Publication Items

New Angle for Reporting on Oil and Gas Industry — Radioactive Waste [1]

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 [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Air [4]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [6]
Consumer [7]
Economy & Business [8]
Energy & Fuel [9]
Environmental Health [10]
Environmental Politics [11]
Environmental Studies [12]
Government [13]
Health [14]
Journalism & Media [15]
Laws & Regulations [16]
Natural Resources [17]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [18]
People & Population [19]
Policy [20]
Pollution [21]
Science [22]
Technology [23]
Waste [24]
Water & Oceans [25]
Region:
National (U.S.) [26]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [27]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [28]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [29]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [30]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [31]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [32]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [33]
International [34]
Canada [35]
South America [36]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about New Angle for Reporting on Oil and Gas Industry — Radioactive Waste [1]
With Climate, an Undercurrent of Violence [38]

In his ambitious first book, “The Heat and the Fury: On the Frontlines of Climate Violence,” journalist Peter Schwartzstein explores how climate change explains conflict, even war. BookShelf editor Tom Henry calls it a deeply researched volume that makes a strong case for the connections between global warming, political instability and violence, not just in poorer regions but for the richer West as well.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [39]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [6]
Disasters [40]
Environmental Health [10]
Environmental Justice [41]
Environmental Politics [11]
Government [13]
Military [42]
Natural Resources [17]
People & Population [19]
Policy [20]
Water & Oceans [25]
Region:
National (U.S.) [26]
International [34]
Africa [43]
Asia [44]
Europe [45]
Middle East [46]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about With Climate, an Undercurrent of Violence [38]
The Forgotten Victims of Hidalgo [47]

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 [48]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [5]
Environmental Justice [41]
Government [13]
Health [14]
Journalism & Media [15]
People & Population [19]
Pollution [21]
Waste [24]
Water & Oceans [25]
Region:
International [34]
Mexico [49]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about The Forgotten Victims of Hidalgo [47]
From Oil Boom to Lithium Rush — Reporting the Realities [50]

A coming lithium rush in Arkansas drew the notice of journalist Katie Myers, who used a grant from the Fund for Environmental Journalism to explore whether extraction activities near once-booming energy communities could avoid the economic and environmental impacts of another boom-and-bust cycle for a largely Black region with histories of land dispossession, plantation slavery and Jim Crow segregation. Lessons learned in the latest FEJ StoryLog.

SEJ Publication Types:
FEJ StoryLog [51]
Topics on the Beat:
Economy & Business [8]
Environmental Justice [41]
Environmental Politics [11]
Journalism & Media [15]
Natural Resources [17]
People & Population [19]
Technology [23]
Region:
National (U.S.) [26]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [32]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about From Oil Boom to Lithium Rush — Reporting the Realities [50]
Insurance Meltdown a Foreseeable Climate Disaster [52]

Whether fires in California or flooding in North Carolina, climate disasters are revealing a major fault line in U.S. emergency response — a serious insurance shortfall that may lead to financial catastrophe. The new Issue Backgrounder explores the risks of underinsured disasters, the limits to the national flood insurance programs and FEMA aid, and the predictable scapegoating that has created solution gridlock.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [53]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [6]
Consumer [7]
Disasters [40]
Economy & Business [8]
Government [13]
Laws & Regulations [16]
People & Population [19]
Planning & Growth [54]
Policy [20]
Water & Oceans [25]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about Insurance Meltdown a Foreseeable Climate Disaster [52]
The Bounty of the Gift Economy [55]

Bestselling Indigenous botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer, in her new book, exalts a simple berry that helps sustain the life around it, and in doing so exemplifies the economic power of giving. “The Serviceberry” explores the traditions of the gift economy and its potential to be nurtured alongside the market economy. The latest BookShelf from contributor Jenny Weeks.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [39]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [56]
Consumer [7]
Economy & Business [8]
Food [57]
People & Population [19]
Policy [20]
Region:
National (U.S.) [26]
International [34]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about The Bounty of the Gift Economy [55]
Communities at Risk Are Climate Stories Too [58]

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 [59]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Climate Change [6]
Disasters [40]
Environmental Justice [41]
Environmental Politics [11]
Government [13]
Health [14]
Journalism & Media [15]
People & Population [19]
Policy [20]
Region:
National (U.S.) [26]
International [34]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about Communities at Risk Are Climate Stories Too [58]
What Will a Second Trump Term Mean for Environmental Justice? [60]

An incoming Trump administration hostile to the very idea of environmental justice likely means the rollback of numerous policies and regulations designed to protect disadvantaged communities, cuts to an important “whole-of-government” initiative and downsizing of key federal environmental justice offices. The latest EJ TransitionWatch examines what’s at stake. And for more, see our Topics on the Beat page on environmental justice [61].

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ TransitionWatch [62]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [4]
Climate Change [6]
Environmental Justice [41]
Environmental Politics [11]
Government [13]
Health [14]
Infrastructure [63]
Laws & Regulations [16]
People & Population [19]
Policy [20]
Pollution [21]
Waste [24]
Water & Oceans [25]
Region:
National (U.S.) [26]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about What Will a Second Trump Term Mean for Environmental Justice? [60]
Trump’s Public Health Agency Picks, Looking Peaked? [64]

Public health is an environmental story (think links between infectious disease and climate change, for example). So Trump administration nominees to head leading U.S. public health agencies — including vaccine skeptics, COVID-19 contrarians and physicians with little public health experience — are a story for environmental journalists to watch closely. The latest EJ TransitionWatch helps with a rundown of five top picks. Plus, the latest health headlines [14] from EJ Today.

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ TransitionWatch [62]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [6]
Environmental Politics [11]
Government [13]
Health [14]
People & Population [19]
Policy [20]
Science [22]
Region:
National (U.S.) [26]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about Trump’s Public Health Agency Picks, Looking Peaked? [64]
Is Fluoride Facing Phaseout in Your Community’s Drinking Water? [65]

Fluoridated drinking water has helped limit tooth decay in the United States for decades. But that could come to an end in the Trump administration, if fluoride nonfan Robert F. Kennedy Jr., slated to head Health and Human Services, has his way. In the first installment of SEJournal’s new weekly EJ TransitionWatch column, we examine the challenge to this public health success story. Plus, questions to ask and resources for your reporting.

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ TransitionWatch [62]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Chemicals [5]
Consumer [7]
Environmental Politics [11]
Government [13]
Health [14]
Infrastructure [63]
Journalism & Media [15]
Laws & Regulations [16]
People & Population [19]
Policy [20]
Science [22]
Water & Oceans [25]
Region:
National (U.S.) [26]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about Is Fluoride Facing Phaseout in Your Community’s Drinking Water? [65]

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