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The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is working with farmers in Ethiopia to restore soils and protect farmland for future generations of food producers.

Many conventional practices are “not friendly,” to the natural environment, leading to soil degradation, Moti Jaleta, a Senior Agricultural Economist with CIMMYT tells Food Tank. 

That’s why CIMMYT is working to introduce the idea of sustainable intensification, an approach that increases productivity while bringing positive social and environmental impacts. Minimal or zero tillage, crop rotation, and intercropping can all help farmers prevent soil erosion.

“We are trying our best to introduce conservation practices that help farmers reclaim their lands and also bring back soil fertility and then make it more sustainable for use for the next generation,” Jaleta says. 

In addition to crops, farmers in the Highlands typically raise animals as part of an integrated crop-livestock system — one that CIMMYT wants to help optimize. “They’re interdependent,” Jaleta tells Food Tank, explaining that crop residue can be used as animal feed. “They are supporting each other.” 

Listen to the full conversation with Moti Jaleta on “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg” to hear more about the sustainable practices that CIMMYT is helping farmers adopt, the impact of declining development assistance on the future of agricultural transformation in sub-Saharan Africa, and the AI tools that are helping food producers adapt to changing weather patterns. 

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

The post Soil First: Protecting Ethiopia’s Farmland for the Next Generation appeared first on Food Tank.

There are estimated to be over 520,000 non-producing (inactive, suspended, abandoned and orphaned) oil and gas wells in Canada. While many are located in relatively sparsely populated rural areas, they nevertheless can be found close to homes and...

“Unprecedented” ocean warming could make key habitats “inhospitable” for critically endangered angelsharks, according to new research.

The study, published in Global Change Biology, finds an “abnormal absence” of female sharks in a marine reserve near the Canary Islands throughout the 2022 breeding season.

This occurred during “unusually high” sea surface temperatures across the north-east Atlantic Ocean.

The study notes that the number of days with sea surface temperatures above 22.5C in the reserve nearly tripled over 2018-23.

This is significant, the authors say, because 22.5C is a “possible upper thermal threshold” for female angelsharks to tolerate.

The authors warn that ocean warming has “already altered” angelshark breeding behaviour, adding that the findings show that the species is “more acutely vulnerable” to climate change than previously thought.

Ocean warming

Angelsharks are flat-bodied, ray-like predators that can grow up to 2.4 metres in length. 

They are typically found submerged in sandy habitats in the coastal waters of the north-east Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.

They are listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) red list of threatened species.

The authors note that the angelshark population has “declined substantially” due to “overexploitation” and “coastal habitat degradation”.

In the study, the researchers focus on the La Gaciosa Marine Reserve in the Canary Islands – Spain’s largest marine reserve.

The study notes that the Canary Islands are an “especially important region” for the angelshark and are at the “southernmost” boundary of the species’ distribution. As a result, angelshark populations around the islands have a “possibly lower tolerance for environmental change”, it states.

The researchers add that the north-east Atlantic Ocean is “undergoing rapid warming, characterised by exceptionally high temperatures and record-breaking marine heatwaves”.

As the climate continues to warm, extreme conditions are expected to occur more frequently and for longer, causing disruption to marine life.

The map below shows the historic and existing range of angelshark populations, as well as the locations of the acoustic receivers used to detect angelsharks in the study area.

Angelshark population distribution across the north-east Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Source: Adapted from Morey et al (2019) and Mead et al (2025). Graphic: Carbon Brief.

To explore how climate change in the region is impacting the angelsharks, the researchers focus on “range shift”.

Range shift is when a species migrates to either remain in ideal conditions or avoid sub-optimal environments, according to what they can withstand as the climate changes.

It is one of the most “pervasive” consequences of ocean warming, the study authors say.

Tracking angelsharks

To track the movements of angelsharks, the researchers tagged the fins of 112 animals – 38 males and 74 females – over 2018-22.

These “acoustic tags” emit sound that enabled the researchers to remotely track angelshark locations.

The researchers then used this acoustic data to investigate seasonal and annual changes to angelshark presence at the study site, taking into account the contrast between male and female behaviours.

The researchers also modelled changes to the environment over 2021-23 using a range of variables. These included sea surface temperature (SST), salinity, surface wind speed and SST anomaly – a measure of how temperatures differ from the long-term average. 

They also looked at concentrations of chlorophyll a and dissolved oxygen, as well as two variables that act as an indicator for levels of desert dust in the air.

The latter were used to incorporate into their model the effect of Calima events – hot and dusty winds that reach the Canary Islands from the Sahara Desert, which raise overall air temperatures.

This “environmental model” allowed the authors to investigate the relationship between angelshark presence within the reserve and changing environmental conditions.

‘Marked absence’

Previous research has linked seasonal angelshark behaviours – such as movement and presence in a certain habitat – to the breeding cycle and, sometimes, environmental factors.

The new study finds that angelshark presence in the study area varies seasonally for both sexes, peaking in November and December. It notes an additional peak in June for female angelsharks, which were also more “consistently present” in the study area throughout the year than males.

Author Dr David Jacoby is a lecturer in zoology at Lancaster University. He explains to Carbon Brief:

“Females will often avoid males outside of the breeding season as mating is pretty violent and energy expensive in sharks. Females consequently are more likely to occur in shallow water [since] males [are more likely to be found] in deeper water.”

The charts below show the relative influence of different environmental variables on predicting male and female shark presence in the study area. 

The chart on the left shows how the day of the year has the biggest influence on male angelshark presence, followed by salinity. The chart on the right shows that for female angelsharks, SST – followed by SST anomaly – was the most significant predictor.

Relative influence of different variables for predicting male and female angelshark presence in the study area. These variables are: day of year, SST, SST anomaly, ocean salinity, concentration of dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll a, windspeed, Calima PM10 and aerosols of Calima dust. Source: Mead et al (2025).

The “crux” of the study, according to Jacoby, is that in 2022 – when peak SSTs were higher and those conditions lasted longer – female angelshark numbers were “consistently low”. He tells Carbon Brief:

“The fact that there was this significant warming event in the north-east Atlantic was opportunistic from a research perspective at least, because it provided a natural experiment in which to directly compare behaviour under ‘normal’ versus ‘extreme’ conditions.”

This “marked absence” was especially noticeable during the angelshark breeding season in mid-to-late autumn, the data shows. In contrast, the behaviour of the male sharks did not change.

The charts below illustrate how, in 2022, daily counts of female angelsharks (orange bars in the middle panel) dropped in the unusually warm conditions, while daily counts of male angelsharks (turquoise bars in the bottom panel) remained consistent with previous years.

In the top panel, orange regions indicate periods in which SSTs are between 20.7C and 22.5C and red regions show periods of SSTs above 22.5C. 

According to the authors, the presence of female sharks in the study site decreases “rapidly” at SSTs above 20.7C, while the “probability of female presence” is below zero above around 22.5C. 

The dotted line at 19.6C shows the temperature of peak female angelshark presence.

Daily average SSTs (top panel) against female (middle panel) and male (bottom panel) angelshark count in the study area throughout the study period 2019-23. Source: Mead et al. (2025).

The researchers say their findings “strongly” indicate that the low numbers of females during the breeding season in 2022 were linked to the “thermal extremes” that year.

They point to an “upward trend” in peak temperatures and longer duration of hotter periods in their dataset, noting that the number of days where SSTs reached 22.5C more than doubled over the study period.

As a result, the authors identify 22.5C as the “possible upper thermal threshold” for female angelsharks – meaning that the animals will not move into an area at this point. 

They warn that regular temperatures of 22.5C could “disrupt” the timing of “key biological events”, such as breeding.

The “unusual” findings, recorded as “disrupted” thermal cues, may be a “window into future climate change impacts”, suggest the authors.

Conservation measures

The authors highlight the need to prioritise further “species-specific” studies that incorporate “real-time environmental and behavioural data” and explore climate impacts by sex.

Improving scientific understanding and prediction of how marine species and ecosystems respond to climate change are “urgent priorities”, they say.

