In a world of quick clips and soundbites, long-form journalism can be a tough sell. But some stories just deserve the space and attention.
Here are five long reads that rise to that level. Grab a coffee or tea, close your Twitter tab, and support the kind of reporting that can spark change.
1. Fractured: The body burden of living near fracking
In this 4-part investigative series, EHN finds western Pennsylvania families near fracking are exposed to harmful chemicals, and regulations fail to protect communities’ mental, physical, and social health.
2. Why Indigenous women are risking arrest to fight Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline through Minnesota
Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline construction is running into tribal resistance over fears of water pollution, wild rice impacts, climate change, and exploitation of Native women.
3. We’re dumping loads of retardant chemicals to fight wildfires. What does it mean for wildlife?
As western wildfires become bigger and more intense, state and federal fire agencies are using more and more aerial fire retardant, prompting concerns over fish kills, aquatic life, and water quality.
4. Life on the Houston Fifth Ward’s plume
For decades, creosote and other chemicals were used as a coating to preserve wooden railroad ties at a Houston rail yard, which was once the largest in the Southern U.S. Read about the human health toll years later.
5. Pollution’s mental toll: How air, water and climate pollution shape our mental health
A collaboration between Environmental Health News and The Allegheny Front found alarming evidence that residents throughout the western Pennsylvania region are likely suffering changes to their brains due to pollution in the surrounding environment.
Banner photo: byronv2/flickr