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CHARLESTON, SC – A new program by Audubon South Carolina will help family landowners across the state make their forests more productive and ecologically healthy. The initiative is supported by a...

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• “Heading For The North Pole On Tara Polar Station’s First Expedition” • The Tara Polar Station, a scientific research station designed to drift with the sea ice, left the port of Lorient on its first expedition to the North Pole. The objective is a better understanding of the biodiversity of the Arctic Ocean and the effects of global warming in the region. [Euronews]

Tara Polar Station (Tara Station Foundation image)

• “Geely Unveils New EV Powertrain That Is 93.8% Efficient” • Observers like Bill McKibben note that, considering well head to engine efficiency, only about 15% of the energy that comes out of the ground actually goes to moving our cars and trucks forward. By comparison, this week Geely announced a new EV powertrain that is 93.8% efficient. [CleanTechnica]
• “Serentica Renewables Secures 58-MW Round-The-Clock Power PPA With DCM Shriram” • Serentica Renewables signed a PPA to supply 58 MW of round-the-clock renewable power to DCM Shriram’s chemicals manufacturing plant in Gujarat. A subsidiary will combine solar power from Rajasthan and wind power from Karnataka. [pv magazine India]
• “European Energy Secures Oz Hybrid Financing” • European Energy reached financial close on the Mokoan Hybrid solar and battery project in Victoria. Deutsche Bank is providing a non-recourse financing package to refinance the operational 58-MW Mokoan Solar Farm and support construction and operation of a co-located 40-MW, 80-MWh battery system. [reNews]
• “Offshore Wind Shines During Summer Heat” • America’s offshore wind farms have already shown their ability to keep electricity flowing during brutal winter storms. Now, the clean energy resource has proved it can also bolster the grid during major heat waves, as dangerously hot and humid temperatures settled over the eastern US. [Sierra Club]

For more news, please visit geoharvey – Daily News about Energy and Climate Change.

Canada needs more electricity — fast. In part, this is due to the projected growth of data centres that can power artificial intelligence and the increasing demands of our digital services. Both the federal and Alberta governments see data centre...

"Flexibility works. The real bottleneck is scaling participation fast enough to matter."

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist and WABE, Atlanta’s NPR station.

Just across the road from the waterfront in Brunswick, Semona Holmes lives in a house surrounded by fruit trees, potted flowers, a fish pond, and — when it rains or the tide is extra high — floodwater.

“If you can imagine this entire area here completely flooded,” she explained on her front porch on a recent afternoon. “The flooding would be — we would have, like, a river on our street.”

The floodwater has reached to her knees at times. Once, after a hurricane, her neighbor canoed down the block.

Improvements to the stormwater system have helped a bit in recent years. But Holmes’ concerns go beyond the inconvenience of an occasionally flooded street. She lives about half a mile from a former pesticide plant, which is now a toxic Superfund site — one of thousands of contaminated former industrial sites identified by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Holmes is worried about what the floodwaters contain.

“Everything from that chemical plant has flowed into our community,” she said.

Scientists want to get a better handle on what, exactly, has flowed into this community’s air, soil, water, and people. Researchers from six institutions will soon launch Georgia’s first Superfund research center, with $15 million from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Over five years, the team of scientists from Emory University, the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Morehouse School of Medicine, Spelman College, and Texas Tech University will look at Glynn County’s four toxic Superfund sites, including the one near Holmes. 

The work has two main goals, according to Emory public health professor Noah Scovronick.

“One is to understand the health effects of past chemical exposures, and the other is to try and reduce people’s future exposures,” he said.

To do that, they’ll study links between the toxic substances at the former industrial sites and possible health effects, and conduct environmental sampling to figure out how and where people may have been exposed. 

They’ll also need to model impacts of climate change, like rising seas and stronger storms. On sites that have toxic materials stored in structures or under caps, flooding could breach those containment measures, which are supposed to keep people safe from exposure.

“We want to be sure that the remediation that is ongoing at those sites is resilient to extreme weather moving forward,” Scovronick said. 

Holmes, standing in her garden, worries about pollution in the soil and water from a nearby superfund site. Emily Jones / Grist

The researchers met with community members like Holmes to plan their work, so that the studies can answer the lingering questions Glynn County residents have about the industrial pollution in their environment.

