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Sarah Burton obituary

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Thursday, December 18, 2025

My partner, Sarah Burton, who has died of cancer of the appendix aged 73, was a formidable legal and environmental activist. She held senior roles at Greenpeace UK, Greenpeace International and Amnesty International.She joined the law firm of Seifert Sedley in the late 1970s, after impressing them with her negotiating skills for the Seymour Place Co-operative, in London. During the 1980 Blair Peach inquest, Sarah secured a high court order stopping proceedings and requiring the coroner to sit with a jury.In the mid-80s, with her law partner Mike Seifert, she coordinated representation for thousands of striking miners and fought off countless injunctions. During the strike, she gave birth to her daughter, Hannah, receiving a large bouquet from Arthur Scargill.Born in New York to Henrietta (nee Berman), an accountant, and Irving Novak, a garment worker who owned his own business, Sarah went to Long Beach high school, Long Island. She moved to Britain in the early 70s, worked as a legal secretary, and took evening classes to become a solicitor; she qualified in 1980. She married Rick Burton in 1973 and they divorced amicably three years later, remaining friends.In 1990, Sarah joined Greenpeace UK as their first in-house lawyer. When British Nuclear Fuels obtained an injunction preventing Greenpeace UK from stopping BNFL dumping nuclear waste into the Irish Sea, Sarah advised that foreign activists – not bound by UK courts – could lawfully block BNFL’s wastepipe. She was right. She left in 2002 and became an independent consultant for a number of NGOs and charities; in 2006 she joined Amnesty International as campaign programme director.From 2009 to 2018 she managed senior programme staff at Greenpeace International, in Amsterdam. In 2009 she travelled to Sumatra, where illegal logging threatened a local community. When told to bring whatever she would take on a camping trip, she replied: “A hotel reservation?” Surrounded by armed soldiers, she asked the community whether they wanted to move or stay. They chose to stay, and she insisted Greenpeace stay with them. In time, the soldiers withdrew.Sarah retired in 2018 and we moved to Bridport, Dorset, in 2020, where she embraced painting and steel drumming. A founder of Lawyers for Nuclear Disarmament, she also served on the boards of Natural England, English Nature and the Public Law Project.Though known for her courage, Sarah was proudest of mentoring young women activists who went on to lead within Greenpeace and other NGOs. After 20 years together we celebrated our civil partnership in April.She is survived by me, her daughter, Hannah, and her brother, Milton.

My partner, Sarah Burton, who has died of cancer of the appendix aged 73, was a formidable legal and environmental activist. She held senior roles at Greenpeace UK, Greenpeace International and Amnesty International.She joined the law firm of Seifert Sedley in the late 1970s, after impressing them with her negotiating skills for the Seymour Place Co-operative, in London. During the 1980 Blair Peach inquest, Sarah secured a high court order stopping proceedings and requiring the coroner to sit with a jury. Continue reading...

My partner, Sarah Burton, who has died of cancer of the appendix aged 73, was a formidable legal and environmental activist. She held senior roles at Greenpeace UK, Greenpeace International and Amnesty International.

She joined the law firm of Seifert Sedley in the late 1970s, after impressing them with her negotiating skills for the Seymour Place Co-operative, in London. During the 1980 Blair Peach inquest, Sarah secured a high court order stopping proceedings and requiring the coroner to sit with a jury.

In the mid-80s, with her law partner Mike Seifert, she coordinated representation for thousands of striking miners and fought off countless injunctions. During the strike, she gave birth to her daughter, Hannah, receiving a large bouquet from Arthur Scargill.

Born in New York to Henrietta (nee Berman), an accountant, and Irving Novak, a garment worker who owned his own business, Sarah went to Long Beach high school, Long Island. She moved to Britain in the early 70s, worked as a legal secretary, and took evening classes to become a solicitor; she qualified in 1980. She married Rick Burton in 1973 and they divorced amicably three years later, remaining friends.

In 1990, Sarah joined Greenpeace UK as their first in-house lawyer. When British Nuclear Fuels obtained an injunction preventing Greenpeace UK from stopping BNFL dumping nuclear waste into the Irish Sea, Sarah advised that foreign activists – not bound by UK courts – could lawfully block BNFL’s wastepipe. She was right. She left in 2002 and became an independent consultant for a number of NGOs and charities; in 2006 she joined Amnesty International as campaign programme director.

From 2009 to 2018 she managed senior programme staff at Greenpeace International, in Amsterdam. In 2009 she travelled to Sumatra, where illegal logging threatened a local community. When told to bring whatever she would take on a camping trip, she replied: “A hotel reservation?” Surrounded by armed soldiers, she asked the community whether they wanted to move or stay. They chose to stay, and she insisted Greenpeace stay with them. In time, the soldiers withdrew.

