SEATTLE — The Seattle Times is launching a new multi-year initiative, Climate Lab, to provide deep coverage of the effects of climate change in the Pacific Northwest. The project, debuting Feb. 4, will illuminate the climate crisis and the people, policies and innovations that are addressing it, helping the public understand how carbon emissions are changing our lives.

Climate Lab becomes the fifth major initiative in The Seattle Times work funded by community support. It joins Education Lab, Traffic Lab, Project Homeless, the Investigative Journalism Fund and the Mental Health Project. Currently, 30 journalists in the Times newsroom are supported by philanthropic contributions.

The Seattle Times is dedicating four staff positions to Climate Lab. It is currently supported by four funders: the Bullitt Foundation; spouses Becky Hughes and Michael Hughes, former president of Safeco Insurance; the University of Washington; and the Walker Family Foundation. Seattle Foundation serves as fiscal sponsor for the initiative.

Seattle Times Publisher and CEO Frank Blethen said, “Climate Lab builds on our unique family of journalism labs made possible by community investment. Climate change is a seminal topic with many critical aspects which must be explored with in-depth reporting. Thanks to support from individuals and foundations, we are able to expand our coverage by adding four staff positions. Community investment enables us to provide readers with a wealth of critical coverage not otherwise available. We are one of the very few media organizations to be adding staff and content thanks to community support.”

To learn more about Climate Lab, visit https://seattletimes.com/about-climate-lab/.