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Past Presentation | Moving Mountains tackles the destructive effects of large-scale mining on the lives, culture and environment of communities in the Cordilleras. After playing host to these big mining companies, they remain poor, their resources depleted and their communities destroyed. The film also presents the inspiring story of an indigenous tribe in Kalinga province that has kept large mining companies away from the area and has allowed the community to determine how to manage its mineral resources.

Past Presentation | Banff and the Rocky Mountains: sparkling glaciers, thundering waterfalls, deep gorges and unbelievably blue lakes reflecting the endless fir forests and high craggy mountain peaks. Postcard photo motifs are everywhere. Banff National Park stretches over three vegetation zones to offer a great variety of scenic splendour. The park lies in the middle of the mightiest mountain range in North America, the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Although the days of pioneers and prospectors have long gone, the adventurous spirit from the past has been preserved in the founding history of Canada’s oldest National Park

The Biden administration added to the Southern California monument that was established by President Obama in 2014, and also expanded the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in Northern California.

Past Presentation | Vermont herbalists Jeff and Melanie Carpenter sold their natural products business to buy raw land and start an organic farm to grow medicinal herbs, rather than source them from half-way around the world.

The two-day 19km-long track is a tourism boost to the area, which was hit hard by bushfires and La NiñaFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastA $10m walking track in the Blue Mountains has been opened by the New South Wales government in the hope of attracting more international visitors to a region still healing from years of flooding and bushfires.“The Grand Cliff Top Walk provides visitors with a new, adventurous opportunity to connect with nature while exploring this track through the Blue Mountains National Park,” said the NSW environment minister, Penny Sharpe.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Continue reading...

Northern town of Liptovský Mikuláš declares state of emergency while hunt for animal takes placeFive people have been injured in the second bear attack in Slovakia in three days, officials have said, prompting a northern town to declare a state of emergency and authorities to propose reclassifying the animals’ status on the protected species list.A 49-year-old woman was treated in hospital for an injury to her shoulder, and a 72-year-old man for a cut to his head, after the incident on Sunday in the northern town of Liptovský Mikuláš, near the Tatra mountains, local authorities said. Continue reading...

World’s oldest known open caves now impossible to access, as only remaining road shutdowns for repairs for 18 monthsGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastThe world’s oldest known open caves have been closed to visitors after the only roads in were destroyed or damaged by storms, fires and floods.The Jenolan Caves, in the Blue Mountains region west of Sydney, are now impossible to access by road, after months of heavy rain forced the only remaining road to close for repairs for 18 months.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Continue reading...

A mountain lion spotted at the edge of Griffith Park last month recalled the park's former feline king, P-22. If the new cougar stays, he'll face the same challenges as his predecessor.

The relationship between snowfall and climate change is not as simple as it might first appear.

Now Playing | As a wildlife filmmaker, there are times when I want to tell a deeper story, one that is more accurately classified as natural history. This is my interpretation of the area where I live through the eyes of the mountains that surround my home, the San Juan Mountains, and in particular, Pagosa Peak.

Past Presentation | Mountain Man is a social issue documentary that chronicles, in verite style, Joel's struggle to find a balance between an obligatory fast paced Orange County lifestyle and the natural beauty in Orange County and the greater Southern California area that goes seemingly unnoticed. This short documentary follows the ebbs and flows of Joel's work in Naturalist for You. He struggles to attract participants but also experiences the triumphs of fostering inspiration. He struggles to support his family, while also maintaining a constant dedication to his organization.

Roughly 3,000 animals now roam the state's mountain ranges

Activists urge California wildlife officials to crack down on Arrowhead bottled water operations in the San Bernardino Mountains, citing harm to wildlife.

