Source: School of Environment and Sustainability
Nina Misuraca Ignaczak (BS ’97, MS ’03) had always been interested in journalism, but it was not until 2013, when she left a nearly 15-year career of working in community planning focused on land preservation, watershed management, trails and recreation parks, that she pursued full-time journalism. “I kind of had the nagging feeling that I should be doing journalism,” she told attendees at a recent University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) Alumni Master Chat. Her talk focused on “Environmental Journalism’s Role in Protecting Our Planet.”
Ignaczak started freelancing for media startups but noticed a gap in local environmental media coverage at the time. “I just didn’t see what I wanted to do out there,” she said. In 2019, Ignaczak launched Planet Detroit as a newsletter side project in response to a lack of local environmental news outlets in the Detroit area. The newsletter started to gain traction and grew organically from there. Today, Planet Detroit is an award-winning nonprofit digital media company that has been recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists Detroit, the Institute for Nonprofit News and LION Publishers. Its mission is to “produce quality climate, equity, health, and environmental journalism for the public interest that centers on grassroots voices, holds power accountable, spotlights solutions, and serves the community.”
Empowering Readers
Planet Detroit’s work models what locally rooted, public interest environmental journalism can look like by serving a greater purpose than providing information to the community. “We see journalism as a means to an end, as a means to drive people to do something, not just to inform, not just to entertain, but to actually inspire people to take action,” Ignaczak said.
