Green & indigenous News

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) crowdsourcing platform Did You Feel It? (DYFI) rapidly transforms people's earthquake shaking intensity experiences into detailed maps of damage extent. While the tool's reach is global, language and technology barriers prevent participation in certain areas, according to a USGS and University of Michigan Engineering study published in Seismological Research Letters.

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Mass extinctions are extremely catastrophic events on Earth. Throughout Earth's evolutionary history, numerous mass extinctions have occurred, with five major mass extinctions being particularly representative. These extinctions have reshaped the course of life's evolution on Earth. In addition to the five major mass extinctions, many frequent, lower-order extinctions have also taken place on Earth, such as the Norian–Rhaetian Extinction during the Triassic. Regarding the triggering mechanisms of extinctions, the five major events have been relatively well studied. However, the triggering mechanisms of the frequent lower-order extinctions remain unclear.

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In Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass," Alice is stuck in a never-ending race with the Red Queen yet never gains a lead. "It takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place," the Queen says. "Though we typically use this metaphor to describe evolutionary arms races between hosts and parasites or hosts and pathogens, the "Red Queen Hypothesis' also characterizes the ongoing battles within our genome," says Mia Levine, a biologist at the University of Pennsylvania.

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In addition to serious economic damage, the energy crisis of 2021/22 also had dramatic consequences for the environment and people's health. This is the conclusion reached by two researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) in a new study. Although the temporary switch from gas to coal for producing electricity was cheaper and contributed to securing the energy supply, in the six European countries featured in the study, it caused additional costs of around one billion euros for the environment and health.

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When you hear the word "dinosaur," the first thing that might spring to mind is a hulking skeleton like Sue the T rex in Chicago's Field Museum or Sophie the Stegosaurus at the Natural History Museum in London. Dinosaur skeletons give us striking evidence of what these ancient animals looked like, from the plates and spikes on stegosaurs like Sophie to the long-necked, airplane-sized bodies of titanosaurs.

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For thousands of years, one tree species defined the cultural and ecological identity of what is now the American South: the longleaf pine. The forest once stretched across 92 million acres from Virginia to Texas, but about 5% of that original forest remains. It was one of North America's richest ecosystems, and it nearly disappeared.

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Record forest fires, under-utilized agricultural residues like straw and husks and struggling sawmills have left Canada with an abundance of undervalued biomass. If carefully and strategically managed, this resource could become a powerful ally in the fight against climate change.

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A new Simon Fraser University study has found that Canada's cycling network is growing, but not everyone is benefiting. Between 2022 and 2024, nearly 3,600 kilometers of high-quality cycling infrastructure was added across the country, with the largest proportional increases seen in small- to medium-sized cities. But one consistent finding across Canadian cities is that areas with more children and older adults tend to have less cycling infrastructure.

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How can some fish, like tuna, achieve remarkable speed while others, like eels, excel in maneuverability? A research team from Peking University (PKU) has developed a novel robotic platform that sheds new light on this classic biomechanical puzzle.

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Many organisms leverage showy colors for attracting mates. Because color is a property of light (determined by its wavelength), it is easy for humans to see how these colors are used in animal courting rituals. Less obvious to humans is the polarization of light—a property of light related to the direction the wave is oriented in. Humans can't perceive polarization, which may be why we weren't aware of the interesting way cuttlefish use it to attract mates.

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This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. To get regular coverage from Bridge Michigan, sign up for a free Bridge Michigan newsletter here.

Ron French
Bridge Michigan

Michigan spent three years and $1.1 million to study the state’s Native American boarding schools, then refused to release the report to the public.

Michigan officials blasted the report as too “shoddy” to show to the public, while the Native American firm hired to conduct the study accused the state of “whitewashing” the issue.

The report was completed in October, but few have seen it. Michigan’s Department of Civil Rights, which oversaw its production, declined to provide Bridge Michigan a copy. Even a frustrated member of the Civil Rights Commission, which sets policy for the department, asked in October if the board needed to file a Freedom of Information Act request to view it.

“It sounds to me like it (the report) is just going to be put on the shelf with dust on it,” commission member Regina Gasco, who until recently was the chairperson of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, said at a commission meeting in October.

“What about all these survivors who came and testified? We talked to these people and assured them that this is the time we’re listening.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer requested the research in 2022, the same year the US Department of Interior issued its initial findings in a first-ever reportabout the schools.

Michigan’s tribes had hoped a state report would document the abuses and deaths of Native American children over more than a century in state boarding schools, as well as determine the extent to which the state and local municipalities were involved in the tragedy.