For a writer and runner in Denver, Colorado, the city’s severe air pollution creates a daily dilemma: do something you love, or risk your health?Outdoor runners have always had a lot of data to juggle: their pace, heart-rate, mileage, route, calories, weather and much more. Though in recent years there’s been a new, considerably more ominous data point for alfresco athletes to monitor: the Air Quality Index (AQI).The index, which measures the level of air pollution at any given time and location, is an increasingly necessary tool for outdoor enthusiasts in the age of climate change. Continue reading...

The goldspotted oak borer is just 14 miles from the Santa Monica Mountains' 600,000 oak trees and threatens to devastate forests throughout California, harming wildlife and increasing fire risks.

Now Playing | Alegria - A Humanitarian Expedition tells the story of an epic solo expedition across the Himalaya that changed the life of thousands of people in need. Supporting leprosy patients and mentally destitute women in India, Christoph von Toggenburg cycled 3200km on the world’s highest tracks pulling a 40kg trailer packed with survival gear. With little air to breathe and facing temperatures between -15°C to +45°C he crossed mountain passes higher than 5500m mastering a total of 50’000m, Christoph fell altitude sick and was hit by rock fall. Crossing Nepal during the Maoist unrests, conflict stricken Kashmir, Christoph encountered wonderful hospitality, found new friends, and saw some of the world’s most spectacular landscapes. He became film-maker, actor, fund-and awareness-raiser in one person capturing this epic adventure entirely by himself.

Past Presentation | Ancash is a province in Peru known for its emblematic landscapes of the Andes: Snow capped mountains, turquoise lagoons and lush valleys. But did you know all of this natural beauty could disappear at the end of this century? This part of the Andes is known as the Cordillera Blanca and it contains 60% of the glaciers in Peru. Over the last 50 years they have lost more than 40% of their mass due to Climate Change. The water that comes from these giant blocks of ice during the summer months play a vital role in the ecosystems, the towns and cities of the region. Without the glaciers there is no year-round water source and without water there is no life. In Chasing Glaciers, our protagonist, the artist Cake, starts an adventure to see how Climate Change is impacting the people of Ancash. He finds a web of conflicts, economic interests, imminent risks, and a strange phenomenon where the local environment is contaminating itself.

Mosquitoes are moving into the mountains of Papua New Guinea and other highland areas. It could be a death sentence

MIT historian Tristan Brown describes how China’s feng shui legacy can help with confronting today’s climate challenges.

We highlight seven people who changed the way our national park system was created and managed during the past 150 years as we celebrate the 54th Earth Day.

Past Presentation | On Coal River takes viewers to the Coal River Valley of West Virginia — a community surrounded by lush mountains and a looming toxic threat. The film follows four longtime residents as they confront their local school board, the state government, and a notorious coal company — Massey Energy — for putting their families and community’s health at risk.

Past Presentation | Unforgettable Khusargang follows the story of Absar Khan who attempts to scale the peak of Khusargang. Along the way, Absar promoted community empowerment, conducted environmental awareness workshops, installed trash bins in the village, organized lavish iftari meals, highlighted the many issues posed by the lack of organized structured tourism and attempted to climb as high as he could, one base camp at a time. The Giligit-Baltistan side of Pakistan holds fragile natural beauty and poverty stricken locals.

Now Playing | Part two, filmed in 2019, follows the couple to their new location near Fuzhou. Their community has finally become a reality. While the first installment reflects the dreamy idealism of youth, part two is a song of experience. Can such a community thrive in modern China?

Past Presentation | We follow a race against litter– Keep Clean and Run –that journeys across Southern Italy, from Mount Vesuvius to Etna, through parks and towns, mountains and beaches: 350 kilometres of stunning views. Roberto Cavallo’s race to protest littering entailed great fatigue and even encounters with those who fight the mafia, as he and others who joined him clean up as they run and explain their mission to others.

Past Presentation | In Peru, the headwaters of the Amazon River cut through the Andes Mountains and help sustain resident communities as well as the most diverse ecosystem on Earth. As the energy demands of Peru increase, the currently free flowing Marañón River faces over 20 proposed dam projects, two of which have already been approved. Our international team of scientists and river experts spent 28 days rafting the Marañón while documenting the natural and cultural resources that would be eminently impacted by proposed dam projects.

