Last night a bunch of folks were berating me for my depressing tales about species extinction, deforestation, climate change, toxic pollution etc. Depressing yeah but it is what it is.
Who wants the weather guy to tell you its sunny outside when its raining?
As a species we seem to need constant reminding of things going wrong before we take action or change what we’re doing.
That said I hope to do more stories about solutions to environmental issues and problems.
Ideas are always welcome.
Stephen Leahy, International Environmental Journalist 
Face it, the truely appalling problems get the most action.
That said, I would try to not only write pieces on solutions, but also incorporate solutions into your piece.
For example, as you ask an interviewee about a problems, ask about solutions. “What could you be doing differently?” “If that’s your biggest issue, have you considered this?” etc.
Does that make sense?
And I wholeheartedly support stories on solutions and people/businesses who are implementing Earth-friendly living.
I read an article in the NY Times earlier this month on the economies of scale with regards to producing electricity from alternate sources. This article was of note, because while it didn’t introduce something new, it solved a problem. (The problem being homeowners not having enough space to use alternate energy sources; the solution being pooling communities into central solar panel arrays for example.)
I often do ask “what’s to be done?” at the end of an interview about some aspect of the unfolding mess we’re putting ourselves in.
Some scientists say its not their place to offer solutions it’s someone else’s job. And they’re right since its not their area of expertise.
Others offer opinions and I usually try to include those in stories. And it is the usual stuff — cap CO2 emissions using govt regs — eat less meat — drive less, use transit more — those kinds of basic things.
It’s not that hard to figure out what to do, doing it is a whole other thing.
I think there will be more solutions stories as editors begin to realize there are readers/viewers seeking that info.
The NYT piece is a good example, tks.