This post is due by Monday, January 20 @ midnight for full credit.
Email late posts to rob.williamsATmadriver.com for partial credit.
Read our COVERING THE ENVIRONMENT book, assigned chapter(s) above.
In a SINGLE blog post below for ALL chapters in the section, provide for EACH chapter:
1. A single sentence, IYOW, that captures the THESIS (main argument) for each chapter.
In a SINGLE blog post below for ALL chapters in the section, provide for EACH chapter:
1. A single sentence, IYOW, that captures the THESIS (main argument) for each chapter.
2. THREE specific pieces of supporting documentation - ideas, concepts, stats, data - to bolster your thesis for each chapter. (Use 2 - 3 sentences for each.)
3. A SINGLE specific question you have after reading and blogging on ALL chapters of assignment.
The heat is on,
Dr. W
The heat is on,
Dr. W
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ReplyDeleteChapter 1:
ReplyDelete1. A brief, though comprehensive, introduction to the “green beat,” including the journalists that cover the environmental beat, their limited understanding of the topics they cover, (as well as their reader’s limited understanding) and the issues they might address in their stories, (i.e. climate change, water, population and biodiversity).
2. The first supporting evidence is a lengthy introduction to Mark Schleifstein, a journalist who basically predicted Hurricane Katrina and the tragedy to follow. Schleifstein provides a perfect example of an environmental journalist (covering everything from severe storms to disappearing wetlands) and his commitment to his beat (he continued to cover environmental issues despite his disappointment after Hurricane Katrina). His story also provides a great example of reader’s limited understanding of environmental issues, shown through the basic lack of action after his repeated warnings about the Gulf’s vulnerability to a massive storm. The second piece of supporting documentation is that the chapter went on to present the numbers of reporters covering the environmental beat, (specifically 46.9% of newspapers have an environmental journalist, and 85% of dailies with a circulation of 60,000 or more also have an environmental journalist) proving the growing interest in the environment as well as providing insight to the journalists involved with the green beat. The third piece of evidence is that the last eight pages of the chapter is devoted to explaining the basic topics important and highly relevant to environmental journalism today. Titled the “Issues of Tomorrow,” the section goes into specifics about rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, (expected to reach 500 ppm by 2050) as well as expected water shortages in 36 states in the US and over 700 species that became extinct between 1600-2000.
3. Many readers, as well as the public as a whole, become immune or numb to many of the bigger environmental issues after a time. What journalism or media techniques are available to help prevent this from happening?
Chapter 2:
1. For several hundred years, there have been individuals writing about the beauty and complexity of the environment as well as all of negative human impacts, but only after Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring did the environmental cause and associated journalism take off.
2. The first example for supporting documentation is the first written environmental document, entitled The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton in 1640, which shows how long society has been addressing the environment in writing. From there, the chapter has many other authors and environmentalists cited, (from Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, to Henry David Thoreau, to John Muir) to concisely demonstrate the number of environmental writers over the years. The next example of support is the era of muckrakers and Yellow Journalism, where stories and books like The Octopus by Frank Norris were written to highlight damaging alterations taking place in the environment. Many of these works won prestigious awards, like the Pulitzer award, showing their rising levels of reception. The final piece of supporting evidence is publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, published in 1962 and selling over 100,000 copies in less than six months. This prompted the Science Advisory Commission under President John Kennedy to look into the issue of DDT, (who eventually ruled in favor of Carson, stating that DDT should not be used indiscriminately) and also opening the eyes of many Americans. This single publication helped lead to a new era of encouraging people to “question rather than to accept what industry was doing to the environment and to human health,” (Wyss 29). In addition, this helped lead to higher newspaper and television coverage of environmental crises and the clean up of several instances of severe pollution.
3. How can we, as a writers in this new world of journalism, adequately convey the plentiful underlying complexities of the environment?
Chapter 1:
ReplyDelete1. An introduction to how journalists cover the issues of the environment and how the public has become increasingly more interested in topics that concern the environment, yet journalists working the environmental beat are still facing challenges to their fields.
