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Craig Welch

@craigwelch.bsky.social

6.7K followers 1.8K following 220 posts

Writer tracking climate and more. Mediocre trail runner. Soccer nut. Priors: senior staff writer at National Geographic. Also: Seattle Times, Jackson Hole News. https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-welch/

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Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · Oct 21

I met Martha Shaw, 84, a year after she lost everything in a hurricane.

That was 3 hurricanes ago.

When editors ask if you’d report/write a lengthy narrative to help 38 *million* readers better understand #climatechange you do it.

My special project for AARP magazine www.aarp.org/home-family/...

Rising Seas Are Wiping Out Some Older Americans’ Futures

As more older Americans move to the coasts, rising seas are wiping out their homes — and retirement dreams.

www.aarp.org

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Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · 13h

So sorry I missed this headline a few days ago. So happy to see it now. (h/t @wudan.bsky.social)

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Nobel committee unable to reach prize winner who is ‘living his best life’ hiking off grid

Fred Ramsdell was among those honoured with a 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine but might not know because he is somewhere in Idaho and uncontactable

www.theguardian.com

Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · 7d

3/3 This one, instead, was groundbreaking, providing real depth, scale and emotional heft to a global problem that had, until then, largely been reported in dribs and drabs. (Even Republicans held Senate hearings in response.) Great explanatory journalism. drive.google.com/file/d/1wLrV...

National Geographic 2018 06 US.pdf

drive.google.com

Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · 7d

2/3 a special shoutout goes to colleagues Laura Parker and Rob Kunzig, whose painstaking reporting, writing and editing produced an incredible story that made the issue one for the ages. Great covers are meaningless if the story inside is unspectacular. Or wrong. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/t...

The 25 Most Influential Magazine Covers of All Time

www.nytimes.com

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Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · 7d

🧵 The @nytimes.com just named this issue of National Geographic the 18th most influential magazine cover of all time. Photo editor Vaughn Wallace, artist Jorge Gamboa and cover creator Emmet Smith deserve all the praise they've received for this arresting design. BUT .... 1/3

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Reposted by Craig Welch

Danna Staaf @dannastaaf.bsky.social · 19d

@biographic.bsky.social publishes so much of my favorite nature writing, from the epic story behind sea star wasting disease by @craigwelch.bsky.social to creepy, beautiful bites like "Mom on the Menu" by @cestmoilanglois.bsky.social
I'm grateful that I'm able to donate!

bioGraphic @biographic.bsky.social · 29d

At bioGraphic, we publish stories that inspire a deep appreciation for life on Earth—and hope for its future. 🌿

📣 To support our work, become a monthly donor and help us reach 100 new Insiders by September 19

You choose the amount, and every little bit helps:

give.calacademy.org/campaign/719...

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Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · 14d

Thank you!

Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · 22d

Nothing quite like receiving documents from a public records request to make a bad week just a little bit better.

Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · 28d

The kid is back in school. We all adjust in our own way.

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Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · 28d

💯💯

Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · 28d

I agree. We’re all so angry all the time. Feels like we relish the chance to get righteous on someone, w/no thought of scale. Kind of depressing.

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Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · 28d

Read this. You won’t regret it.

Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · 28d

Wow! After years on the transplant list, my friend woke up in the hospital w/a new kidney. Only then did he learn his life had been saved by a stranger—not as part of a larger organ swap, but because a generous soul knew she could get by w/just one. So they met www.seattletimes.com/life/by-dona...

I got a kidney transplant. Then I met my anonymous donor

Altruistic kidney donations — when somebody gifts an organ to a stranger — are rare. This is the story of one that brought two local families together.

www.seattletimes.com

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Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · 28d

I got a kidney transplant. Then I met my anonymous donor

Altruistic kidney donations — when somebody gifts an organ to a stranger — are rare. This is the story of one that brought two local families together.

www.seattletimes.com

Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · 28d

Please read this beautiful story by my friend and former editor at @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social. It will restore your faith in humanity. Some people are just amazing. www.seattletimes.com/life/by-dona...

