Authors Reflections: October 2021 Media Brief

It feels like every media brief I write is longer than the last and this one is no exception. For the last media brief I wrote, the June 2021 Media Brief, I struggled to find three themes that neatly encapsulated the articles. Fortunately, this was not an issue with this one, which I contribute to a plethora of factors. With the supply chain issues significantly impacting the everyday life of millions of Americans, it was almost guaranteed that I would have enough articles to make a theme out of it. We also had three themes about climate change projects all by different sectors, making for a neat decrescendo starting with the federal government and ending with a school district. One of my fears while writing this media brief was making the energy justice challenges section too pessimistic. I did not want to instill a sense that the path to energy justice was full of immovable obstacles, but I did want to bring light to current issues our attention should be focused on. There is a fine line between presenting issues with the goal of facilitating organization and resources and presenting obstacles in a way that spreads a sense of hopelessness. All of the challenges in the articles have solutions which I discuss at large. I think that section is my favorite section, although I do wish I discussed solutions a little bit more. I would love to look more in depth on the efforts taken by indigineous communities to protect their land and raise their voices more.