As a veteran of reporting on the marine environment, David Helvarg is encouraged by recent improvements in the quality of ocean journalism, but sees a pressing need for more hands on deck. Offering inspiration from his own career, he notes that the world’s rapidly changing oceans hold an abundance of stories and urges others to dive in and explore them.
When Reporter’s Toolbox scours a new dataset for your environment and energy reporting use, it asks a key question: Where does the data come from? This time, the answer serves more as a warning. The latest column looks at a previously stellar data source — the CDC — and finds it lacking. Here’s what you need to know.
"Hunters on some public lands in Alaska will be allowed to bait bears with doughnuts soaked in bacon grease before shooting them at close range, under a rule the Trump administration released Friday."
"Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it was closing its largest research campus and radically reorganizing research at the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). The moves were controversial because they involved long-distance job transfers that threatened to uproot many scientists and derail research programs. This week, a federal judge declared the plans were likely illegal and ordered a halt until at least 11 December, when the current federal budget runs out."
"The United Nations is convening delegates from nearly 200 countries to try to make progress on pledges to protect plants, animals and ecosystems."
"To understand how Donald Trump would come to use the power of the presidency to promote a small discount gas station operation — one with murky finances, mysterious ownership and allegedly dubious business practices — you need to start with a former South Jersey mayor who also happens to be a Super Bowl-winning NFL kicking coach."
"For years, economists dismissed collusion as crankery and blamed bird flu for high prices. Then the feds found evidence that could prove the cranks right, and almost nobody noticed."
"The Environmental Protection Agency has quietly backtracked on a claim that the US has phased out two of the most dangerous Pfas compounds – Pfoa and Pfos."
