Publication Items

#SEJ2025 — Confronting the Past, Surviving the Future [1]

Next week, hundreds of environmental journalists are expected to gather in Arizona for #SEJ2025, the Society of Environmental Journalists’ expansive annual conference. Co-chair Kendal Blust has highlights of the four-day event, plus how the challenges facing the Southwest are those of communities across the United States, and why now is a critical time for journalists to come together. Read her rundown [1] and register now [2], before the April 16 midnight deadline.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ News [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [4]
Biodiversity [5]
Climate Change [6]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Justice [9]
Environmental Politics [10]
Fish & Fisheries [11]
Food [12]
Government [13]
Health [14]
Journalism & Media [15]
Natural Resources [16]
People & Population [17]
Planning & Growth [18]
Policy [19]
Pollution [20]
Science [21]
Water & Oceans [22]
Wildlife [23]
Region:
National (U.S.) [24]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [25]
International [26]
Mexico [27]
Visibility:
Public [28]
- Read more about #SEJ2025 — Confronting the Past, Surviving the Future [1]
With Scientific Research Under Attack, Journalists Must Up Their Game [29]

The Trump administration’s offensive against evidence-based research is making clear, accurate reporting on science more important than ever — because people who understand how scientific research works and what it tells us are less likely to be duped by misinformation or pseudoscience. SciLine director Matt DeRienzo on the challenges of the time and new resources to help journalists understand and explain evidence-based research.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [30]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [6]
Consumer [31]
Environmental Studies [32]
Government [13]
Health [14]
Journalism & Media [15]
Laws & Regulations [33]
Pollution [20]
Science [21]
Region:
National (U.S.) [24]
Visibility:
Public [28]
- Read more about With Scientific Research Under Attack, Journalists Must Up Their Game [29]
Hazardous Risk Reporting Resource at Risk of Trump Blackout [34]

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 [35]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [36]
Disasters [37]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Politics [10]
Government [13]
Health [14]
Journalism & Media [15]
Laws & Regulations [33]
Pollution [20]
Waste [38]
Region:
National (U.S.) [24]
Visibility:
Public [28]
- Read more about Hazardous Risk Reporting Resource at Risk of Trump Blackout [34]
Desperately Seeking Data? OECD Has Loads [39]

If the possibility of a politically driven dearth of data for your climate and environment reporting has you on edge, the new Reporter’s Toolbox just may have something to soothe your nerves: A data source from beyond the grasp of the Trump administration and outside the boundaries of the United States. Take a quick tour of environmental data from the OECD.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [40]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [4]
Air [41]
Biodiversity [5]
Chemicals [36]
Climate Change [6]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Studies [32]
Fish & Fisheries [11]
Health [14]
Journalism & Media [15]
Natural Resources [16]
Pollution [20]
Transportation [42]
Waste [38]
Water & Oceans [22]
Region:
National (U.S.) [24]
International [26]
Europe [43]
Visibility:
Public [28]
- Read more about Desperately Seeking Data? OECD Has Loads [39]
New Angle for Reporting on Oil and Gas Industry — Radioactive Waste [44]

Industry experts and government regulators have long known that radionuclides reside in oil and natural gas. Yet radioactive emissions and waste continue to threaten the lives of workers and community members across the country. Investigative journalist Justin Nobel on the opportunities and urgent need for reporters to drill into a story steeped in questions of accountability, health and justice.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [30]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [45]
Air [41]
Chemicals [36]
Climate Change [6]
Consumer [31]
Economy & Business [46]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Politics [10]
Environmental Studies [32]
Government [13]
Health [14]
Journalism & Media [15]
Laws & Regulations [33]
Natural Resources [16]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [47]
People & Population [17]
Policy [19]
Pollution [20]
Science [21]
Technology [48]
Waste [38]
Water & Oceans [22]
Region:
National (U.S.) [24]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [49]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [50]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [51]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [52]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [53]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [54]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [25]
International [26]
Canada [55]
South America [56]
Visibility:
Public [28]
- Read more about New Angle for Reporting on Oil and Gas Industry — Radioactive Waste [44]
Will Science Be Stifled at the EPA? [57]

