Cookies help us run our site more efficiently.

By clicking “Accept”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. View our Privacy Policy for more information or to customize your cookie preferences.

Accept Deny

GoGreenNation News

Learn more about the issues presented in our films
Show Filters

The World Has Laws About Land and Sea, But Not About Ice

As the Arctic melts and people spend more time there, defining our relationship to sea ice becomes more necessary.

When the Chinese cargo freighter Istanbul Bridge set sail for Europe in late September, it took an unusual route. Instead of heading south for the 40-day voyage through the Suez Canal, it tacked north. The freighter arrived in the United Kingdom at the port of Felixstowe just 20 days later—successfully launching the first-ever Arctic commercial-container route from Asia to Europe.For most of human history, the surface of the world’s northernmost ocean has been largely frozen. Now scientists predict that most of the Arctic Ocean’s 6.1 million square miles may be seasonally ice-free as soon as 2050. Economically, a less icy Arctic spells opportunity—new shipping routes and untapped fossil-fuel reserves. Climatologically, it’s a calamity. Legally, it’s a problem that has to be solved.  Much of the ocean’s center, the northernmost stretch surrounding the pole, will be subject to the lawlessness of the high seas—which will become a problem as more ships try to navigate a mushy mix of water and sea ice. And although the Arctic is the world’s fastest-warming region, and contains its most rapidly acidifiying ocean, it has few environmental protections. Scientists don’t have a clear idea of which species might need defending, or of the climate effects of unbridled shipping. (Ships puff black carbon, which reduces ice reflectivity and, in the short term, causes up to 1,500 times more warming than carbon dioxide.)In October, the United Nation’s special envoy for the ocean, Peter Thomson, called for countries to agree to a “precautionary pause on new economic activities in the Central Arctic Ocean” to buy time to study the climate and environmental risks of increased activity. Others are asking for an agreement akin to the 2020 Artemis Accords, which committed 59 nations to the “peaceful” and “sustainable” exploration of space. But some polar-law scholars argue that curbing climate catastrophe may require a more radical reimagining: to make sea ice a legal person.For centuries of seafaring, ice was an obstacle blocking people out, not an environment anyone thought to protect. Even in the Arctic, “we have laws about the land, we have the Law of the Sea, but we don’t have laws about ice,” Apostolos Tsiouvalas, a postdoctoral researcher with the Arctic University of Norway, told me. Because dealing with ice hasn’t been a major concern, even for the five nations that border the Arctic, and because ice is always transforming, its place in the law is confused at best.In many cases, solid ice extending from a coastline has been treated as legal land, and ice carried by a current has been considered water. During the Cold War, both Russia and the United States maintained scientific “drift stations” on detached ice floes. In 1970, when a shooting occurred on one American station, several nations debated where, exactly, the crime took place. Was the ice Canadian, because it likely calved from a glacier on Canada’s coast? Was it an American island? After some back-and-forth, the vessel-size chunk of ice legally transformed—by no small imaginative leap—into an American ship.The so-called Arctic Exception of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea does extend states’ rights to impose laws far from the coastline, in areas that are ice-covered for most of the year. The point was for Arctic states to help prevent accidents and pollution, but states have since used the exception to extend their geographical sovereignty. But the term ice-covered complicates these claims. How much ice means “covered”? Are we talking uncrossably frozen, or just a few drifting bits?That’s the problem with regulating icy regions: Even if these cryo-categories were more formalized, none would apply for very long. A large majority of Arctic ice is sea ice, which forms on ocean surfaces when salt water freezes. (It’s distinct from icebergs, which calve from landbound glaciers.) Human activity may have accelerated its melt, but sea ice was already one of the planet’s most dynamic systems, its surface area fluctuating by millions of miles season to season. It’s always either melting or freezing, and as it melts, its fragments can travel hundreds of miles along waves and currents.In an article published this month in the journal The Yearbook of Polar Law, Tsiouvalas and his co-authors, Mana Tugend and Romain Chuffart, argue that piecemeal updates to current laws simply will never keep up with this fast-changing and threatened environment. Future governance of sea ice will require a transformation of some sort, and they argue that the clearest path forward is to bring the rights-of-nature movement to the high north.  Since Ecuador’s landmark 2008 constitutional protection of nature, Bolivia, India, New Zealand, and other countries across the world have made natural entities legal persons, or otherwise given them inviolable rights. The UCLA Law professor James Salzman, who has taught a class on nature’s rights, told me that this idea does not represent a single legal framework but that it does answer what he calls the “Lorax problem” of environmental law, referring to the Dr. Seuss character who claims to “speak for the trees.” Granting a voiceless entity legal personhood provides it with a representative to argue on its behalf.With this designation, Tsiouvalas and his co-authors note, sea ice would get the highest legal status possible. In many cases, environmental protections can be bent to accommodate other, conflicting benefits to human society. But personhood grants an inherent right to exist that can’t be superseded. The new paper is mostly an ethical exploration and, the authors acknowledge, still just a stepping stone to more concrete regulations, but granting ice rights would create firmer standing to, for example, keep ships out of areas that humanity might otherwise want to use. The authors also note that rethinking sea ice’s status could include Indigenous people who have been routinely excluded from decisions around Arctic sovereignty and whose millennia of living on and with ice could guide its future governance.But Sara Olsvig, the chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, told me recently that the legal interest in Arctic rights of nature is a “worrying development.” To Olsvig, the phrase rights of nature itself implies some separate concept of nature that doesn’t exist for the Inuit. And in the past, the environmentalist movement has elevated its idea of “nature” above the interests of Indigenous people. Decades-long bans against whale and seal hunting, for instance, devastated the cultural continuity and health of Inuit in the far north.To answer such concerns, any legal right granted needs to be very clear about the duties that follow, Salzman said: If sea ice has a right to not be harmed, what constitutes “harm”? Would that mean blocking all human interference with the ice, or merely banning fuels that emit black carbon? After all, the major threat to sea ice—global emissions—“is not something that can be locally managed,” Salzman pointed out, and so far, natural resources have obtained legal personhood only in a national context. Rights for sea ice would require international agreement, which could be not only harder to achieve but harder to enforce. Sara Ross, an associate law professor at Dalhousie University, in Canada, told me that, in her view, legal personhood granted via international treaty would be too dependent on goodwill agreements to be effective.But in some ways, legal personhood for nonhumans is an old idea, Ross said. Most countries grant it to corporations, and in the United States and Commonwealth countries, it’s typical for ships too. She especially likes the ship comparison, because—as maritime law has already discovered—floating pieces of ice aren’t so dissimilar. She imagines a more circumscribed role for sea-ice personhood, connected to, say, setting standards that ban icebreaking or heavy fuel emissions in icy areas. If these mandates are violated, local Inuit communities would have the power to sue on behalf of the ice—whether or not they could prove how much one particular ship degraded one particular stretch of ice. Without some legal protections put in place, the sea ice will soon disappear that much faster. In October, the U.S. bought new icebreaking ships from Finland and undermined an International Maritime Organization agreement that would have had shipowners pay a fee for the greenhouse gases their vessels emit. The next week, just after the conclusion of the Istanbul Bridge’s voyage, Russia and China made a formal agreement to co-develop the Northern Sea Route that the ship had followed. If summer sea ice disappears entirely, scientists predict accelerated catastrophe—leaps in temperature, more frequent and stronger storms, global sea-level rise—which will threaten the planet’s general livability. “The fact that we need sea ice to survive is not a rights-of-nature argument,” Salzman said. “But it’s still a pretty good case to make.”

