Earth’s thin upper-crust of soil is kept in balance by a complex carbon and nutrient cycle that is increasingly threatened by human exploitation and climate change, according to a review in Science. The chemicals trapped in topsoil and subsoil are crucial to plant growth, but are being depleted at rates much higher than they are being replenished, writes Ronald Amundson et al. For instance in the central United States, estimated soil erosion rates exceed production rates by 10 times.

Before world oil prices collapsed late last year, shop owners closest to the banks of the Rio Grande River in Piedras Negras joked that they could hear the groans of Texas drilling rigs advancing toward their fast-growing northern Mexico city.

“Tackling climate change could be the greatest global health opportunity of the 21^st century,” asserts the newest report by the Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change.

Two months ago we sat down with some of our community health workers to brainstorm ideas for International Women’s Day. What would engage women, what could bring about positive change in their community? Something different to the normal celebrations, perhaps a petition for a midwife? This seemed like a great idea on paper, but would it create false hope in a village where the public health center has been closed for years?

Pope Francis sparked worldwide discussion and jubilation among many green advocates after releasing Laudato Si, the first Papal encyclical to focus directly on the environment. The pontiff touched on everything from pollution and sustainable development, to anthropogenic climate change and water security in his 180-page missive.

The landscape of the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya is rapidly changing. What was once a predominately agricultural economy has shifted to coal mining with significant consequences for people and the environment. “Once you extract coal from the land, it’s really hard to go back to an agricultural economy,” says ECSP’s Sean Peoples in an interview with Wilson Center NOW, about the Global Choke Point film, Broken Landscape.

In 2011 Thailand was hit by unprecedented monsoon rains far above the average rainfall of the previous 30 years. Two million people across 26 provinces were affected. During the crisis, hundreds of civilians took it to the streets to protest discrimination by the Flood Response Operation Center and the unfair distribution of water, electricity supply, shelter, and food. Civilians were so angry that they broke a sandbag wall in Bangkok which was protecting a wealthy district from water surges. Public unrest and discontent with the government continued until a military coup in 2013.