Jon Letman
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environment, asia pacific, conservation, plants, biodiversity, hawaii, food security, militarization, climate change
Hawaii-based independent journalist covering human rights, the environment, and the impact of US foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.
Articles by Jon Letman
Trump’s Anti-DEI Agenda Threatens to Slash Land Mine Disposal Efforts Globally
By Jon Letman This article was originally published by Truthout The Trump administration’s expansion of its global gag rule threatens to derail NGOs’ crucial land mine removal work. US funding for overseas nongovernment organizations (NGOs) is now at risk.
Trump’s Anti-DEI Agenda Threatens to Slash Land Mine Disposal Efforts Globally
Support justice-driven, accurate and transparent news — make a quick donation to Truthout today! US funding for overseas nongovernment organizations (NGOs) is now at risk.
China is Rapidly Expanding its Nuclear Arsenal. How Should the US React?
When Xi Jinping visits the White House on Sept. 24, it’s uncertain whether he and Trump will discuss nuclear weapons — but they should. Power & Secrecy Reporting Date: September 21, 2026 When Xi Jinping visits the White House on Sept. 24, it’s uncertain whether he and Trump will discuss nuclear weapons. In either case, it’s an issue arguably as urgent as artificial intelligence and more consequential than trade and tariffs, but one which gets far too little attention.
Faith Leaders Collectively Raise Alarm as AI and Nuclear Weapons Systems Merge
By Jon Letman This article was originally published by Truthout As AI complicates nuclear threats, religious groups are doubling down on calls for disarmament. Eighty-one years after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the nuclear landscape is dire. Experts say arms control is on “life support,” if not dead, while diplomacy and negotiations are overrun by conflict and confrontation.
Faith Leaders Collectively Raise Alarm as AI and Nuclear Weapons Systems Merge
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As Hawaii Hosts International War Games, Residents Question Costs of Militarism
Truthout is an indispensable resource for activists, movement leaders and workers everywhere. Please make this work possible with a quick donation. This summer, military forces from 30 nations are gathering in Hawaii for Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2026, the world’s largest maritime exercise.
The Story Behind the Ukraine War’s Defining Atrocity
An interview with James Verini about the Mariupol theater bombing and his new book, The Theater: Courage and Survival in the Defining Atrocity of the Ukraine War.
The US-Israeli War on Iran Is Incentivizing Nuclear Proliferation
Honest, paywall-free news is rare. Please support our boldly independent journalism with a donation of any size. Speaking before a Friends of Ireland luncheon while wearing a lucky green tie for St. Patrick’s Day, President Donald Trump announced, “the war is proceeding very, very strongly. We’re doing very, very well in Iran, knocking the hell out of ‘em and you have to do that. We can’t let them have a nuclear weapon.
The Arctic Is Changing Faster Than We Understand
In 2005, reporter Neil Shea’s editors at National Geographic magazine sent him to a remote Arctic inlet in Canada’s Nunavut territory to investigate how climate change was impacting wildlife. That sojourn — call it a baptism by ice — was Shea’s first Arctic encounter. Guided by curiosity and compassion, Shea returned some twenty times over two decades, camping, trekking, and living alongside the people and animals of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Norway.
Growing Tensions With US Could Lead Europe Deeper Into Nuclear Proliferation
Truthout is a vital news source and a living history of political struggle. If you think our work is valuable, support us with a donation of any size. For more than 70 years, the United States has practiced what it calls extended deterrence, which includes the so-called “nuclear umbrella” for its NATO allies in Europe.
Asia’s Tigers Benefit When Scientists Collaborate Beyond Borders - Tribune Content Agency
The history of Asia is replete with imperial rulers who exerted power over vast territories — Chinggis Khan, Ashoka, Cyrus, Timur and others — but none compare in strength or ferocity with Asia’s apex predator, the tiger (Panthera tigris). For thousands of years, the mighty tiger has commanded the respect, fear, and admiration of which mere humans can only dream.
Asia’s Tigers Benefit When Scientists Collaborate Beyond Borders
Asia’s most iconic species makes an ‘improbable return’ in the forests of Russia and China. An adult male Amur tiger walks in the snow of Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve in the Russian Far East.
Asia’s Tigers Benefit When Scientists Collaborate Beyond Borders
Asia’s most iconic species makes an ‘improbable return’ in the forests of Russia and China. An adult male Amur tiger walks in the snow of Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve in the Russian Far East.
Scientists: Public Engagement, Pressure Key To Reducing Nuclear Risks
Above photo: Protesters holds signs during a demonstration against nuclear weapons outside of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on August 9, 2017, in Livermore, California. Justin Sullivan / Getty Images. Nuclear experts are urging the public to demand concrete steps to reduce the risk of devastation due to nuclear weapons.
