Publication Items

How 'Rights of Nature' Is Recasting the Relationship Between Law and the Earth [1]

In 2006, a local government council in Pennsylvania concerned about sewage sludge dumping enacted the Western legal system’s first formal “rights of nature” instrument. Today, numerous countries have laws recognizing specific rights or even legal personhood for nature. As legal expert Alice Bleby explains, this new perspective arises from a wide range of contexts and plays out in many different ways.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Biodiversity [4]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [6]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Justice [8]
Environmental Politics [9]
Environmental Studies [10]
Fish & Fisheries [11]
Forests [12]
Government [13]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Natural Resources [15]
Policy [16]
Pollution [17]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [18]
Water & Oceans [19]
Region:
National (U.S.) [20]
California [21]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [22]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [23]
International [24]
Africa [25]
Asia [26]
Australia & Oceania [27]
South America [28]
Visibility:
Public [29]
- Read more about How 'Rights of Nature' Is Recasting the Relationship Between Law and the Earth [1]
Ocean and Climate Change Toolbox [30]

Oceans and climate change intersect with many other issues, a crossover likely to be emphasized in the upcoming United Nations Ocean Conference and in future ocean-based climate discussions. This list of resources reflects some of that intersection in order to help environmental journalists better cover the field of “blue climate” solutions.

SEJ Publication Types:
Special Reports [31]
Topics on the Beat:
Biodiversity [4]
Climate Change [6]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Politics [9]
Environmental Studies [10]
Fish & Fisheries [11]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Natural Resources [15]
Policy [16]
Pollution [17]
Science [32]
Water & Oceans [19]
Region:
National (U.S.) [20]
International [24]
Visibility:
Public [29]
- Read more about Ocean and Climate Change Toolbox [30]
An Endless ‘Silent Spring’? Find Out on a Spring Walk (With the Birders) [33]

To better understand troubled bird populations and the many forces undermining them, grab some binoculars and a notebook, and catch up with your local birders, including the burgeoning number of minority birders. That’s the advice from the latest TipSheet, which offers reporting resources and numerous story ideas, including the impacts of climate change, habitat loss, water access and the “insect apocalypse.”

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [34]
Topics on the Beat:
Biodiversity [4]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [6]
Diversity [35]
Environmental Health [7]
Journalism & Media [36]
Wildlife [37]
Region:
National (U.S.) [20]
International [24]
Canada [38]
Visibility:
Public [29]
- Read more about An Endless ‘Silent Spring’? Find Out on a Spring Walk (With the Birders) [33]
Global Satellite Data IDs Tensions Between Food Production, Biodiversity [39]

A recent study of global cropland expansion highlights several trends that are ripe with environmental news stories. One finding: New farm fields have taken over an area the size of Texas and California combined since the start of the century, an expansion primarily affecting biodiversity-rich natural ecosystems, with Africa leading the cropland boom. Freelancer Gabriel Popkin explores the latest data and the reporting possibilities.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [40]
Biodiversity [4]
Climate Change [6]
Consumer [41]
Economy & Business [42]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Justice [8]
Environmental Politics [9]
Environmental Studies [10]
Food [43]
Forests [12]
Journalism & Media [36]
Natural Resources [15]
People & Population [44]
Planning & Growth [45]
Science [32]
Technology [46]
Region:
National (U.S.) [20]
International [24]
Africa [25]
Asia [26]
Europe [47]
South America [28]
Visibility:
Public [29]
- Read more about Global Satellite Data IDs Tensions Between Food Production, Biodiversity [39]
How Ireland’s Tree Farms, Licensed With Little Environmental Assessment, Harm Biodiversity, Rural Communities [48]

A crowdsourced, crowdfunded investigation on the damage caused by the spread of commercial spruce plantations, both to the biodiversity-rich areas of Ireland and the isolated farming communities where they are planted, was the subject of an award-winning report from journalist Niall Sargent. Find out how he ID’d the problem, overcame investigative challenges and ultimately told a human-centered, data-rich story. Our latest Inside Story Q&A.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [49]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [40]
Biodiversity [4]
Economy & Business [42]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Justice [8]
Environmental Politics [9]
Forests [12]
Government [13]
Journalism & Media [36]
Natural Resources [15]
People & Population [44]
Region:
International [24]
Europe [47]
Visibility:
Public [29]
- Read more about How Ireland’s Tree Farms, Licensed With Little Environmental Assessment, Harm Biodiversity, Rural Communities [48]
Pollinator Gardens Yield Local Story Possibilities [50]