Sarah retired in 2018 and we moved to Bridport, Dorset, in 2020, where she embraced painting and steel drumming. A founder of Lawyers for Nuclear Disarmament, she also served on the boards of Natural England, English Nature and the Public Law Project.

Though known for her courage, Sarah was proudest of mentoring young women activists who went on to lead within Greenpeace and other NGOs. After 20 years together we celebrated our civil partnership in April.

She is survived by me, her daughter, Hannah, and her brother, Milton.

Read the full story here.
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Portland faces pressure to reduce storage capacity at fuel hub amid quake risks

Community activists want the 20% drawdown to start immediately while the city proposes to complete it by 2036.

The city’s proposal to reduce storage capacity at the fuels hub in Northwest Portland has drawn sharp criticism from community advocates and others who argue the proposed timeline is dangerously slow given seismic risks and climate threats. The clash came to a head at a Planning Commission hearing Tuesday night as city staff outlined a plan for a 20% reduction to be completed by 2036. Environmental activists, tribal representatives and neighborhood groups pressed for the drawdown to start immediately and called for raising the targets as fuel use falls statewide. The dueling proposals are part of an effort to chart a future path for the Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub, a 6-mile stretch on the Willamette River along U.S. 30 between the Fremont Bridge and the southern tip of Sauvie Island. Eleven companies own fuel terminals there that store crude oil, diesel, renewable diesel and other fuels in more than 400 aging tanks. Over 90% of Oregon’s fuel supply comes through the hub. Numerous studies, including a seismic risk assessment by Multnomah County, have shown the fuels could spill and explode if the soil under the tanks liquifies during a massive earthquake generated by the Cascadia Subduction Zone. The hub also faces numerous climate threats, including wildfires, flooding and landslides. Earlier this year, the city outlined four alternatives for the hub’s future, including a 17% drawdown of existing unused tank storage capacity. The three other alternatives did not call for reducing fuel storage – two called for the expansion or limited expansion of renewable and aviation fuels at the hub and a third prohibited all fuel expansion but without a drawdown. Ultimately, after considering community input, city staff settled on the most stringent option and their proposed draft for the hub’s future recommends a 20% drawdown on existing unused fuel storage capacity by 2036 as well as amendments to prohibit fuel expansion at existing terminals and to support risk reduction at the hub. Under the city proposal, companies at the hub would have to submit a baseline inventory of in-service tank capacity by October 2026. Whether companies abide by the drawdown requirement would be measured in 10 years – there are no interim requirements, something many advocates criticized.Aster Bloem, a spokesperson with the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, said the 2036 timeline aligns with how long companies at the hub have to complete seismic tank upgrades as required under a new Oregon law and monitored by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. The 10-year timeline also gives the companies time to figure out which tanks will come out of service and to reconfigure the remaining storage tank capacity, she said. Interim drawdown requirements could potentially interfere with the seismic upgrades, Bloem said.But activists with several community groups said Portland should speed up the drawdown timeline and make fuel storage reduction targets even more stringent. Multiple speakers urged the city to impose the drawdown requirement immediately, or as soon as the City Council adopts the policy code. “The city cannot wait 10 years to act, yet BPS (the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability) proposals do nothing to meaningfully reduce the risk over the next decade. We cannot afford that delay,” Heather King, the co-executive director of the nonprofit Willamette Riverkeeper, told the commission. The city reached its calculation of a 20% drawdown by 2036 based on a percentage of empty space in tanks now. Federal data shows that currently, on average, tanks are filled only to 70% of their capacity, leaving 30% empty. About a third of that empty space is reserved to prevent spills, said city planner Tom Armstrong. The drawdown target would mean companies at the hub could no longer use the empty excess space to store more fuel. City officials said Oregon’s need for fuel will decrease slightly by 2036, making it somewhat easier to restrict the use of tank space by that time without affecting fuel supply reliability in the state. If that’s the case, said opponents, then why not make the companies reduce their capacity now. A 20% drawdown is already possible and should be implemented right away, community groups said. Advocates proposed measuring drawdown needs based on actual tank daily fill levels reported to the Oregon fire marshal’s office, rather than estimated tank capacity based on federal Energy Information Administration data. The state data showed that only 40% of the tanks’ overall capacity is being used on average instead of 70% according to the federal data. “Drawdown must be based on data, not projections based on best ‘guesses,’” said Nancy Hiser, a Linnton resident and community advocate who for years has warned about the dangers of an earthquake-caused spill at the hub. Advocates also said adjustments to the drawdown restrictions should be done every three to five years to align with the decrease in Oregon’s demand for liquid fuels and as the state transitions to electrification of cars and trucks. Bloem, the bureau spokesperson, said city staff matched the federal data with a storage tank capacity inventory that they compiled from Multnomah County and DEQ data. The resulting modeling estimated how much of their available storage companies use each year.The state data, on the other hand, is less useful, Bloem said, because it includes only average daily volumes and peak daily volumes, not total volumes. Also, due to confidentiality rules, the city cannot report data for individual terminals, she said. Bloem said the city will continue to monitor the hub and may adjust the drawdown requirements, beyond the 10 years. “As the fuel needs in Oregon change, there could be future opportunities to change the city’s requirements,” she said. The public can continue to submit written testimony until Friday.The Planning Commission will discuss the proposals during two work sessions in January and February. The commission will vote Feb. 10 on its recommendation to the City Council. Another opportunity to provide testimony will be open from Jan. 13 to Jan. 23.

