Publication Items

A sweeping array of satellites observes our planet and sends vast amounts of data back — data that the powerful NASA Worldview website can translate into graphic form to help journalists tell some of the environment beat’s most central stories. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox explores the strengths and weaknesses of Worldview in covering everything from wildfires and floods to climate.

A good and very localizable environmental story is right outside your front door … or at least outside your neighbor’s. Lawns and the myriad ways they are managed can provide a window into wildness, or resource use, or chemical pollution. The latest TipSheet offers more than a dozen story ideas and reporting resources, from xeriscaping and butterfly gardens to nurseries and planning boards.

With hurricane season expected to kick into high gear, a key data source for reporters is sea surface temperatures. But this widely available information can also tell reporters something about many other water-related environment stories, whether algal blooms, bacterial risks to public health or the prospects for entire estuarine systems. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox helps you dip your toe into this important data pool.

It’s peak beach season around much of the United States, with its timeless traditions of sunbathing, beach reads, swimming and beachcombing. But nature has its own ideas about shorelines, stripping some beaches and growing others. Humans, too, have their own beach engineering enterprises, with their own environmental impacts. The latest TipSheet helps you cover your local beach scene, with questions to ask, story ideas and reporting resources.