Environmental Writing syllabus

RAMAPO COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY

Environmental Writing
Spring 2010
Thursday 6-9:15 pm
Prof. Jan Barry Crumb

Class web site: ramapolookout.blogspot.com

Instructor
Jan Barry is a veteran journalist and author of A Citizen’s Guide to Grassroots Campaigns. He was lead reporter in an investigation by The Record of Bergen County that produced “Toxic Legacy,” a special report on industrial waste dumped near water supply streams in New Jersey and New York. A graduate of Ramapo College, he’s taught news writing at Rutgers University and investigative journalism at New York University.

Course Description
This course is designed to provide a foundation for writing on environmental issues. Class work will include posting a portfolio of writings on a web site.

Course Objectives
The focus of this class includes:
*Posing probing questions about environmental topics.
*Mastering various methods of writing on environmental topics.
*Researching an environmental issue and describing what it means and what’s being done about it.
*Learning to concisely present an environmental story.

Readings Materials
Barry, Jan. A Citizen’s Guide to Grassroots Campaigns. New Brunswick: Rutgers, 2000.
(available at author’s discount from the instructor)
West, Bernadette, et. al. The Reporter’s Environmental Handbook. 3rd edition. New Brunswick: Rutgers, 2003.
Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. (any edition)
Assorted handouts

Resources
Society of Environmental Journalists, http://www.sej.org/
Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, http://ej.msu.edu/resources.php

Course Requirements
Classroom participation is a major part of this course. Students are expected to make presentations of their research and writing and participate in class discussions.

Research and Writing Assignments
Weekly assignments will focus on various formats of writing on environmental topics, including web site blogs, newsletters, opinion columns, news reporting, news releases and letters to the editor. The final paper is a magazine style report on a current environmental issue that the student will research during the semester.

Experiential Component
This course includes a minimum of five hours of service-learning experience outside the classroom. Students should discuss with instructor what they plan to do (such as volunteer work with an environmental organization, independent research) and share a journal entry on the experience with the class.

Grading Policy
My grading philosophy is that everyone who presents his or her best efforts deserves an A. The final grade will combine class assignments (25 percent), class discussion and attendance (25 percent) and the final project (50 percent). Grades on assignments will be affected by factual errors, spelling errors; or for not meeting deadlines. A lower grade on a written assignment can be upgraded by doing a rewrite that corrects factual errors and muddled writing noted by the instructor.

Attendance Policy
Unexcused absences are subject to grade reduction. Excused absences mean the student has communicated with the instructor as to the necessity for missing a class or portion of a class. College policy states that students must notify faculty within the first three weeks of the semester if they anticipate missing any classes due to religious observance.

Additional Information
This course follows standard Ramapo College policy for Electronic Forms of Communication, Academic Integrity and Students with Disabilities. For details, please refer to the Academic Review Committee Website at http://ww2.ramapo.edu/arc/.

Class Schedule

Jan. 21:
Introductions and discussion of readings, assignments and class web site.
Multimedia Presentation: “Toxic Legacy” series on the environmental legacy of massive dumping of lead-based automobile paint from Ford Motor Co.’s assembly plant in Mahwah at numerous sites in New Jersey and New York. This investigation grew from local news reports of health complaints by residents of a rural corner of Ringwood, NJ, which sparked the US Environmental Protection Agency to reinstate on the national Superfund list a site it had previously ruled was cleaned up. The renewed cleanup effort has removed much more hazardous waste that was excavated originally.

Jan. 28:
Reading assignment due:
“Toxic Legacy” special report, www.toxiclegacy.com.
“Who Sets the Environmental Agenda,” The Reporter’s Environmental Handbook.
Research Assignment: Bring in an example of environmental writing for discussion—from a newspaper, magazine, newsletter, book or web site.
Writing assignment :
Memo on your goals in taking this class.
Class discussion:
1) “Toxic Legacy” – how this story presented an in-depth look at a widespread industrial legacy in New Jersey, New York and the nation.
2) Examples of environmental writing. The topics can be local, regional, national or international.
Begin thinking during this roundtable discussion about a topic you want to explore for your final class project—a magazine style report on the state of a current environmental issue in 800-1,500 words.
Additional “backyard” environmental issues that will be explored in future classes:
Agent Orange legacy in New Jersey, water quality of the Ramapo River, water contamination in Pompton Lakes from DuPont manufacturing plant, NJ Highlands regional master plan, global climate change in our area.

