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SEJournal is the weekly digital news magazine of the Society of Environmental Journalists. SEJ members are automatically subscribed. Nonmembers may subscribe using the link below. Send questions, comments, story ideas, articles, news briefs and tips to Editor Adam Glenn at sejournaleditor@sej.org. Or contact Glenn if you're interested in joining the SEJournal volunteer editorial staff.

TipSheet | Reporter's Toolbox | Backgrounders | WatchDog |

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Features | FEJ StoryLog | Freelance Files | Inside Story | SEJ News

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October 6, 2021

  • The launch of NASA’s new Landsat Earth-observing satellite is a reminder to reporters that millions of images from over five decades can help unearth many environmental trends, whether deforestation, coastal erosion, suburban sprawl or wildfire impacts. The new Reporter’s Toolbox explains how the service works and how to access the resource, along with examples of prize-winning stories.

  • A growing body of research shows the links between global warming and extreme weather. And that knowledge can help communities prepare, and assign responsibility for damages. Veteran climate journalist Bob Berwyn lays out the science of climate attribution — for heat waves, flooding, wildfires and, ironically, crop-killing freezes — and discusses its implications for future climate change policy.

  • It sometimes feels like journalists lurch from one catastrophe (or hurricane, flood, wildfire, heat wave) to the next. But that can mean missing the bigger story: Disasters, increasingly linked to climate extremes, are often interlocking events, in which one system failure causes the next and the next. The latest Backgrounder explores three case studies, and how news media can focus attention on steps toward resilience.

September 29, 2021

  • A critically important global gathering to advance the Paris climate accords gets underway in Scotland next month. And the latest TipSheet offers an extensive walk-through on the UN meeting — basic terminology and negotiating aims, global politics, green climate funds and more — to help environmental journalists report on it with relevance, whether from there or home.

  • Two outstanding features — one on air pollution from a local coke plant in Pennsylvania, another on deaths from a shellfish toxin in Alaska, and both focused on public health, neglected communities and environmental justice — are the subject of the new Inside Story Q&A. Society of Environmental Journalists’ award-winners Nancy Averett and Zoya Teirstein share their reporting insights and advice.

September 22, 2021

  • Twenty years after the attacks on 9/11, the war on terror has left many risks in the built environment under a cloak of secrecy. For WatchDog Opinion, keeping vital information about such preventable hazards under wraps from the public and journalists is not just wrong, but bad policy. Here’s why. Plus, a rundown for environment reporters of where exactly this secrecy reigns.

  • In a few weeks, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will officially release the latest year’s Toxics Release Inventory. But as Reporter’s Toolbox explains, you can get ahead of the data — and possibly generate some scoops. That’s because EPA quietly releases incomplete preliminary data months earlier. Top tips on making sense of the early data, along with nine smart story leads.

  • Once it was mainly radio reporters who showed up with audio recording devices. But with smartphones now in virtually every pocket, many print journalists also record audio for increased accuracy and accountability. But there’s a problem — dreaded hours of transcribing. That doesn’t deter writer Steven B. Krivit, who has tips to make transcribing a breeze, in the latest Freelance Files.

September 15, 2021

  • During the next two weeks, expect a rush of Congressional activity as both chambers attempt to set details that will constitute what some see as possibly the most important climate legislation in years. TipSheet helps you keep track of the action, first setting the stage on two massive measures, and then providing resources to track more than half-a-dozen House committees.

  • Decades worth of technical advances, used creatively by journalists, have led to a world of “wow” storytelling, including on the environmental news front. In the new EJ Insight column, SEJournal’s own Joe Davis takes you on a walking tour of the world of interactive storytelling. Plus, an interview with Hannah Fairfield of The New York Times, a leader in the burgeoning field, and our own shortlist of outstanding projects to view.

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