Leading water expert Peter Gleick’s new book on water’s past, present and future is an ambitious volume that offers a panoramic look at this essential resource — and hope for living in harmony with it in the future. BookShelf Editor Tom Henry calls “The Three Ages of Water” a rare book of breadth and depth, part history and part sustainable remedy. Read his review.
As global sales of electric vehicles surge, the positive impact on climate change emissions could be a critical benefit. But as our Backgrounder points out, it’s not as simple as that. There are challenges with politics, tax laws, mineral access, related pollution regulations and union jobs. Get an overview of the issue, in this latest entry in our expanding 2024 Journalists’ Guide to Environment + Energy.
"The night sky lit up so bright that some people thought it was morning. Gold miners in the Rocky Mountains woke up at 1 a.m. to make breakfast and start their day. Birds began singing as if the sun had already risen."
"A team of scientists loaded into a gray minivan in this capital city earlier this year and drove for hundreds of miles west through the Kazakh steppe — a vast region marked by endless open plains of grass, abandoned farms and flower-filled meadows."
"Scientists in Britain have found they can partially protect chickens from bird flu infections by editing their genes, signaling a new potential strategy to reduce the spread of the deadly virus."
''Nicolas Tomasi has never laid eyes on it. He has worked these waters for years without seeing one but has heard the tales from old-timers — of a patient predator, hiding under the sand off this French island’s shores, waiting for the right moment to strike."
How did the Lahaina wildfire spark an AI-driven influence campaign out of China? Perhaps a technological leap. Or perhaps, the new WatchDog Opinion column suggests, a natural evolution of a decades-old disinformation playbook with roots in a war against science and culminating in climate denial. A look at the disturbing prospects and a plea for journalists not to sidestep the phenomenon but to cover it.
For reporters seeking stories that connect environmental and health issues, there may be no better — or more wide-ranging — place to start than with high-quality data from the Centers for Disease Control’s wide range of datasets. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox looks into where the CDC’s data originates from and how that affects its usefulness, and offers up a helpful overview of CDC data surveys.
