"The first full draft of the assessment, on the state of America’s land, water and wildlife, was weeks from completion. The project leader called the study “too important to die.”"
In Part 2 of a two-part EJ Academy, SEJournal’s Emilia Askari examines changes artificial intelligence is bringing to journalism — among them possibilities for the analysis of data, including on climate and the environment. Plus, ways to use AI tools more effectively and how to track news organizations’ response to and use of AI. Also: Part 1, AI in the classroom.
"The number of monarch butterflies spending the winter in the western United States has dropped to its second-lowest mark in nearly three decades as pesticides, diminishing habitat and climate change take their toll on the beloved pollinator."
"An effort by the Trump administration to pull down Food and Drug Administration website pages focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion has ensnared many pages focused on ensuring that clinical trials used to test drugs and medical devices include people of different ethnic and economic backgrounds."
"Acting EPA Administrator James Payne has ousted all members of two of the agency’s most influential science advisory panels, giving President Donald Trump’s administration the opportunity to reshape them with its own appointees."
"Global warming caused mainly by burning of fossil fuels made the hot, dry and windy conditions that drove the recent deadly fires around Los Angeles about 35 times more likely to occur, an international team of scientists concluded in a rapid attribution analysis released Tuesday."
"In a vicious cycle, the sector’s financing of oil and gas is having an impact on its bottom line."
To many, plants are a merely green backdrop, indistinguishable and inconsequential. But, freelancer Karen Mockler says that such “plant blindness” belies an urgent need for our notice. More than a third of the world’s trees and thousands of other plant species face extinction. Their plight — and their many blessings — offer perceptive journalists a wealth of reporting and storytelling opportunities. Mockler on why to write about plants.
"The U.S Army Corps of Engineers announced last Friday it’s moving forward with an altered version of the Yazoo Pumps, a flood relief project that the agency has touted for decades. The project now also has the backing of the Environmental Protection Agency, whose veto killed a previous iteration in 2008 because of the pumps’ potential to harm 67,000 acres of valuable wetland habitat."
"The committee that decides the fate of endangered species is rarely summoned. But the president’s “energy emergency” could change that."
"The Trump administration is putting its faith in an empowered “God Squad” that might help energy projects maneuver around Endangered Species Act obstacles.
In verse meant to be far-reaching, President Donald Trump’s new executive order designating an “energy emergency” strengthens what the landmark environmental law formally calls the “Endangered Species Act Committee.”
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