Cenaida Gauchagmida was 13 years old when paramilitaries contracted by Ascendant Copper stormed her community to tranquilize local resistant to a planned copper mind. Despite the mine’s known impacts on local communities and the environment, mining corporations had fought for decades to expand their operations in Ecuador’s biodiverse Intag Valley. …
In addition to its beautiful scenery, beaches, and historical sites, Central Vietnam is known for extreme flooding events that are both deadly and destructive. In 2020 alone, over 240 people were either killed or went missing due to a series of floods from October through November. Property losses were valued …
An estimated 10 trillion gallons of untreated stormwater runoff, containing everything from raw sewage to trash to toxins, enters U.S. waterways from city sewer systems every year, polluting the environment and our drinking water supplies. The EPA describes stormwater runoff as one of the fastest growing sources of pollution in …
We can see the effects of climate change in many ways: increased forest fires, more extreme seasonal temperatures, more dramatic weather events. But rarely do we think about the effect of a warming climate on ecosystems that aren’t as closely connected to our own world—like the ocean. The ocean plays …
While I was sitting at home one night, I decided to watch a new Netflix documentary titled “Seaspiracy.” The name was catchy and seemed interesting as I love learning about the ocean and our waterways. Little did I know that I was in for a rude awakening. While watching …
As a graduate student and a young professional, I’ve debated at what scale I should focus my environmental efforts. Global climate change and environmental degradation threaten individuals and have forced a global reckoning. I’ve oscillated between believing in sweeping international movements and finding hope in making changes I can see …
On a day like any other, you take your lunch and stroll out to your favorite spot by your local lake to sit and watch the ducks while you eat. When you arrive on this particular summer day, much to your horror, you see that an entire end of the …
There is a never-ending list of things to worry about. We are faced with issues in our personal lives, national politics, and global threats—sometimes even all at once. This is particularly clear in moments like the spring of 2020, as a pandemic emergency disrupts how individuals interact, how governments serve …
On MLK Day Weekend, the teens and staff of J-Teen Leadership traveled to St. Louis for a weekend of service. A few themes developed throughout the course of this service trip. Economic inequality. Racial segregation. Resilience. Activism. Inclusion. On theme that stood out to me in particular was language: the …
American forests are at risk. Wildfires are becoming more frequent, fire season is lasting later into the year, and fires are burning for longer. And the costs of these fires continues to mount. The Forest Service spent $2 billion fighting forest fires last year. Wildfires in Northern California alone caused $65 …
