Water & Oceans

In the first edition of a new SEJournal column — EJ InSight — we look at how one freelance print journalist took up the camera to diversify her skills and report a unique story from the marshes of Iraq. See a photo gallery of her images. Plus, multimedia efforts from other environmental reporters.

Pulitzer Prize finalist Derrick Jackson had written about everything from sports to politics. But then as his interest in the environment began to grow, he had a close encounter with some threatened puffin chicks that became a defining long-term project. Our latest “Between the Lines” author Q&A explores how this newsman and columnist came to co-author and photograph “Project Puffin: The Improbable Quest to Bring a Beloved Seabird Back to Egg Rock.”

Local dams are threatened with floods brought by Hurricane Florence. But already, many of these dams were being removed after decades of building them up, as part of a growing effort to limit harm to the environment and hazards to local communities. This week’s TipSheet explains the trend, highlights some examples and points the way to databases and other resources to find and report on dams in your area.

Millions of Americans are served by private rather than public water systems. And while that may be helpful in the case of the tens of thousands of smaller systems that lack key resources, it also raises controversial questions about privatization, as well as about what’s best to insure drinking water safety in a post-Flint era. The latest Backgrounder explains this complex issue, considers the most critical issues and offers resources to report the story in your area.

Hog waste washing into the environment in the wake of flooding is not just a worry in the Carolinas after Hurricane Florence. Potential pollution from animal feed operations is a widespread risk around the United States — and climate change-induced extreme weather means that risk is rising. The latest TipSheet has resources and ideas for covering the story in your area.

An unexpected story, a never-before-seen photo — those are ingredients for the kinds of environment and climate story ideas that won one environment reporter top honors in large market beat reporting in SEJ’s annual awards last year. A conversation with Craig Welch of National Geographic for our latest Inside Story Q&A.