Jacoby adds:

“Angelsharks [are among] the most threatened fishes in the world. Because they rely on the ocean floor to rest and hunt, they are extremely attuned to their local environment. [Ocean warming] could lead to the [local extinction] of this species from the archipelago in a very worst case due to the fact that they are already at their thermal extreme in this location…

“We still don’t really know how warming could impact the complex web of interactions within these coastal ecosystems. It is so hard to engage with a problem if you can’t see it for yourself.”

Dr Hollie Booth is a postdoctoral researcher in the department of biology at the University of Oxford and was not involved in the study. She tells Carbon Brief that although the negative impacts of climate change are “concerning”, overfishing remains “the greatest direct threat” to angelshark populations.

She adds:

“It is good to see empirical evidence of the impacts of climate change on threatened marine species. [The study] indicates how we need to make sure that contributors to climate change are also held accountable for mitigating [these] impacts.”

The post Endangered angelshark faces ‘inhospitable’ breeding sites as ocean warms appeared first on Carbon Brief.

An educational video on the World Health Organization’s calls it “the plastic problem that no one is talking about.” They mean cigarette butts, the most common type of plastic litter globally. Per the WHO, 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are thrown in the environment every year.

Conventional and electronic cigarette butts not only contain plastic, they are loaded with nicotine salts, heavy metals, and lead. When disposed improperly, cigarette waste leaches that toxic waste into the environment. But now researchers have found a use for those cigarette butts.

Instead of litter on roads, they propose using the butts as an additive to asphalt that would strengthen roads. In a new study published in the journal Construction and Building Materials, they say that the additive would improve crack resistance and reduce the need for repairs.

To increase the sustainability of transportation, there has been a push recently to include recycled materials in road construction. Waste plastic, bio-based materials and scrap tire rubber have all been put to use to make roads.

A convenient, plentiful material for recycled roads though is old asphalt that is removed from road surfaces during maintenance or reconstruction. This recycled asphalt can be crushed and mixed with new asphalt or concrete to make the base material for roadways.

But old asphalt does not have the same strength and low-temperature resistance, so it can make roads deteriorate faster. So it has to be mixed with special chemical agents, and for this mixing to be uniform, encapsulating the recycling agents in fiber pellets is key.

 

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So a team from the University of Granada and the University of Bologna found a way to encapsulate the recycled asphalt into fibrous pellets made from waste e-cigarette butts. E-cigarette filters are made mainly of cellulose and polylactic acid fibers. After removing the ashy residue from the ends of used e-cig filters, the team shredded and mixed the clean e-cig butts with a wax binder. Then they pressed, heated, and cut the mixture into the form of pellets.

Finally, the researchers mixed the pellets with old asphalt and added about 40 percent by weight of this mixture to fresh asphalt material. When the pellets come into contact with the hot fresh asphalt, the wax melts and releases the recycled cellulose and plastic fibers from the cigarette butts.

The fibers reinforce and strengthen the asphalt and also make the material more ductile and flexible, making it more resistant to cracking under stress. Tests showed that the encapsulated recycling agent showed six times higher crack-resistance than pellets made only of the e-cig waste fiber. Plus, the wax changes the asphalt’s viscosity, allowing it to be produced at lower temperatures, which consumes less energy.

The researchers write that “future research should focus on optimizing the production processes for recycling agent-encapsulated fibre pellets or increasing the dosage of recycling agent to further enhance their performance characteristics.”

Source: Yunfei Guo et al. Use of engineered pellets containing E-cigarette butts and a recycling agent for stone mastic asphalt mixtures incorporating recycled asphalt. Construction and Building Materials, 2025.

Image: ©Anthropocene Magazine

World’s largest biomass certifier allows forest destruction and rising emissions under the guise of clean energy PRESS RELEASE

July 31, 2025 (SEOUL, TOKYO, LONDON) – A new international report released today warns that forests worldwide are being cut down and burned for energy, and falsely labeled as “sustainable.” The Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP), the world’s most prominent certifier of biomass, is approving wood linked to forest destruction as climate-friendly fuel, despite science showing it emits more carbon than coal.

Power companies worldwide burn wood pellets for energy, while governments funnel billions in subsidies based on the false claim that forest biomass is low-carbon and sustainable. Nearly 100% of wood burned at the UK’s Drax Power Station, the world’s largest biomass plant, is SBP-certified, despite documented environmental impacts in the United States and Canada.

The report, “Sustainable Biomass Program: Certifying the Unsustainable”, uncovers that SBP enables destructive logging, greenwashes high-carbon biomass — all while helping energy companies claim they are going green. Over 85% of industrial wood pellets used in Europe are SBP-certified.

Authored by forest policy expert Richard Robertson and reviewed by Dr. Peter Wood, forestry faculty and lecturer at the University of British Columbia, the report reveals that the SBP routinely fails to protect nature, climate, and communities.

The report was jointly published by environmental organizations in the UK, Japan, and South Korea — the top three importers of biomass wood pellets — and comes amid growing criticism of each country’s continued support for forest biomass. The governments have begun rolling back support: the UK has halved subsidies for Drax Power Station, Japan has ended support for new large-scale biomass projects, and Korea is phasing out key incentives. Yet forest biomass remains heavily subsidized and central to national strategies, diverting public finance away from truly clean renewables like wind and solar.

A case study from British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, illustrates how these flaws result in the logging of primary and old-growth forests, with the wood later certified as “sustainable” under SBP.

The report outlines the following core failures:

• No forest audits: SBP certifies wood pellet mills without site visits, relying on paperwork and using weak risk-based forest certifications (e.g., FSC/PEFC Controlled Wood) intended to avoid the worst forest practices, not to assess forest sustainability.

• Carbon blind: SBP ignores smokestack emissions, allowing companies to offset immediate forest carbon losses with long-term recovery that may take decades.

• Old-growth logging approved: SBP accepts wood from logged-over primary and old-growth forests, despite habitat degradation and high carbon impact.

• No consent: SBP undermines the rights of Indigenous communities to say no to logging their forests.

Environmental groups behind the report are calling on governments to: 

• End subsidies for forest biomass and exclude it from renewable energy and green finance frameworks.

• Prohibit sourcing from primary forests and Intact Forest Landscapes.

• Treat biomass combustion emissions as identical to fossil fuel emissions in national and EU energy and carbon pricing policies.

• Mandate due diligence on environmental and human rights impacts across all timber trade.

QUOTES

Richard Robertson, forest certification and governance expert (Canada):

“Our analysis shows that SBP certification fails even its own low bar for sustainability. Policymakers must stop using it to justify burning forest as a climate solution. It’s time for governments to move beyond weak certification schemes like SBP and promote forests as vital protectors of climate and biodiversity, not as fuel sources. The EU and UK and now Japan and South Korea must stop relying on SBP as a proxy for forest sustainability and drop biomass from renewable energy policy in line with their global climate and biodiversity commitments.”

Almuth Ernsting, Researcher and Campaigner at Biofuelwatch (UK):

“SBP serves no practical purpose other than to greenwash a highly destructive industry. It allows pellet and energy companies to claim they are ‘sustainable’ even if they source wood from the clearcutting of old growth and primary forests in Western Canada, from timber concessions in Malaysia that are linked to rainforest clearance and peat drainage, or from coastal hardwood forests in the Southeastern USA that form a vital part of a global biodiversity hotspot.”

Sayoko Iinuma, Researcher at the Global Environmental Forum (Japan):

“The Japanese government’s fuel standards for biomass power generation recognize SBP as proof of sustainability, allowing power plants that burn these wood pellets to receive public subsidies. However, this report shows that SBP permits the mixing of uncertified wood, the use of raw materials from primary forests, and ignores the urgent emissions reductions needed to meet the Paris Agreement targets. Despite clear evidence that biomass energy increases greenhouse gas emissions and degrades forest biodiversity, SBP merely paints it as ‘sustainable.’ We hope this report contributes to reducing public support for high-carbon, low-efficiency biomass power.”

Hansae Song, Forests & Land Use Lead at Solutions for Our Climate (South Korea):

“For over two decades, wealthy nations have poured renewable energy subsidies into the false solution of forest biomass, burning the world’s last remaining forests at the exact moment we need them most. Relying on biomass leads to degraded forests, delayed energy transitions, and rising emissions. Asia’s emerging economies must not repeat these mistakes. This report makes clear: there is no such thing as ‘sustainable biomass’ at scale. Governments must resist industry attempts to hijack climate policy and show real progress heading into this year’s global climate negotiations.”

