Biodevastation

Tiny pieces of plastic, widely found in food, water, and air, can harm the development and function of specialized brain cells that regulate reproduction, new research reports.   These cells, called gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons, act like main switches for puberty and fertility. During early development, they must travel to the right place in the brain and then release hormones in a precise rhythm throughout life.

Reducing greenhouse gases alone will not prevent environmental catastrophe if we continue destroying natural ecosystems. The central thesis of biotic pump theory is that greenhouse gases warm the planet, but water movement and waterstate changes drive climate stability.

This article documents the transformative journey of women farmers in Amarthoon village of Banswara, Rajasthan, where agricultural diversification into brinjal and cluster bean cultivation has significantly enhanced livelihoods and reduced seasonal migration. In a predominantly tribal region marked by small landholdings, rain-fed agriculture, and chronic poverty, women farmers traditionally earned minimal income from conventional crops such as maize and soybean. The intervention initiated in 2022 by Vaagdhara introduced a comprehensive model combining women’s group formation, access to improved vegetable seeds, Farmer Field Schools, and training in organic farming practices. By shifting to high-value vegetable crops and adopting low-cost organic inputs such as Jeevamrit, Dashparni Ark, and vermicompost, participating women increased their income from approximately ₹10,000 to as much as ₹1,50,000 per two bighas of land. Beyond income growth, the initiative led to reduced migration, improved housing, better access to education and healthcare, and enhanced household nutrition. What began as a village-level effort has expanded into a district-wide movement, reaching 13,952 farmers. The case of Amarthoon illustrates how women’s empowerment, capacity building, and ecological farming practices can drive holistic rural development. It underscores the potential of agricultural diversification and community-based approaches in strengthening socio-economic resilience among small and marginal farmers in

Across Africa, the departure of multinational mining companies leaves behind a trail of ruin—abandoned pits, poisoned water, shattered livelihoods, and ghost towns stripped of basic services. What was once promised as “development” turns into long-term dispossession, as profits are exported and communities are left to bear ecological and economic collapse. The article exposes how extractive capitalism treats land and people as expendable, revealing a pattern of corporate exit without accountability. It calls for justice, reparations, and a rethinking of resource governance rooted in people’s rights, not profit. Africa’s wealth, it argues, must no longer produce poverty.

The arson attacks that engulfed the protected forests of he Andean-Patagonia region serve as a reminder that Western conservation models, which dispossess Indigenous peoples of their lands, are another tool of imperialism. To protect those lands, we need Indigenous sovereignty over them from Latin America and the Caribbean to Africa.

Oil and gas production can continue to rise for some time, even decades, before lack of discovery leads to lower production. For oil that day seems nearer than ever. For natural gas it might be a decade or two away. But even that is a very short time to get ready for a world of declining oil and natural gas production. And still we as a global society are pretending that increased consumption of oil and natural gas can go on, if not forever, at least for a very long time.

Groundwater levels are plunging in a rich agricultural region dubbed the Green Triangle. It’s a slowly unfolding disaster

In the drought-prone fields of Karauli, where monocrops and erratic rains have trapped small farmers in cycles of risk and meagre returns, an innovative multilayer vegetable cultivation model offers a compelling alternative. By intensifying land use, optimizing scarce water, and reviving soil health through natural farming, marginal households are unlocking diversity, food security, and steady income from tiny plots. With community training and low-cost inputs, women farmers are leading a quiet revolution — growing over a dozen crops on limited space, reducing chemical dependence, and building resilience against climate shocks. This grassroots agroecology holds lessons far beyond Rajasthan’s drylands.

Huge “regreening” efforts in China over the past few decades have activated the country’s water cycle and moved water in ways that scientists are just now starting to understand.