Climate
CO2
Health

Scenes From an Unfolding Climate Drama

The last 10 global climate summits have played out on vastly different stages: from the hopeful consensus of the Paris Agreement through a subsequent pandemic shock, petrostate spectacles and a hoped-for reckoning with environmental justice in the Amazon. But the new scripts often seem like reruns, with minor plot twists; a new villain, a new […]

ICN international climate policy reporter Bob Berwyn reviews the past decade of the United Nations Climate Change Conference.Story and photos by Bob BerwynThe last 10 global climate summits have played out on vastly different stages: from the hopeful consensus of the Paris Agreement through a subsequent pandemic shock, petrostate spectacles and a hoped-for reckoning with environmental justice in the Amazon. But the new scripts often seem like reruns, with minor plot twists; a new villain, a new planet-saving technology or a new text that raises more questions than it answers. The struggle remains unresolved. A close look at the settings and the actors shows a process paralyzed between performative self-awareness and transformative, meaningful action.

Climate
Technology

Sustainable aviation fuel take-up in UK unlikely to hit 2025 target, data suggests

Provisional figures in government mandate’s first year show 20% shortfall in levels of SAF supplied for UK flightsThe take-up of sustainable aviation fuels is on course to fall short of the UK government’s first annual mandate, official figures suggest.Production data published by the Department for Transport (DfT) covering most of 2025 shows that sustainable fuels (SAF) only accounted for 1.6% of fuel supplied for UK flights – 20% less fuel in volume than the 2% needed to fulfil the requirement. Continue reading...

The take-up of sustainable aviation fuels is on course to fall short of the UK government’s first annual mandate, official figures suggest.Production data published by the Department for Transport (DfT) covering most of 2025 shows that sustainable fuels (SAF) only accounted for 1.6% of fuel supplied for UK flights – 20% less fuel in volume than the 2% needed to fulfil the requirement.The government introduced the mandate in January, which requires suppliers to hit targets for SAF – which the industry has argued is important for cutting its carbon emissions – within the overall UK aviation fuel mix.Themandatory target rises sharply from 2% in 2025 to 10% in 2030 and then to 22% in 2040, including the use of second-generation fuels that are seen as more sustainable in the long term.So far, the supply of SAF has been exclusively produced from recycled cooking oil from Asia, predominantly China, the DfT figures showed.The data shows that a little more than 160m litres (35m gallons) of SAF was used, out of 10bn litres of jet fuel burned in UK flying until early October.The DfT said the time needed for verification meant that the figures were provisional, and final figures for the year were not expected to be published until November 2026. A spokesperson for the department said: “These figures do not present the full picture. SAF volumes are continuously rising and not all suppliers have reported on the fuel they’ve supplied.”Planes burning SAF still emit equal amounts of CO2 in flight, but the net carbon footprint is calculated as far lower because of how SAF is produced, compared with normal jet fuel. Although many scientists and environmental groups remain deeply sceptical that it can be delivered, production and uptake of SAF is seen as the only way for commercial, and particularly long-haul, aviation to reduce its emissions.While the government has backed aviation as a driver of economic growth and granted permission for airports including Gatwick and Luton to rapidly expand, ministers have promised to consult the Climate Change Committee over plans to build a third runway at Heathrow.The aviation minister, Keir Mather, told an industry conference in London earlier this month that Heathrow expansion would still have to meet Labour’s four tests, including reducing its climate impact, but that decarbonisation would be “a licence for growth”.He said that SAF represented the biggest opportunity, and the government’s SAF bill, which is passing through the House of Lords, “will deliver the revenue-certainty mechanism that you called for – a guaranteed price for SAF that reduces risks for investors and raises confidence for producers”.Heathrow airport has pushed the uptake of SAF with an incentive scheme that cuts landing charges for airlines using cleaner fuel. It expects to meet its own target of 3% SAF use over the course of 2025.However, airlines have fewer available supplies outside larger hub airports, and have questioned whether future mandates can be met – especially when costlier second-generation and power-to-liquid SAF, yet to be produced at scale, are mandated.The UK has progressed further than most in global aviation. The international airlines body Iata recently warned that growth in production worldwide was stalling, with SAF supplying only 0.6% of total jet fuel consumption in 2025, and forecast to increase to 0.8% in 2026.Iata’s director general, Willie Walsh, criticised the mandates, adding: “If the objective is to increase SAF production to further the decarbonisation of aviation, then they need to learn from failure and work with the airline industry to design incentives that will work.”Duncan McCourt, chief executive of the air industry body Sustainable Aviation, said: “These provisional figures show the UK is using significant quantities of SAF and we remain confident that the mandate will be met and UK aviation will use increasing quantities of SAF in the years to come.”

