Today's guest columnists are Beth Parke, executive director of the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ), and Joseph A. Davis, editor of the
SEJ TipSheet Newsletter. I admire their work and organization. I turn to
the SEJ Web site often for briefings on emerging environmental stories, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) watchdog investigations and emerging legislation about environmental issues. It is a real treasure trove of ideas for journalists. Here are some ideas from Parke and Davis:
Localizing Climate Change StoriesWhile just the word
global may scare off some editors, enterprising journalists are finding hyper-local impacts of global warming that matter.
Look, for instance, at
Boston Globe reporter Beth Daley's global warming series, titled
"The 45th Parallel: Warming Where We Live." The series, which began in January 2007, won first place in the environmental category of the National Headliner Awards and was a 2008 Pulitzer finalist.
To examine how warming climate has taken a toll on local folks, Daley traveled to Maine to talk to the proprietor of a dog-sledding business who was trying to make a living with no snow. Even New England's breathtaking fall foliage -- a big draw for its tourist industry -- seems headed for an upset, as does skiing and the production of maple sugar and blueberries, all of which depend on the weather.
Daley's series is just one of many done in recent years as scientists accumulate more and more evidence that human emissions and activities are causing a now observable set of changes in temperature, precipitation and ecosystems. But there are many more localized climate change stories to be done.
A recently released scientific assessment makes the job of finding these local stories a lot easier. The Scientific Assessment of the Effects of Global Change on the United States
draws on the latest authoritative research from the whole range of federal research agencies.
The Society of Environmental Journalists offers
a full toolbox of help for journalists trying to cover local and national climate stories.
You can also get some innovative ideas for climate coverage at
Poynter's News University. Check out
"Covering Climate Change: A Seminar Snapshot." The content was produced in partnership with the Society of Environmental Journalists and the
Metcalf Institute for Marine & Environmental Reporting. Here are some additional stories worth checking out:
- "Dire Consequences Hit Close to Home," Contra Costa (Calif.) Times. California may be especially vulnerable to climate change. Reporters Mike Taugher and Betsy Mason relate how the state's water supply, wine, agricultural industries and landscape are threatened. They also report how scientists, businesses and political leaders are responding to the challenge.
- "State's Shrinking Glaciers: Going ... Going ... Gone?" The Seattle Times. Reporter Warren Cornwall reports that in Mount Rainier National Park and elsewhere, the shrinking of historic glaciers has been linked to global warming. Officials say the state faces a future without the cushion of this hydrological bank account.
- "Now's the Time to Cellar Wine," The San Francisco Chronicle. Reporter Jane Kay explores how global warming could harm the wine industry in certain California counties.
Local Food Story Changing DailyNo longer just a hip trend, the local food movement is now a story of economic necessity and public health for some communities. There is probably a
locavore news peg near you.
Environmentalists, health enthusiasts, gourmet chefs, gardeners and small-farm advocates in recent years have put forth all kinds of reasons to eat as much locally-grown food as possible. Today's news headlines are offering even more. As gasoline rises above $4 a gallon, "food-miles" (how far food travels before it gets to you) are as hard on wallets as the more familiar miles-per-gallon. As McDonald's and other chains pull sliced tomatoes from their menus over worries of salmonella contamination, some people can't wait for ripe, flavorful home-grown tomatoes (and are planting more).
Ground zero for the locavore story is your local farmers' market -- a traditional public service and consumer story for weekly shoppers that can be taken upmarket for the food sections of metro dailies. In June and July, farmers' markets are a seasonal sure-thing.
Certainly, people want to know where to buy vegetables. And yes, writers want to know where to find local color. But there are many other stories in the farmers' markets of your hometown, or region, or "food-shed."
For some, it's a consumer-movement muckraking story. Not all the veggies sold in roadside stands or farmers markets are locally grown. No, sir: not those tomatoes you see in May or those lemons you see in New York.
For others, it's an economic story: Why have prices for supermarket milk, eggs and corn chips gone on a one-way trip to the stratosphere? And what does that mean for people on food stamps?
For readers and shoppers alike, it is also a health story that people are finding they need to take seriously. There is a lot to be said for talking to the sun-burnt man or woman who has grown the vegetables you will have for lunch and asking what variety the vegetables are and what methods were used to control pests.
Fortunately, there are some helpful resources reporters can use in separating the wheat from the chaff, in a locavore sense:
- Check out Edible Communities, a fleet of regional print/online publications that covers several North American regions. If there is one in your region, it will be a great starting point for local food stories.
- Also take a look at Sustainable Table, a nonprofit group promoting the sustainable food movement.
Water Pollution Can Be a Seasonal Problem in Some PlacesYour local beach could be more dangerous than you might think. Thousands of beaches were too polluted to swim at for part of 2007, according to EPA data. Water pollution can be a compelling and fairly easy-to-report story that varies widely depending on local geography.
Your water pollution story could be about the wells school children drink from, the clams that made someone sick or the funny rash that won't go away. And the villain (if there is one) may not be a factory outfall pipe, but instead a badly run sewage plant or farm operation.
Summer heat raises the temperature of many lakes, streams and estuaries, allowing bacteria and other microorganisms to grow. Waterborne illness affects tens of thousands of people in the U.S. every year.
Spring and early summer rain storms and flooding can make matters worse by overwhelming sewage treatment plants, causing them to spill or dump untreated sewage into waterways. These problems are often worse in older cities, where storm and sanitary sewers are usually combined.
You can learn more about covering water quality in a News University course called
"Covering Water Quality: What You Need to Know."
U.S.-EPA Databases Offer Launchpad for Local ReportingThe EPA offers a number of online databases that can help reporters find and build local water pollution stories:
- "Envirofacts Data Warehouse"-- Lets you access the state-federal "Permit Compliance System," which gives basic information about all the facilities in the U.S. with wastewater discharge permits, including just what they are putting into the water. You can look up your area by ZIP code or county.
- "Beach Monitoring and Notification" -- The EPA compiles and publishes an online database of beach closings (typically for viral or bacterial contamination) from the previous year, using state-supplied data. These often offer a pretty good indication of where problems may arise in the current year.
Additional Noteworthy Coverage- "A River Lost?" The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, beginning Nov. 25, 2007, by Robert McClure
- "The Mercury Connection" series, The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier, Oct. 28-30, 2007, by Tony Bartelme and Doug Pardue.
As a fellow studying climate change at the Knight Center...
