More on global warming

I'm really proud of the work you all did last week on "The Heat Is On" series. It was a real contribution to the campus dialogue, and it showed the power of the journalist to educate and change the world.

If you realized one thing about this topic, it's that we all need to become more conscious of the choices we make as consumers, and as members of a democracy.
One word I kept hearing as you were all doing your research was "DEPRESSING!" and it is. (Hey, just wait 'til you read Fast Food Nation this week!)

But some journalists are now writing about how this crisis could become a catalyst for positive change. We sure can use a hopeful viewpoint now, right? Here's a real interesting piece by New York Times columnist Tom Friedman in today's New York Times Magazine.

Getting up to speed on Washington

You folks wanted to do a segment on what's going on in Washington these days, and hopefully, we'll get a start over the next week.

To really keep up with it all, you should be reading the New York Times, including the op-ed page, every day. Now that you are NY Times Select subscribers, you can do that.

So. Where to begin for a Dummies Guide to Events in Washington, 2007?

I'd say the two big stories right now are:

the War in Iraq, which has cost us more than 3,000 American lives, more than 23,000 injured, thousands of Iraqis dead, injured or displaced, more than $300 billion spent and no end in sight.

the scandal over the politicization of the U.S. Justice Dept., headed up by Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez.

related to that, is the shift in power away from the judicial and legislative branches, and toward the White House. Please take a few minutes to read Boston Globe Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter Charlie Savage's reporting on that issue.

Domestically, anyway, three threads seem to have led us here: one is Karl Rove's plan for a "permanent Republican majority" when George W. Bush was elected back in 2000. Under this category we have the Republican-ruled Congress--many of whose members were voted out in last fall's elections; pandering to Evangelical Christianvoters, who are far more conservative than mainstream voters; the K Street Project, which created a revolving door between Congress and lobbying companies, and the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

Secondly is the appointment of public officials based not on competence or experience, but on politics, or religious affiliation. There is a real pattern of this, in nearly every area of government, from the Iraq Provisional Authority charged with reconstructing Iraq, to catastrophes like Hurricane Katrina, and, now, in the U.S. Justice Dept., where it is alleged that U.S. Attorneys have been fired for political reasons. (To catch up on this story, try talkingpointsmemo.com, which was onto this story before any mainstream media outlets.)

Third, and related to the two previous threads, is the selling out of public policy to corporations. Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes did a terrific report recently on the legislation that created the Medicare prescription drug benefit. Kroft illustrates the lucrative revolving door that gives congresspeople and their aids big-money jobs, and drug companies unprecedented access to legislation. And it's taxpayers who pick up the tab.

Corruption and incompetence. Not a good combination if you want to keep a democracy going.

Now that we have a Democratic Congress, you will start to see more oversight on some of these issues. Take a look at the list of investigations by the House Oversight Committee. It's a long, long list.

Here's another story about The K Street Project from Washington Monthly.

Our Collegian Series: The Heat is On

This week, the Journalism 301 class is publishing a series about global warming in the UMass Daily Collegian. The idea came about after Nicole B. stopped by my office one afternoon; she had just seen James Howard Kunstler's film "The End of Suburbia" in another class, which I thought was interesting, because, in 301, we were about to read an essay Kunstler had written for Orion Magazine, called "Making Other Arrangements," which sketches out the hard choices we're going to have to make about energy in the next 20 years.

We were talking about the changes that today's college students will see during their lifetimes, as a result of the combination of global warming and the shift from an oil-and-coal-based economy to--well, we don't quite know yet, do we?

Nicole noted that most college students didn't seem to care much about global warming or energy use, and it was all so depressing, blah blah blah.

Then something happened. We realized that we, as journalists, have a chance to actually do something about it. We decided to try to bring some of the rich expertise right here at UMass to student-readers and get people talking and thinking about global warming.

We tried to find sources here on the UMass campus, as well as reliable data from independent organizations. Most of the data for these stories comes from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which offers a daunting look at the future, yet has, in itself, been criticized as being overly optimistic.

The title from the series came from the students, but we must also thank Ross Gelbspan, the former Boston Globe reporter whose book, The Heat is On, provides an excellent overview and explains why it has taken so long for mainstream media to finally move on this topic. Gelbspan was ahead of the pack; his website is worth a visit for anyone interested in the subject.

Thanks for reading our pieces on The UMass Daily Collegian, and for posting your comments.

Some scientists response to An Inconvenient Truth

Now that you've seen the movie, please read this
Here's a piece from the Science Section of the New York Times that offers some of the response in the scientific community to An Inconvenient Truth.

Confidence in your writing

I used to write for an editor whose standard response to the first version of a 5,000 word story I had worked on for weeks was this:

"It doesn't suck."

What a confidence builder, eh? Okay, so maybe this editor could have used a semester at charm school.But I came to realize that this was her way of saying, "it's a start." She was hard-nosed, but turned out to be a gread editor for me--her suggestions for revisions improved my work, and I ended up writing maybe a dozen stories for her.

Most editors-- most bosses--don't have the time or patience to coddle. For writers particularly, rejection is much more common than success. So you need a thick skin to keep going and pursue your dream, whatever it is.

How do you do that? First, don't take anything personally. Remember that you and your work are two separate entities. When an editor rips your story to shreds, it's not personal; it's generally an effort to make it into something that works, meaning something that's publishable. That's a good thing, right?

Second: Don't ask yourself: Am I good enough? Instead, ask this: Am I doing the best job on the piece I'm working on right now?

The first question is, to some degree, a matter of opinion and it can take you in circles. The response to the second question is measurable, and can help move you forward. If you're honest, you'll say, "Well, I could revise one more time, make one more phone call, rewrite my lead, reorganize my "muddled middle," but I'm not going to."

Then of course, you could come up with all kinds of reasons why you "can't" make your work better. (That's a subject for another day.)

Or you could do those things, and make your work better. Do that enough times, and you really would be a good writer, or at least better than when you started. My point is that much of how you do in your life and career is actually in your power.

Third: Keep reading and keep writing. Every day. Writing is like any other skill--the harder you work at it, the better you get. Those who did the best job on the first big assignment had sent me at least one draft, solicited feedback, and worked on the flaws. They had organized their time in a way that enabled them to do a good job.

Using the web to keep track of sources

Check out site/program called Delicious allows you to save newspaper or magazine stories or bookmark pages for later reference or to share with friends. As you're researching your stories, it might come in handy.

Research on habits and beliefs of Americans

See how you and your habits and beliefs compare with the rest of the nation.

http://www.norc.org/projects/General+Social+Survey.htm