Environment

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged Monday to put water issues on the "front burner" of U.S. foreign policy. She told an audience of specialists and water advocates gathered at the National Geographic Society that solving the global challenge of safe water and sanitation was integral to every other U.S. interest.

Unsafe water and poor sanitation claim 4,500 lives day. What should we do about it?

That’s the question we posed in our Global Issues/Citizen Voices essay contest with helium.com, the popular writers’ site. The answers have been streaming in

Peter Sawyer, Pulitzer Center

The Obama Administration has added water to its list of diplomatic priorities. In a conference call Thursday morning, Under Secretary of State Maria Otero identified water as a central U.S. foreign policy concern, touching everything from health and economic development to global security. Otero discussed water issues on the eve of World Water Day next Monday, in a year when activists are working harder than ever to engage the public and policy-makers.

Peter Sawyer, Pulitzer Center

Image from Steve Sapienza and Glenn Baker's Easy Like Water project on floating schools in Bangladesh

From the women who spend hours daily fetching water to political battles over international rivers to melting icepack and rising sea levels, the water issue affects us all, and we all contribute to it.

Inside the shade of a tribal hut in rural India, I am listening to Devudama tell her story in Telugu. Our translator sits between us with the neighbor's baby on her lap while the neighbor chats with a friend. The baby is busily gumming our translator's arm. Two dogs sleep in the sun, and children's clothing is drying on the slanted, low-hanging roof of the opposite hut.

In January 2010, Pulitzer-sponsored journalists Jennifer Redfearn, William Wheeler and Anna-Katarina Gravgaard visited more than fifteen middle and high schools and three universities in the St. Louis area. They spoke about their experiences reporting on the issues surrounding climate change in the Carteret Islands and South Asia, respectively. Their discussions with the students ranged from the environmental, social, and political implications of climate change, to the technical and educational sides of a career in journalism, to news literacy and the changing media landscape.

Award-winning, Beijing-based photojournalist Sean Gallagher has announced his effort to support the Million Tree Project through sales of his desertification photographs.Thanks to a grant from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, Sean recently traveled to several of China's desertified areas to understand the problems and implications of desertification through photographs and interviews.

Ten percent of all proceeds will help Shanghai Roots & Shoots slow desertification and revitalize the lost land of Kulun Qi, Inner Mongolia through its Million Tree Project.

Sean Gallagher has been invited to share his project on desertification with the British Chamber of Commerce in China this September.

Their event announcement:

Join us at this month's Speakers' Corner where award winning photographer Sean Gallagher will be showcasing his latest work "China's Growing Sands", a project highlighting desertification in China sponsored by The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

The New York Times today covered East Africa's biggest new development: Plans are underway for construction of what will become the region's largest port in Lamu, Kenya. Promising swift growth for Lamu, a U.N. World Heritage site possessing rare traditional Swahili charm, the port will likely jump-start lagging regional economic development. But the boost may come at steep costs to environmental and cultural preservation.

Pulitzer Center Staff

Pulitzer Center reporters William Wheeler and Anna Katarina-Gravgaard report to Time in "Fasting for Climate Change."

William Wheeler was honored in Copenhagen, while the UN held its climate change conference, with an Earth Journalism Award for "The Water's Edge," exploring the water crisis in South Asia. The Orange County Register features an interview with him on his climate change work.

William Wheeler was honored in Copenhagen, while the UN held its climate change conference, with an Earth Journalism Award for "The Water's Edge," exploring the water crisis in South Asia. The Orange County Register features an interview with him on his climate change work.