Matt Williams, Senior Forest Advocate at Natural Resources Defense Council (global):

“SBP — a scheme set up by the biomass industry itself — has never been anything more than bioenergy companies marking their own homework. In the UK we know that burning trees in power stations isn’t good for the planet — just look at Drax in Yorkshire, the world’s largest biomass power plant. Burning the world’s forests can never be sustainable, no matter what labels it has: cutting down the Earth’s lungs stops them absorbing carbon and makes climate change worse. Calling forest biomass sustainable is climate racketeering worth billions.”

Roger Smith, Japan Director at Mighty Earth (global):

“Indigenous Peoples are the best protectors of the forests we all rely on as carbon sinks to help cool our rapidly warming world, and yet SBP largely ignores the rights of those communities to say no to logging on their lands. SBP also overlooks the impact of wood pellet production on impoverished black communities in the US Southeast who suffer serious health problems from air pollution from the pellet plants. SBP’s inadequate approach is failing people, destroying forests and propping up a biomass industry that is not carbon neutral, it’s a carbon nightmare.”

Peg Putt, Coordinator at Biomass Action Network, EPN International (global):

“The fig leaf that SBP certification represents can no longer protect big biomass from exposure. Governments and energy retailers must recognise and act upon the fact that concerns about climate impacts, destruction of natural treasures, and failure to uphold human rights throughout the supply chain of wood fueled energy are real and not conveniently dispensed with by this dodgy certification as they have been keen to believe.”

What is “biomass”?

Biomass energy refers to burning organic materials such as wood to generate electricity or heat. While promoted as renewable, scientists warn that burning trees releases more carbon dioxide (CO₂) than coal per unit of energy produced — and destroys forests that would otherwise absorb CO₂ from the atmosphere. Biomass is now undermining global climate and biodiversity goals — just as countries prepare new climate pledges ahead of COP30.

ENDS. 

Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC) is an independent nonprofit organization that works to accelerate global greenhouse gas emissions reduction and energy transition. SFOC leverages research, litigation, community organizing, and strategic communications to deliver practical climate solutions and build movements for change.

For media inquiries, please reach out to Yi Hyun Kim, Communications Officer, yihyun.kim@forourclimate.org.

Joint report by Solutions for Our Climate, Global Environmental Forum, Mighty Earth, Biofuelwatch, and Biomass Action Network of the Environmental Paper Network Click here to download the report Executive Summary

Faced with pressure to meet climate commitments and reduce reliance on fossil fuels, many countries have turned to forest biomass as an alternative source of heat and electricity. Biomass now constitutes a significant portion of the energy mix in the European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, and South Korea.  However, burning wood for energy accelerates the destruction of the world’s biodiverse and carbon-rich forests, which are already under severe pressure. Decades of research in climate and forest sciences have made it clear that large-scale biomass use exacerbates the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.

In response to mounting criticism, governments have sought evidence that biomass they support is ‘sustainable’ and contributes to lowering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The biomass industry responded by creating the Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) to assure that wood pellets and chips used for energy are sourced sustainably. However, SBP is a private certification scheme developed by the very industry it purports to regulate. It is backed by powerful market incentives in the form of government subsidies, not to restrain the industry, but to promote it. Evidence shows that this structural conflict of interest has resulted in weakened standards and superficial compliance mechanisms that encourage practices far removed from true sustainability.

Sustainable Biomass Program: Certifying the Unsustainable investigates the claims made by SBP through a review of its standards, policies, and procedures. This report finds that  SBP’s portrayal of biomass as a climate-friendly alternative to fossil fuels is misleading on several grounds:

• SBP certifies pellet mills and traders without field audits of forest management practices or direct engagement with logging companies. Unlike other forest certifications, SBP relies on desk-based Risk Assessments and broad screening tools that detect only illegal or grossly unacceptable sources, not genuine sustainability.
• SBP misrepresents the credibility of other certification systems. It treats FSC “Controlled Wood” and PEFC “Controlled Sources” as if they were fully certified sources. In reality, these categories undergo only minimal risk assessment. SBP uses this lower-tier wood to label entire biomass supply chains, including wood from uncertified forests, as sustainable, effectively lowering the bar for what counts as ‘sustainable forest management’ (SFM).
• SBP’s climate impact claims rely on flawed carbon accounting. The scheme assumes that emissions from burning wood are offset by forest regrowth over decades, ignoring the urgent emissions reductions required by 2030 to meet the Paris Agreement. SBP permits sourcing from areas with net carbon losses and uses national averages instead of site-level data, allowing companies to offset
  carbon-rich forest losses with regrowth in less carbon-dense areas.
• SBP fails to mitigate smokestack emissions from burning biomass, deferring this responsibility to energy regulators. By ignoring the fact that biomass emits more CO₂ per unit of energy than fossil fuels, SBP enables operators to claim carbon neutrality’. Current accounting methods fail to trace these emissions back to the land use sector, and the energy sector avoids bearing the cost of climate mitigation associated with biomass use.
• SBP treats ‘forest residues’ as low-risk by default, certifying them even when they originate from primary forests. The framework allows producers to categorize whole logs as residues or byproducts without meaningful oversight, masking the environmental damage of such sourcing.
• SBP inadequately addresses Indigenous peoples’ rights. While it acknowledges the need for consultation, SBP still allows certification to proceed even when free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) has not been obtained, sidestepping the rights of Indigenous communities.

SBP accepts wood from all sources and certifies it as ‘sustainable’

SBP allows whole logs to be used as biomass fuels

Benefiting from these systemic flaws, SBP offers a convenient mechanism for regulators and utilities to fulfill reporting requirements. Biomass producers can claim sustainability even when sourcing wood from uncertified forests, so long as it appears low-risk on paper. Neither the degradation of forests nor the emissions from burning biomass are properly accounted for, thus creating an accountability gap where no
one assumes responsibility for the climate impacts. The case of British Columbia and Alberta, Canada— explored in Part 2 of this report—demonstrates how these systemic failures unfold on the ground.

Despite its name, SBP does not ensure sustainable sourcing of biomass fuels. It endorses industry practices that fall short of other sustainability certification systems and international SFM norms, while contributing to the perception among policymakers, investors, and the public that forest biomass is a renewable energy source. The reality is that the world is already extracting far too much from standing forests. Any additional pressure from exploitative bioeconomy schemes risks derailing global climate and biodiversity goals.

Burning our last remaining forests is not a climate solution, it is a dangerous distraction that narrows the path to a safer future. SBP, in turn, is not fit for purpose.

Electric trucks are a key part of the solution to decarbonize Canada’s freight sector. They reduce traffic-related air pollution, cut fuel and maintenance costs and offer a pathway to revive Ontario’s declining auto manufacturing industry — if the...

SHELL AND EXXON CASH OUT €3 BILLION WHILE GRONINGEN CRUMBLES

Oh, how deliciously heartwarming it is to see Shell—the world’s cuddliest climate arsonist—and its old fossil fuel flame ExxonMobil raking in a long-overdue €3 billion payout from their Dutch gas venture, NAM. Because obviously, after a mere few decades of literal earthquakes, community destruction, and environmental degradation in Groningen, what really matters is that the poor, beleaguered shareholders finally got paid.

Yes, finally. According to NAM’s 2024 annual report, this is the first payout since 2017, and each titan of oil-soaked virtue gets a nice €1.5 billion cuddle. Shell can now finally afford more PR consultants to greenwash its image.

NAM, the Dutch state gas company that somehow still exists in 2024 despite its track record of geological chaos, made a tidy €1.3 billion in net profit last year. Why? Because GasTerra—the company set up to milk Groningen’s gas field—had a good year, and hey, nothing says “strong local economy” like wringing profits from a nearly-closed disaster zone.

