Publication Items

Environmental Justice Beat Gets Boost From New Database [1]

The Biden administration, which has been making environmental justice a top goal, has released a new screening tool that complements existing environmental equity databases, but with especially strong attention to a range of categories like clean transit, clean water, housing issues, life expectancy and more (although, interestingly, not race). The latest Reporter’s Toolbox has a guide to the new screening tool.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Diversity [3]
Environmental Health [4]
Environmental Justice [5]
Environmental Politics [6]
Health [7]
Journalism & Media [8]
People & Population [9]
Planning & Growth [10]
Policy [11]
Pollution [12]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Environmental Justice Beat Gets Boost From New Database [1]
Houston Plays Host to First On-Site SEJ Conference Since 2019 [15]

Environmental journalists from around the country and beyond will gather in Houston later this month for the Society of Environmental Journalists’ 31st annual conference. Widely known as the energy capital of the world, this highly diverse city is an ideal place to drill down on the causes and consequences of climate change and other environmental issues of the day.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ News [16]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [17]
Air [18]
Biodiversity [19]
Chemicals [20]
Climate Change [21]
Disasters [22]
Diversity [3]
Economy & Business [23]
Energy & Fuel [24]
Environmental Health [4]
Environmental Justice [5]
Environmental Politics [6]
Fish & Fisheries [25]
Food [26]
Forests [27]
Government [28]
Health [7]
Infrastructure [29]
Journalism & Media [8]
Laws & Regulations [30]
People & Population [9]
Planning & Growth [10]
Policy [11]
Pollution [12]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [31]
Science [32]
Technology [33]
Transportation [34]
Waste [35]
Water & Oceans [36]
Wildlife [37]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [38]
International [39]
Mexico [40]
Central America & the Caribbean [41]
Europe [42]
South America [43]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Houston Plays Host to First On-Site SEJ Conference Since 2019 [15]
Climate Crisis May Quickly Confront U.S., World With National Security Threats [44]

The climate-security nexus has drawn attention from the Biden administration, but less so elsewhere, even as security experts worry about climate change as a threat multiplier that can exacerbate other causes of conflict. Our new Backgrounder explores these concerns, with a look at how the issue has played out in recent U.S. politics. Plus, seven global regions where climate change may worsen ongoing conflict.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [45]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [21]
Disasters [22]
Environmental Health [4]
Environmental Politics [6]
Food [26]
Government [28]
Military [46]
Natural Resources [47]
People & Population [9]
Policy [11]
Water & Oceans [36]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
International [39]
Mexico [40]
Africa [48]
Antarctica & Arctic [49]
Asia [50]
Central America & the Caribbean [41]
Middle East [51]
South America [43]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Climate Crisis May Quickly Confront U.S., World With National Security Threats [44]
Walking With the ‘Guardians of the Forest’ — Lessons From Coverage of Amazonian Fires [52]

Three teams of video journalists descended on the Brazilian Amazon amid some of its worst-ever fires to capture efforts of Indigenous rainforest “guardians” to protect it from destruction. They returned with award-winning reporting, but also a deeper understanding of the region and its people, and of how to bring the climate change story closer to home. They share their experiences, in the new EJ InSight.

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ InSight [53]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [17]
Agriculture [54]
Biodiversity [19]
Climate Change [21]
Environmental Health [4]
Environmental Justice [5]
Environmental Politics [6]
Forests [27]
Journalism & Media [8]
Natural Resources [47]
People & Population [9]
Region:
International [39]
South America [43]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Walking With the ‘Guardians of the Forest’ — Lessons From Coverage of Amazonian Fires [52]
EPA TSCA Database Back on the Street [55]

A key federal database on toxic chemicals, kneecapped under the Trump administration, is now back. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox reports that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week resurfaced the ChemView service, and explains the background law that fuels its data, while offering tips on how to make smart use of the database as it expands in coming years.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [20]
Environmental Health [4]
Environmental Politics [6]
Government [28]
Health [7]
Journalism & Media [8]
Laws & Regulations [30]
Pollution [12]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about EPA TSCA Database Back on the Street [55]
Covering Climate Change in the Forgotten Places: A Moroccan Journalist’s View [56]

