Send us your stories:
sej@sej.org
 

 

Agenda

Coverage

Travel/Lodging

Sponsors/Exhibitors/Advertisers

About Houston

 

SEJ's 31st annual conference took place March 30-April 3, 2022, hosted by Rice University. Below, you'll find multimedia coverage provided by SEJ, volunteers and conference attendees.

 

All available audio and video recordings are posted on this page. Missing sessions had no or poor audio quality due to speakers not using the microphones. Additional coverage:

• SEJ's public Facebook page.
• SEJ's members-only Facebook discussion group.
• Follow the @SEJournalists account on Instagram. #SEJ2022 highlights here.
• Follow @sejorg on Twitter.
• Please use the hashtag #SEJ2022 for Instagram, Twitter, etc.
• Public SEJ #SEJ2022 Houston Flickr conference photo group, where you can upload/share your own conference photos.
• See a list of all the coverage stories here.

It's critically important to SEJ to gather evidence on the impact of our work. So we're tracking stories inspired by or informed by our conference in Houston. The stories don't have to be about Houston or Texas; they can be based on sources or ideas you got from being at the conference. Please help us to keep SEJ strong and share links, photos, copies of reporting generated or informed by this conference. Send your story links to Cindy MacDonald, SEJ's Web content manager. It's never too late. Please send yours! Moderators, speakers, tour leaders: We also welcome resources, tipsheets, etc., from sessions or tours that you wish to share.

---

Panel Moderators, Tour Leaders and Speakers: Translate your hard work for #SEJ2022 into a short report and reach thousands through the SEJournal Online! Fill out this brief form and we’ll be in touch to explain how.

Page Menu

Wednesday, March 30
Thursday, March 31
Friday, April 1
Saturday, April 2
Sunday, April 3
Miscellaneous conference coverage (includes multi-session stories)

 

---

 

Wednesday, October 9

 

Workshop 2. Covering Oceans and Coasts

• "NOAA Chief: We Need To Heed Data and Adapt to Climate Change," Climate News/WFAE (Charlotte, N.C.), March 31, 2022, by David Boraks (about halfway down the page).
• "SEJ Day 1: Oceans and Coasts Workshop!," The SHEJ blog, March 30, 2022, by Science, Health and Environmental Journalism at Mizzou student Adam Goldstein. Related Instagram post by fellow SHEJ student Tayler Gilmore.
• Event description.

 

Workshop 3. Tracking Toxics Data Training Workshop

• Video recording of 10:30 a.m. TRI presentation from U.S. EPA's Sandra Gaona (01:22:27).
• Event description.

 

Opening Reception and Dinner at the Royal Sonesta

• Audio recording (01:48:46 / 37.3MB).
• "Christian Menefee Aims To Bring Polluters to Justice," The Texas Observer, October 5, 2022 (conference photo by Dale Willman is in this story).
• Event description.

 

Thursday, March 31

 

Tour 1. Sustainable Fishing, Coral Health and Marine Life in the Gulf of Mexico

• "Reporters Notebook From: Society of Environmental Journalists 2022 Conference, Day Two," Native News Online, April 5, 2022, by Valerie Vande Panne.
• "SEJ Day 2: Galveston Fishing Field Trip," The SHEJ blog, March 31, 2022, by Science, Health and Environmental Journalism at Mizzou student Adam Goldstein.
• Event description.

 

Tour 2. Boomtown, Flood Town: Climate Solutions for the Nation’s Oil and Gas Capital

• "Sea-Level Rise: 'The Impacts Are Here. They Will Get Worse'," Climate News/WFAE, April 14, 2022, by David Boraks (an interview with NOAA's William Sweet).
• Event description.

 

Tour 3. Birds, Conservation, Diversity and Inclusion

• "Journalists Explore the Texas Coast’s Migratory Birds," Unearthed, May 6, 2022, by Barb Kuensting.
• Instagram post, March 31, 2022, by Science, Health and Environmental Journalism at Mizzou student Tayler Gilmore.
• Event description.

 

Tour 5. The Future of Clean Energy

• "My Job Is To Police Energy Use in My Office. Here's How We Got to Net Zero." (opinion), The New York Times, August 22, 2022, by Carlos Gamarra (senior research scientist for clean energy technology, Houston Advanced Research Center and a speaker on this tour of HARC).
• "A Low-Income Energy-Efficiency Program Gets $3.5B Boost, But Leaves Out Many in Need," NPR, May 13, 2022, by Laura Benshoff (informed by Thursday Tour 5. The Future of Clean Energy and Friday Lunch Plenary: The Energy Transition and Environmental Justice.
• Event description.

 

Tour 9. Highway? No Way! Why Cities Are Moving Away From Highways

• "Touring Houston’s Highways," Connecticut Public Interest Research Group, April 11, 2022.
• Event description.

 

Friday, April 1

 

Opening Plenary: New Frontiers in the Final Frontier — Reporting on Oceans in 2022

© Photo courtesy of Dale Willman. Click to enlarge.

