Knight Center news briefs

EJA Update — The Environmental Journalism Association at Michigan State University has established itself as a self-sustaining student organization by charging for events and dues for the first time. This lets the group plan activities and excursions beyond its already full calendar of tours, speakers, movies and meetings. During fall 2006, it held a nature photography workshop, followed by EJA’s 2nd Annual Nature Photography Contest for faculty, staff and students (see winning photos). — Madison Hall

EJmagazine.com — In September, EJ Magazine launched a Web site — www.ejmagazine.com — featuring a complete archive of EJ content since its 2002 inception. Other aspects of the site include online extras, daily news, advertising information and more. EJmagazine.com hopes to post Web-only content as well as materials that supplement printed articles. — Katie Coleman

Environmental Journalism Boot Camp — Twenty-two journalists were chosen to participate in the first annual Environmental Journalism Boot Camp organized by the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism and funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Knight Center instructors and guest speakers discussed investigative techniques, writing, ethics and current environmental issues. Highlights included a computer-assisted reporting workshop taught by instructors from Investigative Reporters and Editors and an environmental law and policy workshop conducted by the Vermont Law School.

The three-day boot camp dovetailed with the Society of Environmental Journalists Conference in Burlington, Vt. — Jim Detjen

Environmental television — In spring 2006, Lou D’Aria, an award-winning videographer and Knight Center filmmaking instructor, began an effort to create a television program based on EJ Magazine. Students interested in producing a pilot for WKAR, the public broadcasting station in East Lansing, Mich., can take an independent study course aimed at that goal or volunteer for the effort. The goal of this project is for students to produce high-quality content reaching far beyond MSU and to secure funding to make the program a regular fixture on local television. — Lou D’Aria

Environmental digital media — Multi-media is the future of journalism, and the Knight Center is staying ahead of the curve with two multi-media production classes. Taught by Amol Pavangadkar, a Knight Center teaching specialist, students are enrolled in “Client-based media design” and “Fundamentals of digital media.” Students in those classes are creating five-minute and 30-second features about recycling and waste reduction. — Kristin V. Johnson

Environmental Wiki — The Knight Center launched an experiment in citizen environmental journalism that uses the software that powers Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia with thousands of contributors. Great Lakes Wiki taps the collective reporting skills of scientists, hunters, environmentalists, journalists, policy wonks, lawmakers, birdwatchers, business executives, anglers, boaters, swimmers and others who care about the region with 18 percent of the world’s fresh surface water. The experiment in distributed reporting operates under the theory of the wisdom of crowds – the more diverse sets of eyeballs “covering” an issue, the fuller the report. Contribute to this joint project with MSU’s Department of Telecommunications, Information Systems and Media at www.greatlakeswiki.org. — David Poulson

Pulitzer Prize winner visits — Mark Schleifstein, one of the nation’s most honored journalists, spoke at Michigan State University on Oct. 12 about his new book, “Path of Destruction: The Devastation of New Orleans and the coming Age of Superstorms.” Schleifstein has shared in three Pulitzer Prizes as an environmental writer at the New Orleans Times-Picayune, including one for his work during and after Hurricane Katrina. — Jim Detjen

SEJ Conference — The 16th Annual Society of Environmental Journalists Conference was held in Burlington, Vt., from Oct. 22-29. Conference participants received a hearty welcome from Vermont Gov. James Douglas and Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream. A series of workshops, receptions, trips and gatherings followed. Journalists garnered story ideas from visits to a sustainable dairy farm, the city of Montreal, an area of Camel’s Hump Mountain affected by acid rain and other areas. Highlights of the conference included visits by Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) and Marc Morano, communications director for Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK). Leahy spoke on the importance of transparency in the government and journalists’ use of the Freedom of Information Act. Morano spoke about how he thinks liberal groups are funding scientists to exaggerate the dangers of climate change to the media. — Hannah Northey

Endowed scholarship created at Knight Center

Michael and Sandra Clark recently created the first endowed scholarship at the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism with the largest donation made to the Knight Center’s Endowment Campaign to date. The scholarship will support students pursuing a career covering science and the environment as professional journalists.

“They are strongly concerned about science education and the accurate coverage of the ever-increasing number of environmental and science stories in the media,” said Jim Detjen, Knight Center director. “They know journalists have an important job to help the public understand complex issues — especially when it comes to science and the environment.”

Michael, an educational consultant and former junior high school science teacher, and Sandra, the director of the Michigan Historical Center in Lansing, Mich., have earned five degrees from Michigan State University collectively.

At MSU’s College of Education, Michael earned his bachelor’s degree in 1967, master’s degree in 1968 and doctorate in 1977.

Sandra earned her bachelor’s degree in 1967 and a master’s degree in 1968 from MSU’s College of Arts and Letters, where she majored in history.

The Clarks have created two other endowed scholarships at the university, one in each of their respective colleges. They have also demonstrated their commitment to Michigan State through significant contributions to broadcasting.

