The YES! Crossword: Close Readings
This month’s puzzle will put your reading comprehension to the test.
YES! Article archive
Immigrants Like Me Experience Two Ends of the Climate Crisis
While my family lives under existential threat from catastrophic cyclones in Mozambique, immigrant communities in the diaspora, like mine in London, also have to face toxic air quality.
Whose Voices Are (and Aren’t) Being Heard at COP26?
“COP26 is looking like one of the most inequitable, White, and segregated COPs to ever occur.”
Every Fraction of a Degree of Global Warming Matters
“The climate crisis is here and with 1.2°C bringing so much suffering already, fighting for 1.5°C is already a compromise.”
My Memories of Diwali Celebrations are Antithetical to India’s Hindu Fundamentalists
“India’s rightwing Hindu supremacists want to control how we celebrate Diwali, a Hindu-origin tradition that is widely embraced and signifies the universal idea that good will triumph over evil.”
Diwali Has Many Origins, But One Central Theme
Diwali has many origin stories and is celebrated in several faith traditions, but all center the triumph of justice.
Vanessa Nakate on What Irks and Inspires Her Climate Activism
A conversation with the Ugandan activist about her new book and how it helped her see climate change differently.
The Global South Widens the Frame on Climate
Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate on the necessity of real representation in the climate movement.
The Hidden Side of Fossil Fuel Investments: Private Equity
These investment firms face fewer disclosure and transparency rules. So their investors—public pension funds—need to hold them accountable.
Building a Beautiful Climate Future Starts with Imagination
“If we’re going to make the world over, let’s do it right. Let’s make a masterpiece.”
Hearing the Language of Trees
The author of "Braiding Sweetgrass" on how human people are only one manifestation of intelligence in the living world.
A Master Altarista Explains the Essentials of a Día de los Muertos Altar
Mother of nine, matriarch Ofelia Esparza learned how to make Día de los Muertos altars from her mother. Now, she’s passing on the craft to a new generation.
Community Altars for Día de los Muertos Symbolize Tradition, Loss, and Hope
The annual Los Angeles Noche de Ofrenda in Grand Park—where Día de los Muertos blossomed into a national and international phenomenon— returns after a one-year hiatus.
Chicano Artists Resist Commercialization of Día de los Muertos
After decades of dedicated work by Chicano artists in East L.A. to promote Día de los Muertos as a festival unique to their community, it is now a hyper-commercialized enterprise. Still, many are working to recenter the festival’s original intent of honoring the dead.
Restaurant Workers Organize for Fair Wages
Today’s subminimum wages are a legacy of racist policies that date from the Civil War.
What Are the Trees Saying About Us?
Minimum Viable Planet is a weeklyish newsletter about climateish stuff, and how to keep it together in a world gone mad. This week, we listen to what nature has to offer in the conversation around climate solutions.
Planting a Life—and a Future—After Prison
The residential and employment program on a North Carolina organic farm helps formerly incarcerated women find a new path.
Can Detroit Return its Brownfields to the Indigenous Sacred Sites They Once Were?
The destruction of burial mounds in Detroit paralleled the displacement and genocide of Indigenous peoples throughout the United States.
Baltimore’s Community Land Trusts Offer a Pathway to Housing Justice
After years of grassroots activism, the city has found success in addressing historical housing discrimination through community land trusts.
The Pursuit of Rest Under Capitalism
“Could it be that the fragmentation of our relations has been a fundamental cause of our exhaustion?”
10 Years After Occupy Wall Street, Its Legacy Remains Strong
Occupy Wall Street gave the left ideas, skills, and a base in a way no one could have imagined a decade ago. The radicalization of a generation, the ability to easily explain class, the potential for mass nonviolent direct action, and crowbarring politics to let in socialist ideas and elected officials are all invaluable legacies.
Advocates for Haitian Asylum Seekers Call for Humane Treatment
The Biden administration was supposed be different from its predecessor. So why are Haitians are being denied their due process in seeking asylum to the U.S.?
Don’t Let Youth Climate Activists Like Me Burn Out
The COP26 meeting is an opportunity for world leaders to prove me wrong, to show us that they can act boldly on climate change and do more than make empty promises.
The Climate Crisis Is Your Crisis, Too
Minimum Viable Planet is a weeklyish newsletter about climateish stuff, and how to keep it together in a world gone mad. This week, we look into sharing the climate crisis panic without having it backfire on you.
Greta Thunberg on Climate Promises Versus Actions
The climate activist doesn’t mince words in holding world leaders accountable to the urgent demands of young organizers.
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