Activism
Climate
Energy

A Few More Environmental Books From 2025 We Couldn’t Let You Miss

Before ending the year, we wanted to highlight this eclectic assortment of reading gems we couldn’t fit into our earlier book reviews. The post A Few More Environmental Books From 2025 We Couldn’t Let You Miss appeared first on The Revelator.

This year most of our “Revelator Reads” columns presented new books covering themes like environmental activism, climate anxiety, wildlife, and public lands. But not every book fits into a neat box or arrives in time to make the cut. Here’s a year-end wrap-up of terrific books — many of which showcase success stories and solutions — that we didn’t want to close out 2025 without mentioning. We’ve adapted the books’ official descriptions below, and the link in each title goes to the publisher’s page. You should also be able to find any of these titles through your local bookseller or library. The Owl Handbook: Investigating the Lives, Habits, and Importance of These Enigmatic Birds by John Shewey Charismatic, intriguing, and misunderstood: The Owl Handbook is a beautifully photographed, thoughtfully researched, and accessible guide to these enigmatic, captivating creatures. Traditions of the owl as a harbinger of doom, spirit guide, and mysterious symbol for many cultures, mythologies, and superstitions have projected our fear of the unknown onto these nocturnal birds. But these wondrous birds are so much more than shadows in the night. Lifelong birding enthusiast John Shewey leads us through an exploration of owls’ cultural impact as seen in folklore, providing in-depth profiles of 19 owls of North America and a survey of 200 more across the globe, giving advice on how to respectfully observe and protect these magnificent birds, brought to life by hundreds of full-color photographs. Tigers Between Empires: The Improbable Return of Great Cats to the Forests of Russia and China by Jonathan C. Slaght The forests of northeast Asia are home to a marvelous range of animals — fish owls and brown bears, musk deer and moose, wolves and raccoon dogs, leopards and tigers. But by the final years of the Cold War, only a few hundred tigers stepped quietly through the snow of the Amur River basin. Soon the Soviet Union fell, bringing catastrophe; without the careful oversight of a central authority, poaching and logging took a fast, astonishing toll on an already vulnerable species. Just as these changes arrived, scientists came together to found the Siberian Tiger Project. Led by Dale Miquelle, a moose researcher, and Zhenya Smirnov, a mouse biologist, the team captured and released more than 114 tigers over three decades. They witnessed mating rituals and fights, hunting and feeding, the ceding and taking of territory, the creation of families. Within these pages, characters — both feline and human — come fully alive as we travel with them through the quiet and changing forests of Amur. Sink or Swim: How the World Needs to Adapt to a Changing Climate by Susannah Fisher How can we adapt to climate change? Let’s examine the key problems and hard choices that lie ahead for the global community in this practical approach to coping in a time of chaos. Adaptation has been incremental, with governments and institutions merely tinkering around the edges of current systems. This will not be enough, and this book explores the hard choices that lie ahead concerning how people earn a living, the way governments manage relationships between countries, and how communities accommodate the displacement of people. For example, should people be encouraged to move away from the coasts? Can global food supplies be managed when parts of the world are hit by simultaneous droughts? How can conflict be handled when there isn’t enough water for a population? Based on the latest research, interviews with experts, and practical examples from across the world, Sink or Swim discusses frankly the choices that lie ahead and how we can have a livable planet. Roam: Wild Animals and the Race to Repair Our Fractured World by Hilary Rosner All over the globe, animals are stranded — by roads, fences, drainage systems, industrial farms, and cities. They simply cannot move around to access their daily needs. Yet as climate change reshapes the planet in its own ways, many creatures will, increasingly, have to move in order to survive. This book illustrates a massive and underreported problem: how a completely human-centered view of the world has impacted the ability of other species to move around. But it’s also about solutions and hope: How we can forge new links between landscapes that have become isolated pieces. How we can stitch ecosystems back together, so that the processes still work, and the systems can evolve as they need to. How we can build a world in which humans recognize their interconnectedness with the rest of the planet and view other species with empathy and compassion. The Whispers of Rock: The Stories That Stone Tells About Our World and Our Lives by Anjana Khatwa Can you hear the stones speak? The question seems absurd. After all, rocks are lifeless, inert, and silent. Earth scientist Anjana Khatwa asks us to think again and listen to their stories. Alternating between modern science and ancient wisdom, Khatwa takes us on an exhilarating journey through time, from origins of the green pounamu that courses down New Zealand rivers to the wonder of the bluestone megaliths of Stonehenge, from the tuff-hewn churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia, to Manhattan’s bedrock of schist. In unearthing those histories, Khatwa shows how rocks have always spoken to us, delicately intertwining Indigenous stories of Earth’s creation with our scientific understanding of its development, deftly showing how our lives are intimately connected