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Coverage

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Exhibits/Receptions

Environmental News

About New Orleans

SEJ's 24th annual conference took place September 3-7, 2014, at the Hilton Riverside in New Orleans. Below, you'll find session-by-session multimedia coverage provided by SEJ, volunteers and conference attendees, posted as it arrives.

Conference attendees line up to ask questions of Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. © Photo by Karen Schaefer.

For other coverage, see also:

SEJ's Facebook page
SEJ's Facebook discussion group
Storify, for Twitter and Facebook posts by attendees using #SEJ2014
SEJ's compilation of NOLA-inspired news pieces and survey responses as of October 16, 2014 (not final; will be updated with more coverage; please check back).
Public SEJ New Orleans 2014 Flickr conference photo group, where you can upload/share your own conference photos
TVWeek.com/Newspro - SEJ conference coverage in the 2014 Environmental Journalism issue.
SEJ member David Helvarg's humor piece.

If you attended the conference, please take a few minutes to tell us how we did. What you think matters to us and your feedback helps SEJ make future conferences more valuable. Click here to take our online conference evaluation.

Our sincere gratitude goes out to to all our volunteer writers, recorders and photographers — this would not happen without you!

It's critically important to SEJ to gather evidence on the impact of our work. Please help us to keep SEJ strong and share links, photos, copies of reporting generated or informed by this conference! Send your story links to Cindy MacDonald, SEJ's Web content manager.

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Wednesday, September 3
Thursday, September 4
Friday, September 5
Saturday, September 6
Sunday, September 7
Miscellaneous conference coverage and local news

Wednesday, September 3

All-Day Workshop 1, Disasters and Extreme Weather: Gathering the News and Keeping Safe

Disaster resources list by Bill Kovarik.
Disaster content on SEJ.org.
Workshop description.

© Lana Straub

All-Day Workshop 1, Disasters and Extreme Weather: Gathering the News and Keeping Safe, Session 1A, Disasters: The Science — Contaminants in the Environment

Video 1 and Video 2 by Lana Straub.
Audio file (1:31:50/26.2MB).
Resource: Presentation by Wilma Subra.
Session description.

All-Day Workshop 1, Disasters and Extreme Weather: Gathering the News and Keeping Safe, Session 1B, Disasters: The Craft — Getting the Story

Audio file (1:57:26/26.8MB).
"EPA: D.C. staffers, not scientists, should talk policy — spokesman," Greenwire, September 4, 2014, by Robin Bravender.
Session description.

All-Day Workshop 1, Disasters and Extreme Weather: Gathering the News and Keeping Safe, Session 1C, Aftershocks: Trauma, Climate Change and Environmental Journalism

Audio file (1:05:51/18.8MB).
Session description.

Resources:

"10 Tips To Cover Natural Disasters," by Michael Casey.
"Failure of Tsunami Reconstruction Leaves Humanitarian Agencies Under Fire," The Associated Press, September 24, 2006, by Michael Casey.
"Tsunami's Environmental Wreckage Still Huge, But Human Impact Is Even Bigger," The Associated Press, December 21, 2005, by Michael Casey.
"Tsunami Prompts Companies To Play Greater Role in Humanitarian Relief," The Associated Press, June 24, 2005, by Michael Casey.
"Muslims, Christians Battle for Souls on Sumatra Island in Wake of Tsunami," The Associated Press, January 13, 2005, by Michael Casey.

All-Day Workshop 1, Disasters and Extreme Weather: Gathering the News and Keeping Safe, Session 1D, The Essential Toolkit for Reporting During a Disaster

Audio file (1:11:50/24.6MB).
Session description.

All-Day Workshop 2, From Nairobi to New Orleans: Reporting on Resilience, Climate Change and Population Dynamics

"For Journalists Covering Climate Change, the Topic Goes Beyond Science," PassBlue, September 14, 2014, by Dulcie Leimbach.
Workshop description.

All-Day Workshop 2, From Nairobi to New Orleans: Reporting on Resilience, Climate Change and Population Dynamics, Session 2A, Risky Cities and Resilient Communities

Coastal Rundown: The 2014 Society of Environmental Journalists Conference, 89.9 WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio, by Laine Kaplan-Levenson & Jesse Hardman.
Session description.

