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GoGreenNation news

Pope Leo calls for environmental action worldwide

News Feed
Wednesday, October 1, 2025

The first American pope urged people everywhere to become politically active on issues like climate change.

The first American pope urged people everywhere to become politically active on issues like climate change.

The first American pope urged people everywhere to become politically active on issues like climate change.
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Related News

Team Trump Will Spend $625 Million and Open Public Lands to Revive a Dying Industry

This story was originally published by Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The White House will open 13.1 million acres of public land to coal mining while providing $625 million for coal-fired power plants, the Trump administration has announced. The efforts came as part of a suite of initiatives from the Department of the […]

This story was originally published by Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The White House will open 13.1 million acres of public land to coal mining while providing $625 million for coal-fired power plants, the Trump administration has announced. The efforts came as part of a suite of initiatives from the Department of the Interior, Department of Energy, and Environmental Protection Agency, aimed at reviving the flagging coal sector. Coal, the most polluting and costly fossil fuel, has been on a rapid decline over the past 30 years, with the US halving its production between 2008 and 2023, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). “This is an industry that matters to our country,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a livestreamed press conference on Monday morning, alongside representatives from the other two departments. “It matters to the world, and it’s going to continue to matter for a long time.” “This is a colossal waste of our money at a time when the federal government should be spurring along the new energy sources.” Coal plants provided about 15 percent of US electricity in 2024—a steep fall from 50 percent in 2000—the EIA found, with the growth of gas and green power displacing its use. Last year, wind and solar produced more electricity than coal in the US for the first time in history, according to the International Energy Agency, which predicts that could happen at the global level by the end of 2026. Despite its dwindling role, Trump has made the reviving the coal sector a priority of his second term amid increasing energy demand due to the proliferation of artificial intelligence data centers. “The Trump administration is hell-bent on supporting the oldest, dirtiest energy source. It’s handing our hard-earned tax dollars over to the owners of coal plants that cost more to run than new, clean energy,” said Amanda Levin, director of policy analysis at the national environmental nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council. “This is a colossal waste of our money at a time when the federal government should be spurring along the new energy sources that can power the AI boom and help bring down electricity bills for struggling families.” The administration’s new $625 million investment includes $350 million to “modernize” coal plants, $175 million for coal projects it claims will provide affordable and reliable energy to rural communities, and $50 million to upgrade wastewater management systems to extend the lifespan of coal plants. The efforts follow previous coal-focused initiatives from the Trump administration, which has greenlit mining leases while fast-tracking mining permits. It has also prolonged the life of some coal plants, exempted some coal plants from EPA rules, and falsely claimed that emissions from those plants are “not significant.” The moves have sparked outrage from environmental advocates who note that coal pollution has been linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths across the past two decades. One study estimated that emissions from coal costs Americans $13-$26 billion a year in additional ER visits, strokes and cardiac events, and a greater prevalence and severity of childhood asthma events.

Climate
Energy
Pollution

Hundreds of Feet of Coastal Bluff in California Fell Toward the Ocean in Landslide-Stricken Town

A wealthy enclave in Southern California that has been threatened for years by worsening landslides faced more land movement this week, but it suffered minimal damage

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A wealthy enclave in Southern California that has been threatened for years by worsening landslides faced more land movement this week but suffered minimal damage. Four backyards in Rancho Palos Verdes were damaged Saturday evening by significant soil movement from the sinking land, but there was no structural damage to homes and no injuries were reported, according to a news update on the city's website. No homes were tagged. About 300 to 400 linear feet (91 to 122 meters) of a coastal slope sloughed off, falling about 50 to 60 feet (15 to 18 meters) toward the ocean, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The movement’s cause is still under investigation. The public is being advised to avoid the shoreline where the movement occurred out of an abundance of caution.City officials said the event was unrelated to the continual land movement known as the Portuguese Bend Landslide Complex, about 4 miles (6 kilometers) southeast, that has wreaked havoc on scores of multimillion-dollar homes perched over the Pacific Ocean. About 70 years ago, the Portuguese Bend landslide in Rancho Palos Verdes was triggered with the construction of a road through the area, which sits atop an ancient landslide. It destroyed 140 homes at the time, and the land has moved ever since.More homes have collapsed or been torn apart since. Evacuation warnings have been issued, and swaths of the community have had their power and gas turned off. The once slow-moving landslides began to rapidly accelerate after several years of torrential rains in Southern California. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for the area. The city is urging the governor to sign into a law a bill that would expand California's definition of emergencies to include landslides and events made worse by climate change. The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