Scientists Say Public Engagement and Pressure Are Key to Reducing Nuclear Risks
Faster, stealthier missiles, accelerated weapons development, and the threat of an unrestrained nuclear arms race, set against the backdrop of a withering arms control regime, point to a worsening global nuclear threat as 2025 comes to a close.
Scientists Say Public Engagement and Pressure Are Key to Reducing Nuclear Risks
Truthout’s December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we will be able to do in 2026. Please support us with a tax-deductible donation today. Faster, stealthier missiles, accelerated weapons development, and the threat of an unrestrained nuclear arms race, set against the backdrop of a withering arms control regime, point to a worsening global nuclear threat as 2025 comes to a close.
Plant Wins of 2025
By Jon Letman Thanks to our community of staff, supporters, and partners, 2025 was a year filled with important plant wins. With each new discovery, initiative, and innovation, we are growing a brighter future for plants and people together. Returning Ferns to Maui This autumn NTBG’s horticulture team, science and conservation staff, and outside collaborators returned more than 300 ferns representing seven native species to multiple locations on Maui.
Hawai‘i Communities Challenge Army’s Pōhakuloa Lease Renewal
In a tropical island paradise where the world’s wealthiest individuals (Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and others) purchase sprawling private enclaves and entire islands, there is one entity that has scored a land deal that would make even a billionaire blush: the US military. Among the more than 130 military sites scattered across the Hawaiian Islands, the Pōhakuloa Training Area (PTA) on Hawai‘i Island is the most prized and least compensated.
After landmark climate win, lawyer hopes for a ‘new legal order’ to protect Indigenous rights
Six years ago, human rights lawyer Julian Aguon received a call from Vanuatu’s foreign affairs minister. The minister had an unusual request – he wanted Aguon to help develop a legal case on behalf of dozens of law students who were seeking climate justice from the world’s highest court.
Q&A with Dr. Diane Ragone
Photo credit: Jim Wiseman By Jon Letman In November, NTBG will present the David Fairchild Medal for Plant Exploration for 2024 to Dr. Diane Ragone, founder and director emerita of NTBG’s Breadfruit Institute for her contributions to science, horticulture, exploration, and the study and conservation of breadfruit.
Kazakh Activists Shine a Light on Nuclear Fallout
Kazakhstan is surrounded by nuclear neighbors — Russia to the north and west, China to the east, and India and Pakistan to the south. Until 1995, when it completed a year’s long multi-nation effort to disassemble and remove the Soviet nuclear weapons and supporting infrastructure from its territory, Kazakhstan hosted (but did not independently control) what amounted to the world’s fourth largest nuclear arsenal.
Marshall Islands picks up the pieces after fire destroys its ‘heart of democracy’
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Marshall Islands picks up the pieces after fire destroys its ‘heart of democracy’
In Majuro, a day after fire ravaged the national parliament, the full devastation became clear. The building known as Nitijela had been reduced to a blackened shell, littered with debris. Among the objects lost to the fire were archive documents, original journal transcripts of daily sessions going back decades, and artworks that once adorned the walls. Flames had engulfed the building by the time the only functioning fire engine in the Marshall Islands arrived to fight the blaze on 26 August.
On the 80th Anniversary of the World's First Atomic Attack, Hiroshima’s Youngest Survivors Call for Disarmament
Speaking at the UN, Hamasumi Jiro invokes the humanitarian cost of nuclear weapons — and the fading voices of survivors — as global powers continue to ignore the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Pictures: Jon Letman Date: August 6, 2025 A slight man in a crisp dark suit with a red origami crane lapel pin takes a seat at the edge of an oversized upholstered chair in the East Lounge at UN headquarters on a late winter morning.
80 Years After the Bomb, How Much Longer Will Our Luck Last?
“True peace… can never be built on the threat of mass destruction.” Subscribe for ads-free reading Eighty years ago this week, when U.S. President Harry Truman announced the first use of an atomic bomb, he called it “the greatest achievement of organized science in history.” Truman warned that more powerful bombs were in development and that the United States was prepared to “rapidly and completely” destroy “every productive enterprise the Japanese have in any city.” If Japan did not accept...
80 Years After the Bomb, How Much Longer Will Our Luck Last?
“True peace… can never be built on the threat of mass destruction.” Subscribe for ads-free reading Eighty years ago this week, when U.S. President Harry Truman announced the first use of an atomic bomb, he called it “the greatest achievement of organized science in history.” Truman warned that more powerful bombs were in development and that the United States was prepared to “rapidly and completely” destroy “every productive enterprise the Japanese have in any city.” If Japan did not accept...
