FERN Talks & Eats NYC 2025 - A BUZZKILL Podcast Celebration

We are thrilled to celebrate , our new limited series podcast, with our community of supporters, readers, and listeners, and enthusiasts.

Buzzkill, a six-episode narrative podcast, takes you past the familiar terrain of the pollinator crisis, exploring the full scope and scale of the problem. Buzzkill reports on the threat to our food system, explores how it fits into the larger biodiversity crisis, and makes compelling arguments about what we can do about it.

Join us for a view behind the scenes of the podcast and an engaging conversation on urban pollinators moderated by Sewell Chan, executive editor of the Columbia Journalism Review with journalist Teresa Cotsirilos, Buzzkill host, Sara Hobel, executive director of the Horticultural Society of New York, Rebecca Louie, executive director of the Bee Conservancy, and some special guests. Information about the VIP Experience is available here.

Producing high-quality, engaging audio documentaries is extremely time consuming and expensive. We rely on our FERN community to support our work. Please consider an additional donation at checkout. Donors at the $50 level and above will receive two beer/wine/NA drink tickets

• Doors: 7:15pm
• Panel: 7:30pm to 8:30pm

Sewell Chan joined the Columbia Journalism Review as executive editor in September 2024. A longtime journalist, he is passionate about journalism ethics, new business models for news, and the urgent need to support working journalists who face unprecedented challenges.Previously, Chan was editor in chief of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit newsroom based in Austin, from 2021 to 2024. During his tenure the Tribune won the National Magazine Award and the Collier Prize for State Government Accountability and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, all for the first time. From 2018 to 2021, Chan was a deputy managing editor and then the editorial page editor at the Los Angeles Times, where he oversaw coverage that was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Chan worked at The New York Times from 2004 to 2018, as a metro reporter, Washington correspondent, deputy Op-Ed editor and international news editor. He began his career as a reporter at The Washington Post in 2000. He has also written for The Wall Street Journal and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Sara Hobel is Executive Director of the Horticultural Society of New York where she oversees programs to restore community gardens in inner-city neighborhoods, plant and maintain greenery in city plazas, improve environmental and nutrition literacy among public school children and their parents, construct urban farms and therapeutic gardens in supportive housing facilities, provide horticultural therapy and vocational training to inmates on Rikers Island and juvenile offenders in alternative incarceration programs, and offer a rehabilitative paid internship program for individuals transitioning from incarceration back into society. Ms. Hobel came to The Hort from her position as Vice President of Education for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), where she oversaw a broad portfolio of environmental education programs at the Bronx, Central Park, Prospect Park and Queens Zoos, the New York Aquarium and international conservation sites. Prior to working at WCS, Ms. Hobel was Director of the Urban Park Rangers for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, overseeing environmental stewardship and education programs throughout New York’s flagship parks and managing the Rangers’ law enforcement functions.

Rebecca Louie is the executive director of the Bee Conservancy and is a certified Master Composter and trained beekeeper who believes everyone has the power to make a difference. A former journalist, she has written for numerous news and culture publications and authored the book Compost City: Practical Composting Know-How for Small-Space Living. As a brand strategist and creative director, she has worked with executive, marketing, product, and technology teams to build global businesses.

Teresa Cotsirilos is the host of BUZZKILL and a Staff Writer and Producer at FERN, where she covers food systems, labor, and climate change in the Western US. Her work has been published by the New York Times, Reveal, NPR, Snap Judgment, the California Report Magazine, PRI’s The World and other outlets. Prior to joining FERN’s team, Teresa was a senior producer at WorldAffairs, a global politics show co-produced by World Affairs with KQED. She’s also reported for KALW, where she covered public health and climate equity in the Bay Area’s immigrant communities. She cut her teeth as a reporter and occasional host at KYUK, where she covered public safety and climate change in Western Alaska’s indigenous communities, winning seven statewide journalism awards, including Best Investigative Reporting in 2018. Teresa graduated from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, where her thesis won the Reva and David Logan Prize for Excellence in Investigative Reporting. Before she became a journalist, she sold eye patches in San Francisco and taught sex ed in Namibia. In a past life, she wrote children’s stories for American Girl.

Host or Publisher Food & Environment Reporting Network