Natural Resources in New York, the Dummy Version

New York Oil and Gas Wells

It probably comes as no surprise that our staffers aren't terribly fond of creative writing degrees. Oh, they're fine if one is writing poetry or fiction, but let's get real: getting creative with the facts is the job of a politician, not of a journalist. Unfortunately, we see lots of creative approaches to factual data in the Leaf Group niches, like today's DotD nominee. Check out the Sciencing.com post, "List of Natural Resources in New York State" that Marilla Mulwane posted.

Mulwane did precisely what 49 other eHowians probably did: she googled "New York natural resources." The problem, in this case, is that unlike the other 49 states, New York does not have a Department of Natural Resources. Instead, it has a Department of Environmental Conservation, so that's where she did her "research." As a consequence, Marilla immediately lost track of the definition of natural resources. Her list turned out to be rather simple:

"Most of the state's natural resources are forests, watersheds, estuaries, rivers, and lakes."

That really ought to come as a surprise to the many people and companies in the Empire State whose day-to-day lives deal in natural resources. With a little elbow grease... OK, with a little "brain grease," Mulwane might have come across some of the publications of the New York State Geological Survey, which might have informed her (and the fifth-graders depending on her information) that New York,

"...ranks in or near the top third of the states in the value of its mineral production, and mineral resources make a substantial contribution to the state's total economy."

Among other natural resources, New York State produces oil and gas (home to that pesky Marcellus Shale, folks), limestone, garnet, zinc, talc, sand, gravel, and even salt. Yes, salt. There is mining in every part of the state except metropolitan New York City. So, there are  lots more natural resources in the state than water and trees!

But we'd never know that if we were dependent on some creative writing major to give us the facts. Mulwane's post is creative and pretty with all its pictures, but it's woefully incomplete. When a freelancer values style over substance (or just can't understand "technical" terms like "natural resources"), we give them a special treat. They get to know that they're the Dumbass of the Day.

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