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Award-Winning Journalist Focuses onConnection of Environmental Issues
By: Tom Hodson
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Keith Schneider, an award winning journalist for Circle of Blue and the New York Times, recently spoke at Ohio University to students at the Voinovich School’s Environmental Studies Program.
He talked about global nexus between water, energy, and food issues. He also discussed “Choke Point,” a collaboration between Circle of Blue and the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. “Choke Point” provides “frontline reporting, data, and policy expertise.”
Circle of Blue is a global website producing multimedia stories focusing on the inter-connectivity of environmental issues on an international level.
“It is 21st century journalism,” Schneider said. “This type of reporting on a multiplatform basis would not have been possible just a few years ago.” It is cutting-edge environmental reporting.
His reporting is generally aimed at business leaders and policy makers, although he also tries to explain complex environmental issues in ways that the general population can understand.
Even so, he says that the general citizenry and most political leaders have a lack of interest in understanding and solving most environmental issues. He also notes a lack of “urgency” in the public’s reaction to a growing list of environmental catastrophes.
Schneider is exploring not only environmental issues on the global scene but also is investigating issues facing our region. For the past three years, he has studied the re-development of the Ohio River Valley.
He claims that local areas like Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, and other smaller cities along the Ohio River are doing amazing jobs at bolstering local economies despite coal production declining in the region.
He notes that local areas are doing much better at adjusting to environmental issues than state legislatures and the federal government.