Well, that was a fucking ride.

Finding various lefty people in the humanities kinda annoying but not thinking it is worth burning down every free institution in the west to prevent such people emerging nor allying with the fascists in the process of doing as much? This is a superpower.

This could be a good opportunity for a midcareer editor who wants to help shape environmental journalism in anglophone Africa. Would love to see this role filled by someone with a big vision, please pass this along and come work with me! mongabay.org/opportunity/...

A new #Mongabay investigation reveals US defense grants for critical minerals reached nearly $550 million between 2021 and 2025, up from $31.3 million. Affected communities warn this state backing is fast-tracking projects without key environmental or social checks. @aimeegabay.bsky.social reports.

Bari Weiss was exactly like this on a smaller stage, as my editor when I wrote book reviews for the WSJ over a decade ago, constantly trying trying to inject her politics into my pieces, even post copy editing.

“For data on the AIS-off events and movement near undersea cables, we obtained additional data support from Starboard Maritime Intelligence, a platform utilized by government agencies, defense forces and critical infrastructure operators to analyze maritime risks” pulitzercenter.org/resource/how...

China's solar exports hit a record 68 gigawatts in March as demand skyrocketed in Africa and Asia. Imports to Africa rose by 176%, driven by rising fossil fuel prices and a rush to buy components before Beijing ended a clean tech tax rebate. Learn more 👉️ mongabay.cc/EdHKMc

I made this meme some years ago and it just popped up in my phone photo memories and… welp.

Cuba's minister of energy confirmed reserves are gone — with just enough diesel left to keep hospitals online. The UN has classified Washington's blockade a humanitarian crisis.

These stories are impossible to read the same pre and post COVID. If people had been put in quarantine units with very minimal care in the US, these type of stories would have spread and their families absolutely would have tried to break into or burn them.

All Protocol Observed Welcome to Issue 240 of The Continent The latest Ebola outbreak is the 17th in 50 years, with more than half occurring in the past 5 years. Mining-driven mobility and mistrust are fuelling the spread. Ironically, better containment has limited vaccine trials. bit.ly/240_TC

So the Iran boogeyman of my 20s was ... sorta kinda maybe on Mossad's payroll? www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/u...

"This increase in renewable energy is supported by the deployment of batteries, which will be needed to store clean electricity for times when the sun doesn’t shine & the wind doesn’t blow. BNEF increased its projection for global energy storage from 220 gigawatts in 2025 to 2,000 gigawatts by 2035"

Scary news that Ebola is in Kinshasa and Kampala. Those cities see a lot more traffic than Monrovia, Freetown, or Conakry. Health authorities are going to have their hands full, good luck to them.

Read this and thought about how unimaginable this would have been a decade ago, an absurdity from the fringe. Adjusting to this behavior from the state is rotting us all from the inside out in a profound way.

The face of power in the US (right or wrong) by the late 2010s was the educated liberal upper middle class, and we're living in the backlash to that. Now it (more accurately) is becoming billionaires and a tech industry promising to kill everyone's jobs. The swing against them will be ferocious.

In Benin, the Zangbéto deity protects mangroves through a spiritual ban on woodcutting. This practice has saved 500+ hectares over a decade. As climate bodies embrace Indigenous knowledge, journalist Jahëna Louisin explores how Vodun safeguards nature for 60 million people. 👉️ mongabay.cc/meBX32

I wrote about a new film produced by @greggmitman.bsky.social, author of "Empire of Rubber," on the uneasy relationship between iron mining and conservation in Liberia's Nimba mountains news.mongabay.com/2026/05/in-t...

We're Hiring! Mongabay is seeking a Philanthropy Associate to help us scale our global environmental news impact by managing grant proposals and donor relations. This is a full-time remote position for experienced fundraisers. Submit your application! 👉️ mongabay.cc/DV6xPM

NEW: I’ve written a call to arms. Journalists are being murdered in unprecedented numbers by a Western ally that operates with total impunity. Enough. Publishers & editors have failed us. But if we can’t speak up about this, what is journalism even for? open.substack.com/pub/broligar...

On fashion’s big night out, we turned the lens onto the garment, retail, warehouse, and delivery workers who make the fashion industry possible. Read the full piece: bsky.app/profile/mayo...

