Ashoka Mukpo

A longform piece I did on the conversion of rainforests in Liberia into cacao plantations, the economic incentives driving it, and an upcoming collision with EU rules that it’s going to provoke.

genuinely don't know how the internet survives AI. people are going to get all their content in the chat box, direct web traffic is going to absolutely *plummet* in the next 2-5 years....along with ad revenue

Really glad to be writing this monthly column for Documented. The first one is up now.

Right-wing gains in Brazil’s congressional elections mark a “bleak moment” for Indigenous rights, warns advocacy group APIB. With conservative parties now holding a Senate majority, leaders caution constitutional protections face renewed threats regardless of who wins the presidency.

What exactly does this mean in practice? Re-colonizing Africa? Trying to overpower China economically and politically? Good luck on both counts! www.nytimes.com/2026/10/07/w...

At Mongabay, we seek to deliver fact-based, independent environmental journalism. Each year, we ask our global audience to help us evaluate our reporting's impact. Share your input in our annual reader survey. 👉️ mongabay.cc/iPMUuD

i read east of eden on a whim last year and somehow it seems like everyone did too? and now theres a netflix series?? did we all tap into the universal steinbeck consciousness somehow?

Love the new Google where I have to sift through this to find things I need

Following #USAID’s closure, a report by One Earth Partners reveals that critical environmental projects in fragile ecosystems have stalled or collapsed. Based on 150 interviews, the analysis includes a list of 100 key initiatives searching for new funding. @shokes.bsky.social reports.

Researchers in Yellowstone National Park are using AI and bioacoustic recorders to decode "wolfish", the complex vocal language of wolf packs. By isolating over 8,000 hours of continuous wolf calls, the tech offers new insights for wildlife conservation & remote tracking. Justin Catanoso reports.

something I shouldn't admit but which is nonetheless true is that when PR people send me pitches with AI art, it makes me want to cover their stories *unfavorably*

[Commentary] The idea that we must massively scale up mining for the clean energy transition is false, scholar Shaan Sood argues in an op-ed. Most "critical minerals" are actually used in industries unrelated to, or opposed to, clean energy, while extraction causes widespread harm.

Development banks are funding transition mineral mines linked to water pollution, deforestation, and human rights risks, per a new report. Nearly 75% of African projects analyzed showed evidence of harm as nations scramble for critical energy minerals. Learn more in this story by Elodie Toto.

PART TWO of my interview with Eva von Redecker is now out on Substack. We speak at length about phantom possession, populism, and counterweights to the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt. hannohauenstein.substack.com/p/eva-von-re...

In Lagos, rapid development is stripping away natural flood buffers like mangroves and wetlands. As satellite data links declining vegetation to worsening flash floods, experts urge government action to strictly protect remaining coastal ecosystems. Fellow Kingsley Charles reports.

Sally's reporting on migration routes and the people traveling them is the kind of thing that's going to be read and cited a hundred years from now, long after 99% of today's published output fades to dust.

"They had dreams in mind: Babylon, some called it. Europe, a continent where crushing poverty seemed possible to escape." More excellent reporting from @sallyhayd.bsky.social

The cruelty is the point. Shame on this administration and shame on the people who voted for this. www.springfieldnewssun.com/local/spring...

I don't think it should be controversial to say, "we will not provide financial or military assistance to a country where the Minister of National Security brags about popping people's dreams of 'food' and 'education' then sending them to a prison where they are starved."

In southeastern Liberia, a cocoa boom threatens some of West Africa’s last intact rainforests. Journalist James Giahyue speaks with Mongabay's @shokes.bsky.social about how poverty and local political involvement drive the rapid deforestation in the remote region. Read the full interview. 👇️

Restoring ecosystems doesn't only reverse nature loss, it's THE most powerful ally we could hope for against both climate collapse itself, and its consequences. As a further plus, it makes life SO much more beautiful!! Rewilding should be a global priority 🌍

We are a broken nation. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians were living and working legally, paying taxes, and contributing. Haiti remains wholly unsafe. But Trump hates Haitians, and the White House wanted videos of Black people in chains, so they stripped them of status and turned on the cameras.

Back during Trump 1 I wrote about the very difficult circumstances Liberian deportees faced in Monrovia. I can’t imagine how much worse it‘s going to be there for people with no connections to the country at all popula.com/2018/08/31/i...

Brazil's renewable energy boom is attracting massive data centers, but at a high cost. A joint investigation by Mongabay and @intercept.com.br reveals that nearly 80% of proposed sites overlap with traditional Quilombola and Indigenous lands, shifting industrial risks onto local communities. 🧵

WHO says Ebola outbreak in Uganda over, as cases continue to rise in Congo reut.rs/45Ps8xi

Stoked to finally share the latest episode of my interview podcast, Nullpunkt, in which I speak with @michaelbarenboim.bsky.social about Germany, Gaza, classical music, and more. youtu.be/xtmSZ4xDms0?...

genuinely cannot imagine anything like this ever happening again.

I guess I'll add that Dolly Parton is up there with Fred Rogers in terms of truly achieving what I think a Christian living their faith in public life should be like.

RIP to one of the most gifted songwriters to ever pick up a pen and a guitar. youtu.be/FkUB5XPXXZg?

In this essay Cofnas makes an *explicit* argument for using contract review as a method of removing academics on ideological grounds sooo 🤷🏻

Yesterday I went down the rabbit hole of figuring out what letter signers said about Palestine. One US sociologist who signed in defense of Cofnas had written an article for the Manhattan Institute defending their university’s choice to call the cops on Palestine activists.

The single most impactful social/cultural development over the last decade (that virtually no retrospectives of "woke" have engaged in) is the new elite consensus that moral judgement is itself inherently illegitimate.

I'm sure all these names appear on a similar letter about the Trump Administration's attempt to put Columbia's middle eastern & african studies department into receivership, yes?

Among the greatest wishes of the crowd in charge of the US right now would be to have the power to at-will fire journalists

We are unquestionably sending people to their deaths, all because the President and his appointees are making policy based on pure racism and bigotry.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement charter flight landed in Liberia today, likely carrying immigrants with no ties to the country, marking Liberia’s entrance into the Trump administration’s network of countries taking so-called third-country nationals. buff.ly/43SshI5

Love doing Liberian radio shows www.facebook.com/share/v/18QS...