As homo-sapiens, we are undeniably members of the big taxonomic group known as the hominidae family. If you are capable of reading this, behaving socially, feeling, thinking, and of having a personality and characteristics that determine your own, personal and unchangeable individuality, then you must recognize yourself as a human being. The big hominidae family, also known as the “great apes”, has four surviving evolutionary descendant groups: chimpanzees and bonobos, gorillas, orangutans, and humans. The similarities between us and the other great apes are noticeable by simply giving a quick glance. Furthermore, the social behavior, abilities and even mental capacities of the other great apes are comparable to our own; no expert can deny this. According to the Great Ape Project, an international organization that advocates for great ape personhood, the DNA between two human beings can be up to 0.5% different. Between a human and a chimpanzee, the genetic difference is of only 1.23%. Such is the similarity, that chimpanzees can actually donate blood to humans and vice-versa. However, what is this great ape personhood that was referred to?

Indiengous people continually are displaced from their ancestoral land and their forests are explotited by mulitnational corporations and the government. Check out this amazing documentary produced by the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN) about their fight for indepedence and protection.

Water is life and we live on a water planet, though it doesn’t appear that way in the many places we call home. With the twin problems of desertification and commdification escalating, water is becoming more and more of a scarce resource. One area hit especially hard is sub-Saharan Africa where the weight of this burden disproportionately affects women and affects the family at large. It is estimated that women in sub-Saharan Africa collectively spend about 40 billion hours a year collecting water.

In honor of World Food Day, EarthAction is posting some of its best materials on desertification. We cannot achieve global security without food security, and we cannot achieve food security without combatting desertification.

The aim of achieving food security across the globe will become increasingly elusive unless countries factor the planet's nature-based services into agricultural and related planning, a report released today from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) says.Safeguarding the underlying ecological foundations that support food production, including biodiversity will be central if the world is to feed seven billion inhabitants, climbing to over nine billion by 2050 argues the study Avoiding Future Famines: Strengthening the Ecological Basis of Food Security through Sustainable Food System.

EarthAction and 2020 Action are proud to welcome four new interns to the EarthAction Team. These new interns span across different colleges, backgrounds and cultures but all come together to help make a change in the world.

Publisher Eco Comics has today announced the launch of a comic book series featuring one of the most iconic and prolific characters from myth and legend, the Green Man.For over a millennium carvings of the Green Man have spread throughout churches, abbeys and cathedrals across the UK and Europe, and can also be found in the USA and Canada.

Dear President Obama and Governor Romney,As candidates for president, you both support construction of the southern (OK-TX) leg of Keystone XL, a pipeline that would transport tar sands through the Great Plains from Montana to refineries in Texas.We call on you to withdraw your support for this project in light of the overwhelming evidence, available to both of you, that Keystone XL threatens America’s economy, public health, and national security.

Child marriage happens on a daily basis in up to 50 countries around the world. While many believe that child marriage can elevate families beyond poverty and provide a better life for the child bride, in reality it often perpetuates the cycle of poverty, abuse and suffering. On the International Day of Girl Child, October 11, 2012, the United Nations Population Fund will bring awarness to the issue of child marriage, the consequences and the sorrow associated with being a child bride.

Calvin and Hobbes, once again, a little too close to home.

On August 6th the Phnom Penh Post reported the following VICTORY:“ In a rare victory for those battling to preserve the Prey Lang forest, the Cambodian government has cancelled four economic land concessions (ELCs) in the area totaling more than 40,000 hectares that threatened pristine ecosystems . . . [the concessions] are located in the middle of evergreen and semi-evergreen forest inside 'the largest low-land [contiguous evergreen] forest in Southeast Asia' – Prey Lang. ”"“ In a rare victory for those battling to preserve Prey Lang forest, the Cambodian government has cancelled four economic land concessions (ELCs) in the area totaling more than 40,000 hectares that threatened pristine ecosystems.The letter dated July 2 declares that four ELCs totalling 40,618 hectares have been cancelled in Kampong Thom’s Sandan district because they are located in the middle of evergreen and semi-evergreen forest inside “the largest low-land [contiguous evergreen] forest in Southeast Asia” – Prey Lang. ”

A new Primer on Citizen Advocacy and Desertification is intended to help guide the efforts of citizen groups and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) interested in promoting policies and practices that help stop the spread of desertification.

The staff here at EarthAction have just fallen in love with this video of Matt, a globetrotter bringing his heartwarming dance moves to the four corners of the Earth.It's videos like these that remind us we have more in common than not. Not to mention, he has our dream job.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is an international agreement between 175 Parties (governments). Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Today, it accords varying degrees of protection to more than 30,000 species of animals and plants, including elephants.

EarthAction's friend and colleague Josep Xercavins I Valls, Professor at Technical University of Catalonia, and President of the WDGpa – World Democratic Governance project association, attended Rio+20 and sent us this review that focuses on the positive outcomes of this important gathering. Xercavins I Valls finds many steps presented in the agreed upon final document that can lead us to a more just, sustainable and equitable world.

Bill McKibben has an article about the climate crisis in the August 2nd issue of Rolling Stone. It's more than sobering. McKibben pulls together the numbers and facts that confirm what we all know in our bodies, hearts, and heads about climate change. It's real, it's happening. It's going to get a lot worse.

Pok Hong is an indigenous Kuy activist who has been instrumenal in the campaign to save the Prey Lang Forest. EarthAction recently sponsored her visit to the United States as a delegate to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York. She is currently continuing her tour of the U.S. and meeting with officials in Washington D.C. If you would like invite Hong to speak at your meeting, event, or for a media publication, please email contact[at]earthaction.org. Read the interview below to get to know Hong and why she's fighting to save the Prey Lang.