Meanwhile, over in reality, the Dutch government—you know, the ones responsible for patching up Groningen’s cracked homes and traumatized residents—got a paltry €12.9 million from NAM during the same 6-year period. That’s not a typo. While Shell and Exxon grabbed billions, the Dutch state got a few coins and a pat on the back. Earthquake victims? They can always meditate their trauma away, right?

Let’s not forget that Shell (a company so green it once tried to rebrand gas as “natural progress”) and Exxon (famously subtle denier of climate change while funding it in real time) own a cozy 25% stake each in NAM. The Dutch state owns the other 50%, which is probably why it’s stuck footing the damage bills while the real decision-makers pop champagne and plan the next offshore exploit.

Speaking of offshore: NAM plans to offload its Dutch North Sea activities to a Canadian firm called Ten. Because if you’re going to abandon your environmental responsibilities, best to do it with an international flair. This ends more than 65 years of offshore pillaging, or as Shell would probably put it, “a proud legacy of energy innovation.”

And just when you thought it couldn’t get any more grotesque: NAM, now sitting on €9.6 billion in cash, says it’s in a “strong cash position” to pay shareholders and maybe, just maybe, clean up its mess. But don’t get your hopes up—there’s already a dispute about who pays what, and Shell and Exxon have politely asked for independent arbitrators to help stall the process indefinitely.

It’s like watching a slow-motion train wreck—funded by BlackRock, one of Shell’s largest investors, who totally swear they care about ESG goals while sipping crude oil martinis on the deck of a burning planet.

So here’s to Shell and ExxonMobil: the eternal poster children for shareholder value over social collapse. May their payouts be large, their PR green, and their moral compasses permanently broken.

Shell and Exxon Cash Out €3 Billion While Groningen Crumbles was first posted on July 30, 2025 at 9:15 pm.
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The Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth sent a notice today of their intent to sue the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Coast Guard for failing to consult on how California shipping lane designations contribute to whale and sea turtle vessel strikes.

At least eight gray whales have been killed by probable ship strikes in the Bay Area so far in 2025.

“It’s been a terrible year for whales off the West Coast, and we can’t afford to let federal officials waste any more time delaying action on ship strikes,” said David Derrick, a staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “A decent plan for routing and slowing ships down is long overdue, and this federal foot-dragging has been deadly for whales. The law is clear that the agencies must go back to the drawing board and come back with something that will actually protect whales and sea turtles.”

Ship strikes are a leading cause of death for gray, blue, fin and humpback whales off California’s coast. Scientists also say the actual number of ship strikes could be 20 times higher than what’s observed, since most dead whales sink. One study estimated that about 80 whales are killed by ship strikes off the West Coast each year.

“This is not the first time we have gone toe-to-toe with the federal government for failing to assess the grave risks that shipping poses for marine life,” said Hallie Templeton, legal director for Friends of the Earth. “Now, even with a federal court opinion on our side, agencies have not changed their tune. And neither have we: we will keep fighting inside and outside the courtroom to protect whales and sea turtles from the serious and fatal risks from ship strikes.”

In December 2022 a federal court ruled in favor of the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth in their lawsuit challenging the failure of the Fisheries Service and the Coast Guard. The suit asserted that the agencies did not protect endangered whales from being struck by ships using ports in the Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Francisco Bay regions.

The existing designated shipping lanes route shipping traffic through several “hot spots” where whales congregate, including the Santa Barbara Channel and the northern approach to the San Francisco Bay. But the Fisheries Service concluded in a 2017 biological opinion that the designations would cause no “take” of any whales or sea turtles. The 2022 court ruling rejected those conclusions, finding that its determination “defies logic,” and that it is “undisputed” that whales are struck and killed by ship strikes within the lanes.

The ruling invalidated the agencies’ consultation, called a biological opinion, which had evaluated the routes’ harm to protected species. Since that ruling, the agencies have not taken steps to complete a new biological opinion, nor have they considered measures proven to reduce ship strikes.

A dead juvenile blue whale washed ashore on a Point Reyes National Seashore beach after being struck by a ship in June 2018. (Photo: Sarah Codde/ NPS)

JULY 30, 2025: It’s not an exaggeration — every day there’s a new ICE raid, a new unlawful detainment, new details about overcrowded and torturous detention facilities, or a new plan to centralize government data for DHS use. Across the food system, frontline workers are being swept up in this cruel process.

Many of our members have pivoted away from their usual organizing work to respond to attacks in their communities. We’re proud to share some updates below, including many injustices but also some hard-won victories. Thank you for supporting immigrants in your community, FCWA, and our members.

 

LELO CHOOSES VOLUNTARY DEPARTURE

Farmworker and union leader Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino was granted a voluntary departure on July 14, and is now back in Mexico with family and friends. Lelo had been in detention at the privately-run NW Detention Center in Tacoma, WA since March 25, after he was pulled out of his car and arrested by ICE while driving his partner to work.

In his four months of detention, Lelo had several hearings, but like hundreds of other people held at the Tacoma facility, he was denied bond. The judge who denied his bond is one of several at this facility claiming they don’t have jurisdiction to grant bonds to immigrants who entered the country without legal documentation. “They are the only immigration judges in the country choosing to interpret the law in this way,” reports The Stand. Lelo has joined a class action lawsuit by the NW Immigrant Rights Project to challenge this practice.

 “We are relieved that he successfully removed himself from ICE’s inhumane treatment,” Community to Community Development said in their statement. “We value his wisdom and unwavering clarity that brought him to decide for voluntary departure…The conditions at Northwest ICE Processing Center have always been unacceptable, and we respect Lelo’s choice to remove himself from the continued physical and psychological violence of detention. It was increasingly clear to all of us that due process was not being followed, and no justice would be found.” 

 

DELMY CHOOSES VOLUNTARY DEPARTURE

The Workers’ Center of Central NY has been fighting to free their member Delmy Rendon, who was arrested by Border Patrol when she got in a car accident during a snowstorm and sought help from neighbors who reported her to immigration authorities. Despite having been paroled into the country legally and having no criminal record, Delmy was held in ICE detention in Louisiana for nearly six months.

At the time of her arrest, Delmy and her husband Luis had been waiting for years for the immigration court to schedule their asylum case. And in a bond hearing in May, Delmy’s lawyer cited specific points of immigration law that clearly show she does not qualify to be put in expedited removal. However, the judge insisted he did not have jurisdiction to authorize bond. Delmy reserved her right to appeal this decision, but this week she made the difficult decision to accept a voluntary departure to Guatemala, separating her from her husband and daughters who remain in Northern NY. WCCNY reports that Delmy expressed deep gratitude for everyone who supported her, especially by sending letters describing what was happening outside. She also documented her experience in detention and will be sharing more stories of the conditions soon, to continue her activism and resistance. 

 

IN VERMONT, DAIRY WORKERS KEEP GETTING DETAINED

After rallying around nine dairy workers detained in April (three of whom are now safely home!) two more Migrant Justice members were detained on June 14: Jose Ignacio “Nacho” De La Cruz was driving with his stepdaughter Heidi Perez when they were pulled over and detained after agents smashed their car window. Following a series of rallies and actions by the community, Nacho and Heidi were granted bail on July 10. “I am free thanks to all of you and to the entire immigrant community that was supporting us from day one” Nacho said upon his release. “Together we grow stronger every day. Join with Migrant Justice to fight for our rights. Sí se puede!” This latest detention happened as two landmark laws took effect in Vermont, both of which Nacho and Heidi had a hand in winning: The Education Equity Act guarantees in-state tuition rates and need-based financial aid at public colleges and universities for all Vermont students regardless of status; and the Housing Access for Immigrant Families Act prohibits landlords from requiring applicants to provide SSNs.  

“Each time I go [to an ICE check-in], it’s with the same fear. When I walk into that building, it’s with the thought that I might not be able to go home, and I might not be able to see my children.” Wuendy Bernardo is an immigrant dairy worker and member of Migrant Justice in Vermont. She has been making periodic check-ins with immigration authorities since 2014. But since January, those appointments have become more frequent and more frightening. So supporters from the Migrant Justice community are accompanying her. At her most recent check-in, over 200 Vermonters were there to ensure she remained free. And last week, The Boston Globe published a story about Wuendy and her family’s close relationship with her employer, a self-described conservative farmer. “I consider them more than just employees. They’re part of the family.”