Threat of Nuclear War Is Rising, But Scientists Say the Public Can Change That
Did you know that Truthout is a nonprofit and independently funded by readers like you? If you value what we do, please support our work with a donation. Eighty years after two U.S. atomic bombs killed between 110,000 to 210,000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, public awareness of nuclear risks has fallen to new lows, said Laura Grego, senior scientist and research director with the Union of Concerned Scientists.
‘Prepared for a long stay’: tsunami alert triggers mass evacuations across Pacific
In the Pacific territory of Guam, shortly before lunchtime on Tuesday, Sam Mabini’s phone began to ping. A tsunami warning was issued after a powerful 8.8-magnitude quake struck a remote part of the Russian coast. Authorities put out the alert over concerns that destructive waves could slam the shoreline in the coming hours, urging people to move away from the coast. Mabini, a former Guam senator, took action. “I went to higher ground just in case,” she said.
‘Prepared for a long stay’: tsunami alert triggers mass evacuations across Pacific
Traffic at Ala Way Harbor in Waikiki, Hawaii, as people try to evacuate after the tsunami warning. Photograph: Eugene Tanner/AFP/Getty Images In the Pacific territory of Guam, shortly before lunchtime on Tuesday, Sam Mabini’s phone began to ping. A tsunami warning was issued after a powerful 8.8-magnitude quake struck a remote part of the Russian coast.
Blue is the Lifeblood of a new Kampong Exhibition
By Jon Letman The beauty of blue is the lifeblood that flows through a new art exhibition now on display at The Kampong of the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood. Entitled The Blue in Our Veins, the exhibition features the abstract works of four Miami-based artists, incorporating a rich diversity of artistic styles, techniques, and media, all connected by shades of blue in works that evoke the sea, the sky, and shadows of cool forests and serene gardens.
6/28/25 Korean News and Commentary
Quotes of the Day: “Chinese history textbooks state that the Korean War began when "the United States assembled a United Nations army of 15 countries and defiantly marched across the border and invaded North Korea, spreading the flames of war to our Yalu river." Malcolm Moore, “China rewrites history of Korean War”, The Telegraph, (25 Jun 2010).
National Tropical Botanical Garden
By Jon Letman After NTBG completed its first Pacific breadfruit expedition to Kiribati, Samoa, and French Polynesia in 1977, the Garden began amassing a collection of ‘ulu (breadfruit) varieties that represented the horticultural diversity found throughout the Pacific. NTBG’s increased conservation efforts and a recognition of the importance of preserving and promoting this iconic tree led to the establishment of the Breadfruit Institute in 2003.
Korea’s Nuclear Landscape: Past and Present - Tribune Content Agency
The Korean Peninsula is no stranger to nuclear weapons. The quest to build a Korean bomb goes back to Kim Il Sung’s efforts in the 1950s. Beginning in 1958, the United States deployed multiple nuclear weapons systems in the South, reaching a peak of more than 900 warheads in 1967.
Korea’s Nuclear Landscape: Past and Present
Some in South Korea are considering the development of nuclear weapons, but Koreans have already experienced the horrors of nuclear war. Subscribe for ads-free reading The Korean Peninsula is no stranger to nuclear weapons. The quest to build a Korean bomb goes back to Kim Il Sung’s efforts in the 1950s. Beginning in 1958, the United States deployed multiple nuclear weapons systems in the South, reaching a peak of more than 900 warheads in 1967.
Korea’s Nuclear Landscape: Past and Present
Some in South Korea are considering the development of nuclear weapons, but Koreans have already experienced the horrors of nuclear war. Subscribe for ads-free reading The Korean Peninsula is no stranger to nuclear weapons. The quest to build a Korean bomb goes back to Kim Il Sung’s efforts in the 1950s. Beginning in 1958, the United States deployed multiple nuclear weapons systems in the South, reaching a peak of more than 900 warheads in 1967.
Report: Global Nuclear Weapons Spending Surpassed $100 Billion Last Year
In 2024, for the fifth year in a row, the world’s nine nuclear-armed nations increased spending on nuclear weapons, according to a report published by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). The annual report, entitled, “Hidden Costs: Nuclear Weapons Spending in 2024,” reveals that last year, the nine nuclear states increased spending by 11 percent ($9.9 billion), surpassing $100 billion to maintain, modernize, and expand their nuclear arsenals.
No Time for Nuclear War
Doomsday "Scenario" illustrates the speed of events in a nuclear attack. Nuclear Weapons Reporting Pictures: Hilary Jones Date: June 5, 2025 At its heart, Nuclear War: A Scenario is a book about time, or rather, a lack of time.
