By Marte Skaara

Will the growth of today’s new cities outpace efforts to encourage sustainability? Will coastal cities be able to prepare for the impacts of climate change? And how can journalists tell stories on these complex issues in new and innovative ways?

These are some of the questions that were touched upon by speakers and discussed by journalists and experts on Wednesday, the first day of the Society of Environmental Journalists’ annual conference in Chattanooga, Tenn. Participants were from the U.S., Africa, Asia and Norway. (Yes, that’s me; the Norwegian girl.)

Willie Shubert from the Earth Journalism Network showed amazing interactive maps and introduced the idea of GeoJournalism. Caroline D’Angelo from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting showed some of the amazing multimedia projects and e-books her group created.

The Pulitzer Center has options for student internships that sound very cool.

I’ve handed out two business cards (I got one back after it had been digitalized) and met interesting environmental journalists from many places in the U.S. and from Kenya, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Pakistan. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week here in Chattanooga and I’m sure I will learn a lot.

Marte Skaara, a student at Michigan State University’s Knight Center for Environmental journalism is attending the Society of Environmental Journalists national conference this week.