Multimedia
conference
coverage

 

Agenda

Coverage

Lodging/ Travel

Advertisers/ Exhibitors

Environmental News

About Sacramento

 

Attendees mingle before the opening reception. Click to enlarge. © Photo courtesy of Cindy MacDonald.

 

SEJ's 26th annual conference, September 21-25, 2016, took place at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Sacramento, California, hosted by Capital Public Radio and the University of California, Davis. Below, you'll find session-by-session multimedia coverage provided by SEJ, volunteers and conference attendees.

 

Additional coverage:

• SEJ's members-only Facebook discussion group
• Follow the @SEJournalists account on Instagram
• Please use the hashtag #SEJ2016 for Instagram, Twitter, etc.
• Public SEJ Sacramento 2016 Flickr conference photo group, where you can upload/share your own conference photos

If you attended the conference, please take a few minutes to tell us how we did. What you think matters to us and your feedback helps SEJ make future conferences more valuable. Click here to take our online conference evaluation.

Thanks to all our volunteer writers, recorders and photographers — this would not happen without you!

It's critically important to SEJ to gather evidence on the impact of our work. 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!

Page Menu

Wednesday, September 21
Thursday, September 22
Friday, September 23
Saturday, September 24
Sunday, September 25
Miscellaneous conference coverage and local news

 

---

Wednesday, September 21

 

All-Day Journalism Workshop, Power Sector in the Hot Seat: Challenges, Opportunities and Goals for Reducing Carbon Emissions

• "To Get People To Use Less Electricity, Utility Providers Are Employing Guilt and Peer Pressure," Quartz, October 18, 2016, by Meredith Rutland Bauer.
• "The Quest for Solar Batteries, the Holy Grail of Clean Energy," Motherboard, October 17, 2016, by Meredith Rutland Bauer.
• Event description.

 

Opening Reception and Dinner

 

California Gov. Jerry Brown at Society of Environmental Journalists Meeting, Sacramento, Sept. 21, 2016. Click to enlarge. © Photo courtesy of Dennis Dimick

Helene Dillard, Dean, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis. Click to enlarge. © Photo courtesy of Cindy MacDonald

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eldridge Moores, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Structural Geology and Tectonics, Earth and Planetary Sciences, UC Davis. Click to enlarge: Quotation (L). Relief map (R).	© Photos courtesy of Cindy MacDonald

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Audio file (01:29:08 / 35.6MB).
• Audio file of Governor Brown's talk (00:29:21 / 33.7MB).
• "Groups Ask Agencies To Dump Delta Tunnels Plan Or Start Over," Daily Kos, September 23, 2016, by Dan Bacher.
• "Brown Says He’ll Push California’s Climate Agenda Whoever Wins in November," KQED Science, September 22, 2016.
• "Photojournalism: SEJ 2016 Conference," Belator Media, by Steven Styles.
• Event description.

 

Thursday, September 22

 

Tour 3, Bodega Bay: Boats, Buoys and Bivalves

 

 

Janet Raloff, Science News for Kids editor, interviews from the captain's chair at the Bodega Bay Coast Guard station.  © Photo courtesy of Cheryl Hogue.

• "Science Weekly: Saving White Abalone," Uplight blog, September 25, 2016, by Kelsey Simpkins.
• Event description.

 

 

Tour 4, Mercury Pollution, Wildfire and Fault Line Impacts on Lake Berryessa

 

• "The Environmental Legacy of the California Gold Rush," Great Lakes Echo/Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University, October 7, 2016, by Marie Orttenburger.
• Event description.

 

 

Tour 7, Water Is for Fighting: Drought, Water Supply and Climate Change

 

• "Bridge Over Troubled Waters," Comstock's, November 1, 2016, by Sena Christian and Sonya Doctorian.
• Event description.

 

 

Tour 8, Kayaking California’s Imperiled Inland Sea

 

Attendees Facebook-lived the kayak tour. (Access requires membership in SEJ and SEJ's members-only Facebook group. Not a member? Join SEJ.)

• Event description.

 

 

Tour 9, California: The Clean Energy Proving Ground

 

• "Western Electricity from "Cali phobia" to Cooperation," Meeting of the Minds blog, October 25, 2016, by John Addison.
• Event description.

 

 

Friday, September 23

 

Breakfast Session 1, Moving Target: Preparing Students for an Evolving Profession

• Audio file (01:03:25 / 38.1MB).
• "Poulson Re-Elected to Board of National Environmental Journalism Group," Covering the Planet/Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University, September 29, 2016.
• Event description.

