Nathan Rott
Nathan Rott is a correspondent on NPR's National Desk, where he focuses on environment issues and the American West.
Based at NPR West in Culver City, California, Rott spends a lot of his time on the road, covering everything from breaking news stories like California's wildfires to in-depth issues like the management of endangered species and many points between.
Rott owes his start at NPR to two extraordinary young men he never met. As the first recipient of the Stone and Holt Weeks Fellowship in 2010, he aims to honor the memory of the two brothers by carrying on their legacy of making the world a better place.
A graduate of the University of Montana, Rott prefers to be outside at just about every hour of the day. Prior to working at NPR, he worked a variety of jobs including wildland firefighting, commercial fishing, children's theater teaching, and professional snow-shoveling for the United States Antarctic Program. Odds are, he's shoveled more snow than you.
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At work every day, Agnes Boisvert attends to ICU patients "gasping for air" and dying from COVID-19. But communicating that harsh reality to her skeptical community has been a challenge.
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Deb Haaland would be the first Native American Cabinet secretary. She opposed many Trump environmental rollbacks and considers climate change "the challenge of our lifetime." -
Efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus are being hampered because many people don't believe it's real. "It's absolute garbage," said Craig Mann of Flathead County in northwest Montana. -
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is removing federal protections for gray wolves in the contiguous U.S., saying the species' recovery is a success. Wildlife groups are promising to sue. -
Despite the cascade of other crises this year, climate change has emerged as a key election issue. The two major-party presidential candidates' positions on it could not be more different. -
Scientists know that tiny particles from smoke can be inhaled deep into a person's lungs and even enter the bloodstream. But the long-term health effects of this are not fully understood. -
In another record-breaking year, communities are realizing the best way to survive wildfires is learning to live with them. -
Human activities are causing an "unprecedented" and alarming decline in wildlife populations around the world, a new report warns. It says the staggering loss ultimately threatens human life as well. -
Hurricanes, wildfires, heat waves and disease outbreaks are all a preview of our hotter future. Dramatically cutting greenhouse gas emissions would help. -
Any visitors to the national park are getting blunt advice: "Travel prepared to survive." It's part of a heat wave that is forcing rolling blackouts in the West.
