About Me

I’m a Special Investigative Correspondent covering climate, energy, and the environment at the Texas Observer, and an independent, freelance journalist who has been covering social and environmental justice issues since 2009.

Before I came to the Observer, I was Senior Editor/Staff Reporter at Truthout, an Editor/Environmental Reporter at Generation Progress, an Editorial Intern at In These Times magazine and Co-Host of a Dallas-based progressive talk radio program.

My work has also appeared in several other publications, including The Nation, The American Prospect, Salon, the Dallas Morning News, The Real News Network, Rewire News Group, Sludge, YES! Magazine and Earth Island Journal.

I have received awards, including the Fort Worth chapter of the Society of Professional Journalist’s First Amendment Award, the Native American Journalists Association’s National Native Media Award, the Dallas Peace and Justice Center’s Media Award, and the San Francisco Press Club’s Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards in the investigative and environmental reporting categories.

In 2016, Haymarket Books published a collection of reports and essays exploring police-perpetrated violence against Black, Brown, Indigenous and other marginalized communities, as well as miscarriages of justice and failures of token accountability and reform measures. My contribution to the anthology covers how communities are looking to alternative first-response models to intervene in some situations instead of the police. I’m now at work on my own forthcoming book project for Haymarket examining the intersections of rising fascism, the climate crisis and movement ecology.

I also wrote and produced a feature-length documentary, Don’t Frack With Denton, which chronicles how my hometown became the first city to ban fracking in Texas and its subsequent overturn in the state legislature. I’m now based in Austin.

I’ve spoken about my work at universities including Yale, Carnegie Mellon and the University of North Texas, and at several venues organized and hosted by activist and advocacy organizations. My work has also been used as a teaching tool in several university classrooms.

I can be reached at bernd@texasobserver.org for commissions. Please reach out by email, BlueSky direct message, or securely via Signal at Candice.49. Please see this site’s footer for my other social media accounts.

Thanks for your interest!