Publication Items

Thank You for the Work You Do — and for Letting Me Serve [1]

Outgoing board president Halle Parker reflects on her year leading the organization as her term comes to a close, thanking board members, staff and volunteers for their work during a challenging time for journalism. She highlights key changes aimed at better supporting freelancers and students, notes efforts to strengthen representation and community within SEJ and looks ahead to the organization’s 35th anniversary conference [2] in Chicago. Parker also underscores why recent membership bylaw revisions — approved by members — are critical to SEJ’s future.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ Presidents Report [3]
Visibility:
Public [4]
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Solutions Stories a Compass for Readers [5]

Get more Voices of Environmental Justice in 2026, as we increase column frequency to bimonthly. And for her first contribution of the year, writer Yessenia Funes calls on climate reporters to offer audiences a sense of hope by leaning into solutions narratives, hard-hitting and data-driven stories that hold the powerful accountable. Expert advice on how to make solutions journalism work.

SEJ Publication Types:
Voices of Environmental Justice [6]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [7]
Disasters [8]
Economy & Business [9]
Environmental Studies [10]
Health [11]
Journalism & Media [12]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
California [14]
International [15]
Visibility:
Public [4]
- Read more about Solutions Stories a Compass for Readers [5]
Spring Is Coming. How Silent Will It Be? [16]

Bird populations remain in steep decline, mostly due to human activity. But as the latest TipSheet reports, reporting on the disappearance of our avian residents can lead journalists to some bread-and-butter environmental stories: whether about local ecosystems, climate change, chemicals, land disturbance and more. Read on for more, including nearly a dozen-and-a-half story ideas and reporting resources.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [17]
Topics on the Beat:
Biodiversity [18]
Chemicals [19]
Climate Change [7]
Environmental Health [20]
Environmental Studies [10]
Health [11]
Wildlife [21]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
International [15]
Canada [22]
Visibility:
Public [4]
- Read more about Spring Is Coming. How Silent Will It Be? [16]
Geothermal a Valuable, But Overlooked Clean Energy Source? [23]

More heat pumps than ever are going into homes and businesses in the United States these days. But they are just one small-scale use of geothermal energy, a promising utility-scale technology that is growing worldwide — and with a minimal carbon footprint to boot. But there are drawbacks as well. The new Issue Backgrounder explains how it all works.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [24]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [7]
Energy & Fuel [25]
Natural Resources [26]
Technology [27]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
California [14]
International [15]
Asia [28]
Australia & Oceania [29]
Europe [30]
Middle East [31]
Visibility:
Public [4]
- Read more about Geothermal a Valuable, But Overlooked Clean Energy Source? [23]
Between the Lines — Writing Nature Through Illness and Disability [32]

Writers with disabilities and chronic illnesses explore perspectives on nature and environment in a unique anthology, “Moving Mountains.” Editor Louise Kenward discusses the recent volume with contributor William Allen in a new BookShelf “Between the Lines” Q&A — the connection between climate change and disability, the benefits of learning to rest, the value of engaging with different perspectives and more.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [33]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [7]
Disasters [8]
Diversity [34]
Environmental Justice [35]
Environmental Politics [36]
Health [11]
Journalism & Media [12]
People & Population [37]
Policy [38]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
International [15]
Visibility:
Public [4]
- Read more about Between the Lines — Writing Nature Through Illness and Disability [32]
EPA’s Brownfields Data, Covered With Crud? [39]

Hundreds of thousands of polluted, abandoned industrial sites — called brownfields — dot the United States. For reporters seeking local environmental stories, this profusion of problem spots cries out for coverage. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox points you to a series of government databases that track them and let you map them, but warns that the going won’t be easy. Find out why.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [40]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [12]
Pollution [41]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Visibility:
Public [4]
- Read more about EPA’s Brownfields Data, Covered With Crud? [39]
Even in This Toxic River — A Salmon Story [42]

Seattle’s heavily polluted Duwamish River is no place to catch fish — except for salmon, which pass quickly through these troubled waters on their way from the sea to their freshwater spawning grounds. With fishing pole in hand, environmental journalist Alex Brown joins jostling crowds of industrial-zone anglers and catches a firsthand view of a spectacle that is both anomalous and awe-inspiring.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [43]
Topics on the Beat:
Biodiversity [18]
Chemicals [19]
Environmental Health [20]
Fish & Fisheries [44]
Food [45]
Pollution [41]
Water & Oceans [46]
Wildlife [21]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Northwest (OR WA) [47]
Visibility:
Public [4]
- Read more about Even in This Toxic River — A Salmon Story [42]
Ski Patrol — How Snow Helps Tell Local Climate Story [48]

Winter weather can reveal a great deal about global warming's impacts on your locale. So for environmental journalists, an outing to nearby slopes could be a smart reporting trip (with or without the ski boots). The latest TipSheet offers up more than a dozen story angles and snow and weather resources for your next climate story.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [17]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [7]
Consumer [49]
Journalism & Media [12]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Visibility:
Public [4]
- Read more about Ski Patrol — How Snow Helps Tell Local Climate Story [48]
As Realty Risk Data Is Pulled From Web, Alternatives Are Ready [50]

As one data source disappears, another often emerges, finds Reporter’s Toolbox, as it searches for ways to report on real estate risk. In our latest column, insight into where to find information on home hazards, especially from climate change, plus smart ways to use the data for your reporting and some emerging gaps to be aware of.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [40]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [7]
Consumer [49]
Disasters [8]
Journalism & Media [12]
Planning & Growth [51]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Visibility:
Public [4]
- Read more about As Realty Risk Data Is Pulled From Web, Alternatives Are Ready [50]
A Town Derailed, a Trust Obtained [52]

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 [53]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [54]
Chemicals [19]
Disasters [8]
Environmental Health [20]
Environmental Justice [35]
Health [11]
Journalism & Media [12]
People & Population [37]
Pollution [41]
Science [55]
Transportation [56]
Water & Oceans [46]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [57]
Visibility:
Public [4]
- Read more about A Town Derailed, a Trust Obtained [52]

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