A drone is still a drone by any other name

We’re always on the look out for innovative stories and reporting techniques at Michigan State University’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism. In a couple weeks we’ll launch a series on civilian applications of drones for gathering information about the environment. I teach a course encompassing remote sensing, including the use of drones, as newsgathering tools. So a story in the print edition of the New York Times, Drones Offer Journalists a Wider View, caught my eye at Monday’s breakfast table. It’s an interesting enough piece about a controversial technology.

Mr. Great Lakes: A new urban nature preserve and the Thumb Loop

Mr. Great Lakes (Jeff Kart) reports from Bay City, Michigan’s Delta College Q-90.1 FM. Nov. 22, 2013 – The Environment Report, with Jeff Kart, Mr. Great Lakes by jeffkart

This week, Kart discusses the first urban nature preserve in Bay City and the beginnings of a 140-mile Thumb Loop high-voltage transmission line. Text at Mr. Great Lakes

Green Gridirons: University of Nebraska

A football stadium may have green grass but does it have green habits? Each week, Great Lakes Echo highlights a Big Ten football stadium’s attempts to do the most to impact the environment the least. All schools have information on the stadium’s diversion rate – the amount of waste recycled instead of put in a landfill. Stadium: Memorial Stadium

School: University of Nebraska

Built: 1923

Capacity: 81,091

2012 diversion Rate: 95 percent

Scouting report: The school’s athletic department began partnering with Recycling Enterprises of Nebraska during the 2008 season to max out recycling.  Recycling bins for paper and plastic are placed near all trash receptacles, said Richard Sutton, professor of Agronomy and Horticulture. The athletic department also asks fans to pick up the surrounding area of their seats during and after games.