Jim Detjen is a professor and director of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at MSU Contact him at detjen@msu.edu

Navigating through the icy waters of the Drake Passage in February was challenging and the captain admitted later that he was seriously concerned. Sixteen months earlier another cruise ship struck an iceberg at this spot, causing the vessel to sink and the passengers to abandon the ship for life rafts.

Fortunately, the 290 people on board the Le Diamant all returned to Ushuaia, Argentina safely after a nine-day journey to and from Antarctica.

I was part of this expedition to the southernmost continent, as a guest lecturer on a MSU Alumni Association cruise. I gave presentations about environmental journalism, the impacts of climate change and other environmental issues. It marked the 20th country — and the seventh continent — I have lectured on since arriving at MSU in 1995.

Lecturing about environmental journalism to international audiences has been an important part of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism and its programs since the center was established a decade ago. Knight Center faculty and students have helped organize or participated in major conferences in Mexico, Brazil, Egypt, South Africa, Sri Lanka, India, South Korea, the Philippines, Japan, China, Ukraine, Russia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Canada and many other countries.

While our primary mission is to educate MSU students about environmental and science journalism, training journalists and citizens has also been an important part of our efforts. This is to be expected, both because of MSU’s historic emphasis on international education, research and outreach, and because environmental issues are often international in scope. Air and water pollution, radioactive fallout, climate change and the spread of invasive species are issues that cross international political boundaries.

The Knight Center has attracted students from all over the world and has run study abroad courses in Australia, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Last month I was a faculty coach at the New York Times Institute on the Environment in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. In June our center will organize its 10th Great Lakes’ Institute for training Canadian and American journalists.

Each year we receive invitations to run workshops in many countries. This year we’ve been invited to train journalists in Botswana, Nigeria and India. It’s impossible to participate in all of these events but we try to assist as many journalists as we can because the need for this kind of training is so great.

Because of our many activities, the Knight Center has received news coverage from around the world. I have a thick file containing clips that have appeared in newspapers and magazines in China, India, the Philippines and other countries.

Until recently this coverage was nonfiction. Not anymore.

In Joseph Heywood’s sixth mystery novel, Death Roe, one of the prominent characters is Beaker Salant, an ace investigative reporter who works for the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at MSU. Salant is only 25 but already has won a McArthur genius award and he knows how to dig deeply to ferret out information about illegal corporate polluters.

During a visit to Lansing’s Schuler bookstore in April, Heywood discussed how he gets ideas for his popular Woods Cops mysteries, which describe the adventures of conservation officers with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

"I steal ideas from everyone,” he said.

Heywood also spends about one month each year accompanying conservation officers on patrols to track down illegal activities in Michigan’s wilderness. By observing these officers on duty, he witnesses scenes and dialogue, which add to the novels’ authenticity.

Heywood is a 1965 graduate of MSU’s School of Journalism and he credits a lot of his success to the rigorous journalistic training he received at the school in the 1960s. He worked from 1970 to 2000 for Upjohn (now Pfizer), where he retired as a vice president for worldwide public relations. He said he’s familiar with the Knight Center’s programs.

Will Beaker Salant return in a future Woods Cop mystery?

"I’m sure he’ll reappear, but not sure which one,” said Heywood, who has already begun plotting the structure of his next three novels. He said he’d be glad to visit with our students.

Keep writing, Joe!