Publication Items

Disabilities and Disasters — What Questions Should You Be Asking Planners? [1]

As hurricane season ramps up, how are the disaster planners considering those with disabilities in your community? Texas-based journalist Greg Harman shares the story of one group that sued their city over claims it failed to properly prepare. And he extracts some rules of thumb to help determine if emergency planners are taking those with disabilities into consideration where you are.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Climate Change [4]
Disasters [5]
Diversity [6]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Justice [8]
Environmental Politics [9]
Government [10]
Health [11]
Infrastructure [12]
Journalism & Media [13]
Laws & Regulations [14]
People & Population [15]
Policy [16]
Region:
National (U.S.) [17]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [18]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [19]
Visibility:
Public [20]
- Read more about Disabilities and Disasters — What Questions Should You Be Asking Planners? [1]
To Cover Climate Equity Well, Journalists Must Maintain Mental Health [21]

When climate journalists — especially those confronting various forms of oppression in their own communities — witness environmental destruction and human suffering, the trauma can creep into our psyches. But sometimes our professional stance keeps us from seeing the harm to our mental health. In her new Voices of Environmental Justice column, Yessenia Funes looks at the question head-on, exploring resources and paths to better self-care.

SEJ Publication Types:
Voices of Environmental Justice [22]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [4]
Disasters [5]
Diversity [6]
Environmental Justice [8]
Health [11]
Journalism & Media [13]
Region:
National (U.S.) [17]
Alaska and Hawaii [23]
International [24]
Asia [25]
Visibility:
Public [20]
- Read more about To Cover Climate Equity Well, Journalists Must Maintain Mental Health [21]
COP28 Will Be Earth-Shaping News in 2024 and Beyond [26]

When nations converge this fall for the latest round of annual talks on harnessing climate change, they meet at a crucial juncture. Will the increasingly dramatic impacts of global warming, and the prospects of worse, focus their attention enough to bring about progress? In this sweeping analysis, Backgrounder assesses the varied pressures at play at the coming COP28, along with tips for covering it, from up close or afar.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [27]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [4]
Energy & Fuel [28]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Politics [9]
Environmental Studies [29]
Government [10]
Journalism & Media [13]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Policy [16]
Science [30]
Region:
National (U.S.) [17]
International [24]
Canada [31]
Africa [32]
Asia [25]
Europe [33]
Middle East [34]
Visibility:
Public [20]
- Read more about COP28 Will Be Earth-Shaping News in 2024 and Beyond [26]
Top Data Sources Can Help Cover the Larger Wildfire Story [35]

In the aftermath of breaking wildfire news, when environmental journalists are looking to tell the bigger picture story, there are myriad resources that provide data and insight. To help you sort through it all, the latest Reporter’s Toolbox scans eight powerful data portals that provide everything from real-time tracking and satellite data to risk analysis and health impacts.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [36]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [37]
Climate Change [4]
Disasters [5]
Environmental Health [7]
Forests [38]
Government [10]
Health [11]
Journalism & Media [13]
Region:
National (U.S.) [17]
Visibility:
Public [20]
- Read more about Top Data Sources Can Help Cover the Larger Wildfire Story [35]
Free Press Nearly Impossible With Corporate Business Model [39]

It may seem like fast-moving technology that’s undermining traditional news outlets. But for WatchDog Opinion, it may be more about the notion of news as property, rather than a public good. Could nonprofit newsrooms — many of which cover energy and the environment — be a better model? And is there a funding mechanism that would support them sustainably … and permanently?

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog [40]
Topics on the Beat:
Economy & Business [41]
Journalism & Media [13]
Region:
National (U.S.) [17]
Visibility:
Public [20]
- Read more about Free Press Nearly Impossible With Corporate Business Model [39]
One Grant, Multiple Stories [42]

Seattle-based correspondent Brett Walton has a habit of adding extra days to his reporting schedules. In this FEJ StoryLog, Walton shares how he used one such buffer to stretch a grant and produce not just one story on California’s small drinking water systems, but a second on the aftermath of wildfire on another town’s water system, plus finish a third pending project on household water debt.

SEJ Publication Types:
FEJ StoryLog [43]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [5]
Health [11]
Infrastructure [12]
Journalism & Media [13]
Water & Oceans [44]
Region:
National (U.S.) [17]
California [45]
Visibility:
Public [20]
- Read more about One Grant, Multiple Stories [42]
Waste Incineration May Put Toxics Into Local Air [46]

Sometimes on the environment beat, what seems like an old story is perpetually new again. That’s the case with waste incineration, finds the latest TipSheet. Rather than being reduced, incinerators are just being transformed, with the ongoing burning of plastics especially troubling for the environment and public health. Get the backstory on where the regulatory regime may have holes, plus key reporting angles and story ideas.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [47]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Air [37]
Chemicals [48]
Energy & Fuel [28]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Justice [8]
Environmental Politics [9]
Health [11]
Journalism & Media [13]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Pollution [49]
Waste [50]
Region:
National (U.S.) [17]
Visibility:
Public [20]
- Read more about Waste Incineration May Put Toxics Into Local Air [46]
Data on Pesticide Incidents Openly Available for First Time [51]

A decade’s worth of government pesticide data — only available before through FOIA — has been made newly available. And, explains the latest Reporter’s Toolbox, it can lead to revealing environmental, public health and environmental justice stories. More on how the data came to be compiled and advice on using it smartly, along with some caveats.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [36]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [52]
Chemicals [48]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Justice [8]
Food [53]
Health [11]
Journalism & Media [13]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Pollution [49]
Region:
National (U.S.) [17]
Visibility:
Public [20]
- Read more about Data on Pesticide Incidents Openly Available for First Time [51]
Storm Warning — How To Prepare for Weather Disaster Reporting [54]

Major storms hit hard and fast. Successful on-the-ground coverage requires advance prep and consideration of how to deal with challenges. Seasoned reporter Emily Foxhall has learned a lot from Hurricane Harvey and other disasters — sometimes the hard way. She shares tips for planning, packing and getting colleagues back home to help with logistics, plus some reminders about self-care.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [4]
Disasters [5]
Journalism & Media [13]
Region:
National (U.S.) [17]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [55]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [19]
Visibility:
Public [20]
- Read more about Storm Warning — How To Prepare for Weather Disaster Reporting [54]
Missouri, Florida Journalism Professors Join Classes on Multistate Fertilizer Investigation [56]

What brought together two teams of student reporters, half a dozen states and 1,000 miles apart? For one, the high environmental cost of chemical fertilizer. For another, a pair of dedicated journalism teachers. Cynthia Barnett and Sara Shipley Hiles share how they took the project from daydream to reality, brought students into the field and got pickup from numerous news outlets, in the latest EJ Academy.

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ Academy [57]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [52]
Chemicals [48]
Economy & Business [41]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Justice [8]
Environmental Studies [29]
Fish & Fisheries [58]
Food [53]
Journalism & Media [13]
Pollution [49]
Water & Oceans [44]
Region:
National (U.S.) [17]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [59]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [55]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [19]
Visibility:
Public [20]
- Read more about Missouri, Florida Journalism Professors Join Classes on Multistate Fertilizer Investigation [56]

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