Just days after Brazil President Dilma Rousseff’s official working visit to the United States, during which she and President Barack Obama issued a joint communique affirming their “mutual respect and trust,” WikiLeaks and The Intercept on Saturday, July 4 published a “top secret U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) target list of 29 key Brazilian government phone … Continue reading "WikiLeaks: US Bugged More Than Two Dozen Brazilian Leaders"

At long last, shark week has come—that time of year when bloodthirsty predators get a moment in the media spotlight. Only it’s not the shark week you’re thinking of. In time with the Discovery Channel’s week of programming that portrays intelligent and social animals as the vicious butchers of the sea, the National People’s Action … Continue reading "For This 'Shark Week,' Grassroots Alliance Targets Predators of the Poor"

If a new scientific paper is proven accurate, the international target of limiting global temperatures to a 2°C rise this century will not be nearly enough to prevent catastrophic melting of ice sheets that would raise sea levels much higher and much faster than previously thought possible. “Parts of [our coastal cities] would still be … Continue reading "World's Oceans Could Rise Higher, Sooner, Faster Than Most Thought Possible"

Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker became the butt of a political joke in New Hampshire on Monday, when an environmental activist tricked the Wisconsin governor into posing with an oversized check for $900 million, made out to Walker and “signed” by the conservative, climate-denying Koch brothers. Tyler McFarland, a 23-year-old organizer with the group 350 … Continue reading "Gotcha! Scott Walker Punked by Climate Activist on Campaign Trail"

When Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) visited the Navajo Nation’s capital in Window Rock on Friday, he was met with angry protests over the violation of Indigenous communities’ water rights and, according to some accounts, chased off the land. McCain made the visit, along with Republican Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, for a public meeting with Navajo … Continue reading "Demanding Water Rights, Indigenous Protesters Tell McCain 'Get Off Our Land'"

Law enforcement officials in Texas are still trying to determine the identity and possible motive of the individual who shot and killed a sheriff’s deputy near Houston late Friday night in what has been described as an “ambush” at a local gas station. Deputy Darren Goforth, 47, was pumping gas about 8:30 p.m. Friday when … Continue reading "Lethal Shooting of Sheriff's Deputy in Texas Described as 'Ambush'"

Here’s another argument for keeping the world’s fossil fuels in the ground: If all the coal, gas, and oil on Earth is extracted and burned, the Antarctic ice-sheet will melt entirely, scientists warn in a “blockbuster” new study published Friday in the research journal Science Advances. “The mind-boggling point is that our actions today are … Continue reading "Burning the World's Fossil Fuels Would Melt Antarctica Into the Sea: Study"

If you think that life for a wild animal would be more horrendous and hazardous inside an “exclusionary zone” in the shadow of a melted-down nuclear plant than living in a world beset with deforestation, hunting and poaching, and the nearly non-stop encroachment of humanity’s industrial expansion—a new study may have you thinking twice about … Continue reading "Chernobyl Study: 'Amazing Illustration' of How Destructive Human Civilization Has Become"

Pope Francis’s much-vaunted comments to U.S. Congress on Thursday included a message of praise for “daughter of this land” Dorothy Day, a radical writer and activist who uplifted the dignity of the poor and was repeatedly jailed for protesting wars, racism, and the denial of women’s suffrage. “In these times when social concerns are so … Continue reading "Pope Champions Work and Message of Radical Catholic Dorothy Day"

Just two years ago, at age 16, Florida honors student Kiera Wilmot was expelled, arrested, and booked on two felony charges after a school science experiment went awry. “She just wanted to see what happened to those chemicals in the bottle,” one teen told a local news station in the wake of the incident in … Continue reading "Kiera's Story: From Science Project Arrest to White House Welcome"