2. One piece of supporting documentation is the story of Mark Schleifstein and his adamant pieces on a possible hurricane disaster that could occur in New Orleans. The chapter starts off with his story to show how a journalist working the environmental beat uses a lot of different sources to try and give all the facts out to the public, but are sometimes ignored.
Another piece of documentation is the Gallup Poll which was conducted in 2006 and showed that 67 percent of responding Americans to the poll believed the environment was getting worse, a higher percentage than in 2002 when only 54 percent had answered the same way.
Lastly, journalists working the environmental beat must work hard to make people understand that we are what is causing issues such as climate change, diminishing water supplies, impacts from a growing population, and threat of extinction to species. Journalists do this by looking to scientists and researchers for reports like the one in 2004 by the National Academy of Sciences which stated that there was more carbon dioxide and methane in the earth's atmosphere than at any time in the past 400,000 years.
3. If the environment has become a rising interest in the public why are there still so few journalists whose focus is on the environmental beat, especially in television?
Chapter 2:
1. A history on how environmental journalism came to be and how it was perpetuated by Rachel Carsons’ book Silent Spring.
2. When looking back to the past to see how people reported the environment, art is the place we start. There were many cave paintings and paintings on landscapes and the environment before the first true book about the environment was published in 1640, Izaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler.
Rachel Carson was a biologist who wrote a book on the effects of chemicals on the environment and in the lives of humans. She spent four years researching and writing this book on pesticides in order to get greater public awareness of its impact. Former Vice President Al Gore even said that maybe the environmental movement would ever have developed without the publication of this book.
With an increase in public outrage journalists working the environmental beat used real life stories to bring more awareness to issues such as Love Canal and Lois Gibbs. People were outraged when Michael Brown wrote a story about how a chemical company had buried hazard chemicals beneath a residential neighborhood and due to this Lois Gibbs two children kept getting mysterious ailments. She later helped organize other activists and supporters said that her story gave credence to grassroots efforts.
3. Does written word still carry the ability to spark outrage or in a our modern day visual society do pictures have the upper hand when it comes to reporting environmental issues?
CHAPTER 1:
ReplyDelete1. An introduction to understanding environmental beats and how the journalists and the public have become more interested in covering the environment (i.e. climate change/global warming and biodiversity).
2. The article that Mark Schleifstein wrote prior to Hurricane Katrina that predicted the storm and specifically its severity. This helped to outline the difficulty in covering environmental issues because journalists need to walk the line between being reporting the worst-case and alarming people.
Another documentation that supports the thesis of the chapter is the poll conducted by Harris Interactive reported that 44 percent of people questioned had felt the media was not doing enough to reduce environmental problems (2006).
A third support to the thesis is that in 2006 Gallup Poll indicated that 58 percent believed global warming was already occurring. But the environmental beat is still relatively young so it has not gotten as much coverage.
3. How can the environmental beat be developed so that the general public has a greater understanding for the big environmental issues occurring today?
CHAPTER 2:
1. The history behind the environmental beat and how Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring made environmental news a much greater presence in the media.
2. The earliest environmental “news” was mainly visual through paintings and then photography that depicted environmental problems and prompted a lot of the efforts for conservation. Since then more work has been written and more research is being done to get information out to the public. A major work that changed covering environmental news was Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring. It was published in 1962 and pointed to the major problems associated with the chemical DDT. Carson’s book made a bigger impact than any other environmental work before it. In 2004, Sharon Friedman noted wrote about the progress of the environmental beat and said that better training, database resources and the internet had helped to better prepare environmental journalists on what to report and when.
3. Do new media outlets (twitter/facebook/video streaming) help to communicate environmental problems or are they not comprehensive enough?
Chapter 1
ReplyDelete1. Journalists covering the green beat have a duty to satisfy the need/want by the general public for a thorough understanding of environmental changes.
