SEJ 2019 Conference

Bernadette Woods Placky (Speaker) Chief Meteorologist and Climate Matters Director, Climate Central, Climate Matters in the Newsroom

Meera Subramanian (Speaker) Barron Visiting Prof of Environment & Humanities , Princeton University

Luke Runyon (Speaker) KUNC, Community Radio for Northern Colorado

Chuck Kutscher (Speaker) University of Colorado

Susan Hassol (Moderator and Speaker) Climate Communication

Brad Udall (Speaker) Senior Scientist/Scholar, Colorado State University

Scott Denning (Speaker) Climate Scientist and Professor of Atmospheric Science, Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering, Colorado State University

Ed Maibach (Speaker) George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication

This panel will talk with reporters and editors covering anti-government groups, anti-American Indian organizations and other extremists, which often coalesce around conflicts over public land. Who is the public, and how does that echo through extreme views? Whose land is at the center of the debate, and whose land was it? We'll hear from local reporters and regional editors on how to cover public lands holistically from Bears Ears to Bundy to the Flathead Valley. The goal is to better prepare reporters who cover these conflicts, to seek the nuance and context to tell better stories whether they're freelance, local or national reporters.

Moderator: Anna Smith, Assistant Editor, High Country News

Speakers:
Brian Calvert, Editor-in-Chief, High Country News
Kalen Goodluck, Journalist and Photographer
Bill Morlin, Freelance Journalist

News is about change, and there’s been a whole lotta change in the management of U.S. public lands lately. The Trump administration is moving to open millions of acres to oil and gas development and recently put an outspoken critic of public lands in power at the Bureau of Land Management. This session will offer tips on how to dig out stories about what’s happening and what’s at stake.

>> Resources (PDF)

Moderator: Tim Wheeler, Managing Editor, (Chesapeake) Bay Journal and Chair, Freedom of Information Task Force, Society of Environmental Journalists

Speakers:
Jimmy Tobias, Independent Reporter
Tim Whitehouse, Executive Director, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
Laurel Williams, US Public Lands and Rivers Conservation Program, The Pew Charitable Trusts

Whether your newsroom is new to covering Indigenous communities or you have experienced reporters on staff with connections to tribal affairs, the choices your newsroom makes can lead to success or ruin. This panel will offer practical advice for attracting, supporting and retaining reporters with experience in Indian Country with the goal of building the best team to create the best work.

Moderator: Nick Martin, Staff Writer, The New Republic

Speakers:
Brian Calvert, Editor-in-Chief, High Country News
Anna Smith, Assistant Editor, High Country News

From early Spanish explorers, Mestizos and recent Latin American immigrants, the West has a long storied history of Hispanic and Latino culture. But, increasingly, racism and environmental injustices plague many communities. Panelists will discuss the intersection of social, cultural, economic and environmental justice issues in Hispanic communities and everything from farmworkers' environmental health concerns to Latino conservation efforts.

Moderator: Yvette Cabrera, Independent Environmental Justice Reporter and 2019 McGraw Fellow

Speakers:
Armando Elenes, Secretary Treasurer, United Farm Workers
Chela Garcia, Director of Conservation Programs, Hispanic Access Foundation
Beatriz Soto, Latino Outreach Coordinator, Defiende Nuestra Tierra - Wilderness Workshop

Experienced reporters share practical tips on how to cover Indigenous communities and produce culturally competent, high-impact work. From picking stories to maintaining relationships with communities, this panel will be ideal for newsrooms looking to cover tribal affairs effectively.

Moderator: Nick Martin, Staff Writer, The New Republic

Speakers:
Alastair Bitsóí, Communications Director, Utah Diné Bikéyah
Kalen Goodluck, Journalist and Photographer
Anna Smith, Assistant Editor, High Country News

• Juliet Eilperin (Moderator) Senior National Affairs Correspondent, The Washington Post
• Whit Fosburgh (Speaker) TRCP
• John Freemuth (Speaker) Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Cecil Andrus Endowed Chair of Environment and Public Lands, Boise State University
• Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Speaker) Lecturer, American Indian Studies, California State University San Marcos
• Shea Loper (Speaker) Director, U.S. Government Relations, Encana Corporation
• William Perry Pendley (Speaker) Deputy Director, Policy and Programs, Bureau of Land Management, exercising authority of BLM director

Description

The U.S. has a long and storied history of land conservation, which has created a network of public lands now managed in different ways. Since Europeans arrived, these lands have been fought over between those looking to preserve them and those hoping to open them up to development. These public lands now face threats from climate change, including drought and wildfire, along with budget and staff cuts. Recreational impacts, along with drilling and mining, are on the rise. Tribal officials are demanding a greater voice in federal decision-making, and Trump administration officials are scaling back regulations. What does the future hold for America's public lands?

