Publication Items

Use EPA TRI Database To Find Toxic Threats [1]

The Toxics Release Inventory database, refreshed annually, has long been the foundation of many a good environmental news story. The latest release is now out, and this week’s TipSheet reminds journalists why the searchable online TRI can be such a valuable reporting tool in tracking toxic dangers.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Air [4]
Chemicals [5]
Disasters [6]
Environmental Health [7]
Government [8]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [11]
Pollution [12]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
International [14]
Asia [15]
Visibility:
Public [16]
- Read more about Use EPA TRI Database To Find Toxic Threats [1]
Styrofoam Facts — Why You May Want To Bring Your Own Cup [17]

What makes styrofoam good — like its insulating, shock-absorbing qualities that make it suitable for hot coffee cups, coolers, helmets and packing material — is also what makes it bad … for the environment, that is. This month’s Backgrounder looks at the technical and environmental aspects of this long-troubling plastic pollution source.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [18]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [5]
Consumer [19]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Politics [20]
Food [21]
Government [8]
Health [9]
Pollution [12]
Science [22]
Waste [23]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
International [14]
Visibility:
Public [16]
- Read more about Styrofoam Facts — Why You May Want To Bring Your Own Cup [17]
“Bombs Away: Militarization, Conservation, and Ecological Restoration” [24]

Does the military use ecological restoration as a means to “green” over the complex relationship between nature and culture, undermining the impacts of history and warfare? Our latest BookShelf review of the new volume, “Bombs Away: Militarization, Conservation, and Ecological Restoration,” explores one author’s argument that it does.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [25]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Politics [20]
Government [8]
Military [26]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
California [27]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [28]
International [14]
Asia [15]
Europe [29]
Visibility:
Public [16]
- Read more about “Bombs Away: Militarization, Conservation, and Ecological Restoration” [24]
Doc on Rare Porpoise Wins Sundance Award [30]

An environmental documentary that follows a risk-laden effort to save a rare and elusive porpoise won over audiences at the recent Sundance Film Festival. Correspondent JoAnn Valenti takes a look at the film, along with other documentaries that explore the role of journalists and journalism.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [31]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Biodiversity [32]
Economy & Business [33]
Fish & Fisheries [34]
Journalism & Media [10]
Water & Oceans [35]
Wildlife [36]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [37]
International [14]
Mexico [38]
Visibility:
Public [16]
- Read more about Doc on Rare Porpoise Wins Sundance Award [30]
Can States Divvy Up the Shrinking Colorado River Water Supply? [39]

The vast Colorado River, recently in the news over a troubled drought deal, is at the heart of numerous environmental problems in the American West, where water is scarce and the legal complexities of water rights voluminous. The latest Issue Backgrounder offers an explainer on the story, which involves at least seven states, the federal government, Native American tribes, a hornet’s nest of irrigation districts and even Mexico.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [18]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [40]
Climate Change [41]
Consumer [19]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Politics [20]
Government [8]
Laws & Regulations [11]
Natural Resources [42]
Water & Oceans [35]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
California [27]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [43]
International [14]
Mexico [38]
Visibility:
Public [16]
- Read more about Can States Divvy Up the Shrinking Colorado River Water Supply? [39]
Perfecting Your Panorama Technique [44]

In this how-to, veteran environmental photojournalist Dennis Dimick shares new techniques for capturing panoramas from the air — while on commercial plane flights — in order to illustrate human impacts on the landscape. Plus, Dimick details how and why he developed the new approach [45], in our latest EJ InSight column exploring the cutting edge of visual journalism on the environment.

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ InSight [46]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [40]
Air [4]
Forests [47]
Journalism & Media [10]
People & Population [48]
Planning & Growth [49]
Pollution [12]
Water & Oceans [35]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
International [14]
Visibility:
Public [16]
- Read more about Perfecting Your Panorama Technique [44]
Where Does All That Recycling Go? [50]

Where do all those recyclables actually go? This week’s TipSheet dives into the trash to find a story worth telling — of troubling overseas dumping, problematic local incineration and a fraying patchwork of U.S. regulation. Plus, several dozen questions you might want to ask, a pair of pro tips and a dozen resources to track the story in your area.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Air [4]
Consumer [19]
Economy & Business [33]
Government [8]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [11]
Policy [51]
Pollution [12]
Waste [23]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
International [14]
Asia [15]
Visibility:
Public [16]
- Read more about Where Does All That Recycling Go? [50]
Border Wall a Way into Environmental Stories [52]

The fierce contest over the Trump border wall has critical environmental implications, both local and regional, per the latest TipSheet. A key suit against the Trump emergency declaration was filed by environmental groups and plans for a border barrier may harm significant wildlife habitat, as well as numerous migrating species, including some that are endangered. Get the back story and why it matters, along with story ideas and reporting resources.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Biodiversity [32]
Environmental Politics [20]
Government [8]
Wildlife [36]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
California [27]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [37]
International [14]
Mexico [38]
Visibility:
Public [16]
- Read more about Border Wall a Way into Environmental Stories [52]
Green New Deal Proposes Sweeping Economic Transformation [53]

Our latest Issue Backgrounder looks at the potentially historic impact of the ambitious climate action agenda known as the Green New Deal — not just on this Congress or the next, or even on the race for the White House in 2020, but for the soul of the Democratic Party. An analysis of a public policy program in the making, the political maneuvering it’s engendering and its prospects to sow division or prompt a united front.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [18]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Climate Change [41]
Economy & Business [33]
Energy & Fuel [54]
Environmental Politics [20]
Government [8]
Health [9]
Laws & Regulations [11]
People & Population [48]
Policy [51]
Pollution [12]
Technology [55]
Transportation [56]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
International [14]
Visibility:
Public [16]
- Read more about Green New Deal Proposes Sweeping Economic Transformation [53]
“Confessions of a Rogue Nuclear Regulator” [57]

A former head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has written a powder keg of a book, “Confessions of a Rogue Nuclear Regulator.” Author Gregory Jaczko left the post in 2012, far more critical of nuclear power’s safety claims than he came in, his concerns amplified by the Fukushima meltdown in Japan in 2011. Now, he worries that its lessons have not sunk in deeply enough with an industry that he believes is headed toward catastrophe. Read our latest BookShelf review.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [25]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [6]
Energy & Fuel [54]
Environmental Politics [20]
Government [8]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [58]
Technology [55]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
International [14]
Asia [15]
Visibility:
Public [16]
- Read more about “Confessions of a Rogue Nuclear Regulator” [57]

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