Megan Mayhew-Bergman.

• Position: FIVE QUESTIONS FOR...

A writer, editor, and teacher, Megan Mayhew-Bergman's passion is helping people share ethical and compelling stories about the natural world. The author of two short story collections, she has also written for The Guardian, New Yorker, Paris Review, and New York Times. Now, she is sharing her passion and expertise with CLF as a volunteer Senior Fellow.

1 What inspired you to write?

I think a lot of pre-Internet small-town southerners have narrative built into them in the form of sermons, and that is why so many of us are oriented to short-form writing. My father was a great storyteller --hyperbolic, funny, and with an eye for offbeat details. I grew up loving stories--that feeling of connection and delight.

Henry James said a writer should be the person upon whom nothing is lost, and I think I am both observant and sensitive, which leaves me watching and feeling a lot. Writing is a way to process those impulses. Plus, I'm always trying to get back to the feeling I had as a young girl, reading a Nancy Drew novel on the beach, with a storm approaching on the horizon.

It's a holy exchange between reader and writer, offering someone the opportunity to be transported elsewhere, or to see something more clearly. I love being transported as a reader, and also offering a reader that same feeling as a writer.

2 What drew you to volunteer with CLF?

When I was writing my first environmental column for The Guardian, I had a realization about the power of scale when it comes to impact. I think organizations like CLF (and its southern counterpart, SELC) can make an enormous difference in terms of scale by holding corporations and governing bodies accountable for their actions.

Also, I see an enormous gulf between what the general public knows and what the environmental movement is trying to accomplish. I think storytelling is a way of closing that divide, so I try to pitch in on that front.

3 What resonates with your readers about climate change and other environmental issues?

Readers sort through a lot of noise in 2020. They see data, facts, falsehoods, self-righteousness, shallow opinions. As...