Holmes and her family already don’t drink their tap water or eat seafood from Glynn County waterways. But she said they need more information about what chemicals they’ve been exposed to, and the possible consequences. She has six grandchildren, several of whom attend an elementary school just blocks from the nearest toxic site.

“We want them to be healthy,” she said. “And you don’t want to worry that they’re playing on a playground that has contaminated soil.”

Even if the new research uncovers damage that can’t be undone or exposure to health risks that can’t be reversed, Holmes said, it’s important to have all of that documented — and acknowledged by the companies that operated the industrial sites in Glynn County.

“It shows that you care about humanity,” she said. “And that you are able to acknowledge that, ‘Yeah, by our actions, we have possibly contaminated an entire county.’”

But beyond that recognition of wrongdoing, Holmes said, “There has to be continued action.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Rising seas magnify the dangers of coastal Georgia’s industrial past on Jul 20, 2026.

This is a guest blog by Dr Michael T. David,  Founder and Executive Director of the Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation (GIFSEP). GIFSEP is a non-profit organization founded on the ideals of Environmental Education, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development. They mobilize communities to build resilience to a changing climate so as to conserve and protect the environment.

For years, the people of Awo Akpali, a remote community in Ankpa Local Government Area of Kogi State in Nigeria, have lived with the painful legacy of coal mining. While the coal extracted from beneath their land generated wealth for coal mining companies, the community was left with environmental degradation, poor health, and no access to one of the most basic necessities of modern life i.e  electricity.

Community members at the training session on how to install and maintain solar pv system photo credit: GIFSEP

When night fell, so did healthcare.

At the community’s Primary Health Centre, health workers often relied on torchlights and the light from mobile phones to attend to patients. Mothers in labour, sick children, and emergency cases faced an uncertain future whenever they arrived after sunset. Essential healthcare services were severely limited, not because there were no health workers, but because there was simply no electricity.

Today, that story is changing. As part of its Solar for Communities Initiative, the Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation (GIFSEP) has installed a solar power system at the Awo Akpali Primary Health Centre, bringing clean, reliable electricity to a facility that had operated in darkness for years.

Terrance,  project lead GIFSEP and hospital staff after installation is complete .Photo credit: GIFSEP

The initiative was implemented with support from 350Africa.org and the Global Greengrants Fund, demonstrating how renewable energy can improve healthcare while advancing climate justice for underserved communities.

The solar installation is more than an energy project, it is restoring dignity to healthcare. Health workers can now provide services safely at night, power essential medical equipment, preserve temperature-sensitive medicines, and offer better care to patients when they need it most.

For GIFSEP, the intervention represents the next chapter in a long-standing partnership with the community.

Through its Coal Free Nigeria Campaign, GIFSEP previously worked with residents of Awo Akpali to build awareness of environmental and community rights. Community members were trained to understand the environmental, health, and social impacts of coal mining and empowered to advocate for the protection of their land and livelihoods. Their collective efforts contributed to the eventual closure of the coal mining operations that had negatively affected the community for years.

 

Solar inverter at the hospital.   credit: GIFSEP

Rather than leaving the community with only the closure of the mine, GIFSEP sought to demonstrate that cleaner and more sustainable alternatives are possible.

Under the Solar for Communities Initiative, residents were sensitized on the benefits of renewable energy as a practical solution for communities that remain outside Nigeria’s public electricity grid. Women and young people also received hands-on training in basic solar installation and maintenance, equipping them with practical skills that can create new livelihood opportunities while supporting the adoption of clean energy within their community.

Community members at the training session on how to install and maintain solar pv system  led by GIFSEP.Photo credit: GIFSEP

This approach reflects a broader vision of a just energy transition, one that not only moves communities away from polluting fossil fuels but also ensures they benefit from cleaner technologies, improved livelihoods, better healthcare, and increased resilience.

 

The post From Darkness to Hope appeared first on 350.

Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, and the rest of that grim clan have launched their own invasion -- of planet Earth itself. They have indeed landed on the beaches of our world, armed to the teeth, and intent on turning this planet into a heat zone.

A grounded perspective is emerging that refuses both despair and denial. It accepts that we are entering an era of converging limits, yet insists the future is not fixed and asks how we can move through this transition with dignity, relationality and mutual respect.

Nate scales his exploration of civilizational futures down to the future of a single human life and analyzes how the same patterns that shape economies, power, geopolitics, and Earth systems turn inward.