Sustainable
Government

Help in trying times: See how the 2025 Season of Sharing campaign is assisting Oregonians in need

The Oregonian/OregonLive’s annual fundraising campaign is making a different to seniors, at-risk youth and people experiencing homelessness.

This has been a year of financial uncertainty for many Oregonians. Consumers have continued to face challenging prices due to inflation and tariffs, and many nonprofit organizations have had to pinch pennies after seeing federal funds cut significantly or eliminated altogether in many cases.That reality makes it particularly gratifying to see Oregonians come together to support our annual Season of Sharing holiday fundraising campaign.This year’s campaign tells the stories of 14 nonprofits working to make Oregonians’ lives better in a variety of ways, ranging from groups helping seniors experiencing food insecurity and isolation to organizations helping people experiencing homelessness find stability and a way forward.Donations to the campaign, administered by The Oregonian/OregonLive’s charitable arm, Oregonian Public Benefits Inc., will be divided among the nonprofits as unrestricted grants. The Season of Sharing campaign is accepting donations, which are tax deductible, through Dec. 31. The more that comes in, the more each nonprofit will receive.Online donations can be made at oregonlive.com/sharing or the 2025 Season of Sharing Give Lively page. You can also Text the code Season2025 to 44-321.Donations can also be made by mail: Make a check out to Oregonian Media Group Season of Sharing and send it to Oregonian Season of Sharing, c/o Oregonians Credit Union, 336 N.E. 20th Ave., Portland, OR 97232.Related: Editorial: In tough times, the community is our safety net.These are the 14 nonprofit organizations featured in the 2025 Season of Sharing campaign.Kira Akito, a former foster youth, formed a long-time connection with Court Appointed Special Advocate Dick Ross, who helped Akito navigate foster placements and find independent living resources.Sami EdgeCASA of Central OregonCASA of Central Oregon advocates for children in the foster care system. They recruit and train volunteers to become Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) who work directly with kids, ensuring their voices are heard in court and that their needs are met. With many children waiting for advocates, CASA plays a crucial role in providing stability and support during a challenging time in children’s lives. The volunteers build meaningful relationships with these kids, helping them navigate the complexities of the foster care system and ultimately aiming to improve their futures.“Every child deserves someone who is in their court and rooting for them and getting to know them, and (to) have a consistent figure in their life during that process,” said Debbie Ross, 69 and a CASA volunteer for the last five years.Read the story.From Left: Community Supported Shelters board member Ken Beeson, co-executive director Heather Quaas-Annsa, development director Jennifer Yeh, former resident D.J. Williams and service navigation manager Mellinda Poor pose for a photograph in October 2025.Zane Sparling/The OregonianCommunity Supported SheltersCommunity Supported Shelters addresses homelessness in the Eugene area by providing innovative and supportive housing solutions. The nonprofit works to create a safe and welcoming environment for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, offering not just shelter but also resources to help them get back on their feet. Through a model that emphasizes community involvement and support, the organization engages residents in the process, helping those in need find stability and a path to a brighter future.“It’s like a stepping stool, and it makes you feel like a human,” said 45-year-old Zechariah Boesman, who lived in one of the shelters’ innovative “Conestoga Huts” at one time and now is a maintenance technician for the nonprofit. “It’s just refreshing to know that this organization takes the time and cares the way they do.”Read the story.Hezekiah Franklin was once a guest of the Daytime Drop-In Center, but now works there as a staff member.Tatum Todd/The OregonianCorvallis Drop-in CenterThe Corvallis Daytime Drop-in Center has been a vital resource for homeless individuals in Benton County and surrounding areas for over 20 years, providing essential services during the day when many shelters are closed. Welcoming 60-100 guests daily, the center also reaches out to those living in tents, cars and RVs, offering support that includes mental health services, housing assistance and addiction recovery resources. The center aims to combat social exclusion and stigma, treating everyone with dignity and respect.Hezekiah Franklin, 48, knows what the center does from experience: He’s experienced homelessness in the past, and first came to the center two decades ago. Now, as part of the center’s staff, he spends his days using his own experience to help others navigate similar situations.“I’ve been on both sides of the fence,” he told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “I don’t get burned out on compassion and stuff like that because like I’ve been there before.”Read the story.Kayli Duprest is the Director of Operations for the Domestic Violence Resource Center in Beaverton, Oregon.Allison Barr/The OregonianDomestic Violence Resource CenterThe Domestic Violence Resource Center is dedicated to supporting and empowering survivors of domestic violence and their children through three key programs: Advocacy & Empowerment, Counseling Services, and Housing/Shelter Services. The center offers free individual and group counseling for all ages, including specialized trauma treatment methods like art therapy. DVRC provides a confidential emergency shelter, a transitional home, and an independent housing program with rental support and case management.“To have people out there advocating for you to be safe is really special,” said Alicia, a survivor of abuse who asked that her last name not be used. “You’re not stuck. There’s a brighter light on the other side if you just take that chance.”Read the story.Profile photo of Tia Topley, of Kindred Matters, in Northeast Portland on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. Kindred Matters is a Northwest organization that funds and hosts camp opportunities for children who are in foster/state care and separated from siblingsSean Meagher/The OregonianKindred MattersKindred Matters has been reuniting foster siblings for the past 20 years through summer camps designed to strengthen their bonds. Founded by Karyn and Charley Schimmels, the organization has helped around 3,700 children in state care reconnect with their siblings, offering them a chance to share experiences and create lasting memories together. With three camp locations and activities tailored to foster those important sibling relationships, Kindred Matters makes a difference in the lives of children who often face the challenges of separation in the foster care system.Tia Topley and her brother attended one of the camps each summer for eight years, starting when she was 8. Now 29, she says the camps were a refuge from the tumult of the rest of the year and a cherished chance to see her brother, who was living in another state with relatives. “It was the most magical experience anyone could go through,” she said. “I was so happy and loved.”Read the story.Barbara Johnson in her apartment in Union Manor.Lizzy Acker/The OregonianMeals on Wheels PeopleMeals on Wheels People delivers nutritious meals to seniors and individuals in need, ensuring they have access to healthy food right at their doorstep. Beyond just providing meals, the service also offers a friendly visit from volunteers, which helps combat loneliness and fosters a sense of community among older adults. Meals on Wheels People nourishes both the body and the spirit by connecting people and creating lasting relationships. Their work is vital in helping seniors maintain their independence and quality of life.