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‘Our Situation Now Is That We Have To Do More With Fewer Resources’

Laasya Shekhar లాస్య శేఖర్
By  Laasya Shekhar లాస్య శేఖర్
Updated / Published 5 min read

Happy weekend! Here are the top stories on the world’s most pressing health and environmental disparities.

Warmly,
Laasya Shekhar
Managing Editor

🌳 NEW: Without USAID, Guatemala's Maya Reserve Must Stand on Its Own

A footpath passes to the right of a large staircase-like monument
Ruins at Yaxhá, an ancient city within the Maya Biosphere Reserve. (Nicolas Scibelli for The Xylom)

 USAID cuts have threatened decades of forest conservation in Guatemala, forcing communities to find new ways to fund their work and protect the forest. 

“The state no longer had resources because that fire season was severe, and the available resources for fire prevention and firefighting had already been exhausted,” says Sergio Balan, a coordinator at Guatemala’s national conservation agency.

This dispatch from Petén, Guatemala, by Nicolas Scibelli is produced by The Xylom and co-published with Dialogue Earth.

Without USAID, Guatemala’s Maya Reserve Must Stand on Its Own
USAID cuts threaten decades of forest conservation in Guatemala, forcing communities to find new ways to fund their work and protect the forest
The XylomNicolas Scibelli

🍑 A SOUTHERN FLAIR

“Our research uncovered glaring inconsistencies between regulatory actions and Governor Abbott’s directives,” said Sam Law, manager of communications at FracTracker Alliance and author of the report. “We need an actual pause to study the threats posed to the land, water and livelihoods of Texans.”
Herein lies the irony of the Cheat River. It’s one of those places where industry and environment were forced into coexistence by circumstances of geology, hydrology, and boom-bust capitalism—forces that have historically tested the wills of those who live there.
“I definitely did not think we’d have to worry about this at the schoolhouse,’’ said Sabasitianna ’s mom, Ashley Cook, as she greeted her nine-year-old at the family’s mobile home in Darlington County.

🟠 TRACKING TRUMP

“This historic deal marks a major step toward stabilizing Venezuela’s economy after years of hyperinflation and almost no new investment, while more than doubling the United States’ oil reserves,” said White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers.
Multiple current and former FNA officials, as well as state program administrators, told ProPublica that they are worried the agency is mandating expensive changes for states but that Congress so far has shown little sign it will provide federal funding for the chip card transition.
“The Trump administration is trying to completely reverse the U.S.’s previous course, and that is being seen and felt at the global level,” said Finn Hossfeld, a policy analyst at the NewClimate Institute who tracks major emitters.

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🎧 WHAT ELSE WE'RE READING

With 145 new datacentres at various stages of planning, Finland has found itself at the forefront of the tech companies’ latest push. As well as its relative geopolitical and geological stability and abundance of land, the cool climate makes it especially attractive for saving on energy costs.
“Development banks, clearly, want to improve food security, they want to improve climate resilience,” said [Ashley] Schaeffer Yildiz, [who oversees global finance and food systems for Friends of the Earth U.S.] said. “And yet they continue to finance industrial livestock and the feed supply chains that enable it. So we are definitely continuing to follow [the banks’] investments in the sector.”
[Robert Brulle, an environmental sociologist at Brown University], says the MAGA movement that has captured the Republican Party taps into a “cultural belief in the rightness of petroleum” in the American imagination more broadly. 
Not only will I aim to publish 100 videos in 100 days about every incremental step in the process of building this newsroom, but I also want to incorporate it into our daily work routine, once Otter News has enough supporters to get up and running for real. 
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  • Laasya Shekhar లాస్య శేఖర్

    Laasya Shekhar లాస్య శేఖర్

    Laasya manages The Xylom's roster of freelancers and coordinates collaborative cross-border investigations centered in South Asia. Reporting on solar-powered fish dryers, she was part of a team named a finalist in the 2026 Nonprofit News Awards.