Before The New York Times, Andy Revkin Called EG Home

When he was 12 years old Andrew Revkin, now an environmental reporter for the New York Times, hopped on his bike and made his way to a willow-lined pond off Pegwin Drive in his hometown of East Greenwich for some fishing with his buddies.

Before long, out of that pool and on the end of his line, there splashed a mammoth bass.

That fish is one of the touchstones of Revkin’s past to which he harkens while progressing though his career as a world renown environmental journalist. Nearly 40 years later, Revkin commemorated the occasion in a song he wrote:

“For a bucket of gold I would not trade that six-pound trophy Largemouth bass.”

Growing up in East Greenwich

Bill and Amelia Revkin brought their three children, Jim, Andy, and Diana to East Greenwich’s Walnut Drive in the mid-1970’s. He ran Bond Furniture, the family business passed down from his father and she was a teacher at the new East Greenwich High School. In the summers, the whole family enjoyed boating, swimming, and fishing in Greenwich Bay.  That is where Andy first developed a love of the water and respect for the environment.

In High School, Revkin’s natural bent for the sciences was nurtured by a pair of local teachers. Joe Ferretti was the inspiration behind a wave machine Revkin built for a science fair project and Joe Laterra, a former U.S. Marine, taught him how to develop, take responsibility for, and meet well defined expectations.

Andy also nucleated his career in journalism by co-publishing, with his older brother, JIm, an “Underground” newspaper named EGAD (East Greenwich After Dark); surreptitiously mimeographing copies of the scandal sheet with the High School’s equipment.

Pre-New York Times

After graduating from Brown University in 1978 with a major in Biology and a minor in Comparative Literature, Revkin earned a Samuel T. Arnold Traveling Fellowship to learn more about man’s relationship with the sea. The platform for the study was a 55-foot long sailboat that he and a small cadre of students piloted for nearly two years on a voyage around the world.

It was during this trip that he developed a sense of being a tiny facet of a magnificent living global organism. Also, working on the chronicles of the adventure steered him in the direction of writing as a profession.

According to Andy, there are two paths to a career in journalism. One is to start in a small-town newspaper then work up to a larger town, larger state, or national publication. He chose the alternate path through Columbia University to earn a Masters Degree in Journalism. Not only did this help sharpen his writing skills, but he also focused on developing his photographic talent.

"It was like journalism boot camp," he said.

 After “J-School,” Andy tried his hand at writing for Science Digest, completed a short stint at the Los Angeles Times, then spent a few years freelance writing for various publications. During that time, he made a name for himself by writing a book “The Burning Season” about environmental activist Francisco "Chico" Mendes’ struggle to prevent Brazilian Ranchers from despoiling the Amazon Rain Forest (he was eventually murdered for his efforts). The book was translated into a movie starring the late Raul Julia as Mendes. 

Come back to East Greenwich Patch tomorrow to read the second part of Jeff Steven's story about former East Greenwich resident and New York Times staff writer Andrew Revkin.