Publication Items

Determined Grantee Weaves Together Unique Project on Ash Trees, Wetlands and Baskets [1]

When the global pandemic interfered with independent journalist Gabriel Popkin’s plans for a grant-funded biodiversity reporting project on the emerald ash borer, an invasive pest threatening ash forests, he came up with a surprising solution. In this FEJ StoryLog, Popkin shares how he worked around travel shutdowns and subsequent story pitch rejections to ultimately discover an alternative storytelling option to keep his project alive.

SEJ Publication Types:
FEJ StoryLog [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Biodiversity [3]
Environmental Health [4]
Environmental Justice [5]
Forests [6]
Journalism & Media [7]
Natural Resources [8]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [9]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [11]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [12]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [13]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Determined Grantee Weaves Together Unique Project on Ash Trees, Wetlands and Baskets [1]
Winning Over Editors and Others with Award Winners’ Multimedia Nuggets [15]

If you’re looking to engage key constituencies for your journalism — whether editors, sources, students or people who have been marginalized — a new set of short videos from award-winning journalists (like KESQ's Angela Chen, at left) can serve as a helpful resource. Inside Story has a roadmap of how to make smart use of these video nuggets to, for instance, convince newsroom powerbrokers to give you more time and support for ambitious stories.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [16]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [17]
Air [18]
Biodiversity [3]
Chemicals [19]
Climate Change [20]
Diversity [21]
Environmental Health [4]
Environmental Justice [5]
Environmental Politics [22]
Government [23]
Health [24]
Journalism & Media [7]
Natural Resources [8]
Policy [25]
Pollution [26]
Science [27]
Water & Oceans [28]
Wildlife [29]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
California [30]
Northwest (OR WA) [31]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [32]
International [33]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Winning Over Editors and Others with Award Winners’ Multimedia Nuggets [15]
Water-Sharing in the West: An Urgent and Complicated Environmental Story [34]

Water has always been a precious commodity in the western states. Now, with rapid population growth and a drying climate, the way this resource is shared and distributed is becoming more contentious across the region. Freelance journalist Jennifer Oldham talks about the tensions between supply and demand and how to drill down into water rights laws and policies.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [35]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [17]
Climate Change [20]
Consumer [36]
Economy & Business [37]
Environmental Health [4]
Environmental Politics [22]
Government [23]
Infrastructure [38]
Journalism & Media [7]
Laws & Regulations [39]
Natural Resources [8]
People & Population [40]
Planning & Growth [41]
Policy [25]
Technology [42]
Water & Oceans [28]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
California [30]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [43]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [44]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Water-Sharing in the West: An Urgent and Complicated Environmental Story [34]
As Concern Over Methane Mounts, Emission Controls Yield Stories [45]

While carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas most often in the news, methane has greater warming power and accounts for a big chunk of the current increase in global warming. Now, growing regulatory pressure may help shift that focus and could drive more local environmental reporting, per the latest TipSheet. The backstory, plus reporting ideas and resources.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [46]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [17]
Air [18]
Climate Change [20]
Energy & Fuel [47]
Environmental Health [4]
Environmental Politics [22]
Journalism & Media [7]
Laws & Regulations [39]
Natural Resources [8]
Policy [25]
Pollution [26]
Waste [48]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
International [33]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about As Concern Over Methane Mounts, Emission Controls Yield Stories [45]
New Kolbert Volume Addresses Value of Human Efforts To Control Nature [49]

When engineers reversed the Chicago River, they also upended a hydrologic system that years later required electrification to repel an invasive species threatening a major fishery. This is but one example from the latest book by New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert of the unintended consequences of human actions to dominate nature that may solve one problem only to create another. BookShelf contributor Gary Wilson has a review.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [50]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [20]
Environmental Health [4]
Fish & Fisheries [51]
Infrastructure [38]
Natural Resources [8]
Planning & Growth [41]
Policy [25]
Science [27]
Technology [42]
Water & Oceans [28]
Wildlife [29]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [11]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [32]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about New Kolbert Volume Addresses Value of Human Efforts To Control Nature [49]
ESA Inaction Spells Trouble for an Iconic Grassland Bird [52]

The lesser prairie-chicken is in dire need of protection, but a decision on listing it under the Endangered Species Act is months overdue. Environmental reporter Mike Smith looks at the causes and potential consequences of the bureaucratic delay and muses on whether this unique bird will go the way of its even more imperiled relative, the Attwater’s prairie-chicken [53].

