Environment

In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, killing 11 workers and setting off the worst oil spill in US history. The images are unforgettable: The Gulf of Mexico on fire. Pelicans emerging from the water entirely covered in thick, black oil. Planes flying overhead, spraying more than a million gallons of an oil-dispersing chemical called Corexit in an attempt to control the spill.

"Who we are fighting for is every single peasant farmer – more than 200 million – on the planet. People are eager to join hands in building a global voice." - Elizabeth Mpofu of Zimbabwe, General Coordinator of the international peasant movement La Via Campesina.

It has become a predictable pattern at the annual UN climate conferences for participants to describe the outcome in widely divergent ways. This was first apparent after the high-profile Copenhagen conference in 2009, when a four-page non-agreement was praised by diplomats, but denounced by well-known critics as a “sham,” a “farce,” and a mere face-saver.

In the midst of the holiday season, while thoughts turn to roasting chestnuts, a handful of scientists are working to genetically engineer the iconic American chestnut tree, which they hope to release throughout the Appalachians and the Eastern US.

Naomi Klein speaks about the limits of the Paris climate talks and how climate change is an accelerator that makes pre-existing problems worse.

"Food sovereignty can transform local, national, and regional markets to support countries’ domestic economies and allow us to create wealth, both in production and knowledge." - Mamadou Goïta, development socio-economist from Mali and Executive Director of Institute for Research and Promotion of Alternatives in Development.