Publication Items

Tapping Into COP30 To Cover Indigenous Issues [1]

COP30 negotiators from around the world gather next week in Belém, Brazil, at the mouth of the Amazon River. Our Voices of Environmental Justice columnist Yessenia Funes says it’s a vital opportunity to engage with the Indigenous peoples who help protect the vast rainforest region — even for environmental reporters not there in person. Here’s how to tell their stories.

SEJ Publication Types:
Voices of Environmental Justice [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [3]
Biodiversity [4]
Climate Change [5]
Economy & Business [6]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Justice [9]
Environmental Politics [10]
Forests [11]
Government [12]
Journalism & Media [13]
Natural Resources [14]
People & Population [15]
Planning & Growth [16]
Policy [17]
Pollution [18]
Water & Oceans [19]
Region:
International [20]
South America [21]
Visibility:
Public [22]
- Read more about Tapping Into COP30 To Cover Indigenous Issues [1]
Targets on Their Backs … and Ours? Reporting on Immigrant Farmworkers [23]

For years, state-sponsored programs have helped California farmworkers get much-needed access to clean water. But many immigrants now shun these services, afraid of exposure to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. As Circle of Blue intern Anahita Banerjee dug into this story, she discovered that their fear extended to speaking with journalists — and that ICE activities threatened her own safety.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [24]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [25]
Agriculture [3]
Environmental Justice [9]
Environmental Politics [10]
Food [26]
Government [12]
Health [27]
Journalism & Media [13]
Laws & Regulations [28]
People & Population [15]
Water & Oceans [19]
Region:
National (U.S.) [29]
California [30]
Visibility:
Public [22]
- Read more about Targets on Their Backs … and Ours? Reporting on Immigrant Farmworkers [23]
Climate Solutions, for Some, May Not Be [31]

A small Louisiana community, home to the descendants of formerly enslaved Black people, continues to fight for its freedom many decades later, this time from a potentially polluting technology. FEJ StoryLog contributor Yessenia Funes recounts her journey to this Cancer Alley community, where a grant from the Fund for Environmental Journalism helped her tell the story of residents challenging a multibillion-dollar carbon capture plant.

SEJ Publication Types:
FEJ StoryLog [32]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [25]
Air [33]
Chemicals [34]
Climate Change [5]
Economy & Business [6]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Justice [9]
Environmental Politics [10]
Journalism & Media [13]
People & Population [15]
Planning & Growth [16]
Policy [17]
Pollution [18]
Science [35]
Technology [36]
Region:
National (U.S.) [29]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [37]
Visibility:
Public [22]
- Read more about Climate Solutions, for Some, May Not Be [31]
Sunshine State Weirdness, With a Solid Dose of Environment [38]

The story behind the story that captures the “real” Florida is the essence of a new volume from veteran journalist and author Craig Pittman. BookShelf editor Tom Henry writes that “Welcome to Florida: True Tales from America’s Most Interesting State” not only taps into the state’s rich vein of the weird but offers a hefty dose of environmental topics, from climate change to manatees.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [39]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [5]
Environmental Politics [10]
People & Population [15]
Pollution [18]
Water & Oceans [19]
Wildlife [40]
Region:
National (U.S.) [29]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [37]
Visibility:
Public [22]
- Read more about Sunshine State Weirdness, With a Solid Dose of Environment [38]
Walkability Index Helps Journalists Highlight Planning Issues [41]

Many local government decisions come down to a key factor: walkability. And that’s not just a question of transportation infrastructure. As the latest Reporter’s Toolbox notes, walkability is also an environmental consideration. To turn that simple truth into stories about the built environment, here’s a high-quality, mappable walkability index. How to use the database smartly, plus questions to ask that will get your reporting started.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [42]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [5]
Environmental Politics [10]
Government [12]
Infrastructure [43]
Journalism & Media [13]
People & Population [15]
Planning & Growth [16]
Policy [17]
Transportation [44]
Region:
National (U.S.) [29]
Visibility:
Public [22]
- Read more about Walkability Index Helps Journalists Highlight Planning Issues [41]
Saving Big Cats From Humans [45]

