Green Options

Wednesday more sad news in the world of DIY publications: CRAFTzine, the cousin to MAKEzine, will stop issuing their epic how-to print volume after this, their 10th Issue. The magazine will continue to exist as an online-only publication at craftzine.com.

The future of environmental journalism.

On Monday night, three colleagues of mine from the Kentucky Kernel were arrested while documenting the protests outside the Republican National Convention. Nothing indicates that any of the three were actually participating in the protests, much less violating any laws that would warrant their arrest.

You may be thinking “Uh, Jeff, why are you asking?  Just write about it!” Yeah, that’s how we’d normally do things here.  I ask for a reason, though: we’re participating in an experiment in “community funded reporting” with Spot.us, a new journalism initiative in it’s very early stages.

Spot.us is the brainchild of David Cohn, aka DigiDave. The concept: “Spot Us’ is a nonprofit that allows an individual or group to take control of news in their community by sharing the cost (crowdfunding) to commission freelance journalists.” The project has been funded by a Knight Foundation “News Challenge” grant.

So, where do we come in?  We’re going to be among the first publication venues to test the system out.  We’ve agreed to ask for your support for an article by Wired.com staff writer Alexis Madrigal. The pitch:

California’s biofuels usage is expected to jump nearly 600 million gallons over the next couple of years, but the ethanol supply is already stretched to its limits. Almost all of California’s ethanol runs through a single terminal. If there were a disruption at that terminal — via accident or intent — the state’s gasoline infrastructure could grind to a halt. And even with that terminal, there are serious questions about whether the terminal could meet demand. (More details available at the Spot.us wiki)