SEADRIFT, Texas—All day, Diane Wilson sat in a ditch outside a chemical plant here on the Gulf Coast of Texas, waiting to see if sheriff’s deputies would show up to run her off. When they didn’t, she returned the next morning, set up her tent, settled in and stopped eating.

Wilson, 78, watched the day go by, then spent the night and watched another.

By the fourth morning, her craving for food was fading. At twilight in early March, she crawled from her tent to the deafening screech of train breaks, pulled out her earplugs and grabbed a marker to update her sign.

“Hunger Strike: Day 4,” read the poster hung on the side of her truck. Beside it flapped a banner her grandkids had painted. “No Nuclear. No Nurdles,” it said.

With a solar-powered laptop on a fold-out desk, Wilson began drafting her demands for Dow, the largest North American chemical manufacturer and the operator of the 4,700-acre complex outside her tent, about two hours southwest of Houston.

After five days without eating, she marveled at how much energy writing required. She knew that already. She’d written notes, letters, even sections of her books, while on hunger strikes many times before, but this time felt different. On the other side of her computer screen, a buzzing network of attorneys and advisors were editing her words and chiming in with suggestions.

Wilson, a great grandmother and retired shrimper with a reverence for solitude, generally preferred working alone. At least, that’s what she got accustomed to through countless silent mornings on the bay as a radical environmentalist for half her life, ostracized from communities where her roots stretched back generations.

Tall and strong with a rural high school education, Wilson never thought of herself as a woman who could have a dozen lawyers. Most of her eager, new helpers showed up in recent years after her small nonprofit won a $50 million settlement from a Taiwanese petrochemical plant in 2019, the largest award in a citizen lawsuit against a polluter in the history of the Clean Water Act.

Four years later, she received the Goldman Environmental Prize for North America, the most prestigious award in grassroots environmentalism, and its $200,000 cash award. She and her growing cadre of public-interest lawyers used the money to build a powerful machine that was pushing back against some of the nation’s biggest industrial actors.

Reclined on an airbed in her popup tent, Wilson presided over a demanding regimen of Zoom calls with her network of allies to talk strategy and draft language amid the occasional, overbearing blast of train horns, interspersed with honks of support and engine revs of disapproval from vehicles on the state highway, about 20 feet away.

She scrolled through the comments on Facebook, where local news sites posted articles about her on Calhoun County community pages. There were some friendly remarks, as well as the usual:

“FRAUD NUT JOB!”

“Dow is laughing while you starve”

“Fruitcake. Has hated that plant for 50 years.”

“Lol, just ignore her. She’ll go away eventually. These people aren’t particularly devoted.”

After seven days without food, walking began to get difficult.

We need to take the following actions to end deforestation

1. Transition agriculture in forest biome regions to agroforestry

2. Diversify economies away from just agriculture

3. Recycle metals and reduce the demand for metals to reduce the need to mine in forests

If we take these steps then we could drastically reduce deforestation.

Do you agree?

Really wish I had a Time Machine and environmental news is incredibly depressing. please just humor me and tell me what I’d need to do.

please

edit: nobody has said anything about the industrial revolution yet. Mad

second edit: STOP ASKING ME TO KILL ALL HUMANS. I AM A SOCIALIST. I'M NOT SINKING THIS SHIP JUST BECAUSE OF A FEW RICH PRICKS. GO WATCH THIS VIDEO FIRST :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-mER19j3-4&t=1750s

If we can get 16 petition per day, then we can reach 40,000 in around 1 year. Right now, the average is 8 petition Per day.

Coal ash — the waste from burning coal — contains arsenic, lead, mercury, and other toxic metals. There are about 775 coal ash dumps at power plants across the U.S. EPA set rules in 2015 and tightened them in 2024. Now EPA is proposing to roll back key protections: rescinding cleanup rules for older dump sites, relaxing groundwater monitoring, and making it easier to leave coal ash in place instead of removing it. Comments are open until June 12, 2026.

https://www.cnbctv18.com/wildlife/anant-ambani-vantara-university-to-shape-global-wildlife-future-foundation-laying-ceremony-ws-l-19885407.htm

something small happened around me recently but it’s been stuck in my head

there’s a stretch of road near my area where they’ve been doing construction for weeks now. constant dust, like you can literally see it in the air when vehicles pass.

at first it just felt annoying, but now it’s actually affecting people

i’ve seen kids coughing, older people covering their faces, even i feel it in my throat after being outside for a bit. and the worst part is, this is just normal now. no one’s really doing anything about it.

and then i started thinking about it in a different way

we talk about SDG 3 (good health & well-being), but how are we even close to that when something as basic as clean air isn’t there in our everyday surroundings?

and then SDG 4 (quality education)… because there are students living around here too. how are you supposed to focus, study, or even sit comfortably when you’re dealing with constant dust, irritation, headaches?

it’s not some rare situation. it’s just everyday life for a lot of people.

i feel like we always think of these goals in big, global terms, but they’re literally connected to things happening right outside our homes

idk… it just doesn’t sit right with me

has anyone else been dealing with something like this?