“It’s friends helping friends,” said Barbara Johnson, 75, who is one of the 11,500 people the group helped in the past year. “I don’t know where I’d be if they didn’t have such a system. I really don’t.”Read the story.Each puppet in “¡Alebrijes!” was handmade by Yosmel López Ortiz, who honed his puppetry craft over many years in Cuba before joining Milagro Theatre.Chiara ProfennaMilagro TheatreMilagro Theatre celebrates and promotes Latino arts and culture through a variety of engaging programs and performances. The group focuses on providing a platform for Latino artists, showcasing their work in theater, music and visual arts, while also offering educational opportunities for the community. Milagro aims to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of Latino heritage, creating a space where diverse voices can be heard and celebrated.“We’re looking at how we continue to develop creativity in all aspects,” said Milagro’s founder, José Eduardo González y Salazar. “Exploring the lives and stories of Latinos, and what kind of contributions and traditions that they hold to hopefully expand the picture of what being a Latino is.”Read the story.Lauren Eads, Director of Development and Communication, and Kirsten Willis, Community Based Housing Program Coordinator, revisit a playful memory outside the New Avenues for Youth headquarters in Northwest Portland.Sean SterlingNew Avenues for YouthNew Avenues for Youth empowers homeless and at-risk youth to achieve self-sufficiency. They provide a range of services, including housing support, job training and educational programs, all designed to help young people build the skills and confidence they need to thrive.“New Avenues helps these 9- to 25-year-olds get to a next stage in life,” says Kirsten Willis, the organization’s Community Based Housing Program coordinator. “They can become survivors instead of just victims of houselessness.”Read the story.Julia Stults is swarmed with puppies as part of a visit organized by nonprofit Pile of Puppies. The then-10 year old received a puppy visit in 2019.Courtesy of Dina StultsPile of PuppiesPile of Puppies brings joy and comfort to children facing serious illnesses through the therapeutic power of puppies. By organizing visits where friendly puppies interact with these young patients, the agency creates moments of pure happiness. These furry companions not only provide emotional support but also help reduce stress and anxiety, allowing children to momentarily forget their worries and focus on the joy of play. Each wagging tail and playful bark fosters a sense of connection and love, reminding these kids that they are not alone in their journey.“Having chronic illness as a kid, there are so many downsides,” said Julia Stults, 16, who got a Pile of Puppies visit when she was 10. “It’s those little, tiny special things that are like, ‘Yeah, having (ulcerative colitis) sucks, but then I wouldn’t get all the puppies.’”Read the story.Paid interns stock merchandise inside Project Lemonade at the Lloyd Center mall. The store provides a free shopping experience for youth in foster care.Samantha Swindler/ The OregonianProject LemonadeProject Lemonade provides support and resources to youth in foster care, helping them navigate the challenges they face. One of the nonprofit’s standout initiatives is an unusual store at Lloyd Center where foster kids can shop for new clothes and school supplies, all at no cost to them. Project Lemonade not only ensures that these kids have the essentials they need for school but also helps them feel valued and supported.“So much of their life is doing something that makes them feel different,” said Lindsey McDonnell, Project Lemonade’s executive director. “It’s a very isolating experience to be in foster care, so we want this to feel like the kind of thing that any other kid would do.”Read the story.Chelsey Passon, Safety Compass Manager of Communications, poses for a portrait outside of the organization’s office at the Family Resource Center in Woodburn.Abigail Landwehr/The OregonianSafety CompassSafety Compass promotes safety and well-being for survivors of human trafficking. The organization provides comprehensive training and resources that emphasize personal safety, emergency preparedness and self-advocacy, empowering individuals to navigate their environments with confidence. By addressing the unique vulnerabilities survivors face, Safety Compass offers support and education that helps them build a safer future.“It’s such a beautiful thing to watch this survivor go from like … ‘There’s nothing out there’ to like that spark of ‘Actually maybe there’s another option’ to five to 10 years down the road where their life is completely changed,” said Chelsey Passon, a trafficking survivor who is now the communications manager for the organization. “It’s truly a privilege to be able to hear someone’s story and witness it and to be able to sit there and say, ‘Hey … you don’t have to navigate this alone.’”Read the story.Kassandra Ball, walking in Ashland's Lithia Park on Nov. 9, is an English and Spanish speaker from Laredo, Texas, with a master's degree from Oregon Health & Science University, who sees patients at La Clinica's Central Point Health Center.Bob Palermini, www.palermini.comSouthern Oregon Alliance of PhysiciansThe Southern Oregon Alliance of Physicians is a dedicated group of healthcare professionals committed to improving the health and well-being of communities in southern Oregon. The alliance focuses on fostering collaboration among physicians and healthcare providers to enhance patient care and address local health challenges. By working together, they aim to share resources, knowledge and best practices, ensuring that everyone in the region has access to quality healthcare.Dan Weiner, a family medicine physician and chief medical officer of Rogue Community Health’s five clinics, helped found SOAPP and continues to volunteer. “We believe access to high quality healthcare is a big component of a thriving community,” Weiner said, “and SOAPP allows us to partner with others who share that vision.”Read the story.Students from four different elementary schools in the Canby School District partake in the High Dose Tutoring offered by Todos Juntos.Yesenia Amaro | The Oregonian/OregonLiveTodos JuntosTodos Juntos strengthens families and communities by offering a variety of support programs aimed at empowering youth and families. The nonprofit’s mission focuses on creating connections that inspire and educate, like the new initiative High Dose Tutoring, offered free of charge for students recommended by four schools in the Canby School District.“Our focus is to increase their reading comprehension because a lot of them are struggling,” said Fatima López, community liaison for Todos Juntos at the Canby School District, where programming is focused on children in second and third grade. “Those two grades just make more sense because those are the ones that need a little bit more support.”Read the story.Deborah Marion picks up her CSA share at Zenger Farm in southeast Portland with her three kids, who enjoy the fall bounty from the nonprofit urban farm. Jamie Hale/The OregonianZenger FarmZenger Farm is an urban farm dedicated to making good food accessible to everyone while promoting sustainable practices and community development. The farm’s mission revolves around educating the public about food systems and environmental stewardship. And the farm offers a community-supported agriculture program the allows people to buy produce directly from farms with monthly payments for “shares” of the crop.“It’s not just my kids taking their space,” said Deborah Marion, who has been a member of the farm’s CSA for about a decade. “The farmers are so kind and welcoming to them and make them feel this sense of home and belonging here.”Read the story.

