| What a change a few years
make!
Sustainability
is sexy. Environmental issues are front and center for much
of the world. People actually care about biodiversity
and climate change
in ways that were unheard of a few years ago.
The question is ... how engaged are we in pushing
the envelope of environmental awareness, research and action? Are
we active participants in making our lives more sustainable?
There is no better way to understand the world than
by being environmentally aware and active.
Environmental journalism is doing quite well but readers
need to know where to look. While there are a number of environmental
reporting websites, there are no comprehensive search engines
or wikis that showcase the best in global environmental reporting.
Books available in Australia in New Zealand are not easily found
in the USA. Likewise there is a lag in getting books across the
Atlantic.
PRACTICAL TIPS
1) Readers who respect environmental reporting need
to write letters or emails to the editor and use the Web 2.0 toolbox
to tag, fave, blog, whatever the option is to show their support
of the coverage. This needs to be done now!
2) Readers passionate about environmental issues need
to become reporters, citizen
journalism, informing us of the news.
3) Publishers committed to environmental
reporting need to feature the coverage on the front page or
the home page, not buried on page 35 or three links down on a website.
4) Donors wishing to support environmental journalism
workshops need to ask whether the training they finance anwers the
needs of the reporters. There is a great deal of 'philanthropic'
work that does not stick simply because it is not requested.
5) All conferences, trade shows and 'events' should
be evaluated in terms of their eco-, people- and place-friendliness.
6) Environmental events and environmental journalism
conferences need to be leaders in using online forums and conferences
to proceed and follow-up the events in the natural world.
7) More inclusive, rather than exclusive meetings.
8) More Flickrmeets!
More BarCamps. More Fringe meetings. Be creative and find ways to
connect the natural and virtual worlds.
ACTION PLANS
1) Edit Wikipedia's entry on environmental
journalism and environmental subjects.
2) Develop environmental features on the Planeta
Wikispace.
3) Contribute to Flickr's environmental photography
groups.
FEATURES
Environmental
Reporting
Fair
Trade in Travel Writing and Photography
Sustainable
Development Report
Green
Events
FLICKR
Árboles
Históricos y Notables de la Ciudad de Oaxaca
CJ
Árboles
de Oaxaca
World Climate
Group
World Science
Group
ONLINE
FLICKR
WIKI
Healing the Disconnect:
An Overview of Ecotourism Reporting
Hyperlocal
Journalism
Toward Effective
Communication
ONLINE
WIKI
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