Island Reach

01/21/2026

IR's latest collaboration with PELUM Kenya Association

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

12/18/2025

the percent change monthly rainfall map is striking

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2025/dec/18/how-climate-breakdown-is-putting-the-worlds-food-in-peril-in-maps-and-charts?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other&fbclid=IwY2xjawOw6thleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEedlbWugZaKMb0dbFkKpHE35NkLjm0lcEYxBiiukpDYdvr_GGY7PqmUo2wTFU_aem_QnuxQdNiNwfnBUcBzgwMCA

From floods to droughts, erratic weather patterns are affecting food security, with crop yields projected to fall if changes are not made

12/14/2025

We're horrified and deeply saddened by the heinous act of violence and racism this weekend targeting earth defenders in Unama'ki.

One of the communities IR has been supporting this year are First Nations land defenders in Atlantic Canada, the Mi’kmaq. In September, Mi’kmaq established a settlement on Hunter’s Mountain (Tqamuoweye'katik) in Cape Breton (Unama’ki), Nova Scotia to halt clear-cut logging and resource extraction in the highlands. Specifically, they have viewed their actions not as a blockade, but rather as action to uphold Mi’kmaq law and traditional stewardship, emphasizing their deep spiritual and cultural connection to the land.

While the early days of the camps saw confrontations with the police, including removal of Mi’kmaq property, and showdowns with the logging trucks, the creation of the camp moved forward. Many Mi’kmaq and allies anticipated that confrontations would likely resurge in Spring, when the logging roads reopen. Concern about this likelihood was also fueled by the quick implementation of a new provincial Act in the Fall, titled the Protecting Nova Scotians Act. While this act pertains to a variety of unrelated issues, one of the precisions concerns Crown Land (which is the designation of land on Hunter’s Mountain) and states that anyone placing “blocking obstacles, structures” on roads will be subjected to a fine of $60,000 or six months in jail. Many considered that the camp on Hunter’s Mountain and its inhabitants would be made subject to this Act.

But a horrific strike against the land defenders has come in the heart of winter, with a brutal attack on the camp the Mi'kmaq had established over the Fall season. Arsonists set fire to the cabins the Mi'kmaq had established as part of the settlement, burning some to the ground and gutting another.
Please read the Mi'kmaq statement in response to this attack in the images..

We stand in alliance with the Mi'kmaq and against such violence, which is an all too common experience for earth defenders around the globe.

11/29/2025

the loss of glaciers has far reaching impacts

11/26/2025

09/10/2025

The link to this important story titled "How a Group of Students in the Pacific Islands Reshaped Global Climate Law" is also included in the first comment. NYT has a paywall that will likely prevent access.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/magazine/global-climate-law-students.html
Here's an excerpt:

The I.C.J.’s advisory opinions, unlike its judgments, aren’t binding; they simply express how the court believes existing law should be interpreted. In a world where many of the world’s polluters already fail to fulfill the climate commitments they’ve made, could the court ruling make a significant difference?

Legal experts describe the potential impact in various ways. Some frame the decision as possibly incremental — not transformative, but another piece of legal infrastructure on which to build arguments and agreements going forward. Vicente Paolo Yu, a longtime climate negotiator who has represented the G77, a bloc of 134 developing nations, told me that 20 years of international climate work taught him that change is often less like a lightbulb turning on and more like the slow emergence of a field of fireflies. Others argue that the court’s ruling carries greater weight than it might seem, because its power lies in the respect it commands from courts around the world. Maria Antonia Tigre, who tracks global climate-related lawsuits for Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, points out that there are already more than 3,000 such lawsuits working their way through courts around the world. These seek, for example, to hold fossil-fuel companies financially responsible for the costs of responding to the changing climate or to protect the rights of various groups, like children, that face harm from those changes. The courts hearing those arguments are likely to look to the I.C.J. opinion in making their own, binding decisions.

Joie Chowdhury, a senior lawyer at the Center for International Environmental Law, told me that past advisory opinions have had concrete and even rapid real-world effects, and that their influence can, in some ways, be broader than in rulings on disputes. “It is not just one set of facts affecting a few different countries,” she says. “This is interpretation of the law that can be taken forward in domestic courts, that can be taken forward in climate negotiations, that can be taken forward in policies and laws in ways that isn’t always as easy if it is a one-off precedent in a contentious case.”

They watched climate change ravage their home countries as rich, polluting nations did nothing. Then they had an idea.

07/25/2025

Some wonderful news! We all need it! Thanks to these amazing folks for persevering.

In a packed court thousands of kilometres from home, Cynthia Houniuhi saw years of work come to fruition with the landmark ICJ opinion on climate harm

07/23/2025

Joanna Macy was a luminary thinker about hope and moving beyond industrial capitalism towards a great turning.

Jump to Community Condolences and Sharing Joanna Rogers Macy leaves a legacy that will long continue to inform and energize both the work of healing the world from the frenzy of industrialized capitalism, and the complementary movements to come home to the true nature of our being. For, as she would...

06/26/2025

"You, in the global north, have to change what you’re doing in order for there to be an option for better futures, rather than just giving up and letting the worst futures come about." Marine ecologist David Obura

David Obura believes humans have been using nature for free, and tipping points at some reefs have already passed

04/07/2025

We are pleased to share this latest IR production, made in partnership with PELUM Kenya Association and several of their network members. Agroecology is about food system transformation towards greater biodiversity and complexity, solidarity and justice, and resilience to the climate emergency.

PELUM Kenya Member Organizations in collaboration with Island Reach have produced this video on "Agroecology as a Bold Climate Solution"

03/20/2025

Advocacy groups are calling the verdict against Greenpeace in North Dakota US a “weaponization of the legal system” and an “assault” on free speech and protest rights. We stand with Greenpeace!

The case is being described by legal experts as a classic example of a Slapp – a form of civil litigation increasingly deployed by corporations, politicians and wealthy individuals to deliberately wear down and silence critics including journalists, activists and watchdog groups. These cases often result in significant legal costs for the defendants, which is viewed as “a win” for the suing entity even if they don’t win the lawsuit.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/20/greenpeace-energy-transfer-verdict-reactions

Campaigners condemn North Dakota jury’s ruling as Greenpeace must pay Energy Transfer at least $660m

03/08/2025

Today, on , we celebrate and honour women everywhere!