The agave-powered agroforestry and livestock management system is an example of how native desert plants, cultivated as part of an agroforestry system, can regenerate drylands and provide inexpensive animal feed, taking pressure off overgrazed rangelands. By Ronnie Cummins and André Leu Sixty to seventy percent of Mexico’s terrain is classified as arid or semiarid desert, typically with no rain for eight to nine months a year. La pipa, the water truck, brings enough water to

“The temperatures here went very high so everything outside melted,” said one scientist. Public domain image of Antarctica By Brad Reed, Common Dreams Climate scientists are sounding the alarm after an unprecedented heatwave hit Antarctica this month and delivered temperatures 20°C higher than normal. According to a Friday report in The Guardian, temperatures at Antarctica’s Trinity Peninsula this month hit peaks of over 15°C, even though it is the start of winter when ice ty

Bats pollinate wild agave plants, sustaining desert ecosystems and preserving the genetic diversity that supports tequila and mezcal production. Mexican Long-nosed Bat (Leptonycteris nivalis) in Mexico -- David Cervantes Vlogs, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Reynard Loki Bats move through desert night skies with a purpose that is easy to overlook and difficult to replace. As they travel from plant to plant, feeding on nectar, they are also performing one of the most impo

Women and girls are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis, yet women’s leadership and local knowledge are critical to building more resilient communities. Two women navigating flood waters (representational image) -- Djuulume, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Ruhi Bhasin The climate crisis is worsening many of the economic and social inequalities already faced by women and girls, making it harder to access health care, education, employment, and other necess

A rally of Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement -- Photo source: redacaonline By Guillermo Barreto The right to food and to choose what we plant, how we plant it, how we harvest it, how we distribute it, and even how we cook it is what is known as food sovereignty: a central concept when discussing people’s sovereignty, introduced by the international peasant movement known as La Vía Campesina during the World Food Summit in 1996. Food sovereignty is defined as ‘the right of p

Often promoted as sustainable, fish farming can increase pressure on wild fisheries, deepen global food inequities, and damage marine ecosystems. Asc1733, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Laura Lee Cascada Fish farming, a form of aquaculture, is now the fastest-growing form of factory farming worldwide. This rapid expansion can be attributed to the industry’s emphasis on buzzwords such as “climate,” “conservation,” and “sustainability.” While discussions about land-base

Claims of success in animal welfare, climate policy, and corporate sustainability often rely on narrow metrics that obscure whether real-world harms are actually declining. Image screenshot via promotional video By Robin Scher Earlier this year, a little-noticed institutional complaint was filed against the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law. It did not challenge a specific policy position or legal argument. Instead, it raised a more fundamental question: when instit

From Arthurian epics to submerged cities, Lyonesse shows how folklore and history intertwine to shape a region’s cultural identity. Tristan and Isolde, miniature of the XV century, cropped -- public domain image By Samantha Sudol For centuries, the waters off Cornwall’s Atlantic coast have kept a secret: the legendary drowned land of Lyonesse. Stories of a prosperous kingdom swallowed overnight by the sea have persisted in Arthurian tales, medieval manuscripts, and Cornish fo

Choosing renewables over fossil fuels would mean fewer wars and less economic disruption in the U.S. and around the world. Matthew T Rader, https://matthewtrader.com, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Sonali Kolhatkar The war on Iran has caused the biggest oil supply disruption in history, as oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz falters. Taken together with this year’s invasion of Venezuela, home to the world’s largest proven oil reserves , and the Trump admin

The “polluter pays” principle transformed the energy industry half a century ago. Now, as industrial agriculture drives climate breakdown, deforestation, and water scarcity, experts say it’s time to apply the same rule to our food systems—and make corporations, not consumers, bear the cost of the damage. Representational image -- Wilfredor, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons By Alex Crisp The “ polluter pays ” principle is a cornerstone of environmental regulation. It raises

An unprecedented avian flu outbreak in Argentine Patagonia devastated a stable elephant seal colony, highlighting the rising threat of infectious disease to wildlife in a warming world. Elephant Seals -- Ecohotel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Claudio Campagna, Valeria Falabella and Julieta Campagna In the spring of 2023, we returned to Península Valdés, a rugged coastal region in Argentine Patagonia, expecting to witness the familiar sights and sounds of southern el

At the 10 year anniversary of the Paris Agreement, U.S. climate commitments are being swallowed up by military spending. David B. Gleason from Chicago, IL, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Alliyah Lusuegro Ten years ago as of December 2025, nearly every country in the world made a promise. By signing the Paris Agreement , governments committed to limit global temperature rises to no more than 2°C — and ideally 1.5°C — to avoid the most devastating impacts of a warming p

Millions of African children are born into overlapping crises, and true climate justice must begin with birth equity to uphold human rights, sovereignty, and reparative action. Nigerian children doing a class exercise -- Ibukshizzy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Esther Afolaranmi In July 2025, the International Court of Justice held its first hearings on states’ climate responsibilities in decades. A lead judge described climate change as an “ urgent and existential

Often overlooked in traditional emergency management, women play a critical role in preparedness, risk reduction, and building resilient communities. Representational image -- Kartiki Gonsalves, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Reynard Loki On February 26, 1852, the HMS Birkenhead struck a cluster of rocks off the coast of South Africa. With only a few lifeboats for the 638 people aboard, Captain Robert Salmond ordered the women and children to board first while the men

The relentless push for data centers is raising US power bills and polluting US communities. It doesn’t have to be this way. Virginia data center -- image via news video screenshot By Michi Trota Bill Gates recently made headlines by suggesting that climate change is no longer a priority , but the American public begs to differ. In this last election, climate change was a defining issue in states like Virginia and Georgia , where voters grappled with rising energy costs. And

After centuries of dam building, a nationwide movement to dismantle these aging barriers is showing how free-flowing rivers can restore ecosystems, improve safety, and reconnect people with nature. The silt filled Matilija Dam in California -- Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License, via Wikimedia Commons By Tara Lohan With more than 550,000 dams in the United States, free-flowing rivers are an endangered species. We’ve dammed, diked, and diverted almost every ma

Image via India Today on X, November 28, 2025 By Srujana Bodapati It is that time of year again when India’s national capital Delhi’s air quality turned acutely hazardous. Official Indian air quality indicators hit their maximum adverse readings of 500, while indices based on international norms shoot past 1,000 or even 2,000 —a level that effectively turned the city into a gas chamber. The thick smog, loaded with toxic gases, seeps into every corner of the city, including in

The end of the first week of COP30 saw a protest organized by social and environmental movements, bringing together Indigenous groups, youth, NGOs, and activists demanding climate justice, an end to fossil fuels, and real participation in negotiations. Image from the march via X By Manish Chandra Mishra, Mongabay Family farmers, traditional communities and Indigenous peoples led the People’s Summit Unified March, a climate justice protest, on November 15, bringing colour and

People march in Belem, Brazil on November 15 as part of the popular protests outside of COP30 -- news screenshot via X By Cade Dunbar On Friday, 17 October 2025, the UN Development Programme released the 2025 edition of its Multidimensional Poverty Index Report . For the first time, the report directly evaluates their multidimensional poverty data against climate hazards, exposing the extent to which the world’s poor are threatened by the environmental crisis. According to th

Humanity’s evolution into a super predator has reshaped ecosystems and instilled a primal fear in much of the animal kingdom. Representational image - public domain By John Divinagracia Hunting is considered critical to human evolution by many researchers who believe that several characteristics that distinguish humans from our closest living relatives, the apes, may have partly resulted from our adaptation to hunting, including our large brain size. Over time, however, the