Welcome to Chattanooga!

Saving a city from the nation's dirtiest air, grappling with stormwater pollution, facing new climate extremes, treating toxic risks, building cleaner energy, growing new foods, embracing cutting edge technologies and still gaining new jobs are just a few lessons to learn from Chattanooga during SEJ's 2013 conference.

Where the Tennessee River meets the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains lies a corridor where the Volunteer State's star role with atomic energy shaped the world. All of that history offers an ideal environmental learning ground that continues daily to play a role in tomorrow's exploration.

The Society of Environmental Journalists, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the Chattanooga Times Free Press invite you to learn from Chattanooga's past, present and future.

Sustainability and biodiversity are two common buzzwords often misunderstood in environmental communications. The two come together for SEJ in Chattanooga this year on several levels.

The main theme of the 2013 conference, October 2-6 in Chattanooga, is "sustainability." But what is sustainability? How will it shape our future communities, cities, industries and very culture and economy?

Chattanooga is the perfect venue to explore environmental history and the evolution of sustainability, and we'll get you out and about in the Chattanooga area so you can decide if it's the real environmental deal or just greenwashing.

As any ecologist will tell you, maintaining biodiversity is the backbone of sustainability. Well, Tennessee with its many rivers and distinct geological divisions — from the Appalachian Mountains to its swampy bottom land — is part of one of the most biologically diverse regions of the northern hemisphere. SEJ will take advantage of this with tours and sessions that address biodiversity's role in assuring future sustainability.

• For more on Tennessee and biodiversity, see Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation.
• SEJ's July 5, 2012, announcement.
• "Society of Environmental Journalists Bringing Conference Back to Chattanooga," Chattanooga Times Free Press, June 24, 2012, by Kevin Hardy.
• Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau.

SOCIETY OF ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISTS
The Society of Environmental Journalists was founded in 1990 by a small group of award-winning reporters, editors and producers from top news organizations in the United States. Today SEJ is a lively educational community of more than 1,350 print, broadcast and online journalists, along with students and educators throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and 27 other countries. SEJ’s mission is to strengthen the quality, reach and viability of journalism across all media to advance public understanding of environmental issues. SEJ conferences, reporting tours, regional events, publications, Freedom of Information WatchDog Program, awards, fellowships, mentoring, mini-grant programs and robust membership network have earned the organization a stellar reputation as a respected media peer group capable of informing and advancing news coverage of a wide range of environmental issues, with significant results. For more information visit www.sej.org.

THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE AT CHATTANOOGA
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) has become a national model for metropolitan universities. UTC is dedicated to meeting the general and professional educational needs of area residents, known for strong community involvement and leadership, with emphases on applied research and public service. In collaboration with many regional partners, UTC offers students an experiential learning environment graced with outstanding teaching scholars in bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, College of Engineering and Computer Science, and the College of Health, Education and Professional Studies. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is one of three universities and two other affiliated institutions in the University of Tennessee System, the others being in Knoxville and Martin. Founded in 1886, the University had been a private institution for 83 years when it joined the University of Tennessee's system of statewide campuses in 1969. UTC retains the best aspects of that private tradition, yet offers all the resources of a modern public university.

The Tennessean (Nashville)

Past SEJ Annual Conferences