I’m Rico Moore and I was appointed to the SEJ board of directors in May. I’m excited to run for election in hopes I’ll be able to continue the work I’ve begun since joining the organization as a member. My time on the board has inspired me to run, as I believe we are working together to improve SEJ for all. My purpose for running is to improve Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in SEJ and the field of environmental journalism, as well as strengthen press freedoms.
I have been working to improve DEI within SEJ for nearly two years. This effort has manifested as a strong commitment to the DEI committee, on which I serve as co-chair. We have already accomplished a lot together, including recommending the board pursue a consulting firm with expertise in DEI issues related to environmental journalism to design and implement a multi-session training for SEJ board and staff. The board unanimously approved a resolution based on this recommendation, and we’re excited for the trainings to commence.
I am committed to press freedoms, which I believe to be necessary for a healthy planet and society. I have worked to protect these freedoms for SEJ’s Freedom of Information task force, by helping to draft a letter to Attorney General Garland to expand investigations of police treatment to journalists covering protests in Minneapolis. I also helped draft a letter encouraging President Biden to hold Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman accountable for the murder of the journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.
I’ve helped SEJ organize programs on issues related to ensuring DEI in environmental journalism, co-organizing a webinar on the reckoning with DEI that the field of environmental journalism is facing. If elected, I plan on continuing to integrate and support DEI-centered programming as part of SEJ’s Programs committee.
I am also a recipient of a Fund for Environmental Journalism grant from SEJ, which funded a story recently published in Boulder Weekly that tells the success story of a collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups regarding narratives about Ancestral Territories/Public Lands in the context of the Bears Ears region.
Regarding my recent reporting, I wrote about the challenges facing the Bureau of Land Management for Audubon, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s visit to Bears Ears for the Guardian, an environmental justice lawyer's efforts on behalf of the Native Village of Kivalina, which is existentially threatened by climate change for DeSmog Blog, and the Upper Skagit Tribe’s calls on the City of Seattle to remove a hydroelectric dam for High Country News. I am committed to reporting stories equitably and in ways that amplify innovative perspectives and solutions to environmental crises.
If elected I’ll continue fulfilling my role as a board member, my work strengthening DEI on the DEI committee, strengthening press freedoms on the Freedom of Information task force, and assisting on the Programs committee.
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