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Katie Surma

Reporter, Pittsburgh

Katie Surma is a reporter at Inside Climate News covering the rights of nature movement and international environmental justice. Her work has a strong focus on the intersection of human rights and the environment. Before joining ICN, she practiced law, specializing in commercial litigation. Her journalism work has been recognized by the Overseas Press Club, the Society of International Journalists, the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and others. Katie has a master’s degree in investigative journalism from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, an LLM in international rule of law and security from ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, a J.D. from Duquesne University, and was a History of Art and Architecture major at the University of Pittsburgh. Katie lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
  • @katiesurma.bsky.social
  • @Katie_Surma
  • [email protected]
The Central Florida Zoo announced Wednesday that Bandit, a sloth transferred from Sloth World, had died. Credit: Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens

Florida Opens Criminal Probe Into Sloth World After Dozens of Animal Deaths

By Katie Surma, Kiley Price

After Mass Deaths at ‘Sloth World,’ 13 Surviving Animals Are Transferred to a Florida Zoo

By Kiley Price, Katie Surma

Yuvelis Morales Blanco stands next to Colombia’s Magdalena River. Credit: Christian EscobarMora for the Goldman Environmental Prize

Rights of Nature Defender Wins Goldman Prize for Protecting Colombia’s Magdalena River From Fracking

By Katie Surma

A wild male three-fingered sloth climbs a tree in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica. Credit: Sam Trull

At ‘Sloth World’ in Florida, Wild Sloths Have Died by the Dozens

By Katie Surma, Kiley Price

Paramedics for Ecosystems

ICN Sunday Morning

A sperm whale calf swims alongside her mother in the Caribbean Sea of Dominica. Credit: Brian J. Skerry/National Geographic

Inside a Rare Sperm Whale Birth Reshaping How Scientists Understand Animal Cooperation

By Katie Surma

Energy Secretary Chris Wright speaks to the attendees at S&P Global’s CERAWeek in Houston on Monday. Credit: Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

White House’s ‘Drill Baby Drill’ Wartime Mandate Meets Volatile Market Reality

By Katie Surma

Paraecologists Olger Kitiar (left) and Jhostin Antún eagerly check a camera trap tucked into the forest on Maikiuants territory on Nov. 29, 2025.

In the Fight to Defend the Amazon, This Indigenous Community’s Secret Weapon Is Science

Story and photos by Katie Surma

Waorani Indigenous leaders protest oil exploitation in Yasuni National Park in front of Quito’s Constitutional Court on Aug. 20, 2025. Credit: Rodrigo Buendia/AFP via Getty Images

The Latest Tactic for Silencing Ecuador’s Environmental Defenders: Shuttering Their Bank Accounts

By Katie Surma

An oil pumpjack operates in the background as a fast food worker takes orders at a drive-through on Feb. 9, 2023, in Signal Hill, Calif. Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Unequal Access to Nature Fuels America’s Health Crisis

By Katie Surma

Members of a Māori community perform “karakia” to pay their respects to the carcass of a sperm whale that washed up on the shores of New Brighton, New Zealand, on Nov. 5, 2023. Credit: Sanka Vidanagama/NurPhoto via Getty Images

How a Groundbreaking Indigenous Treaty on Whales’ Rights Could Change National Laws

By Katie Surma

A young humpback whale swims with its mother in the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean near the island of Rurutu in the Austral archipelago of French Polynesia. Credit: Alexis Rosenfeld/Getty Images

How a ‘Powerful Vision’ on Whales and Oceans Could Change Worldviews

By Katie Surma

An African elephant moves through the Cuando River in Angola. Credit: Kostadin Luchansky/National Geographic

One of Africa’s Most Important Water Sources Just Got Some Very Good News

By Katie Surma

The Gifford Fire burns through 30,000 acres in Los Padres National Forest near Santa Maria, Calif., on Aug. 2, 2025. Credit: Benjamin Hanson/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Wildfire Urgency Unites Congress. The ‘Fix Our Forests’ Act Does Not.

By Katie Surma

An aerial photo shows a large crowd filling a street. Some people hold signs or banners.

Canada’s Mining Firms Are Big Beneficiaries of the Global Order Its Prime Minister Just Criticized

By Katie Surma

Women sit on a sidewalk along the dried-up riverbed of the Zayanderud in Isfahan, Iran, on Dec. 1, 2025. Credit: Hozi/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Iran’s Regime Has Survived War, Sanctions and Uprising. Environmental Crises May Bring It Down.

By Katie Surma

Ned Tapa, a Māori leader, paddles down the Whanganui River in New Zealand. Credit: Richard Sidey

‘I Am the River’: How Indigenous Knowledge Reshaped New Zealand’s Law

By Katie Surma

A young Venezuelan miner works in an open pit mine in search of gold in El Callao, Venezuela, on Aug. 29, 2023. Credit: Magda Gibelli/AFP via Getty Images

Trump Wants to Accelerate Extraction in Venezuela. So Do Drug Trafficking Organizations.

By Katie Surma

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