Health

An overflow crowd of environmental reporters and others gathered in Washington, D.C., last week at the Society of Environmental Journalists’ annual look-ahead on environment and energy news to hear what speakers like the former United Nations head and top journalists see as the news to watch for. Find out what one story dominated. Plus, watch video of the full program.

As part of our “2020 Journalists’ Guide to Energy & Environment” to help reporters track the stories coming their way this year, SEJournal Online looks ahead to major developments on the beat — from Washington, D.C. to the Arctic, from public lands to fossil fuels. We also explore pending news on transportation, agriculture, nukes, federal funding, freedom of information and even algae. Also under our gaze, key facets of the climate story. Read our overview analysis and then dive deep into the full offering of special Backgrounders, TipSheets and WatchDogs.

The data on dirty air is devastating. But it wasn’t just the numbers that prompted freelance journalist Beth Gardiner to chase the story of worsening air pollution around the globe. It was also the impact on human lives and the intersection with politics, power and money. She explains in our latest feature story. Plus, resources for your own reporting.

If radon is the forgotten environmental health story, per our recent TipSheet, then at least journalists ready to report have some good resources to do it. Our latest Reporter’s Toolbox details several databases that provide invaluable info on the problem, including a new comprehensive, and mappable, database from the Centers for Disease Control.

Thousands of lives are lost each year to lung cancers caused by radon exposure. Yet as the latest TipSheet explains the story often remains untold. Get the context to help turn this life-and-death environmental health concern into local news reporting. Plus, Reporter’s Toolbox highlights databases that can kick-start coverage.

Illness, injury, death. Those are the worsening health impacts of climate change, as global warming shifts disease vectors, encourages bacteria and foodborne illness, and leaves people increasingly suffering from heat, smog, smoke, allergies and other risks of extreme weather. Our latest TipSheet helps you get a handle on the sprawling health-climate story.

To help better cover climate change news, including during the upcoming United Nations Climate Action Summit, Sept. 23, in New York, the SEJournal offers a range of resources. Get the latest climate change headlines and EJToday's curated climate coverage. Check out our range of climate-related Issue Backgrounders, TipSheets and Reporter's Toolboxes, plus our Climate Change Guide and more.

It’s poisoning fresh waters across the United States, as well as elsewhere in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa. Blue-green algae is on the rise, lingering later and later into the year. Our new Issue Backgrounder explains the contributing factors behind the potent toxin’s scourge, its societal and public health ramifications, and the many angles and resources to tell the story.