Great green writing

ccasqqnxvy

Environmental health is a hot topic in magazines and newspapers, not to mention websites and blogs (and commercial writing opportunities abound, but that’s another story). The fairly recent surge in popularity has publishers scrounging around for the best way to package green stories. If you have great ideas on how to do this, your editors will love you.

Stories that sell tend to transform environmental uncertainties into action plans. They help readers make better decisions, or at least know when something is being decided for them. But just because these articles are easy to read doesn’t meant they’re easy to write.  As a writer, you’ll need to explore the details and put them into context-the forest and the trees. That means you’ll have to find out what the chemicals in our environment really mean and be able to quantify them (or get someone else to crunch the numbers). 

Propose your story to magazines specializing not only in health but also travel, in-flight, outdoors, parenting, science, and general interest magazines. (Don’t overlook international or regional reprint markets.) No matter where you pitch them, the best environmental stories result from writers who can understand the science, translate it clearly for the public and not be swayed by PR and advertising. If you can do that, your efforts are desperately needed. Here are some tips to get you started:

Turning Chemicals into Copy

1. Choose your topic and market carefully. The connection between environmental factors and illness and disease offers tons of topics and markets to choose from. You could, for example, write about the controversial subject of cancer clusters. Or, you could write about the connection between the environment and conditions like asthma. You might follow the trail of pesticides banned in the United States, which are consequently sold overseas to farmers–who then export their contaminated fruits and vegetables to American supermarkets.
2. Cast a wide net. Talk to scientists, environmental activists, national, regional or local health departments, government officials, public and private agency specialists, and industrial sources. But ask about vested interests and quality of evidence.
3. Ask if you don’t understand. Even if you think you get it, ask specialists to tell their stories to you in simple language. That will make your quest for clarity easier and, as a bonus, you’ll spot any evasiveness or manipulation you might otherwise miss if you have to decipher jargon. Keep asking the tough questions and don’t let people get away with bad answers.
4. Find the studies. Browse the major journals, pubmed.com, and especially the less prominent publications. See who the researchers are and follow the trail.
5. Strive for clarity. Avoid using the jargon and buzzwords you’re sure to here during your interviews. “Quite often over-used phrases are in fact little understood by the general public,” says Professor Sharon Friedman, director of the Science and Environmental Journalism Program at Lehigh University. “So when someone uses a catchall like ‘health and safety standards,’ ask specifically what these standards are. Likewise with ‘acceptable risk factor.’ Find out exactly which risks are acceptable and why. Never take a turn of phrase at its face value.”
6. Get slightly sciencey. Readers are more engaged when given enough facts so they can turn the problem over in their heads. Even when it’s just basic science, refresh people’s memories so they can better evaluate the issues that some day may be a matter of life and death. Don’t leave out the immediate and future social and economic costs of any alternatives considered. Also, if you come across any ideas for illustrating your stories with graphics, tables and diagrams, pass them along to your editor.
7. Write for your neighbors. Even when the science is technical, don’t write like you’re covering science for industry or peer reviewed journals. Keep the language simple. You don’t have to talk down to readers to make the currents of scientific opinion accessible.

Happy Health Writing,

Kathy Summers