Agriculture
Culture
Education

Lessons on Scaling Gift Economies—and How It Can Help the Planet

From our collaborating partner Living on Earth, public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by Jenni Doering with “The Serviceberry” author Robin Wall Kimmerer.  Robin Wall Kimmerer is perhaps best known as the author of “Braiding Sweetgrass,” a book about living in a reciprocal relationship with other beings and the gifts of the Earth. And […]

Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of “The Serviceberry,” offers ideas rooted in nature for creating sharing economies as a way to bind communities, offer purpose and reduce strain on the Earth.Interview by Jenni Doering, Living on EarthFrom our collaborating partner Living on Earth, public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by Jenni Doering with “The Serviceberry” author Robin Wall Kimmerer. 

Nature

Plant ‘tredges’ to boost England’s tree cover, gardeners urged

Royal Horticultural Society’s call backs government aim to increase woodland cover from 10% to at least 16.5% by 2050Gardeners should plant native “tredges” – foliage between the size of a tree and a hedge – to boost England’s tree cover, the Royal Horticultural Society has said.Taking inspiration from ancient woodlands could boost wildlife across England’s 25m gardens, according to experts, and help increase native tree cover. The UK’s woodland cover is approximately 10% and the government aims to increase this to at least 16.5% of all land in England by 2050.Beech (Fagus sylvatica)Holly (Ilex aquifolium)Western red cedar (Thuja plicata)Common yew (Taxus baccata)Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) Continue reading...

