I'm proud of our work over the past year. Engaged readers like you made it possible, and I hope you'll take a moment to see what impact you had – and what opportunities lie ahead of us. Because you should be proud, too.

We moved to a new, nimbler platform this fall. We're going to spend 2018 reaching new readers who might not realize how closely our environment and health are linked.

We also saw an institutional shift. After more than 15 years at the helm, founder and chief scientist Pete Myers stepped aside from day-to-day management this summer. He's still intimately involved – focusing considerable energy and expertise to draw connections among environmental factors and our health.

Priority: Environmental justice

We're on fire with our journalism. In November we published Peak Pig, a nine-part series in partnership with NC Policy Watch on the impacts of Big Ag on rural America. No clichés or recycled narratives here — we sent reporters to the heart of hog country and told of rural unrest through the eyes of those who feel voiceless and forgotten.

We see urgent need to call out environmental injustice and the risks of insidious toxic chemicals. Neither issue gets covered well in mainstream media. Editor Brian Bienkowski marshaled memorable stories this year, including federal neglect for the Yupik people in Alaska; cleaning compounds causing defects; BPA and its substitutions spurring breast cancer.

Your donation drives this

What's ahead? First, we hope to have your continued support.

Your donation drives good science into public policy and discussion on environmental health. Please consider us as you plan your year-end tax-deductible gifts.

Second, we've got more collaborations in the works. We translated and published an award-winning series from Le Monde on Monsanto's efforts to undermine the United Nations' cancer agency; we'll stay in close contact with reporters Stéphane Horel and Stéphane Foucart.

We'll continue to work with U.S. Right to Know research director and author Carey Gillam on stories examining ag giant Monsanto and what's actually in our food, as well as public health experts Richard Jackson and Charles Benbrook on the need to monitor, quantify and regulate our exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides.

Check our new weekly newsletters

Pete Myers will continue to push forward the science on bisphenol-A and other endocrine-disrupting compounds. Our small staff will continue to curate news from around the world on environmental health and climate. And we are expanding our news pipeline: A new menu of weekly newsletters – all free – and enhanced efforts on Facebook and Twitter.

But it all starts with you, our readers. A small donation makes a huge impact.

You're the caffeine that fuels our early morning and weekend shifts. You're driving the discussion. Let's be loud in 2018.

Contribute a tax-deductible gift today. We're ready to roar.

With deep appreciation,

Douglas Fischer, executive director

Environmental Health Sciences, publisher of EHN.org and DailyClimate.org

Environmental Health News is a program of Virginia Organizing, an umbrella nonprofit that helps us keep overhead costs extremely low. That lets us put more of your donation to work. It also means we have to tell you this:

Virginia Organizing is officially registered with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, P.O. Box 1163, Richmond, VA 23209. You can write to this department for all relevant financial statements and procedures regarding the solicitation of contributions. Your donation is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.