• Lisa Friedman (Moderator) Reporter, Climate Desk, The New York Times
• Guido Girgenti (Speaker) Founding Board Member and Communications Advisor, Sunrise Movement
• Mandy Gunasekara (Speaker) Founder, Energy 45 Fund, and former Principle Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Heather McTeer Toney (Speaker) National Field Director, Moms Clean Air Force, and former Regional Administrator, Southeast Region, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Former Mayor of Greenville, Mississippi
• Joseph Pinion (Speaker) Founder & Chair, Conservative Color Coalition

The 2020 election will offer a stark choice and contrast on U.S. environmental and energy policy. Through his first term, President Trump has withdrawn our country from the Paris Climate Agreement, accelerated oil and gas drilling offshore and on public lands, tried to revive coal mining and power production, and slammed wind and solar energy as unreliable. Meanwhile, Democratic Party presidential candidates are competing to be the environmental contender in 2020. That includes more than a half-dozen who have already expressed support for the Green New Deal, the massive reform initiative that calls for a “10-year national mobilization” to transition the country to a 100-percent renewable-energy, zero-emissions economy. This plenary will bring together politicians and campaign advisors to discuss the Green New Deal and what national environmental policy will look like beyond 2020, under either a Republican or Democratic president.

• Thomas Hayden (Moderator) Professor of the Practice, Environmental Communication Program, Stanford University
• Adina Abeles (Speaker ) Stanford University
• Emily Atkin (Speaker) Author and Founder, HEATED
• Patrick Chandler (Speaker) Environmental Communication Researcher, University of Colorado, Boulder
• Perla Trevizo (Speaker) Environmental Affairs Reporter, Houston Chronicle

Description

The environmental beat is inherently complex, often uncertain and it can manipulated. We have tools to address these challenges: for example, social science can help predict how audiences respond to information and stories, and journalism itself can expose disinformation campaigns. And we’ve already worked hard to remove false balance from our reporting. This session brings journalists and social scientists together to ask: what more can journalists do to understand these forces and protect both the integrity and impact of their work?

• Mitch Tobin (Moderator) The Water Desk
• Heather Hansman (Speaker ) Freelance Journalist
• Jim Lochhead (Speaker ) Chief Executive Officer/Manager, Denver Water
• Brad Udall (Speaker ) Senior Scientist/Scholar, Colorado State University
• Daryl Vigil (Speaker) Interim Executive Director, Ten Tribes Partnership and Water Administrator, Jicarilla Apache Nation

Description

The Colorado River and its tributaries are the lifeblood for 40 million people and a $1.4 trillion economy, but the region's water supply faces unprecedented threats from climate change and population growth. Around the globe, other river basins confront similar challenges. How can we better manage our precious water resources to meet the needs of people and the environment? How can journalists help inform the public and policymakers about water issues?

• James Bruggers (Moderator) News Reporter, InsideClimate News
• Steve Alexander (Speaker ) The Association of Plastic Recyclers
• Eugene Chen (Speaker ) John K. Stille Endowed Chair and Millennial Professor of Polymer Science & Sustainability, Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University
• Judith Enck (Speaker ) Visiting Professor, Bennington College, Founder of Beyond Plastics and former EPA Regional Administrator

Description

With oceans choking in plastic waste and new research finding that humans are ingesting tens of thousands of pieces of micro plastics over their lifetimes, there are new concerns mounting about the role of plastics in climate change. We look at what the latest studies are finding and discuss potential solutions to a problem that industry experts say will get worse before it gets any better.

