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Jennifer Collins

Hi there, I'm a Berlin-based multimedia journalist with more than a decade's experience. I specalise in climate and environment reporting, as well as German and European politics and culture. I mainly work for DW, Germany's international broadcaster. My reporting has also appeared in outlets such USA Today, NPR Berlin, El Pais, The Globe and Mail, and Religious News Service. I'm available for studio talks, radio and online commissions.

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What do horses know that we don't? – DW – 05/30/2025

After cancer treatment, Suzanne was persuaded to join an animal-assisted therapy session with horses. She was skeptical at first, but the experience changed her life. This episode explores how equine therapy is helping cancer patients process grief, reconnect with themselves, and find strength in nature. Plus, what researchers are beginning to uncover about animal-assisted therapy.Transcript

Suzanne: Well, that night I had a dream about a very large, you know, larger than your average size hors...
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What's better – tea or coffee? – DW – 03/08/2024

Have you ever wondered about the eco-story behind your daily brew? Join us as we spill the beans on the environmental impact of tea & coffee, from cultivation to consumption. Episode transcript:

Listener: “Hey, Living Planet team. My name is Brian and I'm from Brazil. I love your program and I have a suggestion for your new what's better segment? As somebody who loves both tea and coffee, I've often wondered which of the two is more sustainable. Would be great to get your thoughts on this. Than...
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The fight for Ireland's water – DW – 01/31/2025

As Ireland's capital faces a growing water crisis, a controversial multibillion-euro pipeline threatens to reshape the fate of the mighty River Shannon. This is a story of rural-urban divide, corporate thirst and a river's uncertain future.Listen and subscribe to Living Planet wherever you get your podcasts: https://pod.link/livingplanet Got a question for us? Email livingplanet@dw.com. And, if you like the show, leave us a rating and review on whichever podcast platform you use – and tell a fri...
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Denmark wants your CO2, but why? – DW – 09/06/2024

If you can't beat CO2 pollution, then bury it? That's basically the thought behind carbon capture and storage. Denmark wants to become a leader in these efforts, and has the geological underground to lock away billions of tons of CO2. But locals ask, will it blow up in their face? An exploration of carbon capture technology.Interviewees:

Rikke Volf, visual artist and chairwoman of the local environmental association Havnso-Follenslev, Havnso, Denmark  

Tobias Sorensen, a senior analyst at CONC...
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What's better - the 4 or 5 day workweek? – DW – 07/19/2024

Scrapping the classic five-day workweek sounds great when it comes to a better work-life balance. But could less time at work also benefit the environment?Listen and subscribe to Living Planet wherever you get your podcasts: https://pod.link/livingplanet Got a question for us? Email livingplanet@dw.com. And, if you like the show, leave us a rating and review on whichever podcast platform you use – and tell a friend!  

Interviewees: 

Amanda Dennison, owner of Head Office, Dublin, Ireland  

Jac...
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Why Croatia’s abortion debate is heating up – DW – 09/27/2023

Abortion is legal in Croatia. So why are women having to travel to Slovenia to get one? We’ll also hear stories about women pursuing their dreams, from an Ethiopian fashion designer putting her own spin on traditional fabric weaving to the people making safe spaces for China’s LGBTQ community.On this week's episode of World in Progress, Croatia, a Balkan country known among tourists for its beautiful coastal towns and rugged landscape, is also becoming known for something else: an ever more heat...
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Croatia's ghost villages – DW – 07/05/2023

On this week’s show, an in-depth look at how mass emigration is impacting Croatians who’ve chosen to stay behind. And then, how did a medical student from Italy end up the focus of a documentary film in Gaza? Plus, a mouthwatering vist to a Jewish bakery in CasablancaOn this week’s show, we have a variety of interesting stories from the Mediterranean and North Africa.

We begin with a long listen to an engrossing report about how mass emigration has affected Croatia. The Balkan country is no str...
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What does DeepSeek mean for AI's environmental impact? – DW – 01/30/2025

With new US firm Stargate announcing a half trillion-dollar investment in artificial intelligence, and China's DeepSeek shaking up the industry, what does it all mean for AI's environmental impact?Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek has dropped a new AI chatbot it says is much cheaper than the systems operated by US tech giants like Microsoft and Google, and could make the technology less power hungry. 

That could have big environment and climate implications, as training and running...
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Grounds for debate: Is tea or coffee the greener sip? – DW – 10/04/2024

In this caffeinated clash, DW spills the beans on which of our favorite morning beverages makes for a more sustainable brew — and stirs up some ways to make an eco-friendlier blend. Tea and coffee are luxury goods. They're not required for us to survive but many of us feel we couldn't live without our daily dose of steaming hot caffeine. Tea is the second-most consumed drink after water and coffee isn't far behind — we drink billions of these beverages daily. 

And human culture is steeped in bo...
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Can Namibia's strategy to cull animals save them? – DW – 09/18/2024

Does Namibia's plan to kill animals to save them, and help the human population from ongoing drought, stack up?Google the words "cull," "hunting" and "Namibia" and hundreds of search results will appear going back years. They advertise opportunities to indulge in "luxurious accommodations" and the country's "finest cuisine" while hunting wild animals such as wildebeest, oryx and zebra. 

As counterintuitive as it may seem, trophy and cull hunting are part of long-standing land management in Nami...
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Croatia's solar energy gets a citizen-led boost – DW – 09/21/2023

Why is there so little solar energy in one of Europe's sunniest countries? Meet the Croatians battling old socialist stereotypes and government red tape to change that.Visitors to the Croatian isle of Cres, with its vivid blue Adriatic waters, rolling lush farmland, and quaint villages, will regularly be reminded by locals to relax, because, as the island motto goes, there's "no stress on Cres."

