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A new bill from Colorado Senator Michael Bennet and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer aims to jump-start rural economies by investing in outdoor recreation. The Rural Outdoor Investment (ROI) Act would provide $50 million a year for small towns to create outdoor infrastructure like trails, campgrounds, and boat ramps, and help communities develop economic development plans to revitalize town centers.
The bill has support from the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, a coalition of industry trade groups. “Rural communities across the country are dealing with economic and infrastructure challenges stemming from COVID-19, climate change, and transitioning economies, all while trying to seize opportunities from massive shifts in workforce and the influx of Americans seeking the outdoors,” said ORR President Jessica Turner.
Bennet and Schumer hope to attach their bill to a larger package reauthorizing the Economic Development Administration, which is currently being considered by the Environment and Public Works Committee.
How journalists can get climate coverage right
Los Angeles Times climate reporter Sammy Roth got personal in his Boiling Point newsletter this week. Roth wrote about the obligation journalists have to not just report the facts on climate and energy, but also demand solutions to the crisis.
“It’s great that so many reporters have ditched the damaging ‘both sides’ approach to climate coverage — quote a denier on one side and a scientist on the other,” Roth wrote. “But acknowledging that carbon emissions are heating the planet isn’t enough anymore, if it ever was. We have a responsibility to tell stories that prompt businesses and government to reduce emissions, quickly and dramatically.”
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…none of us is going to look back in 20 years and wonder if our climate stories were a little too radical. If we’re lucky, we’ll be living in a world where out-of-control fires, floods and heat storms haven’t completely upended human life, and where journalism is still an economically viable pillar of democratic society. Fearless climate coverage can help bring that future to pass.”