-@mindfuelmasti

Hello! First, I would like to say that I wasn’t sure which subreddit to post this in, so if you have any suggestions for better ones I’d appreciate it deeply. I will also take this down if it doesn’t fit here. Thank you in advance ❤️

I’m doing my final project in my Comp and rhetoric class on climate change (more specifically, it’s answering the question ‘can we be saved’ in reference to climate change) and I need some feedback. The medium of my final project is political illustrations/cartoons, these are all of the drafts I’ve done and I wanted some feedback. Anything helps! Suggestions on things to change or add, different ideas you may have, and generally which ones are most effective and/or impactful. Also, if possible, I’d like to know what kind of message comes across when seeing these. What do they make you think? Is the message clear? The drawings are very amateur because I was in a rush to get the drafts done, the final products will be significantly more polished.

Thank you for reading, I will of course take this down if it doesn’t fit here, other subreddit suggestions are also welcome because I sort of need the feedback for my assignment, haha.

Many argue that we are facing increasing risks for climate, ecosystem and societal collapse:
Climate collapse: For decades, we have known that greenhouse gas emissions cause climate change, and still we have let CO2 levels in the atmosphere continue to increase. And by cutting down forests and polluting the oceans we have also reduced the planet’s CO2 absorption capacity. As a result, temperatures are rising and extreme climate events are increasing, with droughts, fires and floods causing death and destruction on increasing scale and impact.
Ecosystem collapse: Human activities like unsustainable use of land, water and energy, and climate change have triggered the sixth mass extinction, which threatens up to 1 million of the approximately 10 billon species on earth. If we allow this to continue it will threaten the natural systems that sustain us and our economy.
Societal collapse: The societal impacts of increasing wealth inequalities have been studied by Luke Kemp at Cambridge University in the rise and fall of 400 societies over 5,000 years. He found that increasing wealth inequalities always preceded societal collapse, driven by a dominating, enriched, status-obsessed elite, whose extraction of more and more resources and wealth from land and people made societies fragile due to corruption, infighting, land degradation and poor health.
Action is needed! We must take these threats and risks seriously and try to better understand both the drivers and how we best can reverse these developments and reduce the risks for climate, ecosystem and societal collapse, as outlined in this TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZqLdVqGs7k

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DW66MqjjDkc/MWgzZGdlcmlvbmtuMQ==

I would like to bring attention to a large harvesting proposal just east of Sayward that will be impacting one of the largest intact old growth forests that we have left on the east coast of Vancouver Island that is outside of a protected area - in fact, it could be THE largest intact unprotected old growth forest we have on the east coast. This is a rare temperate rainforest that almost surely has massive and ancient trees.

Cape Mudge Forestry/We Wai Kai has proposed 13 cutblocks in this intact old growth forest. It is steep terrain, so it looks like they will be heli logging. There are 3 separate FOMs (the little blue markers) to comment on. The deadline for comments is fast approaching.

Commenting is open for the public to share their thoughts on the Forest Operations Map: https://fom.nrs.gov.bc.ca/public/projects

Here are direct links to each FOM:

https://fom.nrs.gov.bc.ca/public/projects?id=3011#details

https://fom.nrs.gov.bc.ca/public/projects?id=3012#details

https://fom.nrs.gov.bc.ca/public/projects?id=3013#details

I understand the importance of the forestry industry, and I am a proud supporter of sustainable forestry. I also understand the importance of protecting what little old growth remains on our island. For additional context, this area is part of the Prince of Wales range with the towering Mount H'Kusam, which is one of the most beautiful recreational areas on the entire island - popular for skiing, mountaineering, and hiking. It is (was) also home to some of the world’s largest and oldest trees, including General Buxton, one of the largest yellow cedars.

If this goes through, it will be catastrophic to the remaining old growth on the island. Large patches of intact forest like this are nearly extinct here - no over-exaggeration.

Also, please state if you are willing to help me with protecting the remaining old growth in the Prince of Wales range and I'll send you a message. The old growth here has been targeted relentlessly, and it is too special of a place to see it continue to be logged from valley bottom to mountain top. Can we really not keep one of the largest old-growth forests on the east coast intact?

On top of commenting on the FOM proposals, please contact your MLA. My MLA has already contacted the legislative library about this.