2. As Mark Schleifstein found when reporting on Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans, journalists have a responsibility to find a line between reporting the worst-case situation and not alarming people. His reporting on the hurricane however, was based on interviews with climatologists and engineers, thus he had sound proof of his intense and foreboding writing leading up to the hurricane.
However, contrary to Sschleifstein’s precision and accuracy in reporting, journalists have been accused of not understanding the science. Further, an analysis of news stories by Environment Writer found that journalists seemed to center their stories on the accusations by each side while avoiding analysis of the environmental impact of population growth, an increasing environmental problem.
Yet a poll by Harris Interactive reported that 44 percent of people questioned felt that the media was not doing enough to reduce environmental problems. Further, 30 percent of those polled by Gallup believed that news of global warming had been exaggerated. This creates a conflict: some believe there has not been enough exposure, while others believe that some news had been hyperbolized.
3. How can journalists stress the importance of reporting on the green beat and utilize the expertise of others to inform the public of the increasing environmental problems?
Chapter 2
1. Increasingly, environmental journalism has become increasingly more popular and has gained more credit, especially after the publication and success of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.
2. As technology changed the nature of journalism it evolved from newspapers to radio, to television and to the Internet. As industrialization grew so did the concept of conservation, which began to be reported in these mediums.
With Silent Spring Rachel Carson encouraged readers to question, rather than to accept, what industry was doing to the environment and to human health. By the fall of 1963, public support had clearly swung in her favor.
Television was able to report longer, more detailed stories than newspapers. Tales of environmental catastrophes were so dramatic and reports kept changing, and were clearly visual. They drew extensive television coverage by U.S. television networks.
3. Has the use of social media and the Internet helped to create a whole new wave of teaching people about environmental problems, or is print and television still the best way to reach the masses?
Chapter 1
ReplyDelete1. An introduction to the green beat and how journalists cover the various environmental issues; along with the public's increasing interests in environmental issues, articles, and other media reporting the environment; as well as the struggles and challenges these journalists face with spreading environmental journalism to places other than a newspaper, magazine, etc.
2. The first example is the introduction to Mark Shleifstein and his series about the hazards New Orleans would face from a major hurricane. The series predicted what effects New Orleans would face and essentially predicted everything that happened in Katrina. He said he "wanted to scare the hell out of people so that they would get out of the city."
The turn towards value for the environment came when society would no longer accept the environmental harm that had been constantly occurring. Katrina began to shock people as well. A gallup Poll conducted in March of 2006 showed that 67% of people polled believed the environment was getting worse compared to teh 54% that answered in 2002.
Journalists are also being challenged with people who don't believe they are doing enough to get the facts about environmental issues to the public. Harris Interactive had a poll in 2005 that said the media was not doing enough to reduce environmental problems.
3. If people think the journalists are not doing enough to get the information out there, in what ways can the media better advertise their stories?
Chapter 2
1. A brief history of the arrival of journalism and environmental journalism and how Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring was a large part of this process.
2. Depiction of the environment started more than 40,000 years ago with cave paintings. The very first book about the environment was by Izaak Walton in 1640 called The Compleat Angler. However, geographers and writers have been representing new lands with maps, detailed written accounts and other things for centuries.
The national parks system and national forests stemmed from George Bird Grinnell's powerful influence in the journalism world as editor-in-chief at Field and Stream. He also helped form the Audubon Club which is a bird protection society, by aligning himself with Theodore Roosevelt.
Rachel Carson's book, published in 1962, Silent Spring was a book reveling the dangerous impacts the usage of DDT has on people and the environment. Nine years after the publication DDT was eventually banned. Her book cannot be measured based on the affect it had on pesticides alone. She opened up a new age of thinking and taught people to question things rather than accept them. This marked a crucial period in history with uncreased social and political protests. Al Gore even questioned if the environmental movement would have started if Silent Spring wasn't published.
3. Being that environmental issues are so complex, how do journalists choose what to include in an article and what to leave out?
Chapter 1
ReplyDelete1. It is important to get the information from both sides of the environmental beat out into the public because without the proper information, it is impossible for us to make a change.