Instead, tribal leaders are frustrated by a failed effort that leaves them no closer to answers some families have been seeking for generations.

“We’re all disappointed,” said Alfredo Hernandez, equity and inclusion officer for the Department of Civil Rights.

While that study flopped, another is just starting. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has opened its own criminal investigation to try to provide accountability for the abuses.

There were at least 417 federal-operated Indian boarding schools in 37 states in the 19th and 20th centuries, according to theFederal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, released in 2024

Five federal boarding schools were located in Michigan, in Baraga, Mackinac Island, Schoolcraft County, Mt. Pleasant and Harbor Springs

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition lists three additional boarding schools, in Marquette, Omena and Assinins.

The last one, Holy Childhood of Jesus Catholic Church and Indian School in Harbor Springs, closed in 1983.

Another 1,025 non-federal institutions, many run by churches, didn’t meet the federal criteria to be considered federal boarding schools, but also participated in the forcible relocation of Native American children, including 30 in Michigan, according to the federal report.

At the schools, children weren’t allowed to speak native language or wear Native American clothing. Some were given non-native names. Physical and sexual abuse were common, according to the federal report.

There is no known documentation of the number of Native American children who were taken from families and shipped to boarding schools in Michigan, or the number who died at those schools

The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan documented229 students who died at the Indian Industrial Boarding School in Mt. Pleasant between 1893 and 1934, when the school closed. Only five of the deaths were officially documented by the school.

The buildings, which remain standing, are now controlled by the Saginaw Chippewa tribe.

There are no documented deaths at Michigan’s other boarding schools.

In 2024, President Joe Biden issued an apology for the federal government’s role in the boarding schools. Some states have attempted to come to grips with their histories. Colorado issued a report in 2023. Wisconsin issued an acknowledgement and apology, as did New York.

The Michigan Legislature appropriated money for the report in 2023, hoping it would “address the history of what happened in boarding schools in Michigan and how the State of Michigan contributed to this system,” according toa Nov. 30 letter sent to legislative leaders in November from Department of Civil Rights Executive Director John Johnson Jr.

Johnson declined to share the completed report with the Legislature, saying the study produced by Washington-based Kauffman and Associates was “difficult to read and lacked the substance” the state sought.

But in a letter to the Civil Rights Department, Kauffman and Associates put the blame on state officials, saying the consulting firm had “significant ethical concerns” about the editing of the report.

The firm contends it was asked to cut an initial 350-page report to 50 pages, and that references to potential connections to local government involvement be eliminated.

“We are fully committed to finding a solution that supports transparency and accuracy, without whitewashing, sanitizing, or misrepresenting the experiences of Native American boarding school survivors and their descendants in Michigan,” wrote Kauffman CEO Kevin Keefe.

Keefe told Bridge Michigan the legal counsel for the Attorney General’s office ordered the references to local cities, townships and counties be cut.

Attorney General spokesperson Kim Bush said the office “provided legal advice to our clients regarding this report.  The Department of Civil Rights’ report to the Legislature details some of the issues with the consultant’s work, including whether the report met the criteria set forth by the legislature and whether the consultant obtained informed consent from the participants in the Michigan Native American Boarding School Study.”

While the launch of the study received public attention, even some tribal advocates were unaware it wasn’t going to be released.

Rep. Carrie Rheingans, D-Ann Arbor, who sponsored legislation creating a tribal liaison legislative office, told Bridge she wasn’t aware the report had been shelved.

“It’s important for us to know the truth of what happened in order for us to learn from it,” she said. “The government hasn’t always done the best, and can still strive to do better.”

Nessel’s office recently launched a criminal investigation into abuses at Native American boarding schools, modeled after that office’s clergy abuse investigation which reviewed millions of pages of documents from Michigan’s Catholic dioceses, which also operated some of the state’s boarding schools.

In December, the office released a report alleging sexual misconduct by 51 priests in the Grand Rapids Diocese dating back to 1950.

Danielle Hagaman-Clark, criminal bureau chief in the AG’s office, told Bridge that criminal charges may be slim in the boarding school investigation —  the last boarding school closed 42 years ago, so some perpetrators may be dead or the statute of limitations will have run out.

But there is still value in accountability, Hagaman-Clark said.

“It’s an opportunity for people to share their stories and explore prosecutions if it’s still available,” she said. “We will use every resource at our fingertips.”

