Facebook logo LinkedIn logo Twitter logo Print HTML logo
FEJ StoryLog

FEJ StoryLog banner

 

The FEJ StoryLog is a quarterly column that builds on the public service reporting work made possible through the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Fund for Environmental Journalism program. The column 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, and advice for other journalists and grant hopefuls. Read an introduction to the column.

For questions and comments, or to contribute to future FEJ StoryLogs, contact FEJ StoryLog Co-Editors Carolyn Whetzel and Brandi Addison at sejournaleditor@sej.org.

Public

September 13, 2023

  • One Grant, Multiple Stories

    Seattle-based correspondent Brett Walton has a habit of adding extra days to his reporting schedules. In this FEJ StoryLog, Walton shares how he used one such buffer to stretch a grant and produce not just one story on California’s small drinking water systems, but a second on the aftermath of wildfire on another town’s water system, plus finish a third pending project on household water debt.

    VIEW ARTICLE

May 17, 2023

  • Grant Prompts Improved Coverage of Indigenous Perspectives at Bears Ears

    Inspired by a discussion at a Society of Environmental Journalists conference, freelancer Rico Moore (pictured, left) applied for a Fund for Environmental Journalism grant to report on Bears Ears National Monument. Then, armed with advice for better covering Indigenous communities and Native American tribes, Moore found a new way to write about the cultural and environmental richness of those lands. His experience, in the new FEJ StoryLog.

    VIEW ARTICLE

January 25, 2023

  • Determined Grantee Weaves Together Unique Project on Ash Trees, Wetlands and Baskets

    When the global pandemic interfered with independent journalist Gabriel Popkin’s plans for a grant-funded biodiversity reporting project on the emerald ash borer, an invasive pest threatening ash forests, he came up with a surprising solution. In this FEJ StoryLog, Popkin shares how he worked around travel shutdowns and subsequent story pitch rejections to ultimately discover an alternative storytelling option to keep his project alive.

    VIEW ARTICLE

November 2, 2022

  • Documentary Tells of Human, Environmental Toll of Unexploded Ordnance

    A film by reporting duo Jerry Redfern and Karen Coates — supported by a grant from the Society of Environmental Journalists — shows the ongoing human and environmental harm of the unexploded U.S. bombs and other ordnance dropped on Southeast Asian villages during the Vietnam War. “Eternal Harvest,” which builds on their earlier book on the topic, was made painstakingly over years, and in the latest FEJ StoryLog, the couple explains their process and storytelling approach.

    VIEW ARTICLE

July 27, 2022

  • Grants Uncover Downside of Wood Stoves, Water Subsidy Impacts

    When a young Ohio-based journalist found her interest piqued by the environmental impacts of wood-burning stoves, she turned — for a second time — to the Fund for Environmental Journalism. Her grant helped her dig deeper and, ultimately, produce a report for Undark. Reporter Diana Kruzman shares her experience with both FEJ-funded projects, along with advice for other grant seekers, in the new StoryLog.

    VIEW ARTICLE

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.

    VIEW ARTICLE

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.

    VIEW ARTICLE

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.

    VIEW ARTICLE

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.

    VIEW ARTICLE

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.

    VIEW ARTICLE

Pages

Search Publications

Browse Publications

#SEJ2024 graphic

Advertisements

Advertise with SEJ

 

Subscriptions

SEJournal Online is the digital news magazine of the Society of Environmental Journalists. Learn more about SEJournal Online, including submission, subscription and advertising information.