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FEJ StoryLog

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The FEJ StoryLog bimonthly column builds on the public service reporting work made possible through the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Fund for Environmental Journalism program. Edited by independent journalist Carolyn Whetzel, the column feature shares how individual FEJ grantees developed their story ideas, pursued their reporting and got their work published, as well as provides lessons learned along the way, or advice for other journalists and grant hopefuls. Read an introduction to the column by Whetzel.

For questions and comments, or to contribute future FEJ StoryLogs, email the SEJournal FEJ StoryLog editor Carolyn Whetzel at sejournaleditor@sej.org.

Public

April 20, 2022

  • Grantee Wades Into Surprising Blue-Green Algae Problem

    A chance encounter with a social media post from a retired government official led environmental journalist Sharon Oosthoek on a virtual, pandemic-era journey deep into the waters of Lake Superior to chase down an algal bloom. In her contribution to FEJ StoryLog, Oosthoek shares how she leveraged the tip into a grant that allowed her and her TV channel partner to produce a multi-part text, video, engagement and teaching project.

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January 12, 2022

  • Grantee Suits Up To Ask If Honeybees Harm Native Species

    When Colorado-based freelance journalist Jennifer Oldham suited up in protective gear to investigate if commercial honeybee hives on public lands impact native bee populations, as well as to meet with federal scientists and visit a bee study site, it was a Fund for Environmental Journalism grant that helped her do it. Oldham shares her experience and advice in the latest FEJ StoryLog.

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November 10, 2021

  • Eating (and Reporting) My Way Through the Foods of the Rainforest

    Conserving crop diversity is a key to maintaining global food security, especially in the face of climate change. To understand those efforts, Portland, Ore.-based freelancer Virginia Gewin traveled to South America, supported by a grant from the Society of Environmental Journalists, to find out how Peruvian chefs and Amazon dwellers hope to save the rainforest by sharing native and wild foods.

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September 8, 2021

  • Reclaiming Coal Country — Quest for a New Economy in Appalachia 

    Longtime energy and environment journalist Elizabeth McGowan traveled to southeast Kentucky to shine a light on efforts to diversify Appalachia’s longtime coal-based economy. In FEJ StoryLog, McGowan shares how her on-the-ground reporting approach, funded in part by the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Fund for Environmental Journalism, yielded not only a powerful story, but insights into overcoming its challenges.

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June 16, 2021

  • Uncovering Inequality’s Roots in Timber Poaching

    Journalist Lyndsie Bourgon had covered timber poaching in the Pacific Northwest for over a decade when she decided to expand her scope, heading to the Peruvian Amazon to explore old-growth poaching there. In FEJ StoryLog, she shares the ups and downs of that project, made possible in part by a grant from the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Fund for Environmental Journalism.

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April 14, 2021

  • Flexibility in the Face of the Unexpected

    When a Chicago-based freelancer was just about to hit the road to report a three-part story and TV segment on the potential impacts of two proposed copper mines in the Great Lakes basin, there was a little hitch: The COVID-19 pandemic hit. The new FEJ StoryLog has the story of how Lorraine Boissoneault found the flexibility to complete her grant-supported project.

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February 17, 2021

  • Grant Helps Chart Illegal Rosewood’s 10,000-Mile Journey

    Two young journalists collaborated from continents apart — with the help of a Society of Environmental Journalists grant — to report on illicit trade in a highly prized timber. A new entry in our recently launched StoryLog column captures the whole process, from the spark of an idea, through research, a winning grant proposal, field reporting and published stories. Plus, lessons learned.

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December 9, 2020

  • Grant Gives Reporter Time To Immerse in Sewage Story

    The “underworld” of sewage treatment had fascinated one journalist for years. But it was only after winning a reporting grant that Christine Woodside had the luxury of spending dozens of hours to focus on how one old, malfunctioning plant left a local community appalled and angered. Woodside shares the details in the latest installment of SEJournal’s newest column, FEJ StoryLog.

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October 28, 2020

  • SEJ Grant Program Gives Boost to Environmental Coverage

    With this issue, SEJournal launches its newest column — FEJ StoryLog. The bimonthly feature will bring you the lessons of journalists who have been able to pursue their public service reporting work through the largesse of the Fund for Environmental Journalism. Column editor Carolyn Whetzel tells the story of the grant program and its successes. And watch in coming weeks for our first grantee StoryLog, from reporter Christine Woodside.

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