Today's Oblivious Environmental Journalism Challenge

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Write an article about how man-made carbon pollution could be having a detrimental effect on our upper atmosphere ... without using the phrases "climate change" or "global warming."

The news from NASA details how carbon pollution could be helping to shrink the thermosphere. But reporting on how carbon pollution is hurting our atmosphere without mentioning how it's also devastating our lower atmosphere through global warming ... well, that would be like reporting on a leaky roof without reporting the house is on fire ... right?

That's not stopping our contestants, because we have winners! CNN.com, UPI & Discovery News all win the Golden Ostrich for reporting on one problem without mentioning a directly connected, even bigger problem.

And what about blogs, which are supposed to see through the mainstream media's inadequate coverage & bring you the straight dope? Sorry, but Treehugger, Planet Save and Sustainability Ninja get Golden Parrots for simply re-writing the mainstream coverage without connecting the dots to climate.

Considering I'm heading to Netroots Nation in Las Vegas today, why am I bashing so many traditional & online reporters now? I may be setting myself to re-enact the tollbooth scene from The Godfather.

In all seriousness, it's a reminder that, as mainstream media layoffs lead to overworked/underpaid/overstressed reporters cranking stuff out as fast as they can, overworked/underpaid/overstressed bloggers cranking stuff out as fast as they can doesn't necessarily upgrade the public's knowledge.

CNN Lays Off 7 Staffers, Own Credibility

CNN has announced it's laying off its entire science and technology staff, eliminating seven positions. The staffers cut include Miles O'Brien, a pioneer in aggressive broadcast climate change reporting, and widely respected producer Peter Dykstra.

As the Columbia Journalism Review's Curtis Brainard writes, "the decision to eliminate the positions seems particularly misguided at a time when world events would seem to warrant expanding science and environmental staff."

The cuts are part of a broader trend in the news business -- cutting science reporting positions just as we reach a critical time in our relationship with the environment.

We're lucky we have websites and blogs to help fill the void. ClimateProgress.org, Grist.org, The Wonk Room and many others provide more comprehensive coverage than you could get from any broadcast news source.

But do those outlets have the resources to send staffers around the country and around the world to provide in-depth coverage? Unfortunately, no. Only the heavy hitters like CNN can do that. And while the network says it remains committed to its Planet in Peril series, the occasional special is no subsitute for continuing coverage.