A person is shown in shadow walking on the fabric of a blue and green hot air balloon.

The Big Fix

How do you save a vanishing lake? Kazakhstan has a plan.

The Big Fix

Lakes all over the world — like the Aral Sea in Central Asia — are receding because of climate change and dwindling water resources. But Kazakhstan managed to save part of the Aral Sea. The successes and shortcomings of the achievement can provide lessons for other lakeside communities.

People marching in street with a Panamanian flag

Copper mine protests roil in Panama

Development
Aerial view of the village of Mutucal, Mãe Grande Curuçá Extractive Reserve.

Rural communities in the Amazon face a complex world of carbon credits

The Big Fix
man at podium

Coalition of small island states makes a case that greenhouse gas emissions are covered by UN Law of the Sea

The Big Fix
Akureyri is one of the few places in Iceland with forest.

This small Icelandic city thinks big about going green

The Big Fix
two white wind turbines outside

War in Ukraine speeding up Germany’s transition to renewables

The Big Fix

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year upended energy markets throughout Europe. No country was hit harder than Germany. At the time, more than half of Germany’s gas came from Russia.  In the short term, the country had to double down on fossil fuels: keeping coal-fired power plants open longer and building new liquefied natural gas terminals.  But in the long term, the war pushed a government falling behind on renewable energy goals to enact some ambitious new policies.

a man standing in front of a colorful bottle cap mural

Venezuelan artist uses recycled bottle caps to create large eco-murals

Arts

Oscar Olivares plans to take his ecological art global in hopes of promoting sustainable practices and educating communities on how to recycle.

A man standing in a dimly lit room showing large renewable batteries

Renewable energy seen as an answer to Ukraine’s wartime energy woes

Ukraine

Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power stations knocked out more than half of the country’s capacity to generate electricity last fall and winter. The widespread blackouts are over for now, but the new focus on energy security is raising prospects for a speedier transition to renewable energy as Ukraine rebuilds.

A woman in the middle of a crop field holding crops

An engineer in Bolivia is reviving an ancestral, nutritious grain for the 21st century

The Big Fix

An Indigenous woman in Bolivia has earned international recognition for her work in the production, transformation and commercialization of cañahua, a resilient crop and nutritious grain with the potential to reach international markets.

Ayyad Mohmmed Ali works on his farm where he grows date palm trees and vegetables, Iraq.

This startup is fighting to keep Iraq’s palm trees alive

The Big Fix

Decades of war, mismanagement and the impact of climate change have taken a toll on Iraq’s iconic palm trees. One group is trying to help change that.