No. 101, Oct. 10, 2019

Hello Revelator readers,

The Story of Stuff Project has released its first feature-length film, The Story of Plastic, which gets to the heart of the plastic-pollution crisis. Spoiler alert: It has less to do with banning plastic straws and more to do with banning fracking. Read about it in our review.

If you'd rather read a book than watch a movie, check out our roundup of the best books out this month, including new ones from Terry Tempest Williams, Rachel Maddow and David Steen.

The Keystone XL pipeline is back in the news. But as this story explains, for indigenous women there's an additional threat beyond the environmental concerns — a risk of sexual violence.

And finally, in California, as the war over environmental regulations between the state and the Trump administration continues, two experts explain what's at stake for the whole country.

Subscriber bonus: The Wild 5

Let's go a little deeper. Here are five additional stories we're watching this week.

1. In a win for wildlife, the Kirtland's warbler is being removed from the list of endangered species after its numbers have rebounded from a low of only 167 pairs in 1967.

2. Trump tossed a bone to farmers struggling under his trade war by increasing the amount of ethanol that can be sold.

3. The wildlife trade is the second-leading cause of extinction and thousands more species are at risk as the market expands, a new report found.

4. Siberia is warming three times faster than the global average, and the melting permafrost is upending life for millions of residents, the agriculture industry and wildlife.

5. A new U.S. study has linked a rise in violent crime with dirtier air, and the researchers found that a 10 percent reduction in pollution could save $1.4 billion in crime costs annually.

In case you missed it:

As cacti are bulldozed to build the border wall, here's another idea from a borderlands resident.

What should we cover next?

Our stories rely on insight from experts and readers around the world, so we always welcome your ideas and inside scoops. Drop us a line anytime.

Coming up:

We're hard at work on new articles and essays, including a look at which species may be next in the "great insect dying," why the endangered vaquita may get a lifeline, and what life is like inside Trump's EPA.

Look for our latest links in next week's newsletter — or follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the headlines as they go live. We share other news there, too, so please join us and keep the discussion going.

As always, thank you for reading.