Climate
Water

Schwarzenegger at Vatican in Mission to 'Terminate' Fossil Fuels

By Joshua McElweeVATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Arnold Schwarzenegger came to the Vatican on Tuesday to throw his weight behind Pope Leo's efforts to...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Arnold Schwarzenegger came to the Vatican on Tuesday to throw his weight behind Pope Leo's efforts to encourage world leaders to address global climate change and transition away from fossil fuels."Every single one of (the) 1.4 billion Catholics can be a crusader for the environment and can help us terminate pollution," the former California governor, actor and bodybuilder said, referencing one of his blockbuster film roles, the Terminator."God has put us in this world to leave this world a better place than we inherited it," said Austrian-born Schwarzenegger, who is a Catholic."I'm so excited … that the Catholic Church and the Vatican are getting involved in this because we need their help."Schwarzenegger, a Republican Party member who is a longtime proponent of addressing climate change, spoke at a press conference ahead of a three-day Vatican meeting this week on the issue, where he will offer a keynote address alongside Pope Leo.The three-day event is tied to the 10th anniversary of a major environmental document by the late Pope Francis, which was the first papal text to embrace the scientific consensus about climate change and urged nations to reduce their carbon emissions.Leo, the first pope from the United States, has also emphasised the Church's environmental teachings.Earlier this month, Leo opened a Vatican-run ecological training centre on the sprawling grounds of a Renaissance-era papal villa in Castel Gandolfo, an Italian lakeside town about an hour's drive from Rome.Some 400 faith and civil society leaders are expected to take part in this week's Vatican event, including Brazil's environment minister, the director of the U.N.'s Faith for Earth coalition, and the CEO of the European Climate Foundation.Maina Talia, climate change minister for the Pacific Island nation Tuvalu, told Tuesday's press conference that his country is already suffering dramatic impacts from rising sea levels."Climate change is not a distant scenario," he said. "We are already drowning. Our survival depends on urgent global solidarity."(Reporting by Joshua McElweeEditing by Gareth Jones)Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

Climate
Pollution

As Amazon's 'Flying Rivers' Weaken With Tree Loss, Scientists Warn of Worsening Droughts

Scientists warn that “flying rivers” — invisible streams of moisture that carry rain from the Atlantic Ocean westward across the Amazon — are weakening as deforestation and climate change advance