2. Reports on Hurricane Katrina scared Americans into believing in climate change and that it was human caused. The increased coverage of the damage that it caused on the city shocked the world into taking the issue of global climate change into serious consideration.
Since the issue of global climate change and other environmental issues are not very "scientific" people do not believe they are very credible. News stories must show the story from both sides of the issue in order for it to be fair to the public.
The environmental movement is young compared to other movements and beats. Because of its recent emergence, as of 2004, there are only 364 reporters in the U.S. that identify as environmental reporters.
3. Does the fact that newspapers are much more likely to have environmental reporters affect the audience it reaches since the younger generation may be more likely to watch television reports?
Chapter 2
1. The specific type of coverage (newspaper, books, television, radio, etc.) of environmental issues is important to gain the attention and support of the public.
2. Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" gained massive popularity and press coverage. Because of this, President Nixon realized the importance of the environmental movement and passed many acts in order to gain approval.
The visual aspect of television reporting gains the attention of viewers with its hard hitting footage. For example, the 3 Mile Island incident was reported on television because it was visually enthralling and it was done in a timely manner so the public was aware.
Because John Muir published the magnificent mountains of the West, the world was able to see and appreciate the beauty without visiting. This access allowed others to connect from afar.
3. If all of this information has always been present, why has the issue of overpopulation, pollution, climate change, etc. still exist?
Chapter 1:
ReplyDelete(1) The relatively new environmental journalism beat that has emerged from the late twentieth century has not only provided a new relationship between the press and its constituents but also demanded that journalists internationally learn and appreciate the challenges involved in communicating the happenings of the environment on a local and global scale.
(2) As Mark Schleifstein and those involved in the New Orleans Times-Picayune coverage of Hurricane Katrina have repeatedly experienced in tackling the environmental beat, it is important to recognize that "journalists have a responsibility to find a line between reporting the worst-case situation and not alarming people" (Wyss, 4). Though the staff at the Times-Picayune had published series about the necessity of pre-hurricane protection, New Orleans faced a devastating loss after the 2005 storm struck. Schleifstein acknowledged that "'the storm would do more damage than what we were reporting'" but that he "'could not be an alarmist'" (Wyss, 5).
Many journalists covering the new beat have found satisfaction in the their job and have also seen growing interest among U.S. citizens. People have acknowledged a change in the environment and trust the media to give accurate coverage on what lies ahead; many of these journalists have "spent between 13.5 and 15.8 years in journalism" while also believing "it was not their role to work with community leaders in solving environmental problems" (Wyss, 9). Thus the need for these journalists to know their field instead of reporting with broad language became a necessity.
Loosely utilizing terms like "climate change" and "biodiversity" while sweepingly talking of population and water issues, "both journalists and scientists agree that they need more education and understanding" in order to "communicate about science and the environment" (Wyss, 18).
(3) What kind of programs are offered for aspiring journalists who seek to learn more about the environment (i.e. government programs, educational programs, etc.)? How can journalists learn more about the environment without getting a degree in environmental studies and vice versa for scientists who seek to report on the habits of the environment?
Chapter 2:
Delete(1) Beginning in the 1800s and rapidly growing through the mid-2000s, concern about the environment and the subsequent journalism beat have changed media and communication about the environment drastically.
(2) In the nineteenth century, men and women writers, poets, politicians, and explorers have noted the great beauty, wonder, and vastness found in nature. They have acknowledged the importance of resourcefulness and preservation; even Thoreau knew that The Industrial Age would "transform society and the environment" (Wyss, 22).
Muckraking began with Yellow Journalism and persevered through Tabloid Journalism until Aldo Leopold wrote that "humanity needed a new set of rules for dealing with nature, a set that was not based on the concept that mankind was the conqueror who held the power of life or death over ecosystems" (Wyss, 26).
