Ralph Martin

The Guardian view on the atrocities in El Fasher: the responsibility for these horrors extends beyond Sudan’s borders | Editorial Editorial: The world said ‘never again’ after Darfur’s genocide. Yet it stood by as catastrophe loomed

“Hard questions are rightly being asked about why military equipment from Britain, Canada and elsewhere has reached Sudanese battlefields. Above all, there is anger at the United Arab Emirates’ role” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

No high-level US representatives will go to UN climate talks, Trump officials say Decision to stay away from Cop30 meeting in Brazil underscores administration’s hostility to climate action

“If the choice is no US or a US that is there as a spoiler, to wreck and disrupt things, then I think most countries would prefer there to be no US” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Opinion: What we need in this country is less money in politics, not more If the electoral ideal is to give equal voice to equal votes, why is Ontario proposing to further amplify the political causes of the wealthy?

“If people want to contribute to political parties, let them do so on their own dime. If parties need to finance their operations, let them raise the funds from willing individual donors, not the taxpayer.” www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Opinion: More journalists than ever are fleeing persecution The exiled media worker is becoming an increasingly common trend in the journalism profession

“In 2024, record number of people lived outside of country in which they were born, now > 250 million worldwide, highest ever … in 2024 total journalists killed is highest ever. Global rate of unresolved or abandoned cases of journalist killings is 85%” www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Shell’s profits pass $43bn after production hits new highs in Brazil and Gulf of Mexico Oil company plans to buy back shares for 16th consecutive quarter as protesters say its earnings are ‘horror show’

“Each quarter, Shell’s inordinate profits are announced, with no acknowledgment of exploitation and destruction of communities in world that enables this greed. Shell’s profits are a horror show. And that when it comes to big oil, it’s always trick or trick.” www.theguardian.com/business/202...

The luxury effect: why you’ll find more wildlife in wealthy areas – and what it means for your health The discovery that affluent neighbourhoods have more diversity of nature has implications for human wellbeing – and sheds light on the structural injustices in cities

“Luxury effect holds so well,” says Kinzig. “You would … expect different types of people to create landscapes that support different types of other species, but you would not necessarily expect the rich would almost always experience higher biodiversity.” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Russian army chiefs torturing and executing soldiers who refuse to fight in Ukraine, report says Investigation lists 101 superiors accused of tactics such as using drones to ‘finish’ off retreating troops and sending soldiers on death missions

“Russia’s military prosecutor’s office received 29,000 complaints from soldiers and families in first half of 2025; > 12,000 related to punishment by their own superiors ... 'If we open this, could harm operations.’ That means these officers have total impunity” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Open letter: A global call to strengthen national soil biodiversity action through coordination and harmonization Soil biodiversity remains one of the least systematically studied components of global biodiversity, largely invisible in policy agendas. A coordinated soil biodiversity monitoring approach is urgent...

“Soils and their biodiversity must be included in national biodiversity strategies and ecosystem restoration targets for sake of species they contain and for essential ecosystem services including water, nutrient, food production, carbon storage” nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Canadian power must serve people before tech bros and crooks All provinces should follow BC's example and ban power allocation for cryptocurrency mines and set electricity allocation priorities for businesses they believe matter most

Canadian power must help people, not tech bros and crooks. All provinces should follow BC's example and ban power allocation for cryptocurrency mines and set electricity allocation priorities for businesses they believe matter most www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/30/o...

Controversial Ontario landfill will move ahead without federal assessment The federal government has rejected an impact assessment for Ford’s first Bill 5 project — a controversial “town killer” landfill proposal in the small southwestern Ontario community of Dresden.

“Site beside Molly’s Creek flows into East Sydenham R. one of Canada’s most biodiverse waterways and home to several endangered species. Farming and food processing draw water from Sydenham R.; contamination could devastate local jobs, crops and businesses” www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/30/n...

Opinion: Jonathan the 192-year-old tortoise could outlive me and you. His species deserves respect Today, tortoises are being rewilded and recognized for both their inherent worth and benefits to local ecosystems and economies

“The tortoises who have not been given names, at least not by us, roam wild and free, where they belong. This could be a world of tortoises again, this delicate, formidable and precious planet, our only home. Our shared home. Imagine.” www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Opinion: Jonathan the 192-year-old tortoise could outlive me and you. His species deserves respect Today, tortoises are being rewilded and recognized for both their inherent worth and benefits to local ecosystems and economies

“I am a tortoise,” she says. “I am proud to be a tortoise. I am also a prism.” Vibrant colours of coexistence, shimmers of compassion and solidarity, stubbornly hopeful, they endure too” www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Opinion: Jonathan the 192-year-old tortoise could outlive me and you. His species deserves respect Today, tortoises are being rewilded and recognized for both their inherent worth and benefits to local ecosystems and economies

“On the Galapagos Islands, entire species of tortoises who survived millions of years of planetary evolution disappeared in a historical blink of an eye because of one particular species and its economic and colonial decisions: our own” www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Canada urged to take stronger action on Sudan as killings escalate Anita Anand’s vague statement on the civilian massacres in Darfur is an example of Ottawa’s lack of interest in the conflict, critics say

“If Ottawa listed RSF as terror group, Canadians would be banned from financially supporting it, and RSF members would be inadmissible to enter Canada … As crisis in Sudan has worsened, Canada has continued to trade in military goods with the UAE.” www.theglobeandmail.com/world/articl...