Opening Reception

Video of speaker Dr. Michael White, jazz clarinetist, bandleader, composer, jazz historian and musical educator.
Video of speaker Jim Amoss, editor in chief of NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.
Video of speaker Michael Blum, director of the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research.
Video of speaker Geoff Morrell, senior vice president of U.S. Communications and External Affairs for BP.
Audio of speaker Geoff Morrell (34:54/7.99MB).
"Remarks by Geoff Morrell at the Society of Environmental Journalists Conference," BP Speeches.
Video of speaker Russel Honoré, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General who served as commander of Joint Task Force Katrina responsible for coordinating military relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina-affected areas across the Gulf Coast.
Video of speaker Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University; contributing editor at The Nation; U.S. correspondent for Late Night Live, Radio National, Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"The Battle to Control the Story — and Science — of the DeepWater Horizon Catastrophe," TakePart, October 30, 2014, by John R. Platt.
"BP's Aggressive PR Strategy Obfuscates Facts," The Observatory, Columbia Journalism Review, October 29, 2014, by Alexis Sobel Fitts.
"BP Flak: We Didn't Ruin Gulf, La. Caused Oyster Losses," WWL-TV Channel 4 (New Orleans), October 22, 2014, by David Hammer.
"BP Says Lab Studies Can't Prove Spill's Harm, but New Evidence Says They Can," Newsweek, September 10, 2014, by Zoë Schlanger.
"Former Army General Lambasts Oil Industry for 'Hijacking' Democracy," Newsweek, September 9, 2014, by Zoë Schlanger.
"BP spokesman tells environmental journalists they got it wrong," Louisiana Record, September 8, 2014, by Kyle Barnett.
"BP Apologist Loses Pissing Match with Environmental Journalists," Green Chip Stocks, September 5, 2014, by Jeff Siegel.
"Polluters are 'hijacking our democracy,' according to retired military general who took control of Hurricane Katrina emergency relief efforts in 2005," Ripple Effect, September 4, 2014, by Tom Henry.
"BP blasts Deepwater Horizon coverage hours before company found grossly negligent in spill," AL.com, September 4, 2014, by Dennis Pillion.
Related news:
"What the national media are saying about the BP oil spill ruling," NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, September 5, 2014, by Jennifer Larino.
"BP Found Guilty, Grossly Negligent for Gulf Oil Spill," NBCNews.com, September 4, 2014. "A federal judge has found oil giant BP Plc 'grossly negligent' for its role in the 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a ruling that could add billions of dollars in fines to the more than $42 billion in charges taken so far for the worst offshore disaster in U.S. history. 'The Court concludes that the discharge of oil was the result of gross negligence or willful misconduct' by BP, the ruling from U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier said."
"BP's reckless conduct caused Gulf oil spill, federal judge rules," The Associated Press, September 4, 2014. "BP bears the majority of responsibility among the companies involved in the nation's worst offshore oil spill, a federal judge ruled Thursday, citing the energy giant's reckless conduct in a ruling that exposes the company to billions of dollars in penalties."
Session description.

Thursday, September 4

Tour 1, After BP: Are We Really Prepared Offshore?

"After BP Disaster, Is Gulf Drilling Safer?" The Allegheny Front, September 26, 2014, by Reid Frazier.
"OFFSHORE DRILLING: Former watchdog — 'Public Enemy No. 1' — returns to the Gulf ," Greenwire, September 9, 2014, by Robin Bravender (subscription).
"NEW ORLEANS — Michael Bromwich .... was on the team of federal prosecutors that investigated alleged criminal misconduct in the aftermath of the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s; he spent five years as the Justice Department's internal watchdog; then he became President Obama's top drilling regulator, tasked in 2010 with overhauling offshore drilling rules and oversight after the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon spill. That job made him so unpopular along the Gulf Coast, he joked, that he only recently has been welcomed back. 'I'm delighted to be back in the New Orleans area,' he told a bus full of environmental reporters last week as he accompanied them on a tour to look at how the drilling industry has changed since the 2010 spill." The lengthy story highlights tour speaker Bromwich's past experiences and comments during the tour; it also references Interior Secretary Jewell's conference talk on Friday.
Post-tour tipsheet, by David Hammer.
Tour description.