The quiet Rachel Carlson revolutionized the ways in which the environment was being indirectly treated through her intense and eye-opening discoveries/coverage. Though one of her first supporters was a Supreme Court Justice, it wasn't until the age of President Nixon that environmental agencies were initiated and the ecosystem was given a closer look. Finally, the emergence of television uncovered environmental issues as they were occurring and gave way to environmental reporters knowing that "another big disaster or emergency story was never very far away...That meant that page one or the top of the daily newscast was always within reach" (Wyss, 35).
(3) In media classes, we always consider types of journalism: politics, sports, world, technology, etc., but environmental journalism is rarely acknowledged as a beat. Why is environmental journalism often over-looked or simply not taught in both media and environmental science classes in both secondary and upper-level education?
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ReplyDeleteCh.1
ReplyDelete1. In his book, Wyss emphasizes that environmental problems like climate change are some of the most pressing matters of our time; if journalists are able to fully understand the issues facing us, then they will be one of the most valuable tools in the fight against climate change.
2. Journalists already have the tools for communicating to people. People look to journalist for information and guidance. As we read in “Covering the Environment,” journalists want more information and help when it comes to the environmental issues and communicating them to the public. Only 12% or journalists have degrees in environmental fields. Journalists have also said that they want to have more communication with scientists in order to have more accurate reports on the issues.
3. After I read about the 12% stat, I wondered if this was a growing field? It seems like more environmental journalists would be needed in the future.
Ch.2
1. The U.S population has shown a varied interest in the environment throughout the years, and as their interest changes so does the news coverage.
2. In the 1970s Nixon created the EPA along with various other government environmental programs. He did this because he wanted to win the election, and he knew that the public was very much in favor of these environmental programs. In 1962 Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring, and this became a huge topic of discussion. News coverage mainly centered on oil spills, nuclear explosions, and chemicals. Silent Spring began the environmental discussions, but it had been a very long time before Carson’s time since the public thought about this topic.
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ReplyDeleteChapter 1
ReplyDelete1. This chapter presents an introduction to the field of environmental journalism, the challenges it faces, and where it must go in the future.
2. The first example is of course the opening anecdote about Mark Schleifstein. As an environmental journalist, he faced the struggle of not having his work accepted or heeded by the public before the disaster of hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. When the disaster was imminent he faced the difficult task of trying to present the gravity of the situation while maintaining integrity and avoiding panic. These are challenges that many types of journalists face, but the environmental beat seems to feel them keenly. Second, there are numerous stats given regarding public opinion about environmental issues in the US, and subsequently, statistics about environmental journalists themselves. There is a positive correlation between the public’s opinion of the seriousness of environmental problems and the extent to which such things are reported on. Finally, there are overviews given on the increasingly prevalent environmental problems facing the world today such as climate change and population stresses. Journalism will be required to report on these problems without bias.
3. How will journalism change or adapt as environmental problems continue to mount, even if there is still a strong contingent of people who do not believe or accept these things?
Chapter 2
1. This chapter focusses on the history of recording and reporting on the environment and the problems it faces, highlighting significant eras and turning points.
2. First there is a history of how people have seen recording and preserving the environment as an important task. From cave paintings to the Hudson River School to John Muir and the National Parks, people have shown that the natural environment is valuable and worth saving. The most significant turning point for the environmental cause highlighted in the chapter is the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962. Her expose of the dangers and long term consequences of the pesticide DDT brought environmental health and the rampant use of loosely regulated chemicals into question. This event has been referred to by many as the birth of the environmentalist movement, and led to an explosion in reporting on similar environmental catastrophes and shoddy practices that lasted through the next couple decades. Lastly, there is a section that explains how there was another turning point in environmental journalism. After the initial stories of big environmental disasters and things like point source pollution lost their appeal and gave way to things like the problems mentioned in the previous chapter, complexity and uncertainty became an issue. The large scale problems were too multi-faceted and the science was still a bit behind to make environmental stories pack much of a punch. This is still an issue that is being recovered from today.
3. What will be the next great tuning point that will solidify the importance of overarching environmental issues and bring the env. beat to the forefront of journalism?
Chapter 1.