Hagaman-Clark said she is unaware of other states that have attempted to pursue a criminal investigation of boarding school abuses.

The attorney general’s office has received calls from boarding school survivors since the investigation was announced in December, and a project manager was hired to oversee the effort.

Those with information about abuses in Native American boarding schools can contact the attorney general’s office by email atAG-NBSInvestigation@michigan.gov, or by calling the Native Boarding School Investigation tip line at 517-897-7391. Tips can be left anonymously.

The post Michigan spent $1.1M probing tribal boarding schools, then buried the results appeared first on ICT.

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Gov. Mike Dunleavy is pushing new legislation to stabilize state finances, and crews in Fairbanks investigate an explosion at an Alaska Army National Guard facility.

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Last Updated on January 27, 2026 Canada’s justice system is failing Indigenous women and girls, a new data investigation suggests, with killers of Indigenous victims far more likely to face lenient charges and plea deals than those in cases involving non-Indigenous women. An Investigative Journalism Bureau review of 1,329 cases of women and girls killed […]

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For flowering plants, reproduction is a question of the birds and the bees. Attracting the right pollinator can be a matter of survival—and new research shows how flowers do it is more intriguing than anyone realized, and might even involve a little bit of magic.

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Millions of people in southeastern Australia are sweating through a record-breaking heat wave. The heat this week is likely to be one for the history books. The heat began on Saturday January 24th. On Australia Day, three sites in South Australia and two in New South Wales broke their all-time temperature records. Ceduna reached a whopping 49.5°C in the shade—just 1.2°C off the highest temperature ever recorded in Australia.

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Whether you call him groundhog, woodchuck, whistle-pig or use the full genus and species name, Marmota monax, the nation's premier animal weather forecaster has been making headlines as Punxsutawney Phil for decades.

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January 27, 2025 – The Senate has until Friday, Jan. 30 to pass a final package of appropriations bills and keep the government open, but opposition to more funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after a violent weekend in Minneapolis is making a shutdown more likely.

This time, though, the federal agencies most closely connected to food and farming will be insulated. That’s because following last year’s shutdown they were funded.

During last year’s shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, a lapse in funding proved disruptive for federal food assistance programs and farm programs.

Should another government shutdown occur at the end of the month, programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will not be impacted in the same way. In the funding deal to end the last shutdown, Congress passed annual appropriations for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which also fully funded SNAP, through September.

The funding also fully supports programs and staff for farm programs at the USDA that saw disruptions during the last shutdown, including the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

Earlier in January, Congress passed a package of appropriations bills that included funding for the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). President Donald Trump signed this funding on Jan. 23, which means these agencies are also protected from another potential shutdown.

The departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, among others, still need annual appropriations. The House approved a package of appropriations bills, also known as a minibus, for these and other agencies on Jan. 22. But the minibus package also includes more funding for the Department of Homeland Security, including $10 billion for ICE.

Senate Democrats are now threatening to block the funding package, amid ongoing tension between Minnesota and the Trump administration and after ICE agents shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis over the weekend. (Link to this post.)

The post SNAP Won’t Be Affected in Potential Government Shutdown appeared first on Civil Eats.

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New research indicates that restoration of peatlands can result in climate mitigation within just a few decades. In Finland, some 60,000 hectares of previously forestry-drained peatlands have already been restored, comprising mainly nutrient-poor sites with weak tree growth. In such cases, peatland plants remain viable and react rapidly to restoration, resulting in the formation of a thick new layer of Sphagnum moss.

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Governance arrangements that fit social-ecological context help support fishery sustainability.

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“T’əl: The Wild Man of the Woods” premiered in 2024 and is now making its debut on the West Coast. Photo by Daniel Crump

When choreographer Cameron sinkʷə Fraser-Monroe was asked to create a piece for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, he knew he wanted to tell a story from his home community of Tla’amin Nation.

He chose to feature a traditional oral tale about T’əl, a sinister figure who steals children during the night. In the story, a young woman ventures into the unknown to save her sister from the mythical beast.

Fraser-Monroe’s ballet interpretation of the story — “T’əl: The Wild Man of the Woods” — is now making its West Coast debut in locations across “B.C.” from Jan. 27 to Feb. 10.

“The story of T’əl is shared to keep children well-behaved, to keep children home before dark,” Fraser-Monroe told IndigiNews.

“It’s culturally specific to our nation, but — you know, whether it’s the Sasquatch or the Yeti — there are hairy men in the woods all over the world. So it was something that had a universal appeal and access.”

