Left: Manolo Miranda, one of three Ngäbe leaders facing trial, explains the impacts of the Barro Blanco Dam on the Tabasará River and surrounding communities. (Jonathan González photo) By Tracy L. BarnettIntercontinental Cry Manolo Miranda, leader of an indigenous community recently flooded by the Barro Blanco dam, now faces up to two years in prison for […]

By Tracy L. Barnett For Global Sisters Report This article was the first in a 12-part series on the Web of Life ecospiritual retreat in Darien, Panama, and the many interconnected environmental issues that it touched on. In the tiny country where a slice through the Earth connects its two greatest oceans, Maryknoll Sr. Melinda […]

By Tracy L. Barnett For Global Sisters Report In February 2017, while researching the impact of hydroelectric dams on the rivers and rural communities of Panama, I happened across Melinda Roper, a Catholic sister who had played a part in history as the leader of the Maryknolls at the time the four American churchwomen were […]

by Tracy L. Barnett For Intercontinental Cry  Este artículo está disponible en español aquí  GUADALAJARA — As commissioner of public lands for the indigenous Wixárika territory of San Sebastian Teponahuaxtlán, Miguel Vázquez Torres was at the forefront of the legal fight to recover 10,000 hectares of indigenous ancestral lands from surrounding ranching communities. He was […]

Left: Clementina Pérez and other Ngäbe-Bugle members of the encampment against the Barro Blanco Dam that has flooded several Ngäbe communities and destroyed their sacred Tabasará River ecosystem. (Tracy L. Barnett photo) Story and photos by Tracy L. Barnett for Global Sisters Report Sr. Edia “Hermana Tita” López was living out her mission as a […]

Left: Weni Bagama, a deputy in the Ngäbe-Buglé Congress and leader in the fight against Barro Blanco, heads for a meeting in the comarca capital of Llano Tugrí. Below, Döegeo Gallardo and Göejet Miranda paddle home through the dead zone that was once a shady, fish-filled river. (Tracy L. Barnett)  Story and photos by Tracy L. […]

Above: Mick Waggoner and Bonnie Wykman, above, run a tight ship at the Southwest Camp Hogan.  Story and photos by Rain Stites Their day begins before the sun rises. Fellow campers slumber while Mick Waggoner and the rest of the kitchen crew quietly tiptoe through the makeshift kitchen of foldable tables and camp stoves. Lanterns […]

By Tracy L. Barnett and Tami Brunk For Intercontinental Cry and The Esperanza Project OCETI SAKOWIN CAMP, N.D.—A winter lull in activities for Water Protectors at Standing Rock is about to come to an end. An executive order confirming the incoming administration’s commitment to forge ahead – not just with the Dakota Access Pipeline, but […]

By Tracy L. Barnett For Thomson Reuters News Service LA YESCA, Mexico, Dec 19 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Audelina Villagrana has run her ranch in Mexico’s Western Sierra Madre mountains on her own since the death of her husband 23 years ago, herding livestock, hiring local Huichol people and even raising a young Huichol boy like […]

By Tracy L. Barnett STEELE, N.D., Dec 8 – We only made it 70 miles from Oceti Sakowin Camp in Standing Rock when a whiteout and fierce winds forced us to seek refuge in this tiny town, where the Kidder County Ambulance District and a wonderful EMT nurse named Mona Thompson took us in like […]

Tracy L. Barnett Intercontinental Cry A contingent of at least 1,000 indigenous Wixárika (Huichol) people in the Western Sierra Madre are gearing up to take back their lands after a legal decision in a decade-long land dispute with neighboring ranchers who have held the land for more than a century. Ranchers who have been in […]

By Tracy L. Barnett For El Daily Post Photo courtesy International Rivers In the strange world of Mexican water politics, things got a bit stranger this week as a citizen’s coalition filed a formal complaint with the state auditor’s office regarding a $4.6 million hydrological study by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) […]

Story and photos by Tracy L. Barnett For The Washington Post Two weathered gravestones sit in a small, dusty rectangle in front of the grand Spanish church at the heart of the nation’s newest UNESCO World Heritage Site, the San Antonio Missions. I’ve been to Mission San Jose many times — to attend the lively […]

Story and photos by Tracy L. Barnett For El Daily Post While most people were celebrating the holidays, others  from Canada to Mexico mourned the loss of a leading Wixarika scholar and teacher, a cultural ambassador and an indigenous activist whose work on behalf of indigenous unity spanned North America. Yuka+ye Jesús Lara Chivarra’s path […]

Tracy L. Barnett for El Daily Post It was one of those heartwarming victories that can renew your faith in the possibility of achieving justice peacefully. Mountain villagers in Ahuisculco, Jalisco, who had camped out for months in front of bulldozers were finally able to broker a land swap with the sugar company that was […]

Tracy L. Barnettfor El Daily Post The battle to defend the natural springs of clear water might not only have gotten this Jalisco community to protect its natural resources, it might also have unified the residents like never before. “It’s been very heartening to see that our people are staying strong and committed despite the […]

Tracy L. Barnett for El Daily Post The Jalisco village of Ahuisculco was one of the few places in Mexico where residents could open their taps and drink fresh, clean water. But an anonymous corporation moved in last September and began digging. After a while, the villagers’ crystal-blue springs ran a muddy brown. That’s when the […]

By Tracy L. Barnett For Magis Magazine Rob Hopkins is one face of the Transition movement, but there are many more. In the Spanish-speaking world and particularly in Spain one of those faces is Juan Del Rio. Del Rio, author of a new book in Spanish on the movement of transition, La Guía del Movimiento de Transición (February […]

Above: Transition Network founder Rob Hopkins, left, grants an interview to Raul Velez at the train station in Totnes, England, birthplace of the Transition movement. (Raul Velez photo) By Tracy L. Barnett For Magis Magazine One of the early Transition Town initiatives was launched in Ensenada, Baja California, by an American expat, Robert Frey. Frey went to […]

By Tracy L. Barnett For Magis Magazine Once there lived a permaculturist, far from the city on an old Irish farm. Together with his wife and four children they had nearly finished creating the house of their dreams, a house of cob in a grassy ecovillage with an organic farm. By day he taught permaculture […]

By John Ahni Schertow Intercontinental Cry For over two decades, the United Nations has observed the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on August 9. An effort to promote and help protect the rights of the world’s Indigenous Peoples, each year the event is attributed to a specific theme. This year, the theme is […]

Phil Moore and Lauren Simpson Permaculture People Editor’s note: We are very happy to share with you the sixth short film, Animal-Free Farming,  in Lauren and Phil’s new documentary film series Living with the Land for Permaculture Magazine. A pioneer in plant-based agriculture, Iain Tolhurst has been a practising organic vegetable producer since 1976. Specialising in a […]

Phil Moore and Lauren Simpson Permaculture People Editor’s note: We are very happy to share with you the third short film, Regenerative Agriculture: Rebuilding the Soil,  in Lauren and Phil’s new documentary film series Living with the Land for Permaculture Magazine. Sitting atop the hills in southwest England overlooking the sea, Village Farm in Devon is a […]

Phil Moore and Lauren Simpson Permaculture People Editor’s note: We are very happy to share with you the second short film, Natural Building,  in Lauren and Phil’s new series Living with the Land for Permaculture Magazine. Natural buildings are an ancient tradition with a modern appeal. Creating healthy, beautiful homes from natural materials such as earth, […]