From scientific discoveries to activist wins, here are the latest news stories that showcase the people who are taking on climate change and nature loss.

 🪧 What the school strikers could do next

The people who led the youth climate movement under Trump’s first presidency are readying themselves for his second. In the intervening years, their outlooks have gotten more cynical and their tactics have moved from school strikes and protests to throwing cans of soup and interrupting political events. The looming shadow of Trump’s second term could reunite a splintered movement – one that focuses more on pragmatic, local actions than grand gestures.

“It’s less about having young people be climate activists and more about having every sector of the economy thinking through how climate relates to them in their workplace and in their community.”

⚖️ Stories of the climate crisis heard in court for the first time

Written submissions from people on the frontline of climate change are being heard in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) during the ongoing biggest ever climate case. The spotlight is on those who stand to lose the most from environmental disasters, especially people from the Pacific and Caribbean. Their testimonies describe the destruction of villages, the loss of traditional foods, and the threat of rising sea levels – putting a human face to these stories of climate injustice.

“We’ve done everything that we could think of to try to amplify the voices of exactly these communities, because they have never been heard in these halls before.”

🏝️ Building the world’s first self-sufficient island

With a population of 11,000, El Hierro in the Canary Islands is pushing itself to be the first island to run fully on self-generated renewable energy. The island is home to a unique system that incorporates both hydro and wind energy, which not only creates clean electricity, but powers the island’s desalination plant, providing it with its own supply of drinking water. As a result, it’s slowly reducing its reliance on imported supplies of diesel and water brought by ships from the mainland. The island is also a hotspot for biodiversity, with species like monarch butterflies and beak whales thriving thanks to the lack of pollution.