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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.

NEW: EJ TransitionWatch 

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October 30, 2024

  • In this special report, “2025 Journalists’ Guide to Environment + Energy,” the SEJournal looks ahead in our ninth annual guide to key issues in the coming year. Check out the guide’s special forward-focused TipSheets, Backgrounders, WatchDogs, a new EJ TransitionWatch column and more. Plus, watch in the coming weeks for additional entries and, in the new year, an overview analysis and a report from the Society of Environmental Journalists' year-ahead event in Washington, D.C. in late January.

  • The displacement of populations by climate impacts, while not a new phenomenon in human history, is worsening in the face of global warming’s extreme weather patterns. Yet the extensive international regime to aid refugees doesn’t cover those migrating due to flooding, drought, natural disasters or climate change. Backgrounder considers the implications and how nations will respond to the new realities.

  • Susceptibility to landslides is more on the minds of environmental reporters, especially in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which caused hundreds of them. To get a better read on local landslide risk for local stories, Reporter’s Toolbox recommends an enhanced resource from the U.S. Geological Survey, which layers the risk data into easily readable map form.

October 23, 2024

  • A Biden administration initiative that commits to allocating 40% of federal investments to disadvantaged communities plagued by overpollution is an environmental justice breakthrough, writes columnist Yessenia Funes. But it’s also a program with weaknesses, such as how it factors in race or keeps track of impacts. What is Justice40, what has it missed and what is its future?

  • What was once benignly dubbed biosolids is more accurately tagged toxic sludge. And some of it may be finding its way into our food. The latest TipSheet reports how that came to be despite (or perhaps because of) Clean Water Act regulation, and how hard it is to calculate the potential harms. Plus, more than a dozen reporting ideas and resources for this highly localizable story.

  • The Great Barrier Reef is one of nature’s marvels, home to a startling array of life. It’s also the victim of forces rapidly bringing about its demise, from runoff to climate change. With “In Hot Water,” scientist Paul Hardisty recounts the struggle to save this remarkable ecosystem, amid forces of capital, politics and conflicting science. The latest BookShelf review from contributor Melody Kemp.

October 16, 2024

  • When Hurricane Helene ravaged a swath of the Southeast in September, leaving at least 230 people dead, it also temporarily took out a critical repository of climate data in Asheville, North Carolina. That got Reporter’s Toolbox thinking about the risks to some of the nation’s other important storehouses of environmental information, whether from extreme weather, hackers or politics. Here’s a shortlist.

  • What if the news, instead of inducing fear or anxiety, was rewarding for the brain? That question sparked the creation of a novel, game show–inspired approach to helping journalists unlock new ways of reporting, using healthier, more holistic communication techniques. Drawing on research from neuroscience, community psychology and journalism, “Jourpardy” offers fresh perspectives on how to avoid doom-and-gloom reporting.

  • Yes, press freedom advocates worry over the prospects of a Trump administration that considers journalists “the enemy of the people.” But the new WatchDog Opinion column argues the Harris campaign has, for its part, been uncomfortably quiet on those same issues. So it’s time for the Democratic presidential hopeful to answer some questions. WatchDog has 10 we should all be asking.

October 9, 2024

  • The devastating death toll and damage from Hurricane Helene are a dire warning of the risks of extreme weather and flooding. But one notable hazard is that such flooding may overwhelm any one of the thousands of small, neglected U.S. dams. TipSheet examines the issue and offers more than a dozen story angles and reporting resources.

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