It's not easy being green

By: John Palen Still, SEJ hasn't had a hard time exceeding expectations

When a handful of environmental journalists met in December 1989 in Washington, to talk about forming an organization, they had in mind a support group for working reporters and editors, something they could run out of their desks at work. They thought they might eventually get 250 members.
Now, heading toward its second decade, the Society of Environmental Journalists (sej) has a roster of 1,100 and an annual budget of $400,000. Three full-time staff members oversee an operation that includes a quarterly journal, widely used online services, and high-profile national conferences.
sej's next national conference, set for Sept. 16-19 at the University of California at Los Angeles, will feature David Brower ? founder of Friends of the Earth, the League of Conservation Voters, and the Earth Island Institute ? as the keynote speaker.
For all its success, sej is not problem-free, leaders acknowledge. One challenge is to reduce dependence on the ups and downs of grant funding. Another is to stabilize leadership at a time when those who pioneered the organization are moving on. A third is to bolster membership in newsrooms.
Still, sej has made a place for itself. Remarkably, success came even while it relinquished some growth possibilities. Public-relations people or lobbyists can't belong, and sej doesn't take money from nonmedia corporations or activist groups. Founders wanted the organization to be ? and be seen to be ? independent.
"Our feeling is that our only cachet is that we are a group of independent journalists," says Michael Mansur, the sej president who is environmental editor for The Kansas City Star. "We want to safeguard that."
The early clamor to join the group surprised its founders, who discovered people misrepresenting themselves to get in. Lawyers in environmental litigation, for example, would apply without mentioning what they did for a living.
"We never envisioned that it would be so desirable to be in the organization," recalls former USA Today reporter Rae Tyson, an original board member.
The idea for sej came from retired Scripps Howard executive David Stolberg, who was administrator of the Edward J. Meeman Awards for environmental reporting. Key early figures included Tyson, Bob Engelman of Scripps Howard, Teya Ryan of Turner Broadcasting, Noel Grove of National Geographic, and Jim Detjen of The Philadelphia Inquirer, who became sej's founding president.
According to Detjen, sej grew out of a grass-roots movement to improve the "accuracy, quality, and visibility of environmental journalism." By the first national conference in autumn 1990 in Boulder, Colo., grass-roots interest was outstripping expectations. A surprising 250 people attended. Many had taken personal days and paid their own way.
Soon, sej headquarters moved from a drawer in Detjen's desk to a converted residence in Philadelphia's Chestnut Hill neighborhood. Staff was hired, including executive director Beth Parke.
One of Parke's tasks has been to raise money. Funders have included the W. Alton Jones, Charles Stewart Mott, George Gund, Geraldine Dodge, and William and Flora Hewlett foundations, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, and media-related organizations such as the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Freedom Forum, and the Turner Foundation.
Grant funding is cyclical, Parke observes. Faced with staff and program cuts two years ago, sej is flush today, but would like to find ways to stabilize income, thus increasing its ability to stay independent. Establishing an endowment is one option, she says.
Detjen provided early leadership stability. He headed sej until 1994, when his Michigan State University appointment made him ineligible. (Academic and associate members can't vote or hold office.) Since then, no president has served more than two years, and most original members are off the board.
sej is working on the problem. It is seeking longer-term commitments from officers, Mansur says, and has held retreats to develop new leadership, most recently in July in Montana. Mansur says he is willing to serve another term.
Mansur may represent the direction sej is heading. He says he got into environmental reporting not so much because of concern about the environment, but because the beat was full of investigative opportunities.
Another challenge is nurturing sign-ups and re-ups. While membership doubled since 1991, most growth has come from academics and free-lancers, many of them part-time. There's a fear that the core membership may eventually feel outnumbered.
sej deals with that concern through active recruiting. Outreach workshops have been held in newsrooms in Ventura, Calif., Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Fort Wayne, Ind., as well as at WWOR-TV in the New York/New Jersey market. Interested editors should contact sej, whose Web site address is http://www.sej.org. Those interested in attending sej's September national conference can find information about it at the same Web site.
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