Gardeners should plant native “tredges” – foliage between the size of a tree and a hedge – to boost England’s tree cover, the Royal Horticultural Society has said.Taking inspiration from ancient woodlands could boost wildlife across England’s 25m gardens, according to experts, and help increase native tree cover. The UK’s woodland cover is approximately 10% and the government aims to increase this to at least 16.5% of all land in England by 2050.A garden demonstrating this approach will be unveiled at the Chelsea flower show in May. The Woodland Trust: Forgotten Forests Garden by Ashleigh Aylett will represent a damaged ancient woodland, transitioning from a dark, monoculture conifer forest to a regenerated, thriving ancient woodland.Her design will include “indicator” plants that can be used to identify ancient woodlands such as wild service tree and red campion.The Woodland Trust has found only 7% of the UK’s native woodland is in good condition, with drastic knock-on effects for the wildlife that make these trees their home.Though her garden will be an ambitious demonstration of recreating an ancient woodland, there are lessons that can be taken from it for all those with a green space at home, such as planting small native trees and “tredges”.Mark Gush, the RHS’s head of environmental horticulture, said: “Often found in ancient woodlands, a top choice for gardeners seeking a small tree is Crataegus laevigata. It is a great example of a ‘tredge’, which can be both a standalone tree or a hedge.“It strikes the perfect balance between beauty and functionality. With attractive foliage, flowers and haws, it is also resilient to wet and dry climate extremes, tolerant of clay soils, and there is research evidence to show that this genus is effective at capturing pollutants from busy roads in summer. Its thorny protective canopy supports biodiversity and helps alleviate flooding risks from summer thunder-showers through effective water uptake.”The Woodland Trust is trying to make tree-planting more accessible for those who have small spaces and are worried about giant trees dwarfing their gardens. Native trees do not need to be large. Planting a small native species could provide spring blossom and plentiful autumn berries, without taking up much space. Diverse trees also provide benefits to the garden because different species have different root architecture, which improves the health and structure of the soil.Aylett’s garden will also demonstrate “forest planting”, showing layered canopies, ranging from ground covers to herbaceous perennials, shrubs and trees of various sizes, which has the benefit of maximising species diversity in limited spaces, and providing protective benefits against climate extremes (hot and cold) offered by this approach.Transitional gardening, where multiple different habitats give way to each other and have diverse borders in between, is a good way to emulate ancient woodland habitat at home, Gush said.He added: “Woodland edges support some of the highest levels of biodiversity because they represent an ‘ecotone’ – a transition zone between different environments. Ecotones between two habitats are often richer in species than either. This is a concept that can be applied incredibly successfully to domestic gardens where ecotones abound – lawns to borders, borders to shrubs and trees, pond edges and more. Think softer gradual transition as opposed to hard cutoff.”The RHS is encouraging gardeners to choose trees grown under the UKISG (UK and Ireland sourced and grown) scheme, which ensures they are raised from seed and helps prevent new pests and diseases from entering the country, one of the most significant threats to native trees. For smaller gardens, instead of fences or walls, they ask that people consider planting a native hedge. This allows people to include native species without needing a huge garden, while also providing valuable food and habitat for the wildlife that relies on them.After the show, the Woodland Trust garden will be relocated to Hawthorn primary school in Newcastle upon Tyne. The school is situated in an area with low tree cover, so will increase access to trees in a neighbourhood where canopy cover is limited.‘Tredges’ that have environmental benefits in the UK, as chosen by the RHS Beech (Fagus sylvatica) Holly (Ilex aquifolium) Western red cedar (Thuja plicata) Common yew (Taxus baccata) Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

Government
Climate
Forests

Neil Frank, Former Hurricane Center Chief Who Improved Public Outreach on Storms, Has Died

Neil Frank, a former head of the National Hurricane Center credited with working to increase the country’s readiness for major storms, has died

Neil Frank, a former head of the National Hurricane Center credited with increasing the country's readiness for major storms, died Wednesday. He was 94.Frank led the hurricane center from 1974 to 1987, the longest-serving director in its history.“He gets tremendous credit for the being the first one to go out of his way and reach out and make the connection between the National Hurricane Center and the emergency managers,” said meteorologist Max Mayfield, who served as the hurricane center's director from 2000-2007. “He taught me that it’s not all about the forecast,” Mayfield said. “A perfect forecast is no good if people don’t take immediate action.”Frank’s son, Ron Frank, said in a Facebook post that his father died at home a few days after going into hospice care.KHOU-TV in Houston, where Frank spent two decades as chief meteorologist after leaving the hurricane center, first reported his death. The station referred an Associated Press call for comment to CBS, whose spokeswoman declined comment but directed the AP to Ron Frank’s post.When Frank started at the National Hurricane Center, advances with weather satellites were helping forecasters to better predict the location and direction of a storm. Frank worked to make that information more accessible to residents in hurricane-vulnerable areas, said Mayfield. He also regularly appeared on television to give updates on storms and advice on staying safe.“He was so passionate and you could just feel his enthusiasm but also sense of warning — that he wanted people to take action,” Mayfield said. “He was very animated, spoke with his hands a lot. And if you’d play it on fast-forward, he’d look like a juggler sometimes.”Frank was skeptical that human actions, such as the burning of oil, gas and coal, cause climate change, Mayfield said. In a video posted to YouTube titled “Is Climate Change Real?” he instead attributed warming to the planet’s natural and cyclical weather patterns. Scientists today overwhelmingly agree that burning of fossil fuels is the primary driver of planet-warming emissions that are causing more frequent, costly and deadly extreme weather around the world.The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – December 2025

Climate

These 10 Wellness Items Solve Real Problems And Won Our HuffPicks Award

After much deliberation, a famous foot stretcher, one cane-shaped massager and others have earned this shopping honor.

