Bruce Ritchie
Environment and Energy Reporter, Politico
M.A.M.C. 1993
Bruce Ritchie covered environmental issues in Florida starting in1993, right after receiving his Master of Mass Communication Degree from CJC.
He reported on the environment for the Gainesville Sun, the Tallahassee Democrat and Florida Current. He was also former editor of floridenvironments.com. In 2015, he joined Politico, a news and information company based in Washington, D.C.
He has written extensively about the fight over water among Alabama, Florida and Georgia and about pollution threats to Florida’s groundwater and springs.
What inspired you to devote so much of your career to natural Florida, and what keeps you at it decades later despite the ecological loss you’ve seen in that time?
I’ve discovered so much beauty in nature after moving to Florida that I wanted to learn more and figure out whether the environment will survive Florida’s population growth. I still find interesting people and policy issues involving the environment and energy. Environment and energy issues can touch people and help them relate to their surroundings.
What’s your favorite story of how journalism or communications, your work or someone else’s, made a difference on behalf of Florida’s environment?
One of my earliest examples was a state proposal to build a hazardous waste incinerator on state land near a prison in Union County, about 30 miles north of Gainesville. The state said it was needed and there were no alternatives. Local residents who were opposed said it wasn’t needed. Eventually they were shown to be right and the incinerator was never built. That taught me that informed citizens fighting for their homes can make a difference.
What’s the most critical environmental threat facing Florida, and the most meaningful action the state and its citizens can do to help?
It’s impossible to say just one issue unless it’s apathy.
Plastic pollution in the short term, sea level rise in the longer term. Waste reduction is needed to deal with plastic pollution. Comprehensive reductions in fossil fuel use are needed to address climate change and reduce sea level rise. We also need to do all we can to reduce nutrient pollution from fertilizer runoff and to make our yards and public spaces beautiful and wildlife friendly.
What is your favorite spot in Florida to embrace its ecological wonders?
From Tallahassee it’s Alum Bluff on the Apalachicola River. From Gainesville it’s Blue Hole at Ichetucknee Springs State Park.
What would you advise current CJC students about how/whether their work may help protect Florida’s wild lands, waters and creatures — and all of us?
Follow their hearts on covering the environment and don’t let fears about job concerns chart your course. Listen and learn all you can from experienced journalists, but make your own choices. Don’t be afraid of mistakes, but do learn from your choices. And read books as much as you can, which is hard to do as a busy reporter in a digital world.