The Upper Mississippi River Conference is returning for its 19th year on October 15th and 16th, with a strong focus on river issues and environmental change. This year, the UMRC has the wonderful opportunity of hosting the renowned Maiya May, who is a Climate Reporter and the PBS host of the program WEATHERED: Earth’s Extremes.
At the Conference, Maiya will discuss the work she does in climate reporting and some of the natural disaster topics that she includes in her episodes. She will also talk about her career journey and be able to provide valuable information for those wanting to go into science communication and environmental storytelling.
Maiya’s passion for the natural world began in Georgia, growing up alongside the Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve. Her connection with nature continued to stick around through high school, eventually leading her to the University of Missouri-Columbia. There she studied geography and atmospheric science, while also interning at various news stations. She found that broadcast meteorology wasn’t the right fit for her and decided to pursue a new goal. That goal was to create media that would help people to better understand, appreciate, and connect with the natural world.
Since then, she has produced four independent documentaries and a PBS Terra series. Her six-part PBS series WEATHERED: Earth’s Extremes explores natural disasters across the United States and the resilience of the people who face them. Her mission is simple but powerful—to bridge the gap between people and nature through storytelling.
To learn more about Maiya, visit maiyamay.com or explore her projects at pbs.org.
Come join Maiya May for lunch and a panel discussion at this year’s UMRC. For more information on the full conference schedule and exciting speaker lineup, visit riveraction.org/umrc. We look forward to seeing you there!