ReplyDelete1. A glance at various environmental issues and the populations increasing level of interest with them (i.e climate change, over population, water shortage), as well as the journalists responsibility to state the gravity of the issues in a clear and straight forward manner; a method journalists sometimes fail to accomplish.
2. The first piece of documentation is a statistic from a Gallup Poll conducted in March 2006. The poll showed that more Americans are becoming concerned with the environment, with 67% of the participants saying they thought the environment was becoming worse. This was an increase from the 54% who thought the environment was getting worse back in 2002.
The second area of documentation can be seen with the explanations of the impact global warming, lose of biodiversity, and over population has had. Facts like the lose of 700 species of animals and plants from 1600 to 2000 and the 6 to 9 inch rise in sea levels in the 20th century outline the legitimacy of the issues and why peoples interest in the environment may be increasing.
Lastly, the authors claim that journalists must be educated on the issues at hand to provide "guidance" to the public, and this guidance mustn't lack clarity. An example of this could be Mark Schleifsteins' article on Hurricane Katrina, which informed Louisiana residents of the damage the hurricane could bring, however, journalists who cover stories on global warming often emphasize the uncertainties of global warming, therefore giving very little clarity on such a widespread issue.
3. Will the growing populations interest in the environment halt the progression of these environmental issues before some of the outcomes scientists predict happen?
Chapter 2
1. Articles and essays on the wonders of natural beauty have gained praise for hundreds of year, and within the past century some of these stories/ideas have turned to look at humans impact on our environment and aimed to change it, such is the case with Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.
2. The first piece of documentation pertains to the vast number of environmental essays and news coverage that is mentioned throughout the chapter. From Thoreau's Walden to the Pulitzer Prize awarded environmental stories from 1967, natural beauty and environmental consciousness has been praised throughout centuries.
The second piece of documentation relates to individuals inclination to preserve natural beauty. The author cites both Thoreau and John Muir as believing that humans themselves are part of nature, and therefore should cherish it. This claim corresponds to peoples increasing interest and praise for environmental stories.
Lastly, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring is documented and talked about extensively to illustrate the impact environmental writing can have on communities and the change it can bring about.
3. Is it possible that with all the environmental stories floating around about various topics and issues, people may soon begin to lose interest in the environment and it's publicity due to redundancy?
Fine first posts here, #ENV colleagues.
ReplyDeleteLet's dive in during class.
Missing voices:
Michael B
Michael M
Dylan P
Lisa R
Caroline T
Don't be bashful - be blog-full!
Dr. Rob
In the first two chapters of our textbook, I felt like none of the information that was in the book was groundbreaking. What I did find a bit unsettling to me, was what I neglected to find in the book, the science. The book repeatedly reminds us, that as journalists, we have the responsibility reporting the fine line between the worst case situation and not scaring the public. On page 8 he says, "not everyone believes that journalists have been getting all of the facts to the public." Also on page 12 he says, "journalists have been accused of not understanding the science and of putting too much emphasis on stories about the uncertainties of global warming." I think that journalists can reduce these accusations in their reporting, by actually considering scientific evidence in the story. If it scares the publicbecause of facts/evidence, then you know that your job of providing adequate information to them has been accomplished.
ReplyDeleteChapter two I found a bit contradictory to the first in the sense that in the first chapter readers are led to believe that in the past 50 years, human beings have become so evolved that we are starting to understand the environment like never before. But according to chapter two, the human connection with the environment, and even writing about it, is anything but new. If anything, the past 50 years has reduced the connection that humans have with the natural environment. When environmental connectivity is not an integral part of a society's culture, then the one person who speaks on behalf of environmental advocacy to reform political policy, it would appear to the general public that they are muckraking.
Chapter 1
ReplyDelete1. The introductory chapter of our textbook outlines the necessity and desire of new approaches to environmental journalism.
2. In the past, journalists covering the green beat seem to focus more on what has already happened with these environmental disasters and on their impacts (i.e. Hurricane Katrina) and less on the implications and forewarning of the events. Mark Schleifstein, an environmental reporter in New Orleans, predicted a storm similar to Hurricane Katrina in 2002, 3 years before it happened. Although he received praise for his work, he wasn’t sure it was enough: “Yeah, we were right, but what does that mean?”
