Numerous freelance journalists are suffering financially alongside other businesses damaged by the economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis. But in an especially timely tale, one freelancer explains how she took matters into her own hands when media clients were overdue on payments. Freelance Files has the story.
"International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Friday that governments should put renewable energy at the heart of economic rescue packages launched in response to the coronavirus outbreak to avoid a rebound in carbon emissions."
"A virus that originated in animals has upended life across the globe. But the next deadly pandemic could make this look like “a warmup.”"
"There is a 75 percent chance 2020 will set a record for the warmest year since instrument records began in 1880, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is projecting, beating out 2016 for the distinction."
Tracking the oil market — or more precisely, the price of oil — will tell you a great deal about environmental issues, whether it be fracking, pipelines, land use, toxic emissions or more. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox helps you follow the data for your stories. Plus, a Backgrounder on Big Oil and how it drives not just energy but environment stories.
"The day started like any other gloomy Monday in the oil market’s worst crisis in a generation. It ended with prices falling below zero, thrusting markets into a parallel universe where traders were willing to pay $40 a barrel just to get somebody to take crude off their hands."
The dramatic drop in demand for oil, driven by the shutdown of world economies by coronavirus, has meant a corresponding fall in prices. And that has profound environmental implications. But it’s a complicated dynamic to assess. Our Issue Backgrounder provides a look under the hood of Big Oil, and explains what it means for environment reporters. Plus, a Reporter’s Toolbox for tracking the data.
How do you gain perspective on a widespread public health disaster? Award-winning reporter Apoorva Mandavilli shares valuable lessons on using a small lens to cover a big story — no, not COVID-19, but the deadly 1984 gas leak in Bhopal, India. And as she explains in this Inside Story Q&A, this decades-old story never really went away in the first place.
"The great price collapse of 2020 will topple companies and transform states."
"Plummeting global demand for fish and seafood as a result of the coronavirus crisis is likely to create an effect similar to the halt of commercial fishing during World Wars I and II, when the idling of fleets led to the rebound of fish stocks."
