Planet Forward

The next featured student storyteller in our Youth Voices collaboration with EarthX is by Planet Forward Sr. Correspondent Abbey Leibert from SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry! - “PFAS” are a group of long-lasting chemicals used in many industrial processes and are vital to etching and coating the small, integrated circuits made by the semiconductor company Micron Technologies. In this short video, Abbey explores how researchers at the Leem Lab in upstate New York are working to develop improved detection methods for “harder-to-detect” forms of PFAS. The detection device uses lignin, a waste product from paper manufacturing processes, which the researchers say has the potential to be used by Micron. Read the full story on EarthX.org to learn more: https://lnkd.in/e7f-ZSrc

Catch our former Planet Forward Correspondents Harrison Watson and Mykah Scott in this exciting webinar on Wed, Feb. 25!

🌱 Planet Forward Staff Pick of the Week 🌱 Like many rural schools and communities, Tuskegee University in Alabama faces challenges related to student food security. The Skegee Garden Club was founded in 2023 to help address concerns related to nutrition and food access on campus. In this story, Planet Forward Correspondent Sylvia Leggette speaks with several founding members of the Skegee Garden Club about their efforts to connect students to healthier foods and food-related opportunities on campus. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/eG8g3T45

🌱 Planet Forward Staff Pick of the Week 🌱 For birds, colliding with glass is life-threatening; for these researchers, testing bird-safe glass is a mission. Despite an influx of “bird-safe” glass products, there are only two testing sites in the entire United States – both run by the American Bird Conservancy – that assess whether these glass designs are truly effective. In this short video, Planet Forward Correspondent Andrew McCabe takes viewers inside one such testing tunnel in rural Maryland. See how researchers are using groundbreaking methods and rigorous field research to conserve and protect birds across the world. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/eSaMHVhW

🌱 Planet Forward Staff Pick of the Week 🌱 Professor Robert Thorson’s office is overflowing. Every shelf is bending beneath the weight of books, and almost every inch of his desk houses another rock sample. A jack of all trades in the University of Connecticut's Earth sciences department, Thorson teaches everyone from first-year to Ph.D. students — and makes a point to counteract his students’ climate pessimism with "lots of hope." In this interview, Planet Forward Correspondent Jenna Outcalt sits down with Professor Thorson to discuss how his whole-earth philosophy shapes his unique approach to teaching and writing. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/eUTP5PQp

The next featured story in our Youth Voices collaboration with EarthX is by Jey Draper of Teesside University. In Teesside, Northern England — a community shadowed by the collapse of the steel industry and the resulting economic fallout — interconnected carbon capture and storage projects are being developed. These efforts emerge as political consensus over the UK’s net-zero target for 2050 is beginning to fragment. In this story, Jey Draper explores the three initiatives that are changing this region and the world of carbon emission control forever. Read the full story on EarthX.org to learn more about areas like Teesside are trying to get net-zero back on track: https://lnkd.in/euJux6Wx

🌱 Planet Forward Staff Pick of the Week 🌱 In 2020, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climate Assessment, reclassified New York City from a humid continental climate to a humid subtropical climate. Although the current federal administration has suspended the assessment, residents and local plants are still feeling the heat. Learn more about how various organizations and individuals are coming together to protect green spaces in their city in this story from Planet Forward Correspondent Kayla Smernoff. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/ghXcdNHS

Your story matters more than ever. Planet Forward is accepting entries for this year's Storyfest, our annual competition of written, film, multimedia, and vertical video environmental stories. College students: Enter your story on planetforward.org by February 23 for your chance to win a storytelling voyage with Planet Forward and Lindblad Expeditions to East Greenland! Don't wait. Your story can make a difference.

We’re so excited to announce our collaboration with EarthX, a leading international environmental nonprofit and media platform! This new partnership will provide students with opportunities to contribute original reporting and storytelling to EarthX’s digital media platforms, amplifying youth voices on environmental solutions and innovation. We look forward to sharing content across our platforms twice a month, highlighting student journalism that will be cross-posted on PlanetForward.org and EarthX.org. Congratulations to Alexia Massoud for being the first student storyteller to be featured in this new series! In this story, Alexia reports on how COP30 in Belém, Brazil brought attention to the women and communities that are sustained by water-based activities and are weathering the effects of climate change. Read the full story on EarthX here: https://lnkd.in/eZEsNDjr

🌱 Planet Forward Staff Pick of the Week 🌱 Every Wednesday, coastal resilience educator Lisa Auermuller drives two hours from her home in Tuckerton, a coastal town of Southern New Jersey to teach at Rutgers University. It might be a long commute, but for her, it’s worth it because it’s a reminder of the gap between science and people. She’s spent more than two decades of her life bridging that gap. In this story, Planet Forward Correspondent Shaniya Utamidata speaks with Lisa Auermuller about how she’s making science visible for everyone and educating the next generation of environmental scientists. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/eWM9prbU