Publication Items

How the Simple Backyard Bird Feeder Can Lift Local Environment Reporting [1]

If a remedy for global environmental woes is needed, look no farther than the feathered creatures that flit colorfully about the local winter landscape, drawn by feeders multiplied by the lockdown. The new TipSheet explores how backyard birding offers opportunities for how-to or why-to stories that can offer deeper ecological insights. Ten story ideas and a half-dozen resources to get you started.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [3]
Wildlife [4]
Region:
National (U.S.) [5]
International [6]
Canada [7]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about How the Simple Backyard Bird Feeder Can Lift Local Environment Reporting [1]
Between the Lines — Author Explores Experience of Living Through Climate Change [9]

To make climate change less abstract and more direct, writer Madeline Ostrander traveled the country to speak to those living with its impacts in the places they call home. In a BookShelf “Between the Lines” Q&A, Ostrander discusses her resulting book, “At Home on an Unruly Planet: Finding Refuge on a Changed Earth,” and addresses the lenses she used, the characters she portrayed and the surprises she encountered.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [10]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [11]
Climate Change [12]
Disasters [13]
Economy & Business [14]
Environmental Justice [15]
Environmental Politics [16]
Forests [17]
Health [18]
Journalism & Media [3]
People & Population [19]
Policy [20]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [21]
Science [22]
Wildlife [4]
Region:
National (U.S.) [5]
Alaska and Hawaii [23]
California [24]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [25]
International [6]
Canada [7]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Between the Lines — Author Explores Experience of Living Through Climate Change [9]
Dredging for Data on Wetlands Permits [26]

In the second of two parts on how to report locally on wetlands permitting, the latest Reporter’s Toolbox helps you muck around an Army Corps of Engineers “permit finder” database that’s accurate and particularly good for zooming in on map-based geographic data. Plus, see the part one TipSheet [27] on how reemerging wetlands controversy brings the issue to your area.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [28]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [3]
Natural Resources [29]
Water & Oceans [30]
Region:
National (U.S.) [5]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Dredging for Data on Wetlands Permits [26]
Gathering Offers Sobering Look Ahead at 2024, But With Glimmers of Hope [31]

Top environmental journalists and others at the Society of Environmental Journalists annual “Journalists’ Guide to Environment and Energy” program foresee some challenging realities to cover in 2024, most notably with the ongoing impacts of climate change. Bright signs emerged as well. Read our take, watch the event video [32] and visit our full “2024 Journalists’ Guide to Environment + Energy [33]” special report.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ News [34]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [35]
Biodiversity [36]
Chemicals [37]
Climate Change [12]
Disasters [13]
Environmental Health [38]
Environmental Justice [15]
Environmental Politics [16]
Fish & Fisheries [39]
Forests [17]
Health [18]
Journalism & Media [3]
Natural Resources [29]
People & Population [19]
Policy [20]
Pollution [40]
Water & Oceans [30]
Region:
National (U.S.) [5]
Alaska and Hawaii [23]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [25]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [41]
International [6]
South America [42]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Gathering Offers Sobering Look Ahead at 2024, But With Glimmers of Hope [31]
Covering Food Systems — The Next Climate Action Battleground [43]

Freelance food systems reporter Thin Lei Win believes that if the world doesn’t change the way it produces, processes, transports, consumes and discards food, climate change will worsen and hunger levels will spike. But she also worries that powerful interests want to keep the status quo and cites parallels with the tobacco and fossil fuel industries. More in Freelance Files, including places for freelancers to pitch climate-food stories.

