Publication Items

Mapping Toxic U.S. Hotspots Down to the Neighborhood Level [1]

A new project on toxic risks has yielded a tool making it far easier to use data from the Toxics Release Inventory to report on hotspots. Reporter’s Toolbox offers a guide to ProPublica’s impressive “Sacrifice Zones” special report, which maps cancer-causing industrial air pollution. Plus, join an in-depth virtual tutorial [2] on the ProPublica tool co-sponsored by the Society of Environmental Journalists.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [4]
Chemicals [5]
Environmental Justice [6]
Government [7]
Health [8]
Journalism & Media [9]
Laws & Regulations [10]
People & Population [11]
Pollution [12]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Mapping Toxic U.S. Hotspots Down to the Neighborhood Level [1]
Hayhoe Makes Case for Healing Over Climate Change [15]

A new volume by renowned climate communicator Katharine Hayhoe argues for a new way of talking about climate change that seeks common ground, greater respect and an effort to show how nearly everyone is affected. BookShelf editor Tom Henry reviews Hayhoe’s “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World” and its hopeful message.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [16]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [17]
Journalism & Media [9]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [18]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
International [19]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Hayhoe Makes Case for Healing Over Climate Change [15]
Eating (and Reporting) My Way Through the Foods of the Rainforest [20]

Conserving crop diversity is a key to maintaining global food security, especially in the face of climate change. To understand those efforts, Portland, Ore.-based freelancer Virginia Gewin traveled to South America, supported by a grant from the Society of Environmental Journalists, to find out how Peruvian chefs and Amazon dwellers hope to save the rainforest by sharing native and wild foods.

SEJ Publication Types:
FEJ StoryLog [21]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [22]
Agriculture [23]
Biodiversity [24]
Climate Change [17]
Economy & Business [25]
Environmental Justice [6]
Environmental Politics [26]
Food [27]
Forests [28]
Journalism & Media [9]
Natural Resources [29]
People & Population [11]
Planning & Growth [30]
Region:
International [19]
South America [31]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Eating (and Reporting) My Way Through the Foods of the Rainforest [20]
EPA’s PFAS Plan Likely To Generate News, If Not Fixes, in 2022 [32]

A government plan to address a class of so-called “forever chemicals,” widespread in the environment and implicated in human health effects, will pick up speed in 2022. But whether the effort will solve problems around PFAS remains to be seen. The latest TipSheet outlines the challenge, the EPA plan and smart ways to cover the story in your area.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [33]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [5]
Consumer [34]
Government [7]
Health [8]
Journalism & Media [9]
Laws & Regulations [10]
Policy [35]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about EPA’s PFAS Plan Likely To Generate News, If Not Fixes, in 2022 [32]
U.N. Summit Lays the Table for Environmental Reporting on Food Systems [36]

After an 18-month buildup, a one-day U.N. Food Systems Summit earlier this fall generated hundreds of commitments to end global hunger and a dizzying array of alliances dedicated to the cause. Despite controversies surrounding the summit, this groundbreaking event highlighted opportunities for reporting on food and food systems. Award-winning agriculture journalist Chris Clayton shares his insights.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [37]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [22]
Agriculture [23]
Biodiversity [24]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [17]
Consumer [34]
Disasters [38]
Economy & Business [25]
Energy & Fuel [39]
Environmental Health [40]
Environmental Justice [6]
Environmental Politics [26]
Food [27]
Government [7]
Health [8]
Journalism & Media [9]
Laws & Regulations [10]
Natural Resources [29]
People & Population [11]
Planning & Growth [30]
Policy [35]
Pollution [12]
Science [41]
Technology [42]
Waste [43]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
California [44]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [45]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [46]
International [19]
Canada [47]
Africa [48]
Europe [49]
Middle East [50]
South America [31]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about U.N. Summit Lays the Table for Environmental Reporting on Food Systems [36]
Will Animal-To-Human Disease Transmission Bring the Next Big Pandemic? [51]

The COVID-19 outbreak has left little unchanged — including how environment reporters do their jobs, given that many experts believe the disruption of the human-wild interface could be the source of the next deadly virus. The new Backgrounder makes the case in this analysis, looking at how societies — and journalists — handled this pandemic and must prepare for possible future outbreaks.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [52]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [23]
Biodiversity [24]
Disasters [38]
Environmental Health [40]
Forests [28]
Government [7]
Health [8]
Journalism & Media [9]
People & Population [11]
Science [41]
Wildlife [53]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
International [19]
Asia [54]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Will Animal-To-Human Disease Transmission Bring the Next Big Pandemic? [51]
EPA Data Moves Toward Openness — Again [55]

Public data around environmental issues has been a thing at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for decades, ... except when it hasn’t. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox looks at how data transparency is back in fashion under the Biden EPA, and the many ways that environmental journalists can build on available datasets for their coverage.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Politics [26]
Government [7]
Journalism & Media [9]
Policy [35]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about EPA Data Moves Toward Openness — Again [55]
Climate Change at Core of Beat Reporters’ Award-Winning Coverage [56]

Beat reporters Hal Bernton and Mark Kaufman both found the dramatic changes wrought by climate change to be at the center of their coverage — as their work was elevated to prize-winning heights. Bernton, covering climate impacts in northwestern Alaska at a large newspaper, and Kaufman, covering CO2 globally for a digital platform, talk about the lessons of their recent beat coverage with SEJournal’s Inside Story.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [57]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [17]
Energy & Fuel [39]
Environmental Health [40]
Fish & Fisheries [58]
Journalism & Media [9]
Natural Resources [29]
Policy [35]
Water & Oceans [59]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Alaska and Hawaii [60]
International [19]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Climate Change at Core of Beat Reporters’ Award-Winning Coverage [56]
Will 2022 See the Start of Formal Negotiations Toward a Global Plastics Treaty? [61]

Plastic waste, already the subject of preliminary international talks, could be increasingly targeted after UN meetings in early 2022. Meanwhile, this ubiquitous product is polluting land, ocean and air in its various forms, as well as through little-understood microplastic particles. The latest TipSheet has the backstory on efforts to forge an international plastics treaty, as well as ideas for how to cover plastic pollution locally.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [33]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [22]
Air [4]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [17]
Consumer [34]
Economy & Business [25]
Environmental Health [40]
Environmental Politics [26]
Fish & Fisheries [58]
Food [27]
Government [7]
Health [8]
Journalism & Media [9]
Policy [35]
Pollution [12]
Waste [43]
Water & Oceans [59]
Wildlife [53]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
International [19]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Will 2022 See the Start of Formal Negotiations Toward a Global Plastics Treaty? [61]
Climate Risk Disclosure Guides Journalists, Not Just Investors [62]

A profound tightening of companies’ environmental risk disclosure requirements may be ahead, thanks to efforts by the Biden administration’s Securities and Exchange Commission. And the new WatchDog Opinion column argues that as fossil fuel firms position themselves as part of an environmentally sound future, journalists must act too — demanding full disclosure of corporate financial risks related to climate.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog [63]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [22]
Climate Change [17]
Consumer [34]
Economy & Business [25]
Energy & Fuel [39]
Environmental Politics [26]
Government [7]
Journalism & Media [9]
Laws & Regulations [10]
Policy [35]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Visibility:
Public [14]
- Read more about Climate Risk Disclosure Guides Journalists, Not Just Investors [62]

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