Publication Items

Fire Sleuths Can Spark Story Ideas With Wildland Urban Interface Data Maps [1]

Communities surrounded by forest can be a beautiful place to live … or a wildfire trap. Environmental journalists can readily map and identify these so-called wildland urban interfaces through a federal government resource, writes the latest Reporter’s Toolbox. More on this data mapping tool and how to use it to track your area’s risk, explore historical trends and layer other data.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [3]
Environmental Studies [4]
Forests [5]
Government [6]
Journalism & Media [7]
People & Population [8]
Planning & Growth [9]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Alaska and Hawaii [11]
California [12]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Fire Sleuths Can Spark Story Ideas With Wildland Urban Interface Data Maps [1]
Database Details Planetary Asset — Canada’s Forests [14]

They’re a carbon sink, a playground and a major market, but also a source of smoke pollution and pest infestation. Millions of acres of Canadian forest are a big North American story, and the latest Reporter’s Toolbox points you to a central data source that can help quantify, analyze and visualize the numbers and see the proverbial forest for the trees.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [15]
Air [16]
Climate Change [17]
Economy & Business [18]
Energy & Fuel [19]
Environmental Health [20]
Environmental Politics [21]
Forests [5]
Natural Resources [22]
Policy [23]
Pollution [24]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
International [25]
Canada [26]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Database Details Planetary Asset — Canada’s Forests [14]
Top Environment and Energy Topics To Watch in 2026 [27]

Explore our 10th annual Journalists’ Guide to Environment + Energy, as we scour the beat to identify 15 top stories to put on your radar for 2026. Our updated format for the special report provides a quick read and a broad scope — with insights on climate change and environmental justice, bird and insect declines, data centers and deep sea mining, deregulation and PFAS and much more. Get started here [27].

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ News [28]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [29]
Agriculture [15]
Air [16]
Biodiversity [30]
Chemicals [31]
Climate Change [17]
Disasters [3]
Economy & Business [18]
Energy & Fuel [19]
Environmental Health [20]
Environmental Justice [32]
Environmental Politics [21]
Environmental Studies [4]
Fish & Fisheries [33]
Forests [5]
Government [6]
Health [34]
Infrastructure [35]
Journalism & Media [7]
Laws & Regulations [36]
Military [37]
Natural Resources [22]
Policy [23]
Pollution [24]
Science [38]
Technology [39]
Waste [40]
Water & Oceans [41]
Wildlife [42]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Alaska and Hawaii [11]
California [12]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [43]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [44]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [45]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [46]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [47]
Northwest (OR WA) [48]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [49]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [50]
International [25]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Top Environment and Energy Topics To Watch in 2026 [27]
From Words to Frames — Writer Learns To Wield Power of Visual Storytelling [51]

When writer Gulnaz Khan saw how global warming drove both natural loss and spiritual breaks for surrounding human communities, it started her on a PBS documentary series exploring sacred sites around the world threatened by climate change. But she also undertook another odyssey, one from writer to visual storyteller. What she learned on her journey from text to screen, in the new EJ InSight column.

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ InSight [52]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [15]
Biodiversity [30]
Climate Change [17]
Environmental Health [20]
Environmental Justice [32]
Food [53]
Forests [5]
Government [6]
Health [34]
Journalism & Media [7]
Natural Resources [22]
People & Population [8]
Pollution [24]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [54]
Science [38]
Waste [40]
Water & Oceans [41]
Wildlife [42]
Region:
International [25]
Africa [55]
Asia [56]
South America [57]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about From Words to Frames — Writer Learns To Wield Power of Visual Storytelling [51]
At COP30, Amazon Rainforest Is Center Stage for Climate Catastrophe [58]

With the COP30 U.N. climate talks starting this week in Brazil, in the heart of the Amazon River basin, our Issue Backgrounder points out that now is a critical time to consider a central question: Is the mandate to save the immense Amazon rainforest as a way to combat climate change being irretrievably undermined by the vast, destructive forces bringing about the rainforest’s rapid destruction?