It’s perhaps the ultimate local environment story — found right in your audience’s literal backyard. Pollinator gardens offer environmental journalists an opportunity not just to report on ecologically beneficial (and attractive) plantings, but also to tell the complex story of pollinators — butterflies, birds and, of course, bees. The latest TipSheet plants ideas and resources to cover the pollinator garden story.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [34]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [40]
Biodiversity [4]
Environmental Health [7]
Region:
National (U.S.) [20]
Visibility:
Public [29]
- Read more about Pollinator Gardens Yield Local Story Possibilities [50]
Houston Plays Host to First On-Site SEJ Conference Since 2019 [51]

Environmental journalists from around the country and beyond will gather in Houston later this month for the Society of Environmental Journalists’ 31st annual conference. Widely known as the energy capital of the world, this highly diverse city is an ideal place to drill down on the causes and consequences of climate change and other environmental issues of the day.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ News [52]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Air [53]
Biodiversity [4]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [6]
Disasters [54]
Diversity [35]
Economy & Business [42]
Energy & Fuel [55]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Justice [8]
Environmental Politics [9]
Fish & Fisheries [11]
Food [43]
Forests [12]
Government [13]
Health [56]
Infrastructure [57]
Journalism & Media [36]
Laws & Regulations [14]
People & Population [44]
Planning & Growth [45]
Policy [16]
Pollution [17]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [18]
Science [32]
Technology [46]
Transportation [58]
Waste [59]
Water & Oceans [19]
Wildlife [37]
Region:
National (U.S.) [20]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [60]
International [24]
Mexico [61]
Central America & the Caribbean [62]
Europe [47]
South America [28]
Visibility:
Public [29]
- Read more about Houston Plays Host to First On-Site SEJ Conference Since 2019 [51]
Walking With the ‘Guardians of the Forest’ — Lessons From Coverage of Amazonian Fires [63]

Three teams of video journalists descended on the Brazilian Amazon amid some of its worst-ever fires to capture efforts of Indigenous rainforest “guardians” to protect it from destruction. They returned with award-winning reporting, but also a deeper understanding of the region and its people, and of how to bring the climate change story closer to home. They share their experiences, in the new EJ InSight.

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ InSight [64]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Agriculture [40]
Biodiversity [4]
Climate Change [6]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Justice [8]
Environmental Politics [9]
Forests [12]
Journalism & Media [36]
Natural Resources [15]
People & Population [44]
Region:
International [24]
South America [28]
Visibility:
Public [29]
- Read more about Walking With the ‘Guardians of the Forest’ — Lessons From Coverage of Amazonian Fires [63]
The Call of the Conch — How Seashells Tell Nature’s Story [65]

Cynthia Barnett’s deeply researched and engagingly written new book, “The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans,” brilliantly weaves together mollusk anecdotes, ocean science and human history as it takes a deep dive into the nature of seashells and the story of their connection to us. Read Tom Henry’s review in the new BookShelf.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [66]
Topics on the Beat:
Biodiversity [4]
Science [32]
Water & Oceans [19]
Wildlife [37]
Region:
National (U.S.) [20]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [67]
International [24]
Asia [26]
Central America & the Caribbean [62]
Visibility:
Public [29]
- Read more about The Call of the Conch — How Seashells Tell Nature’s Story [65]
‘Wild Souls’ Explores Paradox of Managing Species To Save Them [68]

What does wildness mean when humans interfere with the lives of wild animals in order to protect them? A new volume, “Wild Souls,” explores that dilemma, whether arising through captive breeding programs to reintroduce the California condor and the gray wolf, by allowing hybridization or through the use of gene-editing tools. A review from BookShelf contributor Jenny Weeks.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [66]
Topics on the Beat:
Biodiversity [4]
Environmental Politics [9]
Science [32]
Wildlife [37]
Region:
National (U.S.) [20]
California [21]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [69]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [60]
International [24]
Mexico [61]
Visibility:
Public [29]
- Read more about ‘Wild Souls’ Explores Paradox of Managing Species To Save Them [68]

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