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Elizabeth Royte

Writer・Author

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Illustration by Jen Renninger

Drinking Problems: A Kansas town confronts a tap-water crisis

The story of polluters who aren’t asked to pay, in Harper’s.

Industrial Corn Farms Pollute Drinking Water

Straightforward solutions exist. National Geographic

Photo by Bob Campbell

The Gorillas Dian Fossey Saved

About the primatologist’s legacy and what more gorillas in a small space mean for Rwanda. In National Geographic.

Photo by Andrea Bruce

Nearly a Billion People Still Defecate in the Outdoors. Here’s Why

My feature about India’s struggle to shift the cultural preference of many millions — in National Geographic.

Photo by Grant Cornett

The Compost King

About converting food scraps to energy, in addition to fertilizer, through anaerobic digestion, in The New York Times Magazine.

The Hidden Rivers of Brooklyn

About the potential for using nature to un-pervert urban hydrology — especially in the Gowanus watershed — in Harper’s magazine. (Email me if you can’t access it.)

Too Good to Waste

On the efforts of campaigner Tristram Stuart to slash the 2.9 trillion pounds of food we annually squander, in National Geographic magazine.

Flexibility Test

About the mixed blessing of pouch and other flexible plastic packaging, in OnEarth magazine.

Photo by Charlie Hamilton James

Vultures Are Revolting: Here’s Why We Need To Save Them

A feature in National Geographic Magazine on these incredibly charismatic but acutely threatened birds. Amazing photos, of course.

Photo by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel

New York’s Fresh Kills Landfill Gets an Epic Facelift

In Audubon Magazine.

© 2019 Elizabeth Royte