Publication Items

Extremely Hot Weather Cooks Up Unusually Awful Air Pollution [1]

Summertime and the livin' is smoggy. American air may be clearer now than when the Clean Air Act was passed in 1970, but pollutants still abound. Heat and sunlight stoke chemical reactions that exacerbate health hazards. And worsening wildfires mix in harmful smoke. The latest TipSheet has more than a dozen story ideas and reporting resources.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Air [4]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [6]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Health [8]
Government [9]
Health [10]
Journalism & Media [11]
Laws & Regulations [12]
Pollution [13]
Transportation [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
International [16]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Extremely Hot Weather Cooks Up Unusually Awful Air Pollution [1]
Taming the Freight Beast [18]

The U.S. freight system delivers significant environmental impacts nationwide, especially in states that host major rail-and-road hubs and seaports. Meanwhile, new federal laws and policies are making it harder to curtail pollution generated by freight trucks, trains and warehouses. Journalist John Lippert looks at how the public, private and nonprofit sectors are rising to this challenge.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [19]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Air [4]
Climate Change [6]
Consumer [20]
Economy & Business [21]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Justice [22]
Environmental Politics [23]
Government [9]
Health [10]
Infrastructure [24]
Journalism & Media [11]
Laws & Regulations [12]
Policy [25]
Pollution [13]
Technology [26]
Transportation [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
California [27]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [28]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Taming the Freight Beast [18]
Gas Prices Still Fuel Local Environmental Stories [29]

The spike in prices at the pump in recent months, thanks largely to the U.S.’s war with Iran, offers energy and environment reporters numerous local reporting angles, writes the latest TipSheet. A quick perspective and backstory, then more than a dozen story ideas to pursue, smart questions to ask and useful reporting resources to tap.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Consumer [20]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Politics [23]
Journalism & Media [11]
Natural Resources [30]
Policy [25]
Transportation [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Gas Prices Still Fuel Local Environmental Stories [29]
#SEJ2026 Live — Coverage of Conference Tours [31]

SEJournal is providing full coverage of all eight of the day-long tours from the annual Society of Environmental Journalists’ conference, April 15-18, in Chicago. In Part 2, contributors Meg Duff [32], Nathaniel Eisen [33], Nhung Nguyen [34] and Marlowe Starling [35] provide detailed reports from tours focused on the transitioning steel industry, microgrids, climate-friendly crop practices and evolving Midwestern agricultural systems.

Also check out the first round of tour coverage and read all the great work [31] from our team of early-career freelance journalists, part of SEJournal’s live #SEJ2026 Live conference reporting.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ News [36]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Agriculture [37]
Air [4]
Biodiversity [38]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [6]
Consumer [20]
Economy & Business [21]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Justice [22]
Environmental Politics [23]
Environmental Studies [39]
Food [40]
Forests [41]
Government [9]
Health [10]
Infrastructure [24]
Journalism & Media [11]
Laws & Regulations [12]
Natural Resources [30]
People & Population [42]
Planning & Growth [43]
Policy [25]
Pollution [13]
Science [44]
Technology [26]
Transportation [14]
Waste [45]
Water & Oceans [46]
Wildlife [47]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [28]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about #SEJ2026 Live — Coverage of Conference Tours [31]
Gas Prices Are Environment — and Human — Story [48]

As the Iran war effectively turns the Strait of Hormuz into a bottleneck for much of the world’s oil and natural gas, the price of gasoline in the United States has spiked, creating inflationary worries. So it’s a good time for journalists to remind their audiences of the overall environmental impacts of fossil fuels. TipSheet has more, including 10-plus story ideas and reporting resources.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Consumer [20]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Health [8]
Journalism & Media [11]
Military [49]
Natural Resources [30]
Transportation [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
International [16]
Middle East [50]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Gas Prices Are Environment — and Human — Story [48]
A Town Derailed, a Trust Obtained [51]

The devastating 2023 East Palestine, Ohio, toxic train derailment left a legacy of illness and a town torn by competing understandings of the contamination’s aftereffects. A yearlong reporting initiative with photojournalist Rebecca Kiger and Time magazine writer Alejandro de la Garza worked to gain the community’s confidence and tell its story. Their prize-winning feature, in the latest Inside Story Q&A.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [52]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [4]
Chemicals [5]
Disasters [53]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Justice [22]
Health [10]
Journalism & Media [11]
People & Population [42]
Pollution [13]
Science [44]
Transportation [14]
Water & Oceans [46]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [28]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about A Town Derailed, a Trust Obtained [51]
Will Your Town Pass the Electric School Bus Acid Test? [54]

A Biden-era plan to put billions into school buses, clean EV-style, could be in the rearview mirror under the Trump administration, reports the latest TipSheet. That’s despite the fume-free, greenhouse gas-scarce qualities that benefit the air and the climate, parents and kids. To get in the driver’s seat on this story, here are a half a dozen local story ideas, plus reporting resources.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [4]
Climate Change [6]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Politics [23]
Government [9]
Health [10]
Infrastructure [24]
Journalism & Media [11]
Policy [25]
Pollution [13]
Technology [26]
Transportation [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Will Your Town Pass the Electric School Bus Acid Test? [54]
Walkability Index Helps Journalists Highlight Planning Issues [55]

Many local government decisions come down to a key factor: walkability. And that’s not just a question of transportation infrastructure. As the latest Reporter’s Toolbox notes, walkability is also an environmental consideration. To turn that simple truth into stories about the built environment, here’s a high-quality, mappable walkability index. How to use the database smartly, plus questions to ask that will get your reporting started.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [56]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [6]
Environmental Politics [23]
Government [9]
Infrastructure [24]
Journalism & Media [11]
People & Population [42]
Planning & Growth [43]
Policy [25]
Transportation [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Walkability Index Helps Journalists Highlight Planning Issues [55]
Life on Mars and Other Space Oddities [57]

When an ecologist and a cartoonist team up to explore the realities of colonizing Mars, the result is a humorous and highly informative book on whether humans are truly up to settling space. They detour into the intimacies of zero-gravity intimacy and the challenges of ensuring a food supply. From BookShelf contributing editor Melody Kemp, a review of “A City on Mars.”

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [58]
Topics on the Beat:
Planning & Growth [43]
Science [44]
Technology [26]
Transportation [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
International [16]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Life on Mars and Other Space Oddities [57]
Desperately Seeking Data? OECD Has Loads [59]

If the possibility of a politically driven dearth of data for your climate and environment reporting has you on edge, the new Reporter’s Toolbox just may have something to soothe your nerves: A data source from beyond the grasp of the Trump administration and outside the boundaries of the United States. Take a quick tour of environmental data from the OECD.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [56]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [37]
Air [4]
Biodiversity [38]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [6]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Studies [39]
Fish & Fisheries [60]
Health [10]
Journalism & Media [11]
Natural Resources [30]
Pollution [13]
Transportation [14]
Waste [45]
Water & Oceans [46]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
International [16]
Europe [61]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Desperately Seeking Data? OECD Has Loads [59]

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