Feb. 4:
Reading assignment due:
“Saving a Swamp and Other Landmark Campaigns” and “Conducting a Citizen’s Campaign,” A Citizen’s Guide to Grassroots Campaigns.
“How to Use this Handbook” and “Handling an Environmental Emergency,” The Reporter’s Environmental Handbook.
Research assignment:
Find an environmental journalism report that quotes a civic group leader and/or provides information on how readers can get involved in an environmental campaign.
Writing assignment:
Blog item on an aspect of the “Toxic Legacy” report, about 500 words.
Class discussion:
1) The role of civic groups in conservation campaigns. Journalists often rely on knowledgeable activists to raise tough questions of public officials, point to telling passages in bureaucratic documents and provide headline-grabbing quotes. Do journalists sufficiently show how this vital grassroots process works?
2) Examples of environmental journalism that profile or prominently quote a civic group leader and/or provides information on how readers can get involved in an environmental campaign.

Feb. 11:
Reading assignment due:
“The Language of Risk” and “Dioxin,” The Reporter’s Environmental Handbook.
“Troubling Questions About Dioxin” by Jan Barry, New York Times 9/11/83
(handout in class).
“Agent Orange: A Chapter from History That Just Won’t End,” by Ben Quick, Orion Magazine, http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/2862/
Research assignment:
Find a recent news story on Agent Orange to bring to class.
Writing assignment :
Blog item on “Saving a Swamp and Other Landmark Campaigns” or a topic of your choice, about 500 words;
A memo on your service-learning plans.
Class discussion:
Agent Orange herbicides used by the US military in Vietnam were made in Newark. A manufacturing contaminant, dioxin, left a potentially deadly legacy that stretches from contaminated fish in the Passaic River and tainted silt dredged from Newark Bay shipping channels to the possible cause of cancer and other serious health problems among many US veterans of the Vietnam war, their children and people in Vietnam.
Discuss recent news stories on Agent Orange, the latest efforts to clean up the lower Passaic River, what’s happening at the plant site in Newark’s Ironbound neighborhood, and how health claims by US veterans and by Vietnamese are being handled.

Feb. 18:
Reading assignment due:
“Finding an Expert” and “Surface Water Quality,” The Reporter’s Environmental Handbook.
“6 Tips for Better Writing” by Bob McElwain, http://www.goarticles.com/articles/21.html
Research assignment:
Find a news story on the Ramapo River to bring to class.
Writing assignment :
Newsletter item on the current state of the Agent Orange issue, about 500 words.
Class discussion:
Ramapo River. What’s the current state of the stream that flows past Ramapo College and supplies drinking water to much of Rockland County, NY as well as Mahwah and many other North Jersey towns?
Presentation:
Show and tell by Geoff Welch, Ramapo River Watershed Keeper.

Feb. 25:
Reading assignment due:
“Tracking Down a Company’s Environmental Record” and “Groundwater Pollution,” The Reporter’s Environmental Handbook.
Research assignment:
Find a recent news story on groundwater contamination, such as in Pompton Lakes due to DuPont’s explosives plant, to bring to class.
Writing assignment :
Newsletter item on current state of Ramapo River issues, about 500 words.
Class discussion:
Groundwater contamination in Pompton Lakes due to DuPont’s explosives plant. We’ll discuss the state of a decades-long cleanup of industrial pollution of a small town on the Ramapo River, which has sparked several lawsuits and stacks of news coverage.

