Sometimes, keeping on with the work at hand can also be a form of resistance.
News of the world environment
NEWSLETTER | MAY 30, 2025
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We Can Do Better
It is hard these days to feel like the work I’m doing matters. Instead of sitting behind a desk, shouldn’t I be out there, putting my body on the line as young students get locked up for simply speaking up, as children get torn from parents who are disappeared to prisons overseas, as even sitting judges get arrested on trumped-up charges?
I grapple with this question all the time as the Trump administration wages an increasingly cruel war against the people of this nation.
But then I get to editing stories like our Summer print issue cover feature by Hannah Palmer, about how her search for swimmable waters in the US South led to her discovery of the region’s environmental history, its water policy, and the racial politics of public spaces. And Eric Freedman’s profile of researchers who dedicate their lives to seeking out and helping save previously unknown species. And Viola Kerekes’ account of her work with a herd of the last wild horse species left on Earth, which includes this incredible factoid — she knows the nearly 300 horses in the herd by name.
Stories like these remind me that there are people out there still working away in their own spaces to better this world. They remind me of what legendary writer-activist James Baldwin said in reference to the power of individuals to create positive change and inspire others: “The world is held together, really it is held together, by the love and the passion of very few people.” And they remind me, also, of the value of bringing these narratives to you.
Storytelling, after all, is such an integral part of being human. Stories allow us to share information in ways that help us make sense of the world around us and of our place in it.
None of the features in our new issue (which we will start rolling out online next week) deal directly with the massive negative impact the new political regime is having on just about every aspect of our lives, climate and environment included. But in some ways, that omission in itself is an act of resistance. Why give oxygen to narratives of fear that are already circulating out there, that breed division and isolation at a time when we should be building community and fostering hope for the future?
While the Journal doesn’t hesitate to ring the alarm bell when needed, perhaps our role during these dark days is to ensure we tell more stories that show us that good persists, love persists — and that simply doing what you love can also be a form of resistance.
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After two-and-a-half years as the Journal’s associate editor, Brian Calvert has moved on to a staff reporter and contributing editor position at Civil Eats, a publication we admire and have had several collaborations with. He is missed, but we wish him the very best at his new venture.
Maureen Nandini Mitra
Editor-in-Chief, Earth Island Journal
PS: This is a version of my Letter from the Editor published in our Summer 2025 print issue. Check out a quick breakdown on the issue below.
Photo by Jeff Dunham / Unsplash ([link removed])
SUMMER 2025 ISSUE ([link removed])
The latest print edition of Earth Island Journal will be arriving in mailboxes and hitting newsstands any day now.
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In this issue you will find:
•An on-the-ground report from Hungary about the world’s only remaining wild horse species and efforts to reintroduce it in the steppes of Central Asia and Europe.
• A thought-provoking personal essay about how systemic racism has limited access to water — including pools, lakes, and rivers — in southern Black communities, and the quest to find shared spaces to swim.
• An intriguing feature about what drives scientists to seek previously unknown species, and how their discoveries are furthering both our understanding of biodiversity and how to conserve it.
• An investigative report from Zimbabwe, where the climate crisis is spurring migration into neighboring South Africa while also making the border-crossing less treacherous.
• A dispatch from the Philippines, where coastal development and industrial fishing threaten the lifestyle and livelihoods of the country’s dwindling artisanal fishing communities.
Plus:
•A conversation with sociologist and a self-described “apocalyptic optimist” Dana Fisher about climate protest, systemic racism, and the American resistance.
• A personal essay by Camilla Fox of Earth Island’s Project Coyote about how her deep connection with the wild informs the work she does to promote coexistence with our nonhuman neighbors.
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Photo credit: John Carr / USFWS
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While newsrooms across the country are laying off journalists and shutting down, your generous contributions help us produce more stories that make the connections between environmental destruction and other social issues. Thank you for your support.
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Bison photo credit: John Carr / USFWS ([link removed])
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