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July 01, 2026
 

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ENVIRONMENT

Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller spray contains glyphosate, which was classified by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2015 as "probably carcinogenic to humans."
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 6, 2025
Ghostwriters, polo shirts and the fall of a landmark pesticide study
A flagship study that declared the weedkiller Roundup posed no serious health risks has been retracted with little fanfare.
A floating solar farm in Thailand. European utilities are rethinking their green energy investments in Southeast Asia.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2025
European utilities rethink bets in slow-to-go-green Southeast Asia
Large green-power groups including Portugal’s EDP Renewables and Denmark’s Orsted have paused projects or withdrawn from certain countries.
Fossil fuels like propane and isobutane, commonly used for BBQs, are helping replace potent hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants, significantly cutting greenhouse gas emissions and showing that practical solutions can slow global warming.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2025
BBQ gas is helping to cool a warming planet
A widening array of national-level regulations, prompted by the United Nations-backed Kigali Amendment on HFCs, are gradually pushing hydrofluorocarbons out of the market.
U.S. President Donald Trump announces his administration will ease fuel economy standards, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Wednesday. A reduction to the standards, proposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, would cost Americans an additional $185 billion in fuel and increase carbon dioxide emissions by about 5%.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 4, 2025
Trump proposes easing fuel rules, in boost for automakers, despite emissions
A reduction to the standards, proposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, would cost Americans more for fuel and increase carbon dioxide emissions by about 5%.
A person walks along a bridge over a drainage channel blocked by plastic waste in Accra, Ghana.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Dec 3, 2025
The world’s plastic glut is set to get much worse by 2040, study finds
Global plastic pollution will hit 280 million metric tons per year by 2040, or a dump truck’s worth every second.
People wade through the floodwater in the aftermath of flash floods at Tukka village, Central Tapanuli, North Sumatra province, Indonesia, on Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 2, 2025
‘Mischievous hands’: Indonesians blame deforestation for devastating floods
Landslides buried homes and crippled rescue and relief efforts, while floodwaters washed ashore dozens of logs.
China achieved manufacturing dominance thanks to its weaker protections for workers, communities and the environment. Now it’s exporting that model.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 30, 2025
China’s unfair labor model is going global
China’s low rights model is no longer a domestic labor issue but a systemic challenge to global labor standards, supply chain governance and fair market competition.
The outskirts of Bopolu, Liberia, in 2021. Liberia’s government signed a "carbon credit" agreement with a little-known Dubai company in 2023 that promised to protect vast tracts of forests and offset big polluters' emissions.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 26, 2025
The case of Africa’s ‘vanishing’ carbon deals
Blue Carbon’s Africa venture highlights the complexity of delivering on carbon credits, plans that are often criticized for offering polluters a chance to “greenwash” emissions.
A Maniq man rests on a rock during a hunting expedition in Phatthalung in southern Thailand on Aug. 11.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 26, 2025
Thailand’s last hunter-gatherers seek land rights
The Maniq are facing a familiar predicament — under pressure to abandon traditional lifestyles and fighting for rights to land they have long called home.
An Indigenous man holds a sign reading "The death of the forest is the end of our lives" during what was called the "Great People's March" on the sidelines of the COP30 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Belem, Para State, Brazil on Nov. 15.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 25, 2025
Indigenous peoples’ demands got more than lip service at COP30
Indigenous peoples had unprecedented visibility at the COP30 summit, with about 3,000 in Belem and more than 400 representatives from 361 ethnic groups accredited for the event.
Tech firms including Microsoft were among those represented on a provisional U.N. list of attendees of the official COP30 summit.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 24, 2025
U.S. companies hold the line at climate talks despite Trump
With threats to factories, supply chains and the bottom line, company executives said they didn’t think now was a good time to opt out of the climate conversation.
Villagers of Tha Ton subdistrict in Thailand hold placards during a public consultation on Nov. 10, as they call for the shutdown of mines upstream and the restoration of water quality in the Kok, Sai, Ruak, Mekong and Salween rivers, amid increased rare earth and gold mining at the Kok River’s source in Myanmar, where unregulated operations may release toxic chemicals, according to new research.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 24, 2025
Toxic mines put Southeast Asia’s rivers and people at risk, study says
More than 2,400 mines — many of them illegal and unregulated — could be releasing deadly chemicals such as cyanide and mercury into river water, new research shows.
A flooded road in London on Nov. 7. Private companies are filling the void as the U.S. government slashes science spending amid rising demand for data on extreme weather and other climate change-related risks.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 24, 2025
U.S. government pullback from climate science fuels boom for private data firms
The private data boom is also raising questions around accuracy and access for those unable to pay.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (R), EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen (C) and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (L) wait for a family photo with other leaders at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 24, 2025
South Africa judges G20 summit a triumph of multilateralism despite U.S. no-show
Ramaphosa pushed through the declaration addressing challenges such as climate change despite objections from the U.S., which boycotted the event.
A drone view shows rings formed by the towers of a research project where scientists have built a "time machine" pumping carbon dioxide into the rainforest canopy to simulate atmospheric conditions predicted for the future to gauge how the biome adapts in Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil, on May 14.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 23, 2025
New tech could help COP30’s Amazon rainforest protection goals
Resembling upside-down tree roots, the tangled mangrove branches that extend into the water and provide a habitat for fish and crabs have been under increasing threat.
Agriculture minister Norikazu Suzuki (center) looks at dead oysters in the city of Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 20, 2025
Hiroshima oyster farmers face crisis amid mass die-offs
Producers in coastal areas of the city of Higashihiroshima have reported mortality rates of 80% to 90%, prompting fears about the industry’s survival.
The world is experiencing something similar to the prosperity before World War I, but growing authoritarianism, environmental decline and political paralysis are threatening to turn a promising future into a catastrophe.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2025
Lessons from the past: The geopolitical significance of historical precedent
Every generation believes that it is living in an unprecedented era with unique challenges. But time and again, the same patterns have weakened and even destroyed civilizations.
Signage during the COP30 Leaders Summit at Parque da Cidade, the main venue for the COP30 summit, in Belem, Para state, Brazil, on Nov. 6
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 18, 2025
Clamor for change builds inside the world’s COP30 climate negotiations
More than 30 years of talks on global action to tackle climate change have led to progress, including renewable energy expansion and scaled-up climate funds, but not enough.
Tanks storing liquefied carbon dioxide captured at Heidelberg Materials' plant in Brevik, Norway, on June 18
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 17, 2025
Carbon capture promoters turn up in numbers at COP30, NGO says
The NGO’s list names oil and gas giants such as ExxonMobil, Shell and BP, along with Brazil’s state-owned Petrobras and China National Petroleum.
Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson attends the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Belem, Brazil, on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2025
Ocean activist wanted by Japan vows to continue fight at COP30
Paul Watson, known for environmental activism and activities that disrupted whaling, has been wanted by Japanese authorities for 14 years.
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Yen hits 40-year low against the dollar, breaking ¥162 level
Japan's currency broke ¥162 to the dollar on Tuesday in Tokyo.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.
‘The colors speak for themselves’: How Japan’s chroma bible went global
“A Dictionary of Color Combinations” is meant to function as a quick-reference guide for artists, designers and anyone with a passing interest in aesthetics as a quantifiable pursuit.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

TDC Global challenges norms at Japan workplaces
TDC Global challenges norms at Japan workplaces

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