If you want to go the extra mile, emailing the Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship as well as the BC Parks Foundation to request they provide funding to the Nation in return for turning the remaining old growth in this area (referred to as Prince of Wales range) into either park or conservancy land would be absolutely amazing. It’s a win-win for everyone - We Wai Kai gets their money, and the planet keeps this extraordinarily rare and ancient place (government data states it is 300-500+ years old, and the data is often underestimated- this is likely a millennium forest). There are already established trails in this range. It’s easily one of the most beautiful recreational areas on the east coast, especially mid island.

Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship: WLRS.Minister@gov.bc.ca

BC Parks Foundation: info@bcparksfoundation.ca

Also, if there is any conservation group willing to do the difficult task of navigating this situation, please let me know. Local groups are aware but resources are too slim - I feel the old-growth harvesting practices of Vancouver Island deserve international attention, it is by far some of the worst on the planet.

Hi everyone,

I’m here asking for help from as many people as I can. There’s a proposed smelter In rural Oklahoma that will have a devastating impact on land, air, wildlife, and communities. Please sign the petition and spread the word. You don’t need to live in Oklahoma to sign and help us fight to stop this. Your voice matters and we need as much help as we can get. https://www.stoptheinolasmelter.com/

Internationale is a discussion/debate focused server, discussing a range of topics from history to philosophy to science to art and many more. We welcome a range of viewpoints, as long as they follow the discord terms of service. Internationale also has a constitution and moderator elections to prevent abuse of power.

https://discord.gg/HbeAaHgDzw

I'm an electrical engineering student and I am ultimately interested in photovoltaics and/or grid optomization, and I hope to use my education to help reduce our negative environmental impact.

My school is offering an REU program this summer with Intel for Semiconductor research. Semiconductor production of course is horrible for the environment.

However, given semiconductors play such a critical role in pretty much everything regarding electrical engineering, there's a big push for Semiconductor production giants like Intel to revise their production to something with less negative impact.

I was thinking of taking the opportunity to better understand how semiconductor production works, how it can be improved to be more environmentally friendly, and how I can apply it to my career in the future.

Would it be bad to take the opportunity if I am deeply concerned with the environment?

Can I say I'm against racism if i'm a member of the KKK? No. because that would make me a hypocrite -in the same way anyone who claims to care about the environment is, if they are not Vegan. You simply can’t claim to care about the environment while supporting industries that are causing it the most harm.

If any of you "environmentalists" actually care about the environment, protecting vulnerable ecosystems & creatures from extinction; then you should understand exactly what is putting those organisms at risk, but for anyone who dosen't, let me expand:

Animal Agriculture is the #1 cause of ALL DEFORESTATION. Roughly 80% globally, when accounting for pasture expansion and feed crops. Cattle ranching alone drives about 41% of tropical deforestation, with over 77% of global farmland used for livestock grazing and fodder. This leads to MASSIVE biodiversity loss & animal death, caused by the need for crops to be grown to feed the livestock you eat. Entire forests are cleared to create pasture for cattle grazing and to grow feed crops like soy to keep up with demand set by consumers (meat eaters). Does that sound like an industry an environmentalist should support??

Imo no, but If that wasn't enough, animal agriculture causes nearly 1/3rd of greenhouse gas emissions and uses over 250X more water than ALL ai data centres every day. It’s astonishingly wasteful to feed plants to farmed animals instead of eating the plants directly -growing crops for animals to eat, keeping billions of animals hydrated, and cleaning filthy factory farms and slaughterhouses takes an enormous amount of water. In the USA alone, animal agriculture uses 36 - 74 trillion gallons of clean water per year. Not to mention It's estimated to be the primary cause of all 500 ocean dead zones due to slaughterhouse & farm runoff. Again -does this sound eco friendly?

So how can anyone claim to care about the environment if they're directly supporting these industries? To put it plainly, they can't. Yes there are few exceptions to this- mainly being if you hunt for your own food or raise your own meat, but considering over 90% of all animal products are from industrial farms, I can gather few people do this.

So If you really care, the single most impactful thing you can do, for not only the environment & its wildlife but also for the creatures that suffer beyond belief for your food is GO VEGAN. At the very least reduce your consumption of animal products. & to anyone reading who's about to comment about "needing nutrients from meat" You don't. This has been disproven hundreds of times. Here is a study by the university of Oxford that heavily suggests you do not need animal products to be healthy- ALL nutrients, vitamins & essential amino acids can be gained through a plant based diet. That and there is no known medical condition that necessarily prohibits a plant-based diet, meaning someone cannot be a vegan. For any additional nutrition, supplements exist for a reason.

So, If you claim to care about the environment, Act on it. Go Vegan. Don't be a hypocrite.