SEJ's 9th Annual Conference: Urban sprawl; Hollywood, the press and the environment, with panelists Ted Danson, Ed Begley Jr., and Keely Shaye Smith; keynote address by David Brower; and a Sunday morning talk by Barry Lopez, author of Arctic Dreams.

SEJ's 10th Annual Conference: Cars of the future; a debate between the environmental advisors to presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore; keynote address by David Suzuki; author Bill McKibben. Hosted by MSU's Knight Center for Environmental Journalism.

SEJ's 11th Annual Conference: Top Bush administration officials Christine Todd Whitman and Gale Norton outlined new environment and natural resources policies. Two conference sessions considered the impact of terrorist attacks on technology, the environment and environmental reporting.

The 12th annual conference, October 9-13, included a searching examination of the environment beat's "blind spots", and a spirited exchange between two key members of Congress and President George W. Bush's top environmental advisor about politics and policy in the post-9/11 era. Among the more than 30 session topics: Rachel Carson's legacy, ten years after Rio, cancer clusters, "Frankenfish" and an insider's look at the "big ten" environmental groups.