https://znetwork.org/category/topic/ecology/climate-change-ecology/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Fri, 20 Feb 2026 15:54:28 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/category/topic/ecology/climate-change-ecology/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/epa-sued-for-backtracking-on-greenhouse-gas-regulation/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/epa-sued-for-backtracking-on-greenhouse-gas-regulation/#respond Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294983 Two lawsuits filed Wednesday in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals mark the beginning of a rocky legal road for the Environmental Protection Agency following its reversal of a 2009 rule underpinning federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. The challenges include a lawsuit brought against both the EPA and its administrator, Lee Zeldin, by a coalition of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/epa-sued-for-backtracking-on-greenhouse-gas-regulation/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/activists-are-racking-up-wins-against-a-false-climate-solution/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/activists-are-racking-up-wins-against-a-false-climate-solution/#respond Wed, 18 Feb 2026 17:48:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294867 Last June, California climate and environmental justice groups celebrated a victory a long time in the making. After an opposition campaign that built alliances across movements, turned out supporters to hearings and generated 50,000 public comments, a company gave up plans that threatened to wreak havoc on the state’s forests. The corporation behind the defeated [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/activists-are-racking-up-wins-against-a-false-climate-solution/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/towards-a-climate-doctrine-for-sovereignty-in-mena-governing-natural-cycles-as-a-strategic-asset/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/towards-a-climate-doctrine-for-sovereignty-in-mena-governing-natural-cycles-as-a-strategic-asset/#respond Wed, 18 Feb 2026 17:36:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294869 Climate change is no longer just an environmental variable—it is reshaping economic, social, and strategic balances worldwide. In the MENA region, one of the most climate-vulnerable zones, trends are unmistakable: rising temperatures, prolonged water stress, extreme rainfall events, and mounting pressure on agricultural systems. For countries in this region, the challenge goes beyond ecology—it directly [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/towards-a-climate-doctrine-for-sovereignty-in-mena-governing-natural-cycles-as-a-strategic-asset/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-can-move-beyond-the-capitalist-model-and-save-the-climate-here-are-the-first-three-steps/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-can-move-beyond-the-capitalist-model-and-save-the-climate-here-are-the-first-three-steps/#comments Mon, 16 Feb 2026 23:15:43 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294818 We have an urgent responsibility. Our existing economic system is incapable of addressing the social and ecological crises we face in the 21st century. When we look around we see an extraordinary paradox. On the one hand, we have access to remarkable new technologies and a collective capacity to produce more food, more stuff than [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-can-move-beyond-the-capitalist-model-and-save-the-climate-here-are-the-first-three-steps/feed/ 2 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/up-for-grabs-polycrisis-2-0/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/up-for-grabs-polycrisis-2-0/#respond Mon, 16 Feb 2026 20:54:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294781 Whatever happened to the “polycrisis”? A couple of years ago it was the buzzword of the world, describing a concatenation of interacting crises that aggravated each other and made solutions appear impossible. In the year since the inauguration of Donald Trump his words and actions have so dominated world events that discussion of the polycrisis [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/up-for-grabs-polycrisis-2-0/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-climate-supercomputer-is-getting-new-bosses-its-not-clear-who/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-climate-supercomputer-is-getting-new-bosses-its-not-clear-who/#respond Mon, 16 Feb 2026 20:48:06 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294807 The U.S. National Science Foundation said on Thursday that the management and operations of a supercomputer used by more than 4,000 climate and weather scientists across the country would be transferred from a leading research lab to an undisclosed third party. Science foundation officials said stewardship of the supercomputer, located at a National Center for [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-climate-supercomputer-is-getting-new-bosses-its-not-clear-who/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/humanity-is-not-the-problem/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/humanity-is-not-the-problem/#respond Sun, 15 Feb 2026 18:36:07 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294764 Humanity has missed the mark. Humanity has failed. As COP30 got underway, this was the media’s take on the UN Secretary-General’s announcement that 1.5 degrees of global warming has now been locked in. We should be rolling our eyes at such proclamations. Once again, humanity takes the blame for the impotence of corporate-led summits. The truth is that [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/humanity-is-not-the-problem/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/global-water-crisis-how-the-ideology-of-dams-masks-the-collapse-of-territories/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/global-water-crisis-how-the-ideology-of-dams-masks-the-collapse-of-territories/#respond Wed, 11 Feb 2026 17:29:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294610 Water scarcity is often presented as an unavoidable consequence of arid climates, particularly across the MENA region and other parts of the Global South. This narrative, widely circulated in institutional discourse, naturalizes the problem and depoliticizes water. Yet international analyses and scientific research show a starkly different reality: the crisis is not primarily about rainfall; [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/global-water-crisis-how-the-ideology-of-dams-masks-the-collapse-of-territories/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/reducing-plastic-waste-three-ways-to-replace-disposable-with-reusable/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/reducing-plastic-waste-three-ways-to-replace-disposable-with-reusable/#respond Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294585 The global annual production of plastics rose to 400 million metric tons in 2022 and is projected to double by 2050 (a metric ton is 1,000 kilograms or about 2,200 pounds. As of 2015 some 6,300 million metric tons of plastic had become waste. About 9% of it was recycled, 12% incinerated, and 79% ended up in landfills or the natural [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/reducing-plastic-waste-three-ways-to-replace-disposable-with-reusable/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-million-miles-of-transmission-lines/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-million-miles-of-transmission-lines/#respond Mon, 09 Feb 2026 17:21:51 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294524 Mention “renewable energy infrastructure” and most people will probably picture solar and wind farms out in the country. What’s usually not envisioned is how the power from these often remote sites is brought to the cities and towns where it’s used. Obviously that part is essential, and it’s accomplished with high-voltage transmission lines, usually aerial [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-million-miles-of-transmission-lines/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/despite-trump-renewable-energy-keeps-surging/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/despite-trump-renewable-energy-keeps-surging/#respond Tue, 03 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294336 A funny thing happened on the way to President Donald Trump’s mission to obliterate renewable energy. Solar and wind energy use is surging, especially globally, but even in the United States. Solar and wind electricity generation grew 109% worldwide last year, pushing these renewable sources past coal for the first time as a global energy supplier, according [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/despite-trump-renewable-energy-keeps-surging/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/you-dont-miss-what-doesnt-exist/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/you-dont-miss-what-doesnt-exist/#respond Mon, 02 Feb 2026 21:04:30 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294294 “Anthropause” is an amazing word and the latest book about it is an eye-opener. Stan Cox’s Anthropause: The Beauty of Degrowth (2026, Seven Stories Press), does what far too few degrowth books do – it first focuses readers’ attention to the positive experiences we could enjoy in a society less dedicated to producing unnecessary stuff. It [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/you-dont-miss-what-doesnt-exist/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-defence-of-a-basic-land-income/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-defence-of-a-basic-land-income/#respond Mon, 02 Feb 2026 20:56:18 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294289 By now, most people have heard of basic income in its various forms and meanings. However, there has been little analysis of whether such proposals, aimed at ensuring minimum coverage of citizens’ basic needs, generally as a complement to the universal basic services that constitute the Welfare State, remain viable from the point of view [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-defence-of-a-basic-land-income/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/water-power-and-soil/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/water-power-and-soil/#respond Mon, 02 Feb 2026 20:51:53 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294287 Across the MENA region, governments are racing to secure water. Dams are raised, aquifers drilled deeper, desalination plants multiplied, and cross-border transfers negotiated. These investments were necessary. They prevented collapse. They bought time. But time is no longer enough. A hard truth now confronts the region: capturing water does not guarantee security. Much of the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/water-power-and-soil/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/water-sovereignty-is-not-a-supply-problem/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/water-sovereignty-is-not-a-supply-problem/#respond Fri, 30 Jan 2026 17:00:29 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294185 Across much of Africa, water policy over recent decades has followed a familiar and seemingly rational path: build large dams, drill deeper wells, transfer water across basins, and increasingly rely on desalination. These investments were often necessary, and in many cases prevented immediate crises. But