Erik Hoffner

Reported a story on the increasingly popular #agroforestry method of silvopasture amid peak fall 🍁 in #Vermont These highly #climate & #biodiversity positive methods continue growing in popularity a recent USDA survey shows This despite the trumps clawing back $$ & consolidating support programs:

"If DOJ or ICE agents show up claiming emergency powers, election officials should say that none of their instructions will be obeyed without a court order signed by a judge. The “administrative warrants” issued by Homeland Security are not sufficient." www.nytimes.com/2026/10/27/o...

‘Lasagna’ comes from a Latin word for ‘chamber pot.’

Drinking beer in solidarity with the Brewers

Belize looks to the deep sea to complete its 30% ocean protection pledge

New photo of construction site for wind project the trumps are trying again to cancel despite being finished as @danad1012.bsky.social reported in @sierramagazine.bsky.social ~ www.sierraclub.org/sierra/trump... Now complete, 704 MW project will also provide half a billion in savings to New England

Big day today for ending centuries of secrecy about who owns our land! A new government consultation will propose revealing who owns the vast majority of England and Wales. To get this over the line, I’ll need your help to send in supportive evidence! www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

No. Just a hard no. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

The long-serving strongman leader of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, has conceded defeat in an election that pitted him and his right-wing party against a diverse student-led opposition movement that spent two years protesting his government.

“.. a stunning comeback, sealed late as voters in Lula’s northeastern stronghold rallied behind one of Latin America’s most prominent opponents of Trumpism.” @bloomberg.com 🇧🇷 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The death of Kavantissa, Sri Lanka’s tallest elephant, from gunshot wounds has sparked widespread public outrage. In response, authorities are launching daily raids to confiscate illegal firearms, while international animal rights groups urge elephant repatriations. Kamanthi Wickramasinghe reports.

Despite declining federal funding, silvopasture is gaining ground with U.S. farmers. Combining trees, pasture, and livestock, this agroforestry method offers crucial shade during heatwaves while enhancing farm biodiversity and long-term climate resilience. Story by @erikhoffner.bsky.social.

This is a well intentioned essay from the always thoughtful @sammyroth.bsky.social. But it deeply misunderstands what is happening with the permitting debate, how that debate has evolved since the Inflation Reduction Act's passage, and why BAAJA is so fiercely contested.

Heavy rain at the wrong time is disrupting West African cacao production. Research in Ghana reveals that extreme rainfall during the flowering period directly damages crops, adding new climate pressures on farmers & fueling rising global chocolate prices. Victoria Schneider reports for #Mongabay.

Fat Marmot Week raised $385,000 from supporters in 13 countries & almost every state in the US "Dawn" won the most votes in this contest the researchers put together when funding for their long term ecological research 🧪was cut by the trumps Score one for science & chonky marmots:

A federal judge on Thursday ordered President Donald Trump to sit for a deposition in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC by Dec. 11. https://to.pbs.org/4yz2CZ2

Would you like to take a break from whatever you are rage-screaming about to rage-scream about a different topic? Now published, by me: https://theconversation.com/corporate-orbital-data-centre-proposals-are-dangerous-for-humanity-293085

🔴 NEW: How Big Pharma Tried to Weaken the Rules of the UN’s Nature Fund Powerful trade bodies lodged a suite of objections to contribution terms, documents show. 📝 By @rachelsherrington.bsky.social & @hazelhealy.bsky.social www.desmog.com/2026/10/20/h...

Our new investigation on @mongabay.com shows that U.S. companies have either applied for or have already been granted rights to areas of the seabed in the CCZ equal to about half the expanse already designated for mining activities by the ISA. news.mongabay.com/custom-story...

One of the biggest challenges of marine CO2 removal is measuring just how much is being sequestered — that's key to the carbon credits that could pay for these projects It's a super wiry question but @alecluhn.com reports that researchers & start-ups have plenty of ideas 🧪

That #Boston used eminent domain to seize the Swift River Valley and build this reservoir *burying 6 towns* adds a bit of nasty to the brew The idea that they can now dictate new terms while remaining towns around it get pennies for new wells and promises of 'payments in lieu of taxes' is galling

We need to make it a federal crime for police officers to use surveillance data in any unauthorized fashion. Put a few of these loathsome people away for 20+ years, and I guarantee we’ll see a whole lot less of this behavior.

Western MA towns “suffer from glaringly low state compensation for land they can’t develop – & can’t tax – in order to protect a water source they don’t drink from” commonwealthbeacon.org/environment/... Yet #Boston wants 20 million more gallons *per day* to fuel its own growth without oversight 🤔

On Friday, Meta changed its terms of services after @hanaatameez.bsky.social and I reported they would allow Meta to scrape any website "associated with" a business account. Despite the update, legal experts tell us the revised terms still permit mass scraping. www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/lega...