The Clarks’ donation contributes to the Knight Center’s efforts to raise $600,000 by 2010. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation are contributing one dollar for every three dollars raised by the Knight Center at MSU — up to $200,000 in matching funds.

Tom Springer and Charles and Betty Downs have also contributed to the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism Endowment Fund. To learn more about this effort, look at the envelope in this issue or visit the Knight Center’s Web site, http://ej.msu.edu/endowment.php.

Wiki works to reduce ecological footprint

By Ashley Waldorf

Humans’ ecological footprints are growing more robust and painful by the day. Aware of this notion, many people want to act and do their part to help, but lack the knowledge, resources and time to decipher the research and figure out how to begin.

Tom and Peggy Brennan decided that the best place to start was by reducing the collective ecological footprint one person at a time — and plan for a domino effect.
It is with this mission that they founded the Great Lakes Green Initiative (GLGI) in September 2005. The GLGI was established with the mission of helping acquaint common people with sustainable options. It accomplishes this through a Wiki-style Web site, linked from their homepage at www.glgi.org.

Peggy Brennan decided on a Wiki so that “anyone could go ahead and put their contribution in,” allowing for various viewpoints and observations. The style allows for collaborative efforts. There are no by-lines on articles, and text is free to be edited by anyone.

GLGI recently put its Wiki education mission into action with its contribution to the Kensington Children’s Cottage and Classroom project of Kensington Metropark in Milford, Mich. Wiki contributors have documented the project, which will create one of the first and largest natural buildings in Michigan. The construction will follow sustainability principles, such as using local materials whenever possible. It will also incorporate natural building techniques, such as straw-bale walls, Compressed Earth Block (CEB) walls and seats, a thatched roof, rough sawn timbers, a field stone exterior wall and natural plasters for coating the walls.

Establishing community and learning along the way, the project took off. Cara Binder, a Michigan State University student who assisted GLGI, witnessed the project’s influence: “Any young person that got involved with this was instantly attracted to sustainable environment and how we can really push this.”

Tom Brennan thought it would be a good idea if high school and college students learned environmental reporting through the project. The GLGI recruited from the MSU School of Journalism, Mercy High School, Our Lady of Sorrows and GLGI membership.
Caitlyn FitsSimons of Mercy High School was one of the students involved. She discussed her experience via e-mail: “I visited the site 2-4 times a month and interviewed, took photographs, and updated the site … I brought friends and family out who were surprised that these techniques are being used in other parts of the country/world and that they can even apply some of what is used on the cottage to their own lives.”

The building process in Kensington is ongoing, but the documenting and blogging has paused for the school season. GLGI plans to pick it up again in the spring.

This project is just the tip of the iceberg for GLGI. Members meet monthly to decide on topics for research and discussion, such as home water use, and find ways they can make that aspect of their lives more sustainable. They then document the process and publish their greening methods on their Web site for the virtual community to see.
According to the Brennans, it is through this sharing process that GLGI promotes the common knowledge of sustainable techniques and strives to dilute the ecological footprint, one person at a time.

Names in the news

Art Bukowski, B.A. ‘04, is a staff writer for the Argus-Press in Owosso, Mich. He can be reached at bukowsk7@msu.edu or (313) 550-6995.

Liz Burch, Ph.D. ‘97, is an associate professor with tenure at Sonoma State University in Sonoma, California. She recently completed a Fulbright scholarship at the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communications at the University of West Indies in Jamaica, where she conducted research on health, science and environmental reporting in Jamaica. She can be reached at Elizabeth.burch@sonoma.edu.

Chad Dally, M.A. ‘06, has joined the staff of the Ashland Daily Press in Ashland, Wisc., where he covers environmental issues and the Ashland city government. He can be reached at chadrach@moose-mail.com.

Lou D’Aria, an award-winning television filmmaker and editor, is working with the Knight Center to develop a student-produced television program on the environment that will air on WKAR-TV in East Lansing, Mich. He has been assisting Knight Center students to produce segments for a pilot program. Lou worked for many years at KRON-TV in San Francisco. He can be reached at daria@msu.edu.

Jim Detjen, Knight Center Director, trained 40 Indonesian journalists in October 2006 about environmental journalism in a video conference that linked MSU and the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, Indonesia. He also trained 24 Chinese journalists who visited the MSU campus in October 2006. He served as a judge of the Waldo Proffitt award for outstanding environmental journalism in Florida, the James V. Risser Prize for outstanding environmental journalism in the Western United States, the Southern Environmental Law Foundation award for best environmental reporting in the South and the John Oakes national environmental reporting award given by Columbia University. Reach him at detjen@msu.edu.

Susana Guzman, M.A. ‘04, is working in San Antonio, Texas, for Rumbo, a Spanish-language daily newspaper. Reach her at sguzman3@hotmail.com.

Karlyn Haas, M.A. ’98, is the Tri-City communications manager for the Yavapai College Office of Public Information. She won two awards at the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations Western Conference for community college marketing professionals. She has written articles for Community College Times, TechConnect and Prescott Woman Magazine. She also serves on the board of directors of the Prescott Farmers Market. She can be reached at karlyn_haas@yc.edu.

