People all too often swim in waters whose pollution risks are far scarier — and far more real — than shark attacks. Yet little attention is paid to the environmental stories behind the beach closures such pollution can necessitate. TipSheet helps you dip your toe, with the backstory on the most common cause for these health risks, plus reporting resources.
"In the next week, the boards of electric cooperative utilities across Minnesota will vote on whether to approve a plan to sell, rather than close, a North Dakota coal-fired power plant that has provided them with electricity for decades. But the utilities have done little to disclose that the votes are taking place or to solicit the views of customers, who, in the cooperative model, are also shareholders."
"Newark, New Jersey, has removed more than 20,000 lead water lines while the White House pushes national plan".
"When Brandon Jorgensen picked up the phone, he was in the middle of staging his latest house in Napa, California. “We are getting very very close to, I wouldn’t say fireproofing, but fire-resisting a house,” Jorgensen, an architect, said, speaking from the home’s driveway."
"The Environmental Protection Agency said Monday that it’s taking steps to regulate 66 possible contaminants in drinking water, including PFAS chemicals."
"Hurricane Zeta's surprisingly significant damage to Louisiana, much of it attributed to lost roofing that allowed water damage inside residences, should be seen by property owners as a prompt to take steps now to avoid similar damage in future storms, says Ian Giammanco, a research meteorologist and wind engineer at the Insurance Institute for Building and Home Safety."
With heat waves driven by global warming pounding parts of the western United States this summer, environmental journalists mustn’t overlook the toll on especially vulnerable populations, among them disadvantaged groups, the elderly, those in low-income housing and more. The latest Issue Backgrounder helps reporters understand heat’s health effects, track heat-vulnerable populations and clarifies how communities can prepare and prevent the worst public health impacts.
"Gov. Jared Polis signed a new law Tuesday that’s meant to force Colorado businesses and consumers to reduce their use of single-use plastic and polystyrene products."
As the solar panel business resurges, the wide scope of possible regional and local story angles — climate, tech, consumer, business, jobs, air quality and grid reliability — make bright prospects for journalists. The latest TipSheet sets out recent political and market developments, along with more than a dozen story ideas and reporting resources.
"Workmen have invaded Flora Dillard's house on the east side of Cleveland. There's plastic over everything and no place to sit, but Dillard doesn't seem to mind. 'A couple of days of inconvenience is nothing, compared to the results that you get,' she says. She'll benefit, and so might the climate."
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