Publication Items

Exploring the Impacts of Hydroelectric Megaprojects on Indigenous Lands [1]

Nearly two-thirds of the world’s rivers are impeded by dams and we keep building them in our quest for cleaner and greener sources of electricity. But as podcast producer Farha Akhtar learned while producing a recent episode, these monumental structures are having a profound impact on our planet and catastrophic consequences for many Indigenous people.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Biodiversity [4]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [6]
Consumer [7]
Diversity [8]
Economy & Business [9]
Energy & Fuel [10]
Environmental Health [11]
Environmental Justice [12]
Environmental Politics [13]
Fish & Fisheries [14]
Food [15]
Government [16]
Health [17]
Infrastructure [18]
Journalism & Media [19]
Natural Resources [20]
Pollution [21]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [22]
Science [23]
Technology [24]
Water & Oceans [25]
Wildlife [26]
Region:
National (U.S.) [27]
International [28]
Canada [29]
Asia [30]
Visibility:
Public [31]
- Read more about Exploring the Impacts of Hydroelectric Megaprojects on Indigenous Lands [1]
Journalism Industry Program Supports Reporting on Workers — and Work — in a Warming World [32]

As the economic impacts of climate change intensify, reporting on how individuals are affected, particularly in the Global South, is lagging. Veteran journalist Christine Spolar at The Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting details a new initiative to encourage journalists to fill this gap. The story of recent grantees Bhasker Tripathi and Susan Schulman, who have tracked job losses and migrations tied to climate change in India and Iraq.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Agriculture [33]
Climate Change [6]
Disasters [34]
Economy & Business [9]
Environmental Justice [12]
Environmental Politics [13]
Food [15]
Government [16]
Health [17]
Journalism & Media [19]
People & Population [35]
Policy [36]
Technology [24]
Water & Oceans [25]
Region:
National (U.S.) [27]
International [28]
Africa [37]
Asia [30]
Middle East [38]
Visibility:
Public [31]
- Read more about Journalism Industry Program Supports Reporting on Workers — and Work — in a Warming World [32]
Documentary Tells of Human, Environmental Toll of Unexploded Ordnance [39]

A film by reporting duo Jerry Redfern and Karen Coates — supported by a grant from the Society of Environmental Journalists — shows the ongoing human and environmental harm of the unexploded U.S. bombs and other ordnance dropped on Southeast Asian villages during the Vietnam War. “Eternal Harvest,” which builds on their earlier book on the topic, was made painstakingly over years, and in the latest FEJ StoryLog, the couple explains their process and storytelling approach.

SEJ Publication Types:
FEJ StoryLog [40]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [33]
Environmental Justice [12]
Health [17]
Journalism & Media [19]
Military [41]
People & Population [35]
Region:
International [28]
Asia [30]
Visibility:
Public [31]
- Read more about Documentary Tells of Human, Environmental Toll of Unexploded Ordnance [39]
How a Distant Chapter in Spice Trade Foretells Today’s Climate Chaos [42]

When Europeans colonized remote Indonesian islands centuries ago to dominate the trade in nutmeg and cloves, they were repeating a pattern of domination of peoples and nature that author Amitav Ghosh argues in his latest book has brought us to the present-day environmental crisis. BookShelf reviewer Melody Kemp offers praise for the book’s strong narrative qualities and incisive historical analysis.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [43]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [33]
Climate Change [6]
Environmental Justice [12]
Environmental Politics [13]
Food [15]
Natural Resources [20]
People & Population [35]
Policy [36]
Region:
International [28]
Asia [30]
Visibility:
Public [31]
- Read more about How a Distant Chapter in Spice Trade Foretells Today’s Climate Chaos [42]
COP 27 Egypt — From Afar, How UN Meeting Will Affect Climate Change Reporting [44]

How will the UN’s yearly climate treaty talks in Egypt next month touch domestic U.S. reporting? The latest Backgrounder has an outlook, with close attention to the question of compensation for nations suffering the worst impacts of global warming, plus the politics of war and energy, methane and HFCs. The prospects for action in and after Egypt.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [45]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [6]
Disasters [34]
Energy & Fuel [10]
Environmental Health [11]
Environmental Justice [12]
Environmental Politics [13]
Government [16]
Journalism & Media [19]
Policy [36]
Region:
National (U.S.) [27]
International [28]
Mexico [46]
Africa [37]
Asia [30]
Australia & Oceania [47]
Central America & the Caribbean [48]
Europe [49]
Middle East [38]
South America [50]
Visibility:
Public [31]
- Read more about COP 27 Egypt — From Afar, How UN Meeting Will Affect Climate Change Reporting [44]
On the Persistence of Ocean Plastics [51]

Concerns about seaborne plastic waste go back decades, but science writer Juli Berwald suggests that myths and disinformation about sources and solutions continue to cloud the waters. From lentil-sized nurdles to sprawling fishing nets, 200 million tons of plastic now fill the ocean and, for her, it has become evident that the ocean plastics story is really a land story. But will the newly signed international treaty on plastics offer relief?

