Fish farming, a form of aquaculture, is now the fastest-growing form of factory farming worldwide. This rapid expansion can be attributed to the industry’s emphasis on buzzwords such as “climate,” “conservation,” and “sustainability.” While discussions about land-based farmed animals, such as cattle, pigs, and...

The need to protect populations from environmental harm or contamination is not new. Whenever human welfare was imperiled, those in power within most ancient civilizations passed laws to address these issues. ...

In July 2025, the International Court of Justice held its first hearings on states’ climate responsibilities in decades. A lead judge described climate change as an “urgent and existential threat,” acknowledging that future generations are central to the crisis. Yet the hearings failed...

Land and environmental defenders—Indigenous leaders, farmers, conservationists, and community activists—risk their lives opposing the destructive exploitation of natural resources. Global Witness defines them as people who “take a stand… against the unjust, discriminatory, corrupt or damaging exploitation of natural resources or the environment.” Often described...

With more than 550,000 dams in the United States, free-flowing rivers are an endangered species. We’ve dammed, diked, and diverted almost every major river in the country, straightening curves, pinching off floodplains, and blocking passage for fish and other aquatic animals. But this has...

Spanning nine nations and covering more than 5.5 million square kilometers—roughly the size of the continental United States—the Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest. Often called the “lungs of the Earth,” it regulates the global climate, maintains freshwater cycles, and sustains life on...

Photographs have long played an instrumental role in shaping people’s understanding of injustice—and how they choose to respond to it. From iconic images of civil rights protests in the U.S. to scenes of Indigenous resistance across Latin America, photography has served not just...

The commons refers to shared cultural and natural resources, such as air, water, and land, which are accessible to and protected by all members of a community. More than just a collection of resources, the commons represents a foundational model for organizing social and economic...

Until now, at least 14 different species have been assigned to the genus Homo since it emerged in Ethiopia some 2.8 million years ago revealing branching evolutionary stories of survival, intermixing, and extinctions. Archaeology is increasingly allowing us to glimpse into one of...

Energy is the lifeblood of opportunity and economic development and a pillar of human civilization in the 21st century. Even the most remote communities in rural America were welcomed into the industrial age when electricity was made available to them in the 1930s. This created...