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Event recap: Inequity at Boiling Point with Somini Sengupta, NYT foreign correspondent

February 15, 2022

Somini Sengupta-by Nicole Bengiveno
Somini Sengupta. Photo by Nicole Bengiveno

Over 280 members of the UW community and public gathered on Zoom on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, to listen to Somini Sengupta for a talk titled, “Inequity at Boiling Point: What I’ve Learned as a Journalist Covering the Human Toll of Global Warming,” as the international climate reporter for The New York Times.

Recording includes Closed Captioning and interactive transcription.

Leela Fernandes, director of the Jackson School, gave opening remarks and moderated the Q&A.

Sengupta, who has been a reporter at The New York Times for over 20 years, has written stories from nearly 50 countries, covered 10 conflicts, and authored a book on India. She tells the stories of communities and landscapes most vulnerable to the effects of climate change — reporting from the front lines of the climate crisis, and recently focusing more and more on both China and the United States’ converging interests on global warming.

On Feb. 9, the same day as the talk, The New York Times announced Sengupta would become the anchor for Climate Fwd, a global newsletter examining efforts to address the climate crisis.

She is the recipient of a George Polk Award for foreign reporting, as well as awards from the National Association of Black Journalists, the New York Newswomen’s Club and the United Nations Correspondents Association.

The event was sponsored by The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies in partnership with the East Asia CenterCenter for Global StudiesJapan Studies ProgramMiddle East CenterSouth Asia CenterProgram on the Environment and School of Marine and Environmental Affairs at the University of Washington.