There’s no doubt that the environment and energy issues have become big news in the past couple of years, thanks mostly to climate change.

The paper version of Monday’s Portland Press Herald is a good example. Prominent environmental stories ran on the front of all three news sections.

While more coverage of important topics like these is clearly a good thing, quality matters, too. There are more than a few potential pitfalls for reporters and newspapers who take them on.

The Columbia Journalism Review has launched a new Web site called The Observatory to focus on the quality aspect. Here’s how it describes itself:

“The Observatory will monitor science journalism – covering the coverage – with an eye toward improving the journalism and thereby improving the discourse. It will be a guide to the best and worst of science and environmental journalism; it will tell you where the press excels and makes bold innovations. And it will point out where it falls victim to spin, engages in alarmism, perpetrates false balance, misrepresents the science in peer-reviewed literature, or displays questionable priorities in news judgment.”

Check it out here.