https://znetwork.org/category/topic/ecology/resources/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Wed, 18 Feb 2026 18:20:35 +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/resources/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-cuban-revolution-holds-out-against-us-imperialism/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-cuban-revolution-holds-out-against-us-imperialism/#respond Wed, 18 Feb 2026 17:50:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294865 In January 2026, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security—a designation that allows the United States government to use sweeping economic restrictions traditionally reserved for national security adversaries. The US blockade against Cuba began in the 1960s, right after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 but has [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-cuban-revolution-holds-out-against-us-imperialism/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/whose-story-gets-to-be-heard/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whose-story-gets-to-be-heard/#respond Mon, 16 Feb 2026 18:42:52 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294802 What is the purpose of a story? To change something or to protect it? Is it similar to the purpose of white lies and half-truths? In the documentary film Kikuyu Land, Kenyan journalist Bea Wangondu is entangled in the possibilities. Wangondu co-directed with Andrew H. Brown, who also shot and edited the film, to investigate the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whose-story-gets-to-be-heard/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/usa-is-using-hunger-as-a-weapon-to-try-to-collapse-cuba/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/usa-is-using-hunger-as-a-weapon-to-try-to-collapse-cuba/#respond Sun, 15 Feb 2026 19:03:18 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1294774 The Donald Trump administration has imposed an extreme oil blockade to prevent Cuba from getting fuel from any country. Marco Rubio wants to collapse the economy, causing millions of civilians to starve and suffer in order to overthrow the revolutionary Cuban government. Ben Norton explains the monstrous history of US imperialism and its siege of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/usa-is-using-hunger-as-a-weapon-to-try-to-collapse-cuba/feed/ 0 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 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/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 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294369 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 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294334 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 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/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 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294283 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/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/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 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293840 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-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/the-tech-billionaires-behind-trumps-greenland-push/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-tech-billionaires-behind-trumps-greenland-push/#comments Mon, 19 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293664 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/ 2 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/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/chronicle-of-a-foretold-coup-the-attack-on-venezuela-and-the-narco-terrorism-fairy-tale/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/chronicle-of-a-foretold-coup-the-attack-on-venezuela-and-the-narco-terrorism-fairy-tale/#respond Fri, 09 Jan 2026 19:34:22 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293299 Current developments in Venezuela may appear to be unfathomable—until one recalls the long history of imperialist interference in Latin America and the Caribbean. The events of the first week of January constitute an escalation of a long-standing campaign to overthrow the Bolivarian Revolution and resume control on the country with the largest known oil reserves in the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/chronicle-of-a-foretold-coup-the-attack-on-venezuela-and-the-narco-terrorism-fairy-tale/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whos-really-running-venezuela/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whos-really-running-venezuela/#respond Fri, 09 Jan 2026 18:54:38 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293280 As the Senate voted to advance a War Powers Resolution on Venezuela on January 8th, Republican Senator Susan Collins declared that she did not agree with “a sustained engagement “running” Venezuela.”  The world was mystified when President Trump first said that the United States would “run” Venezuela. He has since made it clear that he [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whos-really-running-venezuela/feed/ 0