Chicken production in the United States is a colossal industry controlled by a few vertically integrated companies. On a much smaller scale, it’s also heritage breeds and increasingly popular backyard flocks. As the latest avian flu outbreak makes headlines, journalist Christine Heinrichs looks at environmental reporting opportunities related to poultry pathogens, pollution and more.
Levels of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, have doubled in the past 150 years due to human activity, particularly from fossil fuels and extensive farming. As part of an ongoing Society of Environmental Journalists special project focused on covering climate solutions, check out a methane resource toolbox and stay tuned for a methane reporting tipsheet in the coming weeks. Plus, watch the recording of an SEJ virtual webinar, Covering Climate Solutions: Containing and Monitoring Methane.
"Emergency responders and law enforcement officials in Nebraska’s Scotts Bluff County urged residents to evacuate as they worked to contain a large fire engulfing a state wildlife management area in the western county."
"Three pipeline projects are in early stages of planning in Iowa. An alliance of farmers, Indigenous groups and environmentalists wants to stop them".
"The Biden administration reversed a Trump administration position and upheld the Mandan, Hidatsa Arikara Nation's claim to mineral rights beneath the Missouri River within the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation."
"Nebraska has become the first Republican-dominated state to commit to a goal of net-zero electricity emissions by 2050."
"The vital Kansas ecosystem is rapidly shrinking. Its future depends on private landowners like Lorna Harder."
The Mississippi River and its tributaries drain more than 40% of the continent, but most coverage of environmental stories within the Mississippi Basin is localized and siloed. The recently launched Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk hopes to help news outlets provide region-wide reporting that contextualizes issues like climate change-driven flooding and the Gulf of Mexico dead zone.
"Mask mandates saved lives and prevented COVID-19 infections in Missouri’s biggest cities during the worst part of the delta variant wave, an analysis by the state Department of Health and Senior Services shows. But the analysis, conducted at the request of Gov. Mike Parson’s office in early November, was never made public and was only obtained by The Missouri Independent and the Documenting COVID-19 project after a Sunshine Law request to the department."
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