Publication Items

Decarbonizing Energy Systems With Clean Firm Power [1]

Solar and wind power are critical for combating climate change, but some energy experts warn they won’t be enough. Their vision for an emissions-free grid depends on technologies ranging from long-duration batteries to nuclear reactors. Journalist Nicolás Rivero on clean firm power’s potential, the challenges ahead and how Big Tech is driving the pursuit of always-on zero-carbon electricity.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [3]
Economy & Business [4]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Government [6]
Infrastructure [7]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [8]
Policy [9]
Pollution [10]
Science [11]
Technology [12]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [14]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [15]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [16]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Decarbonizing Energy Systems With Clean Firm Power [1]
Why the Silencing of Protest Matters [18]

As the Trump administration and its allies seek to stifle free speech and paint protest as domestic terrorism, Voices columnist Yessenia Funes argues that environmental journalists must heed the impact on the environmental movement we cover. Start with what happened in Standing Rock, which swept back into the news this spring. Funes explains the connection, and where we may be headed.

SEJ Publication Types:
Voices of Environmental Justice [19]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [20]
Climate Change [3]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Environmental Health [21]
Environmental Justice [22]
Environmental Politics [23]
Government [6]
Journalism & Media [24]
Natural Resources [25]
People & Population [26]
Policy [9]
Pollution [10]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [27]
Water & Oceans [28]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [14]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [15]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [29]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Why the Silencing of Protest Matters [18]
Helping Students Learn the Hard Work of Journalism [30]

Two flourishing nonprofit programs teach young writers the basics of journalism and environmental reporting — mentoring and paying students, who publish enterprise and public records stories, personal essays and narrative features. Read more about Florida Student News Watch with CD Davidson-Hiers [30] and Indiana’s climate solutions-focused Youth Environmental Press Team with Jim Poyser [31], in the new EJ Academy.

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ Academy [32]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [33]
Climate Change [3]
Government [6]
Water & Oceans [28]
Wildlife [34]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [14]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [15]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [35]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [29]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [36]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Helping Students Learn the Hard Work of Journalism [30]
Top Environment and Energy Topics To Watch in 2026 [37]

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 [37].

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ News [38]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [20]
Agriculture [33]
Air [39]
Biodiversity [40]
Chemicals [41]
Climate Change [3]
Disasters [42]
Economy & Business [4]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Environmental Health [21]
Environmental Justice [22]
Environmental Politics [23]
Environmental Studies [43]
Fish & Fisheries [44]
Forests [45]
Government [6]
Health [46]
Infrastructure [7]
Journalism & Media [24]
Laws & Regulations [47]
Military [48]
Natural Resources [25]
Policy [9]
Pollution [10]
Science [11]
Technology [12]
Waste [49]
Water & Oceans [28]
Wildlife [34]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Alaska and Hawaii [50]
California [51]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [14]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [15]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [16]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [35]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [52]
Northwest (OR WA) [53]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [29]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [36]
International [54]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Top Environment and Energy Topics To Watch in 2026 [37]
Orphans and Zombies — Reporting on Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Across the Country [55]

For more than a century, oil and gas companies have been drilling — and abandoning — wells across the country, leaving hundreds of thousands to potentially leak pollutants into the air, water and soil. Climate and environment reporter Martha Pskowski looks at how funding and regulatory issues are impacting efforts to identify and plug these wells, and offers resources for drilling into their story.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [33]
Air [39]
Climate Change [3]
Economy & Business [4]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Environmental Health [21]
Government [6]
Health [46]
Journalism & Media [24]
Laws & Regulations [47]
Natural Resources [25]
Policy [9]
Pollution [10]
Technology [12]
Water & Oceans [28]
Wildlife [34]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [14]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [15]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [16]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [35]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [36]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Orphans and Zombies — Reporting on Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Across the Country [55]
Tainted Water, Tainted Power — Inside a Hog-Farm Empire [56]

A powerful politician and his family’s groundwater-polluting agricultural business were the focus of an award-winning series that delved into the intersection of politics, power, privilege and regulatory capture. In the latest Inside Story Q&A, journalist Yanqi Xu discusses how the reporting uncovered deep and unexpected impacts on small town economies, water quality and the living conditions of the hog farms’ neighbors.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [57]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [33]
Chemicals [41]
Economy & Business [4]
Environmental Health [21]
Environmental Justice [22]
Environmental Politics [23]
Health [46]
Journalism & Media [24]
People & Population [26]
Pollution [10]
Waste [49]
Water & Oceans [28]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Tainted Water, Tainted Power — Inside a Hog-Farm Empire [56]
Follow the Money … for Lobbying State Legislatures [58]

With many states dominated by a few powerful industries — whether oil, mining or agriculture — the influence of campaign dollars can have an outsize effect on legislation, even to the point of corruption, notes the latest Reporter’s Toolbox. So while the U.S. Congress may be languishing, environmental journalists can dig up stories on lobbying at the state level using a powerful data source.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [59]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [20]
Agriculture [33]
Economy & Business [4]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Environmental Politics [23]
Government [6]
Journalism & Media [24]
Laws & Regulations [47]
Policy [9]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [15]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [16]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [36]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Follow the Money … for Lobbying State Legislatures [58]
New Angle for Reporting on Oil and Gas Industry — Radioactive Waste [60]

Industry experts and government regulators have long known that radionuclides reside in oil and natural gas. Yet radioactive emissions and waste continue to threaten the lives of workers and community members across the country. Investigative journalist Justin Nobel on the opportunities and urgent need for reporters to drill into a story steeped in questions of accountability, health and justice.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [20]
Air [39]
Chemicals [41]
Climate Change [3]
Consumer [61]
Economy & Business [4]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Environmental Health [21]
Environmental Politics [23]
Environmental Studies [43]
Government [6]
Health [46]
Journalism & Media [24]
Laws & Regulations [47]
Natural Resources [25]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [8]
People & Population [26]
Policy [9]
Pollution [10]
Science [11]
Technology [12]
Waste [49]
Water & Oceans [28]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [14]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [15]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [16]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [35]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [52]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [29]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [36]
International [54]
Canada [62]
South America [63]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about New Angle for Reporting on Oil and Gas Industry — Radioactive Waste [60]
Energy-Dominance Exponent Coasts Into Interior [64]

The newly installed Interior Department head, who will manage most federally owned U.S. lands and billions of acres of the continental shelf, hails from a top fossil fuel-producing state and has close oil industry ties, reports the new EJ TransitionWatch. What former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum had to say at his Senate confirmation about U.S. “energy dominance.” Plus, one surprising source of support.

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ TransitionWatch [65]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [3]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Environmental Politics [23]
Government [6]
Natural Resources [25]
Policy [9]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Energy-Dominance Exponent Coasts Into Interior [64]
How Climate Change Complicates the Refugee Crisis [66]

The displacement of populations by climate impacts, while not a new phenomenon in human history, is worsening in the face of global warming’s extreme weather patterns. Yet the extensive international regime to aid refugees doesn’t cover those migrating due to flooding, drought, natural disasters or climate change. Backgrounder considers the implications and how nations will respond to the new realities.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [67]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [3]
Disasters [42]
Environmental Politics [23]
People & Population [26]
Policy [9]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
California [51]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [15]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [16]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [29]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [36]
International [54]
Mexico [68]
Africa [69]
Antarctica & Arctic [70]
Asia [71]
Central America & the Caribbean [72]
Europe [73]
Middle East [74]
South America [63]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about How Climate Change Complicates the Refugee Crisis [66]

Pages