• Theresa Braine (Moderator) Breaking News, National Desk, New York Daily News
• Matt Brown (Speaker) The Associated Press
• Ron Cohen (Speaker) Emeritus Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado School of Mines
• Dan Elliott (Speaker) Associated Press
• Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Speaker) Lecturer, American Indian Studies, California State University San Marcos

Description

In August 2015, three million gallons of contaminated mining wastewater broke through a plug of rock and debris at the mouth of an entrance to the defunct Gold King Mine outside Silverton, Colorado, while EPA subcontractors were examining it for remediation purposes. The heavy-metals-laden water cascaded into a creek feeding the Animus River, turning it lurid orange, and from there gushed into the San Juan, which flows through several states and Native American nations, including the Navajo Nation. This is just one of thousands of abandoned mines in the Western United States leaking contaminated water, many of them Superfund sites. This panel will use the Gold King Mine spill to illustrate the scope of the problem and give tips on how to mine Superfund documents and archives for crucial environmental stories.

• Gloria Dickie (Moderator) Freelance Journalist
• Roger-Mark DeSouza (Speaker) President and Chief Executive Officer, Sister Cities International
• Richard Grossman (Speaker ) Population Matters!
• Wudan Yan (Speaker) Independent Journalist

Description

Why do so many journalists struggle to write about the "population problem"? The data shows that having one fewer children in developed countries is the best way to reduce carbon emissions via personal choice, and yet many stories fail to mention reproduction as an issue to be tackled at all, choosing instead to focus on vegan diets and flying less. In this panel, we'll discuss the challenges facing reporters in writing about this controversial issue, digging into the origins of Malthusian theory, the childfree movement, and reproductive rights and family planning.

• Georgina Gustin (Moderator) Reporter, InsideClimate News
• Ben Lilliston (Speaker) Director of Rural Strategies and Climate Change, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
• Keith Paustian (Speaker ) University Distinguished Professor, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, and Senior Research Scientist, Natural Resource Ecology Lab, Colorado State University
• Ernie Shea (Speaker ) President, Solutions from the Land

Description

Farmers are on the frontline of climate change, at the mercy of worsening extreme weather. Farms also contribute to the problem as greenhouse gas emitters. And they could help solve it — through practices that could store billions of tons of carbon in the soil. Controlling greenhouse gas emissions requires an all-out effort across industries, yet the American farm hasn’t been deployed into action. Why? This panel explores current problems, including policy failures and agri-business strategies, as well as potential solutions.

• Catherine Traywick (Moderator) Editor, Oil Trading Americas, Bloomberg
• Kiah Collier (Speaker ) Reporter and Associate Editor, The Texas Tribune
• Naveena Sadasivam (Speaker ) Staff Writer, Grist

Description

The Green New Deal. The decline of coal. The shale revolution. The biggest environmental stories of our time are essentially tales of economic disruption. Reporters covering these monumental shifts should understand the financial forces that are driving such changes, as well as their cost to consumers. This session will offer tools for approaching environmental stories through a financial and economic lens.

>> Resources (Google doc)

• Ben Storrow (Moderator) Reporter, E&E News
• Joe Aldina (Speaker) Director, Global Coal Market Research, S&P Global Platts
• Robert Godby (Speaker) Associate Professor, College of Business Department of Economics and Finance, and Director, Energy Economics & Public Policies Center, University of Wyoming
• Erin Overturf (Speaker) Deputy Director, Clean Energy Program, Western Resource Advocates
• Suzanne Tegen (Speaker) Assistant Director, Center for New Energy Economy, Colorado State University

Description

President Trump ran on a pledge to revive the coal industry, but the decline has only accelerated. 2018 was one of the biggest years for coal plant retirements in U.S. history. Three major mining firms are in bankruptcy. In Wyoming and West Virginia, hundreds of workers were left suddenly without jobs when their company filed for bankruptcy protection. Panelists will explore the reason for the industry's decline and what it means for coal communities. How much longer can coal continue to underpin the economy in places like western Colorado, Wyoming and West Virginia? Can renewable jobs replace coal jobs? What role can states and the federal government play in aiding the transition?

• Brian Bienkowski (Moderator) Senior Editor, Environmental Health News
• Patricia Hunt (Speaker ) Washington State University
• Tamarra James-Todd (Speaker ) Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• Lynne Peeples (Speaker ) Freelance Science Journalist
• Johanna Rochester (Speaker ) Technical Specialist, ICF

Description

Scientists keep warning us, common chemicals we're all exposed to — in food, cosmetics, hygiene products, furniture — are altering our hormones and spurring diseases. Much like visible pollution, exposures are disproportionately harming vulnerable communities. So why do US regulators say there’s nothing to worry about? Get a primer on this terrifying class of chemicals and the scientific controversy around them. Go home prepared to report on this grand experiment taking place on all of our hormones and health.

