The Xylom

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Bluesky does not currently show @ghost.org membership portals as green support links yet, but you can still support @thexylom.com's award-winning global public health and climate change coverage by joining our community at $5/month! www.thexylom.com#/portal/signup

This weekend on The Shoots: • Guatemalans grapple with a USAID-less Maya Biosphere Reserve • Cleaning up watersheds in West Florida, West Virginia, and the Pee Dee region • Under Trump, the U.S. is an outlier in thwarting global climate action Read and subscribe to our news digest for free:

"[T]his little settlement in Petén, the northernmost department of Guatemala, has long been one of global conservation's success stories." "With USAID's retreat and peak fire season only months away, they face an increasingly uncertain future." #Guatemala #USA #Aid #Forests #Climate

This week on The Roots: our colleague Lukman Abdulmalik at our partner newsroom, Nigeria Health Watch, shares the biggest obstacles his team faced when they looked into northern Nigeria's unsafe drinking water. Join us every Sunday as we discuss one of the week's top news stories:

Over the past decade, as global temperatures have continued to rise, lightning has emerged as a major yet frequently underestimated meteorological hazard in tropical regions of the world, and southern India, which lies south of the Tropic of Cancer, is bearing a significant brunt of this phenomenon.

Pro tip: Add The Xylom as a preferred source on Google to make sure our award-winning coverage is visible in your search results: www.google.com/preferences/...

This weekend on The Shoots: • Guatemalans grapple with a USAID-less Maya Biosphere Reserve • Cleaning up watersheds in West Florida, West Virginia, and the Pee Dee region • Under Trump, the U.S. is an outlier in thwarting global climate action Read and subscribe to our news digest for free:

Since the Maya Biosphere Reserve was established in 1990, USAID has been a crucial constant. It has financed everything from forestry equipment and timber mills to technical assistance for mitigating wildfires. But the conservation story has taken a troubling political turn.

NEW: USAID cuts have threatened decades of forest conservation in Guatemala, forcing communities to find new ways to fund their work and protect the forest. “The withdrawal of USAID was [at] a very critical moment,” says Sergio Balan, a coordinator at Guatemala’s national conservation agency.

Pro tip: Add The Xylom as a preferred source on Google to make sure our award-winning coverage is visible in your search results: www.google.com/preferences/...

According to data from the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics, 39% of households in Kano State lack access to clean drinking water, while 51% lack access to proper sanitation. www.thexylom.com/post/why-is-...

My colleagues at @thexylom.com are covering the global impacts of USAID cuts on our built and natural worlds. These vital dispatches will never be behind a paywall. The best way to support our accountability + solutions reporting is to become a member: www.thexylom.com/support-us/

We haven't said enough about how Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Marco Rubio's dismantling of USAID is destabilizing entire biospheres, as our contributor Nicolas Scibelli reported (shout-out to student journalists!). This is an entirely preventable outcome with multigenerational consequences

You may have noticed things look quite different when visiting our website recently — we've turned on dark mode by default, for one. For the first time in over half a decade, we improved the design and functionality of our homepage and how we present our work. Here's what’s changed and why:

UPDATE: We removed a visual created by our partner newsroom due to a violation of our Artificial Intelligence Policy. Every piece of The Xylom’s journalism is produced from start to finish by humans. We don’t use Generative AI in our journalistic process. We regret the error.

According to data from the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics, 39% of households in Kano State lack access to clean drinking water, while 51% lack access to proper sanitation. www.thexylom.com/post/why-is-...

Scientists are still assessing the incident to trace how the disaster unfolded, and most importantly, how it swiftly turned destructive. www.thexylom.com/post/nepal-t...

Under India’s Coastal Regulation Zone rules, sand dunes receive the highest level of protection as ecologically sensitive areas. The reality in Goa is contradictory, though, with the announcement of a Waldorf Astoria hotel: www.thexylom.com/post/a-hilto...

Also, as the curator of the Generative AI slop-free News Outlets Bluesky starter pack, I'd like to bring your attention to the updated (No) Generative AI policy at @thexylom.com : www.thexylom.com/how-we-do-th...

We've been working on this for months — so excited to see it come to life! Many thanks to my colleagues Laasya, Rhysea, @pragathiravi.bsky.social @zoebeketova.bsky.social @kcchengphoto.bsky.social, and kudos to Cathy Sarisky, @lexroman.com and the @floodlightnews.org @agwaterdesk.bsky.social teams

This week, The Roots is giving readers a first look at our refreshed site, which will go live this week. Join us every Sunday as we discuss one of the week's top news stories: newsletter.thexylom.com/archive/a-sn...

NEW: Despite billions in planned water investments and support from both USAID and the Chinese private sector, residents of Kano State in northern Nigeria face unreliable supplies, potential contamination, and serious health risks. This story is published in partnership with Nigeria Health Watch.

