Journalists are often asked how they come up with a story. When our April cover story "Paradise Lost: The high cost of our warming climate", came out in the same month as Atlantic Monthly's cover  "Hot Prospects" I was reminded yet again of how we reporters and editors make such different choices.

Our story looked at the potentially devastating economic impact of global warming on the Pacific Northwest. Gregg Easterbook, of the Atlantic Monthly, by contrast, suggested our region, and much of the rest of the northern hemisphere, would benefit from climate change. The author noted, for example that Canada has recently increased its production of greenhouse gases:  "Maybe this is a result of prosperity and oil-field development - or maybe those wily Canadians have a master plan for their huge expanse of currently uninhabitable land." He also suggested buying shares in drug companies because tropical disease will become more common and so pharmaceutical companies would benefit." Ridiculous? I believe it is.

As business reporters, we do tend to look at the world in a rather one-dimensional way: What is the economic impact of an event? How will it affect businesses? Many years ago, when I was a reporter for Business Week, we used to joke that if Business Week had been there to cover the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, our magazine would have done a special report on its impact on the business of the peanut vendors at that historic event. We always felt a little sheepish that we only looked at the economic impact of every story. So how did we at Washington CEO come up with our concept for our global warming cover story?

Last summer, after several years of odd weather -  including what I thought were unusually large numbers of yellow jackets and mosquitoes in my backyard, I began to wonder about whether it would be possible to measure the impact of global warming on our local economy. As recently as last summer, global warming was still being talked about in a rather theoretical way - something that would happen in the very distant future. The notion of looking at the impact on the local economy seemed both challenging and interesting.

I started collecting bits of information - what reporters call "gathering string." In December, I asked one of our reporters whether she would be interested in doing a cover story on the economic impact of global warming. She did a little research and came back with the news that it was too early for such a story. There was no concrete evidence out there to make such judgments.

But I had just read a story about concern that warming might affect the wine industry in Eastern Washington and so I forwarded her that story. She came back to me with the exciting news that Whitman College in Walla Walla was going to have a conference on the impact of global warming on the wine industry. It seemed perfect timing for our story. She decided to go ahead with the story.

It was a tough slog. The wine story turned out to be indecisive. Yes, warmer weather might hurt grape varieties that require the cold nights. But other varieties could benefit. Western Washington might emerge as a better region for growing grapes. The economic impact was far from clear. But our reporter learned that business people were beginning to take global warming into account as they went about their business. A developer in Bellingham, for example, was taking into account predicted increases in sea level while working on a new waterfront development. She had heard that California wineries were buying up land in eastern Washington because they feared Napa would get too hot to grow grapes.