A dozen experienced journalists from around the United States will focus on environmental threats during a week immersion course sponsored by the New York Times Company Foundation. The immersion course will use lectures, workshops, discussion and fieldwork in the Dominican Republic (Punta Cana) to present the latest information about the impact of environmental change on global warming, drinking water, fisheries, emerging infectious diseases and local economies. Directed by the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC) at the Earth Institute of Columbia University, the institute will explore the increasing vulnerability to tsunamis and other environmental catastrophes. The program seeks to explain matters such as why: Forests and coral reefs disappear. Ground water retreats. Diseases jump from other species to our own. Animal and plant species change their ranges. The course is one of six on complex subjects of rising importance to the press and public.
The DR course on Environmental Threats: Water, Weather and Health takes place the week of 13 March.
See http://www.nytco.com/