SEJ Publication Types:
Freelance Files [44]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [45]
Climate Change [12]
Consumer [46]
Economy & Business [14]
Energy & Fuel [47]
Food [48]
Journalism & Media [3]
People & Population [19]
Policy [20]
Pollution [40]
Region:
National (U.S.) [5]
International [6]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Covering Food Systems — The Next Climate Action Battleground [43]
Reporting on Environmental Solutions and Equity — at a Watershed Scale [49]

Reporting on interconnected ecosystems lends itself to better environmental stories, and so tracing how water moves across landscapes, communities, industries and regulatory schemes can help the public connect the dots. That’s how Annie Ropeik, who helps run the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, sees the watershed beat. She shares expert views and offers insights for environment journalists to use in their reporting.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [50]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [11]
Agriculture [45]
Climate Change [12]
Diversity [51]
Economy & Business [14]
Environmental Health [38]
Environmental Justice [15]
Environmental Politics [16]
Environmental Studies [52]
Government [53]
Health [18]
Infrastructure [54]
Journalism & Media [3]
Laws & Regulations [55]
Natural Resources [29]
Planning & Growth [56]
Policy [20]
Pollution [40]
Water & Oceans [30]
Region:
National (U.S.) [5]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [57]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [58]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [59]
Northwest (OR WA) [60]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [25]
International [6]
Canada [7]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Reporting on Environmental Solutions and Equity — at a Watershed Scale [49]
Seabed Mining May Dredge Up Real Minerals, Fishy Worries in 2024 [61]

The mining of the ocean floor has stirred up significant debate, much of which clouds the realities of whether and to what degree it would cause ecological harm to one of the world’s greatest resources. This week’s TipSheet looks more closely at the controversy, which may well come to a head in the coming year. The latest entry in SEJournal’s 2024 Journalists’ Guide to Environment and Energy.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [11]
Biodiversity [36]
Climate Change [12]
Economy & Business [14]
Environmental Health [38]
Environmental Politics [16]
Fish & Fisheries [39]
Food [48]
Government [53]
Journalism & Media [3]
Laws & Regulations [55]
Natural Resources [29]
Policy [20]
Pollution [40]
Water & Oceans [30]
Region:
International [6]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Seabed Mining May Dredge Up Real Minerals, Fishy Worries in 2024 [61]
SEJ Welcomes New Board Members, Announces 2024 Journalists’ Guide Event in D.C. [62]

Society of Environmental Journalists president Luke Runyon (pictured, left) writes to SEJ members with details on this year’s board elections, a returning flagship in-person event and an update on our executive director search.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ Presidents Report [63]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [3]
Region:
National (U.S.) [5]
International [6]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about SEJ Welcomes New Board Members, Announces 2024 Journalists’ Guide Event in D.C. [62]
High-Risk Reporting Yields Results on Palm Oil Investigation [64]

The devastation caused by the Amazonian palm oil industry was at the heart of an investigation by Mongabay reporter Karla Mendes. But first she had to face hostile sources, intransigent regulators and a robbery attempt. Ultimately, the project not only won a reporting prize from the Society of Environmental Journalists but brought global awareness and government action. Her experience, in Inside Story Q&A.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [65]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [45]
Chemicals [37]
Economy & Business [14]
Environmental Health [38]
Environmental Justice [15]
Environmental Politics [16]
Food [48]
Forests [17]
Government [53]
Health [18]
Journalism & Media [3]
Natural Resources [29]
People & Population [19]
Pollution [40]
Water & Oceans [30]
Region:
International [6]
South America [42]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about High-Risk Reporting Yields Results on Palm Oil Investigation [64]
Exposed for Pig Pollution, Nebraska Governor Slimes the Reporter [66]

When the governor of Nebraska personally attacked an investigative reporter who’d covered environmental problems in his family business, it drew a national spotlight and a quick response from free press supporters, including the Society of Environmental Journalists. WatchDog Opinion looks at what happened and observes that politicians’ name-calling of journalists has an unfortunate history — but must never be allowed to stop the truthtelling.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog [67]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [45]
Environmental Politics [16]
Government [53]
Journalism & Media [3]
Policy [20]
Pollution [40]
Region:
National (U.S.) [5]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [58]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Exposed for Pig Pollution, Nebraska Governor Slimes the Reporter [66]

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