Society of Environmental Journalists: Roanoke in October

Image via Wikipedia I get a lot of announcements and offers passing through my email each week as I’m sure you do, and most of it, I don’t give a second thought before hitting the delete key.

But when I learned from a local Floyd Countian about the Society of Environmental Journalists and particularly about their upcoming October conference in Roanoke, I sat up a little straighter. Hmmm.

Not that I’d call myself a journalist. The prospect of participation seemed quite abstract at first. Only a smallish portion of what I write about on the blog and for the two newspaper columns would be called environmental by most folks.

I’d do more of that kind of writing, but it doesn’t match the voice and brand established since 2002 for Fragments from Floyd. When I’ve gone there–and especially if I voice a strong opinion that tipped left or right on the matter at hand, I’ve been scolded. Really.

But the organization and conference looked interesting enough that I researched their membership guildelines, and passed the cut (with my various writing credentials I would not have had in 2002 when the writing started) and am now pleased to be a member.

For the past week, I’ve been enjoying their web resources–which are phenomenal–and my book appears on their “books by SEJ members list” that includes lots of heavy hitters (like former senator Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day and many full-time media journalists and successful freelancers from around the country.) I’m on several SEJ email list-servs, and the exchange is lively, informative and stimulating.

I’ve made plans to go to the Oct 15 – 19 conference (press release is here) even though it will cost some coinage out of that little purse of egg money I was talking about recently, including travel and meals. But here’s the thing: in most writer’s groups I am odd man out among pure academic English Major types, Appalachian writers, or poets. Here, I’ll be a word-processing tree hugger among credentialed tree hugger writers.

So. I’m hoping that my “environmental” focus on natural history education, appreciation and stewardship will fit in with the hard-core work these guys and gals do on the tough issues like mountaintop removal, vanishing resources and global warming. I expect to learn a lot, discover new outlets for the words and pixels, and make a friend or two.

I’m generally not a joiner. But I trust that this time, I have hitched my wagon to an engine that will carry me someplace worth going–or at least the journey will be interesting.