Truthout
Environment & Health
![Palestinians gather in front of tents near stagnant wastewater in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on July 19, 2024.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/08/GettyImages-2162029783-800x600.jpg)
UN Chief Calls for Truce as Infant Tests Positive for Gaza’s First Case of Polio
“The ultimate vaccine for polio is peace and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire," António Guterres said.
![A child who caught mpox gets treatment at a hospital in the Nyiragongo Territory near Goma, North Kivu Province, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on August 15, 2024.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/08/GettyImages-2166250918-400x300.jpg)
Spread of Mpox Underscores Global Health Disparities and Lack of Vaccine Access
A mutated strain seems to be more contagious — and more deadly, threatening to become a pandemic on par with COVID-19.
![A Gulfstream G650ER, owned by a private company, is taking off from Barcelona Airport in Barcelona, Spain, on June 27, 2023. According to a sustainable aviation expert, a fully loaded Gulfstream G650ER flight releases about 4.5 times as much carbon dioxide per passenger as a Boeing 737.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/08/GettyImages-1819253980-400x300.jpg)
Nike Promised Climate Action, But Its Corporate Jets Kept Flying – and Polluting
Since December, Nike has laid off 20 percent of its dedicated sustainability staff.
![WHO Declares Mpox Public Health Emergency as Africa Awaits Vaccines](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/08/seg2-guestsplit-400x300.jpg)
WHO Declares Mpox a Global Public Health Emergency as Africa Awaits Vaccines
Nigerian journalist Zubaida Baba Ibrahim says there’s still a vaccine shortage two years after the last major outbreak.
![Members of the media attend the stage unveiling ahead of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 15, 2024, in Chicago, Illinois.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/08/2024_0816-dnc-400x300.jpg)
Universal Health Care Was Big on the 2020 Democratic Platform. Where Is It Now?
Democrats ran on health care in 2020. In this year’s draft platform, it gets a handful of bullet points.
![Empty pill bottles](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/08/2024_0815-pills-400x300.jpg)
Big Pharma Exploited Patent Laws to Keep Medicare Drug Prices High, Report Finds
The companies bent patent law to maintain a monopoly on certain drugs and prevent competition from entering the market.
![A medic prepares to transfer a patient on a stretcher from an ambulance outside of Emergency at Coral Gables Hospital where COVID patients are treated in Coral Gables near Miami, Florida, on July 30, 2020.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/08/2024_0814-ambulance-400x300.jpg)
More Than 3,000 Floridians Have Died From COVID Over Past 12 Months
CDC data suggests actual numbers may be higher and the state has a history of undercounting COVID deaths.
![People with banners reading "FOSSIL FUELS DESTROY LIFE" and "A LIVEABLE WORLD FOR ALL" congregate in front of a citibank in protest of their investment in fossil fuels](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/08/2024_0814-citibank-protest-400x300.jpg)
Activists Are Bringing the Heat to the Banks Funding Climate Crisis
The “Summer of Heat” movement is pushing Citibank to divest from fossil fuels. Will the bank listen?
![A traditional Hawaiian fishpond at Kumimi beach in Moloka'i, Hawaii.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/08/GettyImages-1176797269-400x300.jpg)
In Rural Hawaii, Community Solar Project Offers Path to Energy Sovereignty
A model for community-driven renewable energy transition is emerging on the often-exploited island of Molokaʻi.
![](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/08/GettyImages-831507640-1-400x300.jpg)
US Military Has Polluted Guam for Decades. This Year, It Could Get Even Worse.
The relocation of 5,000 U.S. Marines to Guam could soon exacerbate its military-rooted environmental catastrophe.
![](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/08/2024_0809-covid-fog-400x300.jpg)
The US Government Has Abandoned Us to Endless COVID. We Can Do Better.
The pandemic isn’t over. Why is it so hard to find accurate information about it?
![Two farmworkers tend to crops on August 21, 2023, in Homestead, Florida.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/08/2024_0809-farmworkers-400x300.jpg)
Farmworker Unions and Advocacy Organizations Cheer EPA Ban on a Toxic Pesticide
It’s the first time in nearly 40 years that the EPA has exercised this emergency authority for a pesticide.
![Headwaters of the Unuk River near the divide with Treaty Creek, pictured in 2016.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/08/2024_0808-river-400x300.jpg)
Alaska Tribes Appeal to International Body to Pause “Reckless” Canadian Mining
Canada ordered the tribes be denied “participating Nation status,” diminishing their say in the permitting process.