• Bruce Finley (Moderator) Denver Post environment writer - panel moderator
• John Fielder (Speaker) Landscape Photographer, Conservationist and Rivers Advocate
• Matt Rice (Speaker) Director, Colorado River Basin Program, American Rivers
• Brad Udall (Speaker) Senior Scientist/Scholar, Colorado State University
• Reagan Waskom (Speaker) Director, Colorado Water Center, Colorado State University
• Brad Wind (Speaker) General Manager, Northern Water

Description

Colorado's population growth and development boom, combined with increased variability in water flows linked to climate change, is driving new efforts to build reservoirs and increase water storage. This is happening as competition increases for water across the Colorado River Basin in the West — the over-allocated supply for 40 million people. Panelists will explore key questions around the environmental impact of diverting water and storing it behind dams. Can relatively free-flowing rivers survive? How are westerners in Colorado responding to climate change impacts on water flows? What are the implications beyond the river headwaters state of Colorado? How far can we go with water conservation inside cities? Will agriculture survive?

• Kyla Mandel (Moderator) Editor, Climate Team, ThinkProgress
• Jolie Breeden (Speaker) Lead Editor and Science Communicator, Natural Hazards Center
• Ana Campoy (Speaker ) Nieman Fellow, Harvard University
• Mark Schleifstein (Speaker ) Environment Reporter, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate

Description

The past few years have seen increasingly devastating natural disasters, from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico to Camp Fire in California. But as the events pile up, and the news cycle moves on, it may be challenging to find creative and meaningful ways to cover the lasting impact of disasters. This panel discussion will focus on how to tell compelling stories long after the fires and floods have gone, how to document the lasting physical and mental impacts, and creative ways to investigate response and relief efforts.

>> Resources (PDF)

• Gloria Gonzalez (Moderator) Managing Editor, Industry Dive
• Craig Ebert (Speaker) President, Climate Action Reserve
• Scott Edwards (Speaker) Legal Director, Food & Water Watch
• Toby Janson-Smith (Speaker) Chief Innovation Officer, Verra
• Maggie Monast (Speaker) Senior Manager, Economic Incentives, Working Lands, Environmental Defense Fund

Description

Can the market save the environment? Whether we're talking about climate, water or food, the debate over market-based incentives versus government regulation rages on — and the only thing we all can agree on is that the devil is in the details. Join speakers on both sides of this debate and hear about the latest research on this tricky topic.

• Michael Kodas (Moderator) Freelance Author and Photojournalist
• Jennifer Balch (Speaker) Associate Professor, Department of Geography, University of Colorado Boulder
• Tony Cheng (Speaker) Director, Colorado Forest Restoration Institute
• Chela Garcia (Speaker) Director of Conservation Programs, Hispanic Access Foundation
• Rod Moraga (Speaker) Fire Behavior Analyst, Prescribed Burning Trainer and Chief Executive Officer, Anchor Point Group LLC
• George Wuerthner (Speaker) Public Lands Media

Description

After each fire season in which the destruction and death tolls of catastrophic wildfires increase, news media hear of various simple fixes to reduce the combustibility of increasingly flammable forests and wildlands. Most of those easy solutions prove ineffective at slowing the increasing size and destructiveness of wildfires and some of them, when inappropriately implemented, have actually increased the damage done by wildland fires or had other, unintended negative consequences. What techniques work to reduce the losses of life and property to wildfires? Which ones are overrated or misused? What is effective at minimizing the impacts of wildfires on our health, climate and natural resources?

• Emily Gertz (Moderator) Journalist and Entrepreneur
• Lyndsey Gilpin (Speaker ) Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Southerly
• Tina Griego (Speaker) Managing Editor/Columnist, The Colorado Independent
• Robert McClure (Speaker ) Co-Founder and Executive Director, InvestigateWest

Description

Since 2014, layoffs and shut-downs across cable TV, newspapers large and small, and even digital news darlings like VICE, BuzzFeed and HuffPost, have put nearly 10,000 people out of salaried news jobs. It’s clear that the business of news desperately needs re-invention, and the entrepreneurs on this panel are in the vanguard of figuring out how. Join us for this up-to-the-minute discussion on the ups and downs of starting up new news ventures (for- and non-profit), finding funding, generating revenues, managing the unexpected editorial challenges that new business models often create and more.