 

 

TELL THE NY FARM BUREAU: STAND UP FOR WORKERS!

In June, the Workers’ Center of Central NY and Alianza Agrícola published an open letter to the New York Farm Bureau on behalf of farmworkers, calling on the NYFB and agricultural employers to step up to protect immigrant farmworkers by: 1) Calling for immigration reform that respects labor rights; 2) Creating workplace safety plans; 3) Providing Know Your Rights education; and 4) Endorsing the New York for All Act, which would limit local law enforcement’s collaboration with ICE. You can add your name to the petition in support of these demands.

This week, WCCNY organizer Mina Aguilar uplifted the call in her must-read op-ed in the New York Daily News: “We’re calling on NYFB and the agricultural industry to call for nothing short of amnesty and immigration reform that is not based on labor exploitation,” Mina writes. “It is the most practical, economical, and moral solution. If the industry keeps pushing for half measures like temporary visas, we will continue to be plagued by labor abuses and shortages.”

 

 

 

PUSHING BACK AGAINST 287G AGREEMENTS IN FLORIDA

In February, Governor DeSantis directed all state law enforcement agencies to enter 287g agreements with ICE. But that directive does not necessarily apply to agencies at the local level throughout the state. As part of the Immigrants Are Welcome Here coalition, the Farmworker Association of Florida is pushing for their local police to cancel their agreement with ICE, meeting with Apopka police and the Orange County Mayor and Commissioners to stand up for immigrant communities. On July 15, the Commission declared Orange County will stop holding immigration detainees in its jail if they face no other criminal charges (a change to its current practice of holding all ICE detainees, regardless of their charges). They also voted down a proposal that would have allowed county corrections staff to transport ICE inmates to federal detention centers.

 

CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST DHS IN CALIFORNIA

As Trump and the federal government launched a full scale attack on immigrant communities in California, Warehouse Worker Resource Center and fellow members of the Los Angeles Worker Center Network filed a class action lawsuit against DHS for abducting and disappearing community members using unlawful stop and arrest practices, and confining individuals at a federal building in illegal conditions while denying them access to attorneys. A judge recently granted a Temporary Restraining Order in seven SoCal counties, which has brought some relief.

 

 

 

 

SUPPORT CATA’S WORK IN MARYLAND

El Comité de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agrícolas (CATA) is supporting immigrant farmworkers in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New Jersey. They’re doing organizing and outreach, providing direct services, and taking on legal fights like their landmark case with the ACLU, suing New Jersey for discriminating against farmworkers by not including them in the state’s minimum wage law. While ICE’s budget has been increased by billions, CATA just lost critical federal funding for their work supporting immigrant workers in Maryland. As their support staff shares:

“So many immigrant workers would lose access to vital information—about their rights, how to defend them, and how to access basic services.”

“We don’t just drop off flyers. We share meals, build trust, and bring hope.”

A donation to CATA today covers rent, food, or utility bills for a family in crisis; brings vital info and support to isolated rural communities, and sustains organizing and advocacy efforts. 

 

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The oil company at the centre of a landmark legal ruling on climate emissions has again delayed the publication of its annual report and accounts.

UK Oil & Gas plc (UKOG) announced this week the accounts for 2024 would be published “no later than early September 2025”.

The news came two days before the company’s promised publication date.

UKOG said its interim results for the six months to March 2025, which had also been delayed, would be published at the same time.

The original deadline for publication of the annual accounts was 31 March 2025. But three days before, UKOG said the date would not be met because of “additional time required by its auditors”.

Share trading was suspended until the accounts were published, which the company said would be “as soon as possible”.

Three months later, UKOG said the annual report was “now well advanced and the Company expects to publish the report before the end of July”.

UKOG said it had changed auditor earlier this year. The company’s website reports that the auditor is Moore Kingston Smith LLP.

The accounts for the year to September 2023, published on 1 April 2024, were audited by PKF Littlejohn LLP. The auditor’s report highlighted “a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the company’s [UKOG’s] ability to continue as a going concern”. PKF Littlejohn said it was willing to “continue in office as auditor”.

Planning permission problems Horse Hill

UKOG is the parent company of the operator of the Horse Hill oil site in Surrey, where planning permission was quashed in 2024 when the Supreme Court ruled the decision was unlawful. The court said Surrey County Council should have considered the climate emissions of burning the oil, not just the emissions from the production process. Production has stopped at Horse Hill but the latest reports said the site has not been cleared.

Broadford Bridge and Dunsfold

A UKOG subsidiary operates the Broadford Bridge oil site in West Sussex, which also has no planning permission. Earlier this month (July 2025), West Sussex County Council told DrillOrDrop the well had not yet been plugged and abandoned and site had not been cleared or restored. Two breach of condition notices were served on 6 May 2025 requiring the operator, UKOG (234) Ltd, to do this work by 6 February 2026. The council confirmed today there was no change to its earlier statement on Broadford Bridge. Also earlier this month, UKOG (234) relinquished its licence to explore or produce hydrocarbons from the Broadford Bridge area. This also affected a proposed gas site at Dunsfold in Surrey.

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RNs at Adventist Health Sierra Vista in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and Adventist Health Twin Cities in Templeton, Calif., on the Central Coast, voted overwhelmingly in favor of ratifying new four-year contracts on July 29, winning protections to improve patient safety and nurse retention.

Nurses at Research Medical Center in Kansas City, Mo., will hold a vigil for patients impacted by planned service shutdowns at their hospital. Nurses are planning for a solemn event to spotlight what this means for Kansas City patients and how the hospital’s ownership, HCA Healthcare, has mismanaged and cut resources to these units for years, laying the groundwork to justify their own decision to shutter these services.

US president Donald Trump’s tariffs might only shave 0.3% off global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions this year, according to Carbon Brief analysis.

While the Trump administration is setting back international climate action through policies such as the “one big beautiful bill”, some analysts have argued that his tariffs would inadvertently cut carbon by throwing sand into the engine of the global economy.

However, Carbon Brief’s analysis, based on changing projections of economic growth since the tariffs were announced, shows that this effect is likely to be very limited.

The slew of new tariffs – initially announced on 2 April, dubbed by the president as “liberation day” – might only knock 110-150m tonnes of CO2 (MtCO2) off global emissions in 2025 (0.3-0.4%), the analysis shows. 

For 2026, the tariffs could have a slightly higher impact, but still only 190-300MtCO2 (0.5-0.8%).

Annual global emissions from fossil fuels and cement, bntCO2, including estimates for 2025 and 2026 based on IMF GDP growth forecasts both before and after Trump announced his tariffs. Source: Carbon Brief analysis of IMF, World Bank and Global Carbon Budget data.

Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs included a 10% universal levy on all imported goods, alongside additional “reciprocal tariffs” on a number of countries he claimed had “cheated” the US. 

The announcement sent the world’s stock markets into “turmoil”. The move has hit a range of diverse industries, including steel and aluminium, oil and more.

Despite initially saying he had no plans to pause the tariffs, Trump announced on 10 April that he would pause them for 90 days. 

This pause was set to come to an end on 9 July, but, just days before this, he announced a further extension to 1 August. On his social-media network, Truth Social, Trump said countries would receive “letters and/or deals” on tariffs in the interim. 

More recently, he has signed tariff deals with the European Union and countries such as the UK, Japan, the Philippines and others.

These deals reduce the headline tariff rates relative to the “liberation day” situation, as well as typically including a range of carve-outs and exemptions.

However, they do not end uncertainty over tariff levels and still leave US import levies at their highest levels “since the 1930s”, reducing expectations for trade and growth.

Since returning to office at the beginning of 2025, Trump – a climate sceptic – has rolled back a large number of environmental policies and protections. 

Most recently, his “one big beautiful bill” was passed on 4 July, bringing an end to a number of former president Joe Biden’s policies, such as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which provided support for electric vehicles, clean-technology manufacturing and more. 

In combination with other Trump administration policies, this means the US will breach its now-defunct emissions reduction for 2030 target by a cumulative total of 7bn tonnes of CO2, previous Carbon Brief analysis found. 

