Our Covid-19 Coverage
Earth Island Journal was ahead of the curve when it came to reporting about the Covid-19 outbreak and subsequent global pandemic and its many links with the environment. Here is a selection of our reporting on the issue.
February 8, 2021 – In the desert town of Real de Catorce, Mexico, the pandemic has highlighted an urgent need for food sovereignty.
January 14, 2021 – More than 600 environmental, rights and religious groups to present draft order amid widespread shutoffs despite pandemic.
November 23, 2020 – In a year of quarantine and remote learning, my children and I have found solace in the mossy world of our backyard forest.
November 9, 2020 – As Covid-19 pushes demand for seafood traceability, how might new technologies support sustainable fisheries? Four experts weigh in.
October 30, 2020 – Cut off from tourism revenue, threats to East African nation’s biodiverse forests and endangered primates mount.
September 4, 2020 – Overcrowding continues to be a problem at California prison worst hit by the coronavirus crisis.
September 1, 2020 – For centuries, the Quilombola people, descendants of escaped African slaves, have survived against insurmountable odds in the Amazon rainforest. Now industrial pollution and a pandemic are threatening their existence.
August 17, 2020 – With visitor numbers down, Kenyan wildlife advocates need to consider alternative conservation funding streams.
August 10, 2020 – Scientists have been monitoring seals and whales on Marion Island for nearly 40 years. Until last week, they thought Covid-19 was going to break their dataset.
July 14, 2020 – Concession to extract timber from 148,000 hectares in upper Baram was granted despite repeated objections from local communities.
July 14, 2020 – West County DIGS is helping families offer their kids off-screen learning and enrichment by providing plant starts and gardening tips.
June 29, 2020 – Prisons and jails across the country are failing to adequately protect prisoners and staff from the pandemic.
June 25, 2020 – Across the US, gardeners are producing food, building community, and finding some calm during this time of uncertainty.
June 17, 2020 – Physician and climate expert Aaron Bernstein talks about the Covid-19 pandemic and bridging the gap between medicine and the environment.
June 16, 2020 – Mollusk researchers are pushing forward with their work as much as possible despite limitations.
June 12, 2020 – For many animal rescuers and rehabilitators, the pandemic has brought a new set of challenges.
June 10, 2020 – With the disappearance of so much intimate encounter, the prospect of plunging our hands in the soil has gained extraordinary appeal.
June 2, 2020 – Closed to tourists, pandemic is taking major toll on Virunga’s finances, local economy, as park reels from recent violence.
May 19, 2020 – Gough Island in South Atlantic is home to mutant rodents that feast on some 2 million young seabirds every year.
May 18, 2020 – Tourism is a powerful conservation tool, but when people get too close, it can also facilitate spread of dangerous pathogens.
May 14, 2020 – Online comment sessions render many voiceless against plan prioritizing fossil fuel production on federal and Native lands in New Mexico, opponents say.
May 8, 2020 – Agency’s current enforcement discretion policy undermines protection of environment and public health when we need it most, advocates say.
May 1, 2020 – I hope that when all this is over we will put our devices away when we are blessed again with social closeness.
April 30, 2020 – Environmental advocates call for nationwide moratorium on pipeline construction and approvals, citing threats to environment, vulnerable communities, and workers.
April 29, 2020 – The plastics industry is exploiting people’s fears of contracting Covid-19 to push its agenda.
April 27, 2020 – Around the country, Covid-19 has shut down wildlife programs and nature walks. But on Cape Cod, marine mammals and shorebirds live on, and naturalists continue to observe.
April 24, 2020 – Shutdowns could impede treatment and monitoring efforts, experts say, fueling further concern about food security in the region.
April 22, 2020 – In this year, we have learned beyond a doubt, what we never quite believed before — that we human beings are not in charge here.
April 21, 2020 – The tribe’s resourceful efforts to protect its people might help the Navajo Nation avert the worst projected outcome of this pandemic.
April 16, 2020 – The Covid-19 crisis underscores the flaws in our broken multinational food system. It also offers a chance at devising solutions.
April 14, 2020 – With in-person protests suspended amid shutdown, companies continue to destroy rainforest.
April 13, 2020 – We should focus instead on getting wild and exotic animals out of what are essentially the Eastern equivalent farmers markets.
April 13, 2020 – The spread of Covid-19 exposes, exacerbates, and weaponizes existing socioeconomic inequities.
April 10, 2020 – Trade policies written in the shadows while the public is distracted always have terrible consequences for working people and the planet.
April 9, 2020 – Coupled with the agency’s deregulatory agenda, lack of monitoring and enforcement raises the risks faced by vulnerable communities living next to polluting industries.
April 8, 2020 – Transforming our relationship with nature can help us build the future we want as we recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
April 6, 2020 – The stimulus doesn't go far enough to protect family-scale farmers, food workers, and local food businesses that have been hit hard by this crisis.
April 3, 2020 – Cash promise for the controversial oil pipeline comes just days after province cut $100 million from public education citing a funds crunch due covid lockdowns.
April 1, 2020 – Our violent disregard for biodiversity and our own part in the web of life has generated a perfect storm of global proportions.
March 24, 2020 – Economic relief is essential, but it shouldn't entrench fossil fuel dependence across the global economy.
March 18, 2020 – A fundamentalist Christian organization has purchased a helicopter with plans to visit and convert isolated groups in remote Brazilian rainforest.
March 18, 2020 – As coronoavirus pandemic shrinks demand for oil, experts say it's time to move towards alternatives.
February 5, 2020 – Due to continuing deforestation, bushmeat hunting, and caring for domestic animals, this will certainly not be the last deadly virus from wild animals to infect humans.