Publication Items

A Guide to Legal Resources [1]

Freelance journalists, including environmental reporters, need not brave legal woes alone, counsels Freelance Files co-editor Elyse Hauser. A wide variety of groups offers aid for everything from denials of access to assaults or arrests, and her latest entry IDs more than a dozen resources, including legal assistance, emergency financial help and more. Plus, how to prevent problems to begin with.

SEJ Publication Types:
Freelance Files [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [3]
Laws & Regulations [4]
Region:
National (U.S.) [5]
International [6]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about A Guide to Legal Resources [1]
COP30 — Why It Won’t Save the Planet [8]

Just under two months from the start of the annual global forum for managing climate change — the United Nations’ conference of parties beginning Nov. 10 in Belém, Brazil — our Backgrounder analysis laments the vanishingly small chance that nations will agree on managing steadily rising greenhouse gas emissions. A look at the obstacles, plus COP30 reporting challenges, from hotel expenses to diplomatic spin.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [9]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [10]
Energy & Fuel [11]
Environmental Justice [12]
Environmental Politics [13]
Government [14]
Journalism & Media [3]
Policy [15]
Region:
National (U.S.) [5]
International [6]
South America [16]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about COP30 — Why It Won’t Save the Planet [8]
Ecofiction — A Novel Approach to Environmental Truth-Telling [17]

Fiction and journalism might seem like polar opposites, but some environmental journalists find writing ecofiction is an ideal complement to their day jobs. Drawing on journalistic research skills and curiosity, ecofiction lets them explore environmental issues from a different angle while enjoying an opportunity to unleash their imaginations. Journalist-fictioneers Valerie Brown and Meg Turville-Heitz on working across genre boundaries.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [18]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [3]
Military [19]
Science [20]
Technology [21]
Wildlife [22]
Region:
National (U.S.) [5]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [23]
International [6]
Asia [24]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Ecofiction — A Novel Approach to Environmental Truth-Telling [17]
NASA Portal Can Lead Reporters to Universe of Data [25]

For environmental journalists looking for data riches to help tell their stories — whether about urban heat islands, sea-surface temperatures or air pollution — NASA has the satellites whose sensors capture insights galore. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox offers an introduction to the U.S. space agency’s incredibly extensive data portal, and how to get started amid the wealth of information (caveat: before it’s gone).

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [26]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [27]
Climate Change [10]
Environmental Health [28]
Environmental Studies [29]
Forests [30]
Government [14]
Journalism & Media [3]
Science [20]
Technology [21]
Water & Oceans [31]
Region:
National (U.S.) [5]
International [6]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about NASA Portal Can Lead Reporters to Universe of Data [25]
Solutions — and Death — in the Rainforest [32]

A project begun to explore ways to protect the Amazon seemed to end with the murder of the journalist who conceived it, along with his guide and research partner. But others picked up the mantle and completed a volume exploring ways to save this precious and rapidly disappearing ecosystem. BookShelf reviewer Elyse Hauser on how this unusual book tries to meet that promise.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [33]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [34]
Biodiversity [35]
Environmental Health [28]
Environmental Politics [13]
Forests [30]
Journalism & Media [3]
Natural Resources [36]
Planning & Growth [37]
Region:
International [6]
South America [16]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Solutions — and Death — in the Rainforest [32]
Wildfire Smoke Is Showing Up Everywhere. It Can Be Fatal [38]

Wildfire’s immensely destructive power is not just about what it burns. The smoke from more frequent fires, too, has real potential to harm human health, the new Backgrounder explains, releasing particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and worse. Learn more about the hazards and historical perspective, along with what journalists should tell their communities can be done.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [9]
Topics on the Beat:
Planning & Growth [37]
Policy [15]
Pollution [39]
Region:
National (U.S.) [5]
California [40]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [41]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [42]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [23]
International [6]
Canada [43]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Wildfire Smoke Is Showing Up Everywhere. It Can Be Fatal [38]
Rethinking Forest Management in the Pyrocene [44]

Recent urban-interface infernos, fueled by climate change, leave no doubt that we have entered the age of runaway fire. Writer and ecologist Lauren Oakes writes that large-scale combustion is permanently reshaping ecosystems and societies as we learn to live with wildfire, not just fight it. Instead of perpetuating problematic approaches to forest management, experts call for confronting the root causes of this crisis and adopting science-informed responses.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [18]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [10]
Disasters [45]
Environmental Politics [13]
Environmental Studies [29]
Forests [30]
Government [14]
Health [46]
Infrastructure [47]
Journalism & Media [3]
Laws & Regulations [4]
Natural Resources [36]
Policy [15]
Region:
National (U.S.) [5]
California [40]
Northwest (OR WA) [48]
International [6]
Canada [43]
Australia & Oceania [49]
Europe [50]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Rethinking Forest Management in the Pyrocene [44]
From Fear to Fascination — A New Insect Narrative [51]

Media coverage of “bugs” is often sensationalistic and centered on fear and disgust. But conservation photographer and writer Danae Wolfe says journalists should be highlighting the importance, beauty and plight of insects and spiders. Reporting that offers alternative perspectives on these essential creatures can inspire curiosity and admiration, and encourage efforts to protect them. Wolfe on why to write about insects.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [18]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [52]
Agriculture [34]
Biodiversity [35]
Chemicals [53]
Climate Change [10]
Environmental Health [28]
Environmental Studies [29]
Food [54]
Forests [30]
Journalism & Media [3]
Pollution [39]
Science [20]
Wildlife [22]
Region:
National (U.S.) [5]
International [6]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about From Fear to Fascination — A New Insect Narrative [51]
Life on Mars and Other Space Oddities [55]

When an ecologist and a cartoonist team up to explore the realities of colonizing Mars, the result is a humorous and highly informative book on whether humans are truly up to settling space. They detour into the intimacies of zero-gravity intimacy and the challenges of ensuring a food supply. From BookShelf contributing editor Melody Kemp, a review of “A City on Mars.”

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [33]
Topics on the Beat:
Planning & Growth [37]
Science [20]
Technology [21]
Transportation [56]
Region:
National (U.S.) [5]
International [6]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Life on Mars and Other Space Oddities [55]
In West Bank, Hope for Future in Link Between Land and People [57]

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 [58]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [34]
Climate Change [10]
Environmental Justice [12]
Environmental Politics [13]
Food [54]
Government [14]
Journalism & Media [3]
Military [19]
People & Population [59]
Policy [15]
Water & Oceans [31]
Region:
International [6]
Middle East [60]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about In West Bank, Hope for Future in Link Between Land and People [57]

Pages