Ryan Domitz

Rhetorical Situation

SUBJECT: Environmental Science Journalism

EXIGENCE: Journalism in the field of environmental science employs to inform the public of

the effects we have as consumers on the planet we live in. For some, this news often takes

precedence over others, as ongoing global practices are believed to be steadily deteriorating the

world in which we live in and at an increasing rate no less. As the world of journalism changes

its pace to meet the digital era, and print appears to be a dying breed, environmental science

makes no exception. In my degree, I’m currently pursuing in Biology, I have been interested in

the field of science and math; now it’s time to excite others into loving science and discovery as

much I do!

AUDIENCE: The audience is perhaps one of my favorite aspects of this topic. Environmental

science holds no bias over the population of people it affects. While local factors having more

immediate and proximal effects to natives, the environment is just that, the place we all live.

However, environmental science is not simply limited to air pollution or greenhouse gasses, but

also includes agricultural, economic, and societal aspects. How do the foods we eat, and the

forms of energy we produce as a state, a country, a continent, or a species affect us? Just to start,

the world is run off of fossil fuels today; as those non-renewable resources are exhausted,

aspects of the economy and culture will have to make adaptations to acclimate to a changing

environment. The gravity of environmental science, and the field of publishing in which it lies,

will become immediately more paramount to everyone in an active first world market.

PURPOSE: After reading this essay the reader will be familiar with the market of

Environmental Science Journalism, how to approach the market should one be interested in

entering, what form the market has taken in today’s world, and how to write for the audience

and publishers that look for that genre of writing.

CONSTRAINTS: As far as limitations environmental science requires a great deal of

objectivity, as well ample evidence to support ones facts, all the while resisting the urge to jump

to one’s own conclusions. Nor should the facts be elaborated or underplayed as fear mongering

articles or fact-less rebuttals are not ethical nor the aim of this field. It is to inform, not interpret,

nor analyze subjectively. The audience, moreover, is implied to have a very basic understanding

of geological science, but does not require the audience to be composed of “scientists.”

Environmental Science Journalism by: Ryan Domitz

Home Sweet Home

Today information spreads across the globe faster than ever before in history. Stunning

and marvelous discoveries are made on almost a daily basis and vary from the vast range of

specialized fields, all of which lie under the domain of science. Within the realm of relaying

often obscure semantics with even less tangible concepts, environmental science journalism

stresses accuracy whilst deciphering the enigmatic hieroglyphs of science to a broader, general

audience. How does oil fracking affect local water supply? What are the adverse effects of

government subsidized farming monocultures? How do global temperature effects span as far as

determining sea level or commercial agriculture? These are pressing questions, and they have

demanding solutions that are in need of public attention. Environmental Journalism helps

people, as consumers and producers, to make better informed decisions involving the world

around them.

In the Field

The science sections in newspapers seem to be dying out. Christopher Zara, from the

International Business Times attributes science’s irrelevance in newspapers due to its demand

for high specialty oriented writers. In twenty four years since 1989, newspapers with a weekly

science section had plummeted from 95 to 19. This has been indicated as a result of the overall

forty percent drop in the newspaper industry according to a survey by the U.S. Department of

Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Yet, there is hope still. The digital world has been pushing

print to the backburner for a while now.

As digital media blooms, environmental science may flourish in some of its light as

writers have the capacity to engage a broader audience than ever before. Bio Journal’s “Be

Found or Perish: Writing Scientific Manuscripts for the Digital Age” delves into meeting the

digital readers by confronting the age old “publish or perish” adage. It elaborates how to

produce articles with ample marketing, using tactfully chosen titles, visuals, and most

importantly, a solid abstract. The filter system (examples such as Google and Yahoo were used)

of the vast interdisciplinary field makes relevant and identifiable articles remain unlost among

the myriad of information available. Thus a successful writer knows how to make their article

accessible, by not only naming it appropriately, but by publishing it in a medium that demands

that field of study. Finding good blogs to establish oneself, or online journals that possess

information of pertinence to one’s own work is a good step towards effectively networking, and

establishing a credible name in the science community. Science blogs like Live Science, Dot

Earth, and TreeHugger are just a few examples of successful online environmental journalism.

Browsing some of these blogs can help get a better general idea of the style and direction of

writing for the environment, as well as to familiarize how to bridge

infamous science jargon into the public’s vocabulary.

