1. One
reporter’s
perspec,ve
on
covering
Climate
Change
and
the
occassional
Na,onal
Water
Emergency
Seth
Borenstein
AP
Science
Writer
sborenstein@ap.org
On
TwiCer:
@Borenbears
2. First,
I
like
cold
hard
data
• The
last
month
to
be
cooler
than
normal
globally
was
in
February
1985.
That
month
Mel
Gibson
was
named
People
magazine’s
Sexiest
Man
Alive.
Nearly
half
of
the
people
on
Earth
were
not
alive
then.
3. That’s
336
months
in
a
row
• Flip
a
coin
336
,mes.
The
odds
of
it
randomly
landing
heads
(warmer)
327
,mes
in
a
row.
• 1
in
138,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,00
0,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,00
0,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
• (1.3
with
101
zeros,
that’s
more
than
a
googol)
5. The
data
for
Lower
48
states
Conditions for the Contiguous U.S.
Week Date None D0-D4 D1-D4 D2-D4 D3-D4 D4
One Year 02/28/
42.48 57.52 38.66 19.50 7.63 2.50
Ago 12
Start of 09/25/
23.41 76.59 65.45 42.12 21.48 6.12
Water Year 12
Start of
01/01/
Calendar 27.22 72.78 61.09 42.05 21.31 6.75
13
Year
3 Months 12/04/
23.84 76.16 62.37 42.22 20.63 6.49
Ago 12
02/26/
Last Week 33.62 66.38 54.17 36.35 16.95 5.45
13
03/05/
Current 34.33 65.67 53.34 36.44 17.04 5.45
13
6. Drought
disaster
declared
for
Oklahoma
(Jan.
2013)
• By
Shelby
Travis
• via
The
Associated
Press
• Oklahoma
City
—
• The
U.S.
Department
of
Agriculture
has
designated
76
of
Oklahoma's
77
coun,es
and
nearly
two-‐thirds
of
Arkansas'
coun,es
as
primary
natural
disaster
areas
due
to
ongoing
drought
condi,ons.
• Wednesday's
declara,on
makes
farmers
in
the
areas
eligible
for
low-‐interest
emergency
loans
of
2.15
percent.
• In
Oklahoma
—
only
OCawa
County
is
not
a
primary
disaster
area
—
but
farmers
there
are
also
eligible
because
the
county
is
con,guous
to
those
in
the
primary
disaster
declara,on.
• The
47
of
75
Arkansas
coun,es
that
are
primary
disaster
areas
are
in
the
northwestern
two-‐thirds
of
the
state
and
farmers
in
coun,es
con,guous
to
those
coun,es
are
also
eligible
for
federal
assistance.
• U.S.
Agriculture
Secretary
Tom
Vilsack
designated
a
total
of
597
coun,es
in
14
states
as
primary
natural
disaster
areas
in
the
declara,on.
• Copyright
The
Associated
Press
11. The
subcategory
of
Climate
Science
•
Climate
averages
(like
yearly
global
temp.
rainfall)
Too
much,
too
liCle
water
Climate
extremes
(such
as
hurricanes,
other
storms,
heat
waves,
cold
snaps)
12. The
world
of
Journalists
• 1.
Anecdotes
more
than
data
• 2.
Subjec,ve
(“How
do
you
feel?”)
A
hot
not
a
cool
medium
• 3.
Drama
• 4.
Brief
• 5.
Fast.
13. The
world
of
Journalists
Science/Tech/Medical/Explainer
General
Assignment
Poli,cs
Television
Morning
Show
Sports
reporters
Celebrity
journalists
15. So
What’s
in
that
intersec,on
• Climate
Extremes
• Heat
Waves
• Storms
• Science
Writers
• Good
science
communicators
who
are
scien,sts
• b
16. What’s
not
in
that
intersec,on
• Most
television
media
• Many
poli,cians
• The
poli,cal
he-‐said,
she
said
sense
of
balance
when
it
comes
to
the
science
of
climate
• And
most
importantly
for
this
session:
WATER
ISSUES
17. The
climate
extreme
that
doesn’t
come
off
so
well
on
television
• Drought
is
incremental
• It
happens
slowly
18. And
water
is
• Taken
for
granted
unless
you
have
too
liCle
or
too
much
of
it.
Think
of
your
last
meal,
your
yard,
fountains
of
Las
Vegas,
golf
courses.
19. But
if
you
talk
to
experts
• Water
is
where
we’ll
have
more
conflicts,
wars,
fights,
lawsuits,
and
changes
in
lifestyle.
Either
because
of
too
liCle
or
too
much.
• Water
effects
us
everyday,
more
than
heat
or
storms.
20. Some
advice
for
journalists
• From
an
old
hand
who
got
into
science
and
environment
wri,ng
in
1989
solely
because
of
what
was
then
the
largest
drought
in
South
Florida
records.
21. •
Check
Water
Bills
Officials`
Water
Bills
Show
Increase
• January
28,
1990|By
MICHAEL
SAUNDERS,
and
SETH
BORENSTEIN,
Staff
Writers
• Faced
with
a
record
water
shortage,
regional
water
managers
asked
-‐-‐
then
ordered
-‐-‐
4
million
South
Florida
residents
to
use
less
water.
• But
many
of
those
officials
did
not
follow
their
own
orders,
their
water
bills
show.
• Five
members
of
the
South
Florida
Water
Management
District`s
governing
board
are
on
public
water
supplies
in
areas
where
residents
were
asked
or
ordered
to
cut
water
use.
Only
two
of
those
five
cut
back,
and
the
district`s
top
execu,ve
used
about
40
percent
more
water
in
January
than
in
December.
• In
April,
the
district
imposed
three-‐day-‐a-‐week
limits
on
outdoor
water
use
in
northeast
Broward
County.
In
July,
the
same
restric,ons
were
imposed
in
northeast
Palm
Beach
County,
and
on
Dec.
18,
restric,ons
were
imposed
from
Jupiter
to
Key
West.
Residents
were
told
to
trim
consump,on
by
15
percent.
• ``We
have
to
live
with
what
we
preach,
absolutely,``
said
water
board
member
Arsenio
Milian
of
Miami,
whose
December
water
bill
reflected
a
33
percent
increase
over
his
previous
bill.
22. Be
ready
to
change
at
the
drop
of
rain
• Dry
Despite
Deluge
I
spent
months
on
a
big
narra,ve
piece
on
how
horrible
and
mass
effec,ng
the
drought
was.
The
day
before
it
was
to
run,
it
didn’t
just
rain,
it
was
a
deluge.
So
we
had
to
vamp
on
the
story,
with:
hCp://ar,cles.sun-‐sen,nel.com/1989-‐06-‐30/news/8902180487_1_everglades-‐
na,onal-‐park-‐rain-‐freshwater-‐fish
23. Think
Bringing
It
Home
To
People
• We
decided
to
look
at
day-‐to-‐day
water
use
in
people’s
homes
and
got
a
family
of
four
to
let
us
monitor
their
every
day
water
use,
even
lesng
us
in
the
shower
with
the
dad
(he
wore
swim
trunks):
• hCp://ar,cles.sun-‐sen,nel.com/1990-‐04-‐15/
news/9001030015_1_severe-‐water-‐
shortages-‐limited-‐water-‐supply-‐droughts
24. Thank
you
• Seth
Borenstein
• Science
Writer,
The
Associated
Press
• Washington
DC;
202-‐641-‐9454
• Sborenstein@ap.org;
TwiCer:
@borenbears
• hCp://bigstory.ap.org/
• hCp://bigstory.ap.org/content/seth-‐
borenstein
•
