Sarah Gardner

Reporter

SHORT BIO

Sarah Gardner is a former reporter with Marketplace's Sustainability Desk. Her past projects include "The Price of Profits," “We Used To Be China,” “Coal Play,” “Consumed,” “The Next American Dream,” “Jobs of the Future,” and “Climate Race,” among others. Sarah began her career at Marketplace as a freelancer and was hired as business editor and backup host to David Brancaccio in the mid-’90s.

Prior to her work at Marketplace, Sarah was a public radio freelancer in Los Angeles, a staff reporter for New Hampshire Public Radio, a commercial radio reporter in Massachusetts and an editor/reporter for a small-town newspaper in Minnesota. She is the recipient of several awards, including a Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Finance Journalism (1997), an Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award (1996 – 1997) and a George Foster Peabody Award, the oldest and most prestigious media award (2000).

Sarah attended Carleton College, where she received her bachelor’s degree in religion, and Columbia University, where she received her master’s degree in journalism. A native of Waukesha, Wisconsin, Sarah resides in Los Angeles.

Latest Stories (617)

Saving water after it goes to waste

Dec 3, 2007
As drinking water becomes more precious, some cities are looking at the sewers in a new way. Sarah Gardner reports on new efforts to recycle wastewater -- and get people more enthused about the toilet-to-tap scenario.

Luxury report card called unsatisfactory

Nov 29, 2007
Britain's World Wildlife Fund has ranked 10 luxury brands and found they were C students at best. But the conservation group's study isn't getting high marks, either. Sarah Gardner reports.

A family's 360-degree exec feedback

Nov 22, 2007
The pressure on high-level executives can be overwhelming at times, and often that stress gets spread around at home. How would you fare if your own family gave you a "job" report? Sarah Gardner reports. (Re-broadcast from Jan. 14, 2004)

Paper, or reusable canvas bag?

Nov 20, 2007
San Francisco today became the first city to ban plastic bags at large grocery stores. Sarah Gardner reports some don't feel the change will be that eco-effective, while others want to take the switch even farther.

Making waves of green

Nov 16, 2007
All Wal-Mart has to do to have an impact on green products is place an order. Reporter Sarah Gardner caught up with some of its 60,000 suppliers at a conference that the retail giant held to talk about sustainability.

Spending our way to wealth

Nov 15, 2007
It wasn't that long ago that being thrifty was America's number-one virtue. But beginning with FDR, a string of presidents has extolled the virtues of Keynesian economics and spending our way to wealth. Sarah Gardner reports.

Crisco: A marketing revolution

Nov 12, 2007
Crisco is a staple in many American kitchens and a must-have for homemade pies. But it's also an invented food made by chemists, and the story of how the white stuff became a must-have has become a marketing legend. Sarah Gardner reports.

It's enough to take your breath away

Nov 9, 2007
Globalization's delivery of goods to consumers depends on intricate choreography of container ships, trucks, trains and other heavy equipment. The scale is breathtaking. But so are the side effects. Sarah Gardner reports,

EPA creating more CO2?

Nov 8, 2007
The Environmental Protection Agency head is under fire for a new coal-fired power plant, after a Supreme Court decision on the EPA's power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Sarah Gardner reports.

Windy City to cut down on its gas

Nov 5, 2007
Chicago is set to announce a plan to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next 40 years. Sarah Gardner reports on the city law's bend towards a greener mentality.