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A Gift That Inspires and Informs

Earth Island Journal’s Winter Issue is now available at newsstands and online. This edition includes illuminating articles on America’s farming crisis, the human compulsion to collect skulls and how it impacts wildlife, an intrepid all-women research team’s human-powered Arctic expedition, a thought-provoking conversation with two climate activists about the threat our warming world poses to reproductive justice, and more. Help Earth Island Journal continue to produce deeply reported stories like these by subscribing or gifting a subscription, or by making a donation to its Green Journalism Fund today!

Pawsitive Bones

Introducing a “pupcycled” dog treat made to nourish pets and communities alike. Earth Island’s Food Shift is thrilled to announce the launch of its first-ever social-enterprise product, Pawsitive Bones. The dog treats are made of recovered surplus produce and upcycled spent grain, and are handmade by apprentices working toward overcoming barriers to employment. The Social Enterprise Kitchen takes climate action by reducing food waste while providing jobs and nourishing experiences for those in the community. Pawsitive Bones can now be found at Alameda Natural Grocery in Alameda, California. Food Shift plans to expand the product’s availability in the new year.

San Francisco Climate Career Corps

Enterprise for Youth and Earth Island’s Nature in the City will be launching the San Francisco Climate Career Corps in summer 2022 with a twofold vision: to help develop the careers of young people working on climate change solutions and to accelerate climate change initiatives. The two San Francisco–based nonprofits are calling on the community to collaborate with them on this program by helping to identify 30 host sites that do work on environmental sustainability, resilience planning, nature-based solutions, ecosystem restoration, and biodiversity conservation, and helping to place (in-person or remotely) 50 youth for six weeks in summer 2022, with the potential of extending that time. Those interested can complete a survey and sign up for a January 14 informational meeting here.

MMIP Storytelling Project

A new initiative by Earth Island’s Seeding Sovereignty seeks to support the loved ones of missing and murdered Indigenous persons (MMIP) through a program that will uplift stories and voices that have been silenced and provide MMIP families support and solace. The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Person’s Storytelling Project is led by Seeding Sovereignty’s newest team member, Agnes Woodward, an MMIP family member who will host a virtual space for storytelling and share the stories through Seeding Sovereignty, ensuring that the voice of the work is authentic and the empowerment of the families is upheld as essential. More information on the initiative will be featured on the Seeding Sovereignty website in January.

Wild Hope

Stories of wildlife rehabilitation, manatee rescues, safe passageways for animals, protecting endangered species, bird conservation, and more appear in the latest issue of Wild Hope magazine, a print and digital publication about preserving Earth’s biodiversity, cocreated by naturalists, conservationists, wildlife rehabilitators, veterinarians, biologists, ecologists, nature writers, photographers, and artists. Kathryn Arnold, the editor of Wild Hope, an Earth Island project, was recently profiled in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

Flipping the Script on Plastics

In a first-ever analysis of single-use plastics in scripted television shows, the Norman Lear Center’s Media Impact Project, at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, found the industry awash in plastic. The report concludes with a call for content creators to minimize depictions of single-use plastics and instead model the use of package-free or reusable items. In tandem with the report’s findings, Earth Island’s Plastic Pollution Coalition has launched an initiative to “Flip the Script on Plastics” by building a coalition of actors, writers, and showrunners committed to modeling the change needed to solve the plastic pollution crisis. “This initiative is an exciting way to shift the popular culture about the role plastic plays in our lives,” actor and musician Mandy Moore said. Download the report here and sign up for a January 19 webinar with industry activists here.

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Take Action for Lobos

The Mexican gray wolf, or lobo, is one of the most endangered carnivores in the world. Tragically, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has determined that the small population of lobos remaining is not essential to their recovery, thereby blocking much-needed Endangered Species Act protection, including designating critical habitat. Earth Island’s Project Coyote is calling on the public to demand that USFWS revise its rules to include practices vital to the recovery of this essential population. The 90-day public-comment period ends January 27. Read more about the issue here and take action here.

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Update on Cetacean Captivity

Russian president Vladimir Putin recently endorsed legislation that would ban the capture of whales and dolphins from Russian waters for captivity. Russia is currently the only country that allows the capture of beluga whales and orcas in their waters, and Russian conservationists have been working for years to forge legislation to end it. If the legislation passes, aquariums and animal-theme parks will be without a source — a major blow to that industry, which depends heavily on the entertainment value of these animals. Earth Island’s International Marine Mammal Project has been coordinating with Russian activists to rally support from scientists, celebrities, and other environmentalists around the world who are working to end the captivity of cetaceans. Read more here.