Witness to the Rising Tide: The Climate Journalism of David Abel
By: Tee Stock and Tyler R. Hood
In the fight for environmental justice, data is crucial, but stories are what move people to action. Few storytellers have documented the collision between climate change and human activity as vividly as David Abel. Abel is an award-winning reporter, documentary filmmaker, and professor of journalism in the journalism department at Boston University, who has covered issues such climate change and poverty. Additionally, Abel is an award-winning reporter for The Boston Globe. Abel has spent his career covering the intricate and often devastating impacts of poverty and climate change.
While his written journalism is renowned, earning him an Edward R. Murrow award and the Ernie Pyle award, it is his documentary filmmaking that brings the visual reality of our changing planet to the screen. His work, broadcast on the Discovery Channel, PBS’s World Channel, and BBCWorld News, serves as a critical archive of the environmental challenges we face today.
The Conflict at Sea
Abel’s lens often focuses on the ocean, not just as an ecosystem, but as a workplace under siege. In his film Entangled, Abel investigates the collision between the endangered North Atlantic right whale and the lobster industry. The film chronicles the struggle of NOAA Fisheries to balance protecting a species from extinction while preserving a historic industry, a conflict unfortunately accelerated by climate change.
This theme of resource scarcity driving conflict continues in Lobster War. As the Gulf of Maine warms faster than almost any other body of water, lobster populations have surged into the "Gray Zone" of disputed waters between the United States and Canada. Abel documents how this environmental shift reignited a centuries-old territorial dispute, turning neighbors into rivals as they fight to claim the bounty.
The Urban Paradox
Abel’s work also turns inward to our cities at home. His recent film, Inundation District, explores a striking paradox in Boston. In a city known for its world-class universities and scientists, developers spent billions erecting a new waterfront district of glass towers on landfill at sea level. The film exposes the fateful decision to ignore climate warnings in favor of short-term economic growth, creating a neighborhood now derisively known not as the "Innovation District," but the "Inundation District".
Preserving Culture and Ecosystems
Beyond economics, Abel captures the cultural cost of environmental degradation. In Gladesmen: The Last of the Sawgrass Cowboys, he studies the federal ban on airboats in the Everglades. The film highlights the complex tension between the massive effort to repair a ravaged ecosystem and the potential demise of the Gladesmen culture that relies on it.
A Call to Witness
From the collapse of the historic cod fishery in Sacred Cod to the rising waters of Boston Harbor, David Abel’s work challenges us to look directly at the consequences of our environmental choices. His films, including the Jackson Wild award-winning Entangled, are essential viewing for anyone seeking to understand the human cost of climate change.
To learn more about David Abel’s work and upcoming screenings, visit his website or explore the films linked above.