The effects of pesticides on children, the future of the world's major fisheries, public attitudes about endangered species, trends in industrial environmental management, and research at the Yale- Myers Forest in northeastern Connecticut were among topics discussed by visiting journalists during the "Eye on the Environment" fellowship program at Yale, held March 31-April 3.
Coordinated by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education CASE, the fellowship program enabled five journalists to attend in-depth briefings by faculty at the School of Forestry and Environment Studies F&ES. The journalists were Tracy Baxter of Sierra Magazine, Shermaze Ingram of The Lehrer News Hour, Leonard Reed of the Portland Oregonian, Maire Crowe of Natural History Magazine in New York City, and Antonio Valverde of KMEX- TV, the Los Angeles affiliate of the Spanish-speaking Univision network.
Yale was one of 32 universities selected to participate in the CASE Fellowship Program this year through a national competition, says Cynthia Atwood, science correspondent in the Office of Public Affairs, who helped prepare Yale's application. Travel expenses were provided by each fellow's employer while room and board were provided by the host universities.
"My hope is that these journalists will call upon Yale F&ES experts when covering environmental stories," says Jane Coppock, assistant dean of F&ES, who planned much of the program. "A more important objective, however, is that the knowledge gained at Yale will enable them to deepen and broaden their reports about complex environmental issues."
F&ES faculty and staff participating in the briefings included Dean Jared Cohon, Bruce Larson, Stephen Kellert, Bill Ellis, Jon Moore, John Wargo, Marian Chertow, Florencia Montagnini, Colleen Murphy- Dunning, Brad Gentry, Kristiina Vogt, John Gordon, Tom Graedel and Rob Mendelsohn. F&ES graduate students in Fred Strebeigh's environmental writing class had an opportunity to talk to the journalists about their careers at a pizza party hosted by Professor Strebeigh and his wife, Linda Peterson, chair of the English department.