The nation’s parks are generally thought to be pristine natural havens. But a recent study finds the overwhelming majority suffer from air pollution problems like smog and ozone. That makes for important local and regional news stories, per the latest biweekly TipSheet. Get background, story ideas, resources and more.
While environmental journalists often focus on regulatory wrestling matches in Washington, D.C., a seasoned New York Times investigative reporter argues the most important stories are those in the real communities where bureaucratic impacts are felt. Three-time Pulitzer winner Eric Lipton makes the case for public service in journalism that tells the environment story from the outside in.
"After spending $66 to buy a new 3-by-5-foot nylon rainbow flag, the National Park Service flew it high at one of the agency's newest monuments: the historic Stonewall Inn in New York's Greenwich Village, where a riot on June 28, 1969, launched the modern gay rights movement 50 years ago this week."
"As debate cranks up over mandatory funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund on Capitol Hill, lawmakers are exploring ways to fix, nurture and maintain America's treasured public lands and waters on an increasingly tight budget."
"One year ago this week, the Interior Department's top lawyer instigated a sharp debate over tribal lands in Alaska with a prediction that a final answer could be forthcoming in 12 months. Which means, in theory, just about now."
"Jay Inslee, a 2020 presidential hopeful, released an expansive plan on Monday that attempts to capture and rein in the full range of what’s propping up the fossil-fuel economy, from big banks, to lax drilling laws, to federal subsidies."
"As Democratic presidential hopefuls prepare for their first 2020 primary debate this week, 74 medical and public health groups aligned on Monday to push for a series of consensus commitments to combat climate change, bluntly defined by the organizations as “a health emergency.”"
"At the end of a week in which the Trump administration rolled back Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, Mike Pence declined repeated invitations to say the human-induced climate crisis is a threat to US national security."
"A federal court has ruled that an environmental review exemption by the Trump administration for a pipeline to extract water from the Mojave Desert is illegal." "The 43-mile pipeline was approved by the Trump administration after former Cadiz lobbyist David Bernhardt became deputy secretary of the interior."
"The Trump administration has refused to publicize dozens of government-funded studies that carry warnings about the effects of climate change, defying a longstanding practice of touting such findings by the Agriculture Department’s acclaimed in-house scientists."
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