Environment
Russia’s Atomic Wildfires
Massive wildfires are encroaching on Russia’s defunct nuclear sites, threatening to reignite radioactive compounds that have been dormant since the Cold War. But the country’s understaffed and underexperienced fire service is faltering in the wake of the Ukraine war, leaving populations across the vast interior vulnerable to a compound disaster.
War, Smog and Cancer
Economic collapse, mass smoking and worsening air pollution have combined to give Lebanon — a country once known as the region's leader in healthcare – the fastest-growing cancer burden anywhere.
The Butterfly Effect of Mexico’s Cartel Violence
Drug cartels in northern Mexico are extorting locals and pushing illegal logging and avocado plantations. One victim is the country’s population of monarch butterflies, which migrate there by the millions in the winter and are at risk of losing a critical ecosystem.
Albanians Embrace Their ‘Flamingo Revolution’
If completed, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump’s $6 billion development project in Albania would permanently alter one of Europe’s most pristine protected landscapes. The controversy has sparked an unprecedented anti-corruption probe and mass protests that Albanians are calling the Flamingo Revolution.
Israel’s Polluting West Bank Factories
Pollution from Israeli factories established illegally in the West Bank has poisoned the soil on Palestinian farms and damaged farmers’ health. Yet these unregulated industrial sites remain connected to European markets.
In Wisconsin, the Fates of Wolves and Humans Are Intertwined
The Ojibwe tribes regard their fate as intertwined with that of gray wolves. Amid renewed federal efforts to strip the animals of protections following a period of recovery, they are fighting for the wolves’ future, and their own rights.
Lebanon’s Beekeepers Are at Breaking Point
Lebanon's bees were already under siege from pesticides, climate change and economic collapse before Israeli bombardments devastated apiaries across the south. With hives destroyed, beekeepers displaced and the next generation fleeing the country, an ecological catastrophe is unfolding — the effects of which will outlast the war.