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Droughts have withered crops in Peru, fires have scorched the Amazon and hydroelectric dams in Ecuador have struggled to keep the lights on as rivers dry up. Scientists say the cause may lie high above the rainforest, where invisible “flying rivers” carry rain from the Atlantic Ocean across South America.New analysis warns that relentless deforestation is disrupting that water flow and suggests that continuing tree loss will worsen droughts in the southwestern Amazon and could eventually trigger those regions to shift from rainforest to drier savanna — grassland with far fewer trees.“These are the forces that actually create and sustain the Amazon rainforest,” said Matt Finer, a senior researcher with Amazon Conservation’s Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP), which tracks deforestation and climate threats across the basin and carried out the analysis. “If you break that pump by cutting down too much forest, the rains stop reaching where they need to go.” What are flying rivers and how do they work? Most of the Amazon’s rainfall starts over the Atlantic Ocean. Moist air is pushed inland by steady winds that blow west along the equator, known as the trade winds. The forest then acts like a pump, effectively relaying the water thousands of miles westward as the trees absorb water, then release it back into the air.Brazilian climate scientist Carlos Nobre was among the early researchers who calculated how much of the water vapor from the Atlantic would move through and eventually out of the Amazon basin. He and colleagues coined the “flying rivers” term at a 2006 scientific meeting, and interest grew as scientists warned that a weakening of the rivers could push the Amazon into a tipping point where rainforest would turn to savanna.That's important because the Amazon rainforest is a vast storehouse for the carbon dioxide that largely drives the world's warming. Such a shift would devastate wildlife and Indigenous communities and threaten farming, water supplies and weather stability far beyond the region. Warning signs in Peru and Bolivia The analysis by Finer's group found that southern Peru and northern Bolivia are especially vulnerable. During the dry season, flying rivers sweep across southern Brazil before reaching the Andes — precisely where deforestation is most intense. The loss of trees means less water vapor is carried westward, raising the risk of drought in iconic protected areas such as Peru’s Manu National Park.“Peru can do everything right to protect a place like Manu,” Finer said. “But if deforestation keeps cutting into the pump in Brazil, the rains that sustain it may never arrive.”Nobre said as much as 50% of rainfall in the western Amazon near the Andes depends on the flying rivers.Corine Vriesendorp, Amazon Conservation’s director of science based in Cusco, Peru, said the changes are already visible. “The last two years have brought the driest conditions the Amazon has ever seen,” Vriesendorp said. “Ecological calendars that Indigenous communities use — when to plant, when to fish, when animals reproduce — are increasingly out of sync. Having less and more unpredictable rain will have an even bigger impact on their lives than climate change is already having.” Forest makes a fragile pump MAAP researchers found that rainfall patterns depend on when and where the flying rivers cross the basin. In the wet season, their northern route flows mostly over intact forests in Guyana, Suriname and northern Brazil, keeping the system strong. But in the dry season — when forests are already stressed by heat — the aerial rivers cut across southern Brazil, where deforestation fronts spread along highways and farms and there simply are fewer trees to help move the moisture along.“It’s during the dry months, when the forest most needs water, that the flying rivers are most disrupted,” Finer said. Finer pointed to roads that can accelerate deforestation, noting that the controversial BR-319 highway in Brazil — a project to pave a road through one of the last intact parts of the southern Amazon — could create an entirely new deforestation front.For years, scientists have warned about the Amazon tipping toward savannah. Finer said the new study complicates that picture. “It’s not a single, all-at-once collapse,” he said. “Certain areas, like the southwest Amazon, are more vulnerable and will feel the impacts first. And we’re already seeing early signs of rainfall reduction downwind of deforested areas.”Nobre said the risks are stark. Amazon forests have already lost about 17% of their cover, mostly to cattle and soy. Those ecosystems recycle far less water. “The dry season is now five weeks longer than it was 45 years ago, with 20 to 30% less rainfall,” he said. “If deforestation exceeds 20 to 25% and warming reaches 2 degrees Celsius, there’s no way to prevent the Amazon from reaching the tipping point.”Protecting intact forests, supporting Indigenous land rights and restoring deforested areas are the clearest paths forward, researchers say.“To avoid collapse we need zero deforestation, degradation and fires — immediately,” Nobre said. “And we must begin large-scale forest restoration, not less than half a million square kilometers. If we do that, and keep global warming below 2 degrees, we can still save the Amazon.”Finer said governments should consider new conservation categories specifically designed to protect flying rivers — safeguarding not just land but the atmospheric flows that make the rainforest possible.For Vriesendorp, that means regional cooperation. She praised Peru for creating vast parks and Indigenous reserves in the southeast, including Manu National Park. But, she said, “this can’t be solved by one country alone. Peru depends on Brazil, and Brazil depends on its neighbors. We need basin-wide solutions.”The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

Climate
Forests
CO2

3 Questions: Addressing the world’s most pressing challenges

Mihaela Papa discusses the BRICS Lab, her role at the Center for International Studies, and the center's ongoing ambition to tackle the world's most complex challenges in new and creative ways.

