Journalists descend on UA for 4-day conference

Like newspeople on a forest fire, about 475 members of the Society of Environmental Journalists will be descending on the University of Arizona this weekend for a conference.

The four-day conference, the group's seventh, sponsored by the UA, the Morris K. Udall Foundation and the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, includes panel discussions, instructional sessions and day-long tours of environmental points of interest throughout Southern Arizona.

Among the scheduled speakers are democratic California state Sen. Tom Hayden, Congressman Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., Stewart Udall, former Secretary of the Interior, and Robert Stanton, director of the National Parks Service. New UA President Peter Likins is also scheduled to make one of his first public appearances today at the conference welcome reception.

"Environmental reporting can be pretty technical and difficult, but having an event like this staged around your beat reminds you that it is really a big deal," said Randy Lee Loftis, co-chairman of the conference.

Loftis, who reports on the environment for The Dallas Morning News, said the conference is designed to inform journalists, while inspiring them to provide more complete environmental coverage to the public.

The SEJ was founded in 1990 to help journalists improve the quality, accuracy and visibility of environmental reporting. Now, with about 1,000 members, SEJ publishes a biweekly tip sheet, a quarterly newsletter and plays host to regional conferences throughout the year.

While the conference focuses on environmental issues, SEJ President Kevin Carmody was careful to point out that it is intended to inform journalists, not persuade them.

"Any time you mention the environment, suddenly the idea of advocacy comes up," Carmody said. "We're not an advocacy group. We're about helping journalists ask the right questions."

Carmody, a reporter for Chicago Daily Southtown, said scientists, policy experts, industry and environmental interests will be brought together at the conference to broaden reporters' perspective on environmental issues.

"We want to help journalists cover these issues so that the public can make informed and smart decisions about environmental policy," Carmody said

The group also holds a national conference each year to map out issues and reporting strategies for environmental journalists.

Russell Clemings, conference co-chair and reporter at the Fresno Bee, said the UA is the main reason Tucson was chosen as the site for this year's national conference.

"Having the conference in Tucson allows us to draw upon the intellectual resources of the university," Clemings said.

Sessions highlighting UA projects such as garbology research and tree ring analysis are included in the conference agenda.

Since its inception, Clemings said the conference has been affiliated with a different university each year. Last year it was held at Washington University in St. Louis.

Although most of the sessions take place in the Memorial Student Union, the conference begins today with a tour of Nogales, Ariz. and Nogales, Sonora. The conference ends Sunday with a series of panel discussions at Biosphere 2.