The Margin

The Margin is an award-winning, independent, nonprofit investigative journalism publication that was housed at Counterstream from October 2023 to January 2026.

During this time, we produced 12 impactful stories over three issues that centered the people and places most affected by environmental injustice in the United States.

The Margin’s stories expose the ongoing cycle of unjust actions that intentionally push the poor and people of color to the edge of society while driving our planet to the brink of collapse. Every story in The Margin combines personal narratives with data analysis and visualizations.

By pairing in-depth reporting with data, The Margin aims to immerse readers in the issues, to look back historically and see how the landscape has changed, to understand where we are now, how we got here, and where we go next.

Awards

Fall/Winter 2025 Issue

Deserted at the Border

The federal government is quietly abandoning Arizona farmworker and miner communities, stripping funding from hundreds of thousands of residents facing deadly heat and dwindling water.

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Breathing After BioLab

One woman's reflection on the 2024 BioLab chemical fire and her ongoing fight to breathe, heal, and hold industry accountable.

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Mourning Land That Leaves

Alaska Native communities grapple with ecological grief as their ancestral lands slowly vanish.

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Licensed to Contaminate

From city permits to state acquiescence and federal contracts, how every level of government enabled toxic detention.

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Mid-Barataria's Muddy End

Louisiana's decision to kill its cornerstone coastal restoration project leaves the state without a clear plan as it faces some of the fastest rates of sea level rise on Earth.

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Spring/Summer 2025 Issue

Pursuing Higher Ground

Six Months after the hurricane that changed Appalachia.

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Mining the Past, Threatening the Future

Facing the brunt of the mineral rush, Tribal Nations sue the federal government.

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In Toxic Detention

Examining the alleged abuse and contaminated water crises at the Northwest Detention Center.

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After Allen Field

Lessons from Houston’s Mandatory Buyout Program.

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Saving Sinking Homes

How climate change is escalating a housing crisis in Alaska’s Native villages.

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Summer 2024 Issue

A River of Deception

Historical documents reveal how Seattle City Light’s dams deprived the Skagit River of fish, impacting the Upper Skagit Tribe’s treaty rights for over a century.

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Eroding Indigenous Sovereignty

How climate change complicates the fight for Tribal Nations to prove who they are.

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