• Rich Blaustein (Moderator) Freelance Science, Environmental and Legal Journalist
• John Field (Speaker) Research Scientist, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University
• Keith Paustian (Speaker) University Distinguished Professor, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, and Senior Research Scientist, Natural Resource Ecology Lab, Colorado State University
• Kevin Schaefer (Speaker) Research Scientist III and Lead Scientist for NSIDC Science Team, National Snow and Ice Data Center
• Diana Wall (Speaker) University Distinguished Professor, Director, School of Global Environmental Sustainability and Professor, Department of Biology, Colorado State University

Description

Scientists, activists and even politicians are increasingly calling attention to the connection of soils and greenhouse gas sequestration and emissions. Undisturbed soils are typically richest in carbon, underscoring the importance of conservation. Moreover, specialists point out that increasing the health of soils, including with amendments like biochar and managing crops for sequestering carbon, could play a significant role in local, national and even global mitigation schemes. At the same time, scientists are greatly concerned that warming temperatures in the northern biome would cause methane and carbon release from permafrost and peatlands, significantly compounding ghg emissions. We will discuss the latest science, policy and opportunities that focus on the connections of soils, conservation and ghg sequestration and emissions.

>> John Field's presentation (PPTX/9 MB)
>> Keith Paustian's presentation (PDF/1 MB)
>> Kevin Schaefer's presentation (PPTX/5 MB)
>> Diana Wall's presentation (PDF/18 MB)

• Laura Paskus (Moderator) New Mexico In Focus - New Mexico PBS
• Autumn Bernhardt (Speaker ) Lecturer, Colorado State University
• Eric Perramond (Speaker ) KECK Director, Hulbert Center for Southwest Studies and Professor of Environmental Science and Southwest Studies, Colorado College
• Naveena Sadasivam (Speaker ) Staff Writer, Grist

Description

Access to clean water is a human right. And yet, access to clean water — not to mention water rights and sustainable sources of water for farming and small communities — is oftentimes limited for some communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities. Even in the western United States, where water rights are based on prior appropriation — first in time, first in line — and tribes have the oldest water rights, legal mechanisms and financial restraints keep them from accessing the water they own.

• Nancy Averett (Moderator) Freelance
• Deane Bowers (Speaker ) Professor, Museum Curator of Entomology, and Department Chair of Ecology and Environmental Biology, University of Colorado Boulder
• Chris Funk (Speaker ) Professor, Department of Biology, and Director, Global Biodiversity Center, School of Global Environmental Sustainability, Colorado State University
• Robbie Hart (Speaker) Assistant Curator, William L. Brown Center, Missouri Botanical Garden
• Jessica Rykken (Speaker ) Denali National Park, National Park Service

Description

The world is experiencing an "insect apocalypse" — at least according to some researchers. Recent studies have shown large declines in insect biomass in places such as Germany and Puerto Rico. Other investigators say there isn’t enough data yet to declare an Armageddon. Regardless, everyone agrees more data is needed — scientists have identified 1 million bugs but there could be 30 times that on Earth — so conservationists can prioritize what to protect. During this session, we’ll talk about both the importance of insects to life around the globe as well as some of the threats that six-legged creatures face from human interference and what can be done about it.

• Jeff Burnside (Moderator) Independent Journalist and SEJ Board Member
• Maia Bellon (Speaker) Director, Department of Ecology, State of Washington
• Lindsay Ex (Speaker) Climate Program Manager, City of Fort Collins
• David Rossini (Speaker) The Public Interest Network

Description

As the Trump administration continues to dismantle strides made to fight the climate crisis, some states, cities and even corporations are not waiting for federal leadership anymore. We’ve assembled a panel of experts representing top national success stories who will speak directly to the accelerating efforts from the “bottom up” climate fight. This is a topic that can be applied to any news market for journalists attending this panel. Don’t miss it.