Nevertheless, numerous people suggested that the economic damage from Trump’s tariffs could “unintentionally” lead to a drop in carbon emissions. 

For example, an April 2025 article in the New York Times stated: “Trump’s economic approach may inadvertently reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as consumption slows in response to a global trade war.”

The piece noted that the “reprieve for the planet” was likely to be short-lived, with longer-term impacts potentially hitting clean-energy deployment as international supply chains are hampered. 

Similarly, an April 2025 Associated Press article quoted Global Carbon Project head Prof Rob Jackson saying that tariffs “might help the climate in the first year or two”. However, it quoted him continuing that this would come at a high cost and might backfire: 

“I would say it might help the climate in the first year or two if we have a downturn in economic activity or a recession, which no one wants. But it will hurt the climate long-term because tariffs impact clean tech more than most other industries because of trade with China.”

Carbon Brief’s analysis shows that the emissions impact, even in the short term, is expected to be minimal. 

It assessed the expected emissions impact of reduced global GDP by looking at changes to GDP forecasts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank, before and after Trump’s tariffs announcements.

The OECD suggests the biggest impact from the tariffs, as shown in the chart below. 

Estimated change in global emissions as a result of tariffs, MtCO2, based on GDP growth forecasts from the IMF, OECD and World Bank. Source: Carbon Brief analysis of figures from the IMF, OECD, World Bank and Global Carbon Project.

The medium- to long-term impact of Trump’s trade wars is expected to be negative for climate action. In a recent interview, UK climate envoy Rachel Kyte told Carbon Brief that it created uncertainty and was likely to slow down clean-energy investment. She said:

“Investment flows when everybody feels confident, right?…[I]f I don’t know if the tariff is 10%, 20%, 25%, 56%, whatever, well, let me put it off till the next quarter to make that investment decision.”

Kyte added: “It’s the hesitancy that it puts in the mind of government, but also in the mind of investors and the private sector…[T]he sort of tariff era we’re in, the risk is that it slows down the investment in the clean-energy transition at a time when it needs to speed up.”

Methodology

Carbon Brief estimated the impact of Trump’s tariffs on global GDP by comparing growth forecasts published during June and July 2025 by the IMF World Economic Outlook, OECD Economic Outlook and World Bank Global Economic Prospects against corresponding forecasts published in December 2024 or January 2025, before Trump’s tariff announcements.

While Trump’s tariffs are not the only factor to have changed in these forecasts over the time period in question, they do represent a singular and sudden effect, which would be expected to have a significant impact on the global economic outlook.

The analysis estimates global GDP over 2025/2026 by applying the growth forecasts to historical GDP from the World Bank.

The reductions in forecast global GDP growth are translated into estimated emissions impacts by assuming that the “carbon intensity” of the world’s economy continues to improve at a steady rate, with or without the tariffs. Carbon intensity is the emissions per unit of GDP and has been improving slowly and steadily over many years.

The analysis only considers CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and cement production. Historical CO2 emissions data is taken from the Global Carbon Budget.

The range of estimated CO2 impacts stems from the varying GDP forecasts of the three different organisations.

For comparison, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has revised down its forecasts for global oil demand growth in 2025 by some 350,000 barrels of oil per day since the start of the year. This is equivalent to cutting global emissions this year by 40MtCO2.

The IEA’s forecasts for global coal demand in 2025 are broadly unchanged since the start of the year, with demand expected to grow 0.2% this year. 

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“I cannot keep you safe.”

This recurring line in Primeval, Mai Der Vang’s powerful new poetry collection, doesn’t just echo through her book. Similar themes appear through many of this year’s new environmental poetry books. They reflect the fear and frustration we all share about what’s happening to the natural world we love so much.

But love itself is another constant in these books: Love of the Earth, appreciation for wild things and places, and a call to defend it all.

Of course, some of these wild species and places have already been lost, leaving holes in our world and our hearts. That grief also comes out in these poets’ voices.

That’s the collective promise of environmental poetry: It’s a chance to celebrate nature, embrace its magic, mourn what we’ve lost, and remind us to do better.

Here are my reviews of eight powerful new environmental poetry collections published this year. I’ve also included one magazine issue and a new compendium of work by Mary Oliver, the late champion of verse about nature.

This barely scratches the surface of the wide range of environmental poetry books published so far this year, so expect more reviews in the months ahead.

As always, the title of each book links to the publishers’ sites, but you should also be able to find most of these volumes through your local library or bookseller.

Seed Beetle

By Mahaila Smith

From the publisher: In a climate changed future, Canada is thought to be a promised land. But in southern Ontario, the promise and the land are exhausted: industrialization has led to widespread destruction, desertification and food insecurity. So when Utopic Robotics promises growth and presents a community with a swarm of automated beetles that will revitalize the land and rebuild utopia, community members rally behind the corporation and its message of hope. But technological solutions often come with secret risks.

Our review: An intense, thought-provoking poetry collection from the future, depicting a 22nd-century world ravaged by climate change, industrialization, Cronenberg-style implants, AI robots, pollution, and other threats. Smith has the byline on the cover, but the book’s unique conceit is that it’s a posthumous collection of poems by a writer who lived through this chaos while seeking love, peace, and family amidst the machinations of a dangerous corporation called Utopic Robotics. It’s high-concept science fiction, but it all feels painfully relevant to today. Easily one of my favorite books of the year. (I enjoyed the electronic review copy so much I bought it in hard copy.)

Bad Is Bent Good

By Dave Mehler

From the publisher: …a deeply immersive, poetic exploration of life working at a landfill in Portland, Oregon.

Our review: One of the poems in this collection is titled “We are daily witness to the world’s wastes.” That sums it up: This is a powerful, revelatory, occasionally infuriating, often disturbing book about what we discard: things, nature, and people. It’s not an easy book. It shines a light on systems most of us would prefer to ignore. We look away at our own peril. Not to be missed.

When We Only Have the Earth

By Abdourahman A. Waberi

Translated by Nancy Naomi Carlson

From the publisher: In this ode to the earth and all its living creatures, French Djiboutian poet, novelist, and essayist Abdourahman A. Waberi sounds the alarm about our imperiled planet… Waberi, a nomad at heart, takes us on a whirlwind tour across North America, Africa, and Europe, daring us to love the earth “beyond all rational thought” and to “turn into earth, both literally and figuratively,” as we “turn from vanity, fears, and other pointless rustling.”

Our review: A short but moving book, full of perspectives we don’t often see, like the casual reference to people rushing out to pour buckets of water on beached whales suffering under the heat of the African sun.

Primordial

By Mai Der Vang

From the publisher: With profound and attentive care, Vang addresses the plight of the saola, an extremely rare and critically endangered animal native to the Annamite Mountains in Laos and Vietnam… Primordial examines the saola’s relationship to Hmong refugee identity and cosmology and a shared sense of exile, precarity, privacy, and survival. Can a war-torn landscape and memory provide sanctuary, and what are the consequences for our climate, our origins, our ability to belong to a homeland?

Our review: An ode to the rarely seen, critically endangered saola — but so much more. Vang uses the pain and grief from this disappearing species to discuss colonialism, the refugee-immigrant experience (especially as it relates to the Hmong people and her own identity), the Vietnam war, racism, trauma, motherhood, and so much more. The result is a brilliant, haunting poetry collection steeped in conservation issues that also delivers insight into the human experience.

Nature Matters: Vital Poems from the Global Majority

Edited by Mona Arshi and Karen McCarthy Woolf

From the publisher: There has been a welcome surge of nature writing in recent years. Yet this has raised questions as to whose voices are privileged and heard in a space predominantly occupied by Western European traditions and authors…. [Nature Matters] presents brand-new commissions alongside formative works from the past fifty years that invite us to reconsider nature poetry from global-majority perspectives. Image-rich and formally diverse, the poems explore fundamental and ecological themes including climate crisis and the Anthropocene; urban nature, solitude and alienation; protest and radical empathy; Indigenous wisdom and alternative histories.

Our review: An explosion of voices and rich perspectives. This book is going to send me down the rabbit hole to track down more works by dozens of the collected authors.