Anti-science policies are being instituted by the Trump administration at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other federal offices, reports the latest Backgrounder. That makes it especially challenging to keep politics out of decision-making around everything from natural disasters to public health. An examination of scientific integrity under Trump 2.0 and what environmental journalists should watch for.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [58]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [36]
Climate Change [6]
Disasters [37]
Environmental Justice [9]
Environmental Politics [10]
Government [13]
Health [14]
Infrastructure [59]
Journalism & Media [15]
Laws & Regulations [33]
Policy [19]
Pollution [20]
Science [21]
Region:
National (U.S.) [24]
Visibility:
Public [28]
- Read more about Will Science Be Stifled at the EPA? [57]
Environmental Policies Upended, Climate Plans a Casualty As Trump Takes Power [60]

In the overview summary for our “2025 Journalists’ Guide to Environment + Energy” special report, we foresee the very real prospect that environmental protection and energy policies in place, in some cases, for decades could swiftly be swept aside by the Trump administration and a GOP-controlled Congress. Read our analysis [60], plus look back at more than three dozen stories gathered together in our ninth annual guide [61].

SEJ Publication Types:
Special Reports [62]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [6]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Justice [9]
Environmental Politics [10]
Government [13]
Health [14]
Infrastructure [59]
Journalism & Media [15]
Laws & Regulations [33]
Policy [19]
Pollution [20]
Region:
National (U.S.) [24]
International [26]
Visibility:
Public [28]
- Read more about Environmental Policies Upended, Climate Plans a Casualty As Trump Takes Power [60]
The Forgotten Victims of Hidalgo [63]

Contaminated water sickened thousands of residents near Mexico City for 40 years — even as officials knew they were being poisoned. Then, an investigative news team turned its attention to the polluted region, and produced multiple video and text versions of an award-winning feature focused on the residents’ health, poverty and more. Read a revealing Q&A with investigative producer Carlos Carabaña in the new Inside Story.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [64]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [36]
Environmental Justice [9]
Government [13]
Health [14]
Journalism & Media [15]
People & Population [17]
Pollution [20]
Waste [38]
Water & Oceans [22]
Region:
International [26]
Mexico [27]
Visibility:
Public [28]
- Read more about The Forgotten Victims of Hidalgo [63]
Communities at Risk Are Climate Stories Too [65]

As environmental journalists scramble to cover dizzying changes in climate and energy policy under the new administration, columnist Yessenia Funes offers an admonition: Do not forget about those whose human rights are being targeted by Trump, and look to connect the changing planet with changes felt by threatened communities. The new Voices of Environmental Justice on exiting the echo chamber.

SEJ Publication Types:
Voices of Environmental Justice [66]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [45]
Climate Change [6]
Disasters [37]
Environmental Justice [9]
Environmental Politics [10]
Government [13]
Health [14]
Journalism & Media [15]
People & Population [17]
Policy [19]
Region:
National (U.S.) [24]
International [26]
Visibility:
Public [28]
- Read more about Communities at Risk Are Climate Stories Too [65]
Telling the Stories of the Silent Sentinels [67]

To many, plants are a merely green backdrop, indistinguishable and inconsequential. But, freelancer Karen Mockler says that such “plant blindness” belies an urgent need for our notice. More than a third of the world’s trees and thousands of other plant species face extinction. Their plight — and their many blessings — offer perceptive journalists a wealth of reporting and storytelling opportunities. Mockler on why to write about plants.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [30]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [4]
Air [41]
Biodiversity [5]
Climate Change [6]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Justice [9]
Environmental Politics [10]
Environmental Studies [32]
Food [12]
Forests [68]
Government [13]
Health [14]
Journalism & Media [15]
Laws & Regulations [33]
Natural Resources [16]
Pollution [20]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [69]
Science [21]
Water & Oceans [22]
Wildlife [23]
Region:
National (U.S.) [24]
California [70]
Northwest (OR WA) [71]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [25]
International [26]
Canada [55]
Visibility:
Public [28]
- Read more about Telling the Stories of the Silent Sentinels [67]

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