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [35]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [54]
Agriculture [17]
Biodiversity [3]
Economy & Business [37]
Energy & Fuel [47]
Environmental Politics [22]
Government [23]
Laws & Regulations [39]
Natural Resources [8]
Policy [25]
Science [27]
Wildlife [29]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [55]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [43]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [32]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [44]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about ESA Inaction Spells Trouble for an Iconic Grassland Bird [52]
Could Biodiversity Be Bee’s Knees for Environmental Journalists This Fall? [56]

While a global gathering on biodiversity this winter will be news in itself, enterprising reporters can also find many biodiversity stories in their own backyards. The latest TipSheet offers insight into the domestic U.S. battle over endangered species, with a tale of a Tennessee dam, and a better understanding of the biodiversity-habitat connection. Plus, story ideas and reporting resources.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [46]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [54]
Biodiversity [3]
Environmental Health [4]
Environmental Politics [22]
Fish & Fisheries [51]
Forests [6]
Government [23]
Journalism & Media [7]
Laws & Regulations [39]
Natural Resources [8]
Policy [25]
Water & Oceans [28]
Wildlife [29]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [32]
International [33]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Could Biodiversity Be Bee’s Knees for Environmental Journalists This Fall? [56]
How a Distant Chapter in Spice Trade Foretells Today’s Climate Chaos [57]

When Europeans colonized remote Indonesian islands centuries ago to dominate the trade in nutmeg and cloves, they were repeating a pattern of domination of peoples and nature that author Amitav Ghosh argues in his latest book has brought us to the present-day environmental crisis. BookShelf reviewer Melody Kemp offers praise for the book’s strong narrative qualities and incisive historical analysis.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [50]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [17]
Climate Change [20]
Environmental Justice [5]
Environmental Politics [22]
Food [58]
Natural Resources [8]
People & Population [40]
Policy [25]
Region:
International [33]
Asia [59]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about How a Distant Chapter in Spice Trade Foretells Today’s Climate Chaos [57]
Environmental Reporting Through an Indigenous Perspective [60]

Indigenous communities that have tried to live in balance with nature have seen their practices largely ignored. But now many have turned to them for guidance. As part of a special initiative from the Society of Environmental Journalists on covering climate solutions, we offer a tipsheet from journalist Brian Bull on reporting on how Indigenous people use nature-based environmental solutions. Also, check out additional resources [61] and watch video from an earlier webinar [62].

SEJ Publication Types:
Special Reports [63]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [54]
Agriculture [17]
Air [18]
Biodiversity [3]
Climate Change [20]
Diversity [21]
Environmental Health [4]
Environmental Justice [5]
Environmental Politics [22]
Fish & Fisheries [51]
Food [58]
Forests [6]
Government [23]
Health [24]
Journalism & Media [7]
Natural Resources [8]
People & Population [40]
Policy [25]
Pollution [26]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [9]
Water & Oceans [28]
Wildlife [29]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Northwest (OR WA) [31]
International [33]
Canada [64]
Australia & Oceania [65]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Environmental Reporting Through an Indigenous Perspective [60]
On the Persistence of Ocean Plastics [66]

Concerns about seaborne plastic waste go back decades, but science writer Juli Berwald suggests that myths and disinformation about sources and solutions continue to cloud the waters. From lentil-sized nurdles to sprawling fishing nets, 200 million tons of plastic now fill the ocean and, for her, it has become evident that the ocean plastics story is really a land story. But will the newly signed international treaty on plastics offer relief?

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [35]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [54]
Biodiversity [3]
Chemicals [19]
Climate Change [20]
Consumer [36]
Economy & Business [37]
Energy & Fuel [47]
Environmental Health [4]
Environmental Studies [67]
Fish & Fisheries [51]
Government [23]
Infrastructure [38]
Journalism & Media [7]
Laws & Regulations [39]
Natural Resources [8]
Policy [25]
Pollution [26]
Science [27]
Technology [42]
Waste [48]
Water & Oceans [28]
Wildlife [29]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Alaska and Hawaii [68]
California [30]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [13]
Northwest (OR WA) [31]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [32]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [44]
International [33]
Mexico [69]
Africa [70]
Asia [59]
Europe [71]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about On the Persistence of Ocean Plastics [66]

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