With each passing allergy season, major wildfire, and the latest EPA report on pollution, concern for air quality has and will continue to be a major factor in our health and wellness reporting. Based on former in-depth conversations with associate professor of otolaryngology at Stanford University Zara M. Patel and a respiratory therapist and member of the American Association for Respiratory Care Joyce Baker, air purifiers (and most importantly, the right air purifier) are one of the greatest defenses we have against poor indoor air quality, which “can be two to five times more polluted than outdoors because of the lack of fresh air, circulation and ventilation,” according to Baker (who cited an assessment from the Environmental Protection Agency).The decision to award BlueAir's blissfully quiet and top-performing 411i Max air purifier a HuffPick was the result of combined guidance from Baker and Patel and our very own personal experience. “[The] BlueAir 411 is remarkable because it just works — as soon as it’s on, you can feel the difference in the air, leaving air crisper and fresher," former HuffPost shopping writer Haley Zovickian previously said. It should be worth mentioning that, like myself, Zovickian lives in smog-filled Los Angeles, a city that was recently ravaged by one of the worst wildfires in recent history.“I no longer sneeze and itch from dust, pollen and who knows what, and my close friends with cat allergies are able to comfortably relax in my cat hair-filled room as long as the air purifier is on,” Zovickian said.Aside from its sleek Scandinavian-inspired design, Zovickian points to BlueAir's excellent filtration system that uses a dual HEPA filter, a washable fabric pre-filter and an active carbon filter to trap both large and tiny airborne particles like bacteria, viruses, dust, potentially harmful chemicals, and those responsible for odor.The purifier featured here is offers a slight upgrade from Zovickian's preferred model with its Wifi capability, which makes it easier to keep track of air quality and trends over time using the accompanying app, plus do things like schedule run times remotely and use voice commands. It also comes in three sizes, depending on the square footage of the space.

Chemicals
Health
Pollution

Banksy Unveils Two New Murals of Children Gazing Up at the Sky Days Before Christmas

Some onlookers are interpreting the identical artworks, which appeared on the streets of London, as a commentary on homelessness in the city

Banksy Unveils Two New Murals of Children Gazing Up at the Sky Days Before Christmas Some onlookers are interpreting the identical artworks, which appeared on the streets of London, as a commentary on homelessness in the city The new Banksy artwork near the Centre Point tower in London MEGA / GC Images via Getty Images Ahead of the holidays, Banksy has unveiled a new mural in London. The black-and-white image depicts two children in winter coats and hats, lying on their backs and gazing upward. The anonymous street artist posted a photo of the mural on his official Instagram account on December 22. The same image appeared in two locations: above a row of garages on Queen’s Mews in western London and outside the Centre Point tower in central London. Banksy only posted the Queen’s Mews mural online, but both have been attributed to him, per BBC News’ Aurelia Foster and Nicky Ford. The other new Banksy mural, located above a row of garages in western London Leon Neal / Getty Images The artist doesn’t typically offer information about the intent behind his works, but the new murals were “interpreted by some observers in the street art world as a statement on rising child homelessness in Britain,” per the New York Times’ Ephrat Livni. One of those observers is Daniel Lloyd-Morgan, an artist and Banksy fan. “Everybody is having a good time, but there are a lot of children who are not having a good time at Christmas,” he tells BBC News. Quick fact: Banksy’s Christmas murals In December 2019, the street artist unveiled a reindeer mural in Birmingham, England, that also appeared to comment on homelessness. Lloyd-Morgan thinks Banksy chose to paint the mural at Centre Point for a reason. The tower was built as an office building in 1966, but it sat empty for most of the following decade. In 1969, Reverend Ken Leech opened a shelter for homeless youths in a nearby church. Frustrated by the empty building towering over his neighborhood, Leech named his charity Centrepoint. In 1974, nearly 100 people occupied the empty Centre Point tower to protest rising homelessness in London, according to Hyperallergic’s Rhea Nayyar. Today, the tower is home to luxury apartments, offices and stores. According to government data released in October, about 170,000 children are currently unhoused in Britain—up from 70,000 in 2010. People walking by the mural were “ignoring it,” Lloyd-Morgan tells BBC News. “It’s a busy area. Quite poignant that people aren’t stopping. They walk past homeless people and they don’t see them lying on the street.” Banksy is known for his street art that doubles as social commentary. Many of his artworks, including a series of murals in Ukraine, feature anti-war themes. Some of his pieces have been interpreted as reflections on environmental conservation, domestic violence and refugees. In the new murals, one of the children is pointing skyward. “It’s kind of like they’re stargazing,” Lloyd-Morgan tells BBC News. Some onlookers think the artworks are commenting on children’s imaginations. As Artnet’s Jo Lawson-Tancred writes, “The classic Oscar Wilde line, ‘We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars,’ comes to mind.” Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Conservation
Government

Seven books to help you work through the climate anxiety you developed in 2025

With the holiday travel season ramping up, a good book is a must-have for airport delays or to give as the perfect gift.