Tour 2, Rebuilding Barrier Islands and Restoring Marshes

"Lost Louisiana: The Race To Reclaim Vanished Land Back from the Sea," The Guardian, October 14, 2014, by Suzanne Goldenberg.
"Paradise Restored: Inside the Fight to Save Louisiana’s Wetlands," Forest Carbon Portal, September 10, 2014, by Gloria Gonzalez.
Resource: "Losing Ground," August 28, 2014, by Bob Marshall, The Lens and Brian Jacobs and Al Shaw, ProPublica.
Tour description.

Tour 3, If the Gators Don't Get You... the Sinkhole Will

"Get off your butt and report," Covering the Planet blog, Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, Michigan State University, September 8, 2014, by Eric Freedman.
Tour description.

Tour 4, Chemical Corridor: Industry, Community and Environmental Health Impacts

"Natural Gas Boom Brings Major Growth for U.S. Chemical Plants," Yale Environment 360, January 29, 2015, by Rachel Cernansky.
Tipsheet.
Tour description.

Tour 5, Oyster Reefs and Fisheries in the Aftermath of BP and Katrina

"Chesapeake Oysters Being Shipped to Louisiana Shucking Houses," Bay Journal, October 13, 2014, by Rona Kobell.
"Gross Negligence," OnEarth, September 5, 2014, by Rocky Kistner.
"BP Lashes Out at Journalists and 'Opportunistic' Environmentalists," Mother Jones, September 4, 2014, by Tim McDonnell (referencing BP spokesman Morrell's talk on Wednesday evening, as well as this oyster tour).
Tour description.

Tour 6, Fracking, and All That Oil and Gas

"In South, Wisconsin Sand Ties into Environmental Concerns Caused by Fracking," Wisconsin Public Radio, November 17, 2014, by Chuck Quirmbach.
"How a bunch of scrappy reporters got chased off an oil well pad in Mississippi," PublicSource, September 16, 2014, by Natasha Khan.
Tour description.

Tour 7, Louisiana's Great Lakes, Cypress Swamps and Woodpeckers


Some of the Louisiana Great Lakes Tour Participants.	Alligator harvested during Louisiana's alligator hunting season.

See more of Chris Johnston's tour photos here, on SEJ's public Flickr group page.
"DNR's contamination findings put Minnesota's white pelicans in midst of BP fight," MinnPost.com, September 12, 2014, by Mark Neuzil.
Tour description.

Tour 8, Risky Business: How New Orleans' Rebuilt Levee System Is So Much Better, But Not Good Enough

Resource: Self-Guided Biking Tour of Levee Breach Sites.
Tour description.

Tour 9, The Long Road Home: Community Resilience, Adaptations, and Legacies From America’s Biggest Rebuild

Coastal Rundown: The 2014 Society of Environmental Journalists Conference, 89.9 WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio, September 11, 2014, by Laine Kaplan-Levenson & Jesse Hardman.
Tour description.

Friday, September 5

Opening Plenary, Covering Disasters: Getting the Story and Staying Alive

Session description.

Concurrent Sessions 1, THE CRAFT 1, FOIA Clinic: Ask the Gumshoes

Audio file (00:48:59/16.8MB).
Session description.

Concurrent Sessions 1, THE CRAFT 2, Who's Covering the Environment Today? From Al Jazeera's Rise to Newspapers' Demise

Concurrent Sessions 1, THE CRAFT 3, Continuing Education for Journalists: All You Ever Wanted To Know About Fellowships, Mentoring, MOOCs and Computer-Based Journalism Training But Were Afraid To Ask

Video by Lana Straub (01:05:32).
Audio file (00:47:54/16.4MB).
Panel resource: Digital Tools Catalog, Poynter/NewsU.
Panel resource: Many Moocs
SEJ's Mentor Program
IJNR's Learning Expeditions
Session description.

Concurrent Sessions 1, OCEANS AND COASTS, Extreme Weather and Hurricane Science: Improving Forecasts

Audio file (00:55:10/18.9MB).
Video on NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune; September 5, 2014, story "Hurricane experts discuss how to improve forecasting," by Diya Chacko.
Session description.

Concurrent Sessions 1, THE LAND, Endangered Species: If We Can’t Save Charismatic Big Cats, What Can We Save?