Past Presentation | This story is told in the Ainu language, which has been deemed a critically endangered language by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Higashiyama, the home of the foxes, has become an illegal dumping ground. This has resulted in the decline of small animals, which the mother fox relied on as prey to feed her children. The fox comes down for the mountains in search of food to feed her children, and comes upon a human village.

Past Presentation | “We Still Here / Nos Tenemos” introduces the incredible youth of Comerío, Puerto Rico navigating the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, a disaster that brought an unprecedented level of devastation to an island already in economic and political crisis. In the lush mountains in the center of Puerto Rico, 24-year-old Mariangelie Ortiz leads a group of young residents who never thought they would become the leaders of their community, nonetheless find themselves traveling to Washington D.C. to protest in the halls of Congress. Follow them in this coming of age story to find their power and begin creating a sustainable future for themselves and their community.

Now Playing | San Francisco-based photojournalist Jason Henry (New York Times, Vice, Wall Street Journal) treks to Guatemala’s most infamous landfill, Teculután. Against the backdrop of the Sierra de las Minas mountains, Henry tries to maintain his composure as he shoots children digging through the garbage in search of shreds of sustenance in a monstrous heap of human and animal waste and burning ash. Surrounded by swarming flies and accompanied by writer Erik Maza (Baltimore Sun, Town & Country), Henry observes, “This is their playground.”

New hotels and destination-worthy restaurants now compliment the ever-appealing outdoors surrounding La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur.

The Forest Service told bottled water company BlueTriton Brands to stop piping water out of a California national forest. The company is suing to challenge the decision.

Now Playing | A searing expose uncovering the ugly truth behind the global plastic pollution crisis. Striking footage shot over three continents illustrates the ongoing catastrophe: fields full of garbage, veritable mountains of trash; rivers and seas clogged with waste; and skies choked with poisons from plastic production and recycling processes with no end in sight. Original animations, interviews with experts and activists, and never-before-filmed scenes reveal the disastrous consequences of the plastic flood around the world – and the global movement rising up in response.

Brutally attacked for his work as one of the Dominican Republic’s leading land defenders, Polanco says the next generation must fight environmental destructionWhile making his way from his home in Loma de Blanco, a mountain in the middle of the Dominican Republic, to the nearby town of Bonao, Esteban Polanco was attacked by a group of about 10 men. They threw a molotov cocktail at the car in which he was travelling with two of his children, before running off. The family survived, but Polanco suffered terrible burns.“I was close to death, and it took a year to recover,” he says of the 2007 attack. Some, but not all, of the perpetrators were later imprisoned. Continue reading...

Now Playing | “Wings of Hope,” is a film chronicling the re-discovery of a population of wild Harpy Eagles in the Maya Mountains of southern Belize. It details the history of the Belize Foundation and Research and Environmental Education (BFREE) and UNC Wilmington initiative born from this discovery – the Integrated Community-based Harpy Eagle and Avian Conservation Program. Created by Emmy-award winning filmmakers, Richard and Carol Foster of Wildlife Film Productions, this 20-minute documentary is rich with breath-taking footage of adult and juvenile Harpy eagles and other wildlife and vistas found in the pristine tropical forests of the Bladen Nature Reserve. Over the seven year duration of the project, the Fosters followed local people involved as they transition from trainees to conservationists and as their lives are changed through their efforts to save this rare bird and its diminishing habitat.

