Across Africa, Farmers Are Adopting Regenerative Agricultural Practices that Support Food Sovereignty Amid Global Instability
Geopolitical tensions have driven up fertilizer costs, prompting African farmers to seek alternatives that bolster food sovereignty. Across Kenya, Burkina Faso and Mali, family producers are adopting regenerative agriculture, especially green‑manure cover crops, to restore soil health and cut input expenses. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s $700 million Regenerative Agriculture Pilot underscores growing global interest in these practices. Civil‑society groups now urge donors to redirect funding from conventional “green‑revolution” schemes toward community‑controlled production and processing initiatives.
On Natural Capital: The Value of the World Around Us by Partha Dasgupta – Review
Sir Partha Dasgupta’s "On Natural Capital" translates a 610‑page government report into a concise 200‑page manifesto that argues economics must internalise nature’s value. The book documents stark declines—wildlife down 73% in 50 years, ocean dead zones the size of the EU, extinction...
Bill Rees: A Childhood Moment on a Canadian Farm Led to Ecological Footprint Analysis
Bill Rees recalls a childhood epiphany on his Ontario farm that sparked a lifelong quest to quantify humanity’s demand on Earth. In 1996, with Mathis Wackernagel, he introduced the Ecological Footprint, a metric that compares global consumption to the planet’s...
There’s No Single Path Through Collapse. It Spans Multiple Systems and Perspectives
In his upcoming book *Collapse: Navigating Civilization’s Predicaments With Wisdom and Courage*, author JP Quinonez frames the unfolding polycrisis as a convergence of ecological limits, thermodynamic constraints, and deep‑seated psychological and cultural forces. Drawing on months spent living off‑grid in...
Toxic Dust From the Shrinking Salton Sea Is Harming Children’s Lung Growth Amid Water Loss, Study Finds
The Salton Sea’s rapid shrinkage is exposing toxic, chemical‑laden dust that is now entering the lungs of Imperial Valley children. A longitudinal study by USC and UC‑Irvine of more than 700 elementary‑age participants shows measurable reductions in lung growth, especially...
The Climate Crisis Is Becoming a Legal Obligation, Not a Political Choice
Environmental scholars have moved from traditional environmental law to a broader ecological law framework, epitomized by the 2016 Oslo Manifesto and the creation of the Ecological Law and Governance Association. The International Court of Justice’s July 23, 2025 advisory opinion declared that...
Solar Panels Aren’t as “Clean” As We Like to Think
Solar panels are often praised for zero emissions during operation, but their production and end‑of‑life stages carry significant ecological costs. Mining quartzite for silicon, energy‑intensive refining, and chemical processing create habitat loss, toxic waste, and high carbon footprints. Utility‑scale solar...
How Pacific Communities Use Sea Worms to Track Time and Seasonal Shifts Through a Changing Climate
Across the southwestern Pacific, the annual emergence of palolo worms (Palola viridis) serves as a precise natural clock that Indigenous communities embed in their ecological calendars. The worms' synchronized spawning, marked by luminous green and orange epitokes, triggers night‑time harvest...
Strait of Hormuz Reopens for Now, but Global Supply Chains Remain at Risk
President Donald Trump announced a two‑week suspension of his threatened bombing of Iran, tying the pause to the safe repassage of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The narrow waterway moves roughly 20% of the world’s oil and gas, a...
The Growing Push to Grant Legal Rights to Nature
The rights‑of‑nature movement, driven largely by Indigenous peoples, has expanded from Ecuador’s 2008 constitutional amendment to a patchwork of national laws and local ordinances worldwide. Landmark cases include New Zealand’s 2017 recognition of the Whanganui River as a legal person, India’s...
Nuclear Safety at Risk: What’s Changing Under Donald Trump
President Trump’s administration has quietly stripped more than 750 pages of nuclear safety regulations, replacing concrete protection standards with vague language and raising the radiation exposure limit that triggers investigations. The revisions apply to a new pilot program for small...
How Environmental Laws Are Shifting the Focus From Humans to Nature
Environmental law has evolved from ancient human‑focused regulations to a modern ecocentric paradigm that grants nature legal personhood. Early examples include Mesopotamian water treaties and Roman sanitation codes, while the 1972 Stockholm conference cemented an anthropocentric framework. Over the past...
Human Nature Odyssey, Episode 21. Earth Abides (Part 1): Life After Civilization
In this first part of the two‑episode deep‑dive on George R. Stewart’s 1949 novel *Earth Abides*, host Alex Leff and guest astrophysicist‑writer Tom Murphy explore the story of Ish Williams, a young ecologist who survives a global plague and witnesses the...
The Restorative Promise of Agroecology: Farming for Sovereignty and Resilience in Malawi – Part II
Agroecology offers sustainable, climate‑resilient solutions for Malawi’s food insecurity, delivering soil health, biodiversity and gender‑inclusive benefits. In contrast, the country’s agricultural policy is dominated by corporate‑driven Green Revolution initiatives—AGRA, NAFSN, and multinational seed and fertilizer firms—backed by over $1 billion in...
How California’s War on Smog and Its Ambitious Car Pollution Rules Made Everyone’s Air Cleaner
California leveraged its unique waiver authority under the Clean Air Act to mandate catalytic converters for 1975 model‑year cars, forcing automakers to adopt unleaded gasoline and emissions‑cutting technology. The state’s tough standards accelerated the nationwide rollout of catalytic converters, cutting...