National (U.S.)

 

Sacred Sea: A Journey to Lake Baikal
By Peter Thomson
Reviewed by Krestia DeGeorge

 

Sometimes, being the biggest, the oldest and the deepest thing can define its fundamental nature.

A case in point: Russia's Lake Baikal. In his new book, "Sacred Sea: A Journey to Lake Baikal," SEJ member Peter Thomson makes a strong case that the lake's superlative features set it apart from the rest of the world's large freshwater seas.

By JEFF BURNSIDE

When I heard the anchor in my earpiece introducing me reporting live from an undersea research lab, I could hardly believe all the technical aspects were working.

But they were. So I figured I'd better stop being amazed and actually start talking. On Sept. 20, I was the first reporter ever to broadcast live from Aquarius, the world's only undersea lab, nine miles off Key Largo, Fla. next to a coral reef about 60 feet deep. Don't screw it up, I told myself.

 

 By JEFF BURNSIDE

 

America's television network news operations are increasing their coverage of environmental issues, reflecting a pendulum swing of interest among Americans in general.

 

By AL CROSS

Many if not most environmental stories have their roots in rural places. Those are the places where extractive industries do almost all their extracting, where America ultimately puts much of its solid waste, where farm fields get the fertilizers that create dead zones in the sea.

 

 By BILL DAWSON

Jane Kay is one of environmental journalism's most honored and respected reporters. The San Francisco Chronicle's environment writer, she is a two-time winner of the Scripps Howard Foundation's Edward J. Meeman Award.

Last September, for a diverse portfolio of articles, she received the first-place award in the "Outstanding Beat Reporting - Print" category in SEJ's 6th Annual Awards for Reporting on the Environment. The judges said:

 

By RHITU CHATTERJEE

In 2003, more than 50 people in the Midwest became ill with the monkey pox virus. The source for the African pathogen – pet prairie dogs that were kept next to infected Gambian pouch rats in a pet store.

In the early 1970s, Arkansas aquaculturists imported the Asian Black carp to control fish parasites in aquaculture ponds. Now these mussel-eating fish are happily lurking deep in the waters of the Mississippi River Basin. Scientists fear that they may be driving precious endangered snails and mussels to extinction.

Do green social networks actually increase coherence in the environmentalist community, or are they a distraction? Are they sincere or opportunistic? Can they be used for greenwashing? All of the above?

The Energy Department is listing state and local grant allocations from the stimulus bill on its website. Find out what your area of coverage is slated to receive in aid.

The conservation group American Rivers publishes an annual list of rivers endangered by dams, pollution, mining projects, and other threats they believe require urgent action.