• "Making the World's Case for Water and Biodiversity," ShareAmerica, November 14, 2022, by Noelani Kirschner (bottom photo).
• Video recording (01:30:14).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 1. Following the Money: The Profiteers Behind Environmental Damage

• Audio recording (00:49:30 / 17.0MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 1. Dual Crises: Reporting on the Intersections of COVID-19 and Climate Change

• Audio recording (partial only / 00:22:34 / 7.8MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 1. From Oil & Gas to Clean & Fair: Restoring the Gulf of Mexico During the Climate Transition

• Audio recording (00:47:57 / 16.5MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 1. How to Tell True Stories About Lead

• Audio recording (00:54:19 / 18.7MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 1. Drilling Down: Using Databases To Find Stories on Oil, Gas and Mining

• Audio recording (00:40:30 / 37.1MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 1. Covering Indian Country for Non-Natives

• Video recording (01:07:21).
• "Reporter's Notebook From: Society of Environmental Journalists 2022 Conference, Day Three," Native News Online, April 14, 2022, by Valerie Vande Panne.
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 1. Believers Look Up: Covering Religious Communities’ Response to the Climate Crisis, From Eco-Grief to Solutions

• Audio recording (00:50:09 / 17.2MB). As requested by a speaker and agreed to by all the panel attendees and the audience, a small portion of the presentation was made off the record and has been removed from this recording, with the approval of SEJ's Executive Committee.
• Event description.

 

Lunch Plenary: The Energy Transition and Environmental Justice

© Photo courtesy of Dale Willman. Click to enlarge.

• Video recording (01:34:38).
• "The Pursuit of Energy Equity in Milwaukee, and Across the US,"  WUWM/NPR, April 18, 2022, by Chuck Quirmbach.
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 2. Beyond Doom and Gloom: Bringing Solutions to Your Climate Reporting

• Audio recording (00:31:55 / 29.2MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 2. Ocean Plastic

• Audio recording (00:52:06 / 17.9MB).
• "Top 10 Wins for Texas' Environment in 2022" (#6/photo), Environment Texas, December 21, 2022, by Luke Metzger.
• "Chemical Recycling of Plastic Gets a Boost in 18 US States — But Environmentalists Question Whether It Really Is Recycling," Chemical & Engineering News, May 15, 2022, by Cheryl Hogue.
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 2. Landfills at a Crossroads

• Audio recording (00:46:58 / 16.1MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 2. Mapping Environmental Injustice: From Stolen Land to Cancer Hot Spots and Toxic Prisons

• Audio recording (00:38:33 / 35.3MB).
• Event description.

 

U.S. EPA Press Conference and Q&A Session

© Photo courtesy of Dale Willman. Click to enlarge.

• Video recording (01:20:29).
• "Senate Committee Again Ties on Waterhouse Nomination for EPA Office," Waste Dive, April 7, 2022, by Megan Quinn; Cole Rosengren contributed to this report.
• "EPA Plans To Tackle Climate, Environmental Justice in Revised Risk Management Program Rule," POLITICO, April 1, 2022, by Gloria Gonzalez and Matthew Choi (subscription required for full article).
• Event description.

 

Saturday, April 2

 

Concurrent Sessions 3. Environmental Engagement Reporting

• Audio recording (01:04:45 / 22.2MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 3. Extreme Weather: How To Report on a World That’s Warmer, Colder, Wetter, Drier and Weirder

• Audio recording (01:14:48 / 25.7MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 3. Diving Deeper: Untold Stories of Ocean Science

• Audio recording (01:06:39 / 22.9MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 3. At the Junction of Clean Water and Human Rights

• Audio recording (00:59:39 / 20.5MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 3. When the Truth Is Not Neutral: The Myth of Absolute Objectivity in Reporting

• Audio recording (01:08:51 / 23.6MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 3. Reporting From the Front Lines of Climate and Energy

• Audio recording (01:07:44 / 23.3MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 3. Virtual Journalists' Guide to Energy & Environment in Latin America, 2022

• Video recording (01:15:11).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 4. Clearing Up the Fishbowl: EPA Press Access Roundtable

• Audio recording (01:00:40 / 20.8MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 4. Reporting on Carbon Capture and Other Controversial Climate Solutions

• Audio recording (00:59:09 / 20.3MB).
• "Safety Advocate Warns of a Lack of Oversight for New CO2 Pipelines Needed for Carbon Capture," The Allegheny Front, April 29, 2022, by Kara Holsopple.
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 4. Inside the Fight To Tackle Flood Risks

• Audio recording (01:05:42 / 22.6MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 4. The Oil Industry's Big Bet on Plastic and LNG, and the Frontline Communities Organizing to Stop Them

• Audio recording (00:59:12 / 20.3MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 4. Environmental Exposures, Health and the Media

• Audio recording (01:03:51 / 21.9MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 4. Transportation in Environmental Coverage

• Video recording (01:01:27).
• "Firm Contracted To Make Postal Service Trucks Plans To Do It at a Non-Union Facility," WUWM/NPR, April 11, 2022, by Chuck Quirmbach (story informed by this concurrent session).
• "House Democrats Take Up Wisconsin Union Fight Over Postal Vehicle Production," WUWM/NPR, April 6, 2022, by Chuck Quirmbach (story informed by this concurrent session).
• Event description.

