How China Silences Environmental Reporters Beyond Its Borders
by By Katie Surma on November 23, 2025 at 10:00 am
Planet China: Tenth in a series about how Beijing’s trillion-dollar development plan is reshaping the globe—and the natural world. HARARE, Zimbabwe—The strange number lighting up Tawanda Majoni’s phone again and again felt like a warning. Majoni, one of the Zimbabwe’s most respected journalists, soon learned where the calls were coming from: a federal police unit
China Helped Indonesia Build One of the World’s Biggest, Youngest Coal Fleets. It’s Still Growing.
by Story by Nicholas Kusnetz, data analysis by Peter Aldhous on October 19, 2025 at 9:00 am
Planet China: Ninth in a series about how Beijing’s trillion-dollar development plan is reshaping the globe—and the natural world. BANTEN PROVINCE, Indonesia—The city of Cilegon is surrounded by coal-fired power plants, half a dozen within 10 miles. Some days, the hills that rise above town nearly disappear behind smog that clogs the air and obscures
The Scientists Making the Case for Nature’s Rights
by By Katie Surma on October 5, 2025 at 9:00 am
VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe—On a bright and clear day, Gillian T. Davies reached the end of a winding dirt track where armed guards waited. The ecologist from Massachusetts was attending an international conference on wetlands that would influence the future of the world’s fastest-disappearing ecosystems. The sessions were not going well. So, on the conference’s break
Emissions are Sparking Increases in African Heat Waves in Unexpected Ways, New Study Finds
by By Chad Small on September 6, 2025 at 9:00 am
When Southern Europe was hit by a catastrophic heat wave last month, it dominated global news cycles. Spain experienced its longest heat wave on record: lasting 16 days with temperatures reaching 109 degrees. By August 19, wildfires stoked by the heat had torched more than 40,000 acres in France. At the peak of the heat
The Woman Holding Chinese Mining Giants Accountable
by By Katie Surma on August 24, 2025 at 9:00 am
Planet China: Fifth in a series about how Beijing’s trillion-dollar development plan is reshaping the globe—and the natural world. When Jingjing Zhang saw a string of urgent texts light up her phone, she knew something had gone wrong. Photo and video messages showed a tidal wave of brown sludge rushing into the Zambian countryside with horrifying
The Unraveling Efforts To Save “Earth’s Kidneys”
by By Katie Surma on August 3, 2025 at 9:00 am
Representatives of more than 170 countries gathered in Zimbabwe last week for the Convention on Wetlands, a global environmental protection treaty aimed at saving Earth’s fastest-disappearing ecosystem. Geopolitics quickly took over. Disputes broke out between Russia, China, and other nations about a resolution to preserve Ukraine’s wetlands. The U.S. delegation was a no-show until the
Earth’s Wetlands Are Disappearing and Global Efforts to Save Them Are Unraveling
by By Katie Surma on July 29, 2025 at 5:38 pm
VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe—Scientists and civil society are urging delegates from more than 170 countries represented at a summit here to step up ambitions to combat the continued destruction of Earth’s fastest-disappearing ecosystem. Wetlands underpin all life on Earth, supplying fresh water, oxygen, habitat and food. Yet since 1970 more than 35 percent of wetlands have
Humans Are Wiping Out Water Bodies That Life Depends On, New Report Says
by By Katie Surma on July 15, 2025 at 2:42 pm
A landmark report for the global agreement on wetlands paints a dire picture of the state of the world’s water bodies that underpin all life on Earth. The report, released Tuesday by the secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands, says that since 1970 more than one-fifth of wetlands have been lost, meaning they have shrunk
Zimbabwe: Deteriorating labour standards at Chinese lithium mines in Zimbabwe
on March 11, 2025 at 12:00 am