Endangered species, overpopulation politics and words of advice from a seasoned journalist were all topics covered by John Nielsen, science correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR) at his speech at the Miami University Art Museum Friday.
Nielsen, who has reported for NPR's All Things Considered, Morning Edition and Weekend Edition for the past 17 years told Miami students and faculty that the second he arrived at NPR, he knew he had found the right job for him.
"When I got to NPR and started hearing what stories sounded like when they were driven by the sounds of other people's voices ... I just sank my teeth into that job," Nielsen said. "There was no way they were going to get rid of me."
Nielsen said that he attacked stories the same way each time he sat down to report.
At the beginning of each story, Nielsen asks himself who would be least likely to be interested.
"My challenge is to get them," Nielsen said.
Nielsen said he typically uses anecdotes that attract listeners to then talks about the bigger picture.
Nielson cited two anecdotes in particular that he used to grab audiences - faking an ant funeral and asking the audience to imagine they were moose.
"I pretended to be inside an ant hill," Nielson said. "I said 'shhh' ... the queen is beginning her eulogy."
Nielsen then applied how ants stack their dead in interesting shapes to the future of war intelligence, cell phone call routing and traffic control.
The second story that received laughs from the audience was the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park, which had one problem according to Nielsen.
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"The moose didn't know what they were," Nielsen said. "The wolves just walked up and ate them."
Students in attendance received three keys to journalistic success from Nielsen. The first, Nielsen said, was to be like the Messiah.
"You have to have a real passion for it because it will eat you alive," Nielsen said. "You have to think you're doing some form of God's work."
The second key to success, according to Nielsen, is to realize anything can be explained and everything is interesting.
The final piece of advice Nielsen gave audience members was that a journalist must be able to crank.
He said that aggressive journalists need to be able to write 10 stories in three days on toilet paper.
John Hingsbergen, program director for WMUB and the sponsor of Nielsen's visit, said he was pleased with the presentation, but hopes for better attendance for the next speaker they sponsor.
"I think people really enjoyed him," Hingsbergen said. "I heard numerous positive comments. We felt we could have had better attendance, but it gives us an idea of what to do next time we have a visitor."
Although now a seasoned reporter, Nielsen said never intended to be an environmental reporter.
An English major from Stanford University, Nielsen wanted to become a freelance journalist. At the time, environmental reporting was the backwaters of news beats.
Plans changed with Nielsen's first story, published in Sports Illustrated.
Nielsen covered the capture of the last wild California condor, the giant vulture that used to live near his childhood home in Piru, Calif. The subject heightened his interest in both the environment and science, Nielsen said.
By the time Nielsen finished the article, he decided to specialize in environmental reporting, at a time of debate over whether or not it could actually be considered journalism.
As for the fate of the subject of Nielsen's first article, the California condor now lives in the wild again, in the Grand Canyon. Nielson's coverage has developed into a newly published book called Condor Book.
"It's the mother of all endangered species," Nielsen said. "When you see it flying, you are transformed forever."
Nielsen also explained how he believes the future will be transformed.
According to Nielsen, within the next 20 years, wild tigers will become extinct due to poaching. China citizens pay a lot for tiger bones, believed to be a powerful pain reliever.
Nielsen also predicted that by 2040, the United States will experience a coming wave of change with the arrival of another 100 million people. The United States population will be larger than China and building space will have to double to hold the population.
"A lot of changes have to be made if we're not going to butcher the landscape," Nielsen said.
Lastly, Nielsen said environmental issues may finally become a national issue in politics. This means environmental topics may take an important role in the next presidential election.
Nielsen ended his speech with an environmental message to Miami students.
"Watch for landscape changes," Nielsen said. "We haven't seen nothing yet."
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