SEJ News

The SEJournal is opening its ranks to a new crew of volunteer co-editors. They will join the roster of talented co-editors to oversee the majority of the weekly’s numerous sections, and help shape key content for the longstanding independent publication of the Society of Environmental Journalists. The work is rewarding, the commitment small, the camaraderie great. Find out about the openings and how to join our team.

As part of our 2023 Journalists’ Guide to Energy & Environment special report, we’ve got highlights from last week’s reporter panel on the year ahead, led by #SEJ2023 conference co-chair Tom Michael (pictured, left). The focus was largely on the U.S. West, where challenges abound over issues like equitable siting of renewable energy infrastructure, regulating natural gas, managing wildfires and addressing the health consequences of climate-driven heat waves. Read our account, plus check out the full 2023 Guide.

SEJournal looks ahead to key issues in the coming year with this “2023 Journalists’ Guide to Energy & Environment” special report.​ Check out the guide’s various TipSheets and Backgrounders, an overview analysis and a report from a year-ahead panel, as well as a special look at environmental issues in the Pacific Northwest.

Environmental journalists from around the country and beyond will gather in Houston later this month for the Society of Environmental Journalists’ 31st annual conference. Widely known as the energy capital of the world, this highly diverse city is an ideal place to drill down on the causes and consequences of climate change and other environmental issues of the day.

SEJournal looks ahead to key issues in the coming year with this "2022 Journalists’ Guide to Energy & Environment" special report.​ Check out the guide's various Backgrounders, TipSheets, WatchDog reports an overview analysis.

SEJournal has a new face  — that of just-hired Associate Editor Frances Backhouse, a long-standing member of the Society of Environmental Journalists, and a veteran freelancer and author based in Canada. Backhouse will work with the SEJournal’s staff and volunteer editor team to bring in new features from volunteer contributors with journalistic and environmental expertise to share. Meet Backhouse and find out more about her role at the weekly online magazine.

New thinking and narratives are needed to solve complex environmental challenges like the climate crisis. But for journalists, the ongoing split between religion and environment beats hampers that effort. It’s a reality environmental journalist Meera Subramanian knows from conversations at her own kitchen table. So she helped organize a recent Society of Environmental Journalists’ webinar to explore closing the gap.

Long overlooked or misunderstood outside of the communities they affected, issues of environmental equity are now increasingly the focus of both government action and journalistic digging. A recent webinar from the Society of Environmental Journalists explored new developments with this many-layered challenge and offered advice on how it can be better covered. Webinar moderator and reporter Perla Trevizo has a rundown.

President Biden’s national climate advisor Gina McCarthy joined an outspoken U.S. senator and a roundtable of elite journalists last week to preview dramatic changes possibly ahead in U.S. and international climate policy, environmental justice, clean energy and more. Get the upshot from the Society of Environmental Journalists’ 2021 Guide to Energy & Environment event. Plus, watch video of the full program.

Society of Environmental Journalists' members lamented the Dec. 25 death of renowned nature writer Barry Lopez, whose writings included "Arctic Dreams," "Of Wolves and Men" and more. Lopez gave SEJers a much-remembered address about writing, environmental journalism and more at the Barbra Streisand ranch in Malibu during the organization's 1999 annual conference in Los Angeles.