About Deceleration

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Deceleration is a nonprofit online journal producing original news and analysis responding to our shared ecological, political, and cultural crises. We write at the intersection of environment and justice—journalistically, academically, and creatively—with emphasis our home communities and bioregion (the watersheds of San Antonio, South Texas, and the Gulf South, broadly). We are dedicated to cultivating radical imagination that goes to the roots of climate disturbance in historical systems of oppression while expanding and deepening the sorts of solutions we put into practice for protecting and creating the commons.

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We aspire to create a community space for sharing both the ideas and practice required for a just transition. We aim to fight forward as well as fight back (in the words of the Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative) to support the development of community networks of care and resilience rather than simply chronicling catastrophe.

Deceleration is inspired by intellectual and political movements around the world for degrowth, buen vivir, the right to the city, and the rights of nature/mother earth. We welcome proposals for short- and long-form reporting, essay, and analysis within and beyond our geography that fit within the scope of our mission (see here for our submission guidelines). Also: don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter, and if you are able, consider a facilitating contribution to help this work flourish, either a recurring donation via Patreon or a one-time donation via PayPal.

LISTEN IN: Deceleration’s First Open House

Who’s Making It?

Deceleration is produced by Co-Editors Marisol Cortez and Greg Harman.

Marisol Cortez, Ph.D. inhabits the difficult terrain between artistic, activist, and academic worlds. Beginning her political life as a poet, she later participated in grassroots campaigns for environmental justice in her hometown of San Antonio, which inspired her doctoral research at the University of California at Davis. After graduating in 2009 with her Ph.D. in Cultural Studies, she trafficked between academia and community organizing before returning to San Antonio to apply her education as a writer, editor, and community-based scholar. In 2020 she gave birth to the South Texas cli-fi novel Luz At Midnight (FlowerSong Press), which won the 2021 Sergio Troncoso Award for Best First Book of Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters and the 2022 Creative Book Award from the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment. For more on Luz and other publications and projects-in-process, visit her website here.

Greg Harman is an independent journalist and former community organizer who has written about environmental health and justice issues since the late 1990s. He has worked as a clean energy organizer for the Lone Star chapter of the Sierra Club and is a former editor of the San Antonio Current and former contributing editor at Texas Climate News. His work has appeared in places such as the Austin Chronicle, The Guardian, The Dallas Morning News, Indian Country Today, Yes! Magazine, Houston Press, and the Texas Observer, among others. His journalism has been recognized by the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, Houston Press Club, Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, Public Citizen Texas, and Associated Press Managing Editors. He holds a bachelor’s in English from Texas Wesleyan University and a master’s degree in International Relations (Conflict Transformation) from St. Mary’s University.

Here is an archive of some of his journalistic writings. Here is his book about mental health.

Community Advisors

Deceleration’s Community Advisors help keep us doing good and staying out of (too much) trouble. Learn more about them here.

Editorial Independence

We subscribe to standards of editorial independence adopted by the Institute for Nonprofit News:

Our organization retains full authority over editorial content to protect the best journalistic and business interests of our organization. We maintain a firewall between news coverage decisions and sources of all revenue. Acceptance of financial support does not constitute implied or actual endorsement of donors or their products, services or opinions. We accept gifts, grants and sponsorships from individuals and organizations for the general support of our activities, but our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support.

Our organization may consider donations to support the coverage of particular topics, but our organization maintains editorial control of the coverage. We will cede no right of review or influence of editorial content, nor of unauthorized distribution of editorial content. Our organization will make public all donors who give a total of $5,000 or more per year. We will accept anonymous donations for general support only if it is clear that sufficient safeguards have been put into place that the expenditure of that donation is made independently by our organization and in compliance with INN’s Membership Standards.

Financial Transparency

Deceleration has a GuideStar Gold Rating. We will be updating our site in the coming months to provide easy access to our financials to provide maximum financial transparency and accountability.

We are committed to transparency in every aspect of funding our organization. Accepting financial support does not mean we endorse donors or their products, services or opinions. We accept gifts, grants and sponsorships from individuals, organizations and foundations to help with our general operations, coverage of specific topics and special projects. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that operates as a public trust, we do not pay certain taxes. We may receive funds from standard government programs offered to nonprofits or similar businesses.

Our news judgments are made independently – not based on or influenced by donors or any revenue source. We do not give supporters the rights to assign, review or edit content.

We will make public all revenue sources and donors who give $5,000 or more per year. As a news nonprofit, we avoid accepting charitable donations from anonymous sources, government entities, political parties, elected officials or candidates seeking public office. We will not accept donations from sources who, deemed by our board of directors, present a conflict of interest with our work or compromise our independence.

Here is our most recent 990 tax form.

In addition to reader support, Deceleration has received support from: