"Brazil’s October presidential election could reshape the future of the Amazon, with the winner leading the country that contains about 60% of the world’s largest rainforest — an ecosystem vital to the global climate."
"Spring has finally arrived in the Southern Hemisphere and, in Chile, even the desert is blossoming. Known as the driest nonpolar desert on Earth, a massive portion of the Atacama Desert has been covered in flowers after the El Niño weather pattern brought heavy rains to the region earlier this year."
"The BR-319 runs through a largely untouched stretch of the rainforest. A new initiative to pave it could put the Amazon and the global climate at risk."
"A new cat has been discovered in Bolivia, the first time in more than a century that scientists have confirmed a new feline species in the world."
Trump donor Harold Hamm’s oil company Continental Resources announced a deal Wednesday to drill in Venezuela.
"Every three days someone is killed for defending nature."
"Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s push for minerals and militarization raises fears about the violence more mining could inflict on local communities and critical ecosystems."
"The Trump administration has rolled out several programs intended to pacify consumers frustrated with high beef prices and ranchers angered by beef imports."
"The Trump administration’s highly unusual deal to develop Venezuela’s vast oil resources would have the U.S. government collaborate with an influential and polarizing Venezuelan businessman."
"The Trump administration announced an agreement with the Venezuelan government on Friday to develop a vast amount of Venezuela's oil reserves.
The U.S. government says it is entering into a joint venture with a private Venezuelan company, according to an official who spoke to NPR on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the deal. The Trump administration says the U.S. would get 55% of the oil from the joint venture. That's equivalent to about 65 billion barrels of oil that's under the ground.