Mar. 4:
Reading assignment due:
“Journalists’ Views of the Environment: Issues and Challenges,” The Reporter’s Environmental Handbook.
“Better Living Through Mutual-Help Groups,” A Citizen’s Guide to Grassroots Campaigns.
Writing assignment :
News update on DuPont/Pompton Lakes issues, 500-750 words.
Class discussion:
Present to the class a story idea you would like to develop into your final class project. Are there photo, video, audio possibilities? What research, interviews have you done?

Mar. 11:
Reading assignment due:
“Water Supply,” The Reporter’s Environmental Handbook.
“Highlands streams provide area jobs” by Jan Barry, The Record, http://www.state.nj.us/njhighlands/news/news_articles/highlands_streams.pdf
Research assignment:
Find a recent news story on the NJ Highlands regional master plan.
Writing assignment :
Summary of your project story idea, 3-4 paragraphs.
Class discussion:
New Jersey Highlands regional master plan. We’ll discuss the plan’s proposed impact on Highlands communities that include Mahwah and neighboring Oakland and Ringwood, and on North Jersey’s prime water supply.
Presentation:
Show and tell by NJ Highlands Council representative.

SPRING BREAK, week of Mar. 18

Mar. 25:
Reading assignment due:
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, related items at www.rachelcarson.org
“Pesticides,” The Reporter’s Environmental Handbook.
Research assignment:
Find a recent news story on pesticides.
Writing assignment :
Newsletter item on Highlands regional plan issues, about 500 words.
Class discussion:
Pesticides. We’ll discuss the state of an issue first brought to public attention by a former government scientist whose 1962 book on chemical poisoning of nature helped launch a national environmental movement.

April 1:
Reading assignment due:
“Global Climate Change,” The Reporter’s Environmental Handbook.
Research assignment:
Find a recent news story on global climate change in New Jersey and/or New York area.
Writing assignment :
Opinion column on issues raised by Rachel Carson, 500-750 words.
Class discussion:
Global climate change in New Jersey and/or New York. We’ll discuss the potential impact that some scientific reports project for the metropolitan region: rising sea levels, fiercer hurricanes, harsher cycles of drought and flooding.

April 8:
Reading assignment due:
“Navigating the News Media,” A Citizen’s Guide to Grassroots Campaigns.
Writing assignment :
Blog item on local aspect of global climate change issues, about 500 words.
Class discussion:
Writing on complex, often controversial environmental issues is hard work. We’ll discuss how to organize facts, conflicting viewpoints and what’s it mean to readers in a concise, crisp framework.

April 15:
Reading assignment due:
“Code of Ethics,” Society of Professional Journalists,
http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp
Writing assignment :
Letter to the editor on a current environmental issue, 250-500 words.
Class discussion:
Ethical and fairness issues. Ethical no-no’s in news writing are the same as in academic papers: Don’t use someone else’s writing or quote without citing the source; don’t defame people with unsupported accusations, but cite the facts of questionable stances or actions. “In making ethical judgments, journalists should consider applying the Golden Rule,” suggest the authors of The Investigative Reporter’s Handbook. To be fair to sources and prevent misunderstandings, one of the handbook authors, Steve Weinberg, runs quotes he wants to use by the person he interviewed. “I once interviewed 40 newspaper editors about how mistakes occur. Every one of them said they had been misquoted—often in their own publications,” Weinberg noted.
Classroom work:
Discuss and work on draft of your final report.

April 22:
Reading assignment due:
“Tips for Revising” by TeacherVision,
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/essays/editing/1782.html
Writing assignment :
News release on a current environmental event, 250-500 words.
Classroom work:
Discuss and work on revising draft of your final report. Students will proofread each other’s work and offer editing suggestions, as will the instructor.
Share journal entries on experiential, service-learning work outside the classroom this semester.

April 29:
Classroom work:
Double-check facts, spelling, other contents; post final reports on class web site. Share journal entries on experiential, service-learning work outside the classroom this semester.
Discussion of lessons learned in taking this course.