 

Breakfast Session 2, Forest Wildfire Legislation: Do We Need To Control Wildfire?

• Audio file (01:10:18 / 33.7MB).
• Event description.

 

Opening Plenary, The Environmental Bellwether State: What Happens in California Doesn’t Stay in California

L-R: John Laird, Bob Perciasepe, James Connaughton, Mary Nichols and moderator Joe Barr. © Photo courtesy of Karen Schaefer.

• Audio file (01:20:00 / 36.5MB).
• "Election Finds Americans at Crux of Climate Change," The (Toledo) Blade, October 16, 2016, by Tom Henry.
• "Ex-EPA Head: Gas, Renewable Trends Don’t Hinge on Election," Bloomberg BNA, September 23, 2016, by Dean Scott.
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 1, THE CRAFT 1, Survival Journalism: How To Do More Faster

• Audio file (00:40:34 / 32.5MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 1, CLIMATE AND AIR, Capping It Off: US and Canada Tackle Greenhouse Gas Emissions with Market Trading

• Audio file (01:05:55 / 37.7MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 1, ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND JUSTICE, Toxic Tradeoffs: Eliminating Harmful Ingredients, Avoiding Regrettable Substitutes

• Audio file (01:14:10 / 35.5MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 1, WATER, Water in a Time of Scarcity: Adapting to Drought

• Audio file (01:13:49 / 33.7MB).
• "Knight Center at SEJ2016: Water in a Time of Scarcity," Great Lakes Echo/Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University, September 24, 2016, by Marie Orttenburger.
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 1, ENERGY AND LAND, Renewable Energy on Public Lands

• Audio file (01:13:40 / 35.3MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 1, FOOD AND AGRICULTURE, Food Security and Public Health: Causes, Consequences and Responses

• Audio file (01:09:42 / 31.8MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 1, OCEANS AND GLOBE, Crimes Against Nature: Law and Disorder from the Deep Forests to the High Seas

• Audio file (01:11:24 / 32.6MB).
• Event description.

 

Celebrating Environmental Journalism Luncheon

• Audio file (00:15:31 / 35.5MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 2, THE CRAFT 1, Lessons from Flint: Environmental Journalists Explore Their Options Following the Poisoning of a City

Moderator Emilia Askari, Ron Fonger, Curt Guyette, Christina Devine and Bruce Lanphear. © Photo courtesy of Douglas Fischer.

• "Analysis: Environmental journalism reaches middle age, with mixed results," Environmental Health News, September 24, 2016, by Peter Dykstra.
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 2, THE CRAFT 2, EJ Reporting: Don't Forget the Science

• Audio file (01:31:28 / 36.5MB).
• "Cultivating Uncertainty Through Science Reporting," Covering the Planet/Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University, September 28, 2016, by Marie Orttenburger.
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 2, ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND JUSTICE, Expanding the Environmental Justice Battlefront

• Audio file (01:06:06 / 37.9MB).
• Event description.

Concurrent Sessions 2, ENERGY AND LAND, Living with Fire

• Audio file (01:14:21 / 33.9MB).
• Event description.

Concurrent Sessions 2, OCEANS AND GLOBE, What's New on the Blue Beat?

• Audio file (01:01:47 / 35.4MB).
• Event description.

 

 

Saturday, September 24

 

Concurrent Sessions 3, THE CRAFT 1, Data Journalism 101: Mining Databases

• Audio file (01:13:56 / 33.7MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 3, THE CRAFT 2, Communicating Climate Change

• Audio file (00:41:44 / 33.4MB). Note: Much of this panel is missing — panelists gave Powerpoint presentations and did not use the microphone. The audio has been edited to remove much of the missing audio.
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 3, CLIMATE AND AIR, Transformational Transportation and Energy Policies

© Photo courtesy of Dale Willman.

• Audio file (01:17:35 / 37.1MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 3, ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND JUSTICE, After the Disaster: Whose Lives Matter?

Far right: Priyali Sur. © Photo courtesy of Dale Willman.

• Audio file (01:14:28 / 35.7MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 3, WATER, Trouble at the Tap: Does America's Safe Drinking Water Act Have Our Back?

