Six stories about Chernobyl, the illusion of “natural” and flying cows.
by Paige Pritchard
Environmental journalism is a broad beat. It’s just one way we attempt to chronicle the natural world around us – a world that’s constantly changing thanks to evolution. Because the human species has the ability to record these changes, we sometimes forget that we are not just onlookers, but also active participants in every story regarding our terrestrial home. This observer/participant relationship is unique to environmental reporting, and is what attracted me to the field.
The first editor I worked under at The Columbia Missourian picked up on this interest, assigning me features on bat illnesses, urban agriculture trends and conservation conferences. It’s been five years since that experience and I’ve evolved into a different kind of journalist than the environmental reporter I thought I would be. But I still find my eyes drawn to the “Science” section of the New York Times, and subscribe to magazines like Orion, National Geographic, and Missouri Conservationist. I still feel that deep connection to the material produced by the wide range of environmental publications.
As dense and varied as environmental reporting can be, it all generally serves the same purpose: to make sense of this planet we call home. That being said, we are still desperately trying to find our place in the terrestrial ecosystem. As such, we use reporting and writing as a form of exploration. Sometimes we don’t like what we find (see also: climate change deniers), and then other times we’re blown away by the miraculous oddities of the natural world (like when we thought the ancient coelacanth fish was extinct for millions of years then a live one randomly popped up in South Africa). I picked the following articles because I feel they aptly represent the wide spectrum that exists between those two polarities.
1. “The New Farmers” by Lauren Markham
Orion Magazine, October 2014
Markham makes a case for the faction of young Millennial/Gen X farmers adopting the trade by choice. This choice is fueled by political motivations regarding environmental policy change, as well as a “deep environmental ethic.” Although many debase it as a passing trend or as doomed to fail as the 1970s “Back to the Land” movement, Markham explores how this kind of grassroots action can effect great change.
“As I drive out of Sweet Roots Farm, bidding Miller and her guardian llama goodbye, past the farm’s trickling brook and into the emerald foothills of my state, I feel both the import and the appeal of farm life. I see how interacting with small-scale agriculture — as a consumer, visitor, or farmer — is healthy for us all.”
2. “The New Flight of the Ibis” by Chelsea Wald
Nautilus, July 2013
This one’s for all the readers out there who grew up as obsessed with the movie Fly Away Home as I did. The film tells the true story of a Canadian pilot who used his ultra-light aircraft to lead a brood of Canadian geese through their migration. Scientist Johannes Fritz actually got his idea to help the bald ibis re-learn how to migrate from this movie (no spoilers: you’ll have to read the article to find out if he was successful).
“By the early 1600s, the sociable animals [the ibises], vulnerable to hunting, had been wiped off the continent. If this group of 20 learned the route to Tuscany and returned on its own, it would be the first colony of northern bald ibises to migrate in Europe in 400 years.”
3. “A Tale of Two Forests” by Jane Braxton Little and Winifred A. Bird
Environmental Health Perspectives, March 2013
Journalists Little and Bird travel to Chernobyl and Fukushima to observe the postnuclear radiation recovery. The journalists compare and contrast the different approaches the Ukrainian and Japanese governments take in rebuilding efforts.
“As the sites of the world’s worst nuclear power plant accidents, Japan and Ukraine share the challenge of protecting their citizens even as they hope to return residents to the rural communities where forests sheltered them and provided clean water, food, firewood, and livelihoods.”
4. “Cows Might Fly” by Veronique Greenwood
Aeon Magazine, December 2013
Switzerland is a small, mountainous country populated by many cows. When one of those cows gets injured, the farmer has to figure out a way to transport them to medical care or risk legal percussions for leaving a dead cow in their fields. Enter the cow-carrying helicopter squads.
“So Switzerland appears charming and quaint while actually being highly advanced. That cow flying through the air is the result of a complex calculation involving limited resources, economic forces, and compassion.”
5. “Why Not Eat Octopus?” by Silvia Killingsworth
The New Yorker, October 2014
Recent studies have revealed the unique habits of the octopus. Their impressive camouflage abilities, dexterous maneuverability, and hefty neural activity have secured them a place as one of the world’s more intelligent species. So why do we still eat them? Killingsworth struggles with the appeal of octopus as an edible delicacy versus the morality of consuming an intelligent organism.
“I like to think of an octopus as a blobby, eight-fingered hand, but with a mind of its own and the uncanny ability to change color, size, shape, and texture. And then I’m suddenly not so keen on the idea of eating it.”
Bonus: For those of you as obsessed with our cephalopod brethren as myself, I recommend the appropriately enthusiastic “Octopus!” by Katherine Harmon Courage (October 2013).
6. “The Illusion of ‘Natural’” by Eula Biss
The Atlantic, September 2014
This excerpt from Biss’s popular health hit On Immunity (which was released in September of last year and reviewed by us here) examines Western society’s recent relationship with the word “natural.”
Biss touches on the misuse of words like “pure” or “toxin,” which brings to mind Gawker’s excellent takedown of The Food Babe’s pseudoscientific war against the ambiguous “poison.”
“What natural has come to mean to us in the context of medicine is pure and safe and benign. But the use of natural as a synonym for good is almost certainly a product of our profound alienation from the natural world.”
Bonus: Somewhat related, check out Katherine Ashenburg’s “The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History” for further information on our fraught relationship with purity, personal health, and the hygiene industry.
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Paige Pritchard is a part time freelance journalist and a full time media junkie. Follow her on Twitter @peapodpritchard for commentary on movies, magazines, and cute animal videos.
