Apply by Friday, Aug. 15 for 'Covering Climate Change and our Energy Future in Rural America'

Friday, Aug. 15, is the deadline to apply for fellowships from the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues to attend “Covering Climate Change and Our Energy Future in Rural America,” an Oct. 15 workshop that will kick off the annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists at the Hotel Roanoke, hosted by Virginia Tech.

The past, present, and future of coal in Appalachia and the southeastern United States — and therefore much of our energy future — will come into sharp focus at this workshop. Internationally recognized experts in coal, energy and climate will discuss changing land-use patterns, with new satellite images; the ins, outs, and maybes of carbon sequestration; the science, economics and emotional aspects of mountaintop-removal strip mining; and more, with sponsorship from SEJ, the Institute, Virginia Tech and the Yale Project on Climate Change\Yale Forum on Climate Change and The Media.

Registered reporters will head home with practical insights and expert news sources on issues that play right to the heart of their hometown audiences. Hear from leading regional and local reporters bringing collective decades of newsroom experience in covering and uncovering some of journalism's most compelling stories on energy, coal, and climate change. For a Word-document brochure with the seminar schedule, click here.

All sessions will be at the Hotel Roanoke. Breakfast and lunch are included. Pre-registration and a $60 fee, which includes membership in SEJ, are required. The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues is offering up to 20 fellowships to cover the fee and, depending on demand, perhaps some travel support. Applications will be accepted until Friday, Aug. 15. Click here for an application form.

Admission to the workshop will include the opening reception of the SEJ conference, which the governors of Virginia and West Virginia are scheduled to attend, and SEJ member rates for the conference, the top gathering of environmental journalists and experts each year.

Thursday will be full of tours, including a trip to a mountaintop-removal coal mine, a visit to a nuclear power plant, hiking on the Appalachian Trail, canoeing on the New and James rivers, and a trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Flights over mountaintop-removal mines will be available to SEJ members Friday and Saturday. The opening plenary session on Friday will be "Old King Coal: What's His Role in America's Energy Future?" One of the beat dinners on Friday night will focus on rural coverage. Sessions on Friday and Saturday will follow tracks for coal, energy, climate, water, environmental health, politics and computer-assisted reporting. The conference will end Sunday with an authors' session featuring Wendell Berry, Penny Loeb and Ann Pancake. For a PDF brochure and registration information on the SEJ Conference, click here.