All operational US liquefied natural gas terminals have violated pollution limits, says report Analysis of public records comes as Trump administration aims to fast-track approval of new LNG export terminals

“Between October 2022 and July 2025, all seven of those terminals have been in noncompliance with the Clean Air Act for at least one quarter … Exported LNG emits far more greenhouse gas emissions than coal” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

How a radical experiment to bring a forest into a preschool transformed children’s health In Finland, kindergartens are exposing children to more mud, wild plants and moss - and finding changes to their health that show how crucial biodiversity is to wellbeing

“Children playing in green kindergartens had less disease-causing bacteria – such as Streptococcus – on their skin, and stronger immune defences. Their gut microbiota showed reduced levels of Clostridium bacteria ... increase in T regulatory cells” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Rising heat kills one person a minute worldwide, major report reveals Biggest analysis of its kind finds millions are dying each year from combined effects of failure to tackle climate crisis

“Governments gave out $2.5bn a day in direct subsidies to fossil fuels companies in 2023, the researchers found, while people lost about the same amount because of high temperatures preventing them from working on farms and building sites” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Press Israel to release Marwan Barghouti, former world leaders urge Trump Elders group set up by Mandela and chaired by Colombia’s former president says Palestinian leader would play ‘unifying’ role

“Only Palestinian people have right to choose their own leadership. Welcome commitment by Abbas to hold free and fair elections under international auspices within 12 mo. Many Palestinians refer to Barghouti as “their Mandela” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Agroforestry and Reforestation in Kisumu, Kenya - Nature-Based Infrastructure Global Resource Centre This project aims to regenerate the water-energy-food nexus in Kisumu, Kenya.

“Every dollar invested in the programme generates about three dollars in benefits for people, the economy, and the environment. Improved sanitation alone avoids nearly USD 480 million in health costs” nbi.iisd.org/report/agrof...

Global use of coal hit record high in 2024 A bleak report finds that greenhouse gas emissions are still rising despite the ‘exponential’ growth of renewables.

“Share of coal in electricity generation dropped as renewable energy surged ahead. But general increase in power demand meant more coal was used overall … In 2024, > 8m hectares of forest permanently lost. Need to move 9x faster to halt deforestation” www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/29/n...

Canada’s LNG industry is less regulated than you might think A pattern is emerging with each new study on LNG that reveals significant gaps in what we know about the long-term impacts of the industry — particularly on human health.

“LNG export facilities flare 3x more gas during start-up operations than during regular operations. These commissioning phases last on average two years, yet these emissions are being systematically underestimated by proponents and ignored by regulators” www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/29/o...

Alberta is the richest province in the country — except where it really counts How does the province with the highest fiscal capacity in the country also have the lowest per-capita funding for students in its public schools? Because it wants it that way

“Alberta’s public schools buckle under pressure their own government helped create ... Alberta gives independent schools 70% of the per-student funding that a public school receives; BC is 50%, ON is 0%” www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/27/o...

Planned New Brunswick gas plant could worsen flooding, threaten fragile ecosystem As the province moves ahead with plans for a new gas plant, experts and residents warn it could endanger one of Canada’s most fragile and important ecological corridors.

“Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’taqnn Inc., an organization which represents eight Mi’gmaq communities in New Brunswick, put out a release in August stating that the Mi'kmaq Chiefs “have not made any decision regarding investing” in the gas project” www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/29/n...

Climate change will hurt Canada's GDP more than previously thought New economic research indicates Canada (and all countries) will see a larger hit to GDP thanks to climate change.

“LNG Canada Phase 2 Kitimat BC doubles export capacity and could release 12,390 megatonnes of carbon pollution ... if Canada is to meet 2030 emission reduction targets — a 45% reduction from 2005 levels — annual emissions must be no more than 457 MT in 2030” www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/29/n...

Sudanese Canadians urge Ottawa to help family members flee Darfur Thousands hoping to join relatives in Canada are still waiting for their applications to be dealt with

“Thousands hoping to join relatives in Canada still waiting for applications to be dealt with by Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada; processing could take up to 10 years ... long wait is tantamount to “death sentence” for relatives of many Canadians” www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

Signs of latest massacres in Darfur are visible in satellite imagery Analysis concludes paramilitary soldiers are conducting mass killings in house-to-house operations

“RSF fighters hurl racial epithets at victims as they beat or shoot them ... Videos show RSF soldiers feel free to carry out mass atrocities with little fear of consequences … RSF has targeted indigenous non-Arab ethnic minorities; termed it a genocide” www.theglobeandmail.com/world/articl...

The Ploughshares Monitor: Autumn 2025 - Project Ploughshares Volume 46 Issue 3 A quarterly publication of Project Ploughshares

“10th consecutive year in the rise of global military expenditure to $2,718 billion in 2024 … in 2024 venture capital investment in defence grew by 33%, reaching $31 billion …challenge that war technology is ill-prepared to address need to de-escalate conflicts” ploughshares.ca/the-ploughsh...

I am the first Indigenous journalist to exclusively interview António Guterres. How many others will listen? A young journalist reflects on the UN leader’s responses, and hopes his messages – about human violence and an increasingly hostile planet – resonated before Cop30

“I know pain of the forest, because its body is an extension of ours … we continue because as long as there is forest, there is still us … many people in world still need to listen, not to speeches, but to sounds of rivers. To reforest their deforested thoughts” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘Change course now’: humanity has missed 1.5C climate target, says UN head Exclusive: ‘Devastating consequences’ now inevitable but emissions cuts still vital, says António Guterres in sole interview before Cop30

“From NDCs until now, expectation of 10% reduction of emissions. Need 60% [to stay within 1.5C]; overshooting now inevitable … “Fundamental to invest in those who are best guardians of nature, best guardians of nature are precisely the Indigenous communities” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Mass killings reported in Sudanese city seized by paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces accused of killing more than 2,000 unarmed civilians in El Fasher in recent days

“I have never seen a level of violence against an area like we are seeing now. This is only comparable with a Rwandan style killing in the first 24 hours.” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...