Amy Kolb Noyes has a story list longer than a CVS receipt. She has a book club going 20+ years strong that she’s hosting this evening — dinner’s in the Crock-Pot. She has 30 years of reporting under her belt, a challenge finding work-life balance, and a particular interest, as the daughter of an atmospheric chemist, in all things climate-related. Kolb Noyes is CAI’s (Cape and Islands Radio) new Science and Environment Reporter, and she’s just getting started.
“I had no intention to return to full-time reporting,” says the former Vermont Public reporter. After a long and successful career in local journalism and public media, she was just starting to enjoy the fruits of retirement, with plans of finishing the children’s books she’d left on the backburner. That is, until she saw the CAI job posting for a Science and Environment Reporter. A dream job in a place she has loved and lived (seasonally) since the 90s, “I had to throw my hat in the ring,” she says. And we’re so glad she did.
We sat down with Kolb Noyes to learn about what brought her out of retirement, her passion for octopuses and local journalism, and everything in between.
It’s been five years since listeners last heard you on the airwaves of Vermont Public. What have you been up to since?
After I left VPR, I got an MFA in Studio Arts [at Vermont State University] because I had all these picture book manuscripts I had been working on, and I wanted to try my hand at illustrating some of them. While I was on campus, I spent some time as a journalism professor, too. So, I’ve got a handful of children’s books that I’ve been working on for the last five years, and that’s what I would still be doing had I not seen this job posting.
What made the position so appealing?
I was raised by a scientist. My dad was an atmospheric chemist. For most of my career, I’ve had either a general or regional beat. I did some education and environmental reporting, but it was never my whole job to do one beat like that, and it really appealed to me — especially being on the Cape, right near Woods Hole and all of the researchers and conservationists concentrated in the area.
I’ve lived in the mountains of Vermont for the last 35 years, but I’m an ocean person at heart. I’ve always been fascinated by it, having spent many summers here. My daughter went to school for marine biology, so I guess I passed it on to my kids.
Growing up around scientists, I understand the way scientists speak and am comfortable speaking in that language. As a reporter, my job is to interpret what people are doing at a high level for a broad audience, and I think I’m good at that.
The Cape is obviously a fascinating place to cover all things environmental. What are some of the challenges that come with reporting there?
I haven’t covered this beat before here, so I need to get out there and rebuild my Rolodex. I’m hearing a ton of stories, it’s like a fire hose of information. For me, it’s been a matter of prioritizing what to work on each week.
Much like covering any topic for radio, it’s hard to tell the whole story in the little time we have. Getting in multiple perspectives on a complicated topic can be difficult. In a place like Woods Hole, it can be hard to find dissenting voices, and I’m not sure it’s always appropriate to find a dissenting voice to scientific consensus.
You’ve been so prolific since you started in August, publishing several stories a week. Is that just muscle memory for you as a journalist for more than 30 years?
It wasn’t easy to take on that much work that fast. At CAI, we only have two reporters: myself, who covers science and environment, and Jenette Barnes, who covers literally everything else. But we’re fortunate to have hosts and editors who are talented journalists in their own right. Hitting daily deadlines and getting things turned around quickly — that is muscle memory. But I’d like to carve out more time to work on some of the longer pieces. I have three separate features I’m working on right now, but they often end up on the back burner.
I’m still figuring out the balance between the daily newscast stuff and the longer stories. Because a lot of these science stories are too complex to tell in 45 seconds.
Do you prefer writing for radio, or long-form pieces for print/digital?
I think my brain is wired to write for radio; it comes a lot easier than long-form pieces. That wasn’t always the case. I used to write for newspapers, and I wrote a lot of words. But social media and working for the radio have trained me to say more with fewer words.
You’ve got several children’s books in the works now. Do you see any connection between that work and your journalism?
Oddly, they go hand-in-hand. When you write a picture book [to be read aloud], you’re writing for the ear and distilling a topic down to less than 500 words — that’s a lot like writing for radio.
How would you describe yourself in a word as a journalist?
Curious. It’s kind of a cliche, but it’s true. You don’t get into this line of work unless you’re curious about things.
With so much experience as a journalist, what are some elements of the work that you think you excel at?
