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Benjamin Swift

@benjaminrswift.bsky.social

52 followers 140 following 11 posts

Journalist in La Paz, Bolivia. Stories on climate, environment, LGBTQ+. Bylines @theguardian.com , @mongabay.com , NACLA, etc. Co-host and producer peopleplacepower.com bswiftcreative.com

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Benjamin Swift @benjaminrswift.bsky.social · Aug 9

"Surubí says women’s responsibilities 'tripled' during the wildfires. 'We don’t just have to cook; we also play the role of doctor, of psychologist for our kids.'"

For @theguardian.com , I wrote about the social impacts of Bolivia's wildfires. 📷 Laura Barriga

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

‘If not fire, we’ll be killed by hunger’: villagers continue to feel fallout from Bolivia’s worst wildfires

Food shortages and health issues continue after vast areas of forest and farmland burned last year

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Benjamin Swift

Julie Kliegman @juliekliegman.com · Sep 2

Hey, has anyone else (cis or trans) been gender-policed at U.S. Open restrooms? Feel free to DM here or email [email protected]. Trying to see something, potentially for a story. Please consider reskeeting my query!

Julie Kliegman @juliekliegman.com · Aug 25

For those keeping score at home, I peed three (3) times at the Open today and was gender-policed on two (2) of those occasions 🙃

Julie Kliegman @juliekliegman.com · Aug 24

Apparently my stress dream *should’ve* been about getting gender-policed by an attendant in the women’s bathroom (she apologized)

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Benjamin Swift @benjaminrswift.bsky.social · 23d

For @theguardian.com , I wrote about a new @commsearth.nature.com @nature.com study that found that preserving the Amazon keeps communities safe from the health risks of wildfires and deforestation.

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

‘When the forests burn, the sickness comes’: how protecting trees shields millions from disease

Preserving the Amazonian rainforest keeps communities safe from the health risks of wildfires and deforestation, research has found

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Benjamin Swift

Guardian Environment @environment.theguardian.com · 24d

‘When the forests burn, the sickness comes’: how protecting trees shields millions from disease

Preserving the Amazonian rainforest keeps communities safe from the health risks of wildfires and deforestation, research has found

www.theguardian.com

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Benjamin Swift @benjaminrswift.bsky.social · Sep 8

For @nacla-report.bsky.social, Linda Farthing and I wrote about how, amidst bitter infighting and economic crisis, Bolivia’s left suffered a major defeat after nearly two decades of groundbreaking governance.

nacla.org/from-hope-to...

From Hope to Disillusionment: Bolivia After 20 Years of MAS

Amidst bitter infighting and economic crisis, Bolivia’s left suffered a major defeat after nearly two decades of groundbreaking governance.

nacla.org

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Reposted by Benjamin Swift

Guardian Environment @environment.theguardian.com · Sep 3

‘The Dubai of South America’: how the promise of riches from lithium mining turned to dust in Bolivia

Politicians have long promised the critical metal will rescue the economy but Indigenous locals say the push to exploit vast reserves threatens the ecosystem and their livelihoods

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Benjamin Swift

Wetlands International @wetlandsint.bsky.social · Sep 4

Superb story by @benjaminrswift.bsky.social in the @theguardian.com detailing the impacts of unsustainable lithium mining on #wetlands, water and local communities in the Bolivian Andes - and the threats of much worse to come.

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

‘The Dubai of South America’: how the promise of riches from lithium mining turned to dust in Bolivia

Politicians have long promised the critical metal will rescue the economy but Indigenous locals say the push to exploit vast reserves threatens the ecosystem and their livelihoods

www.theguardian.com

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Benjamin Swift @benjaminrswift.bsky.social · Sep 4

Thanks for sharing!

Benjamin Swift @benjaminrswift.bsky.social · Aug 9

For #BioScience ( @aibsbiology.bsky.social , @oxunipress.bsky.social ), I wrote about what sexual diversity in the natural world can teach humans about sex, gender, & inclusive biology.

doi.org/10.1093/bios...

What sexual diversity in the natural world can teach humans about sex, gender, and inclusive biology

In the summer of 1992, Bobbi Peckarsky, a researcher at Cornell University, was wading in the rocky streams surrounding the Rocky Mountain Biological Labor

doi.org

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Benjamin Swift @benjaminrswift.bsky.social · Aug 9

Con versión español en La Brava: revistalabrava.com/mosetenes-in...

revistalabrava.com

Benjamin Swift @benjaminrswift.bsky.social · Aug 9

For @mongabay.com , I wrote about how Indigenous communities are struggling to rebuild as wildfires return to #Bolivia.

news.mongabay.com/2024/10/in-b...

In Bolivia, Indigenous communities struggle to rebuild as wildfires return

Every Sunday, Hermindo Vies wakes up early and travels by river from his village, Asunción de Quiquibey, in Bolivia’s Beni department, to the nearest major town to sell his produce. Though he knows th...

news.mongabay.com

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Benjamin Swift @benjaminrswift.bsky.social · Aug 9

Excited to share my article, which includes photos and additional reporting by Laura Barriga Dávalos, in this historic issue of the NACLA Report!

doi.org/10.1080/1071...

Barbarella’s Kiss and the Beginning of the Sexual Revolution in Bolivia

Published in NACLA Report on the Americas (Vol. 57, No. 1, 2025)

doi.org

Benjamin Swift @benjaminrswift.bsky.social · Aug 9

Con versión en español en Revista Rascacielos: www.revistarascacielos.com/2025/04/19/1...

“Esto era el lago” - Revista Rascacielos

Benjamin Swift Es periodista. Las historias que escribe están relacionadas con derechos humanos globales, medio ambiente y temas de la población LGBTQIA+. El presente artículo fue adaptado y traducido...

www.revistarascacielos.com

Benjamin Swift @benjaminrswift.bsky.social · Aug 9

For #BioScience ( @aibsbiology.bsky.social , @oxunipress.bsky.social ), I wrote about receding water levels in Lake Titicaca and how Indigenous communities and scientists are collaborating to protect the lake and its high-altitude endemic species.

doi.org/10.1093/bios...

As water levels recede, Indigenous communities and scientists collaborate to protect Lake Titicaca and its high-altitude endemic species

Last October, Isaac Callizaya visited Pariti Island, where he was born and raised. Located in Lake Titicaca, on Bolivia's highland Andean plateau—known as

doi.org

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Benjamin Swift @benjaminrswift.bsky.social · Aug 9

‘If not fire, we’ll be killed by hunger’: villagers continue to feel fallout from Bolivia’s worst wildfires

Food shortages and health issues continue after vast areas of forest and farmland burned last year

www.theguardian.com

Benjamin Swift @benjaminrswift.bsky.social · Aug 9

My latest for the @theguardian.com : This “signals that Bolivia has become a major driver of the global climate and ecological crisis,” says Stasiek Czaplicki Cabezas, a Bolivian environmental economist.

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

‘Global red alert’: forest loss hits record high – and Latin America is the heart of the inferno

With little state support, villagers are left to battle wildfires armed with little more than shovels and bottles of water