Drought is an urgent environmental story, both as it emerges in its seasonal form and as part of larger related issues of allocation and climate change. As the drought season gets underway, this week’s TipSheet offers story angles and more than a dozen key resources for your coverage.
When it comes to the wildfires that now regularly threaten life and property, it’s not just the flames that create risk. Wildfire smoke itself can cause harm, even a long way from the fire. This week’s TipSheet explains the health threats of wildfire smoke and how to monitor the risk for your own area.
A journalism teaching project planned to cover local energy inequities. That was before Hurricane Irma swept Florida. In the end, inspired student reporters moved community leaders to action with human-centered, data-driven stories focused on solutions. Journalist and educator Cynthia Barnett shares the lessons in our latest EJ Academy column.
They may not be the sexiest topics on the environmental agenda. But building codes and zoning can become a matter of life and death when natural disasters strike. This week’s TipSheet runs down the reporting challenge when floods, earthquakes and wildfires threaten your coverage area.
"Western U.S. residents could endure two more lethal wildfire seasons before the implementation of a widely-praised fix to how the federal government funds fighting and preventing wildfires."
"Hackers increasingly threaten sites in the U.S. ranging from nuclear power plants to water processing systems, according to a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, adding his voice to warnings from several agencies and officials in recent weeks."
"The EPA will have a hard time meeting a congressional mandate to boost oversight of toxic chemicals stored near water supplies, several people who work in water policy told Bloomberg Environment."
"The dispersant chemicals used to clean up oil spills have the unintended effect of transforming crude oil into a toxic mist able to travel for miles and penetrate deep into human lungs, new research has found."
"A toxic onslaught from the nation's petrochemical hub was largely overshadowed by the record-shattering deluge of Hurricane Harvey as residents and first responders struggled to save lives and property."
"Global floods and extreme rainfall events have surged by more than 50% this decade, and are now occurring at a rate four times higher than in 1980, according to a new report."
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