Audio file (1:07:17/23.1MB).
"Top 6: Reasons Why Farmed Tigers Won't Save Wild Ones," Earth Touch News Network, October 14, 2014, by Chelsea Wald.
Panel presentation: "The Florida Panther: A Story of Conflict, Connections and Coexistence," by Laurie Macdonald.
Panel presentation: "Tiger Consumption & Trade," by Judy Mills.
Session description.

© Karen Schaefer

Concurrent Sessions 1, POLLUTION, Dead Zones, Hypoxia and Nutrient Loading: Is Pollution Trading the Answer?

Audio file (1:13:17/25.1MB).
Session description.

Concurrent Sessions 1, ENERGY, Oil Truckin’ and Pipin’: What’s Happening in Your Backyard?

Audio file (1:09:55/24.0MB).
Session description.

© Lana Straub

Lunch Breakout Session 3, Dust-Up Over Ditches and Other Water Issues

Video by Lana Straub.
Audio file (1:06:36/22.8MB).
Session description.

Concurrent Sessions 2, THE CRAFT 2, Better Reporting Through SmartPhones

Concurrent Sessions 2, THE CRAFT 3, Collaboration: Marrying Environmental Research with Environmental Journalism

Audio file (1:01:38/21.1MB).
Session description.

Concurrent Sessions 2, OCEANS AND COASTS, The BP Spill's Untold Ecological Toll

Audio file (1:11:26/24.5MB).
Session description.

Concurrent Sessions 2, THE LAND, Levee Safety and Flood Risk: New Rules for New Floods

Audio file (00:54:45/18.8MB).
Video on NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune; September 5, 2014, story, "Army Corps officials, scientists talk levee safety and flood risks," by Diya Chacko.
Session description.

Concurrent Sessions 2, ENERGY, Nuclear Power in Fukushima's Wake

Audio file (1:03:27/21.7MB).
Session description.

Concurrent Sessions 2, THE GLOBE, Skating on Thin Ice: Climate Change at the Poles

Keynote Address, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell

Video of Jewell's talk (1:03:15).
Audio file of Jewell's talk (1:03:06/14.8MB).
"As World’s Largest Dam Removal Is Completed, Fish Already Returning," Newsweek, September 9, 2014, by Douglas Main.
"Interior Secretary Sally Jewell says Gulf of Mexico oil spill has increased focus on safety," NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, September 8, 2014, by Andrea Shaw.
"This Week at Interior September 5, 2014" (at ~1:29 minutes, this video refers to Jewell's talk at the SEJ New Orleans conference).
"Will Secretary Jewell address the (coal leasing) elephant in the room?" The Environmentalist blog, Greenpeace, September 5, 2014, by Joe Smyth.
"Interior Secretary Sally Jewell praises Louisiana coastal restoration plan," NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, September 5, 2014, by Andrea Shaw and "Interior secretary gets first-hand view of how climate change is affecting Louisiana’s coast," The Advocate, September 7, 2014, by Amy Wold. Both stories are prior to (and mention) Jewell's (upcoming) talk on September 5th at the SEJ New Orleans conference.
Session description.

Beat Dinner 1, Can't Beat 'Em, Eat 'Em: Nutria, Purslane, Formosan Termites

"Can't Beat 'Em? Eat 'Em!" NOW magazine, October 17, 2014, by Saul Chernos.
"Invasive species on the menu in New Orleans," Earth Touch News Network, September 17, 2014, by Amy Mathews Amos.
"An Invasive Menu: Eating Termites and Water Rats to Save New Orleans," Newsweek, September 10, 2014, by Zoë Schlanger.
"Termite-studded cobbler by Ye Olde College Inn an interesting bite, website reports," NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, September 9, 2014, by Melinda Morris.
"Chef cooks up new way to explain threats from invasive species," Great Lakes Echo, September 8, 2014, by David Poulson.
Session description.

Saturday, September 6

Concurrent Sessions 3, THE CRAFT 1, When the Big Story Breaks on Your Watch — Prying Information from the Government

Audio file (1:12:34/24.9MB).
Session description.

Concurrent Sessions 3, THE CRAFT 2, Crowdsourcing and Sensors: Citizen Science Tools for Journalism

Audio file (1:14:05/25.4MB).
"How Civic Science Is Changing Environmentalism," Newsweek, October 26, 2014, by Kendra Pierre-Louis.
Session description.