"[B]rownish, foul-smelling, and filled with visible particles." "It has been over a year since I last saw water that looked fit to drink." "Kano's reluctance to invest in water infrastructure has triggered a public health crisis." #Nigeria #Water

👀👀👀 been working on this for the past few months

NEW: Despite billions in planned water investments and support from both USAID and the Chinese private sector, residents of Kano State in northern Nigeria face unreliable supplies, potential contamination, and serious health risks. This story is published in partnership with Nigeria Health Watch.

Under India’s Coastal Regulation Zone rules, sand dunes receive the highest level of protection as ecologically sensitive areas. The reality in Goa is contradictory, though, with the announcement of a Waldorf Astoria hotel: www.thexylom.com/post/a-hilto...

This week, The Roots is giving readers a first look at our refreshed site, which will go live this week. Join us every Sunday as we discuss one of the week's top news stories: newsletter.thexylom.com/archive/a-sn...

Over the past decade, as global temperatures have continued to rise, lightning has emerged as a major yet frequently underestimated meteorological hazard in tropical regions of the world, and southern India, which lies south of the Tropic of Cancer, is bearing a significant brunt of this phenomenon.

This weekend on The Shoots: • See the trees Trump removed at a historic D.C. golf course • Dirty water at a GA ICE facility and a historically Black FL community • A Hong Kong tycoon bets on oil • Inside the three-decade family affair to treat C3G Read and subscribe to our news digest for free:

“We’ll enter into a world of which we have no experience. We’ve never lived in a world that warm,” says IPCC co-chair Dr. Debra Roberts. www.thexylom.com/post/every-d...

India's early warning systems for natural disasters are making a difference, but they have yet to bridge the digital divide: experts say the current infrastructure faces accuracy and bandwidth challenges. This story was first published by Earth Island Journal.

This week on The Shoots: • An invitation to see an exhibition featuring our Editor-at-Large in San Francisco • Congress knows how to fix SNAP scams — but won’t • Americans increasingly trust science — but beliefs are increasingly polarized Read and subscribe to our news digest for free:

Our Managing Editor Laasya Shekhar was interviewed by @theopennotebook.bsky.social's @bichacientifica.bsky.social! Read the story behind the story: www.thexylom.com/post/gautam-...

Marketing researchers say the initial pushback to retailers charging for paper bags had less to do with the cost and more to do with how customers perceive value and fairness. www.thexylom.com/post/banglad...

This week on The Shoots: • An invitation to see an exhibition featuring our Editor-at-Large in San Francisco • Congress knows how to fix SNAP scams — but won’t • Americans increasingly trust science — but beliefs are increasingly polarized Read and subscribe to our news digest for free:

Carlee Purdum, a sociology professor who has researched how natural disasters impact incarcerated people, said she was overwhelmed to hear the news of the victory. “The immense pressure it’s going to relieve off of people’s health and on the entire system. I just can feel that,” she said.

“We’ll enter into a world of which we have no experience. We’ve never lived in a world that warm,” says IPCC co-chair Dr. Debra Roberts. www.thexylom.com/post/every-d...

Marketing researchers say the initial pushback to retailers charging for paper bags had less to do with the cost and more to do with how customers perceive value and fairness. www.thexylom.com/post/banglad...

Our Managing Editor Laasya Shekhar was interviewed by @theopennotebook.bsky.social's @bichacientifica.bsky.social! Read the story behind the story: www.thexylom.com/post/gautam-...

“Our organization is named Lioness, and there’s a reason for that. We move like the animal. Lionesses stick together; they stay together... It’s that same tenacity & loyalty that a lioness has—that’s what we have that makes us capable of taking on, frankly, the largest prison system in the country.”

Carlee Purdum, a sociology professor who has researched how natural disasters impact incarcerated people, said she was overwhelmed to hear the news of the victory. “The immense pressure it’s going to relieve off of people’s health and on the entire system. I just can feel that,” she said.

Scientists are still assessing the incident to trace how the disaster unfolded, and most importantly, how it swiftly turned destructive. www.thexylom.com/post/nepal-t...

India's early warning systems for natural disasters are making a difference, but they have yet to bridge the digital divide: experts say the current infrastructure faces accuracy and bandwidth challenges. This story was first published by Earth Island Journal.

INBOX: We're excited to announce that contributor @tankadhakal.bsky.social's story "Nepal's Air Got More Toxic During Gen-Z Protests” was selected as the winner of the 2026 SAJA Outstanding Student Journalism Award! www.thexylom.com/post/nepal-g...

This week on The Roots: our new Contributing Editor @zoebeketova.bsky.social travelled 13 hours from New York to Corvallis, Ore., for the @sciencewriters.org conference. She shares sights and sounds from the Oregon State campus. Join us every Sunday as we discuss one of the week's top news stories: