Scientists' Poster Session
4:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Browse a bevy of posters summarizing environmental research on the Chesapeake Bay and from across the Mid-Atlantic region. Some top scientists from the University System of Maryland and other leading institutions will be on hand to discuss their work. Cash bar.
Location: Liberty Ballroom B

Opening Reception
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Greet old friends and make new ones at SEJ’s opening reception. There will be heavy hors d'oeuvres, dessert station, assorted beverages and a cash bar available. The Scientists’ Poster Session will run concurrently, and SEJ's Inaugural Awards Ceremony will follow at 8:00 p.m. End the day with presentations about the Chesapeake Bay.
Emcee: Tim Wheeler, Assistant Metro Editor, The Baltimore Sun and Society of Environmental Journalists 2002 Conference Chair
Speaker: William E. Kirwan, Chancellor, University System of Maryland
Location: Liberty Ballroom

SEJ Awards for Reporting on the Environment
8:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Join us for the festive presentation of the first annual SEJ Awards for Reporting on the Environment. SEJ will honor award-winners in nine categories covering print, online and broadcast journalism. First-place winners get $1,000 and a trophy, and we'll present special certificates to the distinguished finalists. This will be a great chance to exchange story ideas and reporting tips with some of the finest journalists in North America and beyond.
Presenters:
Perry Beeman, Des Moines Register
Natalie Pawelski, CNN and Nieman Fellow, Harvard University
Location: International Ballroom

Chesapeake Bay: The National Estuary
9:00 - 10:30 p.m.
Following the Awards ceremony, sit back and enjoy a feast for the eyes about the nation’s largest estuary and the efforts to restore its fabled natural bounty.
Emcee: Tim Wheeler, Assistant Metro Editor, The Baltimore Sun and Society of Environmental Journalists 2002 Conference Chair
Speakers:
William Baker, President, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
David Harp, Freelance Photographer
Tom Horton, Columnist, The Baltimore Sun and Author, "Bay Country," "An Island Out of Time," and, with David Harp, "The Great Marsh: An Intimate Journey into a Chesapeake Wetland"
Location: International Ballroom

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Friday, October 11: Wyndham Inner Harbor Hotel
All events are at the Wyndham Inner Harbor Hotel, 101 West Fayette Street, Baltimore, Maryland, unless indicated otherwise.
Note: Four limited-space tours have been added to this evening's National Aquarium Reception. Please sign up near the SEJ Membership table on the Wyndham's Promenade.

The Pride of Baltimore II

Photo by Linda Coan, Baltimore Sun

All Day:
A cash-and-carry kiosk will be located directly outside the International Ballroom where participants may purchase assorted breakfast items. Complimentary coffee, decaf, tea, juice and water will also be available in the International Ballroom, in the literature and display area.

Please note that SEJ members will be given preference in question-and-answer sessions.

• Registration
  Location: Promenade
• SEJ Membership Table
  Sign-up for Friday breakout lunch sessions, as well as Saturday mini-tours and breakout breakfast sessions. (Breakout meal sessions are for SEJ members only.)
  Location: Promenade
• SEJ Reading Room and Awards Display
  Location: Promenade
• Goodkind of Sound Conference Session Audio Tapes
  Location: Promenade
• Press Room
  Location: Douglas Room, Lower Level
• Silent Auction to benefit SEJ’s 21st Century Fund
  Location: International Ballroom

Literature Tables
7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Browse for information, news and opinions from a variety of sources.
Location: International Ballroom

Welcome and Introductions
8:30 - 8:45 a.m.
Emcee: Tim Wheeler, Assistant Metro Editor, The Baltimore Sun and Society of Environmental Journalists 2002 Conference Chair
Speakers:
Parris N. Glendening, Governor of Maryland
William E. Kirwan, Chancellor, University System of Maryland
Location: International Ballroom

Opening Plenary
8:45 - 10:15 a.m.
Blind Spots: Uncovering the Taboos of Environmental Reporting
Environmental reporting often describes symptoms — like air pollution and toxic waste — but does not analyze the underlying forces that may cause the problems. Population growth and consumerism are two areas that remain largely unexamined by the media yet are related to critical global environmental problems, such as depleted common resources and loss of habitat. Are these critical issues taboo subjects because of pressure from corporate bosses, or do journalists shy away from them because they’re too complicated, too big, too far out? Should we be doing more on these topics, and how can we tackle them in ways that are clear, compelling and not sensationalistic?
Moderator: Dale Willman, Executive Editor and President, Field Notes Productions
Speakers:
Nicholas Eberstadt, Henry Wendt Scholar in Political Economy, American Enterprise Institute
Paul Ehrlich, Bing Professor of Population Studies, Stanford University
Lee Horwich, National Editor, USA Today
Senator Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day founder and Counselor to The Wilderness Society, Co-author "Beyond Earth Day: Fulfilling the Promise"
Ellen Ruppel Shell, Professor and Co-director, Knight Center for Science and Medical Journalism, Boston University and correspondent, Atlantic Monthly
Betsy Taylor, Executive Director, Center for the New American Dream
Location: International Ballroom

Coffee Break
10:15 - 10:45 a.m.
Location: International Ballroom

Concurrent Sessions 1
10:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

THE COAST:
Climate Change: Sea-level Rise and Carbon Sinks
Water levels are already inching higher along the Mid-Atlantic coast, including the Chesapeake Bay. Scientists say most coastal marshes along the Chesapeake and Delaware bays could disappear before 2100 due to global warming. What are the risks to wildlife and those who live by the bays? One response to global warming is reforestation to capture carbon dioxide, a key greenhouse gas. But is this "silver buckshot" approach really effective?
Moderator: Mark Schleifstein, New Orleans Times-Picayune
Panelists:
Ann Fisher, Professor of Agricultural and Environmental Economics, Pennsylvania State University, and Chair of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Assessment of the effects of climate change
Tia Nelson, Director, Climate Change Program, The Nature Conservancy
J. Court Stevenson, Professor of Ecology, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Horn Point Laboratory
Location: Pratt B Room, Lower Level, South Tower

THE CITY:
Where's the Justice in Environmental Justice?
Has the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s environmental justice program done anything to address the problems? What have the courts said about cases involving these issues? With the 2nd People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit scheduled for just a couple of weeks after the SEJ conference, what’s happened since the first Summit more than 10 years ago?
Moderator: Steve Curwood, "Living On Earth," National Public Radio
Panelists:
Robert Bullard, WARE Professor of Sociology and Director, Environmental Justice Resource Center, Clark Atlanta University
Paul Kamenar, senior counsel of the Washington Legal Foundation and Clinical Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law
Lynn Pinder, Youth Warriors
Tseming Yang, Associate Professor of Law, Vermont Law School, and member of the U.S. EPA’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council
Location: Hopkins Room, Lower Level, South Tower

THE LAND:
Pharm Pollution: Hormones and Healthcare Products
Much of any drug administered to people or animals has a nasty habit of exiting the body in wastes that traditional sewage treatment does not remove. New studies are beginning to quantify these pollutants and their impacts on animals and plants.
Moderator: Janet Raloff, Science News
Panelists:
Christian Daughton, Chief/Environmental Chemistry Branch, Environmental Sciences Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, U.S. EPA
Rebecca Goldburg, Senior Scientist, Environmental Defense
Louis J. Guillette, Distinguished Professor of Zoology, University of Florida
Location: E.A. Poe Room

THE GLOBE:
Ethnobotany Update: New Links Among Plants, Cultures and Conservation
From the icy mountains of Tibet, to the lush forests of South Pacific islands, to the cozy comfort of suburban America’s backyards, ethnobotanists are gaining fresh insight into the relationships among plants and people. But these relationships appear increasingly threatened by markets for herbal remedies, timber, minerals and other natural resources. This session will present recent findings from three parts of the world where ethnobotanists are working to unlock the secrets of plants and human culture even as those plants disappear.
Moderator: William Allen, Institutes for Journalism & Natural Resources
Panelists:
Michael Balick, Director, Institute of Economic Botany, New York Botanical Garden
James Duke, former Chief, USDA Medicinal Plants Laboratory, and Author, "The Green Pharmacy"
Jan Salick, Curator of Ethnobotany, Missouri Botanical Garden
Location: Preston Room, Cabana Level

