Peter Dykstra:  SEJ enters middle age with grace

Peter Dykstra: SEJ enters middle age with grace

And more importantly, with new blood, as the beat goes on

I've made it to most of the Society of Environmental Journalists' 29 annual conferences, but not this one.


SEJ is the Jimmy Carter of non-profits – overlooked in real-time, but looking better and smarter with each passing year. This year's conference wraps up Sunday in Fort Collins, Colo (follow the action on social media via #SEJ2019)

SEJ's first national conference took place in 1991. It's now older than many of its members. At least one or two of its current Board members were fetuses back then. Most of its charter members are in their sixties, seventies, or beyond. Or gone. The membership used to be weighted toward full-time environment writers for daily newspapers. Now, the core is freelance journalists (though I've been trying to push the frequently more accurate term "subsistence journalists").

New blood working the beat

The beat has been re-energized in such legacy media giants as the Washington Post and New York Times. But SEJ's strength also lies in a proliferation of new sites doing dynamic investigative work and vivid storytelling.

Here are but a few:

The Intercept

Bankrolled six years ago by EBay entrepreneur Pierre Omidyar, this website has rattled cages across the political landscape. Sharon Lerner is their prolific investigative reporter on the environment.

Southerly Magazine

A collection of long-reads on environmental issues in the American South. The year-old startup is the work of Lyndsey Gilpin, who seeks to fill in the gaps in a region vastly underserved in environmental reporting and storytelling.

The Revelator

Two years ago, the Arizona-based advocacy group Center for Biological Diversity launched a news site, The Revelator. Its well-told stories on species, habitats, and politics rapidly became a must-read.

Heated

A few months ago, Emily Atkin took her unique blend of insight and smart-ass from a very established place, The New Republic, to her new four-times-weekly newsletter, Heated.

Inside Climate News

When a startup site wins a Pulitzer, as Inside Climate News did six years ago, it suddenly no longer looks like a startup. But publisher David Sassoon's masterful adherence to an ambitious business plan can stand as a model for all others. It turns 12 years old this month.

Undark

Another Pulitzer winner, MIT's Deborah Blum, puts out a stream of big-think pieces at Undark. Its tagline: Truth, beauty, science.

And the list goes on...

There are too many other quality sites to mention, but here are four more that shouldn't be ignored: The solution-oriented theme of Ensia; the urban-ish tone of Citylab; the food-oriented scoops of FERN; and the saltwater stories of Hakai.

One recent casualty in the perilous world of nonprofit publishing is Pacific Standard, whose deep dives into environmental stories will be missed. It main funder pulled the plug in August.

Climate news goes mainstream

CNN.com

With climate change finally breaking through as a frontline issue for virtually all news outlets, and a zillion other plagues – ocean plastics, glyphosate, water quality, Trump's regulatory purge – making waves, our beat is poised to rise in prominence for the worst of all reasons: Out home planet is literally a hot mess.

We also press forward with an uncomfortable form of vindication: The planet is indeed warming up, and despite some strong efforts, getting dirtier. Species are indeed disappearing. So are habitats, from Arctic ice to tropical forests. Just like SEJ members and others have been reporting for decades.

The beat continues to face traditional foes: Indifference or timidity on the part of some bosses; the shaky financial footing for all journalism; well-heeled, slick, and often unprincipled interests who like to portray our news as Fake News.

But the beat goes on, and it's more crucial than ever.

A national forest sign on a dirt road in the woods

Forest Service layoffs cut 10% of agency’s workforce

The U.S. Forest Service is firing 3,400 employees, affecting roles in wildfire prevention, timber production and land restoration, following the deadline for a Trump administration program that encouraged voluntary resignations.

Marcia Brown and Jordan Wolman report for POLITICO.

Keep reading...Show less
Senator Whitehouse & climate change

Senator Whitehouse puts climate change on budget committee’s agenda

For more than a decade, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave daily warnings about the mounting threat of climate change. Now he has a powerful new perch.
A field full of solar panels in the midst of a farm with trees and buildings in the background on a partly cloudy day.

Uncertainty looms for rural clean energy initiatives

A halt on federal grants and loans has left small business owners and farmers unsure if they’ll be reimbursed for solar panels, irrigation pumps and other energy upgrades they installed under the promise of government support.

Isabella O’Malley reports for The Associated Press.

Keep reading...Show less
Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro speaks with the state flag and American flag behind him.

Pennsylvania sues federal government over Trump administration's climate funding freeze

Gov. Josh Shapiro is suing the federal government, alleging that the Trump administration’s freeze on billions in congressionally approved climate funds is illegal and jeopardizing Pennsylvania’s environmental programs and jobs.

Jon Hurdle reports for Inside Climate News.

Keep reading...Show less
Ontario premier Doug Ford

Ford government ramps up energy spending ahead of Ontario election

Premier Doug Ford's government has pledged more than $17 billion for energy projects as it seeks a third term in the province's general election next week, reversing past decisions and betting heavily on nuclear power and natural gas.

Fatima Syed reports for The Narwhal.

Keep reading...Show less
White building with tilted solar panels installed on the roof.

Trump’s energy secretary criticizes Germany’s transition to renewables

Chris Wright, the new U.S. energy secretary, dismissed Germany’s shift to renewable energy as costly and unreliable, but experts say his analysis ignores key details.

Dan Gearino reports for Inside Climate News.

Keep reading...Show less
A field and pond and forest in background, with the setting sun and small clouds in the sky.
Credit: Flickr

Scientists link record heat to declining cloud cover

Global temperatures have surged in the past two years, and researchers now say a drop in cloud cover may be fueling the rise — and possibly triggering a feedback loop that accelerates warming.

Shannon Osaka reports for The Washington Post.

Keep reading...Show less
Closeup of a road in los angeles pointing toward the ocean.

Los Angeles groundwater still depleted despite record rainfall, study finds

A year of extreme storms in 2023 failed to replenish Los Angeles’ deep groundwater supply, leaving aquifers struggling to recover from years of drought, a new study finds.

Sharon Udasin reports for The Hill.

Keep reading...Show less
From our Newsroom
wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

People  sitting in an outdoors table working on a big sign.

Op-ed: Why funding for the environmental justice movement must be anti-racist

We must prioritize minority-serving institutions, BIPOC-led organizations and researchers to lead environmental justice efforts.

joe biden

Biden finalizes long-awaited hydrogen tax credits ahead of Trump presidency

Responses to the new rules have been mixed, and environmental advocates worry that Trump could undermine them.

Op-ed: Toxic prisons teach us that environmental justice needs abolition

Op-ed: Toxic prisons teach us that environmental justice needs abolition

Prisons, jails and detention centers are placed in locations where environmental hazards such as toxic landfills, floods and extreme heat are the norm.

Agents of Change in Environmental Justice logo

LISTEN: Reflections on the first five years of the Agents of Change program

The leadership team talks about what they’ve learned — and what lies ahead.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.