• Kelsey Simpkins (Moderator) Digital and Engagement Editor, Future Earth
• Amy Andrle (Speaker ) Founder/Owner, L'Eagle Services | L'eela CBD BodyCare
• Bruce Barcott (Speaker) Senior Editor, Leafly
• Kaitlin Urso (Speaker) Environmental Consultant , Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

Description

As the first state to legalize cannabis, Colorado has learned a lot about cannabis’ environmental impacts — on water and lands, its electricity use and carbon emissions, and the consequences of waste and pollution. Today, the state is leading the way to make cannabis production more sustainable, from cultivation to disposal. Hear from an industry-leading small business owner, the lead environmental cannabis consultant at the state level and a cannabis journalist about the evolution and future of cannabis' environmental impacts in Colorado and beyond.

• Cannabis Sustainability Symposium, October 4, Denver, CO

• Tim Wheeler (Moderator) Associate Editor and Senior Writer, Bay Journal, Bay Journal
• Adam Marshall (Speaker) Knight Foundation Litigation Attorney, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
• Jimmy Tobias (Speaker) Independent Reporter, The Nation, The Guardian, Pacific Standard
• Timothy Whitehouse (Speaker) PEER

Description

With government agencies increasingly prohibiting their staff from talking to reporters, how can the press find out what the public needs and has a right to know? In this session, we’ll talk about the uses and abuses of the Freedom of Information Act and share tips on how to work around recalcitrant PIOs. We’ll also hear about a new initiative of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press to provide legal help to local or regional news organizations and journalists to pursue enterprise and investigative journalism.

• Dennis Dimick (Moderator) Board of Directors, Society of Environmental Journalists
• Peter Essick (Speaker) Photographer and Author
• Morgan Heim (Speaker) Senior Fellow, International League of Conservation Photographers
• Helen Richardson (Speaker) Photojournalist, The Denver Post

Description

This session will focus on the process behind creating visual journalism on environmental issues. Panelists will show and discuss projects that illustrate where ideas come from, research and planning strategies, and approaches to visualization. The goal is to offer insight to improve quality and depth of visual environmental journalism. Three visual professionals in magazine and newspaper journalism and filmmaking will participate, with moderation by a veteran visual environmental journalist. Plenty of time will be set aside for discussion and questions.

• Judy Fahys (Moderator) News Reporter, InsideClimate News
• Michael A. Estrada (Speaker) Founder, Photojournalist, BEEN Media
• Bobby Magill (Speaker) Reporter, Bloomberg Environment, and SEJ President
• Jodi Rave Spotted Bear (Speaker) Founder and Executive Director, Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance
• Anna Smith (Speaker) Assistant Editor, High Country News

Description

People of diverse genders, sexual orientations and races have long called the West home — Indigenous people longer than anyone. But media coverage continues to view the landscape through a lens focused on white settlers and the hyper-masculine — think cowboys and roughnecks. Panelists will explore how misogyny, patriarchy, heteronormativity and racism mean so many voices are still neglected because of structural forces in our society. The panel offers ideas about how environmental journalists can make their stories on federal lands more relevant and more authentic by being more inclusive.

• Andrew Revkin (Moderator) Columbia University Earth Institute
• Jill Baron (Speaker ) US Geological Survey
• Samantha McCann (Speaker ) Vice President, Solutions Journalism Network
• Camille Morse Nicholson (Speaker ) Program Manager, Rural Climate Dialogues, Jefferson Center
• Andrew Rockway (Speaker ) Program Director, Jefferson Center

Description

At a variety of institutions aiming to foster progress on tough issues, a shift is underway from telling a convincing story to shaping a better conversation. Should media follow suit? The idea: Rather than report on a meeting, hold the meeting — and another, and another, fostering trust and crosstalk and generating stories. This brainstorming Craft Session features practitioners from the “Your Voice Ohio” newsroom and “Rural Climate Dialogues” project, along with the U.S. Geological Survey’s John Wesley Powell Center — where scientists are led through mediations aimed at breaking deadlocStoryteller to Mediator — A New Path for Solutions-Focused Journalists?ks on research frontiers. The discussion will include insights from the Solutions Journalism Network and be led by Andy Revkin, who’s building a new initiative on communication and sustainability at Columbia University’s Earth Institute.

>> Background (PDF)

• Tik Root (Moderator)
• Jude Bayham (Speaker) Assistant Professor, Agricultural and Resource Economics, College of Agricultural Sciences, Colorado State University
• Lindsay Bourgoine (Speaker) Director, Policy and Advocacy, Protect Our Winters
• Brian Calvert (Speaker) Editor-in-Chief, High Country News
• Jessica Newton (Speaker) Owner, Black Girls Hike Global, Inc.

