Brighter Green

09/10/2026

Come join us to hear authors Sangamithra Iyer ("Governing Bodies") and Linnea Ryshke ("afield"), with moderator Mia MacDonald at Afterword Bookshop. Free to the public. https://milkweed.org/event/in-person-sangamithra-iyer-linnea-ryshke-and-mia-macdonald-at-afterword-bookshop?srsltid=AfmBOooXC4SvcEBe01RrTPrafCDhB3PfEe0U75mDoLyCEl4lo5Q3PYpm

09/10/2026

CLIMATE WEEK @ NYU: Entangled: Writing Animals in A Warming World. September 24, 3–5 pm. Join authors Linnea Ryshke, author of "Afield," and Sangamithra Iyer, author of "Governing Bodies: A Memoir, A Confluence, A Watershed," to discuss multi-species encounters and futures in an era of climate crisis. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-week-nyu-entangled-writing-animals-in-a-warming-world-tickets-1998215292731?aff=oddtdtcreator

07/10/2026

We're delighted that MOTH published our article on the entwined fates of forests, cenotes, and pigs in Mexico’s Yucatan, In the piece, we ask whether focusing on pigs could help protect forests and secure rights for the non-human world. (The art is by Flora Wallace.)

Could focusing on pigs help protect forests and secure rights for the non-human world?

07/08/2026

The Abolition Declaration on Trophy Hunting. Please share widely.

06/25/2026

With the solstices upon us, new possibilities and pathways can emerge. For Brighter Green, in the northern hemisphere, the long days have us abuzz. In recent months, we’ve been busy, contributing to local, international, and national policy deliberations, and academic inquiry on sustainable, equitable, humane food systems; environmental justice; and the rights of nature and animals.

We’ve also supported environmental defenders on the frontlines against the growth of sprawling, industrial “megafarms” (also known as factory farms). We’ve conducted fieldwork in Mexico and attended academic conferences on animal law and more-than-human-rights in London and Helsinki.

Please read on for updates on what we’ve been doing so far in 2026. We’re also exploring new avenues for our research, analysis, and in-country initiatives, and we’ll keep you posted on those as our inquiry and experiments develop.

https://mailchi.mp/brightergreen/june_2026

06/18/2026

Victory for environmental justice in Yucatán.

On June 17, a court ruled in favor of Maya environmental defender Wilberth Nahuat Puc, ending the criminal proceedings against him after more than three years of legal persecution.

Wilberth became a leading voice in his community's successful effort to close a large-scale pork facility owned by Kekén in Santa María Chí, Yucatán. Community members argued that the operation threatened local water resources, ecosystems, and public health. Following the farm's closure, Wilberth faced criminal charges that many advocates viewed as retaliation for his environmental activism.

Brighter Green was proud to join JUMAC, APASDEM, Todos Somos Animales, Naturaleza Animal, Greenpeace, and Generación Vegana in supporting Wilberth and calling for an end to his criminalization. We have also worked to amplify the experiences of affected communities in Yucatán through investigative reporting, including the work of journalist Patricio Eleisgui.

This victory belongs first and foremost to the people of Santa María Chí, whose persistence, solidarity, and defense of their territory made it possible.

06/15/2026

As UN Environment Programme climate negotiators meet in Bonn, a growing body of research is challenging a common assumption: that we must choose between prosperity and planetary health.

A new report from the World Inequality Lab argues that humanity can improve living standards, reduce poverty, and stay within ecological limits—but only by addressing the extreme inequalities driving environmental destruction.

This debate is highly relevant to the Bonn climate talks. Questions of climate finance, just transitions, and food systems ultimately come down to fairness: Who benefits from today's economy? Who bears the costs of climate change? And what would a more equitable future look like?

As the road to COP31 takes shape, climate solutions must also be solutions for justice.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/04/world-inequality-lab-equality-academics-planetary-survival

Global report provides an alternative to climate breakdown, political extremism and economic tensions

05/28/2026

Happy the elephant spent decades confined in captivity before her death this week.

Her story is part of a larger question: what does it mean when living beings are treated as objects for entertainment, profit, or production?

There is not a separation between animal rights and environmental justice. In Brighter Green’s recent paper on industrial megafarms in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, we document how systems of confinement harm animals, ecosystems, and Indigenous communities alike. From elephants in captivity to factory-farmed animals confined by the millions, the same systems treat living beings and ecosystems as expendable.

Stories of Human and Nonhuman Rights under Pressure from Animal Megafarms By Mia MacDonald and Isis Alvarez To read the entire paper, click here. Summary Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula is known for its beaches, Mayan archaeological sites like Tulum and Chichén Itzá, and its forests and cenotes (a n...

04/30/2026

The second annual MOTH Festival of Ideas will take place in London this year, May 14th–16th!

Our Executive Director Mia MacDonald and Associate Isis Alvarez will present “Exploitation, Resistance, and Resilience in Mexico’s Yucatán: Stories of Human and Nonhuman Rights under Pressure from Animal Megafarms.” Their paper is an analysis of the investigative reporting in Mexico that Brighter Green has supported for the past two years.

If you’re in London, the discussion will take place on May 14th at 2:30pm!
Purchase tickets for the festival at

The living world is stitched together by a diversity of beings whose rich and complex interactions define its everyday drama. Humans—despite their disproportionate capacity to modify the living world—comprise only a small part of this vast web of relations. Yet, anthropocentrism has been a hallm...

04/24/2026

In honor of Earth Month and before the semester ends and graduation, please join the Department of Environmental Studies for career and job advice and insights from four NYC-based professionals, including two NYU adjunct faculty members. The event will be held in person on Wednesday, April 29th at 5:30pm in the 6th-floor conference room at 79 Washington Square East. Come earlier for food, beverages, and mingling!

Our Executive Director Mia MacDonald will be a panelist!

New York University NYU Animal Studies