Work With Us
Submission Guidelines
KneeDeep Times editors welcome story, film, photo and art submissions on a wide variety of climate resilience topics. Editors are actively working to expand the magazine’s freelance and editorial pool to better reflect California’s diversity.
We sometimes seek time-sensitive pitches on specific topics. Please scroll to bottom to view active pitch requests.
KneeDeep pays up to $1/word for most stories. Preferred lengths are 500 or 1000 words.
We prefer solution-driven stories about the greater San Francisco Bay Area. But we welcome stories about California, the West Coast, or even elsewhere in the country as long as you can add information about what it has to do with our region (example two part story: New Jersey Shells Out for Retreat + Coast Leaders Talk Graceful Withdrawal).
KneeDeep also pays for professional photography, art, and film.
KneeDeep also welcomes opinion or perspective pieces, or letters to the editor (300-1000 words). But we reserve the right to decide whether to publish them or not.
Feel free to contact us, either to introduce yourself and the types of stories you like to cover, or with pitches. Contact the editor Ariel Rubissow Okamoto.
Citizen Stories & Snaps
KneeDeep welcomes citizen stories and personal reflections on climate adaptation and resilience on the California Climate Quilt. Our editors are also available to help you shape and share your story this way. While we do not pay for quilt squares, we hope to organize some occasional prizes for best images and stories soon!
Picture of the Month
The editors chose a Picture of the Month and feature it at the bottom of the home page. All submissions must be of high resolution and in a horizontal format, and include an interesting caption, either telling the story of what we are seeing in the picture or of what the photographer felt and was trying to capture in the image. We pay up to $100 per picture of the month.
Republication Guidelines
KneeDeep welcomes republication of its stories. See our guidelines here.
Other Recent Posts
ReaderBoard
Once a month we share reader announcements: jobs, events, reports, and more.
Slow Progress on Shade For California’s Hottest Desert Towns
Coachella Valley communities face record temperatures with little shade. Policy changes lag as local groups push for heat equity.
In Uncertain Times, the Port of Oakland Goes Electric
A $322M grant powers Oakland’s port electrification — cleaning air, cutting emissions, and investing in community justice.
Testing Adaptation Limits: Mariposa Trails, Marin Roads & San Francisco Greenspace
In KneeDeep’s new column, The Practice, we daylight how designers, engineers and planners are helping communities adapt to a changing climate.
Boxes of Mud Could Tell a Hopeful Sediment Story
Scientists are testing whether dredged sediment placed in nearby shallows can help our wetlands keep pace with rising seas. Tiny tracers may reveal the answer.
“I Invite Everyone To Be a Scientist”
Plant tissue culture can help endangered species adapt to climate change. Amateur plant biologist Jasmine Neal’s community lab could make this tech more accessible.
How To Explain Extreme Weather Without the Fear Factor
Fear-based messaging about extreme weather can backfire. Here are some simple metaphors to explain climate change.
Live Near a Tiny Library? Join Our Citizen Marketing Campaign
KneeDeep asks readers to place paper zines in tiny street libraries to help us reach new folks.
Join KneeDeep Times for Lightning Talks with 8 Local Reporters at SF Climate Week
Lightning Talks with 8 Reporters for SF Climate Week
Staying Wise About Fire – 5 Years Post-CZU
As insurance companies pull out and wildfire seasons intensify, Santa Cruz County residents navigate the complexities of staying fire-ready.
Calls for Pitches
- Know someone in your community, business or government “being the change” ???? KneeDeep is always looking for stories about people innovating, acting, doing, helping, growing, stewarding …. Send us your ideas for profiles.
- KneeDeep is also interested in small town or small community portraits. What are the special things in these particular places at risk from climate change, whether it’s flood, fire, inequity or other challenge? What steps are local neighbors and leaders taking to protect and sustain their special place?
Jobs & Internships New Community Reporting Network
Starting summer 2025, KneeDeep will be looking for a freelance, part-time community editor for a one year pilot project. The new editor will manage a special grant to expand reporting, citizen storytelling, and climate science and health education in under-represented communities. Responsibilities may include: mentoring journalism students from community colleges, meeting Bay Area communities where they live, working with local CBOs and neighborhood groups to support citizen storytellers, and re-imagining KneeDeep content for broader audiences (short-form video, audio, What’s App etc.)
Part-time freelance stipend for the editor $1000-$1500 per month.
Prefer bi-lingual, Spanish speaking applicants who live in the East or South Bay.
Summer, fall and winter fellowships with modest stipends ($1000-3000) will also be offered for journalism students in Bay Area community colleges or state universities in areas under-represented in climate and environmental health reporting for the region. Current target areas include San Jose/Gilroy, San Pablo, Newark and Vallejo/Martinez/Benicia, among others TBD.
CBOs supporting this local climate reporting work will also be eligible for modest stipends.
A community listening session will be held in the near future to explore and shape use of the grant for this new collaborative community reporting network.
Stay tuned for more info, and feel free to email the editor of your interest or ideas.