Go behind the scenes with managing editor Jamie Smith Hopkins and investigative reporter Katie Surma as they discuss how the Shuar people in Ecuador are combining ancestral knowledge and modern science to protect their forest from a Canadian mining giant.

In the copper-rich mountains of southeastern Ecuador, residents working as “paraecologists” are documenting the biodiversity of their territory – home to endangered species, waterfalls, and medicinal plants – not simply for the record, but to protect the land from mining.

The data paraecologists collect, such as species inventories and water samples, is translated into evidence that carries weight in courts. Increasingly, it’s winning cases. That’s because in Ecuador, nature has legal rights.

Katie, who traveled to Maikiuants, Ecuador, to report this story, explains the work these paraecologists are doing, what impact it might have on mining in their community, and the complex relationships between human rights and the rights of nature.

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Go behind the scenes with senior editor Corey Mitchell and reporter Bob Berwyn as they discuss critical measures of the planet’s health.

“Earth is being pushed beyond its limits while every key climate indicator is flashing red,” warned U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres after the release of the latest State of the Global Climate report from the World Meteorological Organization.

The report highlights the significance of record-high concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and notes that the effects are visible everywhere, from the 11-year series of hottest-ever years to the way heat is accumulating deep in the oceans.

And for the first time, it adds a new measure to the list of key climate indicators: Earth’s energy imbalance, which tracks the gap between the solar energy entering our atmosphere and the heat escaping back into space.

Bob, who covers climate science for Inside Climate News, explains the real-world impacts of the energy imbalance, as well as melting glaciers, sea level rise, and pollution from unregulated space activity; and the disconnect between scientific knowledge and political action today.

Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23...

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Go behind the scenes with managing editor Jamie Smith Hopkins, data journalist Peter Aldhous and reporter Jake Bolster as they discuss an exclusive ICN analysis of workforce chaos at the Department of the Interior.

One year into President Donald Trump’s second term, the Department of the Interior is in turmoil, hobbling many of the agencies overseeing the country’s public lands and waters.

Not only has Interior lost some 11,000 employees, it’s also reeling from a drastic centralization of personnel, moving large numbers of staff into the office of the Interior secretary, Doug Burgum.

That shift has created a hostile work culture, made staff less efficient and broken important lines of communication, former employees say. According to an Inside Climate News analysis of federal workforce data, almost 1,800 workers have left Burgum’s office since the reorganization—the vast majority opting to retire or quit.

Peter, who conducted ICN’s data analysis, and Jake, whose focus includes public lands, describe how they discovered and took on this story, what makes Burgum’s reorganization so unique, and what ripple effects it may cause for America’s vast public lands and waters.

Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/17...

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Go behind the scenes with managing editor Jamie Smith Hopkins and reporter Nick Kusnetz as they discuss how a recent visit by an FBI agent to a climate activist hints at a broadening Trump administration effort to target political opponents.

An FBI agent arrived at the door of a former member of Extinction Rebellion NYC last month, saying she had questions about the environmental advocacy group.

It wasn’t the first time climate activists have drawn scrutiny from the FBI. But the visit appeared to place this group on the leading edge of the Trump administration’s use of law enforcement to target protests and free speech that civil liberties advocates say are protected by the Constitution.

Nick, an investigative reporter for ICN, explains details of the encounter, what it may have to do with President Donald Trump’s national security memo on domestic terrorism, and the unanswered questions about what broader investigative effort could be taking place.

Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08...

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Go behind the scenes with reporters Kiley Bense and Georgina Gustin as they discuss how agriculture is devouring the world’s grasslands, savannas and wetlands.

Agriculture is the biggest driver of forest destruction around the world, especially in well-known places like the Amazon rainforest.

But new research finds that other ecosystems—the world’s grasslands, savannas and wetlands—are being gobbled up for agriculture at nearly four times the rate as forests. As with forests, the main reason is livestock.

Georgina, who reports on agriculture for Inside Climate News, describes what makes grasslands and wetlands such important ecosystems, what happens when they are replaced by cropland and pasture, and what’s driving the destruction in the United States.

Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25...

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Go behind the scenes with reporter Kiley Bense and oceans correspondent Teresa Tomassoni as they discuss how climate change is transforming the oceans for whale populations.

Whaling was once a major engine of the global economy. Millions of whales were killed for their blubber until commercial whaling was banned in the 1980s. Since then, some whale populations have rebounded, but from the coast of California to the Antarctic Ocean, climate change is now threatening that progress.

New research reveals how rising ocean temperatures are slowing birth rates and shrinking feeding grounds, pushing some whales closer to shore and into greater risk of entanglements.

Teresa, who reports on oceans for Inside Climate News, describes what’s happening to humpbacks and Southern right whales, the science behind these findings, and what it means for the future of these species.

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Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and reporter Kiley Bense as they discuss the push and pull of climate action in Pennsylvania.

As the Trump administration moves to dismantle the federal government’s ability to act against climate change, the real fight to curb carbon emissions is shifting to the state level. Case in point: Pennsylvania.

Kiley, who reports on the Keystone State for ICN, describes the mixed bag of climate issues in Pennsylvania, from cap and trade programs, to uniquely vulnerable cultural treasures and the energy policies of “all-of-the-above” Gov. Josh Shapiro.

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As the Trump administration moves to dismantle the federal government’s ability to act against climate change, the real fight to curb carbon emissions is shifting to the state level. Case in point: Pennsylvania.

Kiley, who reports on the Keystone State for ICN, describes the mixed bag of climate issues in Pennsylvania, from cap and trade programs, to uniquely vulnerable cultural treasures and the energy policies of “all-of-the-above” Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06...

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Go behind the scenes with managing editor Jamie Smith Hopkins, Texas reporter Dylan Baddour and data journalist Peter Aldhous as they discuss ICN’s new investigation into how the fracking boom put an oil field in the Guadalupe River floodplain.

An epic flood a generation ago drenched areas around Texas’ Guadalupe River, showing how quickly and dangerously the region could be submerged.

Since then, Texas — with no state floodplain policy — has allowed oil companies to frack this same area, extracting fossil fuels underground in the Eagle Ford Shale. It may be, as one resident describes, “a disaster waiting to happen.”

A new investigation by Inside Climate News found that more than 500 enormous oil tanks now dot the floodplains of the Guadalupe River — tanks that could upend, spill or float away in another devastating flood.

Dylan and Peter explain how they undertook this important investigation and what it would mean if the basin floods again.

Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08...

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Go behind the scenes with executive editor Vernon Loeb and fisheries and aquaculture reporter Johnny Sturgeon as they discuss heat, health and opportunity in the world’s oceans.

Oceans cover 70% of the earth’s surface, absorb 90% of excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases, and help prevent dramatic temperature spikes on land. Yet they’re often overlooked in conversations about climate change.

The consequences are significant. Ignoring ocean damage nearly doubles the cost of climate change and has left a multi-trillion-dollar blind spot in climate finance, according to a new study released last week.

Global ocean heat content also increased for the ninth consecutive year in 2025. Every second of last year, the Earth’s oceans absorbed the equivalent in energy to 12 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs.

Johnny, ICN’s newest staff reporter, pulls back the curtain on these and more of the most interesting developments in the oceans, including the untapped clean energy of the tidal energy industry, which has the potential to provide a carbon-free source of power with complete predictability.

Read the story: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15...

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