"Indigenous organizations from across the Amazon and Latin America sent a letter Monday to the United Nations warning that organized crime — including illegal mining, drug trafficking and logging — is driving violence and accelerating environmental destruction in rainforest communities. However, they urged governments to avoid heavily militarized responses in Indigenous territories."
"Seasonal models are predicting an El Nino climate pattern that could be the strongest on record, bringing with it more extreme weather."
"In administrative cases before DOI, Interior Secretary Burgum intervened to make policy changes that involved or benefited the former legal clients of Karen Budd-Falen, one of his top deputies."
"In a scrubby forest an hour outside the Lithuanian capital on a recent day this spring, excavators were digging ditches and tree harvesters were whirring in an effort to restore a waterlogged, mosquito-infested ecosystem that was drained in the Soviet era. The reason is twofold: to help the climate and to defend the country from invasion."
"A top Interior Department official is under renewed scrutiny as growing ethics scandals engulf the powerful public lands agency."
"Earlier this year, a proposal from the New Hampshire House sought to pause the practice of applying PFAS-containing sewage sludge to farmland in New Hampshire. But over the course of multiple packed hearings and after a handful of amendments, the bill’s provisions have changed shape, sparking concern among some early supporters."
"A class action settlement proposed in the nationwide Roundup litigation would award $675 million to lawyers who negotiated the settlement, while plaintiffs suffering from cancer would receive, on average, $10,000 to $165,000 each, according to a new court filing in the case."
"Scott Boyd walks through deep mud where the Stillaguamish River empties into Puget Sound, an arm of the Pacific Ocean."
"In Benin, mangroves are said to be protected by the Zangbéto. In the Vodun belief, this deity forbids wood cutting, under penalty of a curse. As a result, in 10 years, more than 500 hectares (1,200 acres) of mangroves have been preserved thanks to this spiritual practice, which protects fragile and vital ecosystems."
"More than 80 health and environmental groups are calling on federal agencies to use emergency powers to protect Americans from a “public health emergency” driven by industrial farming practices that are dangerously polluting drinking water."