Climate

By Whitney Hanson

From the publisher: Honest, poignant, and relatable, Climate is a journey in embracing change both internally and externally. It guides us through all the weather we may face, from the stormy heartbreak to the foggy mental space to the sunny other side…

Our review: This intense, emotional poetry collection isn’t (no matter what the title suggests) about climate change, but it does take its cues from the broader climate: the weather, the seasons, the cultural connections that pull us together and push us apart. It’s about love, loss, the way the rain makes us feel, and the sun (or lack thereof) in our hearts. I wouldn’t call this an environmental book, except the natural world is intrinsically part of the human experience, and Hanson dives into that without restraint.

The Best American Poetry 2025

Series Editor: David Lehman; Guest Editor: Terence Winch

Our review: No need to include a publisher’s description this time — the title says it all. As you might guess, this is a wide-ranging anthology, covering a variety of tones, formats, and styles. It’s not strictly an environmental collection, but some elements of nature appear in many if not most of the poems. Sometimes it’s just a brief, poetic mention of magic or grief. Others reflect these crisis-filled times more directly, like “Climate Anxiety” by Patricia Davis-Muffett. The collection feels a bit more Western than Nature Matters (it does focus on American poetry, after all), but every poem lives up to its “best of” designation. (Available Sept. 2, 2025)

Little Alleluias: Collected Poetry and Prose

By Mary Oliver

Our review: A new compendium of three previously published Mary Oliver books (two volumes of poetry and a third of mostly prose). As you might expect, that makes this triple-worthy of your attention. I’ve read a lot of Oliver over the years, but not these three volumes. I’m grateful for the opportunity to enjoy them back-to-back-to-back. (Available Sept. 9, 2025)

You Are a Sacred Place: Visual Poems for Living in Climate Crisis

By Madeleine Jubilee Saito

From the publisher: Framed as a letter in response to a loved one’s pain, this series of ethereal vignettes takes readers on a journey from seemingly inescapable isolation and despair, through grief and rage, toward the hope of community and connection. Drawing on her faith as well as the tradition of climate justice, Saito reminds readers that if we’re going to challenge fossil fuel capitalism, we must first imagine what lies beyond it: The beauty and joy of a healed world.

Our review: Intense, lovely, and dreamlike, this collection of poems in comics form embraces the pain of fire, flood, and capitalism-driven climate change. More importantly, it crystalizes our collective strife into a call for justice. The book’s 17 poems are presented in a series of painted images, mostly four panels to a page. In addition to the emotional text, the poems use the visuals to set or continue the mood and narrative. Some sequences go on for several pages without a single word — poetry by way of image and imagination. It’s a powerful experience that deserves our attention while it attempts to heal our souls.

Eye to the Telescope issue 57, July 2025

Edited by Maria Schrater

From the publisher: In this issue, birds are enemies and omens, friends and gods, devoured and devouring. The endless diversity of birds is one of the great marvels of our world. Migration patterns, flight mechanics, song, life cycle, and more — it’s a diverse pool to draw from, with deeper potential with the addition of speculative layers.

Our review: Something different to end these reviews: The bird-themed issue of this online magazine published by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. Seventeen authors (and one translator) bring an amazing diversity of tone and structure to these poems, with haunting results. Also check out the April 2025 issue, themed around plants.

That’s it for this month, but you can find hundreds of additional environmental book recommendations, including a few more poetry collections, in the “Revelator Reads” archives.

And let us know what you’re reading: drop us a line at comments@therevelator.org

Republish this article for free! Read our reprint policy. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Scan the QR code, or sign up here. Previously in The Revelator:

Summer of Change: New Books to Inspire Environmental Action

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We handpick and explain the most important stories at the intersection of climate, land, food and nature over the past fortnight.

This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s fortnightly Cropped email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.

Key developments UN food insecurity report

HUNGER DECLINES: The prevalence of hunger dropped in most parts of the world in 2024, according to a new report covered by Carbon Brief – but rates are still rising in much of Africa and western Asia. The UN’s annual report on food security and nutrition found that around 673 million people experienced hunger in 2024. Other key findings were that the cost of a “healthy” diet increased in 2023 and 2024 and that food price inflation “significantly” outpaced general inflation over the past five years. The price inflation was mostly driven by global factors, but also by localised shocks such as “climate extremes” disrupting food production, the report said.

‘UNEVEN’ PROGRESS: Global progress on tackling hunger is “encouraging”, but “uneven”, the director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Dr Qu Dongyu, said in a statement. The new report found that the entire population in Gaza faced “high levels of acute food insecurity” in 2024, alongside more than half of people in Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen and Haiti. Elsewhere, the UN World Food Programme said that hunger levels in Gaza are “catastrophic”, while Reuters reported warnings from a global hunger monitor that a “worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding” there. UN chief António Guterres told the UN Food Systems Summit Stocktake this week in Ethiopia: “We must never accept hunger as a weapon of war.”

‘CLIMATEFLATION’: Elsewhere, a thinktank report said the UK faces “climateflation” impacts that could “drive up food prices by more than a third by 2050”, the Guardian said. The Autonomy Institute said that “increasing numbers of heatwaves and droughts would imperil staple crops, disrupt supply chains and intensify inflationary pressures”, the outlet added. UK food price inflation increased in July for the sixth consecutive month, partly driven by “rising meat and tea prices”, BBC News reported. Carbon Brief mapped out the findings of a new study showing links between extreme weather and food price spikes around the world. 

Africa’s clean-cooking and nature goals 

‘UNREACHABLE GOAL’: Sub-Saharan Africa will not reach the UN 2030 goal of providing clean cooking for all, according to a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA). “Large gaps” in financing and infrastructure mean universal access by 2040 is “more realistic”, it continued. The number of Africans without access to clean cooking “has continued to grow” and is currently around 1 billion people, Climate Home News reported. The report stated that $37bn in investment is required to achieve universal access. In a statement, IEA’s executive director, Fatih Birol, said that lack of clean cooking “remains one of the great injustices in the world”.

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WILDLIFE BONDS: The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has planned a new wave of wildlife conservation bonds to provide up to $1.5bn to “help African countries” save endangered species and ecosystems, Reuters reported. The GEF’s head of programming told the newswire that the bonds, which provide low-cost funding in return for curbing poaching or other conservation measures, will be issued for every country in Africa. The bonds will help poorer countries receive funding without adding to government debt. While such bonds usually target “emblematic” species, the GEF hopes to use the bonds to cover entire ecosystems, such as wetlands, Reuters said.

CONGO’S BIOFUELS: Italian oil company Eni has closed one biofuels pilot project in the Republic of Congo, but two other such projects remain in an experimental phase, InfoNile reported. Eni previously signed a 50-year agreement with the Congolese government to develop the country’s agro-biofuel sector, with a plan to cover 150,000 hectares of agricultural land by 2030. However, local farmer Chris Nsimba told InfoNile that, although Eni has brought economic development to his district, the company has made “little contribution” to local food security.

‘DRAMATIC EXPANSION’: Tenders for oil development are now available across “more than half” of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a new report from Earth Insight and other groups found. The government recently launched a licensing round for 55 oil blocks, the report said – a “dramatic expansion” which poses “major threats” to forests and protected areas. The oil blocks overlap with 8.6m hectares of “key biodiversity areas” and 66.8m hectares of intact tropical forests. This decision highlights “stark contradictions between the DRC’s fossil-fuel agenda and its stated commitments to biodiversity protection, climate action and community rights”, the report said. 

Spotlight ‘Unprecedented’ marine heatwaves gripped the globe in 2023 

This week, Carbon Brief covers a new study, published in Science, which found that 96% of the global ocean experienced a marine heatwave during 2023.

More than 95% of the world’s expanse of oceans experienced a marine heatwave – a period of abnormal ocean warming lasting at least five days – in 2023, according to new research.

The study, published in Science, used an ocean model that incorporates satellite and observational data to identify marine heatwave events and investigate the drivers of the unusual ocean heating.

It found that 2023 was an “unprecedented” year for marine heatwaves in terms of duration, extent and intensity of the events. 

Many of the events had “immediate ecological and societal consequences”, the authors wrote.

