Publication Items

With a particularly dangerous wildfire season ahead, environmental journalists can better cover the heightened risk with a specialized U.S. Forest Service database. It predicts fire risk using a range of frequently updated variables like amount and condition of fuel, drought and topography, then maps it in high resolution with overlays of human structures and populations. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox has more on the database, and details how to make smart use of it.

New thinking and narratives are needed to solve complex environmental challenges like the climate crisis. But for journalists, the ongoing split between religion and environment beats hampers that effort. It’s a reality environmental journalist Meera Subramanian knows from conversations at her own kitchen table. So she helped organize a recent Society of Environmental Journalists’ webinar to explore closing the gap.

A government website that tracked climate change is back after being frozen by the Trump administration. But the return of the EPA’s climate indicator page, argues the new WatchDog opinion column, is just one step in undoing a longer-term and more systematic assault on science that has hobbled truth-seeking journalists. WatchDog on what must come next.

An unusual student journalist, moonlighting in between his Ph.D. training as a clinical psychologist, turned an interest in the ways nature can heal into an award-winning story for a prominent magazine, and in the process helped prompt skyrocketing interest among mainstream physicians in “prescribing nature.” Aaron Reuben shares his experience in the new EJ Academy.