to time’s ancient storytellers. Through planetary change, ancient wisdom, and contemporary creativity, this book offers the hope of reconnection with Earth. You won’t simply hear rocks speak, you will feel the magic of deep time seep into your bones. We Are Eating the Earth: The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate By Michael Grunwald In this rollicking, shocking narrative, Grunwald shows how the world, after decades of ignoring the climate problem at the center of our plates, has pivoted to making it worse, embracing solutions that sound sustainable but could make it even harder to grow more food with less land. But he also tells the stories of the dynamic scientists and entrepreneurs pursuing real solutions, from a jungle-tough miracle crop called pongamia to genetically edited cattle embryos, from Impossible Whoppers to a non-polluting pesticide that uses the technology behind the COVID vaccines to constipate beetles to death. It’s an often-infuriating saga of lobbyists, politicians, and even the scientific establishment making terrible choices for humanity, but it’s also a hopeful account of the people figuring out what needs to be done—and trying to do it. The Light Between Apple Trees: Rediscovering the Wild Through a Beloved American Fruit by Priyanka Kumar As a child in the foothills of the Himalayas, Priyanka Kumar was entranced by forest-like orchards of diverse and luscious fruits, especially apples. These biodiverse orchards seemed worlds away from the cardboard apples that lined supermarket shelves in the United States. Yet on a small patch of woods near her home in Santa Fe, Kumar discovered a wild apple tree — and the seeds of an odyssey were planted. Could the taste of a feral apple offer a doorway to the wild? In The Light Between Apple Trees, Kumar takes us on a dazzling and transformative journey to rediscover apples, unearthing a rich and complex history while illuminating how we can reimagine our relationship with nature. The Girl Who Draws on Whales Written and illustrated by Ariela Kristantina A graphic novel for middle-level children. Set in a fantasy world, several centuries after “The Great Flood,” Sister Wangi and younger brother Banyu live in a sea-village. Wangi has a special bond with the Great Whales that visit their sea-village, and they allow Wangi to draw on their backs. Sometimes they return with new drawings on them, maybe there are other sea-villages around and they are sending her people messages. None of the elders listen to her. One day, a new whale arrives in the village alone, wounded, and dying. This whale has a new drawing on its back that doesn’t look like the previous drawings. Inspired by this mystery, Wangi vows to investigate. Although forbidden by her parents and the village elders, Wangi along with her brother embark on a wondrous journey to investigate where the drawings are coming from only to find much more than they were expecting. A Window Into the Ocean Twilight Zone: Twenty-Four Days of Science at Sea by Michelle Cusolito For children and adults to share and care together and learn about our magnificent ocean biodiversity. Join scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and their international partner organizations on a research voyage to study the ocean twilight zone. Science writer Michelle Cusolito takes us along for the journey of a lifetime. From boarding the ship and unpacking equipment to facing massive storms in the middle of the Atlantic, this book details the fascinating techniques used to study the deep ocean as well as the daily details of life aboard a Spanish research vessel. Meet remarkable people, discover amazing animals, and learn more at sea than you ever imagined. *** Finally, here’s a set of companion books from Charlesbridge Publishing that parents and children can read and discuss together — a great opportunity to support our future guardians of biodiversity. Turtles Heading Home! by Liza Ketchum, Jacqueline Martin, and Phyllis Root The waters around Cape Cod used to cool off gradually, signaling to sea turtles that it was time to swim south. However, with climate change, the ocean stays warm too long and cools off too quickly, making the turtles too cold to migrate. Turtles Heading Home! follows the efforts of conservationists as they rescue the turtles, nurse them back to health, and release them into warmer waters. The operation involves hundreds of people, from the volunteers patrolling the beaches to the veterinarians looking after the turtles to the pilots who fly the turtles south. All of them share the goal of helping save the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, the most endangered sea turtle in the world. Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out! by April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Annie Patterson Sea turtles face many dangers as they grow, eat, travel, and breed. In this basic science dramatization of one female turtle’s challenges, acclaimed nature writer April Pulley Sayre highlights the role that humans have in helping this endangered species. Previously published, this story has been re-illustrated by the artist Annie Patterson. A great read-aloud or read-along choice for environmental awareness, this child-friendly book provides information on sea turtle conservation efforts for seven species of sea turtles and how they and grown-ups alike can help save these beautiful creatures. *** Enjoy these inspiring and informative reads as we prepare ourselves for the new year. You can find hundreds of additional environmental book recommendations in the “Revelator Reads” archives. And let us know what you’re reading: Drop us a line at comments@therevelator.org. The post A Few More Environmental Books From 2025 We Couldn’t Let You Miss appeared first on The Revelator.