THE FEDS:
Insecurity About Homeland Security: Bioterrorism and Energy Threats
Four veteran journalists offer advice on how to cover the emerging story of bioterrorism and threats to America's energy security. How vulnerable are nuclear plants, chemical plants and other possible targets, not to mention the general public? One of our panelists spent months in Afghanistan and was among the first reporters to enter Kabul.
Moderator: Tom Henry, Environmental Writer, The (Toledo) Blade
Panelists:
John Fialka, Washington bureau, The Wall Street Journal
Tim Friend, Science Reporter, USA Today
Eric Pianin, Reporter, The Washington Post
Location: Pratt A Room, Lower Level, South Tower

THE CRAFT I:
Pfiesteria: The Before, During, and After of a Major (and Ongoing) Environmental Science Controversy
The "Pfiesteria hysteria" alliteration is too much for many editors to resist. But behind the rhyme lies one of the festering scientific controversies in the marine environment today, with well-known researchers in uncharacteristically non-scientific exchanges. At the root: Does the Pfiesteria piscicida algae that burst into the headlines five years back have a mysterious — no, bizarre — life style characterized by a series of toxic amoebic phases? This panel, involving key scientists "for and against," will explore new and pioneering findings on the Pfiesteria mystery, and address whether the media really are the message in this ongoing debate.
Moderator: Brad Bell, Reporter, WJLA TV 7, ABC News, Washington, DC
Panelists:
Donald Boesch, President, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
JoAnn Burkholder, Center for Applied Aquatic Ecology, North Carolina State University
Wayne Litaker, Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration and Director, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Program, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Location: Carroll Room, Ballroom Level

THE CRAFT II:
Film at 11: Selling the TV Enviro Story
We all know covering the environment for television generates the best pictures and the most fun shoots. But how do you convince your editor to let you get out into nature instead of covering yet another crime story? Our panelists have all figured out how to overcome editor/news director ennui. They'll offer concrete tips on everything from how to wade through hard wonky science in fifty seconds, how to make a slow-motion disaster relevant in a medium that only values visible crises and how to make people stories out of animals, plants and inanimate policy issues. We'll show you some hot clips, too, and tell you about awards for environmental reporting on television. This session was organized by the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation with funds provided by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Moderator: Vince Patton, Environment Reporter, KGW-TV, Portland
Panelists:
Eliene Augenbraun, President/CEO ScienCentral, Inc., and the Science and Technology News Network
Charmaine Jackson, News Reporter, KOBF-TV, Farmington, N.M.
Scott Miller, Environmental Specialist, KING-TV, Seattle
Location: D'Alesandro Room, Cabana Level

Network Lunch
12:00 - 1:45 p.m.
A perennial favorite. Plant yourself at a table or move around as you like and sample a variety of informal discussion tables centered on the craft of environmental journalism. See a list of topics and discussion leaders in your conference registration packet.
Discussion Tables:
1. The Clean Water Act at 30: Expanding or Contracting?: Robert Percival, University of Maryland School of Law
2. Greening Energy Supplies at the State and National Level: Elizabeth McCarthy (California Energy Markets), Anne Marie McShea (Green E)
3. Social Science Resources for the Environment Beat: Peter Balint and Jorge Rivera, George Mason University
4. Superfund in Changing Times: Debra Schwartz, University of Maryland/PhD candidate
5. SEJ TipSheet: Joe Davis, TipSheet editor
6. Environmental Noise Exposure Rising: Millions at Risk: David Bell, Noise Regulation Report
7. MTBE: The Gas Additive that Won't Go Away: Jane Kay (San Francisco Chronicle), Matt Hagemann (environmental analyst, Komex-H20 Science)
8. Back to the Future: Restoring Native Grasslands: Pauline Drobney, National Wildlife Refuge, Iowa
9. Grappling with the Science of Environmental Reporting: Jackleen de La Harpe, Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting, University of Rhode Island
10. SEJ 2003, New Orleans: Bob Thomas, Loyola University
11. Environmental Reporting for the Radio: Dale Willman (Fieldnotes Productions and NPR), Chuck Quirmbach (Wisconsin Public Radio)
12. Better Journalism for the American West: Frank Allen, Institutes for Journalism and Natural Resources
13. Covering the Follies of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Michael Grunwald, Washington Post
14. Water Wars in Your Backyard: Stuart Leavenworth, The Sacramento Bee
15. Turning Your Ink-Stained Opus Into Gripping Television: Christy George (Oregon Public Broadcasting), Richard Milner (Public Affairs Media, Inc. and Drake University)
16. Globalization's Impact: View from the Third World: Rob Taylor, International Center for Journalists
17. Freelance Environmental Journalism: Print, TV, and Radio: David Helvarg (journalist, author, TV producer), Peter Fairley (freelance journalist), Peter Thomson (independent radio producer)
18. Environmental Reporting and SEJ in Canada: Saul Chernos (freelance journalist, Toronto), Jacques Rivard (CBC, Vancouver)
19. Conflicted Journalism: Who's Buying the Science?: Virginia A. Sharpe (Center for Science in the Public Interest), Steve Gurney (NRDC)
20. Covering Environmental Justice: Valerie Taliman, Indian Country Today
21. Global Warming and Big Business: The Next 50 Years: Eileen Claussen (Pew Center on Global Climate Change), Tom Yulsman (University of Colorado)
22. Telling Environmental Stories Online: Interactive Tools and Databases: Adam Glenn (ABCnews.com), Richard Wiles (Environmental Working Group)
Location: International Ballroom

