In Portugal’s Rural North, Communities Are Resisting Lithium Mining
NEW LINES MAGAZINE (24/4/2024) Under the banner of a “green transition,” the EU is rushing to revive mining to secure critical raw materials. Plans to build large, open-pit mines in northeastern Portugal have been met with strong opposition from local communities, who are contesting the state’s authority to grant mining licenses without their consent. As […]
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Europe’s thirst for lithium threatens livelihoods, biodiversity in Portugal
AL JAZEERA (30/1/2024) Paulo Pires walked up the hill with his flock of sheep and dogs on a warm day in August, as a stream of water gushed down an ancient irrigation channel that has been maintained by local communities over many generations. “There is a lot of wealth here,” said Pires, now resting in […]
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Lithium mining threatens agricultural heritage in Portugal’s Barroso
MONGABAY (11/12/2023) In the hills of Barroso high in northeastern Portugal, the water gushes down small channels built many centuries ago, winding through a mosaic of pastures, oak and pine forests, and arable and fallow land. Sitting on her porch overlooking a carefully kept garden full of flowers and vegetables, Aida Fernandes remembers the day […]
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Jordan’s Teetering Balancing Act
FOREIGN POLICY (30/11/2023) Every Friday, the streets of downtown Amman fill with thousands of demonstrators waving Palestinian flags. “The people want the liberation of Palestine,” the crowds chant, their voices echoing across the city. For more than a month, Jordanians have demonstrated in solidarity with Palestinians against Israeli bombardments in the Gaza Strip and voiced […]
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Em Gaza “gostávamos de ser pássaros para podermos mover-nos livremente”
EXPRESSO (30/6/2023) Todas as primaveras, milhões de aves migratórias voam sobre a Faixa de Gaza, um território onde os palestinianos vivem sob o bloqueio militar imposto por Israel. De cabeça erguida para o céu, observadores de pássaros sonham com liberdade na “maior prisão a céu aberto” GAZA – Numa manhã no início da primavera, o […]
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How Trapped Palestinians Fell in Love With Bird-Watching
THE DAILY BEAST (7/4/2023) The skies of Gaza fill with shifting shapes on an early spring morning. At first they are barely visible, only specks soaring above central Gaza’s wetlands. Mandy Sirdah quickly raises her binoculars. “Storks!” she shouts excitedly. Close by, Lara Sirdah, her identical twin sister wearing matching clothes, grabs her long-focus camera […]
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Europe’s growing appetite for berries is sucking up Iberia’s water
EARTH ISLAND JOURNAL (March 2023) Autumn in Doñana National Park was once a spectacle of abundance. First the rains would arrive. Then, the birds. Journeying from Northern Europe, millions of migratory birds would descend on the wetland complex in southern Spain, heralding the start of the new season. Northern shovelers, pintails, whistling ducks, and other […]
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In Jordan, growing U.S. aid and shrinking freedom
FOREIGN POLICY (13/11/2022) As she looked out the window of her bare, dimly lit living room in October, Mervat Hamda counted the days since the authorities took away her son Anas al-Jamal: 138. “He is more than my son—he is my closest friend,” she said as she showed me family photos in their home in […]
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In the Iberian peninsula, “unsustainable, unviable” berry businesses are draining water and exploiting migrant labour
EQUAL TIMES (5/12/2022) On a breathless summer morning in El Rocío, a village bordering Spain’s Doñana National Park, Juan Romero points to a map detailing the surrounding area. “Here are the berry crops,” he says, tracing their encroachment of the park from the north and west. “It’s all full of plastic.” For years, the retired […]
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Agribusiness depletes soil and water in Portugal’s Alentejo
AL JAZEERA (11/10/2022) Sitting in her home in a white-washed village nestled in Alentejo’s gently rolling hills, 92-year-old Inácia Cruz likes to reminisce about simpler times. “This region was rich in bread,” she says wistfully. “We would produce olive oil, cereals and cork. We didn’t need to buy things from abroad. We grew our own […]
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