Decarbonising our homes Channel News brendan 20th July 2026 Teaser Media

situs yang menjamin member baru pasti jackpot besar. Kalimat tersebut terdengar menggiurkan, tetapi benarkah ada jaminan seperti itu? Dari sudut pandang analisis berita, penting untuk melihat fakta di balik promosi agar masyarakat dapat memahami informasi secara lebih objektif.

Fenomena Promosi Jackpot untuk Member Baru

Banyak platform permainan daring berlomba menghadirkan bonus pendaftaran, cashback, hingga putaran gratis sebagai strategi pemasaran. Promosi ini bertujuan meningkatkan minat calon pengguna sekaligus memperkenalkan layanan yang mereka miliki.

Namun, istilah “jamin jackpot besar” lebih sering digunakan sebagai bahasa promosi daripada sebuah kepastian hasil. Dalam praktiknya, permainan berbasis sistem digital menggunakan mekanisme yang telah dirancang dengan aturan tertentu. Artinya, tidak ada pihak yang mampu memastikan setiap pemain akan langsung memperoleh kemenangan besar hanya karena baru bergabung.

Dari berbagai pengamatan terhadap tren industri, pengguna kini semakin kritis dalam memilih platform. Mereka tidak lagi hanya melihat besarnya bonus, tetapi juga memperhatikan reputasi layanan, transparansi informasi, kualitas pelayanan pelanggan, serta keamanan transaksi.

Memahami Cara Kerja Sistem Permainan

Salah satu hal yang sering disalahpahami adalah anggapan bahwa akun baru memiliki peluang menang lebih tinggi dibandingkan akun lama. Hingga saat ini, tidak terdapat bukti yang dapat membenarkan anggapan tersebut pada platform yang beroperasi secara wajar.

Sebagian besar permainan digital modern menggunakan teknologi Random Number Generator (RNG), yaitu sistem yang menghasilkan hasil permainan secara acak. Dengan mekanisme tersebut, peluang setiap putaran tidak dipengaruhi oleh status pemain, baik pengguna baru maupun pengguna lama.

Karena itu, apabila sebuah situs mengklaim dapat memberikan jackpot secara pasti, pengguna sebaiknya meninjau kembali kredibilitas informasi tersebut. Pendekatan yang bijak adalah memilih platform yang menjelaskan mekanisme permainan secara terbuka tanpa memberikan janji kemenangan mutlak.

Ciri Platform yang Layak Dipertimbangkan

Daripada berfokus pada janji jackpot, ada beberapa indikator yang lebih relevan ketika memilih sebuah situs permainan digital.

• Memiliki informasi layanan yang jelas dan mudah diakses.
• Menyediakan sistem transaksi yang aman serta cepat.
• Memiliki layanan pelanggan yang responsif.
• Menampilkan ketentuan bonus secara transparan.
• Menggunakan sistem permainan yang memiliki reputasi baik.
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Indikator tersebut lebih mencerminkan kualitas layanan dibandingkan sekadar promosi yang bersifat sensasional.

Pentingnya Membaca Syarat dan Ketentuan Bonus

Dalam banyak kasus, bonus untuk member baru memang tersedia, tetapi hampir selalu disertai syarat tertentu. Misalnya, terdapat ketentuan turnover, batas waktu penggunaan bonus, atau nominal taruhan minimum sebelum bonus dapat dicairkan.

Kurangnya pemahaman terhadap aturan ini sering menimbulkan kesalahpahaman. Oleh sebab itu, membaca seluruh syarat dan ketentuan menjadi langkah penting sebelum memanfaatkan promosi apa pun. Platform yang profesional umumnya menjelaskan seluruh ketentuan tersebut secara rinci sehingga pengguna dapat mengambil keputusan dengan informasi yang lengkap.

Analisis Tren Kepercayaan Pengguna

Perubahan perilaku pengguna menunjukkan bahwa kepercayaan kini menjadi faktor utama dalam memilih sebuah platform. Reputasi dibangun melalui pelayanan yang konsisten, proses transaksi yang lancar, perlindungan data pribadi, serta komunikasi yang terbuka kepada pengguna.

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Pendekatan ini menunjukkan meningkatnya literasi digital masyarakat dalam menghadapi berbagai bentuk promosi di internet.

Kesimpulan

Judul “Situs Yang Menjamin Member Baru Pasti Jackpot Besar” merupakan contoh klaim promosi yang perlu disikapi secara kritis. Hingga saat ini, tidak ada platform yang dapat menjamin setiap pemain baru akan memperoleh jackpot secara pasti karena hasil permainan ditentukan oleh sistem permainan yang berlaku.