• Audio file (01:18:08 / 32.7MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 3, ENERGY AND LAND, What’s Shaking with Earthquake Science — And Why You Need To Know About It

• Audio file (01:13:36 / 35.2MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 3, OCEANS AND GLOBE, Restoring the Deep and the Shoreline

• Audio file (01:17:31 / 35.4MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 4, THE CRAFT 1, Data Journalism 102: Drones, Satellites and Other Hi-tech Tools

• Audio file (01:17:11 / 35.2MB).
• Event description and tipsheet.

 

Concurrent Sessions 4, THE CRAFT 2, 2016 Elections: A Pivotal Moment for U.S. on Climate Change

• Audio file (01:12:14 / 33.0MB).
• "Wisconsin Senate Candidates Don't See Eye-to-Eye on Combating Climate Change," Wisconsin Public Radio, September 27, 2016, by Chuck Quirmbach. (The last minute or so of this story includes audio from this session.)
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 4, CLIMATE AND AIR, Innovating with Nature: Ecosystem-based Adaptation to Climate Risk

• Audio file (01:16:39 / 36.7MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 4, ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND JUSTICE, Indigenous Rights and the Environment

L-R: Peggy Berryhill, Eric Wilder, Caleen Sisk, Morningstar Gali (and daughter). © Photo courtesy of Dale Willman.

• Audio file (01:13:09 / 35.0MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 4, WATER, Clean Water Act Rumble

• Audio file (01:25:09 / 40.8MB). (Note: First speaker, after moderator's session intro, is almost inaudible, beginning ~3:09; volume picks up again ~9:00)
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 4, ENERGY AND LAND, The New Energy Infrastructure

• Audio file (01:19:39 / 38.1MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 4, FOOD AND AGRICULTURE, What Is Sustainable Agriculture?

• Audio file (01:14:49 / 37.0MB).
• Event description.

 

Concurrent Sessions 4, OCEANS AND GLOBE, California's Marine Reserves: After 10 Years Are There Unexpected Surprises?

• Audio file (01:09:00 / 39.5MB).
• Event description.

 

Lunch Plenary, Can Technology Save the Planet? A Discussion with Innovators and Ecologists

L-R: Moderator Chris Joyce, Mary Ruckelshaus, Daniel Sperling, Deb Frodl. © Photo courtesy of Dale Willman.

• "Baba Brinkman Brings Beats to SEJ Conference," Great Lakes Echo/Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University, September 25, 2016, by Marie Orttenburger.
• Event description.

 

Mini-Tour 4, Beer, Wine, Milk and More

• "Science Weekly: Debunking Beer Myths," Uplight blog, September 30, 2016, by Kelsey Simpkins.
• Event description.

 

Mini-Tour 6, Railyard Renaissance and the New (Green) Golden 1 Center

• "PHOTOS: Sacramento Kings' New LEED Platinum Solar-Powered Arena," Inhabitat, October 4, 2016, by Josh Marks.
• Event description.

 

 

Baba Brinkman entertains SEJ conference attendees. Photo courtesy of Dale Willman. Click to enlarge.

Tastings and Tales and Dinner and Dancing

• Audio file of Baba Brinkman rapping freestyle during our evening event at UC Davis' Good Life Garden (00:06:59 / 9.7MB).
• Event description.

 

 

 

Sunday, September 25

 

Post-Conference Tour, Tall Trees and the Range of Light

The post-conference tour group went to Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks. Click on either photo for a larger version.	Halstead Meadow, recently restored in Sequoia National Park. © Photos courtesy of Jane Braxton Little.

• "Needed Repairs Overdue at Our National Parks," Little Hollywood blog, October 13, 2016, by Janine Gates.
• Event description.

 

 

Miscellaneous conference coverage and local news

 

• "Beth Parke — 25 years with the SEJ," by Jack Hopey.
• Release: "Industry Highlights Strategies on Climate and Clean Air Goals," USAgNet, October 19, 2016.
• "What You See Is Only Part of What You Get," Covering the Planet/Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University, October 2, 2016, by Eric Freedman.
• "2016 SEJ Conference: Sacramento and a Search for Self," Uplight blog, September 30, 2016, by Kelsey Simpkins.
• "Beyond the Headlines," Living on Earth, September 30, 2016, by Steve Curwood and Peter Dykstra.
• "Beth Parke Reflects on 26 Years at Helm of Society of Environmental Journalists," Great Lakes Echo/Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University, September 24, 2016, by Marie Orttenburger.
• "Beth Parke Remarks," September 23, 2016.