https://znetwork.org/category/topic/ecology/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Fri, 13 Feb 2026 19:45:20 +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/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/uranium-neo-colonialism-in-mongolia-crime-but-no-punishment/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/uranium-neo-colonialism-in-mongolia-crime-but-no-punishment/#respond Fri, 13 Feb 2026 19:16:01 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294703 On a warm April 1st day last year, Budee Khekhee, head of local non-profit The Power of Unity for the Sake of Our Homeland, led a team into the Gobi Desert to investigate reports of a mysterious illness causing the death of wild and domestic animals, which he obtained from the local herders. A former [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/uranium-neo-colonialism-in-mongolia-crime-but-no-punishment/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/suffocating-an-island-what-the-u-s-blockade-is-doing-to-cuba/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/suffocating-an-island-what-the-u-s-blockade-is-doing-to-cuba/#respond Wed, 11 Feb 2026 17:35:34 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294598 Marta Jiménez, a hairdresser in Cuba’s eastern city of Holguín, covered her face with her hands and broke down crying when I asked her about Trump’s blockade of the island—especially now that the U.S. is choking off oil shipments. “You can’t imagine how it touches every part of our lives,” she sobbed. “It’s a vicious, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/suffocating-an-island-what-the-u-s-blockade-is-doing-to-cuba/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/innovation-in-a-post-growth-economy-incentives-beyond-the-profit-motive/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/innovation-in-a-post-growth-economy-incentives-beyond-the-profit-motive/#comments Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294579 What does innovation look like when profit and capital accumulation aren’t the goal? I think about this often. Over a year ago, I began exploring this question in the context of technological innovation. Watching the AI arms race unfold between major tech companies, all claiming their innovations would reshape our lives, I wondered: what’s the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/innovation-in-a-post-growth-economy-incentives-beyond-the-profit-motive/feed/ 1 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 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/under-trump-epas-enforcement-of-environmental-laws-collapses-report-finds/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/under-trump-epas-enforcement-of-environmental-laws-collapses-report-finds/#respond Sun, 08 Feb 2026 15:44:03 +0000 Enforcement against polluters in the United States plunged in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, a far bigger drop than in the same period of his first term, according to a new report from a watchdog group.  By analyzing a range of federal court and administrative data, the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project found that [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/under-trump-epas-enforcement-of-environmental-laws-collapses-report-finds/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumps-ultimatum-to-cuba-no-fuel-until-surrender/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumps-ultimatum-to-cuba-no-fuel-until-surrender/#respond Wed, 04 Feb 2026 18:48:58 +0000 Cuba stands on the precipice of a severe fuel shortage, a crisis with the potential to paralyze its economy and inflict greater and more profound suffering on its 11 million people. This is not an accident of geography or a failure of planning. It is a direct, calculated result of the United States government’s actions, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumps-ultimatum-to-cuba-no-fuel-until-surrender/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/midwests-largest-block-of-undisturbed-forest-targeted-for-enhanced-protection/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/midwests-largest-block-of-undisturbed-forest-targeted-for-enhanced-protection/#respond Tue, 03 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000 Forest preservationists in the nation’s Heartland are again pushing Congress to nearly triple the size of a Southern Indiana wildland complex in the Hoosier National Forest, guardedly hopeful it will pass this session after narrowing failing in the last. The Benjamin Harrison National Recreation Area and Wilderness Establishment Act would more than double the Hoosier’s [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/midwests-largest-block-of-undisturbed-forest-targeted-for-enhanced-protection/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 “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/venezuela-and-iran-oil-and-survival/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/venezuela-and-iran-oil-and-survival/#respond Mon, 02 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000 Venezuela, under threat following the attacks of January 3, and in perspective alongside the historical mirror that is Iran, allows us to study the models of classic oil nationalism and pragmatic resistance. But beyond the economy, some analysts have put forward the theory that Venezuelan and Iranian oil is not just a business, but vital [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/venezuela-and-iran-oil-and-survival/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 “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/radioactive-contamination-of-shrimp-cloves-shoes-zinc-powder/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/radioactive-contamination-of-shrimp-cloves-shoes-zinc-powder/#respond Thu, 29 Jan 2026 16:44:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294117 The widespread cesium-137 contamination that spread far beyond an industrial area in Indonesia has led to radioactive contamination of exported shrimp, cloves, shoe parts, and concentrated zinc powder. The contaminated products were exported to the United States, the Netherlands, and possibly elsewhere. The discovery of shipping containers contaminated with cesium-137 at several U.S. seaports last [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/radioactive-contamination-of-shrimp-cloves-shoes-zinc-powder/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/being-there-in-venezuela/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/being-there-in-venezuela/#respond Mon, 26 Jan 2026 19:12:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294001 I have now been in Caracas for 48 hours and the contrast between what I have seen, and what I had read in the mainstream media, could not be more stark. I drove right through Caracas, from the airport through the city centre and up to posh Las Mercedes. The next morning I walked all [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/being-there-in-venezuela/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/when-water-decides-securing-national-ambitions-through-the-hydrological-cycle/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/when-water-decides-securing-national-ambitions-through-the-hydrological-cycle/#respond Fri, 23 Jan 2026 17:31:00 +0000 Algeria has embarked on major and strategic undertakings: agricultural revitalization, ambitious housing programs, development of the South, and the strengthening of food and territorial sovereignty. These orientations respond to real needs and reflect a strong political will to build a stable, productive, and sovereign country. For these large-scale investments to fully achieve their objectives over [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/when-water-decides-securing-national-ambitions-through-the-hydrological-cycle/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/the-tech-billionaires-behind-trumps-greenland-push/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-tech-billionaires-behind-trumps-greenland-push/#respond Mon, 19 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0000 President Donald Trump started his second term with his sights set on Greenland. When Trump first proposed buying the arctic nation during his first administration, it was treated like a joke. But in a phone call last week with Denmark’s prime minister, who controls the autonomous territory’s foreign policy, the president doubled down on his efforts to seize power. In the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-tech-billionaires-behind-trumps-greenland-push/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-global-meaning-of-the-u-s-attack-on-venezuela/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-global-meaning-of-the-u-s-attack-on-venezuela/#respond Fri, 16 Jan 2026 16:58:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293560 Beyond the seizure of Venezuela’s oil and mineral resources, the January 3 invasion is inscribed within the epochal crisis of global capitalism. Historians will likely look back at the January 3, 2026 attack on Venezuela, the kidnapping of its president, and the takeover of the country as marking the definitive crack up of the post-WWII [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-global-meaning-of-the-u-s-attack-on-venezuela/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