The Center for International Studies (CIS) empowers students, faculty, and scholars to bring MIT’s interdisciplinary style of research and scholarship to address complex global challenges. In this Q&A, Mihaela Papa, the center's director of research and a principal research scientist at MIT, describes her role as well as research within the BRICS Lab at MIT — a reference the BRICS intergovernmental organization, which comprises the nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. She also discusses the ongoing mission of CIS to tackle the world's most complex challenges in new and creative ways.Q: What is your role at CIS, and some of your key accomplishments since joining the center just over a year ago?A: I serve as director of research and principal research scientist at CIS, a role that bridges management and scholarship. I oversee grant and fellowship programs, spearhead new research initiatives, build research communities across our center's area programs and MIT schools, and mentor the next generation of scholars. My academic expertise is in international relations, and I publish on global governance and sustainable development, particularly through my new BRICS Lab. This past year, I focused on building collaborative platforms that highlight CIS’ role as an interdisciplinary hub and expand its research reach. With Evan Lieberman, the director of CIS, I launched the CIS Global Research and Policy Seminar series to address current challenges in global development and governance, foster cross-disciplinary dialogue, and connect theoretical insights to policy solutions. We also convened a Climate Adaptation Workshop, which examined promising strategies for financing adaptation and advancing policy innovation. We documented the outcomes in a workshop report that outlines a broader research agenda contributing to MIT’s larger climate mission.In parallel, I have been reviewing CIS’ grant-making programs to improve how we serve our community, while also supporting regional initiatives such as research planning related to Ukraine. Together with the center's MIT-Brazil faculty director Brad Olsen, I secured a MITHIC [MIT Human Insight Collaboration] Connectivity grant to build an MIT Amazonia research community that connects MIT scholars with regional partners and strengthens collaboration across the Amazon. Finally, I launched the BRICS Lab to analyze transformations in global governance and have ongoing research on BRICS and food security and data centers in BRICS. Q: Tell us more about the BRICS Lab.A: The BRICS countries comprise the majority of the world’s population and an expanding share of the global economy. [Originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, and China, BRICS currently includes 11 nations.] As a group, they carry the collective weight to shape international rules, influence global markets, and redefine norms — yet the question remains: Will they use this power effectively? The BRICS Lab explores the implications of the bloc’s rise for international cooperation and its role in reshaping global politics. Our work focuses on three areas: the design and strategic use of informal groups like BRICS in world affairs; the coalition’s potential to address major challenges such as food security, climate change, and artificial intelligence; and the implications of U.S. policy toward BRICS for the future of multilateralism.Q: What are the center’s biggest research priorities right now?A: Our center was founded in response to rising geopolitical tensions and the urgent need for policy rooted in rigorous, evidence-based research. Since then, we have grown into a hub that combines interdisciplinary scholarship and actively engages with policymakers and the public. Today, as in our early years, the center brings together exceptional researchers with the ambition to address the world’s most pressing challenges in new and creative ways.Our core focus spans security, development, and human dignity. Security studies have been a priority for the center, and our new nuclear security programming advances this work while training the next generation of scholars in this critical field. On the development front, our work has explored how societies manage diverse populations, navigate international migration, as well as engage with human rights and the changing patterns of regime dynamics.We are pursuing new research in three areas. First, on climate change, we seek to understand how societies confront environmental risks and harms, from insurance to water and food security in the international context. Second, we examine shifting patterns of global governance as rising powers set new agendas and take on greater responsibilities in the international system. Finally, we are initiating research on the impact of AI — how it reshapes governance across international relations, what is the role of AI corporations, and how AI-related risks can be managed.As we approach our 75th anniversary in 2026, we are excited to bring researchers together to spark bold ideas that open new possibilities for the future.

Climate
Food
Government

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The Day She Stole The Sun

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Carbon Men Salvation: The Senator's Dilemma

Climate change is heating up the world at an accelerating rate, but Congress is frozen to action. Humanity is heading towards devastation; there is only one chance to change the future by traveling into the past. Brilliant climatologist student Anna Jones is researching a massive glacier in Antarctica that is on the verge of collapse. This disaster will drown coastal cities, trigger unprecedented climate refugee numbers and loss of life, while inciting wars. Anna’s father, Dan Jones, the newly elected Senator from New Jersey, is pivotal to the success or failure of a key climate bill. The vote is imminent. Powerful climate denier factions work against the necessary climate actions, even as the planet teeters on the prime tipping point where human behavior, science and legislation collide. Only Noah Poem, a time traveling scientist from the future, can help Anna Jones convince her climate doubting father to do the right thing. But time is running out as science fiction meets science fact. The fate of the human race hangs in the balance. One vote could save humanity.

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Capturing The Fire

When Louise Coghill saw the first plume of smoke begin to rise behind her parents property, she could never have predicted that in less than four hours, it would become a wall of flames, swallowing everything in its path. A photographer by trade, Louise has travelled the world documenting everything from the nomadic wanderers of Mongolia, to base life at Mount Everest. Capturing the extraordinary comes naturally to Louise, so when her family home in the semi-rural Western Australian town of Gidgegannup became engulfed in flames, her first instinct wasn’t to take shelter, it was to pick up her camera.

Conservation
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