I got a kidney transplant. Then I met my anonymous donor

Altruistic kidney donations — when somebody gifts an organ to a stranger — are rare. This is the story of one that brought two local families together.

www.seattletimes.com

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Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · Sep 4

Aw, thank you so much! I really appreciate you reading .... and sharing.

Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · Sep 4

Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · Sep 4

And a gorgeous @craigwelch.bsky.social story in @biographic.bsky.social, about sea stars and a plague that has been devastating them for years. Lots of amazing sea star photos included in his piece.

CAE 54: jodiettenberg.substack.com/p/fifty-four

The Curious About Everything Newsletter #54

The many interesting things I read in August 2025

jodiettenberg.substack.com

Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · Aug 29

"So Odell waits. And while she waits, she produces a paper every week for nearly 3,000 subscribers. Some of those papers still get delivered by paperboys on bikes."

This is such a lovely tribute and so heartbreaking.

I knew Meredith ages ago. Such fortitude. Go Mer!
www.kmuw.org/the-range/20...

Pressed for Time: The looming challenge small-town newspapers are facing

The last couple of decades have been tough on newspapers. Kansas has lost about 50 publications in the past 20 years. Rural news outlets also face another problem: Owners of many small, family-run new...

www.kmuw.org

Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · Aug 28

Appears the feds did an immigration sweep (arrested two) while firefighters were battling a wildfire in my state.

The previous administration had strict limits on law enforcement during natural disasters. @isabellabreda.bsky.social @conradswanson.bsky.social

www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

Federal agents arrest firefighters working on WA wildfire

Federal agents showed up northeast of Lake Cushman to check identification of crew members fighting Washington's largest active wildfire.

www.seattletimes.com

Reposted by Craig Welch

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · Aug 27

Long-lost sailback shark rediscovered after more than 50 years | New Scientist

Long-lost sailback shark rediscovered after more than 50 years

The rare sailback houndshark, which has an unusually large dorsal fin, was first described by scientists in 1973. That was the last record of its existence, until now

www.newscientist.com

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Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · Aug 26

Don’t like this one bit. I mean, I don’t even know you, man!

David Slack @slack2thefuture.bsky.social · Aug 25

Give a writer a deadline, and it can be written in a day.

But *let* a writer set a deadline, and it will not be written for a lifetime.

Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · Aug 24

Been battling nagging injuries since January but finally pulled off my first Cascades trail run for the year. I’ve lost several steps—we were not fast. But we ran for 3+ hours and got back to the car knowing we could have gone longer and higher. So grateful to be back #running in the mountains.

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Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · Aug 22

This is really quite something.

As if we needed another way of spreading misinformation.

(Ken is a climate scientist I’ve interviewed many times.)

Ken Caldeira @kencaldeira.com · Aug 21

Grok showed up in my Tesla this morning, and started speaking to me without me trying to trigger it.

I saw a tab called "conspiracy theories", clicked it and asked Grok about climate change.

This is what Elon Musk is telling Tesla drivers about climate change.

Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · Aug 18

Thank you, Ben!

Reposted by Craig Welch

Ben Goldfarb @bengoldfarb.bsky.social · Aug 18

“This ecosystem is predicated on balance—we need a certain combination of species to make it function.”

Powerful @craigwelch.bsky.social story in @biographic.bsky.social on sea star epidemiology.

www.biographic.com/unmasking-th...

Unmasking the Sea Star Killer

After a decade of carnage, we finally know what’s devastating sea stars along North America’s West Coast. Does that mean scientists can save them?

www.biographic.com

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Reposted by Craig Welch

yazikus @yazikus.bsky.social · Aug 18

Incredible & beautifully written. @craigwelch.bsky.social phenomenal work.

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Craig Welch @craigwelch.bsky.social · Aug 18

Thank you!