Beat Note

For this class, I am going to cover an environmental beat. I want to narrow the scope of what could be a broad topic to local human interactions with their environment. So instead of stories about what WSU environmental researchers are discovering in other states or countries, I would rather write stories about WSU students that are trying to ‘green’ WSU policy. So, while a great source will be the Environmental Science Department at WSU, an even better source will be the Environmental Science Club, which is trying to establish a ‘green fund’ to use to make eco-friendly changes at WSU.
Other important local issues are water quality, endangered and threatened species, agriculture practices, and local and/or organic food. Something I would be interested in looking in to is if people are less willing to take eco-friendly measures in the current economic climate. I could talk to people at the Moscow co-op and local farmers’ markets and produce sales.
Two other key sources for this beat are going to be MaryJane’s Farm and downtoearthnw.com, which are both local environmentally-oriented media. I am also interested in looking at local agriculture journals to see if and how they deal with environmental concerns.
I am trying to steer away from national and international issues for this beat because I want to keep it very local, but, because the environment is not an isolated regional entity, but a global system, international environment issues do impact everyone. I assume there is a national trend at universities that will become even more pronounced, of focus shifting to environmental departments. Environmental issues will come out (if they haven’t already) in all departments from architecture and engineering students learning about new environmental requirements and green building practices, to international relations students study international environmental negotiations. So, state, national and international environmental developments are going to impact what WSU students are going to be learning in their classes and the path their careers will take.

Required Elements:

This beat is relevant because many people are unsure about environmental issues: what the truth is, what the policy is and how to be 'green'. This beat would attempt to enlighten Palouse readers about environmental problems in the area, what the impacts are on their life and how their life impacts the problems. Some past topics are agricultural practices, invasive species, and WSU-specific: green building, recycling and the green fund. Upcoming issues include weather changes, an increase of local and organic produce sales, and the judge's ruling on whether to allow wolf hunting to continue. I would like to confine the scope of this beat to human/environment interaction stories in which it is clear what the relevance is to Palouse readers and their lifestyles.

Story Ideas:
*Organic eating in the Pullman area (especially on-campus options) including benefits of organic eating
*Impact (including cost) of last year's implemented co-mingled recycling program, how it is going
*Green buildings on campus - Olympia Avenue dorm, CUB, how green are they? what directions will the campus go toward in the future? how is this impacting Pullman construction projects?

Recent Stories:
*Wolf hunting debate in Idaho
---http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/sep/01/real-estate-agent-takes-idahos-first-gray-wolf/
*Spokane WSU campus going green
---http://dailyevergreen.com/story/29212
*Spokane elementary school
---http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/aug/31/green-pieces/

Sources:
* Bart Mihailovich bartly7@gmail.com (509)951-8750
---Writer for Spokesman-Review environment blog downtoearthnw.com
* Annie Roe annie_roe@wsu.edu (509)335-3561
---Dining Center Dietician
* Louise Sweeney lasweeney@wsu.edu (509)335-4437
---Capital Planning and Development Project Manager