HAPPY EARTH DAY 2026!
A view of Earth taken by NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman from one of the Orion spacecraft's windows after completing the translunar injection burn on April 2, 2026, as the Earth eclipses the Sun. Photo by NASA https://www.nasa.gov/image-detail/fd02_for-pao/
Today, Greens across California and the Nation are celebrating this amazing, delicately-balanced planet, which sustains and nurtures us all. Many of us have marveled at the recent photos of our precious globe by the crew of the Artemis II spacecraft as it orbited the moon. These images reinforce the awe so many people feel, not only for this “Blue Marble,” but for the land, the water and the air, and all living things that share this miracle EARTH with us.
Many of us have grown weary over the course of this recent annual revolution around the Sun. Too many people are struggling through this epic and critical fight against the Trump regime, the corporate oligarchs and the war mongers who have cynically dismantled and laid waste to so many decades of hard-fought gains to stop the toxic and deadly fouling of our fragile and limited natural and human resources.
In the spirit of celebration, then, here is an offering of 17 stories from the past year where many committed folks have secured serious WINS for Mother Earth! We hope you’ll enjoy learning about some of these successes, or maybe reflecting again on the victories with which you were already familiar. Either way, here are 17 different reasons for all of us to feel a little bit more optimistic about the prospects for more monumental wins in the coming year!
LAND
In May of 2025, the Kyrgyz Republic preserved a land corridor of 800,000 hectares, creating a connected ecological corridor of 1.2 million hectares, or nearly 3 million acres. https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/kyrgyz-republic-unveils-800000-hectare-ecological-corridor
In September, Suriname pledged to protect 90% of its tropical forests, which represents a huge carbon sink for the planet. https://apnews.com/article/suriname-forest-protection-carbon-sink-climate-cop30-7303ab7c784e86e3918168b8e7f60e81
Later, in November, Columbia declared the entire Amazon Biome a reserve and off-limits to oil and large-scale mining. https://infoamazonia.org/en/2025/11/13/colombia-declares-itself-the-first-nation-in-the-amazon-with-its-entire-forest-free-from-oil-and-mining-activities/
Then, at the COP30 Conference in Brazil - “The Forest COP” - the host country of Brazil unveiled record results in combating deforestation in 2025 and a “roadmap” to end deforestation altogether by 2030. Brazil, with experience in protecting one of the largest systems of conserved areas in the world, saw its lowest deforestation rates in more than a decade. https://cop30.br/en/news-about-cop30/brazil-showcases-historic-progress-in-environmental-protection-and-deforestation-reduction-at-cop30
Just last month, a Federal Court in CALIFORNIA denied the Trump Administration’s attempt to pause a California law that requires a 3200 foot buffer as a “health protection zone” between new oil drilling and homes, schools and other sensitive areas. https://www.edhat.com/california/news/california-oil-and-gas-health-protection-law-survives-first-round-trump-administration-attack/
WATER
In June of 2025, French Polynesia dedicated the largest Marine Protection Area (MPA) in the world. The MPA will cover the territory’s entire exclusive economic zone, or roughly 1.9 million square miles. https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/french-polynesia-creates-worlds-largest-marine-protected-area/
A Federal Court in Honolulu ruled in August against the Trump regime and continued a ban on commercial fishing within 400,000 square miles of protected waters in the Pacific Islands Heritage National Monument. https://earthjustice.org/press/2025/hawaii-federal-court-nullifies-fisheries-service-letter-allowing-destructive-fishing-in-pacific-national-monument
In January of this year, the High Seas Treaty was entered into force after Morocco became the 60th nation to sign onto it. The treaty established a framework for designating Marine Protected Areas in international waters. https://oceanconservancy.org/blog/2026/02/25/high-seas-treaty/
AIR
In March of this year, CALIFORNIA, alongside a coalition of other states, cities and counties, joined in filing a petition in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the Trump-era Environmental Protection Agency’s rescission of its previous Clean Air Act Endangerment Finding, which has served as the legal basis for limiting climate pollution from vehicles. https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/president-trump-ignores-climate-science-law-will-hold-him-accountable-california
ECOSYSTEMS
In July of 2025, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that ecosystems hold intrinsic rights, independent of human interests. https://www.ciel.org/nature-has-rights-declares-inter-american-court/
A bill was introduced to the UK Parliament in October that would give legal rights to all of nature. A nature’s rights bill initiative aims to legally enshrine the idea that there can be no lasting economic progress or social justice without respect for the natural world, and to change the legal status of nature from objects, property and resources to a legal subject with inherent rights. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/23/uk-campaigners-launch-bill-to-give-nature-legal-rights
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
In June of 2025, CALIFORNIA’s Yurok Tribe was a party to the largest single “land back” deal in California history, marking a milestone achievement for conservation and Tribal sovereignty. The 73 square miles of land along the eastern side of the lower Klamath River are now owned and managed by the Yurok Tribe as the Blue Creek Salmon Sanctuary and Yurok Tribal Community Forest. https://www.yuroktribe.org/post/largest-ever-land-back-conservation-deal-in-california-now-complete
Also in June, in a decision hailed as a long-overdue enforcement mechanism for treaties that Nepal embraced nearly two decades ago, Nepal’s Supreme Court ruled that federal, provincial, and local governments must align all future law and policymaking with the International Labour Organization’s Conventions on Indigenous Peoples (ILO 169) and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The ruling includes ensuring “Free, Prior and Informed Consent” is secured from Indigenous Peoples before pushing mega-projects through sensitive landscapes without such consent, thereby compounding historical injustices while shifting ecological and cultural costs onto local people. https://icmagazine.org/nepals-courts-say-indigenous-rights-first/
CLIMATE CHANGE
The UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands, ruled in July that governments can be held accountable for greenhouse gas emissions. https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/07/1165475
The IJC also held that rising sea levels caused by climate change do not require countries to redraw their maritime borders. The Court found that a nation’s existing maritime zones should remain unchanged, even if coastlines shrink as sea levels rise. It also said that the complete submergence of the landmass of an established country by rising seas “would not necessarily entail loss of statehood.” https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/rising-seas-wont-reduce-ocean-borders-of-small-island-nations-un-court-rules/
The Supreme Court of South Africa, in September, stopped government plans for a gas power plant due to a lack of consideration of renewable alternatives and the cumulative climate impacts. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/south-african-court-annuls-permit-eskom-build-new-gas-power-plant-2025-09-17/
Even more recently, just last week, Hawaii won its fight with the Trump Administration, and is allowed to continue to pursue a lawsuit against Shell, Exxon Mobil, BP and others for nuisance, trespass, negligence and harm to public trust resources. https://insideclimatenews.org/news/17042026/judge-dismisses-trump-bid-to-block-hawaii-climate-lawsuit/
