On 15 May, while most people were resting indoors, the Sunder Nagri community of North-East Delhi, India, stepped out into the heat to map their own neighbourhood. Women, youth, young girls, and school-going children gathered around the nearest local school, covering their faces with scarves, carrying pocket fans, base maps of the community, and the enthusiasm to identify heat hotspots and natural cooling spaces within their area.

The community heat mapping exercise was not just about measuring temperature. It was about understanding how people experience heat in their everyday lives and questioning why some neighbourhoods continue to remain more vulnerable to extreme heat than others.

Community heat mapping is a participatory process where residents walk through their neighbourhoods and identify:

• areas that feel extremely hot
• spaces with shade and natural cooling
• accessibility water
• places where people can sit and rest
• locations where heat makes movement and work difficult

Unlike technical heat maps created only through satellite data, community heat mapping helps capture people’s lived experiences of heat and understand what measures or interventions have been taken by the government or the community to cope with rising temperatures. It also documents how heat is unevenly felt across different streets, markets, public spaces, bus stops, work areas, and homes.

At 4 o’clock in the afternoon, the community began the walk by observing and marking trees, shaded areas, sitting spaces, and places where they felt unbearable, manageable, or relatively normal levels of heat. But the exercise was not limited to documenting spaces on a base map. It also became a space for conversations, discussions about why there are so few shaded public spaces where people can pause, sit, and find some relief from the heat.

As the group walked through the neighbourhood, they captured photographs and used thermal devices to record temperatures across markets, shaded spaces, parks, and streets. Although the walking route was hardly 500 metres long, it took almost 30 minutes to complete because residents carefully stopped to observe, discuss, and document different physical features, resources, and experiences along the route.

One of the young girls participating in the exercise raised an important concern. While doing the online mapping through an app, their mobile devices had started overheating and stopped functioning. She also mentioned that they were already feeling exhausted and too tired to continue walking for long.

The observation itself reflected the intensity of the heatwave. The participants had started the walk with excitement and curiosity, smiling and actively engaging with the process. But by the end of the walk, many were visibly frustrated, irritated, and drained by the heat.

However, the mapping exercise did not end there.

The entire community later assembled at “Happy Garden” – A garden maintained by women from the community. For many women, it remains one of the few accessible public spaces within the neighbourhood where they can comfortably sit and safely relax.

Inside the garden, residents collectively drew a large map of the community on a piece of cloth. They marked observations from the walk and colour-coded different spaces based on how they experienced them:

• blue for cooling spaces
• orange and red for heat hotspots
• and green for tree cover and shaded areas

As the mapping continued, one of the strongest themes that emerged from the discussion was the lack of cool resting spaces and poor access to drinking water.

Residents pointed out that markets had almost no tree cover. Most vendors depended on tarpaulin sheets for shade, but instead of cooling the space, these sheets trapped heat underneath. When one of the community members checked the temperature through a thermal camera, the market area showed a temperature of nearly 51 degrees Celsius.
While collectively making the cloth map, residents discussed similarities across different neighbourhoods and reflected on who suffers the most during extreme heat. Conversations slowly moved towards larger questions around Delhi’s Heat Action Plan and its implementation on the ground.

One of the women pointed out that many announcements made by the government often remain limited to paper and fail to translate into actual relief for communities facing extreme temperatures every day. Another woman said, “They never asked what we wanted for our communities.” Residents emphasized the importance of community consultation when designing and implementing such heat action plans so that policies reflect the realities of people’s experience on the ground.

The discussion ended with larger questions around accountability and responsibility:
Who is responsible for creating heat-resilient neighbourhoods?
Who ensures access to shaded public spaces, water, cooling infrastructure, and safe resting spaces?
And most importantly, who gets to rest during intense heatwave crises?

These questions around accountability do not stop at the neighbourhood level. They also raise a larger question: Who should pay for the damages caused by climate change and environmental. Sunder Nagri is only one example where rising temperature, lack of cooling infrastructure, and damaged urban environments are directly affecting people’s daily lives, forcing communities to constantly adapt and survive conditions that are increasingly becoming unbearable. And, similar situations are unfolding across many neighbourhoods, cities, and countries. 

These environmental destruction is not accidental but damage caused by large industries, fossil fuel extraction, and profit-led development models despite knowing the long-term environmental consequences of their actions. The principle of “Polluter Pays” must be central to climate justice. Rich corporations and oil industries that have historically polluted the environment and profited from ecological destruction should be held accountable and made to pay for climate adaptation, public infrastructure, and the damages caused to communities globally.

As heatwaves continue to intensify across cities globally, community-led heat mapping exercises like this show that heat is not only a climate issue, it is also deeply connected to inequality, public infrastructure, health crises, mobility, and the right to rest with dignity.

Vaishali Upadhyay is the community campaign coordinator at Greenpeace India, based in New Delhi, India.

