Publication Items

Thousands of energy-hungry, water-gulping data centers are helping fuel the artificial intelligence boom in the United States (and elsewhere). The latest TipSheet takes a closer look at this escalating phenomenon and encourages environmental journalists to look into how it may be playing out in their communities. Ten story ideas and reporting resources to cover data centers’ local impact.

With the COP30 U.N. climate talks starting this week in Brazil, in the heart of the Amazon River basin, our Issue Backgrounder points out that now is a critical time to consider a central question: Is the mandate to save the immense Amazon rainforest as a way to combat climate change being irretrievably undermined by the vast, destructive forces bringing about the rainforest’s rapid destruction?

Queer ecology is an evolving field that challenges traditional assumptions in science and explores LGBTQ+ experiences in an ecological context. It’s easy to catch your audience’s attention with stories about transitioning clownfish or same-sex albatross parenting. But as contributor Isaias Hernandez explains, queer ecology also offers journalists an important perspective for covering a range of environmental issues, from climate risk to pollution exposure, and reimagining environmental narratives.

Efforts under Trump 2.0 to cut funding for environmental justice programs may be the new reality, but the uncertain status of hundreds of Biden-era grants offers important local stories. And as Reporter’s Toolbox finds, a database that rescued federal grant information helps make that reporting possible, with coding by congressional district to put the conflict into political context.