Publication Items

Insurance Meltdown a Foreseeable Climate Disaster [1]

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 [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [3]
Consumer [4]
Disasters [5]
Economy & Business [6]
Government [7]
Laws & Regulations [8]
People & Population [9]
Planning & Growth [10]
Policy [11]
Water & Oceans [12]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Insurance Meltdown a Foreseeable Climate Disaster [1]
Onward Together — Supporting You, Your Work in a Changing World [14]

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

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ Presidents Report [15]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [16]
Region:
National (U.S.) [17]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Onward Together — Supporting You, Your Work in a Changing World [14]
AI’s Importance in Journalism and Teaching — Part 2 [18]

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 [19].

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ Academy [20]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [3]
Environmental Studies [21]
Journalism & Media [16]
Science [22]
Technology [23]
Region:
National (U.S.) [17]
International [24]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about AI’s Importance in Journalism and Teaching — Part 2 [18]
Trump 2.0 EJWatch [25]

Trump 2.0 EJWatch is a special section spotlighting SEJournal stories and EJToday headlines that track the impact of the second 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 [26]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Trump 2.0 EJWatch [25]
Press Freedom Issues Come to Fore As Trump 2.0 Launches [27]

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 [28].

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog [29]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Justice [30]
Environmental Politics [31]
Government [7]
Journalism & Media [16]
Policy [11]
Region:
National (U.S.) [17]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Press Freedom Issues Come to Fore As Trump 2.0 Launches [27]
The Bounty of the Gift Economy [32]

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 [33]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [34]
Consumer [4]
Economy & Business [6]
Food [35]
People & Population [9]
Policy [11]
Region:
National (U.S.) [17]
International [24]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about The Bounty of the Gift Economy [32]
Communities at Risk Are Climate Stories Too [36]

As environmental journalists scramble to cover dizzying changes in climate and energy policy under the new administration, columnist Yessenia Funes offers an admonition: Do not forget about those whose human rights are being targeted by Trump, and look to connect the changing planet with changes felt by threatened communities. The new Voices of Environmental Justice on exiting the echo chamber.

SEJ Publication Types:
Voices of Environmental Justice [37]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [38]
Climate Change [3]
Disasters [5]
Environmental Justice [30]
Environmental Politics [31]
Government [7]
Health [39]
Journalism & Media [16]
People & Population [9]
Policy [11]
Region:
National (U.S.) [17]
International [24]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Communities at Risk Are Climate Stories Too [36]
Energy-Dominance Exponent Coasts Into Interior [40]

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 [41]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [3]
Energy & Fuel [42]
Environmental Politics [31]
Government [7]
Natural Resources [43]
Policy [11]
Region:
National (U.S.) [17]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [44]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Energy-Dominance Exponent Coasts Into Interior [40]
EPA Nominee Heads for Approval, Despite Inexperience [45]

Former Congressman Lee Zeldin, the Trump administration nominee to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has scant expertise in the field and little appeal to environmental groups. But at a Senate hearing earlier this month, the Trump loyalist aimed to score points by confirming the existence of climate change and deflating rumors of an agency move out of the Capital. The latest EJ TransitionWatch takes a look at Zeldin's prospects.

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ TransitionWatch [41]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [3]
Environmental Politics [31]
Government [7]
Policy [11]
Region:
National (U.S.) [17]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [46]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about EPA Nominee Heads for Approval, Despite Inexperience [45]
Telling the Stories of the Silent Sentinels [47]

To many, plants are a merely green backdrop, indistinguishable and inconsequential. But, freelancer Karen Mockler says that such “plant blindness” belies an urgent need for our notice. More than a third of the world’s trees and thousands of other plant species face extinction. Their plight — and their many blessings — offer perceptive journalists a wealth of reporting and storytelling opportunities. Mockler on why to write about plants.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [48]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [34]
Air [49]
Biodiversity [50]
Climate Change [3]
Environmental Health [51]
Environmental Justice [30]
Environmental Politics [31]
Environmental Studies [21]
Food [35]
Forests [52]
Government [7]
Health [39]
Journalism & Media [16]
Laws & Regulations [8]
Natural Resources [43]
Pollution [53]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [54]
Science [22]
Water & Oceans [12]
Wildlife [55]
Region:
National (U.S.) [17]
California [56]
Northwest (OR WA) [57]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [58]
International [24]
Canada [59]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Telling the Stories of the Silent Sentinels [47]

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