Pilihan yang lebih bijak adalah mengutamakan platform yang memiliki reputasi baik, memberikan informasi secara transparan, menyediakan layanan pelanggan yang profesional, serta menawarkan pengalaman bermain yang aman dan bertanggung jawab. Dengan memahami cara kerja industri permainan digital, pengguna dapat mengambil keputusan berdasarkan fakta, bukan semata-mata tergiur oleh janji kemenangan instan.

A company’s assessment of the climate impact of oil production at Horse Hill in Surrey is flawed and any permission based on it would be unlawful, campaigners said today.

They urged Surrey County Council to refuse plans by UK Oil & Gas plc (UKOG) to revive extraction and drill extra wells at the site near Gatwick Airport.

Google Earth image downloaded 21 July 2026

An earlier permission for the scheme had been quashed in a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court more than two years ago.

The court decided that Surrey County Council should have taken account of carbon emissions from burning oil extracted at Horse Hill, as well those released in the production process.

The site has been suspended since October 2024. But UKOG is now seeking to reinstate the permission. Part of the application is a new estimate of the climate impact of the plans.

Environmental campaigner Sarah Finch, who successfully won the Supreme Court challenge, on behalf of Weald Action Group, said today the company had used the wrong guidance in assessing greenhouse gas emissions.

“The application should have assessed the emissions from Horse Hill oil on a global basis, taking into account the emissions from other existing and committed fossil fuel projects. It failed to do so, so I believe allowing the project on this basis would be unlawful.”

She added:

“The Weald Action Group defeated the previous application for Horse Hill oil production in the Supreme Court, so it is depressing to have to do it again!

“Once again the oil company has failed to recognise the impacts of this project to produce oil for 20 years. The science is clear. Any new oil and gas production will bust our chances of keeping global heating within safe limits.”

UKOG said it expected to extract more than 600,000 tonnes of oil over 20 years at Horse Hill. The company estimated this would release two million tonnes of carbon emissions, which it described as “insignificant”.

Friends of the Earth, which supported Ms Finch in the Supreme Court case, argued today that two million tonnes could not “realistically be described as insignificant”. The organisation said:

“Scientists are clear that there can be no new fossil fuel projects if global climate goals are to be met.”

Both Ms Finch and Friends of the Earth argued that the way UKOG assessed carbon emissions from Horse Hill was “out of step” with the Supreme Court ruling and did not follow government guidance or UK international climate obligations.

Friends of the Earth’s interim head of legal, Katie de Kauwe, said it was “disappointing” that a new application had been submitted and the organisation would stand with the Weald Action Group in opposing it.

She said:

“Fossil fuel companies continue to profit from the climate crisis they are driving, while ordinary people pay the price.

“This June was England’s hottest on record, putting lives, livelihoods and nature at risk. Such extreme weather is going to get worse and more frequent if governments do not take the action necessary to phase out fossil fuel projects.

“Approving Horse Hill would be a backwards step that we cannot afford to take.

“Oil drilling in Surrey will do nothing to help the cost-of-living crisis. It is clear that the UK’s continued reliance on fossil fuels leaves households exposed to volatile global markets, as the recent crisis in the Middle East has shown. The route to lower bills, greater energy security and a safer climate is a rapid transition to renewables.”

Friends of the Earth also submitted updated evidence warning of earthquake risks associated with the proposal.

A report for the organisation, by Stuart Haszeldine, professor of geology at University of Edinburgh, concluded that earthquake risks could not be ruled out if production resumed. He recommended enhanced monitoring and assessment before any future production began.

A swarm of more than 150 small earthquakes centred on Newdigate, near Horse Hill, in 2018-19. The majority of participants at a workshop of experts decided the swarm was not related to operations at Horse Hill.

But more recent research has concluded that oil operations could trigger earthquakes. Links here and here

Professor Haszeldine, who disagreed with the workshop conclusions, said today:

“In my opinion, there is now a substantial body of evidence linking the 2018–2019 earthquake sequence in the Horse Hill and Newdigate area with oil production activities at Horse Hill.

“This includes the temporal relationship between production activities and earthquake occurrence, together with subsequent academic analyses published since the issue was previously considered by regulators.

“I have not identified evidence that additional work has been undertaken to assess or mitigate future seismicity risks associated with renewed production activities. In my view, enhanced baseline monitoring, together with regular and frequent ongoing monitoring of seismicity and both tophole and downhole well pressures, should be undertaken before and throughout any further production operations.”

Declaration on Autonomy, Radical Democracy and Self Determination [ English ] [ Español ] [ Français ] [ Português] Issued at ‘Global Confluence on Radical Democracy, Autonomy and Self-determination’, Port Edward, South Africa, 2-6 February 2025. Organised by Global of , Academy of Democratic Modernity, WoMIN, Jineology and the Amadiba Crisis Committee. See alternativesalternativesAlternativesAlternativesAlternatives

A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 12, 2026 thru Sat, July 18, 2026. Stories we promoted this week, by category:

Climate Change Impacts (7 articles)

• New research : Doomsday Glacier ice shelf could 'give way any day now' "Just have a Think" on Youtubue, Dave Borlace, July 5, 2026.
• Grey whales are dying along our shores. Researchers say a warming climate may be part of the problem Although a number of factors may be contributing to the die-off, scientists say it’s likely at least partly due to climate change. Melting Arctic ice and warmer waters may be reducing the number of small sea creatures the whales rely on for food, and altering the selection of what does remain. CBC'', Brandie Weikle, Laura Lynch, Jul 12, 2026.
• The Strongest El Niño Ever With the July runs now in from 667 ensemble members across 14 different seasonal forecast models, it looks like this year’s El Niño is not only very likely to be the strongest event since reliable records began – it may end up the strongest by a truly mind-blowing margin. The Climate Brink, Zeke Hausfather, Jul 13, 2026.
• Global warming's new wrinkle - it's too hot for nuclear reactors to operate The scorching summer in the U.S. and Europe and wildfires across both continents are well documented, but global warming flexed its power in a new way this week as France said it shut down a handful of nuclear reactors because of the extreme heat. Callaway Climate Insights, David Callaway, Jul 14, 2026.
• Climate Change Contributes to a Smokier World Higher temperatures and drought conditions are contributing to more intense wildfires and extending the summer fire season in North America. NYT, Quinn Glabicki, Jul 16, 2026.
• Canada's boreal wildfires aren't just bad forest management Higher fire season temperatures are strongly correlated with increased area burned The Climate Brink, Zeke Hausfather, Jul 17, 2026.
• Dangerous and historic wildfire smoke pollution event engulfs the U.S. and Canada Most of the fires grew out of control under extreme heat conditions made up to five times more likely by climate change. Yale Climate Connections, Jeff Masters, Jul 17, 2026.

Climate Science and Research (6 articles)

• Scientists finally solved the mystery of Earth's greatest mass extinction According to the researchers, the work also has important implications for the present. The environmental conditions before the Great Dying resembled the relatively cool, oxygen rich oceans that existed for millions of years before human activities began rapidly altering Earth's climate through fossil fuel emissions. ScienceDaily, Stanford University press office, Jul 12, 2026.
• Changes in Funding Could Tank Quality of Ocean Heat Content Data An uncertain funding landscape threatens the longevity of an ocean observation system critical to projecting tropical storms, sea level rise, and more. Eos, Grace van Deelen, Jul 13, 2026.
• A deep pool of extremely warm water is available to fuel El Niño in summer 2026 Climate.us, Rebecca Lindsey, July 16, 2026.
• The report oil companies are worried about: Climate attribution science New report says our ability to tie weather damages to climate change is improving. Ars Technica, John Timmer, Jul 17, 2026.
• As climate extremes collide, attribution science evolves A National Academy of Sciences report on extreme climate event attribution confronts political climate denialism with scientific evidence. Inside Climate News, Bob Berwyn, Jul 17, 2026.
• "iT'S CaLLeD SuMmER" Dr Gilbz on Youtube, Ella Gilbert, July 17, 2026.

Climate Policy and Politics (4 articles)

• Trump taps climate skeptic to run US government`s flagship climate report Matthew Wielicki frequently criticizes established climate science online, including in videos from rightwing PragerU The Guardian, Dharna Noor, Jul 10, 2026.
• The Climate Deal Trump Won`t Kill CORSIA, the global aviation climate scheme run by the UN’s aviation body (ICAO), may be the only climate agreement Trump will never try to kill precisely because it asks almost nothing of the United States, or of airlines anywhere in the world. CleanTechnica, William Todts, Jul 13, 2026.
• An extraordinary White House meeting NYT, David Gelles, Jul 14, 2026.
• Political representatives found more polarized on climate change than their constituents Phys.org, University of Konstanz, Jul 16, 2026.

Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation (3 articles)

• Sweeping victory for Europe as 15 nations top climate scoreboard Europe has come top in the latest Environmental Performance Index, partly due to the boom in renewables. But experts warn that more progress is needed. EuroNews, Liam Gilliver, Jul 12, 2026.
• Renewables, Led By Solar, Were Largest Source of Energy Supply Growth Globally in 2025 Solar achieved 30% growth in 2025 and its share of total power generation reached 8.7% – surpassing wind (8.4%) for the first time and almost equalling nuclear’s share of 8.8%. Behind solar, wind power was the second largest source of renewables growth in 2025, increasing by 8.2% year-on-year. CleanTechnica, Zachary Shahan, Jul 13, 2026.
• The Fake Air-Conditioner Climate Debate ClimateAdam on Youtube, Adam Levy, July 13, 2026.

Miscellaneous (3 articles)

• 2026 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #28 A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 5, 2026 thru Sat, July 11, 2026. Skeptical Science, Bärbel Winkler & Doug Bostrom, Jul 12, 2026.
• You can help scientists study walruses A global science project is asking volunteers to search Arctic satellite images for the animals, which are threatened by climate change. Yale Climate Connections, YCC Team, Jul 14, 2026.
• National Academies Report Backs Climate Change Attribution Science Attribution science is advancing quickly, researchers said. That could support lawsuits seeking damages for severe events worsened by global warming. New York Times, Raymond Zhong, Jul 16, 2026.

Climate Education and Communication (2 articles)

• Why climate scientists need to talk more about the very worst-case scenarios The Conversation, Peter Stott, Jul 13, 2026.
• Daniel Swain PhD: New Climate Denial, Same as the Old Climate Denial 'New Climate Denial" is not so new after all. This is Not Cool, greenman3610, Jul 14, 2026.

Climate Law and Justice (1 article)

• He sued the oil industry for $51B. Now he faces Republicans in a private grilling. The fossil fuel industry and its allies have targeted the science that factors into many of the climate lawsuits for nearly a decade; with attribution science showing how fossil fuel companies supercharge extreme weather the industry claims that the growing field exists solely to propel litigation. Politico, Lesley Clark, Hailey Fuchs, Corbin Hiar and Chelsea Harvey, Jul 15, 2026.

Public Misunderstandings about Climate Science (1 article)

• The 13 biggest myths about heatwaves – and how to bust them With some still unable to accept humanity’s role in climate chaos, we tackle common misconceptions and deceptions The Guardian, Jonathan Watts, July 11, 2026.

Public Misunderstandings about Climate Solutions (1 article)

• Do electric vehicles stop working in extreme heat? No - Extreme heat can temporarily reduce range, but recent research does not show that EVs are unable to operate in hot weather. Skeptical Science, Sue Bin Park, July 14, 2026.

If you happen upon high quality climate-science and/or climate-myth busting articles from reliable sources while surfing the web, please feel free to submit them via this Google form so that we may share them widely. Thanks!

Earlier this year, the House passed a Farm Bill packed with giveaways to Big Agriculture. Rather than confronting the environmental, public health, and economic harms of industrial agriculture, lawmakers doubled down on the status quo—protecting powerful agribusiness interests while falling short on meaningful investments in sustainable farming, conservation, and rural communities.

Unfortunately, the recent Senate draft doesn’t do much better. As senators debate their version of the Farm Bill, they face a fundamental question—will federal farm policy continue subsidizing and entrenching the factory farm model, or will it help build a healthier, more resilient food system?

That question is especially urgent with the emergence of a new generation of technologies that promises to solve the problems of industrial livestock production. Chief among them are genetically engineered animals.

Instead of addressing the overcrowding, disease, pollution, and animal suffering that factory farms create, biotechnology companies are redesigning animals to better tolerate those conditions. The message is clear: don’t fix the system—change the animals.

A new Friends of the Earth report, Engineering Harm: Why Genetically Engineered Animals Deepen Risks to Public Health and Animal Welfare, documents how this approach is moving rapidly from the laboratory into the food system. Since 2020, federal regulators have approved three genetically engineered animals for human consumption, including cattle engineered to better tolerate heat and pigs engineered to resist disease.

