Meet SEJ member Lindsey Botts! Lindsey plays a central role in curating Sierra magazine's mix of news articles, opinion pieces, service journalism and current-events explainers. He's always looking to commission stories about the environment, wildlife, public lands and conservation. He loves working with new writers and helping journalists find that special angle that turns topics into stories.
"A hungry whale is a quiet whale. A new first-of-its kind study found the marine mammals vocalized less after a marine heat wave decimated their prey, making whale songs a barometer of the effects of climate change on ocean ecosystems."
"The proposed expansion of a Quebec landfill that accepts hazardous waste from the United States has ignited a turf war between the Quebec provincial government and local leaders, who say they oppose putting US trash into a local peat bog."
"A push by Donald Trump’s administration to repeal a barrage of clean air and water regulations may deal a severe blow to US public health, with a Guardian analysis finding that the targeted rules were set to save the lives of nearly 200,000 people in the years ahead."
"Commercial fishermen and seafood processors and distributors looking to switch to new, lower-carbon emission systems say the federal funding they relied on for this work is either frozen or unavailable due to significant budget cuts promoted by President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency."
"North Carolina lawmakers agreed Wednesday to spend another $528 million on still-pressing needs from Hurricane Helene’s historic flooding nearly six months ago, with an emphasis on home and private road repairs, agriculture and infrastructure to aid businesses."
"The Trump administration is authorizing a major gas facility to export the fuel abroad — clearing a major hurdle in getting the controversial project approved."
"A new analysis of ancient layers of peat at the bottom of the North Sea will help scientists more accurately project how much sea level will rise in the coming decades and centuries. The research shows how fast sea level rose about 11,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, the last time Earth warmed as fast as it is warming now."
"The devastating impacts of the climate crisis reached new heights in 2024, with scores of unprecedented heatwaves, floods and storms across the globe, according to the UN’s World Meteorological Organization."
"Near the western New Mexico town of Grants, the toxic legacy of Cold War uranium mining and milling has shattered lives, destroyed homes and created a contamination threat to the last clean source of groundwater for an entire region"