I feel like I’m pretty good at talking with people [author’s note: she is], and getting their personality into my reporting. Science reporting can be dry sometimes, but that doesn’t mean the scientists are. I think people relate to those stories better when they get a feel for why someone cares so much to dedicate their life to studying something like the microbiome of a whales’ respiratory system, you know?
What are some of your favorite pieces you’ve worked on so far in this beat?
I have a real fondness for turtles and octopuses — they are just amazing creatures. [The piece on new octopus research findings] was the first one I wrote where I was like, “Yeah, this is why I took this job.”
I’ve been really fascinated by the number of cold-stunned sea turtles that wash up on the Cape. A few decades ago, you never heard about that — I didn’t even know there were sea turtles on Cape Cod. Now, about 800 stunned turtles are stranded every year across Cape Cod Bay. The work that they’re doing to save these endangered turtles is fascinating.
Last Friday night I spent three hours walking the beach with turtle rescuers, which was really, really cool. We didn’t find any turtles, but my goal is to try to follow a turtle through the system — from when it’s rescued, catalogued, and hospitalized, to, eventually, seeing it released. Which, I’m told, happens almost 85% of the time.
Have you seen a shift in the stories you’re telling from the summer to the beginning of winter?
I was worried that it would be hard to find stories because I knew the Cape goes pretty quiet in the winter. But my story list is long. A lot of these researchers are here year-round; science doesn’t stop on the Cape. In fact, [the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute] recently put up a giant banner on the side of their building that says, “This village runs on science,” and it’s true.
As someone with decades of experience working in public media, what makes local journalism so important?
Forgive another cliche, but local journalism is the backbone of democracy. It’s where our politicians get their start. It’s where the voters hear about what they care about the most — and what’s happening in their town, in their schools.
It can be hard as a statewide service to do good local reporting — you don’t want to be a parachute reporter, drop in, and not know the community you’re reporting on — but one of the things that public media does well is connect with each other. That wasn’t always the case. In the time that I have been with public radio, we’ve started to do a much better job of collaborating through things like the New England News Collaborative, and the Connecting the Commonwealth initiative with GBH and NEPM. We’re able to echo each other’s work and share it on different airwaves. Because local reporting is imperative — and just because something’s not happening in your backyard doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect you downstream.
What are your hopes for your work at CAI, ultimately?
For 30-something years, it’s been my job to tell the stories about the people in the place where I live, and that’s what I’m still doing. So many of the people who live and work on the Cape, the Islands, and the South Coast are impacted by the stories on this science and environment beat. People who make their living off of the ocean, people studying the atmosphere and the ocean, biologists studying the creatures who live there: I’m telling their stories.
In that way, it’s not any different from what I’ve done before. My goal in any reporting job is to tell the stories of my neighbors well, and highlight some of the amazing things they’re doing.
Favorite beach?
I haven’t seen a beach I didn’t like, but my favorite tends to be the one I’m on. When my kids were little we spent a lot of time at Bristol Beach in Falmouth, so I’ll go with that one.
What are you reading and watching right now?
Martha Hall Kelly’s The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club. I’m hosting a book club at my house tonight, and this was my pick. It’s a novel set during World War II. Side note, I have the most amazing book club in the world. We’ve been together for 25 years. We were throwing baby showers for each other when we first started, and now we’re grandparents.
I’m not the type of person who reads one book at a time, though. So I’m also working through Stephen King’s On Writing. It’s a really good craft book. And I’m always listening to a book when I walk, which right now is the novel Beartown by Frederik Backman.
When you’re not working, what can we find you doing?
I’m very fortunate to have a ski house and a beach house. It’s hard to complain with that set-up, but if I were to, my complaint would be that they’re 300 miles apart.
Anyway, if I’m on the Cape, you can find me on my paddleboard or searching for sea glass. When I’m in Vermont, I play hockey and ski.
How have you found living on the Cape in the winter so far?
I love the Cape in the winter. My family’s had this house since 1991. This will be my first full winter on the Cape. I’m looking forward to it.
You can read Amy Kolb Noyes’ stories here, and hear her on the airwaves of CAI radio multiple times a week.
If you’re passionate about GBH and CAI’s reporting on climate and environment, consider donating to the GBH Climate and Environment Fund to support this trusted, local journalism.