With the holiday travel season ramping up, a good book is a must-have for airport delays or to give as the perfect gift.Journalists from Bloomberg Green picked seven climate and environmental books they loved despite their weighty content. A few were positively uplifting. Here are our recommendations.Fiction“What We Can Know” by Ian McEwanIt’s 2119, decades after the Derangement (cascading climate catastrophes), the Inundation (a global tsunami triggered by a Russian nuclear bomb) and artificial intelligence-launched wars have halved the world’s population. The U.S. is no more and the U.K. is an impoverished archipelago of tiny islands where scholar Tom Metcalfe embarks on an obsessive quest to find the only copy of a renowned 21st century poem that was never published.The famous author of the ode to now-vanished English landscapes recited it once at a dinner party in 2014 as a gift to his wife, but its words remain lost to time. Metcalfe believes access to the previously hidden digital lives of the poet and his circle will lead him to the manuscript. He knows where to start his search: Thanks to Nigeria — the 22nd century’s superpower — the historical internet has been decrypted and archived, including every personal email, text, photo and video.The truth, though, lies elsewhere. It’s a richly told tale of our deranged present — and where it may lead without course correction. — Todd Woody“Greenwood” by Michael ChristieThis likewise dystopian novel begins in 2038 with Jacinda Greenwood, a dendrologist turned tour guide for the ultra-wealthy, working in one of the world’s last remaining forests. But the novel zig-zags back to 1934 and the beginnings of a timber empire that divided her family for generations.For more than a century, the Greenwoods’ lives and fates were entwined with the trees they fought to exploit or protect. The novel explores themes of ancestral sin and atonement against the backdrop of the forests, which stand as silent witnesses to human crimes enacted on a global scale. — Danielle Bochove“Barkskins” by Annie ProulxAnother multigenerational saga, spanning more than three centuries and 700 pages, this 2016 novel by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author tracks the deforestation of the New World over 300 years, beginning in the 17th century.Following the descendants of two immigrants to what will become modern-day Quebec, the story takes the reader on a global voyage, crisscrossing North America, visiting the Amsterdam coffee houses that served as hubs for the Dutch mercantile empire and following new trade routes from China to New Zealand. Along the way, it chronicles the exploitation of the forests, the impact on Indigenous communities and the lasting legacy of colonialism.With a vast cast of characters, the novel is at times unwieldy. But the staggering descriptions of Old World forests and the incredible human effort required to destroy them linger long after the saga concludes. —Danielle BochoveNonfiction“The Joyful Environmentalist: How to Practise Without Preaching” by Isabel LosadaIt is hard for a committed environmentalist to feel cheerful these days. But Isabel Losada’s book encourages readers to undertake a seemingly impossible mission: finding delight in navigating the absurd situations that committed environmentalists inevitably face, rather than succumbing to frustration.Those delights can be as simple as looking up eco-friendly homemade shampoo formulas on Instagram or crushing a bucket of berries for seed collection to help restore native plants.The book itself is an enjoyable read. With vivid details and a dose of British humor, Losada relays her failed attempt to have lunch at a Whole Foods store without using its disposable plastic cutlery. (The solution? Bring your own metal fork.) To be sure, some advice in her book isn’t realistic for everyone. But there are plenty of practical tips, such as deleting old and unwanted emails to help reduce the energy usage of data centers that store them. This book is an important reminder that you can protect the environment joyfully.— Coco Liu“Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future” by Dan WangChina’s President Xi Jinping is a trained engineer, and so are many members of the country’s top leadership. Dan Wang writes about how that training shows up in the country’s relentless push to build, build and build. That includes a clean tech industry that leads the world in almost every conceivable category, though Wang explores other domains as well.Born in China, Wang grew up in Canada and studied in the U.S. before going back to live in his native country from 2017 to 2023. That background helps his analysis land with more gravity in 2025, as the U.S. and China face off in a battle of fossil fuels versus clean tech. — Akshat Rathi“Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures” by Merlin SheldrakeA JP Morgan banker might seem an unlikely character in a book about fungi. But R. Gordon Wasson, who popularized the main compound found in “magic mushrooms” with a 1957 article in Life magazine, is only one of the delightful surprises in Merlin Sheldrake’s offbeat book. The author’s dedication to telling the tale of fungi includes literally getting his hands dirty, unearthing complex underground fungal networks, and engaging in self-experimentation by participating in a scientific study of the effects of LSD on the brain. The result is a book that reveals the complexity and interdependency of life on Earth, and the role we play in it.“We humans became as clever as we are, so the argument goes, because we were entangled within a demanding flurry of interaction,” Sheldrake writes. Fungi, a lifeform that depends on its interrelatedness with everything else, might have more in common with us than we realize. — Olivia Rudgard“Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation” by Dan FaginWhen chemical manufacturer Ciba arrived in Toms River, N.J., in 1952, the company’s new plant seemed like the economic engine the sleepy coastal community dependent on fishing and tourism had always needed. But the plant soon began quietly dumping millions of gallons of chemical-laced waste into the town’s eponymous river and surrounding woods. That started a legacy of toxic pollution that left families asking whether the waste was the cause of unusually high rates of childhood cancer in the area.This Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece of environmental journalism reads like a thriller, albeit with devastating real-world fallout. It also shows how companies can reinvent themselves: I was startled to learn that Ciba, later known as Ciba-Geigy, merged with another company in 1996 to become the pharmaceutical company Novartis. At a time when there’s been a push to relocate manufacturing from abroad back to the U.S., this is a worthy examination of the hidden costs that can accompany industrial growth. — Emma CourtBochove, Woody, Liu, Court, Rudgard and Rathi write for Bloomberg.

Climate
Chemicals
Food

No Results today.

Our news is updated constantly with the latest environmental stories from around the world. Reset or change your filters to find the most active current topics.

Join us to forge
a sustainable future

Our team is always growing.
Become a partner, volunteer, sponsor, or intern today.
Let us know how you would like to get involved!

CONTACT US

sign up for our mailing list to stay informed on the latest films and environmental headlines.

Subscribers receive a free day pass for streaming Cinema Verde.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.