 

Lunch Plenary: Solutions Journalism and Environmental Justice

© Photo courtesy of Dale Willman. Click to enlarge.

• Video recording (01:38:09).
• "Race & the Environment," The Recast/POLITICO, April 5, 2022, by Brakkton Booker (approximately halfway down the page).
• Event description.

 

Mini-Tour Bus Loading

Courtesy of Dale Willman

 

 

Mini-Tour 1. Attwater’s and Lesser Prairie Chicken Mini-Tour — on the Lek

© Photo: Tour attendees, courtesy of Mike Smith, Coastal Point.

• Video recording of tour speaker Mike Morrow, Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge wildlife biologist, explaining to attendees the perils of trying to raise Attwater's prairie chickens in captivity.(00:02:05).
• More photos on Flickr.
• Event description.

 

 

Mini-Tour 2. Pavement vs. Preservation: A Paddling Adventure

© Photo courtesy of Nick Turner, climate change reporter, Seattle Times. Click to enlarge.

 

 

Mini-Tour 5. Explore Buffalo Bayou by Pontoon Boat

• "Saving a Texan Bayou, '16 Bottles' at a Time," The New York Times, June 14, 2022, by Cara Buckley.
• Event description.

 

SEJ Dinner Party on Rice Campus

Courtesy of Dale Willman

 

 

Sunday, April 3

Breakfast and Books at the Houston Arboretum

• "50 Years Later, Toledo Area Continues To Reap Benefits of Clean Water Act," The (Toledo) Blade, October 19, 2022, by Tom Henry (subscription required).
• "Historian Highlights UAW Leader's Role in Early Environmental Movement," The (Toledo) Blade, April 10, 2022, by Tom Henry (subscription required).
• Event description.

 

Miscellaneous and/or Multiple Sessions

• "How Plastic Is Affecting the Earth's Oceans," Good Morning America, June 8, 2022. [This story came about due to a connection that was forged between two attendees who sat next to each other at the first dinner, Wednesday evening, in Houston. After the conference they kept in touch and, months later, the opportunity arose to work together — one attendee helped the other and her team report on how the planet's oceans protect us from climate change and what we can do to protect the oceans from climate change and plastic pollution.]
• "The Water Diplomats," Arizona Public Media, August 22, 2022, by Megan Myscofski, AZPM, and Chantal Cough-Schulze, Texas Water Resources Institute.
• "'Justice For All' Must Include Voices of Those Impacted by Environmental Degradation and the Actions Taken To Repair It," Winrock International blog, August 10, 2022, by Hannah Butler.
• "SEJ 2022 Focus on Environmental Justice," Cinema Verde, May 16, 2022, by Christine Heinrichs. 
• "Environmental Justice, Including at Waste Sites, Takes Center Stage at Houston Event," Waste Dive, April 27, 2022, by Cole Rosengren.
• "Reporters Notebook from: Society of Environmental Journalists 2022 Conference, Days Four and Five," Native News Online, April 22, 2022, by Valerie Vande Panne. 
• "Houston and Other Disasters at #SEJ2022," SEJournal, April 13, 2022, by David Helvarg.
• "One Planet: The Society of Environmental Journalists Annual Conference," Your Call/KALW, April 11, 2022, by Rose Aguilar (interview with Los Angeles Times' Sammy Roth, moderator of Friday's Lunch Plenary).
• "Climate Change Ravaged America’s Oil Capital. Can It Lead on Clean Energy?" Boiling Point/ Los Angeles Times, April 7, 2022, by Sammy Roth.
• "Reporters Notebook From the Society of Environmental Journalists 2022 Conference, Day One," Native News Online, April 5, 2022, by Valerie Vande Panne.
• "Jumping Out of the Fishbowl," April 4, 2022, by SEJ member Mike Smith, Environmental Reporter, Coastal Point.
• "Justice40 Screener Gets Backlash," Morning Energy/POLITICO, April 4, 2022, by Matthew Choi (approximately two-thirds of the way down the page).
• Instagram post, April 3, 2022, by Science, Health and Environmental Journalism at Mizzou student Tayler Gilmore (Saturday events).
• Instagram post, April 3, 2022, by Science, Health and Environmental Journalism at Mizzou student Tayler Gilmore (Friday events).
• "SEJ Day 4: Engagement and Collaboration in Environmental Journalism," The SHEJ blog, April 3, 2022, by Science, Health and Environmental Journalism at Mizzou student Adam Goldstein.
• "SEJ Day 3: Religion and Solutions in Environmental Journalism," The SHEJ blog, April 1, 2022, by Science, Health and Environmental Journalism at Mizzou student Adam Goldstein.
• Instagram post, March 30, 2022, by Science, Health and Environmental Journalism at Mizzou student Tayler Gilmore.