As expanded development on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula encroaches on prime wildlife habitat, big cats find it harder to avoid people, and many wind up dead. In this Inside Story Q&A, Liza Gross of Inside Climate News describes how she and photographer/editor Michael Kodas worked with a local cougar protection team to track a family of big cats to their den and through the area.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [46]
Topics on the Beat:
Biodiversity [4]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Studies [47]
Forests [11]
Journalism & Media [13]
People & Population [15]
Science [35]
Wildlife [40]
Region:
National (U.S.) [29]
Northwest (OR WA) [48]
Visibility:
Public [22]
- Read more about Saving Big Cats From Humans [45]
‘People Will Die’ — Stories Behind Trump Budget Bill [49]

The Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” is anything but, especially in its unraveling of efforts to weave environmental and climate justice into American society, argues the new Voices of Environmental Justice. In her latest column, writer Yessenia Funes calls on journalists to report its ramifications not just for the planet but for the most vulnerable people living on it. Here are key stories to start with.

SEJ Publication Types:
Voices of Environmental Justice [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [25]
Air [33]
Chemicals [34]
Climate Change [5]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Justice [9]
Environmental Politics [10]
Government [12]
Health [27]
Infrastructure [43]
Journalism & Media [13]
Laws & Regulations [28]
People & Population [15]
Policy [17]
Pollution [18]
Waste [50]
Water & Oceans [19]
Region:
National (U.S.) [29]
Alaska and Hawaii [51]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [37]
Visibility:
Public [22]
- Read more about ‘People Will Die’ — Stories Behind Trump Budget Bill [49]
Tainted Water, Tainted Power — Inside a Hog-Farm Empire [52]

A powerful politician and his family’s groundwater-polluting agricultural business were the focus of an award-winning series that delved into the intersection of politics, power, privilege and regulatory capture. In the latest Inside Story Q&A, journalist Yanqi Xu discusses how the reporting uncovered deep and unexpected impacts on small town economies, water quality and the living conditions of the hog farms’ neighbors.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [46]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [3]
Chemicals [34]
Economy & Business [6]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Justice [9]
Environmental Politics [10]
Health [27]
Journalism & Media [13]
People & Population [15]
Pollution [18]
Waste [50]
Water & Oceans [19]
Region:
National (U.S.) [29]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [53]
Visibility:
Public [22]
- Read more about Tainted Water, Tainted Power — Inside a Hog-Farm Empire [52]
Battle Over Gas Power Facility Generates Months-Long Investigation [54]

A private social media message piqued Arizona Republic reporter Joan Meiners’ interest in rural retirees’ efforts to block construction of a gas-fired peaker plant next to their homes. Her year-long, grant-funded investigation in 2024 uncovered questionable local government actions and utility executive motives, and concluded with action against the facility. Read Meiners’ account of how rural Arizonans became unlikely climate activists, in the latest FEJ Storylog.

SEJ Publication Types:
FEJ StoryLog [32]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [25]
Air [33]
Consumer [55]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Politics [10]
Government [12]
Health [27]
Journalism & Media [13]
People & Population [15]
Pollution [18]
Region:
National (U.S.) [29]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [56]
Visibility:
Public [22]
- Read more about Battle Over Gas Power Facility Generates Months-Long Investigation [54]
In West Bank, Hope for Future in Link Between Land and People [57]

On a tour of the West Bank this spring, Yessenia Funes found a region where the relationship between land and people serves as a counterweight to occupation and the threat of violence. For her Voices of Environmental Justice column, Funes exhorts fellow environment journalists to report on that struggle, through stories that touch on wildlife, wildfire, food, climate and more.

SEJ Publication Types:
Voices of Environmental Justice [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [3]
Climate Change [5]
Environmental Justice [9]
Environmental Politics [10]
Food [26]
Government [12]
Journalism & Media [13]
Military [58]
People & Population [15]
Policy [17]
Water & Oceans [19]
Region:
International [20]
Middle East [59]
Visibility:
Public [22]
- Read more about In West Bank, Hope for Future in Link Between Land and People [57]

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