Concurrent Sessions 3, THE CRAFT 3, Making Sustainability Stick: Communicating Complex Topics Without Losing Your Audience

Audio file (1:11:32/24.5MB).
Session description.

Concurrent Sessions 3, OCEANS AND COASTS, BP Spill — The Restoration: How Are Billions of Dollars Being Spent?

Audio file (1:20:02/27.4MB).
Session description.

Concurrent Sessions 3, THE LAND, Beyond the Water Wars

Audio file (1:16:38/26.3MB).
Session description.

Concurrent Sessions 3, POLLUTION, Cleaning Up the Air and Carbon Too

Audio file (1:21:30/27.9MB).
"EPA May Change Ground-Level Smog Standards," Wisconsin Public Radio, October 7, 2014, by Chuck Quirmbach.
"Is There A Right Price For Carbon?" Ecosystem Marketplace, September 15, 2014, by Gloria Gonzalez.
"Association of air regulators delays GHG tools," Argus Media, September 8, 2014, by Stephanie Tsao (subscription).
"Washington, 8 September (Argus) — The National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA) is delaying until later this year the release of two tools to help states comply with proposed federal greenhouse gas regulations for existing power plants. The association, whose membership is comprised of state and local air pollution control agencies, had planned to issue the tools before public comments on the draft rule are due by 16 October. But it now plans to release the tools "within the next few months," association executive director Bill Becker said. ... Becker spoke on a panel at the Society of Environmental Journalists conference this weekend in New Orleans."
Session description.

Audio file (1:06:59/22.9MB).
"Surmounting Grim Times In The Gateway City," West End Word, December 3, 2014, by Don Corrigan.
Session description.

Concurrent Sessions 4, THE LAND, Everglades Restoration Update: Billions Spent, But Will It Do Any Good?

Audio file (1:05:00/22.3MB).
Session description.

Concurrent Sessions 4, POLLUTION, Waste in the 21st Century

Audio file (1:10:59/24.3MB).
Session description.

Concurrent Sessions 4, ENERGY, ObamaAir: Greenhouse Gases, Clean Coal, Pollution Trading and Carbon Caps

Audio file (1:09:01/23.6MB).
Session description.

Concurrent Sessions 4, THE GLOBE, Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation and Geoengineering: What's Being Done, Can Be Done, Won't Be Done?

Audio file (1:08:27/23.5MB).
Session description.

Lunch and Plenary Session, Real Risk and Resilience in a Climate-Changed World

Video.
Audio file (1:17:06/26.4MB).
"Meet the small-town Alabama mayor on President Obama's climate preparedness task force," AL.com, September 17, 2014, by Dennis Pillion. (This story "was informed by the conference, though not generated directly from the sources there. It's a profile of an Alabama mayor who is on the climate change task force with [plenary speaker] Kristin Jacobs.")
"Kristin Jacobs says South Florida takes climate change seriously," Context Florida, September 12, 2014, by Bruce Ritchie.
Session description.

Sunday, September 7

Mississippi River and Its Environs Authors

Audio file (01:21:19/27.9MB).
Session description.

So You Want to Write a Book?

Audio file (00:53:01/15.1MB).
Session description.

Miscellaneous conference coverage:

Report: "Protecting the Oceans: Can Damage to Marine Life Be Halted?" CQ Researcher, October 17, 2014, by Jennifer Weeks. Available by subscription only; order the report here.

"Streets Named After Muses," The Gasconader, September 11, 2014, by Tina Casagrand.

"Society of Environmental Journalists explores Louisiana's issues: What others are saying," NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, September 11, 2014, by Mark Schleifstein.

"Pensacola can learn from New Orleans," Pensacola News Journal, September 8, 2014, by Kimberly Blair.

"Risk and Resilience: Society of Environmental Journalists hosts annual conference this week in New Orleans," Restore the Mississippi River Delta Campaign blog, September 4, 2014, by Elizabeth Skree.

OpEd: "Four years after Deepwater Horizon explosion, offshore drilling is safer: Charlie Williams," NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, September 3, 2014.

Visibility:

Public

SEJ's 24th Annual Conference Coverage