Description

Colorado is an epicenter of outdoor culture. Running, hiking, biking, camping, skiing, fishing. You’ve got it all. But there are already concerns here — and around the world — about overtourism, overuse and equitable access to outdoor opportunities in what has traditionally been a very white space. And, whether it's melting snow or extreme heats, climate change is set to further shift how we recreate. From athlete and diversity voices, to the impacts of the climate crisis, this panel will explore how we, as journalists, can best cover such an evolving industry.

• Jodi Rave Spotted Bear (Moderator) Founder and Executive Director, Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance
• Alastair Bitsóí (Speaker) Communications Director, Utah Diné Bikéyah
• Jamie Folsom (Speaker) Independent Journalist and Instructor, Department of Journalism and Media Communication, Colorado State University
• Kalen Goodluck (Speaker) Journalist and Photographer

Description

Experienced reporters will share practical tips on how to cover Indigenous communities and produce culturally competent, high-impact work. From picking stories to maintaining relationships with communities, this panel will be ideal for newsrooms looking to cover tribal affairs effectively.

• Tammy Webber (Moderator) Reporter, The Associated Press
• Kerrigan Clough (Speaker) None
• Judith Enck (Speaker) Visiting Professor, Bennington College, Founder of Beyond Plastics and former EPA Regional Administrator
• Ruth Greenspan Bell (Speaker) Public Policy Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Founding Member, Environmental Protection Network; and formerly of Office of General Counsel, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• David Uhlmann (Speaker) University of Michigan

Description

Fewer employees. Regulatory rollbacks. Funding cuts. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been weakened even as it faces enormous challenges posed by climate change, emerging pollution sources and other threats. We take a look at what it would take to rebuild the agency to meet those challenges as well as how the agency might look and function in the decades to come.

• John Platt (Moderator) Editor, The Revelator
• Alex Dehgan (Speaker) CEO, Conservation X Labs
• Liba Pejchar (Speaker) Colorado State University
• George Wittemyer (Speaker) Associate Professor, Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University

Description

Can international environmental conservation grow to include the private sector and fields like economics, engineering, design, behavioral decision-making and anthropology? The answer depends on who is in the room. Some say the field of conservation is ready for a disruption. It was based on saving species through parks and preserves. Many of the underlying drivers of extinction are from humans, and species in protected areas and beyond are declining at alarming rates. Between 1970 and 2012, populations of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles dropped by 58 percent. Current rates of species extinction are 100 to 1000 times higher than before humans had a prominent role in extinction. How can synthetic biology, understanding and sustaining biodiversity in urban systems, bringing the wild back into farmlands and protecting migration corridors save species from collapse? This wide-ranging discussion will address the latest advances in international conservation, from Agriculture to Zoology, while providing examples from research and the field.

• Daniel Glick (Moderator) Co-Founder, The Story Group
• Jonathan Adelman (Speaker) Area Vice President, Strategic Resource and Business Planning, Xcel Energy
• Anne Hoskins (Speaker) Chief Policy Officer, Sunrun
• Richard Martin (Speaker) Senior Editor for Energy, S&P Global Market Intelligence

Description

What are the real-world impediments that stand in the way of accelerating the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy systems? As many low-carbon energy sources have become cost-competitive or even cheaper than traditional fossil fuels, especially for electricity production, other roadblocks stand in the way of catapulting energy production towards a truly renewable and sustainable future. Do the problems stem from technology limitations? Political intransigence? Poor planning? Failures of imagination? Bad bets by hedge funds? All of the above?

• Liza Gross (Moderator) Journalist/Editor
• Dave Carter (Speaker) National Bison Association
• Sam Fromartz (Speaker) Editor in Chief, Food & Environment Reporting Network
• Jessica Shade (Speaker) Director, Science Programs, The Organic Center

Description

Conventional and organic farming are often pitted against each other, with loopholes in livestock regulations hobbling organic dairy farmers and heavy reliance on drift-prone pesticides threatening organic farmers’ certification along with the pollinators that sustain their crops. But conventional farmers and researchers are increasingly embracing sustainable practices. This panel will look at the intersection of organic and conventional agriculture, how practices that have been at the core of organic agriculture (building soil carbon, rotating crops to reduce chemical inputs, grazing for grassland health) can be incorporated into conventional agriculture.