Apart from a lack of stress, there's another thing largely absent from Cres — and that's solar energ...
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Could a mass fish die-off in the Oder River happen again? – DW – 06/20/2023

Hundreds of fish corpses have been found in Oder-connected canals in Poland, sparking fear of the recurrence of last year's ecological disaster in the German-Polish river.Recent fish deaths in canals connected to the Oder, which forms part of the border between Germany and Poland, have alarmed environmentalists and scientists, who worry the incident could signal a repeat of the ecological catastrophe that took place on the river last year.

In July and August 2022, at least 300 tons of dead fish...
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5 ways to a sustainable Christmas – DW – 12/23/2022

The festive season is a time of goodwill, food, gifts — and a lot of waste. So, here's a short guide to having yourself a sustainable little Christmas. Christmas may be the most wonderful time of the year, as the song goes, but — and not to be a total Grinch about it — it's also the season of overconsumption. In the UK alone, the average household spends 700 pounds (€811, $853) more in December compared to other months on gifts, food and other Advent extras. 

With that increase in consumption,...
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Germany, G7 launch 'Global Shield' climate finance at COP27 – DW – 11/14/2022

The initiative aims to get cash quickly to communities in low-income countries struck by climate disaster. But critics call it a "distraction" from a real loss and damage fund. Germany will provide €170 million ($172 million) to a "Global Shield" insurance initiative to help low-income and vulnerable countries to rebound in the event of climate calamities.

It aims to strengthen social protection schemes and climate risk insurance , so when an extreme weather event like flooding strikes, communi...
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COP27: Where will the money for climate financing come from? – DW – 11/09/2022

Egypt climate talks focus on financing for low-income countries so they can adapt to a warming world and pay for climate destruction.Money and justice are at the heart of the climate talks in Egypt this year. Low-income countries are calling on richer nations to help pay for a move to a fossil-free future, and for the damage caused by the global heating they have done so little to cause.

"We were the ones whose blood, sweat and tears financed the industrial revolution," Mia Mottley, Prime Minis...
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COP27: Can shipping be more environmentally friendly? – DW – 11/08/2022

The United States and Norway "challenge" highly polluting shipping sector to reduce emissions at UN climate summit in Egypt.Countries around the world need to make laws to force the emissions heavy shipping industry to switch to cleaner fuels, say analysts, as the United States and Norway launched a "Green Shipping Challenge" at the UN's COP 27 climate conference in Egypt.

As part of the challenge, more than 40 ports, companies and states made announcements ranging from moving to low or zero-em...
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Time to end 'era of fossil fuel colonialism' in Africa – DW – 11/07/2022

Africa is suffering most from climate change but, with proper support, could also play an "indispensable, positive role in the planet's climate change future," Kenyan President William Ruto says.The rich nations most responsible for the fossil fuel emissions that have warped the climate must meet decarbonization pledges and help developing countries hardest hit by global heating, Kenyan President William Ruto said at the UN COP27 climate conference in Egypt.

African countries have contributed l...
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Is climate activism too tame? – DW – 06/17/2022

With less than 10 years left to avert climate catastrophe, campaigners Kumi Naidoo and Luisa Neubauer say activists need to ramp up civil disobedience.

Kumi Naidoo is the former head of Greenpeace. Luisa Neubauer is one of the founders of Germany's Fridays for Future climate movement. But Naidoo and Neubauer's entry into activism couldn't have been more different.

Now in his late 50s, Naidoo joined the anti-apartheid movement as a 15-year-old in Durban, which got him expelled, arrested, and ul
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Why civil rights and protecting the planet go hand-in-hand – DW – 09/15/2021

When environmental disasters strike, those already discriminated against can be hit hardest. But marginalized communities can also set a model for resilience.

As the global ecological crisis impacts ever-more lives, it is becoming clearer that we cannot talk about cimate change, pollution or biodiversity loss without talking about inequality — whether that's determined by gender, race, class, sexual orientation or disability.

As Thenjiwe McHarris, a leading Black Lives Matter activist and co-f
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Afghanistan's impending climate disaster – DW – 08/30/2021

The past 30 years have brought flood, drought and hunger to Afghanistan. With the Taliban sweeping to power, many within and outside of the country wonder how to deal with looming climate disaster.

Forty years of conflict have left many Afghans on the edge of survival — and highly susceptible to the impacts of climate change. Not only is the landlocked country already becoming drier and drier, but it's also just been thrown into more political uncertainty by the Taliban takeover. Experts say it
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How curing the planet's ills protects human health – DW – 12/15/2020

Earth has been diagnosed with many health problems. Scientist and doctor Samuel Myers says looking after the planet will protect human health. In a year that has seen wildfires rage in many parts of the world, mega-storms hit others and a novel virus spill over from animals to humans affecting people across the planet, scientists are drawing an ever-clearer link between the importance of a healthy environment and humans. 

A new book, "Planetary Health: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves", l...
A water crisis: How climate change affects our health •

A water crisis: How climate change affects our health

In his 12 years on earth, Philtino Ties has only ever known drought. Rain is rare in his home in the Karoo, a semidesert in South Africa. Dams, rivers and boreholes have dried up. Thousands of kilometers away, in the northern Indian state of Bihar, 13-year-old Shivday Kumari regularly witnesses the flash floods that now go hand in hand with monsoon season. Global heating plays a major role in both the drought in the Karoo and flooding in Bihar. And those weather events have an impact on Philtino
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