Activism
Animals
Climate

AIPAC Spent Millions to Keep Her Out of Congress. Now, She Sees an Opening. 

Growing dissatisfaction with the Israel lobby may pave a lane for Nida Allam, who launched her congressional campaign in North Carolina Thursday with the backing of Justice Democrats. The post AIPAC Spent Millions to Keep Her Out of Congress. Now, She Sees an Opening.  appeared first on The Intercept.

A progressive North Carolina official who lost her 2022 congressional race after the pro-Israel lobby spent almost $2.5 million against her sees a fresh opening this midterm cycle, as a public disturbed by the genocide in Gaza has turned pro-Israel spending into an increasing liability. Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam is preparing for a rematch against Rep. Valerie Foushee, D-N.C., for the 4th Congressional District seat she lost by nine points in 2022. This time, the Israel lobby’s potential influence has shifted: Feeling the pressure from activists and constituents, Foushee has said she won’t accept money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Allam, who launched her campaign Thursday with the backing of the progressive group Justice Democrats, told The Intercept that wouldn’t be a shift for her. “I’ve never accepted corporate PAC or dark money, special interest group money, or pro Israel lobby group money,” said Allam, whose 2020 election to the county commission made her the first Muslim woman elected to public office in North Carolina. The country’s top pro-Israel lobbying groups and the crypto industry spent heavily to help Foushee beat Allam in 2022, when they competed in the race for the seat vacated by former Rep. David Price, D-N.C. AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, and DMFI PAC, another pro-Israel group with ties to AIPAC, spent just under $2.5 million backing Foushee that year. The PAC funded by convicted crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried also spent more than $1 million backing Foushee. Related Facing Voter Pressure, Swing-State Democrat Swears Off AIPAC Cash After nearly two years of pressure from activists in North Carolina enraged by Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Foushee announced in August that she would not accept AIPAC money in 2026, joining a growing list of candidates swearing off AIPAC money in the face of a new wave of progressive challengers. This time, if pro-Israel and crypto groups spend in the race, it’s on Foushee to respond, Allam said. “If they decide to spend in this, then it comes down to Valerie Foushee to answer, is she going to stand by the promise and commitment she made to not accept accept AIPAC and pro-Israel lobby money?” Allam said. “This district deserves someone who is going to be a champion for working families, and you can’t be that when you’re taking the money from the same corporate PAC donors that are funding Republicans who are killing Medicare for all, who are killing an increased minimum wage.” Foushee’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Allam, who helped lead Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign in North Carolina, is the seventh candidate Justice Democrats are backing so far this cycle. The group — which previously recruited progressive stars including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. — is endorsing candidates challenging incumbents next year in Michigan, California, New York, Tennessee, Missouri, and Colorado. Justice Democrats is taking a more aggressive approach to primaries this cycle after only endorsing its incumbents last year and losing two major seats to pro-Israel spending. The group plans to launch at least nine more candidates by January, The Intercept reported. Related She Lost Her Job for Speaking Out About Gaza. Can It Power Her to Congress? Allam unveiled her campaign with other endorsements from independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sunrise Movement, the Working Families Party, and Leaders We Deserve, a PAC launched by progressive organizers David Hogg and Kevin Lata in 2023 to back congressional candidates under the age of 35. She said she sees the local impacts of the Trump administration on working families every day in her work as a Durham County commissioner. “What I’m hearing from our residents every single day is that they don’t feel that they have a champion or someone who is standing up and fighting for them at the federal level, and someone who is advocating for working families,” she said. “This is the safest blue district in North