This summer and the coming El Niño are a reminder that we are going to have to adapt to the changing reality of our coast and give our beaches more room to move. www.latimes.com/california/s...

The Trump administration has renewed its campaign to torpedo a Rhode Island offshore wind farm called Revolution Wind, even though the project is nearly complete and would provide much-needed electric power to hundreds of thousands of homes.

Harvest time came w/ 1st frost coming overnight Pawpaws are semi tropical natives but will grow well in the north Growing conditions are increasingly better for them due to #climatechange as I reported for @civileats.com ~ civileats.com/2020/01/09/c... A tasty new cash crop for northern growers:

Brendan Larsen from Ngāmotu in Aotearoa and a member of the New Plymouth Astronomical Society took this stack over a couple of hours and estimates 14000 satellite trails. This is how bad it is now, it's set to get much much much worse - and then we lose Low […] [Original post on river.geek.nz]

▶️ Good news ◀️ Mangrove forest cover grew globally between 1985 & 2025 🥂 Big turnaround from losses due to shrimp aquaculture & development pressures that dominated headlines for decades 🌴 India recorded the most significant net increases, @mongabay.com reporting fellow Samuel Ogunsona writes:

So tired of people doing what they feel like doing and wrapping it up as “raising awareness.” Thanks again, David!

Happy to be part of a new exhibit @ Griffin Museum of Photography, "Intertidal" ~ griffinmuseum.org/show/interti... Swam in very cold northern Maine waters to make this image Rockweed provides key habitat for myriad species in the North Atlantic, like a beguiling & beautiful nearshore kelp forest:

🏆 Glad to report that my nominee for the Pritzker Environmental Genius Award just won the $100K Once she was @mongabay.com's science advisor & is now a star bioacoustics researcher ✨ “It’s huge encouragement to know that work on #biodiversity #conservation in tropical forests is seen as important"

My latest on the implications of this summer's #wildfires. Please read and share: www.nytimes.com/2026/10/12/o...

🏆 Glad to report that my nominee for the Pritzker Environmental Genius Award just won the $100K Once she was @mongabay.com's science advisor & is now a star bioacoustics researcher ✨ “It’s huge encouragement to know that work on #biodiversity #conservation in tropical forests is seen as important"

Glad to publish this @mongabay.com op-ed celebrating Indigenous women's leadership on #Indigenouspeoplesday & every day, for clean water and more "In working alongside #Indigenous leaders I have seen how community knowledge, technical expertise, and relationship-building complement one another."

When Ukraine destroys Russian data centers, hoards of aggressive right-wing bots disappear & the internet becomes friendlier. So much of politics is driven by the internet & so much of the internet is driven by Russians who want to hurt us. Shouldn’t we do something about that, given that we know it

Indigenous rappers’ ecology & rights messages are traveling far beyond Ecuador, @mongabaylatam.bsky.social reports: “The world is going to realize all the problems we go through in my community and one day more help will arrive” Terrific piece by Isabel now in English via @mongabay.com global:

“I'll say that the map looks pretty much just like the simulations we made, which is not a good thing!” - U of Regina astronomer Samantha Lawler Environmentalists also point to a surge in pollution from so many rocket launches, plus problems for migratory birds, or anyone who loves the night sky:

As sadness over the sudden loss of Mariacarmen sets in, was reminded of this housing solutions podcast @mikedigirolamo.bsky.social & I published to @mongabay.com Cities like Barcelona are piloting cooperative alternatives to investor-driven real estate debacles that caused this tragedy in Spain:

Of all the great people I interviewed for the Orion magazine podcast, Leon Botstein was the *only* rude stuffed shirt, acted like our award-winning forum was below him So it tracks perfectly to learn of his deep #EpsteinFiles connections Black hat seems fitting in light of the latest revelation:

As sadness over the sudden loss of Mariacarmen sets in, was reminded of this housing solutions podcast @mikedigirolamo.bsky.social & I published to @mongabay.com Cities like Barcelona are piloting cooperative alternatives to investor-driven real estate debacles that caused this tragedy in Spain:

The five winners of the 2026 Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk pictured at Trinity College in Dublin, where a special ceremony was held in to honor them.

Damn. What an icon. RIP

“These communities are inspiring & they can teach us some lessons about resilience & fortitude in the face of a Super El Niño that’s coming for many of us.” 'Many of us' was the author's choice of words for this @mongabay.com op-ed I edited, but I'd argue that this #ElNino is coming for ALL of us:

Smart move! Japan is building out #solar on old golf courses Fairways turn out to be an excellent place to put panels About 10% of the country’s large-scale solar capacity now sits on golf courses, with another gigawatt on the way, a new analysis finds:

Colombia registró 59 asesinatos de personas defensoras de derechos humanos durante el primer semestre de 2026, según el Programa Somos Defensores. De ellas, 12 eran líderes indígenas y 39 dirigentes comunales, comunitarios y campesinos. es.mongabay.com/short-articl...