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.

EPA opens quiet backdoor for polluters.
Credit: Kristina Blokhin/BigStock Photo ID: 196171783

EPA opens quiet backdoor for polluters to bypass clean air rules

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has rolled out a process allowing companies to sidestep limits on mercury and cancer-causing emissions — with nothing more than an email request.

Hannah Northey reports for E&E News.

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.
People walk and stand on a beach with high-rise buildings in the background.
Credit: Jacques Beaulieu/Flickr

A city in India offers a glimpse of how to build a cooler, cleaner future

In the blistering heat outside Mumbai, one experimental city is proving you don’t need air conditioning — or pollution-choked streets — to stay cool.

Allyson Chiu reports for The Washington Post.

Keep reading...Show less
Kamikatsu sustainable Japanese village.
Credit: Yuki Shimazu/Flickr

A small Japanese town is quietly redefining what zero waste really means

In the forested mountains of Shikoku Island, the tiny town of Kamikatsu has become a living experiment in how far a community can go to recycle, repurpose, and rethink its relationship with waste.

Florentyna Leow reports for Atmos.

Keep reading...Show less
Boats on Lake Tahoe with Sierra Nevada Mountains in the background.
Credit: Nick/Flickr

Lake Tahoe’s future is clouded by murky waters, mounting tourism, and shifting priorities

Despite billions in government funding, Lake Tahoe’s iconic clarity is fading as planners prioritize tourism over environmental protection.

Julie Cart reports for CalMatters.

Keep reading...Show less
Deer crossing a snowy road.

Humans are reshaping life on Earth, shrinking biodiversity everywhere

Human activity has reduced biodiversity across nearly all ecosystems on Earth, according to a global analysis of more than 2,000 studies.

Phoebe Weston reports for The Guardian.

Keep reading...Show less
An owl sitting on top of a roof with solar panels.

Solar power surge drives global growth in clean energy, but targets remain out of reach

The world added a record amount of renewable electricity in 2024, driven mostly by China’s rapid solar expansion, but still fell short of international goals to triple capacity by 2030.

Seth Borenstein reports for The Associated Press.

Keep reading...Show less
Four firefighters working on a fire line.

South Korea’s worst wildfire on record spreads fast as climate fuels disaster

At least 27 people are dead and tens of thousands displaced in South Korea as wildfires driven by drought and wind scorch historic sites and trigger the nation’s largest firefighting effort to date.

Justin McCurry reports for The Guardian.

Keep reading...Show less
From our Newsroom
silhouette of people holding hands by a lake at sunset

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

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.