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A Kalu Yala hike turned into high adventure

The starting point of the hiking trip was at Kalu Yala - a sustainable community in the
Panamanian jungle. (Grace Wade/Medill)

Medill News Service

Northwestern University

Fifty miles over four days. Seven hikers left Kalu Yala, a sustainable eco-town in the Panamanian jungle, to trek to the Caribbean Sea and quickly discovered an untested trail and faced other challenges head-on.

Hiking app puts the mountains at your fingertips

Zoe St. John gives Northwestern University students a farm tour. (Colin Boyle/Medill)

Medill News Service

Northwestern University

Residents and interns at Kalu Yala are working on adding hiking trails around the community to the AllTrails app, which allows you to use your phone as an offline GPS tracker.

Guna Yala locals grasp at faith, culture, while facing climate change

Sights and Sounds of Guna Yala – March 2018 by Colin Boyle

Medill News Service

Northwestern University

Speckled just north of the vivacious Panamanian coastline is a chain of islands facing the threat of disappearing. The islands' daunting fate is not determined by the doing of their inhabitants, but rather by the world around them.

Facing the facts about Nutella, palm oil & the environment

(Janine/Creative Commons)

Olivia Urbanski

Loyola University Chicago

For my love of Nutella and the environment, I take a close look at one of the hazelnut spread's main ingredients: palm oil. Here's what I learned about it — and what companies are doing to reduce the environmental impact.

After Vice series, staff are reimagining Kalu Yala

Medill News Service

Northwestern University

Medill's Colin Boyle covers how Kalu Yala staff and media interns coped with the hard-hitting docu-series while still working sustainably in a Panamanian jungle.

Panama's balancing act: Environmentalism vs. tourism

Diwigdi Valiente says that many older Guna people don’t understand climate change, especially since they have lived traditional lives that contribute very little to the problem. (Alex Schwartz/Medill)

Medill News Service

Northwestern University

Medill's Jessica Mordacq reports from Panama: The San Blas Islands and Kalu Yala are two very different environments in Panama that both revolve heavily around tourism.

Diwigdi Valiente: Climate warrior

Aresio Valiente López and Diwigdi Valiente

The father and son pair, Aresio Valiente López and Diwigdi Valiente, pose for a portrait in the university where López teaches, la Universidad de Panamá. The two share a dynamic bond, a call and response relationship of bouncing ideas off of each other, always out of a sense of mutual pride. (Colin Boyle/Medill)

Medill News Service

Northwestern University

Medill's Laura Zornosa reports from Panama: Sustainability means preserving the culture of San Blas’ sinking islands for this environmental advocate.

Youth organization calls on courts for a 'climate recovery plan'

Jacob Lebel, in the tan jacket center left, and fellow plaintiffs in front of the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. (Robin Loznak)

Shandra Furtado

Assignment Editor, Planet Forward

A group of 21 young plaintiffs have sued the federal government for climate change. We interviewed one of the plaintiffs involved for a run-down on the history, implications, and new advancements in the lawsuit.