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Jacob Margolis
What I cover
I cover science, with a focus on environmental stories and disasters, as well as investigations and accountability.
My background
I created, wrote and hosted the LAist Studios podcasts, The Big One: Your Survival Guide and The Big Burn: How To Survive In The Age of Wildfires. I was part of the team that won the 2021 Investigative Reporters and Editors Audio Journalism Award for the series "Hot Days: Heat’s Mounting Death Toll On Workers In The U.S. "Most recently, I’ve published investigations into large scale illegal dumping in L.A. County and previously unreported heavy metal concentrations in fire retardants.
My goals
To uncover how science, policy, and power intersect — so people have the information they need to hold decision-makers accountable and protect their communities.
Best way to reach me
You can reach me by email: jmargolis@laist.com. Or for encrypted communications, I'm on Signal: @jacobmargolis.1.
Stories by Jacob Margolis
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It doesn't look great for local landscapes or our big stores of water, which are already stressed by previous dry years.
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A new bill could double the size of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and protect a whole lot more land in the San Gabriels.
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They're beautiful, grow delicious fruit and are so moist they might slow down wildfires. Could large scale banana plantings be part of the solution to our fire woes?
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They're beautiful, grow delicious fruit, and are so moist that they could potentially work to protect against fires. Could large scale banana plantings be the solution to some of our fire woes?
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Not saying you’re going to need it, but it’s always a good idea to have a go bag if you live in a mountainous area that recently burned.
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It's the middle of winter, but there's a fire burning on Mt. Baldy and the National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning. It's the new normal.
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The last day actually brought a decent amount of rain (and snow) to some spots in Southern California.
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While California's most majestic forests may seem far from the the toxic smog in cities, it turns out that all the junk we pump into the air can travel a long way and make our trees sick.
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Smog from our cities has long been making the forests that we love to escape to sick, and helps set the stage for some terrible fires.
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Pollution coming from cars, trucks, manufacturing, and agriculture, is feeding invasive grasses that are making our wildfires worse.
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Pollution coming from cars, trucks, manufacturing, and agriculture, is feeding invasive grasses that are making our wildfires worse.
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With dry vegetation in our mountains and exceptionally strong Santa Ana winds hitting tonight, a big wildfire is a very real possibility.