Robert Irion, the Director of The Science Communication

Program at UC Santa Cruz, shed some light about the active field

and how to guarantee a job in science writing. Graduate education

in the science communication field as well as a degree in a related

science major may help stand out when looking for jobs. A specific

degree in a field of science makes the writer’s published

information more credible, as potential experts in their own avenues

of study. Irion also stresses the necessity of at least one complete

internship as well. Irion keeps market data on graduating students in

his program. Of the past fifty (ten a year), since 2012 from Irion’s

article, 14 have published for an institute or university, 9 pursued

freelance, 9 classical media, 6 online news, 3 biomedical writers, 4

multimedia producers for research institutes, and the rest went on

with further schooling or publish in a variety mediums. This simply

illustrates the diversity under the science writing umbrella with

which to acquire a career.

THE ABSTRACT

Science abstracts present the writer with the perfect opportunity to snag the reader. A brief summary of the data or discoveries to be revealed further in the article, the abstract is designed to get the reader to want more. Abstracts are concise and leave out any extraneous information, covering only the basic fundamentals. Think of this as the meat and potatoes, where the full article has all the side dishes and dessert!

“The abstract is a miniature manuscript in its own right, and should be able to convey the basic justification, most significant findings, and most important implications of the scientific work reported in the article.” – Professor M.G. Finn Ph.D School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Georgia Institute of Technology Editor-in-Chief, ACS Combinatorial Science

Get To Work

Okay so networking and internships are done: what now? Environmental science is

delivered in the form of scientific journals, magazines, blogs, as well as print. The job of an

environmental science writer is to now find something to write about! Beth Winegarner, poet

and freelance scientific journalist, tells in an article about how to get jobs as a freelance

journalist by researching the publishers. The colloquial tone, audience, and style of writing is

often tailored to not just an audience, but also publisher acting as the billfold. The idea is to

sweeten the pitch, by knowing where to sell it. Magazines like National Geographic or The

Sierra Magazine might hold a higher professional standard and thus might expect the tone of an

article to fit accordingly. Winegarner suggests to therefore research what’s the right pitch to the

right publisher. She elaborates, when pitching ideas to editors, more is better. Throw twenty

ideas, under one broader category, and one of them will take. Before one can appeal to an

audience, the story has to appeal to a publisher so being unique and standing out among the

crowd isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The market is competitive, so Winegarner attributes her

success in her ability to have what other aspiring writers simply lacked.

But wait a minute, environmental journalism isn’t limited to working through publishers.

The National Association of Science Writers illuminated the option of self-publishing. It grants

complete freedom as far as what to write and for whom to write it. However doing so passes the

Khalil Cassimally’s “Operation Database of the Future” is a public google doc spreadsheet, designed as a tool for new science writers to gain access to successful pitches, tricks of the trade, advice, as well a network of writers already

working in the field!

burden of marketing, producing, and distributing to the writer himself. This option is best

prescribed for those who believe they possess an unspoken niche in the market, but are unable to

receive enough commercial interest for it. The internet has vastly contributed to the efficiency of

the self-publishing market. Existent as blogs, how to’s, and databases, the internet allows a huge

platform for unpublished writers to market themselves.

Interviewing the Pro’s

The following is taken from an interview with American science, nature, and conservation

writer David Quammen, author and columnist for Outsude Magazine for over fifteen

years.

Q: In your opinion what studies have contributed the most to our understanding of

ecology and conservation in a significant way?

A: I think the most important scientific insight of the last forty years for conservation was

the recognition of island biogeography, fragmented landscapes and corridors. That begins

with Robert MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson. I've documented that in The Song of the

Dodo, probably ad nauseum. 

Q: Are there areas of conservation science that require more focus? 

A: Yes, infectious diseases are emerging rapidly as a new area for ecological research… For

instance, it was considered a canonical rule that malaria could not be transmitted between

humans and other species, and that the malaria vector carries it only between humans. Now

scientists researching in Borneo have documented a fifth species of malarial

parasites, Plasmodium knowlesi, which can be transmitted between humans and macaques. I

respect the noble goals of Bill and Melinda Gates when they say they want to eradicate malaria.

But I hope that their scientific advisers are thinking about all these other factors too. 

Q: You yourself have written several influential books, what are the books that you yourself

have been influenced by?

A: Well, I love Charles Darwin's work. Learning about Darwin and Wallace has been very

important to me. I am surprised at how many biologists have not read Darwin or Wallace

directly. I enjoyed Edward O Wilson's books, including The Theory of Island

Biogeography and Biophilia. Charles Elton’s Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants has

been very important to me. As also early Stephen Jay Gould and J.B.S. Haldane's popular

essays. The Growth of Biological Thought and Systematics and the Origin of Species by Ernst

Mayr have been influential. My favorite book of Jane Goodall is her scientific work, The

Chimpanzees of Gombe. Sarah Hardy wrote The Woman that Never Evolved, a very interesting

book about gender and evolution.

