"The US’s first-ever trial in a constitutional climate lawsuit kicked off Monday morning in a packed courtroom in Helena, Montana. The case, Held v Montana, was brought in 2020 by 16 plaintiffs between the ages of five and 22 from around the state who allege state officials violated their constitutional right to a healthy environment by enacting pro-fossil fuel policies."
Attacks of all kinds on U.S. journalists clearly hamper a free press. And environmental journalists are not spared such aggressions, especially when covering contested places like pipeline construction sites. WatchDog Opinion outlines the problem and explores how journalists might be spared from such violations, including with a prospective law explicitly protecting journalists from assault.
When most people think of coastal tourist destinations, they imagine beaches lined by palm trees and exclusive resorts. But those are exactly the kind of realities that contribute to the environmental and economic decline of coastal communities and their local residents, argues a new book. Contributing Editor Jenny Weeks has our review in the new BookShelf.
A precipitous decline in bird populations worldwide and in North America has numerous causes and is, at least in part, the result of human activity. But the complexity of the problem doesn’t mean that it can’t be reported on the ground by environmental journalists using nearby resources. The latest TipSheet has more, along with a dozen-and-a-half story ideas and reporting resources.
"In the 1960s, scientists discovered that the sky blue blood inside horseshoe crabs would clot when it detected bacterial toxins."
"The Department of Agriculture gives tens of millions of dollars every year to farmers and ranchers to support conservation efforts on their farms, but much of the funding ends up at big, industrial-scale operations that critics say worsen agricultural pollution and emit climate-warming greenhouse gases, a new report has found."
"As insurance companies scale back coverage in disaster-prone states because climate risks have become too costly, U.S. lawmakers have launched an investigation into seven major carriers for continuing to insure and invest billions of dollars in fossil fuel projects, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post."
"“If we’re not outside, then we don’t make money,” said a pedicab driver in Central Park, echoing the view of many workers who pressed on despite warnings about harmful air quality".
"The destruction of the Kakhovka Dam was a fast-moving disaster that is swiftly evolving into a long-term environmental catastrophe affecting drinking water, food supplies and ecosystems reaching into the Black Sea."
"A landmark climate trial that will reverberate in states and litigation across the US is set to begin Monday, when more than a dozen young people face off with the state of Montana at Lewis and Clark County District Court."
Links
[1] https://www.sej.org/headlines/young-activists-testify-us-s-first-constitutional-climate-trial
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/12/young-activists-held-v-montana-climate-change-first-constitutional-trial
[3] https://www.sej.org/publications/watchdog/threats-press-come-many-forms-some-are-violent
[4] https://www.sej.org/publications/bookshelf/seven-stages-beach-exploitation-and-restoration
[5] https://www.sej.org/publications/tipsheet/bird-populations-crash-local-reporting-can-help-untangle-why
[6] https://www.sej.org/headlines/biomedical-labs-bleeding-more-horseshoe-crabs-little-accountability
[7] https://www.npr.org/2023/06/10/1180761446/coastal-biomedical-labs-are-bleeding-more-horseshoe-crabs-with-little-accountabi
[8] https://www.sej.org/headlines/usda-conservation-programs-give-millions-farms-worsen-climate-change
[9] https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09062023/agriculture-conservation-funding/
[10] https://www.sej.org/headlines/lawmakers-launch-probe-insurance-firms-funding-fossil-fuel-industry
[11] https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/06/09/investigation-insurance-companies-fossil-fuels/
[12] https://www.sej.org/headlines/hazardous-air-quality-wildfire-smoke-takes-toll-outdoor-workers
[13] https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/06/08/workers-outside-hazardous-air-quality-wildfire-smoke/
[14] https://www.sej.org/headlines/ukraine-dam-collapse-slow-moving-ecological-catastrophe
[15] https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-dam-environment-disaster-753d1e03810e6bd2e4a26cf2dd3aa97b
[16] https://www.sej.org/headlines/legal-right-safe-climate-goes-trial-montana-youth-case
[17] https://bnanews.bna.com/environment-and-energy/legal-right-to-safe-climate-goes-on-trial-in-montana-youth-case
[18] https://www.sej.org/search_results
[19] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=834
[20] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=831
[21] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=832
[22] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=833
[23] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=836
[24] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=837
[25] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=838
[26] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=839
[27] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=5009