A record number of environmental defenders were murdered last year, according to a report issued this week by advocacy group Global Witness. The report, “Last Line of Defense,” counts 227 activists killed around the world in 2020—the highest number recorded for… Read moreRecord number of ecologists slain in 2020
Denmark and Costa Rica jointly announced that they are launching an alliance of nations committed to setting a firm date to completely phase out use and production of fossil fuels. The two countries hope to present the initiative, tentatively dubbed the Beyond… Read moreDenmark, Costa Rica to launch no-fossil-fuel bloc
At least 90 people have been killed in wildfires that have swept through northern Algeria over the past weeks. The blazes have consumed some 100,000 acres, mostly in the northeastern Kabylia region and its central province of Tizi Ouzou. While… Read moreAlgiers plays politics with Morocco as Kabylia burns
More than 500,000 people are in need of emergency assistance in Haiti’s southern peninsula, where last week’s 7.2-magnitude earthquake has killed more than 2,100 people and injured more than 12,200. Aid and medical efforts are hampered by debris-strewn roads, rain from… Read moreHaiti: gang warfare hinders earthquake recovery
Climate change is “unequivocal” and rapidly intensifying, and some of the changes already in motion—such as continued sea level rise—are irreversible over hundreds to thousands of years, finds the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released… Read moreUN climate report: ‘Code Red for Humanity’
Children in Raqqa, northeast Syria, are still living among ruins, with limited water, electricity, and access to education, four years after the city was taken from ISIS, according to a new report by Save the Children. Thousands of people have… Read moreSurvivors struggle four years after battle of Raqqa
The government of Greenland announced July 23 that it will suspend all oil exploration, saying the territory “wants to take co-responsibility for combating the global climate crisis… The future does not lie in oil. The future belongs to renewable energy, and… Read moreGreenland suspends oil exploration, citing climate crisis
The Amazon has long played a vital role in balancing the global carbon budget, but new evidence suggests the climate scales are tipping in the world’s largest rainforest. Now, according to a study published July 14 in Nature, the Brazilian Amazon… Read moreBrazil’s Amazon is now a net carbon source: study
In Episode 81 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg takes stock of the fast-mounting manifestations of devastating climate destabilization—from Oregon to Siberia, from Germany to Henan. In Angola, traditional pastoralists are joining the ranks of “climate refugees” as their communal lands… Read morePodcast: climate change and the global struggle
Millions of people in southern Angola are facing an existential threat as drought continues to ravage the region, Amnesty International said July 22. The organization highlighted how the creation of commercial cattle ranches on communal lands has driven pastoralist communities from their… Read moreAngola: drought threatens traditional pastoralists
Two were killed July 16 as Iranian security forces opened fire on Ahwazi Arab protesters in Ahvaz, capital of southwestern Khuzestan province. The deaths came after days of demonstrations in the Arab-majority region, which is now stricken by withering drought. Hundreds of sheep,… Read moreIran: protests over water rights in Ahwazi region
After six months of deliberation, a panel of 12 independent legal experts from across the globe on June 22 unveiled a working definition of “ecocide” that they hope will be adopted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The panel was… Read moreLegal experts present definition of ecocide to ICC
