SEJ's 24th Annual Conference Coverage

 

 

Multimedia
conference coverage

 

 

 

Agenda Coverage Lodging/ Travel 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:

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.

 

Page Menu

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

 

 

© 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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

Resources:

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

Opening Reception

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

Tour 6, Fracking, and All That Oil and Gas

 

 

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.

                 © Photos courtesy Christopher Johnston, freelance journalist, www.christophermjohnston.com.

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

Friday, September 5

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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?

 

 

© Karen Schaefer

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

 

 

 

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

 

 

© Lana Straub

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

Keynote Address, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell

 

 

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

 

 

Saturday, September 6

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

Concurrent Sessions 3, THE LAND, Beyond the Water Wars

 

 

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.

 

Concurrent Sessions 3, ENERGY, Turning Trees into Wood Pellets: Biomass Energy and Southern Forest Health

 

 

Concurrent Sessions 3, THE GLOBE, Children's Environmental Health: Latest Trends

 

 

Concurrent Sessions 4, THE CRAFT 2, Seed-by-Seed: Funding the Freelance Life

 

 

Concurrent Sessions 4, THE CRAFT 3, Environment Journalism Revolution in the Classroom

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

Sunday, September 7

 

Mississippi River and Its Environs Authors

 

 

So You Want to Write a Book?

 

 

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.

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