For the first time, Greenpeace has led a unique deep sea expedition to the Arctic. Together with a team of expert scientists we explored the life and wonders of the Arctic deep sea – one of Earth’s least known wildernesses, and we were astonished by what we found!

Our many hours of divestreams from the Arctic seabed have reached hundreds of thousands of viewers. Together with the scientists we have had school classes calling in to the research ship asking questions to the scientists about the deep sea, and we have filmed over 100 hours of high-resolution video of these extraordinary ecosystems that will now be shared with the world.

The scientists onboard have had a particular focus on vulnerable and undescribed species in the area – and they will analyse all material and samples in detail after the expedition, but they already think that they have discovered several potential new species to science.

And even if we are of course super excited about new species, there is no doubt that the scientists also got very excited when they came across our expedition “mascot” – the dumbo octopus in real life

Having seen all the life and beauty of these ecosystems, that reminds us a lot of underwater biodiversity-rich meadows or coral reefs, makes it even more insane to start deep-sea mining in these ecosystems, which would be totally destroyed if the industry gets its way.

But the mining industry has not yet started to tear up the seabed, and we therefore have the unusual and real opportunity to stop an environmental disaster before it happens. We have stopped them before, and in Norway all exploration is halted until at least the end of 2029.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace will use the scientific evidence and new findings from the expedition to shine a light on these extraordinary ecosystems and call on leaders and policymakers to establish Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and long-term protection of the Arctic deep sea.

It’s high time they listen to the science, and protect the deep sea!

Deep Arctic Expedition

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Daniel Bengtsson is the Communications Lead on the Deep Arctic Expedition with Greenpeace Nordic.

A massive breakthrough in Denmark for people against corporate giants. The new Danish coalition government has officially committed to drastically tightening its drinking water safety standards to protect citizens from agriculture nitrate pollution. Denmark has one of the most intensive industrial farming systems in the world. In fact, there are more pigs per person there than anywhere else on Earth. Following relentless public pressure, this historic victory sends a clear message to global Big Ag: our right to clean water is not for sale.

A political promise on paper is just the beginning. To ensure this breakthrough becomes a reality and isn’t watered down by corporate lobbying, we must turn this local momentum into a global wave of action.

For decades, massive meat corporations and industrial farms have treated our shared water as their private, unregulated sewer,  leaking toxic nitrate into groundwater, local wells, and rivers. While a handful of corporate executives pocket record profits, everyday families are left to pay the environmental and health bill. The new government aims to change that, and we will keep watch until they do. 

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The hidden scale of agricultural pollution

In Greenpeace Denmark we have been working with scientists, local communities, and civil society to draw attention to this essential issue for years. Offering free nitrate testing to citizens across Denmark, allowing them to easily check the safety of their own drinking water. By doing this, we turned everyday people into citizen scientists to expose the hidden scale of agricultural pollution, and to show the big picture, we created the nitrate map of Denmark.

People took to the streets across the country, demanding clean water, and it became such a hot topic, that the recent general election was called the “Pig Election”. When politicians are met with people power, they follow our lead: most parties had committed to address the issue even before the election.

On 02 June, the new government announced what we have been waiting for for years: the lowering of the nitrate limit in line with the authorities’ recommendation, and finally protecting our drinking water from Big Ag’s toxic waste. Last year, an international expert group under the Ministry of the Environment proposed 6 mg/l as the new limit, replacing the current 50 mg/l. New research links nitrate in drinking water to increased cancer risks, preterm birth, birth defects at levels well below current regulatory limits. When the new limit is implemented, it will be a historic victory for water safety and our health as well.

Your address shouldn’t determine if you get clean tap water

While the Danish government’s promise is a historic breakthrough, the hardest work begins now. We cannot let this decision get stuck on political paper: ensuring that the 6 mg/L recommendation quickly becomes law, turning political promises into actual clean water in people’s homes.

Filtering these toxins on a large scale is a technical and financial nightmare. We need to address the root cause; livestock expansions that cause massive amounts of nitrate getting into our water systems.  Transitioning to ecological farming ensures a food system in balance with nature and our health.

But this problem doesn’t start and stop at the Danish border. Our global, industrial food system threatens drinking water from Spain to New Zealand. So we need to take this momentum global. The health of our children and the safety of our water should never depend on where we happen to live. It is time for standing up against Big Ag’s massive meat mega-projects, demanding clean water and a just transition to ecological farming, everywhere.

It is time to choose people over profit. Together, we can break Big Ag’s grip on our political system and force a rapid, just transition to a food system that respects nature, animals, and local communities. 

Let’s stop Big Ag and put an end to their toxic greed! 

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It’s time to cut through corporate lies, cut agriculture emissions and shift towards sustainable agroecology.

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Christian Fromberg is political campaign lead at Greenpeace Denmark. 

