covid testing

Two things to be thankful for...

2020 is almost gone. And we are lucky to have prescient environmental reporters.

What a dreadful year. But, still, we don't have to venture far to find some silver linings in the toxic clouds.


Environmental journalism rises from humanity's latest ash piles. Our professional cousins, health journalism folks like Laurie Garrett and Maryn McKenna, saw their worst-case pandemic projections borne out, at horrible cost. Of course, vindicating some under-appreciated journalists is not worth 260,000 American lives. However, we should be thankful and recognize the public good that reporters do for our understanding of what may be to come.

Health journalists aren't alone—for decades environmental journalists have, too, sounded the alarm early on coming crises.

Here's short list, the Clean Dozen if you will, which I've arbitrarily limited to Americans whose long careers have served as unfortunately accurate heralds of some deep problems. Please hold your applause until the alphabetical roll call has been completed:

Seth Borenstein: AP's Washington-based science/environment guy is meticulous but hard-hitting, and has been a favored target of climate deniers (although Seth and the AP won't call them "deniers").

Casey Bukro: Started the environment beat at the Chicago Tribune in 1967 and is still active in 2020.

Roger Caras (d. 2001): Ranged from cute animal stories to hard-hitting tales of environmental abuse. He was a broadcast news pioneer at ABC.

Marla Cone: Longtime LA Times beat reporter and first editor of EHN and Daily Climate, she's written for years on toxics from Santa Monica Bay to the supposedly pristine Arctic.

Steve Curwood: Shared a Pulitzer in the 1970's at the Boston Globe, now approaching three decades of hosting/showrunning/fundraising for Living on Earth, the Public Radio newsmag where he lets me blab for five minutes a week.

Tom Horton: Arguably knows more about the science and politics of the Chesapeake Bay than anyone, starting at the Baltimore Sun in 1974.

Jane Kay: Wrote a groundbreaking series for the Arizona Daily Star in the 1980's on TCE contamination; later starred on the beat for both San Francisco papers. Family bonus points: Her brother is legendary AP muckraker Mort Rosenblum.

Paul Nyden (d. 2018): Stood up to the coal industry as a coal-stained wretch at the Charleston Gazette, where he mentored a younger legend, Ken Ward, Jr.

Mark Schleifstein: After Katrina and the disappearance of Louisiana's coastline, his editors stopped deriding his "disaster porn" a few shared Pulitzers ago.

Phil Shabecoff: Early adapter at the New York Times, and later the founder of Greenwire.

Marley Shebala: Quiet, steely muckraker on the Navajo Reservation who's exposed corruption, bringing down two tribal governments.

Bill Weir: ABC Nightline alum who does solid work as the only true full-time national TV climate guy at CNN.

There are, of course, many more, and future lists won't be limited to TV, radio, and newspapers (whatever they are.)

Peter Dykstra is our weekend editor and columnist and can be reached at pdykstra@ehn.org or @pdykstra.

His views do not necessarily represent those of Environmental Health News, The Daily Climate or publisher, Environmental Health Sciences.

Banner photo credit: COVID testing in New York in April 2020. (Credit: New York National Guard)

A man and woman in suits shake hands with flags of the United States, USAID and the Environmental Protection. Agency in the background.

EPA staff face pressure to resign as Trump reshapes environmental agency

As the Trump administration aggressively works to overhaul the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, more than 300 career employees have already left, while those remaining face mounting pressure to quit or work under an administration determined to roll back environmental protections.

Sharon Lerner and Pratheek Rebala report for ProPublica.

Keep reading...Show less
Senator Whitehouse & climate change

Senator Whitehouse puts climate change on budget committee’s agenda

For more than a decade, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave daily warnings about the mounting threat of climate change. Now he has a powerful new perch.
California condor with a numbered wing band soaring against a cloud-streaked sky.
Credit: Larry Koester/Flickr

California condors take flight again, but survival isn’t guaranteed

After nearly vanishing from the wild, the California condor is soaring over North America once more, thanks to a decades-long conservation effort spanning the U.S. and Mexico — but keeping the species alive remains an uphill battle.

Iván Carrillo reports for Knowable Magazine.

Keep reading...Show less
A diverse group of protesters holding signs in support of science stand at a barricade.
Credit: Stephen Melkisethian/Flickr

Trump’s EPA shake-up puts pollution controls in jeopardy

The Biden administration tightened pollution rules and expanded air monitoring in toxic hotspots, but Trump’s return threatens to unravel those efforts, leaving vulnerable communities exposed to industrial pollution.

Lisa Song reports for ProPublica.

Keep reading...Show less
A Sámi woman in a fur hat feeds a reindeer from a bucket against a snowy mountain backdrop.
Credit: Lorie Shaull/Flickr

Climate change is erasing Indigenous languages along with biodiversity

A warming world isn’t just changing landscapes—it’s stripping away words. The Sámi people of northern Scandinavia, whose language holds an intricate vocabulary for snow and reindeer, are watching their words vanish alongside their environment.

Julia Webster Ayuso reports for NOĒMA.

Keep reading...Show less
Arctic land and ice on a sunny day.

Arctic temperatures spike far beyond normal, nearing melting point

Temperatures at the North Pole soared more than 20° Celsius above average, briefly nearing the melting point in the dead of winter and alarming climate scientists.

Ajit Niranjan reports for The Guardian.

Keep reading...Show less
Trump EPA rollbacks
Credit: Peg Hunter/Flickr

Trump administration closes environmental offices, reshaping federal policy

The Trump administration is swiftly shutting down environmental initiatives, placing dozens of employees on leave and dismantling key offices within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department.

Maxine Joselow and Amudalat Ajasa report for The Washington Post.

Keep reading...Show less
A snowplow drives down a snow street.
Credit: Metropolitan Transportation/Flickr

U.S. Mid-Atlantic leaders plan for climate disasters as federal funding faces cuts

Pennsylvania saw a record number of billion-dollar weather disasters in 2024, prompting officials and experts to gather in Philadelphia to discuss emergency preparedness as the federal government threatens funding cuts.

Kiley Bense reports for Inside Climate News.

Keep reading...Show less
From our Newsroom
wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

People  sitting in an outdoors table working on a big sign.

Op-ed: Why funding for the environmental justice movement must be anti-racist

We must prioritize minority-serving institutions, BIPOC-led organizations and researchers to lead environmental justice efforts.

joe biden

Biden finalizes long-awaited hydrogen tax credits ahead of Trump presidency

Responses to the new rules have been mixed, and environmental advocates worry that Trump could undermine them.

Op-ed: Toxic prisons teach us that environmental justice needs abolition

Op-ed: Toxic prisons teach us that environmental justice needs abolition

Prisons, jails and detention centers are placed in locations where environmental hazards such as toxic landfills, floods and extreme heat are the norm.

Agents of Change in Environmental Justice logo

LISTEN: Reflections on the first five years of the Agents of Change program

The leadership team talks about what they’ve learned — and what lies ahead.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.