Dirty Water and Dead Rice: The Cost of Clean Energy Transition in Minnesota
"Mining the critical minerals needed for electric vehicle batteries could threaten local water supply and Indigenous culture."
Source: Inside Climate News, 11/22/2023
Food
EPA Mulls Approving Fruit Pesticide Despite Risks To Children, Records Show
"The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering approving a pesticide for use on Florida oranges and grapefruits despite the fact that agency scientists have repeatedly found the chemical does not meet safety standards designed to protect children’s health, internal agency records show."
Source: Guardian, 11/22/2023
"FTC Cracks Down On Food Industry For Paid Dietitian ‘Influencer’ Posts"
"Federal regulators announced warnings against two major food and beverage industry groups and a dozen nutrition influencers Wednesday, as part of a broad action to enforce stricter standards for how companies and social media creators disclose paid advertising."
Source: Washington Post, 11/17/2023
Researchers, Farmers, Brewers Want To Safeguard Beer Against Climate Change
"On a bright day this fall, tractors crisscrossed Gayle Goschie’s farm about an hour outside Portland, Oregon. Goschie is in the beer business — a fourth-generation hops farmer. Fall is the off-season, when the trellises are bare, but recently, her farming team has been adding winter barley, a relatively newer crop in the world of beer, to their rotation, preparing barley seeds by the bucketful."
Source: AP, 11/14/2023
"A Food Historian’s Hunt For Ingredients Vanishing From US Plates"
"In her new book, Endangered Eating, Sarah Lohman chronicles disappearing foods – and why they need protecting".
"The American buff goose. Amish deer tongue lettuce. The Nancy Hall sweet potato. The mulefoot hog. When food historian Sarah Lohman stumbled on these fantastical-sounding ingredients in a database of vanishing foods called the Ark of Taste, she set off on a journey across the United States to discover more ingredients and traditions that had been abandoned in the annals of history.
Source: Guardian, 11/07/2023
Covering Food Systems — The Next Climate Action Battleground
Freelance food systems reporter Thin Lei Win believes that if the world doesn’t change the way it produces, processes, transports, consumes and discards food, climate change will worsen and hunger levels will spike. But she also worries that powerful interests want to keep the status quo and cites parallels with the tobacco and fossil fuel industries. More in Freelance Files, including places for freelancers to pitch climate-food stories.
SEJ Publication Types:
Topics on the Beat:
Region:
Visibility:
Seabed Mining May Dredge Up Real Minerals, Fishy Worries in 2024
The mining of the ocean floor has stirred up significant debate, much of which clouds the realities of whether and to what degree it would cause ecological harm to one of the world’s greatest resources. This week’s TipSheet looks more closely at the controversy, which may well come to a head in the coming year. The latest entry in SEJournal’s 2024 Journalists’ Guide to Environment and Energy.
SEJ Publication Types:
Topics on the Beat:
Region:
Visibility:
"Years Into A Climate Disaster, These People Are Eating The Unthinkable"
"In South Sudan, war and semi-permanent flooding have left people to scavenge for food, with long-term consequences for their health".
Source: Washington Post, 11/03/2023
Industry Figures Behind ‘Declaration Of Scientists’ Backing Meat Eating
"A public statement signed by more than 1,000 scientists in support of meat production and consumption has numerous links to the livestock industry, the Guardian can reveal. The statement has been used to target top EU officials against environmental and health policies and has been endorsed by the EU agriculture commissioner."
Source: Guardian, 10/30/2023
High-Risk Reporting Yields Results on Palm Oil Investigation
The devastation caused by the Amazonian palm oil industry was at the heart of an investigation by Mongabay reporter Karla Mendes. But first she had to face hostile sources, intransigent regulators and a robbery attempt. Ultimately, the project not only won a reporting prize from the Society of Environmental Journalists but brought global awareness and government action. Her experience, in Inside Story Q&A.
SEJ Publication Types:
Topics on the Beat:
Region:
Visibility:
Pages
Advertisement 
