Publication Items

Top Data Sources Can Help Cover the Larger Wildfire Story [1]

In the aftermath of breaking wildfire news, when environmental journalists are looking to tell the bigger picture story, there are myriad resources that provide data and insight. To help you sort through it all, the latest Reporter’s Toolbox scans eight powerful data portals that provide everything from real-time tracking and satellite data to risk analysis and health impacts.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [3]
Climate Change [4]
Disasters [5]
Environmental Health [6]
Forests [7]
Government [8]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about Top Data Sources Can Help Cover the Larger Wildfire Story [1]
One Grant, Multiple Stories [13]

Seattle-based correspondent Brett Walton has a habit of adding extra days to his reporting schedules. In this FEJ StoryLog, Walton shares how he used one such buffer to stretch a grant and produce not just one story on California’s small drinking water systems, but a second on the aftermath of wildfire on another town’s water system, plus finish a third pending project on household water debt.

SEJ Publication Types:
FEJ StoryLog [14]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [5]
Health [9]
Infrastructure [15]
Journalism & Media [10]
Water & Oceans [16]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
California [17]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about One Grant, Multiple Stories [13]
Waste Incineration May Put Toxics Into Local Air [18]

Sometimes on the environment beat, what seems like an old story is perpetually new again. That’s the case with waste incineration, finds the latest TipSheet. Rather than being reduced, incinerators are just being transformed, with the ongoing burning of plastics especially troubling for the environment and public health. Get the backstory on where the regulatory regime may have holes, plus key reporting angles and story ideas.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [19]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [20]
Air [3]
Chemicals [21]
Energy & Fuel [22]
Environmental Health [6]
Environmental Justice [23]
Environmental Politics [24]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [25]
Pollution [26]
Waste [27]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about Waste Incineration May Put Toxics Into Local Air [18]
Data on Pesticide Incidents Openly Available for First Time [28]

A decade’s worth of government pesticide data — only available before through FOIA — has been made newly available. And, explains the latest Reporter’s Toolbox, it can lead to revealing environmental, public health and environmental justice stories. More on how the data came to be compiled and advice on using it smartly, along with some caveats.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [29]
Chemicals [21]
Environmental Health [6]
Environmental Justice [23]
Food [30]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [25]
Pollution [26]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about Data on Pesticide Incidents Openly Available for First Time [28]
Painful Process Underway of Regulating PFAS in Drinking Water [31]

Long-growing concern over dangerous “forever” chemicals has drawn the attention of federal and state policymakers, local communities and the utilities that provide their drinking water. But little about regulating PFAS will be quick or easy, making it a major environmental and public health story for years to come. Issue Backgrounder unfolds the regulatory moves, the politics and the larger implications of PFAS policy.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [32]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [21]
Consumer [33]
Environmental Health [6]
Environmental Politics [24]
Government [8]
Health [9]
Infrastructure [15]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [25]
Pollution [26]
Water & Oceans [16]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about Painful Process Underway of Regulating PFAS in Drinking Water [31]
The Spread of Harmful Algal Blooms Makes News in Multitude of Locales [34]

As algal blooms (think “red tides” or “dead zones”) grow larger and more frequent, they are emerging not just on the coasts and major estuaries, but in inland lakes and streams. And they cause all kinds of harm, to humans and to the environment. The latest TipSheet has details on how to cover the problem locally, including story ideas and reporting resources.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [19]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [29]
Climate Change [4]
Environmental Health [6]
Fish & Fisheries [35]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Pollution [26]
Water & Oceans [16]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [36]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [37]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [38]
International [39]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about The Spread of Harmful Algal Blooms Makes News in Multitude of Locales [34]
Asthma Data — A Starting Point for Key Environment-Health Stories [40]

Whether marginalized communities suffering from asthma or cities cloaked in smoke from far-away wildfires, journalists looking to connect public health and environmental concerns around air pollution will find much of the data they need via the Centers for Disease Control’s asthma surveillance data. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox outlines the source and smart ways to use it.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [3]
Climate Change [4]
Environmental Justice [23]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Pollution [26]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about Asthma Data — A Starting Point for Key Environment-Health Stories [40]
‘Orange’ Is the New Data — for Wildfire Smoke [41]

The U.S. air quality alert scale is showing a lot of unhealthy colors this season, from oranges up to unhealthy reds and purples or worse, as smoke from wildfires in Canada periodically drifts across various U.S. regions. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox explores a key database and other resources to help journalists report on the spread of smoky air.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [3]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Pollution [26]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [42]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [43]
International [39]
Canada [44]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about ‘Orange’ Is the New Data — for Wildfire Smoke [41]
The Community We’ve Long Ignored [45]

Veteran environmental justice reporter Yessenia Funes this week launches “Voices of Environmental Justice,” her new SEJournal column. Each quarterly commentary will focus on spotlighting the perspectives of affected communities that environmental and climate journalists often ignore. For her inaugural entry, with Pride month nearing its end, a look at how climate change and environmental pollution exacerbate the already elevated health risks of LGBTQIA+ people.

SEJ Publication Types:
Voices of Environmental Justice [46]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [20]
Agriculture [29]
Climate Change [4]
Diversity [47]
Environmental Justice [23]
Environmental Politics [24]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
People & Population [48]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
California [17]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about The Community We’ve Long Ignored [45]
Wildfire Smoke — Now a Local Story in Unaccustomed Places [49]

The harms of air pollutants created by wildfires are clear. What’s lost in the haze, though, is that wildfire smoke can carry those pollutants vast distances, threatening communities that are unfamiliar with the risks. The latest TipSheet explains the dangers and how far-flung wildfire smoke travels, then offers a dozen story ideas plus reporting resources.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [19]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [3]
Chemicals [21]
Climate Change [4]
Disasters [5]
Forests [7]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Pollution [26]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [43]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [37]
International [39]
Canada [44]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about Wildfire Smoke — Now a Local Story in Unaccustomed Places [49]

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