Krista Shennum

Plastics: Countries Must Deliver Binding Treaty to Curb Plastic Governments must use the final round of global plastics treaty negotiations to secure strong, enforceable limits on plastic production and protect communities facing the worst harms of plastic polluti...

Without binding limits on plastic production, the #PlasticsTreaty will fail to actually address the plastics crisis, including significant greenhouse gas emissions and threats to the health of communities around the world. The plastic crisis is global, but so is the opportunity to solve it.

Trump Administration Suspends UCLA Grants After Rights Probe (Bloomberg) -- The federal government is suspending certain research funding to the University of California at Los Angeles over concerns about antisemitism and bias on campus, hitting one of the most...

Just another day watching the gutting of US academic institutions.

"The decision adds pressure to a university already facing financial strains. Looming state budget cuts prompted a UC system-wide hiring freeze & broader cost-cutting, with officials warning of potentially deeper shortfalls ahead."

‘Climateflation’ could push up UK food prices by more than a third by 2050, report says Exclusive: Increasingly extreme weather a threat to production and supply chains in Britain and elsewhere Britain is at risk of a worsening “climateflation” crisis amid the fallout from increasingly extreme weather that could drive up food prices by more than a third by 2050. Sounding the alarm over the financial impact for UK households, the Autonomy Institute thinktank said that climate-induced price increases for everyday food items risked pushing almost 1 million people into poverty without urgent government intervention. Continue reading...

‘Climateflation’ could push up UK food prices by more than a third by 2050, report says

Indonesian palm oil company sues experts who helped secure $18m pollution ruling JAKARTA — Two of Indonesia’s most prominent environmental experts are facing a lawsuit that activists say is part of a wider trend of silencing scientists who testify against environmental violators.…

Two top Indonesian environmental experts, Bambang Hero Saharjo and Basuki Wasis, are being sued by palm oil firm PT Kalimantan Lestari Mandiri for their court testimony that helped convict the company for massive fires in Borneo.

CPJ: Israel is starving Gazan journalists into silence - Committee to Protect Journalists New York, July 23, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists added its voice to Wednesday’s urgent appeal from more than 100 aid agencies to end to Israel’s starvation of journalists and other civilia...

Committee to Project Journalists:

“Israel is starving Gazan journalists into silence.

Our response to their courageous 650 plus-days of war reporting cannot simply be to let them starve to death.”

Following the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change, CRI’s Advocacy Director, @lotteleicht.bsky.social, weighs in on what it means for global accountability and justice.🌍⚖️

Official ICJ press release here: www.icj-cij.org/sites/defaul...

ICJ delivered a roadmap for #ClimateJustice:
- rejecting claims by big GHG polluters that they can wreak climate havoc w impunity
- spelling out obligations to prevent, halt & repair harms to the climate system & protect rights

Where there's a right, there's a remedy
www.icj-cij.org/sites/defaul...

‘Only 10% is left’: wildfires devastate proposed Indigenous protected area — The Narwhal Sakitawak was a dream to protect pristine boreal forest in Saskatchewan. Two years after half of it burned, another massive wildfire is raging

2 years ago, a massive wildfire destroyed half of Sakitawak, a proposed Indigenous protected area near the Métis community of Île-à-la-Crosse, Sask. Once again, wildfires are threatening the community— and nearly all of Sakitawak has burned. New from @michellecyca.com: apple.news/ATmQiiAw9QnC...

“My Body Is Burning”: Extreme Heat and Labor Rights in Bangladesh Summers in Dhaka are unforgiving. Smog and dust cloud the sky, veiling the city in a muted haze. Hot air radiates off a canopy of tightly packed metal rooftops. The humidity is suffocating. Water, gas...

My latest report for @climaterights.bsky.social is live:

“My Body Is Burning” exposes how extreme heat and labor rights abuses endanger workers – including those in global supply chains – across Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Huge thanks to all who shared their stories.

cri.org/reports/my-b...

