Starre Vartan
I’m a science and environment writer, story-revealer, lifelong question-asker, and author passionate about telling true stories that connect the human body to the natural world.
For the last 15+ years, I’ve been telling stories that celebrate bodies, landscapes, and the often-overlooked connections between them—especially when it comes to women and the natural world. My work dives deep into the wild intelligence of ecosystems and the equally ferocious brilliance of women’s lives, bodies, and lineages.
This path started early—literally. When I was 8, I wrote on a school worksheet: “When I grow up, I want to be a scientist. When I grow up more, I want to be a writer.” That’s exactly what I did.
I earned a BS in Geology (plus a Biology minor) from Syracuse University, then worked as an environmental geologist—a job that involved, among other things, making hydrologic maps and analyzing toxic runoff (yes, I’m HAZMAT trained). But the stories behind the science kept calling. So, I pivoted.
I started out writing a food column for an alt-weekly in Connecticut and quickly found myself reporting on air pollution, transportation policy, and environmental health—topics that, even then, made it clear how disproportionately women and marginalized communities were impacted. That lens led me to launch Eco-Chick.com, one of the first sites to explore sustainable fashion, ethical travel, and environmentalism through a feminist lens.
Eco-Chick ran from 2005 to 2016 and became a space for spotlighting women creating change, and was the first site to cover ethical fashion in a rigorous and regular way. The site grew into my first book, The Eco Chick Guide to Life: How to Be Fabulously Green (St. Martin’s Press, 2008), which was positively reviewed in the New York Times Style section.
In that era, I became known as a sustainable living expert, and I’ve been quoted or featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Elle, Glamour, El Mercurio (the oldest Spanish-language newspaper in the world), Martha Stewart’s Whole Living, and the Christian Science Monitor, and appeared on HuffPost Live, ABC-7 NY, Fox, and other outlets. I’ve also consulted for both Fortune 500 companies including eBay and American Express, and scrappy startups too—always with a focus on ethics, clarity, and real change (no greenwashing, thanks).
Editorially, I’ve worn many hats: I was the “Green Guru” columnist at Audubon magazine, the “StarrePower” columnist at Hearst’s The Daily Green, a contributor to Whole Living (Martha Stewart), a style editor at Plenty magazine, and the conscious consumption and travel columnist at MNN.com (later Treehugger) for 10 years. I’ve also worked as a managing editor and a travel editor, and I was a science screenwriter for HBO, Discovery Channel, and CBS (where I researched and wrote on climate change impacts, power-grid collapse, and future human Mars colonies, respectively).
After almost a decade of writing full-time, I earned my MFA in Nonfiction Writing from Columbia University in 2011. Since then, I’ve focused on crafting science journalism and personal essays that are both precise and alive—centered on bodies, ecosystems, and what it means to be human (and especially female) in a rapidly changing world.
My work has appeared in Scientific American, National Geographic, Aeon, New Scientist, Slate, CNN, Newsweek, Elle.com, The Daily Beast, Pacific Standard, Gizmodo, Marie Claire, The Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and The American Literary Review, among others.
My latest book, The Stronger Sex: What Science Tells Us About the Power of the Female Body (Seal Press/Hachette, 2025), is the result of five years of research and writing. It’s a myth-busting, science-rooted celebration of the female body—its endurance, longevity, adaptability, and immune brilliance. It’s also a love letter to every woman who’s been told she’s “too sensitive,” “too complicated,” or “the weaker sex.” Spoiler: she’s not.
The book received a starred review from Library Journal, which made me cry (in a library, obviously). I’m a lifelong Library Kid and have written in libraries everywhere from Madrid to Sydney to the banks of the Saugatuck River in Connecticut. Being recognized by the literary and science communities? Surreal—and a little terrifying.
I was born in Sydney, Australia and hold dual citizenship with the U.S. and Australia. I grew up between the beaches of New South Wales, the Hudson Highlands of New York, and the buzz of NYC. I’ve lived in many beautiful places—Madrid; Berkeley (twice); the Big Island of Hawai‘i; the Berkshires of Massachusetts; Olympia, Washington; the Connecticut Coast; Wren, Oregon; Manhattan—and visited 31 countries. These days, I spend time in the Illawarra, a coastal area south of Sydney, Australia and on an island in the Salish Sea near Seattle, where I write, walk among mossy cedars, and jump into cold water as often as possible.
When I’m not writing, I’m usually: running barefoot through the woods; swimming across a lake; sculpting voluptuous clay goddesses from clay; and dancing ecstatically with strangers who also believe movement is medicine.
My creative nonfiction centers embodiment, place, and the power of women to hold, move through, and transform the world around them. I believe science can be both rigorous and poetic—and that stories can help stitch back what’s been pulled apart.
Starre Julia Vartan 