Why I paint endangered species as sacred icons
I started painting endangered species the way I once painted saints and angels. Each painting became a kind of prayer and an appeal to our capacity to widen our love and awaken our conscience.
Environment featured
Researchers are finding evidence that fish feel pain. What does that mean for the ethics of seafood?
Fish are often treated as reflex-bound creatures, bodies without minds. Yet, study by study, from anatomy labs to behavioural experiments, mounting evidence to the contrary has emerged.
How listening can help us respond to a planet in crisis
What does it mean to listen to a planet in crisis? Scholars, scientists and artists are using sound to better understand biodiversity and the climate crisis, while challenging us to reconsider our relationship with the living world.
It’s time to phase out PFAS ‘forever chemicals’
As PFAS “forever chemicals” poison water, food, and air worldwide, progress on regulating their use has been significantly delayed – but things are changing.
As America turns 250, its attention to continued survival fades and fractures
While the U.S. celebrates its 250th anniversary, political attention is drifting away from climate change just as warming accelerates and Earth’s life-support systems approach collapse. From disappearing federal climate data to record-breaking heat, denial is giving way to something more dangerous: collective delusion.
From Words to Worlds: How stories shape the world – and our relationship to it
From “natural resources” to “natural disaster” and “sustainability,” the language used in environmental and development discourse doesn’t just describe the world, it shapes what is seen and prioritized.
When your local reflecting pool or pond turns green with algae, don’t reach for chemicals – nature has better solutions
Trying to kill algae with chemicals is a common response when community ponds or other water features go green. But there are better solutions that cost far less, last longer and carry less risk of harm to pets and wildlife. Rather than battling against nature, these alternatives work with nature for long-term solutions.
Native American tribes came together to secure their rights to Colorado river water. Four states are stalling the deal
A deal to bring Colorado River water to Native American communities in northern Arizona, where a third of homes lack running water, is being blocked by neighboring states, caught up in a broader battle over how to divide the dwindling river.
Inside an off-grid village of earthen domes – YouTube documentary review
Built from stacked earthbags and low-cost materials drawn largely from the surrounding landscape, the Mojave Center showcases an unconventional approach to homebuilding, constructed with the help of just a few volunteers. This documentary explores a compelling vision of off-grid life in the Arizona desert.
Escalating climate and geopolitical shocks force a choice: build resilience or be shaped by crisis
Britain is in the grip of its worst-ever, record-shattering midsummer heatwave — even before the impacts of a predicted super El Niño of “Godzilla” strength are fully felt. In this stark context, Rupert Read examines what resilience-building must mean in an era of escalating climate extremes.
When the Saints go marching out: New Orleans and the resilience of cities
A recent study published in Nature Sustainability concluded that New Orleans residents should plan now to move away from the city. For the hundreds of thousands who live in New Orleans, and the millions of others who love the Crescent City, this is an incredibly sad conclusion. And it’s a conclusion that many other cities rich in culture and history around the world will face as sea levels rise.
A vote to mine near the Boundary Waters puts a vital freshwater wilderness at risk
The effort to open parts of the Superior National Forest to copper-nickel mining has become a test case for how far governments are willing to go in trading long-term ecological protection for short-term resource extraction.