Supporters present these genetically engineered animals as innovative solutions to agricultural challenges. In reality, they represent a troubling extension of the same industrial model that created many of those challenges in the first place.

Consider cattle engineered for heat tolerance, which are being promoted as a response to rising temperatures, even as industrial livestock production remains a major contributor to the climate crisis.

Likewise, disease-resistant pigs. Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) costs the pork industry hundreds of millions of dollars annually, largely because the virus spreads rapidly in the crowded conditions typical of industrial operations. Rather than reducing animal density or improving living conditions, the industry is engineering pigs to withstand the disease.

At the same time, corporate interests have doubled down on their efforts to advance the so-called Save our Bacon Act in the Farm Bill, which would overturn state animal welfare laws designed to move away from the extreme confinement of pigs and other farm animals. And the stakes extend beyond animal welfare—it would also undermine states’ authority to establish stronger agricultural production standards that protect public health, the environment, and local communities. Though this harmful provision wasn’t included in the base text of the Senate Farm Bill, industry allies are expected to continue pushing to include it as the legislative process moves forward.

For decades, federal farm policy has helped prop up industrial animal agriculture through commodity subsidies, crop insurance programs, and policies that favor large-scale production. Taxpayer dollars already support a system linked to water pollution, antibiotic overuse, greenhouse gas emissions, and the hollowing out of rural communities. Genetically engineered livestock threaten to make things even worse by helping factory farms adapt and expand without addressing the conditions that make them harmful in the first place.

And genetically engineered animals raise serious concerns of their own.

Creating these animals often involves cloning and other invasive procedures with high failure rates. Friends of the Earth finds that thousands of cloned embryos used in the development of the genetically engineered GalSafe pig resulted in only a handful of successful animals. Mortality rates among genetically engineered piglets were significantly higher than in conventional pigs. In other cases, animals developed abnormalities or died during the development process.

Scientists have also documented unintended genetic changes associated with engineering animals, including mutations that can affect animal health and welfare. Despite industry claims of precision, the results of gene-editing technologies are often not predictable, and the long-term consequences remain poorly understood.

The public health risks deserve equal scrutiny. One genetically engineered pig approved for sale contains an antibiotic-resistance marker gene, raising concerns about the potential spread of antibiotic resistance—one of the most pressing public health challenges of our time. Disease-resistant animals may also create evolutionary pressures that encourage viruses to evolve in unexpected ways. Yet federal regulators have largely brushed aside these concerns.

Perhaps most troubling is how little independent oversight exists. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration relies heavily on data generated by the companies seeking approval. Public access to safety data is limited. Independent scientific review is often absent. In some cases, regulators have exempted genetically engineered animals from full approval processes altogether.

This should concern anyone who cares about food safety, scientific integrity, or democratic accountability.

The Senate’s Farm Bill debate offers a chance to begin charting a different course.

Instead of helping factory farms become more efficient at producing disease, pollution, and animal suffering, lawmakers should invest in farming systems that already provide proven benefits for public health, animal welfare, and the environment. Congress could expand support for well-managed pasture-based livestock systems, organic agriculture, regional food infrastructure, conservation programs, and farmer transition assistance. It could strengthen local processing capacity, improve animal welfare standards, and reduce dependence on routine antibiotics. And it must reject the Save Our Bacon Act and any effort to strip local communities and states of their authority to set strong agricultural production standards.

These approaches do not require redesigning animals to fit factory farms. They require redesigning farming systems to work with animals, people, and ecosystems.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Yaw Ansu-Kyeremeh, Unsplash

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Monday morning, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments stretched across over 3 million acres of public lands in southern Utah, protecting some of the country’s most remote landscapes and scores of archaeological sites sacred to local tribes. By that evening, President Donald Trump had cut the monuments to just 302,600 acres.

While the two executive orders gutting the monuments and their protections repeat an action from the first Trump administration that was reversed by President Joe Biden, Monday’s reductions go far further than before.

In December 2017, Trump signed proclamations to reduce Bears Ears National Monument from 1.3 million acres to roughly 228,000 acres, an 85 percent reduction, while Grand Staircase-Escalante was cut nearly in half, from 1.9 million acres to about 1 million. Monday’s executive orders cut the monuments to less than a quarter of what was left after the previous shrinking of the monuments.

