Publication Items

Covering Sharks in Shark Week's Wake — You're Gonna Need a Bigger Meme [1]

Despite how it looks on annual summer “shark attack”-style TV programming, the danger sharks represent to humans is dwarfed by the danger we represent to sharks. The latest TipSheet explores how mass media can distort the reality behind sharks and miss the point of their ecological value — and sheer wonder. Get ideas to better report the real story behind sharks.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Fish & Fisheries [3]
Journalism & Media [4]
Water & Oceans [5]
Wildlife [6]
Region:
National (U.S.) [7]
International [8]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about Covering Sharks in Shark Week's Wake — You're Gonna Need a Bigger Meme [1]
Can Qatar’s World Cup Really Be Carbon Neutral? [10]

Qatar — the world’s highest carbon emitter on a per capita basis — made big promises in its winning bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. But will they deliver? Doha-based journalism professor Craig LaMay writes that while sports megaevent hosts face increasing pressure to address environmental concerns, critical coverage of their follow-through is challenging, especially in countries with no free press or public right to government information.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [11]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [12]
Economy & Business [13]
Energy & Fuel [14]
Environmental Politics [15]
Government [16]
Infrastructure [17]
Journalism & Media [4]
Natural Resources [18]
Technology [19]
Transportation [20]
Waste [21]
Water & Oceans [5]
Region:
International [8]
Canada [22]
Africa [23]
Asia [24]
Europe [25]
Middle East [26]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about Can Qatar’s World Cup Really Be Carbon Neutral? [10]
Reporting Ocean Stories Is Key to Blue Literacy, Planetary Health [27]

As part of a Society of Environmental Journalists publishing project focused on covering climate solutions, we take a closer look at ocean-based solutions. In this special tipsheet, ocean scientist and science writer Juli Berwald offers a primer on the climate-related challenges and possibilities in the global ocean’s physics, chemistry and biology. Plus, check out an expanded toolbox [28] with reporting resources and watch a recent SEJ webinar [29].

SEJ Publication Types:
Special Reports [30]
Topics on the Beat:
Biodiversity [31]
Climate Change [12]
Environmental Health [32]
Environmental Politics [15]
Environmental Studies [33]
Fish & Fisheries [3]
Journalism & Media [4]
Laws & Regulations [34]
Natural Resources [18]
Policy [35]
Science [36]
Water & Oceans [5]
Region:
National (U.S.) [7]
International [8]
Antarctica & Arctic [37]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about Reporting Ocean Stories Is Key to Blue Literacy, Planetary Health [27]
Farmers Markets Offer Many Local Environmental Stories [38]

Reporters needn’t always go far and wide to find environment angles. A case in point is your local farmers market, which can yield a variety of food-related stories, ranging from food justice and urban agriculture to pesticides and organics. That and a few tasty samples on the side. TipSheet takes a stroll through the aisles for the backstory, plus reporting resources and story ideas.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [39]
Agriculture [40]
Consumer [41]
Food [42]
Health [43]
Journalism & Media [4]
Region:
National (U.S.) [7]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about Farmers Markets Offer Many Local Environmental Stories [38]
Beat Reporter Looks to Get Ahead of the Story [44]

As Brazil’s wetlands burned and as the country illegally shipped wood from the Amazon and scaled back environmental enforcement amid the pandemic, award-winning journalist Jake Spring of Reuters was there, telling tough, sometimes dangerous stories. Spring shares insights into his “just the facts” reporting, including the surprises and the lessons, and offers some practical advice in this Inside Story Q&A.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [45]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Politics [15]
Forests [46]
Government [16]
Journalism & Media [4]
Natural Resources [18]
Policy [35]
Region:
International [8]
South America [47]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about Beat Reporter Looks to Get Ahead of the Story [44]
How 'Rights of Nature' Is Recasting the Relationship Between Law and the Earth [48]

In 2006, a local government council in Pennsylvania concerned about sewage sludge dumping enacted the Western legal system’s first formal “rights of nature” instrument. Today, numerous countries have laws recognizing specific rights or even legal personhood for nature. As legal expert Alice Bleby explains, this new perspective arises from a wide range of contexts and plays out in many different ways.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [11]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [39]
Biodiversity [31]
Chemicals [49]
Climate Change [12]
Environmental Health [32]
Environmental Justice [50]
Environmental Politics [15]
Environmental Studies [33]
Fish & Fisheries [3]
Forests [46]
Government [16]
Laws & Regulations [34]
Natural Resources [18]
Policy [35]
Pollution [51]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [52]
Water & Oceans [5]
Region:
National (U.S.) [7]
California [53]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [54]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [55]
International [8]
Africa [23]
Asia [24]
Australia & Oceania [56]
South America [47]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about How 'Rights of Nature' Is Recasting the Relationship Between Law and the Earth [48]
EPA’s FOIA Report Updates Progress on Backlog Reduction [57]

The Freedom of Information Act offers critical access to journalists — that is, when it’s working well. The latest WatchDog Opinion digs into the latest reports from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to see how well it lives up to its FOIA requirements and finds that despite progress, the agency continues to fall short on important measures. Plus, insight into how to work the system.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog [58]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Politics [15]
Government [16]
Journalism & Media [4]
Laws & Regulations [34]
Policy [35]
Region:
National (U.S.) [7]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about EPA’s FOIA Report Updates Progress on Backlog Reduction [57]
Amid Heat Waves, Data on Heat Deaths Deadly Serious [59]

Heat waves, heat domes … heat deaths. The reality of climate change means a grim uptick in fatalities, more so from excess heat than any other kind of extreme weather event. Reporter’s Toolbox points to useful data sources for covering the crisis, with insights on how to go behind the numbers to find the stories of those most vulnerable to heat’s effects.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [60]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [12]
Disasters [61]
Environmental Justice [50]
Environmental Politics [15]
Health [43]
Journalism & Media [4]
People & Population [62]
Region:
National (U.S.) [7]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about Amid Heat Waves, Data on Heat Deaths Deadly Serious [59]
Ocean and Climate Change Toolbox [28]

Oceans and climate change intersect with many other issues, a crossover likely to be emphasized in the upcoming United Nations Ocean Conference and in future ocean-based climate discussions. This list of resources reflects some of that intersection in order to help environmental journalists better cover the field of “blue climate” solutions.

SEJ Publication Types:
Special Reports [30]
Topics on the Beat:
Biodiversity [31]
Climate Change [12]
Environmental Health [32]
Environmental Politics [15]
Environmental Studies [33]
Fish & Fisheries [3]
Laws & Regulations [34]
Natural Resources [18]
Policy [35]
Pollution [51]
Science [36]
Water & Oceans [5]
Region:
National (U.S.) [7]
International [8]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about Ocean and Climate Change Toolbox [28]
Environmental Journalist Recounts His Historical Slave-Era Find [63]

The historic discovery of the Clotilda — America’s “Last Slave Ship” — is only part of the story told in a new book by Alabama-based journalist Ben Raines, which tells the far larger tale about the ship’s survivors, the remarkable Jim Crow-era community they created and its ultimate erosion when faced by decades of environmental racism. A review by BookShelf Editor Tom Henry.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [64]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Justice [50]
Journalism & Media [4]
People & Population [62]
Region:
National (U.S.) [7]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [65]
International [8]
Africa [23]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about Environmental Journalist Recounts His Historical Slave-Era Find [63]

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