they also expose a deeper failure in how water security [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/water-sovereignty-is-not-a-supply-problem/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/it-is-85-seconds-to-midnight/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/it-is-85-seconds-to-midnight/#respond Thu, 29 Jan 2026 16:55:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294127 “Failure of Leadership:” Doomsday Clock Moves Closer to Midnight as Global Existential Threats Worsen. Experts Cite New START Expiration, Record-Breaking Climate Trends, AI, Various Biosecurity Concerns Among Other Factors. WASHINGTON, DC – January 27, 2026 – The Doomsday Clock was set at 85 seconds to midnight, the closest the Clock has ever been to midnight in its [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/it-is-85-seconds-to-midnight/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-war-intervention-ai-data-centers-and-the-environment/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-war-intervention-ai-data-centers-and-the-environment/#respond Wed, 28 Jan 2026 20:45:25 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294100 Early on Saturday, January 3rd, Venezuela was attacked on behalf of oil, mineral, tech, and weapons profiteers in a regime change operation. Since then, the Trump administration has threatened Iran, Greenland, Cuba, Colombia, and Mexico. What unites these threats? The U.S.’s quest for endless resource extraction to power its increasingly deadly global empire.  And it’s [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-war-intervention-ai-data-centers-and-the-environment/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/resisting-the-monstrous-trifecta-of-war-genocide-and-ecocide/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/resisting-the-monstrous-trifecta-of-war-genocide-and-ecocide/#respond Tue, 27 Jan 2026 17:45:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294075 Everywhere, especially the Global South, is suffering from the ongoing effects of the imperialist carve up of the world in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This was achieved by war, genocide, colonisation and semi-colonialism, and the expropriation and theft of the Global South’s wealth.  As the damaging legacies of historic imperialism continue to play [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/resisting-the-monstrous-trifecta-of-war-genocide-and-ecocide/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-intertwining-of-earth-and-humans/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-intertwining-of-earth-and-humans/#respond Fri, 23 Jan 2026 17:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293838 Let’s put ICE and, indeed, war itself –the smugly violent certainty of militarism – into the largest perspective possible. I suggest this as the only way to maintain my sanity: to believe that we, that our children, actually have a future. This is one planet. Every living being, every pulse of life, every molecule of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-intertwining-of-earth-and-humans/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-climate-change-an-externality/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-climate-change-an-externality/#respond Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:57:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293784 This post is part of a symposium on Alyssa Battistoni’s Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature. Read the rest of the posts here. ** ** ** In Free Gifts, Alyssa Battistoni traces the concept of the “externality” across the past century. This history begins in 1920, when the economist Alfred Pigou observed how private market transactions could impose [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-climate-change-an-externality/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-train-of-regeneration-green-peace-for-the-oases-from-bechar-to-tindouf/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-train-of-regeneration-green-peace-for-the-oases-from-bechar-to-tindouf/#respond Wed, 21 Jan 2026 18:54:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293725 Facing the strategic challenges in Algeria’s Southwest — water security, sustainable resource management, territorial stability, and socio-economic development — it is essential to complement major national projects with integrated approaches capable of amplifying their long-term benefits. This contribution aims to do just that. It offers a complementary perspective on a state-led infrastructure project, exploring how [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-train-of-regeneration-green-peace-for-the-oases-from-bechar-to-tindouf/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/hungering-for-solar-and-more/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/hungering-for-solar-and-more/#respond Mon, 19 Jan 2026 18:24:49 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293659 “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”  -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963, Letter from a Birmingham Jail From January 5-7 I must have seen these words of Dr. King flash many hundreds of times. That happened because over those three days, from 7 am to 5 pm, I engaged in a 72-hour, water-only hunger [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/hungering-for-solar-and-more/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/were-racing-down-the-highway-to-a-mad-max-world/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/were-racing-down-the-highway-to-a-mad-max-world/#respond Wed, 14 Jan 2026 16:51:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293453 Let me start by putting things bluntly: Don’t bother to tell Donald