Publication Items

Covering the Health Impacts of Extreme Heat — An Arizona Reporter Weighs In [1]

Before giving summer its send-off, consider that heat kills more people in the U.S. annually than any other weather-related disaster. Phoenix journalist Katherine Davis-Young is well acquainted with this human toll. Drawing on her own reporting experience, she looks at how to cover extreme heat in your community. Pro tip: Don’t wait until next summer to familiarize yourself with vulnerable communities and investigate local mitigation policies.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [3]
Disasters [4]
Environmental Health [5]
Environmental Justice [6]
Government [7]
Health [8]
Journalism & Media [9]
Policy [10]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [12]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Covering the Health Impacts of Extreme Heat — An Arizona Reporter Weighs In [1]
Coastal Flooding Challenges Cities Around the U.S. [14]

The United States has nearly 100,000 miles of coastline and much of it is at risk of flooding. But what that inundation looks like varies widely from place to place. From storm surges to land subsidence, the latest Backgrounder details the different types of flooding and the threats they pose to coastal communities, especially sea level cities.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [15]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [3]
Disasters [4]
Infrastructure [16]
Journalism & Media [9]
Water & Oceans [17]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
Alaska and Hawaii [18]
California [19]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [20]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [21]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [22]
Northwest (OR WA) [23]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [24]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [12]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Coastal Flooding Challenges Cities Around the U.S. [14]
Rethinking Forest Management in the Pyrocene [25]

Recent urban-interface infernos, fueled by climate change, leave no doubt that we have entered the age of runaway fire. Writer and ecologist Lauren Oakes writes that large-scale combustion is permanently reshaping ecosystems and societies as we learn to live with wildfire, not just fight it. Instead of perpetuating problematic approaches to forest management, experts call for confronting the root causes of this crisis and adopting science-informed responses.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [3]
Disasters [4]
Environmental Politics [26]
Environmental Studies [27]
Forests [28]
Government [7]
Health [8]
Infrastructure [16]
Journalism & Media [9]
Laws & Regulations [29]
Natural Resources [30]
Policy [10]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
California [19]
Northwest (OR WA) [23]
International [31]
Canada [32]
Australia & Oceania [33]
Europe [34]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Rethinking Forest Management in the Pyrocene [25]
Will DOGE Evaporate Crucial Water Data? [35]

Streamflow data gathered by thousands of U.S. Geological Survey gauges helps track the country’s floods and droughts. But it may be lost if the Trump administration follows up on a decision not to renew leases of USGS water science centers that read the gauges and disseminate the measurements. Reporter’s Toolbox on the value of this database and the risk of its loss.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [36]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [37]
Climate Change [3]
Disasters [4]
Environmental Politics [26]
Environmental Studies [27]
Government [7]
Natural Resources [30]
Policy [10]
Science [38]
Water & Oceans [17]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
California [19]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [24]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [12]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Will DOGE Evaporate Crucial Water Data? [35]
Can a City on Fire Be Photographed? Yes, Says One Photojournalist [39]

Will images of a burning Los Angeles last in our consciousness? EJ InSight editor Andrew Cullen makes a powerful argument that they will, illustrating the point with potent photographs of that disaster, as well as from recent hurricanes. An exploration of how photojournalists, working amid the destruction, strive to document not just the devastation but its deeper significance and its human toll.

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ InSight [40]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [3]
Disasters [4]
Journalism & Media [9]
People & Population [41]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
California [19]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [24]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Can a City on Fire Be Photographed? Yes, Says One Photojournalist [39]
Covering Wildfire — Expert Advice on Emerging Issues, Recurring Risks [42]

With wildfires becoming more extreme in every way, reporters covering them face new challenges along with familiar hazards. A pair of experienced wildfire journalists and others on the front lines offer advice on dealing with access restrictions, on-the-ground dangers, toxic exposure risks and traumatized survivors — as climate change speeds up the news cycle and misinformation muddies the reporting landscape.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [3]
Disasters [4]
Forests [28]
Government [7]
Health [8]
Infrastructure [16]
Journalism & Media [9]
Laws & Regulations [29]
People & Population [41]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
Alaska and Hawaii [18]
California [19]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [43]
Northwest (OR WA) [23]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [12]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Covering Wildfire — Expert Advice on Emerging Issues, Recurring Risks [42]
As One Door Shuts on Climate Risk Data, News Outlet Opens Another [44]

Even as U.S. government agencies rush to wipe climate change information (or even the mention of the word climate) from their websites, others are racing to reconstruct lost data elsewhere. Case in point is a rescued database on climate risks preserved by The Guardian. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox has more on the preserved database and how best to use it.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [36]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [3]
Disasters [4]
Environmental Health [5]
Environmental Politics [26]
Government [7]
Journalism & Media [9]
Policy [10]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about As One Door Shuts on Climate Risk Data, News Outlet Opens Another [44]
Dam Safety Firings Leave Downstream Residents at Risk [45]

Among the widespread federal firings that look like they’re putting the public increasingly at risk are those that strip away government oversight of dam safety. The latest TipSheet looks at what’s at stake and offers up a dozen story ideas, questions to ask and reporting resources to help environmental journalists spot the dam dangers nearest them.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [46]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [4]
Environmental Politics [26]
Government [7]
Infrastructure [16]
Journalism & Media [9]
Policy [10]
Water & Oceans [17]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
California [19]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Dam Safety Firings Leave Downstream Residents at Risk [45]
Hazardous Risk Reporting Resource at Risk of Trump Blackout [47]

Hazardous sites around the United States are supposed to have disaster plans, which make for a localizable story environmental journalists can tell to help protect their communities. The problem, reports TipSheet, is that a key federal database of these plans may be shut down by the Trump administration. More on the Risk Management Program, efforts to protect the data and how reporters can use it.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [46]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [48]
Disasters [4]
Environmental Health [5]
Environmental Politics [26]
Government [7]
Health [8]
Journalism & Media [9]
Laws & Regulations [29]
Pollution [49]
Waste [50]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Hazardous Risk Reporting Resource at Risk of Trump Blackout [47]
With Climate, an Undercurrent of Violence [51]

In his ambitious first book, “The Heat and the Fury: On the Frontlines of Climate Violence,” journalist Peter Schwartzstein explores how climate change explains conflict, even war. BookShelf editor Tom Henry calls it a deeply researched volume that makes a strong case for the connections between global warming, political instability and violence, not just in poorer regions but for the richer West as well.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [52]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [3]
Disasters [4]
Environmental Health [5]
Environmental Justice [6]
Environmental Politics [26]
Government [7]
Military [53]
Natural Resources [30]
People & Population [41]
Policy [10]
Water & Oceans [17]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
International [31]
Africa [54]
Asia [55]
Europe [34]
Middle East [56]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about With Climate, an Undercurrent of Violence [51]

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