Carolina and this is an opportunity for us as a Democratic Party to have someone elected who is going to be championing the issues for working families — like Medicare for All, a Green New Deal — and has a track record of getting things done at the local level.” Allam is rejecting corporate PAC money and running on taking on billionaires and fighting Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has been carrying out raids and arresting residents in the district. She’s also supporting a Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and ending military aid to Israel. She began considering a run for office after a man murdered her friends in the 2015 Chapel Hill shootings. Small dollar donors powered Allam’s 2022 campaign, when she raised $1.2 million with an average donation of $30. She’s aiming to replicate that strategy this cycle, she said. “Trump is testing the waters in every way possible,” Allam said. “The only way that we’re going to be able to effectively fight back against Trump is by passing the Voting Rights Act, is by taking big corporate money out of our elections, by ending Citizens United. Because they’re the same ones who are fighting against our democracy.” In its release announcing Allam’s campaign on Thursday, Justice Democrats criticized Foushee for taking money from corporate interests, including defense contractors who have profited from the genocides in Gaza and Sudan. “In the face of rising healthcare costs, creeping authoritarianism, and ICE raids, and the highest number of federal funding cuts of any district in the country, leadership that only shows up to make excuses won’t cut it anymore,” the group wrote. Foushee served in the North Carolina state legislature for more than two decades before being elected to Congress in 2022. She first campaigned for Congress on expanding the Affordable Care Act and moving toward Medicare for All, passing public campaign financing and the Voting Rights Act, and a $15 minimum wage. Since entering Congress in 2023, Foushee has sponsored bills to conduct research on gun violence prevention, to expand diversity in research for artificial intelligence, establish a rebate for environmental roof installations, and support historically Black colleges and universities. Foushee’s evolving stance on some Israel issues reflects a broader shift among Democrats under pressure from organizers and constituents. Amid rising public outrage over the influence of AIPAC in congressional elections in recent years, Foushee faced growing criticism and protests in the district over her refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and her support from the lobbying group. After organizers tried to meet with her and held a demonstration blocking traffic on a freeway in the district, she signed onto a 2023 letter calling for a ceasefire but did not publicize her support for the letter or comment on it publicly, The News & Observer reported. Related Trying to Block Arms to Israel, Bernie Sanders Denounces AIPAC’s Massive Election Spending At a town hall in August, an attendee asked Foushee if she regretted taking AIPAC money. In response, she said she would no longer accept money from the group. Three days later, she co-sponsored Illinois Rep. Delia Ramirez’s Block the Bombs to Israel Act to limit the transfer of defensive weapons to Israel. “We cannot allow AIPAC and these corporate billionaires to scare us into silence,” Allam said. “It’s actually our mandate to take them on directly, especially now as they’re losing their sway in the Democratic Party.” The post AIPAC Spent Millions to Keep Her Out of Congress. Now, She Sees an Opening.  appeared first on The Intercept.

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Health
Water

Montana youth activists who won landmark climate case push for court enforcement

In 2023, court had ruled in favor of 16 plaintiffs that officials violated their constitutional right by promoting fossil fuelsThe young Montanans who scored a landmark triumph in the lawsuit Held v Montana are calling on the state’s highest court to enforce that victory.In a groundbreaking legal decision in August 2023, a Montana judge ruled in favor of 16 youth plaintiffs who had accused state officials of violating their constitutional rights by promoting fossil fuels. The state’s supreme court affirmed the judge’s findings in late 2024. But state lawmakers have since violated her ruling, enshrining new laws this year that contradict it, argue 13 of the 16 plaintiffs in a petition filed on Wednesday. Continue reading...