[Founder's briefs] How do we turn research into impact? It’s about documenting what is happening and explaining why it matters. By highlighting the intersection of science and daily life, Mongabay’s reporting helps readers grasp the urgency of our changing world. By @rhettayersbutler.bsky.social.

This mine would be located where I do my research in Brazil—a region already impacted by the massive Belo Monte Dam. “Belo Sun says it plans to extract 6.3 metric tons of gold every year for roughly 17 years, and build a dam to hold…enough [mine waste] to fill 14,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.”

This is in rarefied company of historic sports moments

Sabastian Sawe of Kenya has become the first person to run a marathon in under 2 hours.

“It was the most harebrained operation I’d seen in my 38 years with the U.S. government,” one career diplomat said about the second Trump administration's wholesale slashing of foreign aid. “Who knows how much damage was done.” (Published Dec. 2025)

By the way, there are two ICE charters headed to Africa right now. The Afghans in the NYT story aren’t onboard since they are in Qatar. But hundreds of immigrants who had been living in the US, sometimes for decades, have already been sent to 8 African “third-countries,” most of which are unstable.

it is important to emphasize that this was *the point*. this was *intentional*. elon musk is a vicious white supremacist who thinks poor african children ought to die, so that the world can be whiter

I unlocked a career goal reporting this one: freediving for a story 🤿

Whatever you do,

A U.S. firm now holds major Democratic Republic of Congo mining assets under a new partnership. While the deal aims to secure minerals for EVs and tech, advocates warn of "devastating pollution" and past violence at these sites. @shokes.bsky.social reports for #Mongabay.

The bulk of the 20th century was a series of events that proved, in fact hard power is severely limited in what it can accomplish. Above all else this crowd is (fairly) good at building things and atrocious at thinking about them

The death toll in Lebanon is now 2,020 with 6,436 injured

Strategery

man morale at the AP is real bad huh

had a long term friend (younger) pull a "you can't really trust anyone anymore" type of argument over *whether the moon actually exists* the other day. took me a minute to clock what she was trying to get at. the world is getting very very weird.

While Kenyan authorities say a new luxury camp hasn't affected wildlife yet, Maasai leaders and scientists worry the project threatens the Great Migration and traditional livelihoods. Experts are calling for long-term data to track the impact on wildlife. Elodie Toto reports for #Mongabay.

Meanwhile

No matter how long it takes, US political and military operatives will have to face trial for war crimes they commit this week. It took years to get Pinochet, Karadzic, and Taylor in front of a judge. If the same is true for this bunch, so be it, but that day must eventually come.

I know it's not in vogue but I still believe that making moral arguments is good.

Love this!

A WIRED analysis of DHS records identified dozens of specialized federal agents who used force against US civilians during the largest known deployment of its kind in US history. www.wired.com/story/border...

So what this describes is ethnic cleansing www.nytimes.com/2026/04/01/w...

Interesting, now let me crack this book about the history of the world over the last 50 years and see how the economists did

The Knesset passed a bill today mandating the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of terror - but not for Jews. There is a word for a legal system where different legal standards apply to different categories of people. www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

"The way some of these other immigrants are getting treated in our country right now is a travesty and a disgrace... I think what’s going on in our country — what we’re doing to some of these amazing immigrants, is really unfortunate and it’s really sad." - Charles Barkley on CBS

A study of 38,000 people across 75 countries found that feeling connected to nature consistently predicts higher well-being, hope and resilience – regardless of wealth or national culture. theconversation.com/a-connection...

"Mr. Buria [Hegseth's chief of staff] told Mr. Driscoll [Secretary of the Army] that President Trump would not want to stand next to a Black female officer at military events, the officials said." www.nytimes.com/2026/03/27/u...

[Commentary ] Slow-moving and peaceful, manatees are vital to the health of our oceans. This Manatee Appreciation Day, we honor the dedicated people working to save them. As a new op-ed by conservationist Omar Vidal argues, whether these giants survive the next 100 years is up to us.

at some point in the future i think that social media overuse is going to be seen the same way as chain smoking or alcoholism www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/t...