Aspen Public Radio Executive Director Breeze Richardson has announced the station’s local newsroom is expanding with the addition of a Climate Desk, which will be dedicated to providing accurate, accessible, and community-focused coverage of environmental and climate-related issues impacting the Roaring Fork Valley, the Colorado River Valley, and the broader Western Slope of Colorado.
She made the announcement from the 2025 Aspen Ideas Festival, during a panel titled “Local News Could Save Us All” with John Palfrey, President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; and Jenn White, Host of NPR’s “1A”; moderated by Vivian Schiller, Executive Director of Aspen Digital at the Aspen Institute.
This is the fourth dedicated Desk launched by the station in the past year.
As outlined by the Climate Desk’s Editorial Policy, “In our region, the signs of climate change are becoming increasingly visible. We are witnessing warmer temperatures in winter, increasing beetle kill and aspen decline in our forests, larger and more destructive avalanches, decreasing snowpack, altered runoff patterns, and more wildfires. These changes are reshaping our way of life, our environment, and our economy.”
Aspen Public Radio’s Climate Desk is committed to exploring how these changes are affecting our community, providing a platform for local voices, and offering solutions-driven journalism.
This new initiative will not only report on the challenges posed by climate change but will also emphasize local solutions, adaptation strategies, and mitigation measures. Whether it’s community-based conservation efforts, innovative policy initiatives, or renewable energy projects, we will focus on actions that are being taken to address climate change and inspire further progress.
The Climate Desk at Aspen Public Radio has been collaboratively funded by Global Warming Mitigation Project, Mtn Bio, Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, and The Farm Collaborative, thanks to leading donors who are supporting this initiative, including Glenda Greenwald, Spike Buckley, Melony & Adam Lewis, Alpenglow Foundation, Humphreys Foundation, Evans Hahn Foundation, and the Aspen Skiing Company’s Environment Foundation.
“Local climate journalism is essential to building the awareness and urgency needed for real change,” shared Christy Mahon, Vice-President of Development at the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES). “At ACES, we see firsthand how climate disruption is impacting our region, and we believe trusted, solutions-focused reporting can empower our community to take action. We’re proud to support Aspen Public Radio’s Climate Desk and its commitment to telling the stories that matter most.”
Thanks to this fundraising effort, the station has now added a full-time reporter at Aspen Public Radio to treat climate change with the urgency and attention it deserves, covering both its immediate and long-term consequences while engaging with local stakeholders to ensure our reporting provides meaningful context and highlights the work being done to respond to this generational challenge.
Michael Fanelli joins the Aspen Public Radio team as the station’s inaugural climate reporter, after spending three years living and reporting in Alaska. In Anchorage, he hosted the statewide morning news and reported on a variety of economic stories, often with a climate focus. He was most recently the news director of KRBD in Ketchikan. A Southern California local, he got his start in public radio at KCRW in Santa Monica.
Next month, Fanelli will travel to Chicago, IL to attend Aspen Ideas: Climate, where hundreds of leaders and innovators will gather with the public to showcase climate solutions with the potential to reshape our world. Produced by the Aspen Institute, participants leave the event more prepared to engage this formidable challenge with a deeper appreciation for what is necessary — and possible. Including journalists from around the world.
In addition to adding newscast and feature radio reporting to Aspen Public Radio’s production of local news, the station will begin broadcasting Climate Connections on July 1, airing Monday through Friday during the 11 a.m. hour of Here & Now, which aims to help audiences understand the reality of climate change and what can be done about it. Staffed by professional journalists, meteorologists, and radio producers, the 90-second program is independent, nonpartisan, and an initiative of the Yale Center for Environmental Communication.
Aspen Public Radio’s Climate Desk coverage can be found here.
Michael Fanelli will be joining a robust newsroom at Aspen Public Radio, under the leadership of News Director and All Things Considered host Halle Zander, including Arts & Culture reporter Regan Mertz, Women’s Desk reporter Sarah Tory, and Social Justice reporter Eleanor Bennett under a collaboration with Aspen Journalism, along with Aspen Daily News reporters Josie Taris and Lucy Peterson, who also file stories for the radio station. You can learn more about the Aspen Public Radio team here.
Aspen Public Radio broadcasts local newscasts and radio features from 7-9 a.m. and 4-6 p.m., Monday through Friday, within national programming. The news team also produces a daily local news podcast each weekday morning and publishes daily to aspenpublicradio.org.