The young Montanans who scored a landmark triumph in the lawsuit Held v Montana are calling on the state’s highest court to enforce that victory.In a groundbreaking legal decision in August 2023, a Montana judge ruled in favor of 16 youth plaintiffs who had accused state officials of violating their constitutional rights by promoting fossil fuels. The state’s supreme court affirmed the judge’s findings in late 2024. But state lawmakers have since violated her ruling, enshrining new laws this year that contradict it, argue 13 of the 16 plaintiffs in a petition filed on Wednesday.“These new policies mean the state is going to just continue to act in a way that will increase greenhouse gasses which during the Held case were shown to be disproportionately harming youth,” said Rikki Held, the 24-year-old lead petitioner who was also the named plaintiff in the earlier lawsuit. “It means we’ll continue down a path we already know and have proven is detrimental.”The Held decision stated that state laws limiting state agencies’ ability to consider greenhouse gas emissions and climate impacts during environmental reviews are unconstitutional. It also said that though the climate crisis is a global issue, Montana bears responsibility to address the harms that are being caused by greenhouse gas emissions within the state.“The decision confirmed that laws which put blinders on agencies during environmental reviews are unconstitutional,” said Nate Bellinger, supervising staff attorney at Our Children’s Trust, the non-profit law firm that filed the petition and Held v Montana. “But now the state is essentially re-blindering agencies.”During the 2025 Montana legislative session, the new challenge says, elected leaders passed a law prohibiting the state from adopting air quality standards more stringent than those incorporated in the federal Clean Air Act. It’s a “complete inversion” where the federal standards will serve as a cap on regulation instead of a floor, Bellinger said.The legislature also amended the state’s Environmental Policy Act, naming just six climate warming gases for the state to inventory while conducting environmental reviews of energy projects. It also dictated that upstream and downstream emissions – or those resulting from transporting fossil fuels or out-of-state combustion of the fuels produced in Montana – should not to be incorporated in the analysis, even though agencies used to consider these impacts.In an “even more egregious” provision, said Bellinger, lawmakers explicitly barred state agencies from using the resulting information about pollution to condition or deny permits for those proposals.“Those provisions are unconstitutional,” Bellinger said.The state of Montana was not immediately available for comment.Lawmakers behind the new policies made it “pretty clear” that their proposals were a response to the youth challengers’ 2023 victory, said Bellinger. Late last year, the incoming state senate president and house speaker even issued a joint statement telling the court to “buckle up” for the following session.In the new petition, challengers are asking the Montana’s supreme court to strike down these new laws. They say that is a necessary step to ensure the state is upholding duties laid out in its constitution, which guarantees the right to a “clean and healthful environment”.The challenge comes amid an assault on climate and environmental regulations from the Trump administration. Those attacks make it all the more important for states to protect their citizens, said the youth activist Held.“It’s a time when we really should be seeing more action from our government on greenhouse gas emissions,” said Held.Montana has moved in the opposite direction, said Bellinger, with the state’s governor creating a taskforce to provide recommendations to “unleash” fossil fuel output, echoing an executive order Trump signed in January. State officials are actively evaluating proposals to expand coal, oil, and gas in compliance with Trump’s pro-fossil fuel agenda, he said.“We need to get these laws off the books as quick as possible so they can have all the tools they need before them to deny those permits and not feel like they have to approve,” Bellinger said.Held says she has directly felt the impacts of the climate crisis, caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels. On her family’s ranch where she grew up, drought has taken a toll on the health of livestock and crops, while extreme weather limited her ability to spend time outside. Between the filing of Held v Montana in 2020 and plaintiffs’ victory in the case three years later, global warming became worse, she said.“We don’t have another five years to wait for protections while the state keeps using fossil fuels,” she said. “This is really urgent.”

Activism
Climate
Energy

It’s Not Safe to Live Here.' Colombia Is Deadliest Country for Environmental Defenders

Jani Silva is a renowned environmental activist in Colombia’s Amazon, but she has been unable to live in her house for nearly a decade