RWB Company in rehearsal with Cameron Fraser-Monroe. Photo courtesy of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet

“T’əl: The Wild Man of the Woods” originally had its world premiere back in 2024, and received “enthusiastic praise from critics and audiences alike,” said Royal Winnipeg Ballet artistic director Christopher Stowell.

The tour program will open with the piece “Carmina Burana,” a contemporary ballet that first premiered more than two decades ago.

Notably, this is the first time “T’əl: The Wild Man of the Woods” will be seen in Fraser-Monroe’s home community of Tla’amin — located in qathet (Powell River) on the upper Sunshine Coast.

For the piece, the tale is narrated by Tla’amin Elder Elsie Paul in both English and ʔayʔaǰuθəm, the nation’s language.

“I started with the oral history from Elsie and looking at the recordings and different versions of the story that exists for us and our sister nations, K’ómoks,  Klahoose, Xwémalhkwu (Homalco),” Fraser-Monroe explained.

“They all have the same story, but slightly different variations to it.”

He said at the first stop on the tour on Jan. 27, the Elder will get to see the performance live for the first time.

“We’ll have brought it to her, it makes me well up to think about that moment,” he said.

“It can be incredibly emotional to remember that this piece of oral history was illegal under the Potlatch ban, and it’s through Elsie Paul’s commitment to keeping it alive that this whole ballet production exists.”

Along with Paul’s narration, the performance features an original score by JUNO-nominated, Two-Spirit composer Cris Derksen, and costumes by Navajo designer Asa Benally.

Fraser-Monroe said he wanted the costumes to feel inspired by what Tla’amin families would have traditionally worn. Photo by Daniel Crump

Going into the 2026 tour, Fraser-Monroe said there was a lot of energy in the studios – he explained the Royal Winnipeg Ballet was rehearsing with several different casts and different versions of “T’əl: The Wild Man of the Woods” because not all the theatres in the eight stops are as big as the Centennial Concert Hall in “Winnipeg” where the piece originally premiered. The stops include “Chilliwack,” “Vernon,” “Nanaimo,” and “Salt Spring Island,” among others.

“That was really core to the work; making sure that it could be toured, that it could be accessible, and especially that the Tla’amin community could see it,” he said.

Cameron Fraser-Monroe pictured at the Ballet Kelowna studio in syilx homelands on Nov. 30, 2022. Photo by Aaron Hemens

When he was just 15 years old, Fraser-Monroe said he moved away from home to attend the Royal Olympic Ballet school’s professional division, where he trained in classical ballet. After graduation, he worked as a professional contemporary dancer, ballet dancer, and a Coast Salish dancer with the Dancers of Damelahamid.

“So my choreographic voice is braiding all three of these distinct styles, ballet, contemporary and traditional First Nations dance, that was kind of my pathway to being a choreographer,” he said.

He shared it was a huge endeavour to present “T’əl: The Wild Man of the Woods” on the main stage, and he was overwhelmed by the support of “all types of artists from all walks of life coming together behind this story.”

Fraser-Monroe said the qathet showing was sold out by mid-January.

“I’m really excited to pack that house and receive their energy for a story that so many of them will know,” he said.

“It really is to celebrate Elsie Paul and Tla’amin’s rich history of art and creation and so that, for me, is a completely different feeling that I’m really looking forward to.”

The full tour schedule, along with ticket information, is available here.

The post Tla’amin choreographer brings ‘Wild Man of the Woods’ ballet home to the West Coast appeared first on Indiginews.

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Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists have developed a patented breakthrough system that marks a major step forward in insect biomanufacturing, waste reduction and sustainable protein production.

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A new report has revealed that a dramatic population bloom of the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) off the South West coast is having significant effects on fisheries and marine ecosystems.

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Narrow bands of ocean covering just over one-third of the world's seas are responsible for absorbing nearly three-quarters of the carbon dioxide that oceans pull from the atmosphere, new research shows. The study, published in Nature Climate Change, reveals ocean fronts play a far larger role in regulating Earth's carbon cycle than previously understood.

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Within the next few decades, intensifying heat waves could expose a significant share of Europe's cattle to dangerous levels of heat stress. New research maps where and how millions of animals may be affected by mid-century.

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Lipstick vines get their name from their bright red, tube-shaped flowers. But one member of this group of plants has lost its lipstick-like appearance—its flowers are shorter, wider, and yellowish green in color. It also attracts shorter-beaked birds than its crimson cousins do, and it's found in different places.

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