A support group and a lab in the St. Louis area provide resources for people with the allergy to mammal products — and evidence that its effects can be reversed.
DeSeam Williams, 9, runs around his father Dennis Williams while they check out historically low water levels of Mississippi River on Oct. 26, 2022, in Greenbelt Park in Memphis, Tenn. Credit: Mark Weber, The Daily Memphian
Join us Nov. 14 for a free webinar and Q&A on our new study
DeSeam Williams, 9, runs around his father Dennis Williams while they check out historically low water levels of Mississippi River on Oct. 26, 2022, in Greenbelt Park in Memphis, Tenn. Credit: Mark Weber, The Daily Memphian
Much of the daily work of environmental journalism seeks to understand people’s relationship with the places they live — what they think, feel and observe about natural and built ecosystems around them, and the forces that are reshaping those attitudes.
As one of the few environmental journalism collaboratives created specifically to cover a watershed, the Ag & Water Desk is always in need of better answers to these questions to drive our reporting. So we partnered with researchers at our home base, the Missouri School of Journalism, for a groundbreaking study of people’s environmental opinions and beliefs in the 10 states that line the mainstem of the Mississippi River.
Join us Tuesday, November 14, from 12 to 1 p.m. CT for a free webinar and Q&A about our new research — click here to register.
What we found might surprise you. As our reporter Madeline Heim of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes in our story about our new study, “Only about half of those surveyed were aware they lived in the basin. In Kentucky, for example, just 7.5% of respondents thought they lived in the basin, even though it includes the entire state.”
Advocates and experts say the research points to a need for better scientific and political communication about the importance of the Mississippi River for habitat, drinking water and commerce, and the threats it faces from climate change, pollution and more.
"It is harder and harder to get people to take advocacy actions that don't have a direct connection to their everyday life or direct local tie-in," said Maisah Khan, policy director for the Mississippi River Network.
The study also delved into residents’ media choices and sense of “trusted messengers” on environmental information, from their local extension offices to university scientists.
“People want to know what is going on in their backyard, and community news organizations can fill that demand, not only as traditional newsrooms but through organizations like the Ag & Water Desk, pop-up newsrooms or university extension services,” said Randy Picht, executive director of the Reynolds Journalism Institute, which supported the study. “This report shows that if we reach out, people are willing to listen.”
At our webinar on Nov. 14, lead study author Kate Rose will present key takeaways and our editorial director Tegan Wendland will moderate Q&A. We hope to see you there!
Yours,
Annie Ropeik
Ag & Water Desk Assistant Director
The Mississippi River starts in Northern Minnesota and drains water from 31 states and other major rivers like the Missouri and Ohio on its way South to the Gulf of Mexico. Credit: Annie Ropeik, Ag & Water Desk via Google Maps
The findings follow a tumultuous growing season, wrought with extreme drought ravaging the Midwest and increasing precipitation and floods.
By Brittney J. Miller, The Gazette — Nov. 1, 2023
A field is flooded in May 2013 in Calumet County, Wis. Credit: Kate Golden, Wisconsin WatchAn aerial view of Muscatine, Iowa on the Mississippi River on Monday, September 18, 2023. Aerial support provided by LightHawk. Credit: Nick Rohlman, The Gazette
