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In early January, the world watched in shock as wildfires tore through Los Angeles, claiming 29 lives and reducing at least 18,000 structures to ashes. Unlike the usual media coverage of climate disasters in remote areas or lower-income countries, this time, the United States’ second-largest city took centre stage, with even the mansions of Hollywood’s wealthiest and most famous lost to the flames.

This moment was exactly what the at the ³Ô¹ÏÍø had anticipated when it launched in 2021.

“Something that we thought was unimaginable has happened. Something that we thought was going to happen in the future happened in the present,” says Sean Holman, UVic’s Wayne Crookes Professor of Environmental and Climate Journalism and CDP founder. “And it’s this kind of event that we’ve been preparing for.”

As an award-winning, international teaching newsroom, CDP trains students to work on the frontlines of humanitarian crises, documenting and investigating the experiences of climate disaster survivors. Rather than focusing on abstract future projections, it prioritizes the human impacts of floods, wildfires, droughts and other climate disasters—empowering survivor voices.

“Survivors of climate disasters want to be able to talk about their experiences, and we should be listening to them,” Sean explains. “That’s because we know survivors have knowledge about how we can keep our friends, families, and communities safe in a more climate uncertain future. And the first-person testimonies we co-create with them are more effective than other forms of journalism at moving audiences to act on this knowledge.”

Sean’s seven-year professorship was made possible by the generosity of Vancouver business leader and political activist Wayne Crookes. Crookes made a gift of $1.5 million in 2021, along with an additional $375,000 for research and outreach, with the goal of increasing the quantity, quality, depth and prominence of science-based environmental journalism and media coverage to address the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss.

“This project and the work of the professorship is profoundly informed by Wayne's humanitarianism,” says Sean.

“It would not have been possible without his bold leadership and vision.”

Preparing journalists for a changing world

To date, 237 students have been trained in trauma-informed interviewing skills and co-created 320 disaster-survivor testimonies, some of which have appeared in local, national and international publications, including the British newspaper The Guardian, Brazil’s O Globo, and Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.

“We know that climate disasters are going to increase in frequency and intensity,” Sean adds. “As a result, exposure to traumatic events is going to increase, raising the prevalence of PTSD across society. A warmer world is a more traumatic world.”

In addition to creating the CDP, the Wayne Crookes Professorship in Environmental and Climate Journalism has allowed Sean to lead two courses at UVic. In these courses Sean teaches students to conduct trauma-informed interviews when crafting survivor testimonies and investigating climate-related crises.

Recent graduate Sydney Lobe (BFA ’24) says these classes helped hone her ability to document firsthand accounts with sensitivity and depth.

“There was a lot to learn about trauma-informed interviewing, but at the core of it, you’re showing up as a person first—empathy forward—and understanding that this person is potentially sharing one of the most traumatic events of their life,” she says.

Traditional journalism, Sydney notes, has often re-traumatized survivors by forcing them to relive their experiences, while these courses encourage journalists to evolve with the industry by prioritizing ethical storytelling and sensitivity.

“As journalism changes, we need to change with it,” she says.

Sydney’s coursework led her to a series of real-world reporting assignments for CDP, such as covering the melting ice bridge in West Dawson, and interviews with an Ontario sheep farmer struggling with extreme drought and a wildland firefighter in interior BC. Later, she worked on an investigative project exploring the effects of toxic landfill smoke after a wildfire—an issue uncovered through previous survivor testimony.

Now editor-in-chief at , UVic’s independent student newspaper, Sydney has continued her focus on climate journalism. In November 2024, the paper’s featured a collaboration with CDP, publishing stories from students who had lived through climate disasters.

“Working with Sean and the CDP editorial team is like a master class in interviewing and narrative structure—all of the essential building blocks for a good piece of writing,” Sydney reflects.

Stories of hope

To amplify its impact, CDP has forged partnerships with journalism schools and disaster management programs across Canada, including University of King's College in Halifax and York University in Toronto. It has also collaborated with Neworld Theatre and the UVic’s Department of Theatre to create Eyes of the Beast, a stage adaptation based on survival testimonials.

Sean says that unlike much of climate journalism produced over the past 50 years, CDP aims to build a broader understanding of how climate disasters affect communities across geographic, socio-economic and political lines—while also exploring opportunities for shared action by those diverse communities.

“We have failed to create the model where individual action becomes collective action that can influence governments and corporations,” he says.