Archive for October 2021

When news of the COVID-19 pandemic came to the white-clad peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia, nobody was very surprised. The Kogis, Arhuacos, Wiwas and Kankuamos, four Indigenous groups who reside in the region and refer to themselves as the Elder Brothers, had already received numerous warnings of viral diseases from […]

In February, JPMorgan, the biggest bank in the U.S., organized an online event on “The Amazon rainforest and you,” promoting sustainable investment. Now, a new report says the bank reaped nearly $57 million through investments linked to forest destruction in the past five years. These investments would make JPMorgan the top financier of deforestation in […]

The recent arrests of staff of a Ugandan civil society organization, the Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO), have been criticized as an attempt to stifle defenders of human rights and the environment in the East African country. AFIEGO has been prominent in campaigns against sugarcane plantations in the country’s western Bugoma Forest, as well […]

NASA will hold a virtual media briefing 11 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Nov. 2, to discuss the engineering of the James Webb Space Telescope, the world’s largest and most powerful space science telescope.

JAKARTA — Indonesia’s new 10-year plan for electricity generation maintains the country’s heavy reliance on coal and will hinder stated efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, experts say. The plan, known as the RUPTL, calls for adding 40.6 gigawatts (GW) of electricity capacity nationwide between 2021 and 2030, a third of which, 13.8 GW, […]

Just a day ahead of U.S. congressional hearings on climate change with heads of the largest oil companies in the world, a scathing new report has found that Chevron oil has dozens of outstanding legal cases for environmental damage, and a track record of not paying the associated fines, fees, and judgements. The independent report, […]

In late 2020, a succession of violent storms slammed into Central America during the worst Atlantic hurricane season on record. The effects were devastating. Flooding and mudslides caused billions of dollars’ worth of damage, killed hundreds of people, and displaced more than half a million more. The storms were part of an ominous trend across […]

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Martin Pineda describes Liguasan Marsh on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao as a no-man’s land that “strongly reeks with gas.” Pineda is a member of Birders without Borders, and was part of a team of bird experts invited by the Philippine military to join a 2019 tour of the marsh. […]

The risks of an ‘all carrot, no stick’ approach.

“Annihilating old growth sagebrush, Indigenous peoples’ medicines, food, and ceremonial grounds for electric vehicles isn’t very climate conscious.”