Food & Agriculture
In Indonesia’s Rainforest, a Mega-Farm Project Is Plowing Ahead
The Indonesian government is fast-tracking a massive agricultural project that is turning 7 million acres of tropical forest into rice and sugarcane farms. Critics say it is the world’s largest deforestation project and would upend the lives of thousands of Indigenous people.
-
FILM CONTEST WINNER
In the Yucatan, the High Cost of a Boom in Factory Hog Farms
In “Slaughter-land” — the First-Place Winner of the 2025 Yale Environment 360 Film Contest — two Latin American filmmakers document how hundreds of mega-farms that contain tens of thousands of pigs are trampling Indigenous rights and befouling the air and water in the Yucatan.
-
INTERVIEW
In the Transition to Renewable Energy, China Is at a Crossroads
For the first time, wind and solar are beginning to displace coal power in China, causing emissions to drop. Analyst Lauri Myllyvirta explores the challenges ahead for policymakers, who must now choose between propping up coal or doubling down on the shift to clean energy.
-
E360 Film Contest
In India, a Young Poacher Evolves into a Committed Conservationist
In “Chasing Birds” — Second-Place Winner of the 2025 Yale Environment 360 Film Contest — filmmaker Salma Sultana Barbhuiya explores how Rustom Basumatary, who came of age during a time of violent conflict in the Indian state of Assam, found identity and purpose in nature.
E360 Film Contest
The Amazon Rainforest Approaches a Point of No Return
In “Amazon Tipping Point” — Third-Place Winner of the 2025 Yale Environment 360 Film Contest — Brazilian filmmakers capture striking images of clear-cutting and explore how human activity is so damaging the world’s largest rainforest that it will not be able to recover.
E360 Digest
-
Warming Made Hot, Dry Weather That Fueled Iberian Wildfires 40 Times More Likely
So far this year, fires have burned more than 1.5 million acres across northern Portugal and northwest Spain, killing eight people and forcing tens of thousands to evacuate. The bulk of the wildfires coincided with a brutal heat wave in August, the most intense on record in Spain, which helped set the stage for the devastating burns, experts say. More about Warming Made Hot, Dry Weather That Fueled Iberian Wildfires 40 Times More Likely →
-
Global Solar Installations Up 64 Percent So Far This Year
Even as the U.S. guts support for renewable power, the world is still pushing ahead on the shift to solar energy, with installations up 64 percent in the first half of this year. More about Global Solar Installations Up 64 Percent So Far This Year →
-
In Yellowstone, Restored Bison Replenish Grasslands
Bison have made a remarkable comeback in Yellowstone National Park, going from fewer than two dozen animals at the turn of the last century to roughly 5,000 today. Their return, a study finds, has had a remarkable impact on grasslands in the region. More about In Yellowstone, Restored Bison Replenish Grasslands →
Never miss an article. Subscribe to the E360 Newsletter for weekly updates delivered to your inbox. Sign Up.
Biodiversity
Shrinking Cod: How Humans Are Impacting the Evolution of Species
Biologists once thought that humans did little to affect the course of evolution in the short term. But a recent study of cod in the Baltic Sea reveals how overfishing and selective harvest of the largest fish has caused genetic changes that favor slower growth and smaller size.
-
Cities
‘Sponge City’: Copenhagen Adapts to a Wetter Future
Climate change is bringing ever more precipitation and rising seas to low-lying Denmark. In response to troubling predictions, Copenhagen is enacting an ambitious plan to build hundreds of nature-based and engineered projects to soak up, store, and redistribute floods.
-
INTERVIEW
On Controlling Fire, New Lessons from a Deep Indigenous Past
For centuries, the Native people of North America used controlled burns to manage the continent's forests. In an e360 interview, ecologist Lori Daniels talks about the long history of Indigenous burning and why the practice must be restored to protect against catastrophic fires.
-
Solutions
Paying the People: Liberia’s Novel Plan to Save Its Forests
Plagued by illegal logging and corruption, Liberia has been losing its forests at an alarming rate. But its new strategy to make direct payments to communities that agree to prohibit cutting and protect their trees is seen as a potential model for other developing nations.
