Revisit Tatiana Schlossberg's 2019 TODAY Interview About Her Career, Book
Coming from one of America’s most preeminent families of politicians, Tatiana Schlossberg carved out her own path to make an impact on the world.
The environmental journalist and author, who died at 35 on Dec. 30 after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, opened up on TODAY in 2019 about her work and whether she would ever enter politics herself.
“I think it’s important for everyone to serve in a way that suits their strengths, and I’m a writer, and so hopefully I can get people interested in this issue and engaged in that way,” she said about covering climate change. “I will stick to journalism.”
Schlossberg, who was a granddaughter of former President John F. Kennedy, began her career as a reporter at The Record in northern New Jersey and then became a science and climate reporter at The New York Times in 2014. She also authored the 2019 book “Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don’t Know You Have.”
In 2020, her book was honored with the Rachel Carson Environment Book Award by the Society of Environmental Journalists.
“I’m very proud of my family’s political legacy, but I’m also very proud to come from a family of writers because my grandfather was an amazing speechwriter, but also wrote books,” Schlossberg said on TODAY in 2019. “And my grandmother was an editor, and both of my parents are writers as well, and so I feel very proud to be serving in that way, and I’m very proud to be a member of the press.”
Her book spotlighted how everyday actions and purchases impact the environment globally.
“I think climate change is the biggest story in the world,” she said at the time. “It’s a story about everything. It’s about science and nature, but it’s also about politics and health and business. To me, looking at this as a journalist, it felt like a really important story to tell, and if I could help communicate about it that might inspire other people to get involved and work on the issue.”
“I think what the book is really trying to do is talk about how this is really a collective issue,” she continued. “Yes, there are things that all of us can do, but it’s not about sort of feeling individually guilty, it’s about feeling collectively responsible.”
The mother of two young children also wrote about her work in her November essay for The New Yorker, in which she announced her terminal cancer diagnosis.
“My plan, had I not gotten sick, was to write a book about the oceans — their destruction, but also the possibilities they offer,” she wrote.
She added that she wants to be remembered for her writing.
“I won’t write about cytarabine,” she continued. “I won’t find out if we were able to harness the power of the oceans, or if we let them boil and turn into a garbage dump. My son knows that I am a writer and that I write about our planet. Since I’ve been sick, I remind him a lot, so that he will know that I was not just a sick person.”
Schlossberg’s family announced her death Dec. 30 via the verified Instagram account for the JFK Library Foundation. After, members of the Kennedy family shared tributes, including Maria Shriver, Caroline Kennedy’s first cousin.
“Tatiana was a great journalist, and she used her words to educate others about the earth and how to save it,” Shriver wrote, in part. “She created a beautiful life with her extraordinary husband George, and children Eddie and Josie. She fought like a warrior. She was valiant, strong, courageous.”