Dear Reader,

One of my favorite things about being an environmental journalist is that you are really an everything journalist. Diligently covering environmental issues might mean tromping through the woods after a group of preschoolers or rubbing elbows with local policy makers. It might include reading scientific research or interviewing local farmers, and anything in between.

Our job as journalists is to find answers. But in this issue of The Planet, we sometimes found our answers lead us to more questions.

In some stories we discovered unsolved mysteries. Curious rock formations favored by climbers along the Washington coast are a scientific conundrum dating back to Charles Darwin. The fate of an entire ecosystem hangs in the balance as scientists search for the cause of sea otter decline in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.

Other stories encouraged us to look beyond the here-and-now and pose questions to the future. In the face of a moratorium on industrial wind-power projects and ongoing community debate, can Whatcom County make wind power work? What will a large mining operation mean for the salmon and humans who call Bristol Bay home? With the opening of the Arctic for oil exploration, can we be prepared to deal with the possibility of another Deepwater Horizon, but this time in frozen northern waters?

Finally, we found stories asking us to think critically about what it means to live "green." Preschools and childcare organizations in northwest Washington are encouraging children to connect with the natural world around them. A local nonprofit is on a quest to make purchasing local food practical for Bellingham restaurants. And a bag ban ordinance asks Bellinghamsters to give some thought to how they carry home their groceries.

Finally, we found stories asking us to think critically about what it means to live "green." Preschools and childcare organizations in northwest Washington are encouraging children to connect with the natural world around them. A local nonprofit is on a quest to make purchasing local food practical for Bellingham restaurants. And a bag ban ordinance asks Bellinghamsters to give some thought to how they carry home their groceries.


This winter, The Planet aimed to explore the full breadth of environmental reporting and ended up finding more than we expected. So I hope as you read this issue you will find some new questions to ponder or inspiration for questions of your own.

Thanks for reading, and as always, we welcome comments and questions in person, on paper, in the form of a rap and online. Stay curious,