Q&A: What Lessons Can Zimbabwe Learn From Indonesia in Its Quest to Move up the Lithium Value Chain? Indonesia is often cited as a model for countries seeking to extract more value from their mineral wealth. This is because Jakarta was a pioneer in using export bans to compel investors to invest in t...

Indonesia’s nickel strategy offers key lessons for African nations like Zimbabwe.

Bangladesh: Extreme Heat Threatens the Lives and Livelihoods of Workers (San Francisco, July 22) – Extreme heat driven by the human-induced climate emergency is endangering the lives and livelihoods of urban workers in Bangladesh, Climate Rights International said in a ne...

📢 New Report: “My Body Is Burning”: Climate Change, Extreme Heat, and Labor Rights in Bangladesh

CRI's latest investigation documents the human cost of extreme heat among urban workers in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where rising temperatures are intersecting with labor rights abuses.
cri.org/bangladesh-e...

Open burning of plastic is an escalating public health threat, say experts When Tiwonge Mzumara-Gawa was a child, her mother sent her to market with a basket woven from grasses. “But now we don’t do that,” she says, because plastic has taken over most utilitarian purposes…

In the developing world, plastics are frequently burned in the open in landfills or in communities with no access to waste disposal services.

This practice is a growing public health concern, say experts, as are reports of marginalized communities resorting to burning plastics as a fuel source.

Graphical timeline by Susan Ann Samuel showing the timeline of progress of 4 Advisory Opinions in 4 world courts (the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights) from 2019 to 2025

'How young people have taken climate justice to the world’s international courts' - @susanannsamuel.bsky.social

Great timeline on the “quartet” of advisory opinions from 4 judicial bodies

👉 theconversation.com/how-young-pe...

Nasib Masyarakat Pesisir Weda Ketika Ada Hilirisasi Nikel     Masyarakat pesisir di Kecamatan Weda Tengah, Halmahera Tengah, Maluku Utara, dulu hidup bergantung laut. Kini berubah setelah hilirisasi nikel datang,  Pesisir Teluk Weda sudah jadi pabrik-pabrik pengolahan nikel dan belasan PLTU batubara serta berbagai fasilitas industri ini. Tempat nelayan mencari penghidupan pun tak semudah dulu. Kini, yang jadi nelayan tinggal hitungan jari, sebagian […]

Dulu bergantung pada laut, kini kehidupan masyarakat pesisir Weda Tengah, Halmahera Tengah, berubah sejak hilirisasi nikel masuk. Teluk Weda telah dipenuhi pabrik pengolahan nikel, PLTU batubara, dan fasilitas industri.
mongabay.co.id/2025/07/18/na...

this is a table headlined “A Brief Overview of Major US Clean Energy Tax Policy” by Shane Londagin, Avi Zevin, Luke Bassett, and the REPEAT Project. It then goes through each individual tax credit and how it has changed. You can find a full OCR-readable PDF version of the table at Heatmap

Seriously this is the most useful single table I’ve seen for summarizing what just happened to US clean energy tax credits. It is a beast. heatmap.news/politics/obb...

Americans Are Concerned About Climate Change—but They Should Be Afraid Americans still don’t comprehend how imminent, dangerous, and far-reaching the threat is—and journalists are partly to blame.

Great piece by @hertsgaard on climate coverage. It's been driving me nuts how little the press are connecting the dots.
www.thenation.com/article/envi...

Death threats and falsehoods among online abuse reported by land and climate defenders Survey across six continents uncovers accounts of abuse causing defenders to fear for their safety

Death threats and falsehoods among online abuse reported by land and climate defenders

Survey across six continents uncovers accounts of abuse causing defenders to fear for their safety

Important and deeply disturbing Global Witness report 👇

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Lithium-ion Batteries and the Greenwashing of Extractivism - GLOBAL SOUTHS HUB In this article, Global Souths Hub Editor and Website Curator Mira Mookerjee examines the sourcing process of minerals used in lithium-ion batteries – a technology that is allegedly moving us towards…

Are new green technologies truly made in sustainable ways?

In this powerful piece, Mira Mookerjee speaks to Indigenous leaders, researchers, and campaigners on the true cost of lithium-ion batteries.