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [59]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [15]
Climate Change [17]
Environmental Health [20]
Environmental Politics [21]
Forests [5]
Natural Resources [22]
Water & Oceans [41]
Region:
International [25]
South America [57]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about At COP30, Amazon Rainforest Is Center Stage for Climate Catastrophe [58]
Tapping Into COP30 To Cover Indigenous Issues [60]

COP30 negotiators from around the world gather next week in Belém, Brazil, at the mouth of the Amazon River. Our Voices of Environmental Justice columnist Yessenia Funes says it’s a vital opportunity to engage with the Indigenous peoples who help protect the vast rainforest region — even for environmental reporters not there in person. Here’s how to tell their stories.

SEJ Publication Types:
Voices of Environmental Justice [61]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [15]
Biodiversity [30]
Climate Change [17]
Economy & Business [18]
Energy & Fuel [19]
Environmental Health [20]
Environmental Justice [32]
Environmental Politics [21]
Forests [5]
Government [6]
Journalism & Media [7]
Natural Resources [22]
People & Population [8]
Planning & Growth [9]
Policy [23]
Pollution [24]
Water & Oceans [41]
Region:
International [25]
South America [57]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Tapping Into COP30 To Cover Indigenous Issues [60]
Saving Big Cats From Humans [62]

As expanded development on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula encroaches on prime wildlife habitat, big cats find it harder to avoid people, and many wind up dead. In this Inside Story Q&A, Liza Gross of Inside Climate News describes how she and photographer/editor Michael Kodas worked with a local cougar protection team to track a family of big cats to their den and through the area.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [63]
Topics on the Beat:
Biodiversity [30]
Environmental Health [20]
Environmental Studies [4]
Forests [5]
Journalism & Media [7]
People & Population [8]
Science [38]
Wildlife [42]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Northwest (OR WA) [48]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Saving Big Cats From Humans [62]
NASA Portal Can Lead Reporters to Universe of Data [64]

For environmental journalists looking for data riches to help tell their stories — whether about urban heat islands, sea-surface temperatures or air pollution — NASA has the satellites whose sensors capture insights galore. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox offers an introduction to the U.S. space agency’s incredibly extensive data portal, and how to get started amid the wealth of information (caveat: before it’s gone).

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [16]
Climate Change [17]
Environmental Health [20]
Environmental Studies [4]
Forests [5]
Government [6]
Journalism & Media [7]
Science [38]
Technology [39]
Water & Oceans [41]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
International [25]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about NASA Portal Can Lead Reporters to Universe of Data [64]
Solutions — and Death — in the Rainforest [65]

A project begun to explore ways to protect the Amazon seemed to end with the murder of the journalist who conceived it, along with his guide and research partner. But others picked up the mantle and completed a volume exploring ways to save this precious and rapidly disappearing ecosystem. BookShelf reviewer Elyse Hauser on how this unusual book tries to meet that promise.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [66]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [15]
Biodiversity [30]
Environmental Health [20]
Environmental Politics [21]
Forests [5]
Journalism & Media [7]
Natural Resources [22]
Planning & Growth [9]
Region:
International [25]
South America [57]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Solutions — and Death — in the Rainforest [65]
Rethinking Forest Management in the Pyrocene [67]

Recent urban-interface infernos, fueled by climate change, leave no doubt that we have entered the age of runaway fire. Writer and ecologist Lauren Oakes writes that large-scale combustion is permanently reshaping ecosystems and societies as we learn to live with wildfire, not just fight it. Instead of perpetuating problematic approaches to forest management, experts call for confronting the root causes of this crisis and adopting science-informed responses.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [68]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [17]
Disasters [3]
Environmental Politics [21]
Environmental Studies [4]
Forests [5]
Government [6]
Health [34]
Infrastructure [35]
Journalism & Media [7]
Laws & Regulations [36]
Natural Resources [22]
Policy [23]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
California [12]
Northwest (OR WA) [48]
International [25]
Canada [26]
Australia & Oceania [69]
Europe [70]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Rethinking Forest Management in the Pyrocene [67]

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