Now Playing | As the Little Conemaugh River winds through the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania, it forms the backbone of a region with a legacy of industrial might. And like a scribe, the river carries the weight of that history - mile after mile devoid of life, poisoned by toxic pollution from countless abandoned coal mines. Generations of residents and neighbors have turned their back on the river, believing the damage to be irreversible and scolding their children for playing in its orange waters. But a decade-long effort from a coalition of local groups has begun to reveal a different future for the Little Conemaugh and for other rivers in Pennsylvania and beyond that were written off as a casualty of the coal industry. A River Reborn tells the story of the rebirth of the Little Conemaugh, and what it says about our ability to fix what might have been lost forever.

On Friday at 11 p.m. an air quality alert was issued valid until Saturday at 8 p.m. for Tualatin Valley, West Hills and Chehalem Mountains, Inner Portland Metro, East Portland Metro and Outer Southeast Portland Metro.

Ms. Mecus, a New York State forest ranger who worked in the Adirondacks, died after falling about 1,000 feet from a peak at Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska.

Groups hope to one day bring back endangered steelhead trout to the Arroyo Seco. For now, they're trying to improve conditions for the existing freshwater trout.

As glaciers melt around the globe, scientists are racing to retrieve ice cores that contain key historical records of temperature and climate that are preserved in the ice.

MPs approve cull of 481 bears this year, up from 220 last year, to control ‘overpopulation’ of protected speciesRomania’s parliament has approved the culling of almost 500 bears this year in an effort to control the “overpopulation” of the protected species after a deadly attack on a hiker sparked nationwide outcry.The country is home to 8,000 brown bears, according to the environment ministry, Europe’s largest brown bear population outside Russia. Continue reading...

Now Playing | In the mountains of northern Kenya, a Samburu community is doing something that has never been done before. They’ve built a sanctuary for orphaned elephants to try to rehabilitate them back to the wild. The project is not just changing local attitudes about elephants, it's changing attitudes about women too because the secret to Reteti’s success is all because of the special bond between a group of local women keepers and one special elephant named Shaba. Reteti Elephant Sanctuary is the first-ever indigenous community-owned and run sanctuary in all of Africa, where rescued orphaned elephants are looked after by local keepers from the Samburu community. They are rehabilitated and raised and then reintroduced back into the wild. The sanctuary is empowering young Samburu women to be the first-ever indigenous women elephant keepers in all of Africa. At first, the community didn’t think there was a place for women in the workplace. Now, the success of these women elephant keepers is unlocking new possibilities and setting a powerful example for young girls, hoping to pursue their dreams. What’s happening there, without fanfare, is nothing less than the beginnings of a transformation in the way the Samburu people relate to wild animals. This oasis where orphans grow up, learning to be wild so that one day they can rejoin their herds, is as much about people as it is about elephants. This is a personal story about a group of women and an elephant named Shaba who changed each other's lives. This film is a powerful reminder that we are a part of a complex world created over millions of years, and the survival of all species is intertwined with our own. Reteti began in partnership with Conservation International who provided critical operational support and work to scale the Reteti community-centered model to create lasting impacts worldwide.

No longer covered in ice, Andean rocks signal the world’s glaciers are melting far faster than predicted. Tropical glaciers have reached their smallest size in...

Los Angeles has long owned large swathes of the Owens valley. An investigation reveals how the city has tightened its gripThis article is reported by AfroLA and co-published by AfroLA, Guardian US and the Mammoth Sheet. It’s the first of several stories examining the impact of Los Angeles’s extensive landownership in the Owens Valley.A red horse statue perched on a 12ft pole greets drivers coming to the town of Bishop from the south. It’s one of the first landmarks here, part of Mike Allen’s corrugated metal feed store – a local institution that sells camping gear, livestock feed and moving equipment in this expansive region of inland California. Continue reading...

Poisoning has emerged as one of the most common tools used to target wolves in Oregon. Roblyn Brown, wolf program coordinator with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, talked on Beat Check about the poisonings, the state's stagnant wolf population and how to bridge the divide between people who love wolves and those who want them gone.

