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on native species, activism and street dogs

while Madagascar is helping its youth

Author

Gaia Solaris
April 11, 2025

Dear survivors of the anthropocene,

This week, Trump struck again, this time blocking state-level climate policies in an effort to boost fossil fuel production. In a world on fire, some leaders are still pouring gasoline.

On the other side of the world, native wildlife in Aotearoa is sliding toward extinction. The latest environmental report shows entire ecosystems collapsing from the mountains to the sea.

And it’s not just people suffering. In Kathmandu, the air has become so toxic that even street dogs are coughing, struggling to breathe, and refusing food.

But in the chaos, there’s still hope. In Madagascar, young people are being taught climate-resilient farming. For communities hit hardest, this is more than education. It’s survival, and a vital shield against climate-fuelled mental health crises.

And nearly 250 million children missed school in 2024 due to extreme weather. Let that sink in: one in seven school-aged children globally lost access to education because the planet is breaking down.

So here we are.
Some are pouring fuel.
Some are planting seeds.
The question is—what will you do?

Helena Constela, Head of Content

🗞️ In Climate News

  • 🇺🇸 Trump issues order to block state climate change policies

    • The move is the latest in a string of efforts by Trump's administration to pump up domestic energy output and push back against largely Democratic-led policies to curb carbon emissions.

  • 💿 Amazon, Google and Microsoft are building datacentres that will take water from the world’s driest areas

    • In response to questions from SourceMaterial and the Guardian, spokespeople for Amazon and Google defended their developments, saying they always take water scarcity into account. Microsoft declined to provide a comment.

  • 🇳🇿 Many native New Zealand species face threat of extinction, report finds

    • The ministry of the environment’s three-yearly update collates statistics, data and research across five domains – air, atmosphere and climate, freshwater, land, and marine – to paint a picture of the state of New Zealand’s environment.

  • 🇮🇳 It's only early April and north India is bracing for extreme heat

    • The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has said northern and central states - including Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat - can expect maximum temperatures to cross 40C.

  • 🌳 Green activist group is pausing work after backlash by investors

    • The Netherlands-based group, which has been one of the most successful shareholder activists of recent years, blamed “the changing political landscape” and “the backlash against climate-conscious investors” for the decision by “most institutional shareholders” to pull their support for climate resolutions.

  • 🇺🇸 Elon Musk’s xAI powering its facility in Memphis with ‘illegal’ generators

    • KeShaun Pearson took a seat in front of the Shelby county board of commissioners in Memphis, Tennessee, on Wednesday morning. In the gallery behind him, a small group of people held up signs that said “Our air = our lives” and “Our water, Our future.” With a manner-of-fact demeanor, Pearson addressed the commissioners.

  • 🇳🇵 Nearly 100 killed after heavy rain in India, Nepal

    • India's weather office expects heavy rain with thunderstorm, lightning and gusty winds over central and eastern India till Saturday.

      The monsoon season usually begins in June in southern India, and summer months in the recent past have been marked by intense heatwaves that have killed several people.

  • 🇨🇬 Dozens die in floods hitting Congo’s capital

    • The Ndjili River running through the megacity of 17 million people, one of the largest on the continent, burst its banks and submerged major roads, including Lumumba Boulevard, the main road leading to the airport. Government officials said thousands of people have been displaced and at least 33 had been killed, though they warned that the death toll would likely rise as the floods recede. 

  • 🐕 Kathmandu Valley toxic air is choking street dogs, too

    • “They didn’t run to me like usual,” said Bhattarai. “One of my favourite dogs near Rosebud School was quite aggressive, coughing, sneezing and avoiding the biscuit. It looked like it was struggling to breathe.”.

📈 Cool Trends

♾️ eco-story

Teaching climate-resilient farming to young people in rural Global South communities and encouraging them to stay in school could help ward off mental health problems triggered by worsening climate change impacts, according to new research in Africa.

Hardship caused by severe drought, floods and storms is taking a dramatic toll on young people’s emotional wellbeing in climate-hit countries, with the effects going far beyond climate anxiety, found the groundbreaking study focused on teens in rural Madagascar.

“The fears that they go through are in the present tense, not the future tense,” said Samuel Solomon, a psychology professor at University College London (UCL) and co-author of the study conducted in remote villages in the south of the island nation off Africa’s southeast coast.

Madagascar, which is classified by the United Nations as one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries, is repeatedly affected by drought, extreme heat and cyclones, exacerbating hunger and setting back development in a nation where about three-quarters of people are poor.

The situation in the south is particularly dire due to changes in the climate, “with fertile land turning into desert and water sources depleting”, said the study, conducted among 83 participants with an average age of 15 in six communities.

🌏 The Culture Column

📺 What we’re watching: Madagascar, in the Hell of the Tropics