RACHEL PARSONS
International multimedia journalist
Pulitzer Center Grantee
With no help in sight, Ghana’s coastal farmers are drowning in salt – The Africa Report, October 7, 2024
Salt water is killing crops. In the runup to COP, The Africa Report looks at how it is affecting farmers in Africa. Produced with support from the Pulitzer Center.
Long-form with photography for Anthropolitan, a publication of the Anthropology Department at
University College London.
This work was the foundation for
Rachel's 2021 MSc dissertation on
identities and exclusion in urban
environmental movements in London.
Stay or go? Rising seas threaten to chase people from UK coasts – Context (Thomson Reuters Foundation), August 2, 2023
Britain's coastal communities face growing climate threat as sea level rise speeds up erosion - and poses dilemma over relocation
Uzbek farmers battle to save cotton, wheat crops from mortal enemy: salt – Nikkei Asia, May 7, 2024
Growing salinization crisis bites as cotton exports to Bangladesh skid 80% in 5 years
Rachel Parsons won Best Feature Photo and Best Photo Essay for the Malheur Enterprise at the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association Awards, September 2021.
Rewetting peatland is good for the climate. Here's why Europe is very slow at it – Euronews, August 25, 2023
Rewetting drained land could help in the fight against climate change but the EU's agricultural subsidies scheme currently favours the use of drained land.
Strange methane leak discovered at the deepest point of the Baltic Sea baffling scientists – LiveScience, October 11, 2023
A huge methane leak discovered in the Baltic Sea spans 7.7 square miles, with masses of gas bubbles rising almost all the way to the ocean surface.
Bangladesh’s Shift Toward Salt-tolerant Agriculture Offers Lessons in Climate Resilience – Earth Island Journal, December 17, 2024
Low-tech solutions have brought thousands of acres of farmland back into production. This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
Is my house still there? Are my relatives safe? – The New York Times, September 12, 2024
Fire evacuees worry, and wonder what comes next.
At This London Tour Company, Formerly Unhoused People Are Your Guides – Unpacked by AFAR Magazine, February 8, 2024
In this week’s episode of Unpacked by AFAR, we meet the tour company that’s uniting travel and homelessness.
Climate-hit wetlands lay bare Britain's biodiversity struggle – Context (Thomson Reuters Foundation), April 26, 2023
As Britain tries to achieve nature-protection goals despite climate change, The Broads National Park is providing a testing ground.
How food growers in Bangladesh and Spain are adapting to increasingly salty conditions – The World, September 27, 2024
The UN Food and Agriculture organization says that in the next 25 years, salinity will affect more than half of the arable land around the globe. With support from the Pulitzer Center, reporter Rachel Parsons went to Bangladesh and Spain to see how farmers in both places are adapting.
Climate Lawyers Take Aim at ‘Green’ Heating Scheme Fed by Incinerator – DeSmog, September 21, 2022
The government has handed tens of millions to similar projects around the country in recent years.
How Indigenous Groups Are Using 3-D Technology to Preserve Ancient Practices – Scientific American, June 29, 2022
To safeguard fragile cultural objects, some groups are replicating them with digital models
Holocaust researchers appeal for Nazi deportation images to document 'where it started' – Euronews, January 27, 2023
An international group of Holocaust researchers is asking for the public’s help to find forgotten photos of deportations from Nazi Germany.
Too Much Salt in the Soil Is No Problem for These Crops – Scientific American, February 18, 2025
Halophytes that thrive in increasingly saline soils could help feed people and livestock
Produced with support from the Pulitzer Center. This article also appears in the March issue.
Anthropology Association Apologizes to Native Americans for the Field’s Legacy of Harm – Scientific American, March 28, 2022
For decades anthropologists exploited Indigenous peoples in the name of science. Now they are reckoning with that history.
Rachel Parsons is named a Pulitzer Center Grantee for her reporting project Sea Greens, examining global saline agriculture practices in the face of climate change. March 2024
Family Still Seeks Answers After Deadly Railroad-Crossing Accident – Fort Worth Magazine, September 7, 2021
On May 29, 1980, Joe Parsons was killed by a train at a railroad crossing. Forty years later, there are still questions left unanswered.
Long-form feature with photography.
What the Campaign Against a North London Waste Incinerator Teaches Us About the Green Movement’s Diversity Problem – DeSmog, December 15, 2021
Activists opposing the rebuild of an incinerator in the London Borough of Enfield ... have been forced to confront environmentalism’s white, middle-class dominance.
How mixing farms with forests can help the UK reach net zero – Context (Thomson Reuters Foundation), November 3, 2022
From lower emissions to happier chickens, agroforestry is making a comeback as farmers benefit from adding trees to their land.
You'll Never Listen to Hotel Music the Same Way Again – Unpacked by AFAR Magazine, May 4, 2023
Think back to the last time you stayed at a hotel: Did you notice the music playing? Either way, that music was likely highly curated.
Device that stores liquid sunshine could one day power your phone – New Scientist, May 13, 2022
A system for trapping sunlight as thermal energy within molecules and then converting it to electricity could be a portable replacement for batteries.
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