A relentless wave of dry heat, coupled with a recent outbreak of wildfires, is fueling a summertime scourge of the Intermountain West: the near-daily spikes in ozone and other air pollutants, collectively known as smog. Colorado’s Denver metropolitan region and Northern Front Range — which extends from about the Wyoming border to Boulder — have...

In her newest book, activist and scholar adrienne maree brown offers a practical guide to empathy.

State-owned company halts initiative after warnings over opening up ‘right to roam’ laws to large numbers of visitorsA Norwegian tourism campaign aimed at promoting the country as a destination for outdoor activities has been suspended after warnings that opening up the country’s “right to roam” laws to mass tourism could lead to environmental destruction.Allemannsretten – which gives Norwegians the legal right to camp, swim, ski and walk freely in nature, regardless of who the landowner is – provides the basis of friluftslivet (outdoor life), seen as foundational to the mountainous country’s culture. Continue reading...

Two countries—Slovenia and Venezuela—have lost all of their glaciers. It is a grim benchmark showing the progression of climate change

Protemnodon viator believed to have weighed up to 170kg – double the size of the largest species alive todaySupersized marsupials roamed the Australian continent for millennia. But until now the understanding of giant kangaroos – or Protemnodon – has been confined to isolated bones and difficult-to-distinguish species.Scientists have now identified three new species of the extinct giant kangaroo – Protemnodon viator, Protemnodon mamkurra and Protemnodon dawsonae, which lived from 5m to 40,000 years ago.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Continue reading...

On Wednesday at 1:27 p.m. an air quality alert was issued valid until Thursday at 8 p.m. for Tualatin Valley, West Hills and Chehalem Mountains, Inner Portland Metro, East Portland Metro, Outer Southeast Portland Metro, East Central Willamette Valley, West Columbia River Gorge of Oregon above 500 ft, West Columbia River Gorge I-84 Corridor, Clackamas County Cascade Foothills and North Oregon Cascades.

A sprawling water district that serves residents, ranchers and recreators on the Western Slope of the Rocky Mountains is preparing to invest a mammoth $98.5 million on a tiny hydropower plant in a bipartisan, multi-sectorial effort to help secure the Colorado River's future. In the coming weeks, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) is expected to...

If a new declaration based on customary concepts of tikanga and mana is recognised by the courts, it could potentially give interest groups the legal standing to sue on behalf of whales.

Vultures look so graceful soaring in circles high above. Sometimes a lone black specimen can be spotted with wings stretched flat to catch updrafts, and sometimes a cloud of 20 or more of these huge birds may be silhouetted against the sky. They don’t stop; rather, with a few wing flaps, they continue their rounds […] The post In Costa Rica, Vultures Play an Important Role appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

French politicians’ pledge to make swimming possible in the iconic river is a way to ward off criticism about the cost of the clean up operation.

President Biden has announced a commitment to phasing out the the purchasing and use of single-use plastics across the federal government.

Excessive ozone pollution at Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southeast New Mexico may be linked to oil and natural gas development in and around the Permian Basin, a new study has found. Eight-hour ozone concentrations at the park often exceed the Environmental Protection Agency's health standard of 70 parts per billion in the summer, according...

The notion of bypassing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to move water from Northern California to Southern California has been kicking around for decades. It finally seems to be approaching the critical moment.

What Iceland's volcanoes are revealing about early life on our planet

Greed, corruption, land exploitation, and water shortages… these may sound like themes from Roman Polanski’s Chinatown, but the residents of Dominical will tell you that these issues are a reality in their own backyard. This situation is indicative of a larger trend in Costa Rica, where developers openly flaunt environmental laws with little to no […] The post Dominical’s Water Crisis: The Shocking Truth Behind the Illegal Development Project appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

Many new towns have been created to handle California's population growth. Now the state is losing population, and its latest new town project has stalled.

Would-be voters in this coal and oil state signal they’re increasingly alarmed by climate change. The post In Deep Red Utah, Climate Concerns Are Now Motivating Candidates appeared first on .