364 environmental journalists in the U.S. were surveyed between 2000 and 2003. They nearly universally agreed that reporters need to be objective in their reporting of environmental issues (vis-à-vis corporations and environmental organizations) and that it is not the job of the journalist to help solve these environmental problems. Their concern was that too many reporters seem to favor the side of the environmental advocates in their reporting and that stories need to focus more on helping the reader understand the complexity of the issues.
That being said, the desire for coverage of environmental issues has grown over the years. By 2006, 46.9% of all newspapers and 13% of TV stations had reporters covering the green beat. That being said, in the same year, 30% of Americans believed the news about global warming had been exaggerated. Meanwhile journalists like Schleifstein are holding back from the true terror that they are aware of: “It was extremely clear to me that the storm would do more damage than what we were reporting.” Yet the textbook urges that “journalists have a responsibility to find a line between reporting the worst-case scenario and not alarming people. It could be the equivalent of shouting fire in a crowded theater.”
3. How can journalists remain neutral in reporting on an issue that does not always deserve to give equal merit to both sides of the argument? How can we allow those with no scientific background who claim climate change is a hoax to have a voice?
Chapter 2
1. Journalists have the voice and platform that can bring about changes in the environment to benefit society as a whole.
2. In 1844, William Cullen Bryant, the editor of New York Evening Post, wrote an editorial urging the creation of a park in New York. This piece sparked the idea that led to the creation of Central Park in NYC in 1851.
Rachel Carson’s work with Silent Spring (1962) led to the eventual ban of the use of DDT, 9 years after her book was published. She described the harmful effects of DDT, leading to the investigation of the chemical by JFK’s administration. She was said to have “changed the way we look at nature.”
John Muir wrote about the beauty of the Sierra Nevadas and Yosemite and the necessity to protect and preserve the wilderness. He, along with Robert Underwood Johnson, helped created Yosemite National Park with their campaign. He also helped create the Sierra Club in 1892.
3. In the past authors and journalists have used their platforms to help bring about environmental change. How can we bring back the power of these writers in the age of new media?
CH 1
ReplyDelete1. Aside from having a great deal of scientific knowledge, journalists who chose to cover the environment face a very difficult, yet important role in informing the public of the dangerous and deadly outcomes that come from environmental degradation and natural disasters.
2. Chapter 1 introduces the reader to hurricane Katrina and describes the difficulty in both writing articles that were a warning such a storm would occur and then covering the aftermath of the storm. Being that his predictions were accurate, although the storm may have been worse then he had thought, his next task(knowing that his family was okay) was to get out and observe the damage from the storm while helping the people he tried to warn. As a journalist Schleifstein now had to assess not only the toll Katrina took on civilians, but he also had to understand and make sense of what was going to come of this disaster in regards to pollution and wildlife populations, while convincing society this will not be the last time a storm of this magnitude strikes the Gulf Coast.
Ch 2
1. To be an environmental Journalist one must have a deep and passionate knowledge for the evolution of human society, especially in regards to the age of industrialization and the environmental movement which began in the early 1960’s.
2. We learn early in the chapter than humans have been negatively impacting our natural surroundings since as early as civilizations began tilling the land to farm. Although minor compared to the age of industrialization, if a journalist understands the history of the lands which they write about, their work I feel will be much more rounded and can suggest solutions or references to how that specific land or area was in its natural state. The age of industrialization has been catastrophic to nature for that its resource extraction was a free for all, as was the disposal of any waste or byproduct into lakes, streams, rivers, and soon-to-be neighborhoods. Thankfully, it was pioneers such as Rachel Carson who made public the harmful and deadly outcomes of industrialized farming eventually giving way to the modern environmental movement.
3. When a storm that brings this much total devastation to an area where you are reporting, how do you prioritize the specific topics on which you will address first?