 

Science Writer Viviane Callier, Ph.D. writes for a consulting company in DC that

supports the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Q: How and when did you become interested in science writing? And, how did you prepare to

get a job as a science writer?

A: I started science writing and journalism as a hobby in graduate school. The writing allowed

me to stay in touch with the science that was going on around me. Writing and blogging gave

me an excuse to ask others about their work. When I moved for my postdoc, I continued to write

for the university magazine at ASU. Writing for the Duke University Blog and the magazine at

ASU were invaluable experiences in preparing me for a job in science writing because they gave

me the opportunity to get feedback from practicing science journalists and to learn about the

differences between journalistic writing versus academic writing.

Q: Do you think your PhD gives you unique advantages or disadvantages in the science writing

world?

A: My PhD is an advantage because it allows me to understand highly technical documents and

meeting discussions. I think it also makes it easier for scientists to talk to me about their science

without “dumbing it down.”

Q: What do you find most rewarding and most challenging about your job?

A: One of the best things about the writing job is that it gives me a broader perspective about

how science is funded and managed, and my job gives me a peek into the world of science

policy. In my role as a science writer, I get to be a fly on the wall at NIH and EPA meetings and

teleconferences. I get to see firsthand how workgroups are organized and how they move

projects forward…

That’s a Wrap

Now is the time is to act! The world needs a voice, and the pressing issues that arise with

the influx of technology spawn more questions than answers. The issue is that many of the

problems that environmental science deal with involves scales in both size and time, that don’t

immediately effect everyday life. It’s easy as a reader, to blow off environmental science as

being too distal or pessimistic. However there remains hope yet still! Get out there, establish

credibility and a name as a writer, and whether it’s through scientific journals or columns in

online magazines, environmental science is a small branch off of the scientific publishing tree,

of which the whole world can benefit from being well informed. The digital age for media is in

the process of moving in, and as print dies in relevance the market for journalism is expanding.

As journalism flourishes, every branch of the publishing tree grows ever stronger. New

technology makes it easier for the public to get their hands on this sort of information. Online

filters, databases, and independently published blogs or books, make published work more

accessible, to a more specific audience. These are the advantages an environmental journalist

can reap as they approach the field of writing about the world we live in. How can oil fracking

effect the water supply? The chemicals used along with water to break up shale rock, releasing

natural gas inside, contaminates the ocean and ground water. Methane concentrations are 17x

higher in drinking water near fracking wells. What are the adverse effects of government

subsidized monocultures? Single specie crops are more susceptible to pests and disease, and thus

require large amounts of toxic fertilizers to be spread over the fields. Monocultures driven

through genetic modification have also been observed to have an accelerated natural selection in

pests, as an environmental response to the high proportionality of unsuccessful progeny. (I.e.

pests that resist environmental changes, rapidly pass on their resistances to offspring as

competition wanes.) These are just a few questions the world wants answers to. As an

environmental journalist, these questions posed are built to stir and promote awareness as well

as solutions for generations to come. In fact environmental journalism is just that, writing for the

future!

Bibliography

Callier, Viviane. "An Interview with Science Writer Viviane Callier, PhD." An Interview with

Science WriterViviane Callier, Integrative Academic Solutions, 25 Nov. 2013. Web. 18

Feb. 2015

Cassimally, Khalil A. "Pitch Database By Young Science Writers For Young Science Writers

The SA Incubator, Scientific American Blog Network."Scientific American Global RSS.

N.p., 1 Aug. 2012. Web. 03 Feb. 2015.

Guide. Publish Be Found or Perish: Writing Scientific Manuscripts for the Digital Age (n.d.): n.

pag. Pubs.acs.org/bio. ACS Publications. Web.

Irion, Robert. "Quora." How Difficult Is It to Get a Salaried Job in Science Writing or

Journalism?. Science Communication Program UC, Santa Cruz, 25 July 2012. Web. 03

Feb. 2015.

Meredith, Dennis L. "Deciding to Become a Self-publisher | ScienceWriters

(www.NASW.org)." Deciding to Become a Self-publisher. National Association of

Science Writers, 17 Oct. 2008. Web. 03 Feb. 2015.

Velho, Nandini, and Umesh Srinivasan. "An Interview with Conservation Writer David

Quammen." Mongabay. N.p., 04 Sept. 2012. Web. 17 Feb. 2015.

Winegarner, Beth. "6 Tips for Getting Gigs as a Freelance Journalist."Poynter. N.p., 2 Oct.

2012. Web. 03 Feb. 2015.

Zara, Christopher. "Remember Newspaper Science Sections? They're Almost All

Gone." International Business Times. N.p., 10 Jan. 2013. Web. 03 Feb. 2015.