You don’t want to miss this one ⬇️ 🔽 buff.ly/wxJbTZt

Internal Agency Memo Calls for Political Reviews of Solar, Wind Projects The widely circulating document lists more than 68 activities newly subject to upper-level review.

Huge: An internal Interior Department memo that I’ve reviewed shows the agency may soon subject *any* activities related to wind and solar to heightened levels of political review.

It threatens to delay renewables projects across the country, including those not on federal lands.

#greensky

Mapping the chemical complexity of plastics - Nature An inventory of 16,325 known plastic chemicals, including >4,200 hazardous compounds, supports the development of safer plastics.

Over the past few years, our PlastChem team has worked tirelessly to map the chemical complexity of #plastics. Today, we publish the findings in @nature.com. We hope this evidence propels the development of safer plastics to protect human health and environment. 1/4
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

⚠️CIEL joins key health and environmental NGOs calling on the European Commission @ec.europa.eu to withdraw the Chemicals deregulation Omnibus package. 🧪

This deregulation drive puts profits above people, weakening safety rules on hazardous mixtures, cosmetic ingredients & product transparency.

Deep-sea mining could start soon — before we understand its risks The U.S. push to mine international waters for metals defies global efforts to control and protect these fragile ecosystems.

“To date, the record indicates that deep-sea mining is a risky and unprofitable investment. [It] is a multibillion-dollar solution to problems that do not exist.” --Justin Alger

www.sciencenews.org/article/deep...

United Nations: Human Rights Council Fails to Address Fossil Fuels (Brussels, July 8, 2025) – The United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) failed to confront the primary driver of the climate crisis by refusing to accept proposed language calling for a phase-out of ...

"There is no future for humanity without a plan to phase out fossil fuels.”

The UN Human Rights Council failed to confront the primary driver of the climate crisis by refusing to accept proposed language calling for a phase-out of fossil fuels from a resolution on human rights and climate change.

🎯 🌱 💸 Check out our Inflation Reduction Act Tracker, jointly launched w/ @envdefensefund.bsky.social, which documents attempts to undermine IRA programs during Trump's second term:
1️⃣The database summarizes IRA provisions
2️⃣The action tracker records actions to implement the IRA
buff.ly/3ykdxsZ

Inter-American Court: States Must Act on “Climate Emergency” (San Francisco, July 7, 2025) – All members of the Organization of American States, including the United States and Canada, should take urgent steps to implement the July 3 advisory opinion on climate...

The Advisory Opinion by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on the #ClimateEmergency recognizes the right to a ‘healthy climate’ & lays out a path for urgent action to protect the climate system & human rights of present & future generations

Climate Rights International cri.org/inter-americ...

Border patrol walking McArthur park here in LA

The war lasted 12 days. The environmental impact on Iran may last decades Israel and United States' strikes on Iran could leave lasting health, environmental, and climate damage to the country.

Even two weeks of war or less can leave lasting environmental scars with consequences for people, ecosystems, biodiversity, and the climate. My latest with @saragoud.bsky.social for @thebulletin.org

thebulletin.org/2025/07/the-...

🚨 The Trump admin’s shift from climate goals to national security is reshaping U.S. mineral policy—and the Congo is paying the price.

Since our 2024 report on critical minerals and the DRC, the global and political stakes have only intensified:

Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos Canal oficial de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. 2021. Licencia Creative Commons Esta obra está bajo una Licencia Creative Commons Atribución-No...

🚨 There might actually be some GOOD legal news tomorrow - the FIRST climate advisory opinion from an intl human rights court!

Watch the delivery of this historic opinion from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights LIVE: shorturl.at/GkNfD

📅Thu, 3 July | 16:00 UTC
#AOLetsGO #OpiniónConsultiva

2/ It was bad enough they cut all the tax incentives for wind and solar energy - they added a NEW TAX on these projects to make sure America never builds any new renewables.

Remember, Trump promised the oil industry provisions like this in exchange for a $1B campaign donation.