September 21, 2019 - PBS NewsHour Weekend full episode

A decade of illegal gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon has left thousands of acres of rainforest a wasteland. Unpermitted miners cleared vast sections of trees near Peru's border with Brazil and infused the land with mercury, causing an environmental disaster. But some miners have fled after Peruvian troops moved in. Special correspondent Leo Schwartz reports in the first of a two-part series.

Fires have destroyed millions of acres of rainforest in the Amazon and in portions of Indonesia in recent months. This week, an international coalition of indigenous leaders met in New York during the United Nations climate summit to call attention to the destruction of their land, confront climate change and ask for increased protections for the environment. Megan Thompson reports.

Young leaders gathered on Saturday at the United Nations for the Youth Climate Summit, where they voiced concerns and offered solutions for a warming planet, a day after millions of young people participated in a global climate strike. Megan Thompson spoke with producer Maya Navon and associate producer Nina Joung, who covered the strike in New York City for WNET’s Peril and Promise initiative.