Publication Items

In West Bank, Hope for Future in Link Between Land and People [1]

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 [4]
Environmental Justice [5]
Environmental Politics [6]
Food [7]
Government [8]
Journalism & Media [9]
Military [10]
People & Population [11]
Policy [12]
Water & Oceans [13]
Region:
International [14]
Middle East [15]
Visibility:
Public [16]
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Green Geeks Liberate Environmental Data [17]

Environmental journalists need environmental data, even as it’s being stripped from government sites by the Trump administration. That’s where a band of programmers organized into the Public Environmental Data Partners comes in. The latest Toolbox reports it’s rescuing wiped data and making it accessible to reporters. Learn who’s behind the project and get an overview of some of the datasets being restored.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [18]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [19]
Environmental Politics [6]
Government [8]
Journalism & Media [9]
Science [20]
Region:
National (U.S.) [21]
Visibility:
Public [16]
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‘Misplaced Trust’ Aims Big, But Finds Details Make the Difference [22]

A project of vast scope was needed to tell the untold story of stolen lands originally promised to Indigenous nations. But for Tristan Ahtone, it was the pursuit of "smaller" stories arising out of the detailed data that was the Grist team’s proudest result. Explore the high points — plus three key lessons — of this Pulliam Prize-winning project, in Ahtone’s Inside Story Q&A.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [23]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Justice [5]
Environmental Politics [6]
Government [8]
Laws & Regulations [24]
Natural Resources [25]
People & Population [11]
Policy [12]
Region:
National (U.S.) [21]
Visibility:
Public [16]
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Environmentalists Will Be Seeing Trump Forces in Court — Often [26]

The judiciary is looking to become a major environmental battleground for journalists to watch in the coming months and years, as activists confront the Trump administration over its deregulatory campaign. The new Issue Backgrounder maps out the action, explaining how key laws foster citizen suits, while numerous nonprofits are staffed up to sue. Plus, some ways to track the action.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [27]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [28]
Air [29]
Biodiversity [30]
Chemicals [19]
Climate Change [4]
Consumer [31]
Environmental Justice [5]
Environmental Politics [6]
Government [8]
Infrastructure [32]
Journalism & Media [9]
Laws & Regulations [24]
Natural Resources [25]
Policy [12]
Pollution [33]
Waste [34]
Water & Oceans [13]
Wildlife [35]
Region:
National (U.S.) [21]
Visibility:
Public [16]
- Read more about Environmentalists Will Be Seeing Trump Forces in Court — Often [26]
Environmental Justice Grants Disappear. Environmental Injustice Does Not [36]

Decades of effort to tackle the often-intractable problems of environmental injustice, supported in recent years by billions in funding, are now facing the knife under the Trump administration. The latest TipSheet provides a thumbnail history of government initiatives and why it matters, then offers a dozen story ideas and reporting resources to tell the story in your community.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [37]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Justice [5]
Environmental Politics [6]
Government [8]
Health [38]
Journalism & Media [9]
Laws & Regulations [24]
People & Population [11]
Policy [12]
Pollution [33]
Region:
National (U.S.) [21]
Visibility:
Public [16]
- Read more about Environmental Justice Grants Disappear. Environmental Injustice Does Not [36]
Trump Tariffs Blow Up Long U.S.-Canada Environmental Partnership [39]

As trade wars loom with U.S. allies, including our neighbors to the north and south, another kind of long-standing relationship is under threat — the environmental partnership between the United States and Canada. A Backgrounder Analysis examines deep-rooted ties over energy, water and timber. Does the brewing conflict over trade mean the long bonds over the environment have been broken?

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [27]
Topics on the Beat:
Consumer [31]
Economy & Business [40]
Energy & Fuel [41]
Environmental Health [42]
Environmental Politics [6]
Fish & Fisheries [43]
Forests [44]
Government [8]
Laws & Regulations [24]
Natural Resources [25]
Policy [12]
Water & Oceans [13]
Region:
National (U.S.) [21]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [45]
Northwest (OR WA) [46]
International [14]
Canada [47]
Mexico [48]
Visibility:
Public [16]
- Read more about Trump Tariffs Blow Up Long U.S.-Canada Environmental Partnership [39]
Trump 2.0 Cuts Hit FOIA Offices at Federal Agencies [49]

The Freedom of Information Act is a key tool for environmental journalists, but firings at many federal agencies’ FOIA offices threaten to seriously undermine it. That’s the warning from WatchDog Opinion, which points to dire implications for the free flow of information on public health and environmental health threats. A look at what’s at stake and what some are doing to keep FOIA alive.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog [50]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Politics [6]
Government [8]
Health [38]
Laws & Regulations [24]
People & Population [11]
Policy [12]
Region:
National (U.S.) [21]
Visibility:
Public [16]
- Read more about Trump 2.0 Cuts Hit FOIA Offices at Federal Agencies [49]
As One Door Shuts on Climate Risk Data, News Outlet Opens Another [51]

Even as U.S. government agencies rush to wipe climate change information (or even the mention of the word climate) from their websites, others are racing to reconstruct lost data elsewhere. Case in point is a rescued database on climate risks preserved by The Guardian. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox has more on the preserved database and how best to use it.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [18]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [4]
Disasters [52]
Environmental Health [42]
Environmental Politics [6]
Government [8]
Journalism & Media [9]
Policy [12]
Region:
National (U.S.) [21]
Visibility:
Public [16]
- Read more about As One Door Shuts on Climate Risk Data, News Outlet Opens Another [51]
#SEJ2025 — Confronting the Past, Surviving the Future [53]

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 [53] and register now [54], before the April 16 midnight deadline.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ News [55]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [3]
Biodiversity [30]
Climate Change [4]
Energy & Fuel [41]
Environmental Health [42]
Environmental Justice [5]
Environmental Politics [6]
Fish & Fisheries [43]
Food [7]
Government [8]
Health [38]
Journalism & Media [9]
Natural Resources [25]
People & Population [11]
Planning & Growth [56]
Policy [12]
Pollution [33]
Science [20]
Water & Oceans [13]
Wildlife [35]
Region:
National (U.S.) [21]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [57]
International [14]
Mexico [48]
Visibility:
Public [16]
- Read more about #SEJ2025 — Confronting the Past, Surviving the Future [53]
How the Potomac Imparts the Capital’s Story [58]

The Potomac is one of the most prominent rivers in the United States, a defining ecological feature of Washington, D.C., at the same time it reveals the city’s history of racial inequality and disenfranchisement. Writer, historian, educator and herbalist Charlotte Taylor Fryar recounts that tale in her ambitious “Potomac Fever,” reviewed in the latest BookShelf by contributing editor Jennifer Weeks, herself a Washington native.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [59]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Health [42]
Environmental Justice [5]
Environmental Politics [6]
Natural Resources [25]
People & Population [11]
Pollution [33]
Water & Oceans [13]
Region:
National (U.S.) [21]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [60]
Visibility:
Public [16]
- Read more about How the Potomac Imparts the Capital’s Story [58]

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