National Tropical Botanical Garden
A Kupu intern measures Pritchardia perlmanii leaves in the Upper Limahuli Preserve. Photo by Susan Fawcett. By Jon Letman, Bulletin Editor Close your eyes and think of the Hawaiian Islands. What do you see? Perhaps a coconut palm swaying in the breeze? Coconut palms in Hawai‘i are so common, they almost go unnoticed, even as their towering arched figures evoke images of tropical paradise—pacific, serene, and abundant.
‘Never forget’: Pacific countries remember nuclear test legacy as weapons ban treaty debated
Growing up in the Pacific nation of Kiribati, Oemwa Johnson heard her grandfather’s stories about nuclear explosions he witnessed in the 1950s. The blasts gave off ferocious heat and blinding light. He told her people were not consulted or given protective gear against bombs detonated by the US and UK at Kiritimati Island, now part of Kiribati, decades ago.
The Power of Land
From its statements on Gaza to the creation of AI datacenters and unequal access to resources, the Trump administration is ushering in a new era in our relationship with the land. Climate Global Security Reporting Pictures: William S. Prettyman Date: February 25, 2025 No matter who you are, where you live, or what you do, your life is controlled by land. In an increasingly crowded world hungry for resources and space, the ownership of land dictates every aspect of our lives.
The Light Eaters: An interview with author Zoë Schlanger
Zoë Schlanger. Photo by Yael Malka By Jon Letman Environmental journalist Zoë Schlanger, a staff writer for The Atlantic, had been covering the climate crisis for several years when she became aware of a creeping sense of doom. Seeking an escape from the onslaught of heavy news stories, she started spending her lunch breaks reading botany journals.
Trump Just Inherited Sole Authority to Launch Nuclear Weapons on a Whim
Truthout is an indispensable resource for activists, movement leaders and workers everywhere. Please make this work possible with a quick donation. The global security landscape has changed dramatically since Donald Trump’s first term, but one thing that remains constant is U.S. presidential authority to use nuclear weapons.
With Trump at the Helm, Nuclear Uncertainty Is Set to Grow in 2025
Did you know that Truthout is a nonprofit and independently funded by readers like you? If you value what we do, please support our work with a donation. When the clock strikes noon on January 20, 2025, Donald Trump will once again be given launch authority over the U.S.’s nuclear arsenal in a time of nuclear uncertainty and growing risks.
Unhidden: Author Michele Norris on Race, Identity, and Elections
Having grown up on the south side of Minneapolis as the daughter of postal workers, journalist Michele Norris knows the power of a postcard. In 2010, when she decided to take the pulse of Americans’ views on race and identity, she went to her local FedEx Kinko’s print shop, made a stack of postcards and began to scatter them in public places — coffee shops, the seatback pockets of airplanes, hotel rooms, and elsewhere. Printed on those cards was one simple request: Race. Your thoughts. 6 words.
‘Weather magic’ and wind lore: the push to preserve ancient knowledge in Vanuatu
Joe Natuman watches for falling leaves and new shoots on trees as a sign it’s time to garden. Then, when a southern wind begins to blow in his small village in Vanuatu’s Tafea province, he is the first to plant yams. Soon, others will follow his lead. Like his forefathers, Natuman is a tupunus, meaning he was born into a lineage that is trained to develop an understanding of how natural forces impact agriculture and wellbeing.
As Tensions Rise Globally, Experts Call for More Nuclear Transparency
In the world of nuclear weapons, there are many secrets; warhead designs, infrastructure security details, historical vulnerabilities and mishaps, and the locations of nuclear-armed submarines are all highly classified. But what is not secret — at least not in the United States — is the total number of weapons that make up the country’s nuclear stockpile.
As Tensions Rise Globally, Experts Call for More Nuclear Transparency
In the world of nuclear weapons, there are many secrets; warhead designs, infrastructure security details, historical vulnerabilities and mishaps, and the locations of nuclear-armed submarines are all highly classified. But what is not secret — at least not in the United States — is the total number of weapons that make up the country’s nuclear stockpile.
The Pacific’s Biggest War Games Keep Getting Bigger
Every two years the US, its allies, and like-minded nations assemble their military forces in Hawaii for Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), the world’s largest maritime exercise. With 29 countries from Asia, the Pacific and beyond, RIMPAC’s host, Commander, US Pacific Fleet, describes the war games as five weeks of cooperation and coordination with the goal of peace and stability in a free and open Indo-Pacific.
World’s largest maritime drills begin in an increasingly tense Asia Pacific
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