Environmental journalist Khalid Bencherif struggled to bring the emergent effects of climate change to the attention of local audiences facing many other pressing problems. So he told a powerful story grounded in personal experience, traveling to his childhood home in Morocco’s Tafilalet region, where deepening drought is hitting the oases hard and driving many villagers from their homes.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [57]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [21]
Environmental Health [4]
Environmental Justice [5]
Environmental Politics [6]
Government [28]
Journalism & Media [8]
Natural Resources [47]
People & Population [9]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [31]
Science [32]
Technology [33]
Water & Oceans [36]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Africa [48]
Middle East [51]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Covering Climate Change in the Forgotten Places: A Moroccan Journalist’s View [56]
The Year Ahead Will Spark Abundant Environment News — Both Good and Bad [58]

Even as the climate crisis countdown story continues, a wide range of environment and energy issues are on journalists’ watchlist for the year ahead, per an analysis from our “2022 Journalists’ Guide to Energy & Environment [59].” The overview looks at 13 key trends to track in 2022 and beyond — including infrastructure, pandemics, environmental justice, energy, chemicals, plastics and, of course, climate.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [57]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [20]
Climate Change [21]
Disasters [22]
Energy & Fuel [24]
Environmental Health [4]
Environmental Justice [5]
Environmental Politics [6]
Government [28]
Health [7]
Infrastructure [29]
Journalism & Media [8]
Laws & Regulations [30]
Policy [11]
Pollution [12]
Transportation [34]
Waste [35]
Water & Oceans [36]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
International [39]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about The Year Ahead Will Spark Abundant Environment News — Both Good and Bad [58]
Infrastructure Funding Coming Soon for Cleanup of Orphan Oil Wells [60]

With billions of infrastructure dollars now on the table to clean up orphan oil wells, states are already elbowing their way in for a taste. But as our new Backgrounder explains, the process to ensure they cannot pollute the environment or spew climate-change gasses is a complex one. And the sheer (and largely unknown) number of orphaned wells adds to the complications.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [45]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [21]
Energy & Fuel [24]
Environmental Health [4]
Environmental Justice [5]
Environmental Politics [6]
Government [28]
Health [7]
Infrastructure [29]
Journalism & Media [8]
People & Population [9]
Pollution [12]
Water & Oceans [36]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Infrastructure Funding Coming Soon for Cleanup of Orphan Oil Wells [60]
Grantee Suits Up To Ask If Honeybees Harm Native Species [61]

When Colorado-based freelance journalist Jennifer Oldham suited up in protective gear to investigate if commercial honeybee hives on public lands impact native bee populations, as well as to meet with federal scientists and visit a bee study site, it was a Fund for Environmental Journalism grant that helped her do it. Oldham shares her experience and advice in the latest FEJ StoryLog.

SEJ Publication Types:
FEJ StoryLog [62]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [54]
Environmental Health [4]
Environmental Studies [63]
Journalism & Media [8]
Natural Resources [47]
Science [32]
Wildlife [37]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [64]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Grantee Suits Up To Ask If Honeybees Harm Native Species [61]
Reporters Reveal ‘Decades of Deceit’ Over Underground Water Contamination [65]

A trove of confidential documents about a well-known groundwater pollution problem helped journalists Paul LaRocco and David M. Schwartz uncover how much had actually been hidden about the contamination’s severity and how it could have been kept from worsening. In the latest Inside Story Q&A, LaRocco and Schwartz share the story behind their award-winning investigation.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [66]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [20]
Disasters [22]
Economy & Business [23]
Environmental Health [4]
Health [7]
Journalism & Media [8]
Military [46]
Pollution [12]
Water & Oceans [36]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [67]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Reporters Reveal ‘Decades of Deceit’ Over Underground Water Contamination [65]

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