these thoughts were expressed by three journalists at the event, “conversations in science communication: news, journalism and a global pandemic”, hosted by the george washington university school of media and public affairs. panelists were laura helmuth, the editor-in-chief of scientific american, mark johnson, a science reporter for the milwaukee journal sentinel, and nancy lapid, editor at reuters health medical news.

smpa director silvio waisbord delivered opening remarks to 100 attendees on webex and lisa palmer, the national geographic visiting professor of science communication, moderated the discussion.  

covid-19 has infected 7,168,077 individuals since january 21 and caused 205,372 deaths, according to the cdc covid-19 data tracker. the virus upended the entire world, causing everyone to demand answers from the scientific community. 

johnson spoke on the difficulties of reporting accurate science because research papers are being published so quickly.

“i kind of made a decision early on that i felt it was more important to tell people what the scientists were doing than to take too much of a paternalistic approach and say nothing is a story until it’s been peer-reviewed,” he said.  

as information spreads rapidly, it is more difficult for journalists to speak to their audiences. 

“it’s scary – it’s really hard to communicate with people when they are scared and confused, and that means we’re using all of our skills and experimenting in real-time to figure out how to get messages across in a way that people can hear and comprehend,” helmuth said.

helmuth acknowledged the coronavirus “landed in a massive moment of misinformation and disinformation,” adding that elaborate conspiracy theories have been released even from the president of the united states. 

the misinformation became so dangerous that the magazine endorsed a political candidate for the first time. 

“we felt it was our responsibility to use our platform to urge people to vote for joe biden,” helmuth said.

she claims that the trump administration is harming science and especially public health. 

lapid said that reuters, the news organization where she works, declared a news emergency during covid-19 and rearranged their reporting staff to involve the medical health news team more broadly. 

“reuters quickly realized the general news team needed help from my team who know the difference between dna and rna,” lapid said. 

event attendee heidi estrada, a junior at gwu majoring in international affairs, was surprised to hear about the struggles journalists faced. 

“i feel like journalists were often battling two different battles… the simple battle of understanding the science and the virus itself, and then fighting another battle of fighting the misinformation that was spread online,” she said. 

reflecting upon these times, each panelist shared a key takeaway learned from covering the pandemic. 

helmuth said it’s important to call out racism and lies and to not “give climate science skeptics a platform,” she said. johnson shared that this profession is “endlessly humbling” and you will always be learning something new. lapid encouraged students to develop sources and gain an understanding of basic science to support themselves.

the complete event is archived on gwu school of media and public affairs’s youtube channel. 

the report brings an honest interpretation of the current state of the recycling industry and just how many levels in which it is faltering. especially since countries in eastern asia have started to refuse accepting recyclables from the united states, according to media reports. in a press release from the public interest network, which operates more than 15 organizations including the u.s. pirg, several states have been “failing to both reduce unnecessary waste and to adjust to a changing recycling landscape.”

according to alex truelove, u.s. pirg education fund zero waste program director and report co-author, the main thing he wants people to take away from this report is that it is going to take multiple facets to fix the waste problem.

“we can’t rely on recycling alone to fix our waste problems. our systems were not designed to process many of the items we dispose of — single-use plastics in particular,” truelove said. “to truly achieve a zero waste society, or anything close to it, reducing our waste and transitioning toward more reusable materials have to be the priorities moving forward. recycling plays a role, but it should be a last resort, after reduction and reuse.”

at the 2019 planet forward summit, tom szaky, the founder and ceo of terracycle, addressed how recycling is not enough in solving the waste problem. it is also going to take clean-up efforts and rethinking single-use items in its entirety. 

“recycling is the solution to the symptom of waste but not the cause of it,” szaky said at the summit. “it’s not plastic that’s the problem it is using all this stuff once.”

truelove offers what he thinks needs to be done in order to solve the waste problem.

“a mix of good public policy and corporate action. from bottle bills to single-use plastic foam bans, we know better policies can reduce waste and drive corporations toward better practices,” truelove said.

“we also know that meaningful corporate actions can influence the market and lay the groundwork for better policy. we need more of both,” he said. “consumers cannot be expected to move the market alone, we need to enable them to make better choices.”

policy change is another area that needs work to help correct the problem, according to truelove.

“there are also opportunities to work with other countries to establish international laws and better practices, like ‘prior informed consent.’ in other words, agreeing to divulge what materials we’re sending to other countries,” truelove said.

even though there are still plenty of materials that are being exchanged on the global market, truelove said, plastic continues to be an issue.

“plastic is the outlier, and i don’t envision that market recovering because plastic — especially disposable plastic — remains low-value and hard-to-recycle. that’s why we need to reduce our use of single-use plastic, first and foremost,” truelove said.

—

see the full state of recycling national survey (pdf).

here are 10 things i learned at the society of environmental journalists 2017 conference.

1. some issues don’t have sides.

not everything is up for debate. when 97 percent of scientists have reached a consensus that supports the existence of climate change, less credence should be given to those who, without factual evidence, continue to disagree.

2. avoid equating environmentalism with liberalism when communicating outside of the echo chamber.

most environmental issues are not as partisan as it may seem; air, water, health, and land access are basics that many people care about. avoid making assumptions about the audience, and be careful about sticking the blanket “environmental” label on every story.

3. know when to put away your notebook or camera and just listen.

the best way to build trust is to physically be on the ground in communities and report from there. look for community organizations that can get you in the door. when reporting on environmental justice issues, be compassionate and human, but avoid showing pity or giving false hope.

4. don’t let a story drop.

showing up in a community for an environmental justice story and then disappearing is exploitive and will not help you build trust with sources. track the aftermath that continues after other reporters leave, and check up every few months with sources to see how their situations are progressing.

5. environmental crime is the fourth largest crime sector, according to unep, yet it lacks coverage in the united states.

it occurs in different forms such as illegal trade of natural resources and wildlife trafficking and can be hard to track because of its international nature. the convention on international trade of endangered species (cites) makes it easier to prosecute some crimes.

6. the threats we’re currently seeing to public lands are unprecedented.

from the federal land freedom act to interior secretary ryan zinke’s land review, there are myriad threats to american public lands right now. the federal government is attempting to pass some lands over to the states, and from there to privatization and industrial development.

7. eliminate false balance when one side is not backed by facts.

a basic tenet of journalism is including both sides of a story, but sometimes there is limited valid evidence to back one group’s views. in these instances, use stock lines like, “these views do not reflect scientific consensus.”

8. environmental activism is viewed as a luxury activity in developed countries, but it’s a matter of life and death in many other places.

environmentalism is sometimes perceived as a hobby of the rich, but activists in poorly regulated and policed areas and industries risk their lives because they often have no other choice. for example, over the last 10 years, 1,000 wildlife rangers have been killed on the job.

9. collaboration is key when there aren’t enough reporters on an issue.

many environmental issues, like climate change or natural disasters, get plenty of coverage. others, like conservation, can get passed over because they have less perceived shock value or readership potential. journalists can solve this through collaboration and combining beats.

10. there is still great power in good news stories, according to jane goodall.

in a personalized video message to the conference, goodall reminded attendees that stories of hope and progress can still inspire action, even when the future appears dim. and who can ignore words of wisdom from a legend like jane goodall?

next year’s sej conference will be held in flint, michigan.