Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from the interview with NPR's Howard Berkes.

Berkes points to a pile of colorful notebooks on the floor of McPhee's office at Princeton University.

 

 By HOWARD BERKES 
You might think writing comes easy to John McPhee.

He's been at it more than 40 years, after all, producing 27 books, writing for The New Yorker since 1964 and teaching writing at Princeton since 1975. And, oh yes, he has that Pulitzer Prize. All those years and words and accomplishments ought to add up to confidence – even hubris, perhaps – when turning a sea of complex detail, facts and characters into smoothly flowing narrative.

Proposed emission standards in a proposed control area around the US coastline would cut sulfur in fuel by 98 percent, particulate matter emissions by 85 percent, and nitrogen oxide emissions by 80 percent from the current global requirements.

Covering volunteer ID efforts provides both a way to bring the issue to the attention of your audience, and to personalize how the general public can help address the problem.

The Obama administration pumps up support for thousands of drinking water systems in the US with about $2B.

The ALA's annual State of the Air report can provide a useful hook for reporting on air quality in your community, but for the big picture, do go beyond the sound-bite information emphasized in the report.

 

 By MIKE DUNNE

Global warming or climate change has been a topic simmering on the environmental journalism burners for quite some time. As 2007 began, it boiled over, becoming front-page news across the nation.

There was a steady stream of stories written about an upcoming report by the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, then stories about what the report really said followed up by stories about possible regional implications.

 

 

 

 Great Lakes' fate hangs in the balance
THE GREAT LAKES WATER WARS 
By Peter Annin Island Press, $25.95 
Reviewed by TOM HENRY

To those of us who have ever stood along the Great Lakes shoreline and given much thought to the seemingly endless sight of fresh water in front of us, it seems incomprehensible that this part of the country could ever have trouble quenching its thirst

Following a December 2008 USA Today investigation into toxic air enveloping US schools, EPA will begin monitoring air quality around 62 schools in 22 states.