Madison Hall, M.A. ‘07, will travel to Antarctica from Dec. 16, 2006, to Jan. 4, 2007, as part of a MSU study abroad course. She will visit Tierra del Fuego National Park and the glaciers of Patagonia, Argentina, as part of this trip. She was awarded a $1,000 scholarship from the Office of Study Abroad to help support her trip. Reach her at madisonhall@hotmail.com.

Tom Henry, environmental writer for The (Toledo) Blade and Great Lakes ‘96, received an award from the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition for “consistently penetrating and in-depth coverage of the challenges facing the Great Lakes,” the coalition said. Reach Tom at thenry@theblade.com.

Ike Iyioke, M.A. ‘99, has accepted a new position as a communications manager in MSU’s University Relation’s office. He and his wife, Ifeoma, are the parents of a son, Ike Iyioke, Jr., who was born at Sparrow Hospital on April 8, 2006. Reach him at ikc@msu.edu.

Chris Jackett, B.A. ‘07, is working as an editor for the Red Cedar Log yearbook and a correspondent for Capitol News Service. Reach him at jackettc@msu.edu.

Carolyn Jasiolet, B.A. ‘04, is producing three television news programs a day at KGWN-TV in northern Colorado.

Kristin V. Johnson, M.A. ‘07 and EJ design editor, is working as a news intern with MSU’s International Studies and Programs department. She is writing news stories that highlight MSU’s international initiatives. Reach her at john2469@msu.edu.

Jeff Kart, B.A. ‘93 and Great Lakes Environmental Journalism Training Institute ‘03, writes about the environment for the Bay City Times in Bay City, Mich. He won a first place award for news reporting in the Michigan Press Association’s 2006 competition for a two-day series, “Fighting for Air.” The series documented high levels of asthma and poor air quality in the Saginaw Valley. He writes a weekly column on the environment that appears Thursdays in the Bay City Times. It can be found online at www.mlive.com/columns/bctimes/jeff_kart.

Anastasia Krivonosenko, M.A. ‘05, is an editor at the Vladivostok Times, an English-language online edition of the Vladivostok Times in Vladivostok, Russia. You can view her work at http://vladivostoktimes.ru and she can be reached at esmeral7@mail.ru.

Yu-Ting Lin, M.A. ‘06, is the editor of Worm Digest in Cleveland, Ohio. Reach her at linyuting_tw@yahoo.com.

Nate Matthews, B.S. ‘03, is the online editor for Field and Stream Magazine in New York City. Since taking the reins of fieldandstream.com in October 2005, the Web site’s traffic has increased nearly 600 percent. He is currently working on a redesign of the site, which will debut in the spring of 2007. He can be reached a nate-matthews@time4.com.

Barb Miller, Knight Center Administrative Assistant, is the proud grandmother of Karyna Emerson Miller, born June 26, and Reagan Mackenzie Brooks, born Sept. 12. Reach Barb at mille384@msu.edu.

Debbie Munson, M.A. ‘05, is working as the sports and outdoors editor for the Lakeland Times in Minocqua, Wisc. On Sept. 16, she married Justin Badini in a ceremony near her hometown of Howard Lake, Minn. She can be reached at outdoors@lakelandtimes.com.

Hannah Northey, M.A. ‘07, spent the summer of 2006 as a news intern with the Associated Press in Athens, Greece. She wrote articles that appeared in Newsday, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers. She also works part time for the Lansing State Journal, where she has reported about police news, the environment and other topics. Reach her at hannahnorthey@hotmail.com.

David Poulson, Knight Center Associate Director, lectured on environmental journalism at the international Shared Waters symposium at Western Michigan University, citizen environmental journalism for J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s national conference in San Francisco, and experiential education at the Society of Environmental Journalists’ national conference in Burlington, Vt. He also organized the Knight Center’s national environmental journalism boot camp. Reach him at poulson@msu.edu.

Laura Sams and Robert Sams, who received top grades in the environmental filmmaking class taught by Jim Detjen and Jim Jabara in 2002, have won a Panda award in the children’s choice category of the Wildscreen Film Festival in Bristol, England. The Panda award is the highest award given at the Wildscreen Festival, which is one of the world’s most prestigious wildlife film festivals. Reach them at laura@sisbro.com.

Tom Springer, M.A. ‘02, is a senior editor at the W. K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Mich. He is the author of “Looking for Hickories,” a collection of nature essays, which will be published in 2007 by the University of Michigan Press. Reach him at TMS@wkkf.org.

Kristen Tuinstra, M.A. ‘02, is the children’s book editor at HarperCollins Book Publishers in Grand Rapids, Mich. she is currently developing a series of books on environmental topics for younger children. Reach her at surewriter@hotmail.com.

Aileo Weinmann, M.A. ‘05, is the communications manager for the National Wildlife Federation in Arlington, Va., where he works on strategic media campaigns. He can be reached at aileo@yahoo.com.