Howe's early work focused on environmental issues. From 1978 to 1983, Howe was Director of Special Projects at KMGH-TV, Channel 7, Denver, Colorado. Her documentaries included "Poison in the Wind" and "A Sun Kissed Poison" which compared smog pollution in Los Angeles and Denver, "Fire In The Water" about hydrogen as an alternative energy source to fossil fuels, and "A Radioactive Water" about uranium contamination of public drinking water in a Denver suburb. Howe was on staff at WCVB-TV when the station won an Institutional Peabody Award for institutional excellence in 1975.