"Canada is formally withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, abandoning the world's only legally binding plan to tackle global warming."
This week-long program of continuing education for working reporters who cover the environment and science takes place May 21-26, 2012, hosted by Florida Atlantic University. Participants will explore developments in science, biotechnology and medicine in addition to the environmental subject matter the program has traditionally examined. Deadline: March 1, 2012.
Deepen your understanding of environmental science and policy, and enhance your journalism skills at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Open to U.S. journalists with five years' full-time experience. Prior experience covering the environment is not necessary. $80,000 stipend and a trip to the SEJ conference. Deadline is Mar 1 annually.
The Nieman Foundation selects up to 24 U.S. and international journalists for Nieman Fellowships each year. Spend two semesters at Harvard (or possibly online) pursuing a course of study of your own design. $85,000 stipend (U.S. only) plus housing, childcare and health insurance allowances. Deadlines: Dec 1, 2025, for International; Jan 31, 2026, for US applicants.
Full-time journalists with five years' experience may apply for the 2026-27 academic year fellowships at the University of Michigan, designed to broaden perspectives, nurture intellectual growth and inspire personal transformation. $85,000 stipend. Deadlines: Dec 1, 2025 (international); Feb 1, 2026 (U.S.)
U.S. journalists with minimum five years' professional experience will receive nine months of study, intellectual growth and personal change at Stanford University in Northern California. Includes tuition, $130,000 stipend and health insurance. Deadline: Dec 3, 2025 for international and US applicants.
"The embattled chief of the U.S. nuclear safety regulator found some powerful political support on Saturday ahead of Capitol Hill hearings next week that will scrutinize his bid to enact sweeping safety reforms."
"Soon after horrific natural gas explosions killed five people in Allentown and a utility worker in Philadelphia, a Pennsylvania congressman called a hearing in March to talk about improving pipeline safety. Right away, U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster made one thing clear: He wasn't sure the solution was more federal inspectors, or even a more powerful U.S. pipeline safety agency with tougher regulations."
"Honeywell and fertilizer maker J.R. Simplot have agreed to build the first commercial facility for Sulf-N 26, a granular fertilizer that is comparable to ammonium nitrate but would be ineffective as a bomb material. Ammonium nitrate combined with fuel oil was used in the bomb that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995."
"Too much exposure to barium can cause tremors, breathing problems, diarrhea, irregular heartbeats, paralysis and death. Who could blame people for worrying if they live near huge mounds of soil laced with it?
The prospect of dust kicking up from those mounds when crews finally start building a freeway segment on top of them is causing some anxiety in neighborhoods west of downtown Modesto."
Garth Stapley reports for the Modesto Bee December 12, 2011.
