Elizabeth Shogren
Elizabeth Shogren is an NPR News Science Desk correspondent focused on covering environment and energy issues and news.
Since she came to NPR in 2005, Shogren's reporting has covered everything from the damage caused by the BP oil spill on the ecology of the Gulf Coast, to the persistence of industrial toxic air pollution as seen by the legacy of Tonawanda Coke near Buffalo, to the impact of climate change on American icons like grizzly bears.
Prior to NPR, Shogren spent 14 years as a reporter on a variety of beats at The Los Angeles Times, including four years reporting on environmental issues in Washington, D.C., and across the country. While working from the paper's Washington bureau, from 1993-2000, Shogren covered the White House, Congress, social policy, money and politics, and presidential campaigns. During that time, Shogren was given the opportunity to travel abroad on short-term foreign reporting assignments, including the Kosovo crisis in 1999, the Bosnian war in 1996, and Russian elections in 1993 and 1996. Before joining the Washington bureau, Shogren was based in Moscow where she covered the breakup of the Soviet Union and the rise of democracy in Russia for the newspaper.
Beginning in 1988, Shogren worked as a freelance reporter based in Moscow, publishing in a variety of newspapers and magazines, including Newsweek, The Dallas Morning News, the San Francisco Chronicle, and The Washington Post. During that time, she covered the fall of the Berlin Wall and the peaceful revolution in Prague.
Shogren's career in journalism began in the wire services. She worked for the Associated Press in Chicago and at United Press International in Albany, NY.
Throughout Shogren's career she has received numerous awards and honors including as a finalist for the 2011 Goldsmith Prize for investigative reporting, the National Wildlife Federation National Conservation Achievement Award, the Meade Prize for coverage of air pollution and she was an IRE finalist. She is a member of Sigma Delta Chi and the Society of Professional Journalist.
After earning a Bachelor of Arts in Russian studies at the University of Virginia, Shogren went on to receive a Master of Science in journalism from Columbia University.
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Every month, oil and gas operations dump millions of gallons of wastewater on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. Under a long-standing EPA loophole, it's perfectly legal. Internal agency documents obtained by NPR show the water contains toxic chemicals, including known carcinogens and radioactive materials, that end up in natural rivers. -
Sandy hit the East Coast on Monday and knocked out power for millions of people. Utility companies face major challenges to get power back online after the massive storm.
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Don't swat away that buzzing wasp. It may help spread the yeast that starts the fermentation process in grapes while they're still on the vine. The yeast carried by the wasp give wine its complexity, scientists say. -
In this presidential election, neither candidate is talking much about cleaning up the air or protecting scenic lands. Instead, the debate is about whether and how much environmental regulations hurt businesses. -
An ancient beauty in southwestern Colorado, Chimney Rock became the third national monument named by President Obama on Friday. More than just a spectacular feature, Chimney Rock's towering sandstone pillars were of astronomical importance to the ancestral Pueblo people over 1,000 years ago. -
As climate change brings more drought and flooding, food prices are expected to keep spiking. Such spikes affect the poor the most, but especially the poor in Africa and the Middle East, says a new Oxfam report. -
What could be worse than a ruptured pipeline of crude oil? A ruptured pipeline of tar sands oil — a thick, sticky substance. Cleanup of a 2010 spill in Michigan's Kalamazoo River took much longer and was far harder than anyone had anticipated. It's now a cautionary tale for people in the middle of the new Keystone pipeline's path. -
South America's Chinchorro people lived in an extremely dry desert region where the dead turned into mummies naturally. But at some point, they stopped leaving the process to nature. Now, scientists say the Chinchorros began mummifying their dead as their climate grew wetter. -
NASA may have retired its shuttles, but it has its sights on sending astronauts deeper into space than ever before. The agency wants to set foot on asteroids, but the first step is a soggy one. -
Hundreds of thousands of natural gas wells have sprung up across the country. In Garfield County, Colo., the drilling rigs are so close to homes that some people call them "Close Encounters." When the gas boom began a decade ago, residents began asking: Is it safe to live this close? Their quest for answers became too polarizing to pursue.