PUERTO ASIS, Colombia (AP) — Jani Silva sits inside the wooden house she built on the banks of Colombia’s Putumayo River — a home she hasn't slept in for more than eight years.The longtime environmental activist has been threatened for work that includes protecting part of the Amazon from oil and mining exploitation. She describes a tense escape one night through a back window after community members tipped her that armed men were outside.“Since leaving because of the threats, I’m afraid ... it’s not safe to live here,” she told The Associated Press. She only comes now for brief daytime visits when accompanied by others. “The two times I’ve tried to come back and stay, I’ve had to run away.”Activists like Silva face steep risks in Colombia, the deadliest country in the world for people protecting land and forests. Global Witness, an international watchdog monitoring attacks on activists, recorded 48 killings in Colombia in 2024, nearly a third of all cases worldwide. Colombia says it protects activists through its National Protection Unit, which provides bodyguards and other security measures. Officials also point to recent court rulings recognizing the rights of nature and stronger environmental oversight as signs of progress.Silva, 63, now lives under guard in Puerto Asis, a river town near the Ecuador border. She has had four full-time bodyguards for 12 years provided by the National Protection Unit. Yet the threats have not pushed her from her role at ADISPA, the farming association that manages the Amazon Pearl reserve she previously lived on and has worked to protect.“I have a calling to serve,” Silva said. “I feel like I am needed … there is still so much to do.”Colombia's ministries of Interior, National Defense and Environment did not respond to requests for comment.About 15,000 people nationwide receive protection from the NPU, the Interior Ministry said in a 2024 report. They include environmental and human rights defenders, journalists, local officials, union leaders and others facing threats, though watchdog groups say protections often fall short in rural conflict zones. Community buffer stands in a violent corridor The Amazon Pearl is home to roughly 800 families who have spent decades trying to keep out oil drilling, deforestation, illicit crops and the armed groups that enforce them. Silva describes the community-run reserve, about 30 minutes by boat down the Putumayo from Puerto Asis, as “a beautiful land … almost blessed, for its biodiversity, forests and rivers.”The preserve's 227 square kilometers (87 square miles) host reforestation projects, programs to protect wetlands and forest threatened by oil exploration and efforts to promote agroecology. The farming association has community beekeeping projects to support pollination and generate income, organizes community patrols, supports small sustainable farming and has carried out major restoration, including cultivating more than 120,000 native seedlings to rebuild degraded riverbanks and forest corridors.Silva has been a main voice challenging oil operations inside the reserve. As president of ADISPA, she documented spills, deforestation and road-building tied to Bogota-based oil company GeoPark's Platanillo block and pushed environmental regulators to investigate. Advocates say those complaints, along with ADISPA’s efforts to keep new drilling and mining out, have angered armed groups that profit from mining and oil activity in the region.GeoPark said it complies with Colombian environmental and human-rights regulations and has not received environmental sanctions since operations began in 2009. The company maintains formal dialogue with local communities, including Silva, and “categorically rejects” threats or links to armed groups and its activities require environmental licenses and undergo regular inspections, GeoPark said in a written statement to the AP. Rubén Pastrana, 32, runs one of the Pearl’s beekeeping projects in the riverbank community of San Salvador, where ADISPA works with children using native stingless bees to teach biodiversity and forest conservation. “They’re very gentle,” he said of the bees, and their calm nature lets children learn without fear.More than 600 families now take part in conservation and agroecology projects, many launched through community initiative.“The first project was started on our own initiative,” Silva said. “We started setting up nurseries at our homes … and reforesting the riverbank.”Women exchanged native seeds and organized replanting drives, and the community agreed to temporary hunting bans after seeing pregnant armadillos killed — a move Silva said allowed wildlife to recover. Families now map their plots to balance production with conservation. Border Commandos control the territory Armed groups known locally as Comandos de la Frontera, or Border Commandos, operate throughout this stretch of Putumayo, controlling territory, river traffic and parts of the local economy. The Commandos emerged after Colombia’s 2016 peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the Marxist guerrilla army whose demobilization ended a half-century conflict but left power vacuums across the Amazon and Pacific regions. In places like Putumayo, those gaps were quickly filled by FARC dissidents, former paramilitaries and other criminal networks.The Commandos enforce control through extortion, illegal taxation and by regulating, or profiting from, coca cultivation, clandestine mining and key river routes. Residents say the group forces some communities to perform unpaid labor or face fines, further eroding livelihoods in an area where most families rely on tending their farms. The AP saw illegal coca growing near the beekeeping project via drone imagery.Human Rights Watch on Friday said armed groups in Putumayo have tightened their control over daily life and committed serious abuses against civilians including forced displacement, restricting movement and targeting local leaders. Andrew Miller, head of advocacy at the U.S.-based advocacy group Amazon Watch, said Colombian authorities must go beyond providing bodyguards and prosecute those behind threats and attacks on defenders. Developing the next generation Pastrana, from the beekeeping project, said Silva’s long-term vision has nurtured new leaders and guided young people, helping them develop the grounding to resist recruitment by armed groups.Silva's daughter, Anggie Miramar Silva, is part of ADISPA’s technical team. The 27-year-old grew up inside the reserve’s community process and watched her mother move constantly between meetings, workshops and patrols, pushing others to defend the land. She admires that resolve, even as she lives with the same fear that trails her mother. While people often suggest she might one day take her mother’s place, she is not convinced. “My mother’s work is extremely hard," Miramar said. “I don’t know if I would be willing to sacrifice everything she has.”Jani Silva knows the risks. But stopping doesn't feel like an option.“We have to continue defending the future," she said, "and we need more and more people to join this cause.”The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the 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 – Nov. 2025

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