Bellamy Pailthorp
Environment ReporterBellamy Pailthorp covers the environment beat from the Seattle offices of KNKX Public Radio News, where she has worked since 1999. She also has a deep interest in indigenous affairs and the Salish Sea. She holds a Masters in journalism from New York's Columbia University, where she completed the Knight-Bagehot fellowship in business reporting in 2006 mid-career during her stint on KNKX’s Business and Labor Beat from 2000-2012.
From 1989-98 she lived in Berlin, Germany freelancing for NPR and working as a bi-lingual producer for Deutsche Welle TV after receiving a Fulbright scholarship in 1989 for a project on theater studies and communist history. She holds a Bachelors’ degree in German language and literature from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. (Yes, she is fluent in German.)
She strives to tell memorable stories about how we will power our future while maintaining healthy cultures and livable cities. Character-driven
Outside work, she practices yoga, walks half marathons with friends, backpacks with her husband and extended family, reads and watches fiction with nieces, enjoys tasting new foods and admiring all kinds of animals -- especially her two house cats, who often remind her she should spend more time sitting on the couch with them.
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The extreme heat in June left many people scrambling to purchase portable air conditioners. But energy efficiency experts have two words for anyone who isn’t in a huge hurry: heat pump. -
KNKX reporters Lilly Ana Fowler and Bellamy Pailthorp wrapped up a three-part series this week called HEATED, which looked at the people who died and why and how King and Pierce counties can be better prepared for future heat waves. They share their personal takeaways from the project with KNKX's Kevin Kniestedt.
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It’s been two years since the Tacoma City Council unanimously declared a climate emergency. Now, activists say council members have lost sight of that measure, so they’re getting creative.
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How do you prevent deadly heat events in urban areas? Leaders in Tacoma and King County and teams of volunteers are trying to increase the tree canopy and provide cooling shade while educating the public, tearing up asphalt and, in some cases, battling decades-old racism.
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This summer's record high temperatures caught the Northwest off guard. People died on the job and in their homes and on the streets. Expert after expert told KNKX people will continue to die from conditions like this unless cities plan a lot better for extreme heat.
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This summer, as a heat dome engulfed the Pacific Northwest, at least 138 people died in Washington state. KNKX sought to learn more about those who lost their lives, at least in part, because of the heat wave in those final days in June, which experts say would not have happened without climate change.
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A polluted river runs through the heart of industrial Seattle. The Lower Duwamish waterway was designated a Superfund site in 2001. Now the community…
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Irreversible sea-level rise is among the permanent consequences of human-caused climate change. That’s one of the findings of the new report out this week…
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The Swinomish Tribe is filing another amicus brief this week, in support of a lawsuit against the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. Environmental…
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There’s good news – and some concerning news – about the endangered southern resident killer whales that were missing from the Salish Sea.All three…
