RICO MOORE
Please consider my candidacy for a board member seat in the active member category for the November 2020 election.
I originally joined SEJ in order to further my career as an environmental journalist. At the time, I was writing mostly for the Boulder Weekly in Boulder, Colorado, and my work centered primarily on issues related to Colorado’s wildlife, natural resources and requisite governance of these subjects. Concomitant with this work was the publication of personal essays dealing with issues of identity and racism, specifically my experiences as a Latinx person who was raised by two White parents in a racist, white town.
From an early age, writing was something that empowered me, as did the natural world. Thus, writing about the natural world has been a source of empowerment for me. This has continued since the beginning of my writing career, from my early essay writing to my masters of fine arts degree in poetry to my current work as an environmental journalist.
What has changed over the past five years is that my writing about the environment has merged with my writing about communities of color. I have come to see the environment as very broad and fully interrelated with nearly every human and non-human system, including and especially, with systems of economic and political power.
Presently, this is finding expression in longform reporting about the roots of the climate justice lawyering movement, which coincides with larger societal awakenings around racial and social justice. As social movements have increased in power, similar movements have been building within SEJ, and I am glad to have been at the forefront of many of these advancements.
I am also grateful for SEJ’s support of issues of diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as to commitments to further these issues in the context of the draft strategic plan, to which I’ve contributed my insights.
Essentially, my vision for board service for SEJ is to continue to integrate environmental journalism with journalism focused on environmental and climate justice. This includes covering issues focusing on BIPOC communities, as well as increasing the diversity, equity and inclusion of the field of environmental journalism itself. If elected to the board, I plan to be a constant, incisive and strong voice for these goals on the board and to the SEJ membership.
Tangible efforts I plan to work on if elected to the SEJ board include: the completion of a report on DEI in the context of environmental journalism that will serve as a basis for increasing DEI in environmental journalism, including how the environment is conceived of and covered, as well as who edits, publishes, and reports on the environment. I also plan to work to integrate environmental justice reporting into mainstream environmental coverage so as not to segregate it from mainstream environmental reporting. I plan to work to build relationships with other journalism organizations I’m a part of (NAHJ particularly) in order to expand opportunities for journalists of color who cover environmental issues. This will include envisioning and actualizing professional development programs within SEJ and potentially in collaboration with other journalism organizations to increase opportunities for journalists of color to succeed, especially in the context of freelancing and digital startups. This will be accomplished via relationships with NAHJ members, as well as leaders of the nascent Environmental Journalists of Color organization, among other professional relationships.
If elected, I also hope to be a significant part of SEJ’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.
Thank you very much for your consideration. I hope my actions to this point speak as clearly as this letter. I hope to be working alongside all of you on these issues in the near future.
Accomplishments in line with my goals thus far include being invited to participate in an SEJ webinar on these subjects, as well as coordinating and planning a webinar with the Columbia University Earth Institute on the revolutionary book, Reckoning. Additionally, I was part of planning the SEJ-Environmental Journalists of Color social hour at the recent virtual conference. I hope to continue with similar efforts, as well as expand beyond them, to ensure the flourishing of diversity, equity and inclusion within SEJ.
Sincerely,
Rico Moore
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