Magazine, Mar 2014.
DIVING WITH SHARKS! In April 2008, Discovery Channel sent me to Australia's Coral Sea with biologists and the Expedition Shark documentary crew. The first post, 
with scientists around
the world and writing about it for magazines. Whether you're an aspiring or professional
writer, the course materials will meet you where you are at.
If you're a professional writer and would like to write for more nature,
conservation, travel and outdoor markets, this course is for you.
If you enjoy nature, wildlife, and conservation; or if you like writing or
journaling and are considering a career in writing, you might be pleasantly
surprised to learn how easy it is to publish with the right guidance and
careful instruction.