In 2018, Jonathan Vigliotti was working as a foreign correspondent based out of CBS News' London bureau. To say it was a coveted journalism job would be an understatement.
Yet, as he recounts in his debut book, "Before It's Gone: Stories From the Front Lines of Climate Change in Small-Town America," Vigliotti's life would be upended professionally and personally by a warming planet. During a Cape Cod vacation that August with his family and husband, Iván Carrillo, Vigliotti fielded a call that had him making a hasty exit — leaving his lobster dinner untouched — to catch a flight for Southern California.
He was sent to cover a wildfire encroaching on the city of Lake Elsinore in Riverside County. The impromptu assignment led to him relocating to the national broadcaster's Los Angeles Bureau the next year and taking on the natural disaster beat.
"In the time between then and now I have covered historic hurricanes, thermometer-shattering heat waves, record-breaking droughts, mega wildfires, back-to-back 'hundred-year floods,' unprecedented blizzards, and never-before-seen mudslides," he writes in the prologue of his book.
Released in April by One Signal Publishers/Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc., the book not only recounts his experiences covering a warming planet these past six years. It also serves as a memoir of his rising through the journalism ranks, from working for the NPR station based on the Bronx campus of his alma mater, Fordham University, to now being a national correspondent for CBS News.
"I always loved storytelling," said Vigliotti, 41, who grew up in the village of Mount Kisco in New York.
Speaking with the Bay Area Reporter by phone, Vigliotti said he's been a nature lover his entire life. He spent hours exploring the woods by his childhood home. When his parents joined the fight to stop a housing development that would have bulldozed his forested retreat, Vigliotti learned about the fragility of ecosystems and how collective actions can protect such places.
"It had a lasting impact on me," he said. "My work as a professional journalist always has gravitated toward environmental stories."
His book is broken into four parts centered on the elements of fire, water, air, and earth. The tragic events he's covered are paired with solutions to mitigate the effect rising temperatures are having on communities across the U.S. (Vigliotti writes about reintroducing beavers to ward against wildfires in an excerpt of his book for this week's Guest Opinion.)
"One of the reasons why I wrote the book is I feel climate change is abstract to people. Even people who may be climate deniers, I think that comes from a lack of understanding," said Vigliotti. "One of the best ways to understand climate change is radicalizing our weather is to be there on the front lines. Through our reporting, I try to visually connect those dots for people."
'No warning'
A theme throughout the book is the oft repeated — and disingenuous — phrase, "There was no warning." Time and time again local officials have known beforehand the threats their communities face from climate change, said Vigliotti.
"Why this happens is hard to say, but I do believe a lot of people find climate science to be overwhelming," he said. "The solutions oftentimes seem daunting."
Rather than dismiss climate change as "some politicized issue," he hopes his audience sees it as the threat it is to their livelihoods and hometowns. He utilizes the term "habitat changes" in the book when writing about what is occurring due to changing climates.
"If saying climate change is a barrier for some people, maybe you don't need to say it," said Vigliotti. "As long as people understand weather is changing and an increased threat to communities on the front lines, the more people are willing to take action. That is my finding at least," he said.
He believes the planet still has time before it's gone.
"We are a very intelligent species, us humans. We have proven time and time again we have a unique ability to adapt, unlike some other species," said Vigliotti. "I think we have an opportunity if we listen to the warning signs and take action to rebuild or upbuild our communities so they are resilient."
Even more so than in his on air segments, Vigliotti is front and center throughout the book, talking to readers in the first person.
"I wasn't sure how much of my own experience would be a part of this book. It documents my education and my understanding of the role climate change is having," he said. "I felt like if I was going to invite readers into my world, I needed to be as honest as possible in those moments where I am sharing my personal experiences."
Professionally, Vigliotti said he "never actively" hid being gay. But as he explains in the book, he routinely was "straightening out my gay" when sent to report in places like the Middle East.
An assistant news director at the Milwaukee TV station where he once worked advised him to "rein in the fagginess," he writes. He also disclosed losing a network job "because the main anchor at the time didn't like the way I 'tracked.'"
Vigliotti told the B.A.R. he publicly came out in either 2011 or 2012. He credited gay CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, who is also a correspondent for CBS News' "60 Minutes" newsmagazine, for giving him the courage to do so.
"The role I think he had in giving a voice to other journalists who were also quote-unquote closeted ... I don't know him personally but I am forever grateful for that," said Vigliotti. "It gave me a way forward and a way to be more authentic as myself and more transparent without having to hide parts of myself."
Doing so in his book marked a departure from his usual reporting focus.
"I have always believed as a journalist my role is to disappear into the background and to give a platform to the people I am interviewing. I always naturally shied away from sharing too much of myself to begin with," said Vigliotti.
To not reveal his own story in his book would have been a disservice to his interview subjects, he reasoned.
"I have come to expect so much from people who are often sharing the worst moments of their life with me. I felt it would be a hindrance to not return that favor," said Vigliotti, who is at work on expanding his nightly news broadcast's coverage of small-town America.
The book doesn't mark an end to his coverage of natural disasters. He plans to continue heeding the call when such assignments break.
"I do love California and do find a sense of purpose covering these kinds of stories," said Vigliotti, who lives in Hollywood. "I will continue covering extreme weather events."
As of now Vigliotti doesn't have any book readings or signings scheduled for the Bay Area. The book can be purchased online.
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