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Biodiversity [4]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [6]
Consumer [7]
Economy & Business [9]
Energy & Fuel [10]
Environmental Health [11]
Environmental Studies [52]
Fish & Fisheries [14]
Government [16]
Infrastructure [18]
Journalism & Media [19]
Laws & Regulations [53]
Natural Resources [20]
Policy [36]
Pollution [21]
Science [23]
Technology [24]
Waste [54]
Water & Oceans [25]
Wildlife [26]
Region:
National (U.S.) [27]
Alaska and Hawaii [55]
California [56]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [57]
Northwest (OR WA) [58]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [59]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [60]
International [28]
Mexico [46]
Africa [37]
Asia [30]
Europe [49]
Visibility:
Public [31]
- Read more about On the Persistence of Ocean Plastics [51]
Author Shares Unorthodox Look at the Ways of Water [61]

How water moves through the global ecosystem and shapes our landscapes is the subject of a must-read new book by writer Erica Gies, according to BookShelf editor Tom Henry. A significant part of water’s story is how humanity invariably fails when trying to manipulate it. But hope may reside with Gies’ various “water detectives,” who explore how to “let water go where it wants to go.”

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [43]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [6]
Environmental Health [11]
Natural Resources [20]
Water & Oceans [25]
Wildlife [26]
Region:
National (U.S.) [27]
California [56]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [62]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [63]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [59]
International [28]
Canada [29]
Africa [37]
Asia [30]
Europe [49]
Middle East [38]
South America [50]
Visibility:
Public [31]
- Read more about Author Shares Unorthodox Look at the Ways of Water [61]
WTO Deal on Fishing Subsidies May Reduce Ocean Overfishing [64]

A new World Trade Organization agreement to limit global overfishing may yield important stories for environmental journalists, as billions of people around the world rely on already heavily exploited fish stocks as their main source of protein. This Backgrounder offers details on the pact and how it tries to address the problem, while providing resources for your reporting.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [45]
Topics on the Beat:
Economy & Business [9]
Environmental Health [11]
Environmental Justice [12]
Environmental Politics [13]
Fish & Fisheries [14]
Food [15]
Government [16]
Journalism & Media [19]
Laws & Regulations [53]
Natural Resources [20]
Policy [36]
Water & Oceans [25]
Wildlife [26]
Region:
National (U.S.) [27]
International [28]
Asia [30]
Europe [49]
Visibility:
Public [31]
- Read more about WTO Deal on Fishing Subsidies May Reduce Ocean Overfishing [64]
Can Qatar’s World Cup Really Be Carbon Neutral? [65]

Qatar — the world’s highest carbon emitter on a per capita basis — made big promises in its winning bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. But will they deliver? Doha-based journalism professor Craig LaMay writes that while sports megaevent hosts face increasing pressure to address environmental concerns, critical coverage of their follow-through is challenging, especially in countries with no free press or public right to government information.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [6]
Economy & Business [9]
Energy & Fuel [10]
Environmental Politics [13]
Government [16]
Infrastructure [18]
Journalism & Media [19]
Natural Resources [20]
Technology [24]
Transportation [66]
Waste [54]
Water & Oceans [25]
Region:
International [28]
Canada [29]
Africa [37]
Asia [30]
Europe [49]
Middle East [38]
Visibility:
Public [31]
- Read more about Can Qatar’s World Cup Really Be Carbon Neutral? [65]
How 'Rights of Nature' Is Recasting the Relationship Between Law and the Earth [67]

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 [11]
Environmental Justice [12]
Environmental Politics [13]
Environmental Studies [52]
Fish & Fisheries [14]
Forests [68]
Government [16]
Laws & Regulations [53]
Natural Resources [20]
Policy [36]
Pollution [21]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [22]
Water & Oceans [25]
Region:
National (U.S.) [27]
California [56]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [62]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [69]
International [28]
Africa [37]
Asia [30]
Australia & Oceania [47]
South America [50]
Visibility:
Public [31]
- Read more about How 'Rights of Nature' Is Recasting the Relationship Between Law and the Earth [67]

Pages