Break-Out Lunch Sessions
12:00 – 1:45 p.m.
SEJ members only, please sign up near the registration desk in advance for these luncheon roundtable discussions in separate rooms.

EPA PIOs Roundtable
Eager to meet the faces behind the voices of EPA's media relations people? Join numerous EPA reps from D.C. and several regions at this luncheon question-and-answer session. Learn about response times and processes, or inquire about upcoming developments.
Moderator: Kevin Carmody, Environmental Reporter, Austin American-Statesman
EPA representatives:
Bonnie Piper (HQ)
David Sternberg, Patrick Boyle, and Roy Seneca (Region 3)
Wesley Lambert (Region 4)
Mick Hans (Region 5)
Cynthia Fanning (Region 6)
Mark Merchant and Leo Kay (Region 9)
Bill Dunbar and Mark MacIntyre (Region 10)
Location: McKeldon Room, Cabana Level (concurrent with Network Lunch, and Department of the Interior PIOs Roundtable)

Department of the Interior PIOs Roundtable
Interior houses the Fish & Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management (the government's largest land manager), and several other lesser known agencies. Join reps from across the country to discuss communications issues and the Bush Administration's plans for our public lands.
Moderator: Peter Dykstra, Executive Producer, Science and Technology Unit, Cable News Network
DOI representatives:
Meg Durham, FWS
Michael Gauldin, Office of Surface Mining
Scott Harris, USGS
Rem Hawes, BLM
Kip White, Bureau of Reclamation
John Wright, Interior Sec. Gale Norton's Office
Location: Schaefer Room, Cabana Level (concurrent with Network Lunch, and EPA PIOs Roundtable)

Concurrent Sessions 2
2:00 - 3:15 p.m.

THE COAST:
Life on the Water: Rescuing Resources on the Chesapeake, San Francisco and Florida bays, the Everglades and the Mississippi River Delta
Coast to coast, the nation's estuaries are suffering from loss of wetlands and clean water, pollution and overfishing. Delve into the problems and panaceas unique to the great coastal water bodies.
Moderator: Jane Kay, Environment Writer, San Francisco Chronicle and Director, Environmental Journalism Program, University of California, Berkeley
Panelists:
Donald Boesch, President, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Michael Grunwald, The Washington Post
Denise Reed, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of New Orleans
Location: Pratt B Room, Lower Level, South Tower

THE CITY:
Environmental Health: Air Pollution and Asthma
Air pollution from coal-fired power plants is blamed for cutting short the lives of 30,000 Americans every year. Fine particle soot causes an estimated 600,000 asthma attacks annually. What is the state of the science concerning health effects of air pollution? And what is being done about it? Has the Bush administration really scuttled enforcement actions that could dramatically reduce air pollution? Or is the Clear Skies Initiative a better way to regulate some of the nation’s largest pollution sources?
Moderator: Ken Ward, The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette
Panelists:
John Bachmann, Associate Director for Science/Policy and New Programs, Office of Air Quality, Planning and Standards, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency