A quick look at Grists compelling content. Specifically, I look and how humor and wit helps Grist attract a wider and younger audience.
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as a 20-something millennial
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environmentalist I usually start my day
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by rolling out of bed powering on my
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laptop and browsing through the newest
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articles from Grist among other sites
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Grist is a refreshingly informative
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online magazine that covers issues
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related to the environment with smart
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and witty commentary topics that are
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often overshadowed in many other
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newspapers like the New York Times or
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The Wall Street Journal or frontline
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throughout their site Grist represents a
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new and much-needed wave of eco
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journalism that focuses on issues like
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environmental justice that often lack
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mainstream coverage pride in itself as
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the beacon and the smog and the news
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source that reports on doom and gloom
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with a sense of humor Crist has managed
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to gain over 2 million subscribers since
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its inception in 1999 but why exactly is
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Crist so compelling and how is it
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managed to garner such a substantial
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audience in part I think Crists success
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can be attributed to their ability to
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make complex information accessible and
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entertaining the best way to understand
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this approach is to dive into some of
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Kristins articles and videos the online
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magazine has managed to keep itself
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fresh and approachable in part because
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of its video content its in-house videos
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mirror of recent surge of video
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journalism championed by bigger news
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sources like Vox but even while
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explaining intense and oftentimes
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deflating subjects like the Dakota
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access pipeline the journalists at grist
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craft easily digestible witty and more
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importantly information heavy content
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for example in a video published on
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January 12 2017 titled what Trumps
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interior picks I mean for federal funds
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and national parks a staff writer Katie
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Herzog provides a succinct rundown of
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what exactly the nominations Bryans
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Enki will mean for
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American public lands photography Ginns
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the video with a clever hook true to
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grist ethos she lists the great things
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about America like cookie dough ice
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cream
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and Dwayne the rock Johnson in order to
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ease viewers into the serious issue at
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hand the new management of national
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parks and public lands with slick motion
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graphics a collected demeanor and at
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times
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cheeky visuals Hertzog explains the
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importance of public lands and why Ryan
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sinky might be a concerning pic for
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managing them despite the serious topic
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of this video it maintains a light and
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entertaining tone in this way the video
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definitely walks the line between
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entertainment and information it invites
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people in with humor and then sits them
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down for a lesson one of Crists more
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recent articles about batteries once
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again reflects this ability to navigate
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between important environmental
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information and humor the first sentence
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of the article is comical and irreverent
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as the author amelia early writes the
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battery might be the least sexy piece of
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technology ever invented she then goes
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on to write a compelling article about
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the importance of batteries for our
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future through her research she
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discovers that new more powerful
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batteries are essential to establishing
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a stable renewable energy grid peppered
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throughout her prose Murray provides the
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audience with a humorous liner to acting
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like a mental break from the flood of
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information this like much of the other
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content at grist uses cleverness as a
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chaser to make the fact heavy or
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depressing sections go down but wire wit
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and accessibility important can I just
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keep reading the New York Times
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environment section well yes you can and
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should because a diverse range of new
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sources is necessary but Crist brings to
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the table and often under voiced
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progressive look at all things
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environmental and by doing it in a
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humorous way theyve managed to reach a
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broader audience some of whom may not
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engage with these issues at all if the
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New York Times is their only source of
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information from green Living to
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environmental justice Chris has crafted
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a fine-tuned eco news outlet that
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investigates often gloomy subjects with
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reflexivity and wit this approach is
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much needed when dealing with such
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mammoth problems as Cline
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change when done well levity and
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optimism can work to inspire action and
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spread knowledge in a way Grist uses
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humor not as escapism but as a means to
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help more people understand and grapple
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with the environmental issues that
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surround us I am in no way associated
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with Grist I just really like their
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content and I wanted to make a video
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about them if youre new to this channel
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please go ahead and subscribe or press
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the like button down below or do both it
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doesnt really matter you can also go
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ahead and support me on patreon which is
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sort of like an ongoing Kickstarter I
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hope you enjoyed the video and I will
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see you next week bye
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video.
The post Grist: A Humorous Take on Environmental Gloom appeared first on The Good Men Project.