Some Spreadsheet Techniques To Help You Check the Scientists’ Studies [1]
Here's a sampling of coverage of recent extreme weather disasters, with particular focus on a few of the many enterprise stories that emanated from four clusters of events — the tsunami-caused crisis at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, drought and wildfires in Texas, death-dealing tornadoes in the Southeast and massive flooding in the Mississippi River system.
Miami-based radio news director Dan Grech recounts his journey covering the traumatic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, becoming homeless thanks to Hurricane Wilma, his subsequent training on trauma reporting, and shares his lessons learned with you.
In this issue: Covering and surviving trauma; goodbye to SEJournal editor Mike Mansur; interview with award-winning Seattle Times reporter Craig Welch; MIT @ 150 years; media's vetting of candidates on climate change; negotiating the 'new' journalism world; environmental and economic impacts of world's growing demand for food; and more.
Commuters who travel to work via bicycle put a dent in petroleum consumption and air pollution, and likely have a leg up on not becoming part of the obesity epidemic. Davis, CA, residents are at the head of the pack of the 375 largest US cities surveyed, with 22.1% of the city's residents commuting by bike, according to US Census Bureau statistics compiled by the League of American Bicyclists.
Current fishing methods are rather destructive, with 17% of the fish caught commercially being unintended bycatch, according to NOAA's first national assessment of bycatch. That damages the environment, and costs those who fish time and money.
The topic of federal loan guarantees for energy projects has become prime media territory with the bankruptcy of the solar company Solyndra after it received one of these loans. As of September 30, 2011, DoE has issued about $40 billion for solar, wind, geothermal, biofuels, nuclear, energy efficiency, energy storage, battery storage, or transmission projects.
Numerous allegations of health damage from people in the US and around the globe, the common threads in the descriptions of health damage (often appearing to involve the neurological, immune, and/or endocrine systems), and the evidence from thousands of published studies that address a wide range of electrical, magnetic field, and radio-frequency impacts suggest this could be a major public health issue that warrants coverage.
The session, before an audience of journalists at the Press Club and another audience online, included representatives of the Columbia Journalism Review, the Associated Press, Politico, the Society of Environmental Journalists, the Association of Health Care Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, and the National Association of Science Writers. The EPA declined to attend.
In June 2012, the nations of the world will convene in Rio de Janiero for the 20th anniversary of the landmark 1992 Rio Conference on Environment and Development that set the stage for a number of important treaties, including the Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Links
[1] https://www.sej.org/publications/sejournal/some-spreadsheet-techniques-help-you-check-scientists-studies
[2] https://www.sej.org/category/sej-publication-types/reporter%E2%80%99s-toolbox
[3] https://www.sej.org/taxonomy/term/81
[4] https://www.sej.org/publications/backgrounders/enterprising-stories-stand-out-recent-disaster-coverage-japan-texas
[5] https://www.sej.org/category/sej-publication-types/backgrounders
[6] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/disaster
[7] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/journalism/media
[8] https://www.sej.org/publications/backgrounders/covering-trauma-surviving-trauma-and-gaining-new-insight
[9] https://www.sej.org/publications/sejournal/sejournal-fall-2011-vol-21-no-3
[10] https://www.sej.org/category/sej-publication/sejournal
[11] https://www.sej.org/publications/tipsheet/2010-bicycle-commuting-stats-available-375-us-cities
[12] https://www.sej.org/category/sej-publication/tipsheet
[13] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/transportation
[14] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/people-population
[15] https://www.sej.org/publications/tipsheet/noaa-releases-first-fishing-bycatch-report
[16] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/government
[17] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/fisheries
[18] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/water
[19] https://www.sej.org/publications/tipsheet/watchdog-alert-tracking-energy-loan-guarantees
[20] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/energy
[21] https://www.sej.org/publications/tipsheet/many-are-claiming-health-problems-caused-smart-meters
[22] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/health
[23] https://www.sej.org/publications/watchdog-tipsheet/j-groups-press-club-obama%E2%80%99s-science-openness-glass-only-half-full
[24] https://www.sej.org/category/sej-publication/watchdog-tipsheet
[25] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-politics
[26] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/science
[27] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/mid-atlantic
[28] https://www.sej.org/publications/watchdog-tipsheet/access-environmental-info-will-be-issue-rio20
[29] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/policy
[30] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/cities-towns
[31] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/climate-change
[32] https://www.sej.org/category/region/international/south-america
[33] https://www.sej.org/publications/list/%2A
[34] https://www.sej.org/publications/list/%2A?page=175
[35] https://www.sej.org/publications/list/%2A?page=172
[36] https://www.sej.org/publications/list/%2A?page=173
[37] https://www.sej.org/publications/list/%2A?page=174
[38] https://www.sej.org/publications/list/%2A?page=177
[39] https://www.sej.org/publications/list/%2A?page=178
[40] https://www.sej.org/publications/list/%2A?page=179
[41] https://www.sej.org/publications/list/%2A?page=180
[42] https://www.sej.org/publications/list/%2A?page=322
[43] https://www.sej.org/publications/list/Watchdog+TipSheet