Publication Items

Open Door to Industry for Trump Environmental Agency Appointees [1]

It’s not just the heads of Trump administration environmental agencies who come from the industries they now are entrusted to regulate. The latest TipSheet explains that it’s also the political appointees below them — officials responsible for overseeing air, water, toxic chemicals, Superfund, forests and drilling — who are now likely examples of regulatory capture. A short list. Plus, more from our new Trump 2.0 EJWatch special section [2].

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [4]
Air [5]
Chemicals [6]
Climate Change [7]
Economy & Business [8]
Energy & Fuel [9]
Environmental Politics [10]
Forests [11]
Government [12]
Journalism & Media [13]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Natural Resources [15]
Policy [16]
Pollution [17]
Waste [18]
Water & Oceans [19]
Region:
National (U.S.) [20]
Visibility:
Public [21]
- Read more about Open Door to Industry for Trump Environmental Agency Appointees [1]
The Forgotten Victims of Hidalgo [22]

Contaminated water sickened thousands of residents near Mexico City for 40 years — even as officials knew they were being poisoned. Then, an investigative news team turned its attention to the polluted region, and produced multiple video and text versions of an award-winning feature focused on the residents’ health, poverty and more. Read a revealing Q&A with investigative producer Carlos Carabaña in the new Inside Story.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [23]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [6]
Environmental Justice [24]
Government [12]
Health [25]
Journalism & Media [13]
People & Population [26]
Pollution [17]
Waste [18]
Water & Oceans [19]
Region:
International [27]
Mexico [28]
Visibility:
Public [21]
- Read more about The Forgotten Victims of Hidalgo [22]
From Oil Boom to Lithium Rush — Reporting the Realities [29]

A coming lithium rush in Arkansas drew the notice of journalist Katie Myers, who used a grant from the Fund for Environmental Journalism to explore whether extraction activities near once-booming energy communities could avoid the economic and environmental impacts of another boom-and-bust cycle for a largely Black region with histories of land dispossession, plantation slavery and Jim Crow segregation. Lessons learned in the latest FEJ StoryLog.

SEJ Publication Types:
FEJ StoryLog [30]
Topics on the Beat:
Economy & Business [8]
Environmental Justice [24]
Environmental Politics [10]
Journalism & Media [13]
Natural Resources [15]
People & Population [26]
Technology [31]
Region:
National (U.S.) [20]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [32]
Visibility:
Public [21]
- Read more about From Oil Boom to Lithium Rush — Reporting the Realities [29]
Climate Risk Data Helps Decisions, Stories About Looming Disaster [33]

Environmental journalists aiming to report local or regional stories on real estate climate risk should explore an impressive bit of data journalism on the subject; Reporter’s Toolbox lauds it not just for the exemplary work, but also because the project, from The Washington Post, allows them to look up a variety of risks in their own locales.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [34]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [7]
Disasters [35]
Journalism & Media [13]
Planning & Growth [36]
Region:
National (U.S.) [20]
Visibility:
Public [21]
- Read more about Climate Risk Data Helps Decisions, Stories About Looming Disaster [33]
Insurance Meltdown a Foreseeable Climate Disaster [37]

Whether fires in California or flooding in North Carolina, climate disasters are revealing a major fault line in U.S. emergency response — a serious insurance shortfall that may lead to financial catastrophe. The new Issue Backgrounder explores the risks of underinsured disasters, the limits to the national flood insurance programs and FEMA aid, and the predictable scapegoating that has created solution gridlock.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [38]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [7]
Consumer [39]
Disasters [35]
Economy & Business [8]
Government [12]
Laws & Regulations [14]
People & Population [26]
Planning & Growth [36]
Policy [16]
Water & Oceans [19]
Visibility:
Public [21]
- Read more about Insurance Meltdown a Foreseeable Climate Disaster [37]
Onward Together — Supporting You, Your Work in a Changing World [40]

SEJ’s Interim President Bobby Magill shares his thoughts on the challenges that lie ahead for journalists.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ Presidents Report [41]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [13]
Region:
National (U.S.) [20]
Visibility:
Public [21]
- Read more about Onward Together — Supporting You, Your Work in a Changing World [40]
AI’s Importance in Journalism and Teaching — Part 2 [42]

In Part 2 of a two-part EJ Academy, SEJournal’s Emilia Askari examines changes artificial intelligence is bringing to journalism — among them possibilities for the analysis of data, including on climate and the environment. Plus, ways to use AI tools more effectively and how to track news organizations’ response to and use of AI. Also: Part 1, AI in the classroom [43].

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ Academy [44]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [7]
Environmental Studies [45]
Journalism & Media [13]
Science [46]
Technology [31]
Region:
National (U.S.) [20]
International [27]
Visibility:
Public [21]
- Read more about AI’s Importance in Journalism and Teaching — Part 2 [42]
Trump 2.0 EJWatch [2]

Trump 2.0 EJWatch is a special section spotlighting SEJournal stories and EJToday headlines that track the impact of the new Trump administration on the environment, energy and journalism. Launched in February 2025, Trump 2.0 EJWatch takes the baton from Environmental Journalism TransitionWatch, a limited-run weekly report published following Election Day 2024 until shortly after Trump’s inauguration.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ News [47]
Visibility:
Public [21]
- Read more about Trump 2.0 EJWatch [2]
Press Freedom Issues Come to Fore As Trump 2.0 Launches [48]

Salvaging disappearing web pages from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, fostering (and protecting) government whistleblower sources and sussing out the First Amendment’s prospects under the new attorney general at the Justice Department — the latest WatchDog Opinion scans the Trump administration’s information terrain. Plus, check out the latest actions from the Society of Environmental Journalists’ freedom of information efforts [49].

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog [50]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Justice [24]
Environmental Politics [10]
Government [12]
Journalism & Media [13]
Policy [16]
Region:
National (U.S.) [20]
Visibility:
Public [21]
- Read more about Press Freedom Issues Come to Fore As Trump 2.0 Launches [48]
The Bounty of the Gift Economy [51]

Bestselling Indigenous botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer, in her new book, exalts a simple berry that helps sustain the life around it, and in doing so exemplifies the economic power of giving. “The Serviceberry” explores the traditions of the gift economy and its potential to be nurtured alongside the market economy. The latest BookShelf from contributor Jenny Weeks.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [52]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [4]
Consumer [39]
Economy & Business [8]
Food [53]
People & Population [26]
Policy [16]
Region:
National (U.S.) [20]
International [27]
Visibility:
Public [21]
- Read more about The Bounty of the Gift Economy [51]

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