Activism

"A conservation group on Wednesday named the Mississippi River the “most endangered river of 2025,” citing threats to abolish the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which plays a key role in federal flood management."

"For years, the U.S. Justice Department has worked to unravel a global hacking campaign that targeted prominent American climate activists. Now, public tax filings reviewed by NPR reveal an unexpected link between the company that allegedly commissioned the attacks and some of the victims."

"In one of the nation’s poorest towns, the mayor and others are planning to build a solar installation, a weatherization resource center, and a gleaming new resilience hub."

"As several climate liability lawsuits against large oil and gas companies inch closer to trial and states start to adopt climate “Superfund” legislation, the White House and Republican-controlled Congress are rolling out new measures to shield the industry from accountability."

"On a recent Wednesday night, three flares were raging from the industrial smoke stacks at Norco Shell, so bright they could be seen miles away from the interstate at the Bonnet Carré Spillway. They were my guide to Woodland Plantation in La Place, Louisiana, whose new owners were commemorating the site of the largest enslaved revolt in U.S. history."

"A civil rights lawsuit alleging a south Louisiana parish engaged in racist land-use policies by placing polluting industries in majority-Black communities can move forward, a federal appellate court says."

"When a gold mine in rural Liberia spewed three million gallons of cyanide-laced wastewater into soil and groundwater in 2016, affected Indigenous communities’ calls for accountability went largely unanswered."

"The National Park Service has reversed edits and restored content to its webpage about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad in the wake of news reports and public backlash over the changes."

"Citing health concerns, newly appointed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said this week that he will direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to stop recommending that states add fluoride to their water, and will convene a federal taskforce of independent health experts to study the health risks presented by the practice while establishing a new “optimal” level."

"On a recent trip to Mexico City, I marveled at some small, speckled Inca doves, which are almost as common as pigeons in the United States. Nearby, grackles bathed their long, gorgeous blue-black tails in a fountain. Ever since I got the Merlin Bird ID app, my partner has become accustomed to my stopping midwalk, pausing the conversation, and holding up my phone to catch a bit of birdsong or do a step-by-step visual search. Ideally I add a new species to my “life list” in the process."