To better grasp how COVID-19 is linked to the persistent problem of polluted air, our latest BookShelf review recommends going back to a prescient text, “Choked: Life and Breath in the Age of Air Pollution.” While the volume predates the pandemic, it makes painfully clear why, during this crisis, healthy air matters more than ever.
"The Supreme Court of Canada rejected an appeal by a mining company that has, for decades, been fighting to construct a gold and copper mine in an area considered sacred to the Tsilhqot'in First Nation"
For reporters investigating the coronavirus-environment connection, you might look to the untreated sewage that can sometimes overflow municipal systems during wet weather, possibly bringing the novel pathogen to beaches and other places where people can get sick from it. The latest TipSheet takes a look at the reality, plus provides story ideas and reporter resources.
"Bucking GOP elders, they’ve drafted the American Climate Contract as the right’s response to the Green New Deal."
"The Treasury Department announced Tuesday that it would begin distributing some of the coronavirus stimulus intended for Native American tribes, irking lawmakers who say the administration took far too long to dole out partial funding."
"The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the importance of people who grow, pick, and process food as essential workers. These agricultural workers will also be on the front lines of climate change, a new study makes clear." "At 2 degrees warming, the entire growing season will be considered unsafe for agricultural work in some places".
Reporting the COVID-19 pandemic may mean telling environmental stories, while using the best data to do it. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox spotlights three key resources to capture a detailed look at where and who the coronavirus is striking, and how it connects to the environment: a dashboard, an ambitious data platform and an unheralded tool for uncovering environmental injustice.
"She's identified only as Kathryn Grace S., one of 16 youths who've sued to keep the state of Montana from promoting the use of fossil fuels, threatening their future."
As researchers are finding that soot and other forms of fine particulates in the air may actually make people more vulnerable to the coronavirus, the EPA decided earlier this month against tightening related standards under the Clean Air Act. The latest TipSheet explains why the decision matters, provides deeper context and offers story ideas and resources.
"President Jair Bolsonaro is moving aggressively to open up the Amazon rainforest to commercial development, posing an existential threat to the tribes living there."
"URU EU WAU WAU TERRITORY, Brazil — The billboard at the entrance of a tiny Indigenous village in the Amazon has become a relic in less than a decade, boasting of something no longer true.
“Here, there is investment by the federal government,” proclaims the sign, erected in 2012, which is now shrouded by fallen palm tree fronds.
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