Trump, but with his distinct help, we’re doing nothing less than cooking ourselves. Thanks to the continued use of fossil fuels in a staggering fashion and the growth of greenhouse gas emissions, almost half of the world’s population now suffers through 30 additional days [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/were-racing-down-the-highway-to-a-mad-max-world/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-to-turn-extreme-weather-tragedies-into-climate-victories/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-to-turn-extreme-weather-tragedies-into-climate-victories/#respond Wed, 14 Jan 2026 16:50:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293458 The European climate movement is faltering. State repression has escalated. Authoritarianism is on the rise. And even though most people around the world support climate action, they consistently underestimate how much others care — giving people the sense their concern is not shared. Groups like Just Stop Oil and Climate Defiance deserve credit for keeping climate in the headlines. But any movement [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-to-turn-extreme-weather-tragedies-into-climate-victories/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/epa-no-longer-considering-lives-saved-in-pollution-rules-only-cost-to-business/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/epa-no-longer-considering-lives-saved-in-pollution-rules-only-cost-to-business/#respond Tue, 13 Jan 2026 16:59:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293443 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now only counting costs to businesses when considering regulation on key pollutants, internal documents show, rather than considering human lives saved by such caps. For the first time in decades of the practice, The New York Times reports, the EPA will effectively set the cost of a human life at $0 when [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/epa-no-longer-considering-lives-saved-in-pollution-rules-only-cost-to-business/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/holding-water-to-regenerate-landscapes/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/holding-water-to-regenerate-landscapes/#respond Mon, 12 Jan 2026 13:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293389 Across arid and semi-arid regions, the same paradox is unfolding. Groundwater levels are falling, droughts are intensifying, and yet cities and rural areas alike are increasingly struck by sudden, destructive floods. From North Africa to the Middle East, from the American Southwest to Central Asia, scarcity and excess now coexist in the same territories. This [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/holding-water-to-regenerate-landscapes/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-core-meaning-of-the-climate-emergency-for-movement-organizers/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-core-meaning-of-the-climate-emergency-for-movement-organizers/#comments Fri, 09 Jan 2026 18:48:56 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293278 There is one crucial argument that the climate justice movement carried with it. For a brief period of time, it seemed like it was integrated into the general knowledge of social movements. It wasn’t. The argument is about the meaning of climate emergency. It is not an argument about public discourse or even about policy. [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-core-meaning-of-the-climate-emergency-for-movement-organizers/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/fossil-fuel-propaganda-is-stalling-climate-action-heres-what-we-can-do-about-it/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/fossil-fuel-propaganda-is-stalling-climate-action-heres-what-we-can-do-about-it/#respond Sat, 03 Jan 2026 16:18:22 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293060 2025 has been a year of setbacks for Canada’s climate policy. In November, the federal and Alberta governments signed a memorandum of understanding to remove strict climate policies in the province and to support the construction of a new pipeline from Alberta to northern British Columbia. The government also cancelled the federal carbon tax this year, while [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/fossil-fuel-propaganda-is-stalling-climate-action-heres-what-we-can-do-about-it/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/keeping-power-utilities-in-corporate-hands-doesnt-make-sense/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/keeping-power-utilities-in-corporate-hands-doesnt-make-sense/#respond Tue, 30 Dec 2025 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1292909 All over the country, Americans are struggling to pay their utility bills. In the Hudson Valley, the situation is particularly dire, with some ratepayers coping with surprise monthly bills of thousands of dollars. It doesn’t have to be that way, according to the region’s democratic socialists, who are leading a fight to lower prices. A [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/keeping-power-utilities-in-corporate-hands-doesnt-make-sense/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-tyranny-of-beer/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-tyranny-of-beer/#respond Mon, 29 Dec 2025 18:47:48 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1292878 I have written nine essays about why a collapse is coming, how it will play out and what comes after. As I pointed out at the onset, they were essays in its real and original meaning, trials (from French essayer). I don’t pretend to know. The only thing I really know is that this constant ever growing socio-economic system [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-tyranny-of-beer/feed/ 0