Bergen, Norway — Greenpeace concluded a month-long science expedition to seamounts and hydrothermal hotsprings in the Arctic deep sea, today. The expedition brought together world-leading researchers to explore deep-sea ecosystems and places never before been seen by humans. The ROV dives down to 3000 metres were livestreamed, and over 450,000 people tuned in to follow the divestreams on Youtube, TikTok and Instagram. The scientists onboard will now analyse the high-resolution video material taken and all samples in detail, and several potential new species are believed to have been discovered during the expedition.

Photos and video for press available in the Greenpeace Media Library.

The area of the expedition survey was opened up for deep-sea mining by the Norwegian government in 2024, but has been stopped until at least 2029 after protests from environmental organisations, scientists, fishermen and the Green opposition parties in Norway.[1]

Dr. Sandra Schöttner, Chief Scientist on board, Greenpeace International said: “The deep sea mining industry has not yet started to tear up the seabed, and we therefore have the opportunity to stop an environmental disaster before it happens. We will use the data and findings from the expedition to shine a light on these extraordinary ecosystems and push policymakers to establish marine protected areas, and support a moratorium on deep sea mining.” 

Dr. Julio A Diaz, Deep-Sea Researcher, Museum of Evolution, Uppsala University said: “We barely understand how these communities function, which environmental factors influence their distribution, or how sensitive they are to human disturbances. Likewise, our discovery of several sponge species that are potentially new to science highlights how little is known about Arctic ecosystems. Through the results of this expedition, we expect to advance scientific knowledge of these key deep-sea ecosystems and contribute to their improved management and conservation.”

Dr. Paco Cárdenas, Deep-Sea Sponge Expert, Museum of Evolution, Uppsala University said: “Amongst the more than 400 sponge samples collected, we have already singled out at least three potential new species during this expedition. Sponges have been around for more than 500 millions years, and have evolved their own medicines to repel predators and pathogens. So the chemical compounds of the deep-sea species we find here could also hold the key to unlock cures for current and future emerging diseases. If these ecosystems disappear we risk losing them forever.”

Dr. Anne-Nina Lörz, Senckenberg Society For Nature Research said:
“These ecosystems keep on surprising us. We have filmed and gathered samples from an unnamed seamount never explored by humans before. Numerous different species and ecosystems – such as bamboo coral and sponge gardens – were filmed in high resolution for the first time, giving details much sought for by the global research community. For the first time we could see how these colourful animals live and interact, and the coming analysis will allow an insight in the connectivity and distribution of these amazing critters. We most likely already found four new species of amphipods, which we will describe and name in the upcoming months”.

Dr. Jenny Neuhaus, Senckenberg Society For Nature Research said:
“It is astonishing to see how Arctic deep-sea habitats, like hydrothermal vent systems and seamounts, serve as biodiversity hotspots and act as ‘stepping stones’ for species to spread across. I have studied the diversity and connectivity of deep-sea invertebrates for years and am confident that our biological samples collected during this expedition will not only reveal new species to science, but also aid with closing knowledge gaps in our understanding of their ecology and distribution. There are clear concerns about how activities like deep-sea mining could permanently damage these slow-growing ecosystems before we even fully understand them, and their importance to us all.”

Dr. Sergi Taboada, National Museum of Natural Sciences, Madrid said: “This expedition is unique because it has allowed us to explore and sample from several seamounts across the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge, a region that has been barely studied from a genetic connectivity point of view. The samples we have collected, together with those collected by other researchers in other areas, will be analysed genetically, which will allow us to identify how populations of sponges are connected. This aspect is crucial in order to design future Marine Protected Areas.”

Dr. Anne Helene Tandberg, University in Bergen said: “This expedition has surveyed and visualised vulnerable ecosystems that could be up for protection under the Norwegian ocean law. While scientific publications by their nature take a long time to come out, results from this, and previous expeditions to this area show that these areas are both vulnerable and biologically valuable. We will publish our results of new species and descriptions of the ecosystems together with our research colleagues. I hope the information about these ecosystems will then make its way into the Norwegian management system.”

Greenpeace hopes that the attention and new findings will be an important part of the puzzle in establishing marine protected areas in the Arctic.

Greenpeace is campaigning globally for a moratorium on deep-sea mining and to protect at least 30% of the ocean by 2030.

ENDS

Photos, video and maps available in the Greenpeace Media Library

Notes:

The Deep Arctic Expedition is led by Greenpeace Nordic, Greenpeace Germany and Greenpeace International.

[1] Deep-sea mining: Norway halts controversial practice until 2029 (Euronews)

Contacts:

Daniel Bengtsson, Communications Lead Onboard, Greenpeace Nordic, +46 70 300 9510 (Whatsapp/Signal), daniel.bengtsson@greenpeace.org

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org