Flanked by Utah Republicans, Trump said in signing the executive orders that new restrictions made it virtually impossible to hunt, fish, or even walk on the monuments, which is not true. Both are accessible to visitors, including for hunting and fishing.

Trump’s executive orders will take effect in 60 days. Shrinking the boundaries of the monuments, the orders state, will better align with the administration’s goals for public lands: opening them up to extraction. 

The orders say the decision puts power back in the hands of local communities, despite its disbanding and terminating of an inter-tribal working group for Bears Ears that led co-stewardship efforts at the monument—the first of its kind, and the result of years of advocacy from local tribes. Tribal officials said they were not consulted about the decision to reduce the monuments. 

“[Trump is] saying the quiet part out loud. He’s being honest: I’m doing this so that we can mine and drill and graze cows,” said John Ruple, a law professor and program director at the University of Utah’s Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources, and the Environment. “We’ll see if the American people think those are the best uses of national monuments, and we’ll see if courts agree with that, too.”

Davina Smith-Idjesa, a member of the Navajo Nation and part of both monuments’ inter-tribal coalitions, said reading the proclamations was a reminder “of genocide and that tribes are expendable” in the U.S. 

Uranium mining in the Four Corners region left members of her family sick and dead, she said after the signing of the executive orders, and now the prospect looms of these sacred areas being made available for extraction again.

A view of Bears Ears National Monument at sunset. Tim Peterson

“Bears Ears is at my back door,” she said during a press conference Tuesday morning. “This is not a political talking point for me. This is home. My ancestors knew this land. My family knows this land. I know where our people go to pray, to gather medicines, to gather food and to heal. This is our grocery store, our medicine cabinet, our classroom, our church. And I need people to understand: You cannot take a pin, draw a line through the landscape, and tell us what remains should be enough.”

Ruple said there is little political upside to the decision, and polling consistently shows Americans support the monuments and the protection of public lands. Attacks on public lands, including Grand Staircase-Escalante, in recent years have consistently failed. 

The Antiquities Act, he said, makes clear that presidents have the power to create monuments, but not rescind them. That power rests with Congress.

The executive orders come after a June decision in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that reversed a district court’s opinion to dismiss a lawsuit from the state of Utah attacking the Biden administration’s restoration of the borders of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments after Trump first shrank them. The lawsuit also targets the powers of the Antiquities Act of 1906, which allows presidents to create national monuments. It was signed by President Teddy Roosevelt, who later used it to protect the Grand Canyon as a national monument before it later became a park. 

“If you go and eviscerate these two monuments, now I suspect we’re going to see the Department of Justice go into the district court and say, ‘Look, this case is moot. The monuments have been reduced by every inch that were restored and the Biden proclamations have now been undone,’” Ruple said. 

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Environmental groups and tribal leaders who have long advocated for the protection of the two monuments vowed to continue fighting to protect them. Both were vital to the creation of Bears Ears, which is the first and only national monument co-managed between the federal government and local tribes. 

Last time the Trump administration shrank the monuments, Earthjustice, representing a coalition of environmental groups and tribes, sued over the decision. The organization vowed to do so again.

The executive orders came as no surprise. Last March, the Trump administration announced it would eliminate California’s Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands national monuments before removing language announcing that decision from a White House fact sheet. Then last June, the Department of Justice issued an opinion that the president has the power to review and eliminate national monuments.

Project 2025, the policy roadmap for a second Trump administration coordinated by the conservative Heritage Foundation, has called for reducing the size of those national monuments and others — and even suggested repealing the Antiquities Act of 1906.

In a press call Tuesday in response to the executive orders, Democratic members of Congress condemned the proclamations for prioritizing public lands for mining rather than for the American people, expressing fear that other protected areas could be targeted next and that cultural and religious sites could be vandalized.

“This is a trend coming from Donald Trump and from this administration,” said Senator Ben Ray Luján, a Democrat from New Mexico. “While these monuments are in Utah, they belong to all of us across the United States.”

“The administration is on the wrong side of history here, ignoring the voices of Tribal Nations, local communities, and the millions of Americans who want these places protected for future generations,” said Tracy Stone-Manning, Wilderness Society president and former director of the Bureau of Land Management under the Biden administration, in a statement. “As our nation marks 250 years, these public lands should be handed down, not over to drilling and mining interests.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Trump again shrinks Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments on Jul 19, 2026.

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