‘Comprehensive investigation’

In 2023, marine heatwaves bleached corals in the Florida Keys, boosted the prevalence of a giant-clam-killing parasite in the Mediterranean and even intensified heatwaves on land during Europe’s “hellish” summer that year.

Using satellite data and an ocean model that incorporates different streams of data, the team of researchers “conducted a comprehensive investigation” of the global ocean’s state in 2023, they wrote. Together, the authors wrote, that year’s marine heatwaves had the “longest durations, widest extents and highest intensities on record”.

They found that the average duration of marine heatwaves in 2023 was 120 days, compared to an average duration of just under 36 days between 1982-2022. Spatially, the 2023 heatwaves covered 96% of the global ocean, compared to a historical average extent of around 74%. 

Prof Regina Rodrigues, a physical oceanographer at Brazil’s Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, told Carbon Brief that, while the science underlying the study is “sound”, the study itself “does not bring many new aspects”. Rodrigues, who was not involved in the new research, added:

“The results are not different from those of many previous studies, except for the analysis of these regions together and for the same year.”

Driving factors

The researchers identified four main “hotspots” of the ocean that had the highest marine heatwave “cumulative intensity”: the tropical eastern Pacific, the south-west Pacific, the north Pacific and the north Atlantic. (Cumulative intensity is a metric that accounts for both intensity and duration of a heatwave.)

The researchers then used the ocean model to investigate the underlying drivers of marine heatwaves in each hotspot. 

For example, in the north Pacific, they found that a combination of low cloud cover – allowing more sunlight to reach and warm the ocean’s surface – and weak winds resulted in around 1C of average warming throughout the year. A lack of cloud cover also contributed significantly to the heatwaves in the north Atlantic and south-west Pacific, they wrote. 

It is “no surprise at all” to find that marine heatwaves have increased in frequency, intensity, duration and extent, “given that the ocean absorbs 90% of the heat from manmade climate change”, Rodrigues told Carbon Brief. 

She pointed to a Nature study published earlier this year that examined the global record sea-surface temperatures of 2023-24. That study concluded:

“Without a global warming trend, such an event would have been practically impossible.”

News and views

WETLANDS SUMMIT: More than 3,000 delegates met in Zimbabwe for the 15th conference of the Ramsar Convention (COP15) to discuss the future of the world’s wetlands. Opening the event, Zimbabwe’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, called for the implementation of “collaborative approaches” towards wetlands protection, Down To Earth reported. Several southern African countries officially launched the Southern Africa Ramsar Regional Initiative to promote wetland conservation and sustainable use across borders, EnviroNews Nigeria reported. Additionally, China Daily reported that nine more Chinese locations were awarded “wetland city accreditation” at the conference, which concludes this Thursday. 

‘DEVASTATION BILL’: Politicians in Brazil approved a bill to ease environmental licensing, a move criticised as the country’s “most significant environmental setback in nearly 40 years”, Mongabay said. The so-called “devastation bill” includes rule changes which would allow projects to be approved “by simply filling out an online form”, the outlet reported. It would also create a “special environmental licence” for “strategic” projects, “such as oil exploration on the Amazon coast”. Mongabay noted that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva can block or enact the bill, but “congress would likely overturn a veto”. It added: ”The law is bound to be challenged in the Supreme Court.” 

SEABED STRIFE: Members of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) condemned the move earlier this year by a deep-sea mining company to “bypass the authority’s protocols by applying for a permit to mine in international waters under US law”, Inside Climate News reported. Oceanographic said that the ISA has “launched an official investigation” into contracting companies “over action taken to circumvent” existing protocols. The outlet said the decision was a “critical step in protecting the deep sea”. However, delegates at the recently concluded ISA meeting once again “failed” to reach an agreement on whether or not to allow seabed mining to proceed in international waters, reported Common Dreams.

FARMER FUNDS: The EU’s new long-term budget proposal featured cuts to agricultural spending, but the European Commission “insists” farmers will not be impacted, Euronews reported. The proposal outlined plans to combine agricultural subsidies and regional development funds into one “mega-fund worth €865bn”, the outlet said. Politico reported that the proposed changes mean “biodiversity goals have no earmarked funding at all – and will have to compete with the EU’s other environmental aims, including climate change, water security, the circular economy and pollution”.

‘TOXIC’ ALGAE: A toxic algal bloom along South Australia’s coastline has shown “no sign of abating” four months in, after killing sharks, rays, fish, dolphins and seals, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. The algae grew and spread due to a marine heatwave in September 2024, which caused ocean temperatures to be 2.5C warmer than usual. Marine ecologist Dr Scott Bennet told CNN: “This is symptomatic of climate-driven impacts that we’re seeing across Australia due to climate change.” Meanwhile, Reuters reported on a “revolution” in farm management that has boosted Australia’s wheat production “despite hotter, drier conditions”.

Watch, read, listen

CLOUD COVER: The New York Times profiled the scientists attempting to save the Great Barrier Reef by increasing cloud cover to cool the Pacific Ocean.

SYCAMORE SENTENCE: In Bloomberg, Josie Glausiusz argued that prosecuting the men who felled the Sycamore Gap tree in northern England in 2023 “mean[s] little” without stronger action to protect the natural world.

DECLINING SUPPLY: The Guardian visualised how Donald Trump’s “assault” on immigrants in the US could affect the country’s food supplies.

AN ICONIC TREE: Mongabay explored whether the Joshua Tree – a yucca plant native to the south-western US – can survive in the face of increasing drought, fires and development.

New science

• A Nature Communications study found that lands managed by Afro-descendant communities in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Suriname experience up to 55% less deforestation than lands managed by others. The study highlighted the adaptation of African knowledge, the authors said, calling for a greater inclusion of Afro-descendants in environmental decision-making.
• Fewer than 10% of predicted “hotspots” of a type of fungi around the world are currently contained in protected areas, according to a Nature study. The findings can benefit conservation, monitoring and restoration of the “largely hidden component of Earth’s underground ecosystems”, the study authors wrote. 
• New research, published in Science Advances, found that the prioritisation of creating “biodiversity-friendly landscapes” through conservation activities may actually accelerate biodiversity loss by improving conditions for invasive alien species. The authors called for a “shift” towards “landscape-wide strategies to stop the ongoing decline of farmland biodiversity”.

In the diary

• 5-14 August: Fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on plastic pollution (part two) | Geneva
• 9 August: UN international day of the world’s Indigenous peoples 
• 13-15 August: African Union-AIP water investment summit 2025 | Cape Town, South Africa

Cropped is researched and written by Dr Giuliana Viglione, Aruna Chandrasekhar, Daisy Dunne, Orla Dwyer and Yanine Quiroz. Svetlana Onye also contributed to this issue. Please send tips and feedback to cropped@carbonbrief.org

Cropped 16 July 2025: EU deforestation law pushback; Agri emissions; US lobster disease

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16.07.25

Cropped 2 July 2025: US public lands under attack; How India’s gig workers are suffering under climate change; Bonn to Belém

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02.07.25

Cropped 18 June 2025: High Seas Treaty ratifications; Ocean warming woes; Brazilian deforestation ‘surges’

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Cropped 4 June 2025: ‘Tricks’ and ‘cover-ups’; Wild weather; Former UN nature negotiator interviewed

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The post Cropped 30 July 2025: ‘Unprecedented’ ocean heatwaves; ‘Uneven’ hunger progress; Brazil’s ‘devastation bill’ appeared first on Carbon Brief.

Ocean Winds, an international company dedicated to offshore wind energy and created as a 50-50 joint venture in 2020 by EDP Renewables and ENGIE, has signed contracts for the supply of wind turbines and a service maintenance agreement for its BC-Wind project. 

UK-based clean technology company Pavegen has been selected to deliver a flagship installation at Cyberport 5, part of the HK$3.7 billion (US$472 million) expansion of Cyberport, Hong Kong’s government-owned Innovation & Technology (I&T) hub.  

Automotive giant Vauxhall has partnered with property website Zoopla to help drivers find EV charging close to homes on the market, in a collaboration that is part of Vauxhall’s Electric Streets of Britain campaign.