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Today, Public Citizen released a new set of fact sheets that track the toll of the NAFTA-WTO era and today’s chaotic trade policies on the workers, farmers, local communities in all 50 states in the U.S., covering lost manufacturing jobs and farms, shuttered factories, battered union membership, depressed wages, falling farm exports, and other effects of bad trade policies.

While this story is often associated only with the industrial Midwest, the latest data show significant job, farm, and income loss across the South and Northeast, as well in other areas of the country often left out of the discussion on trade.

The ongoing impacts of these losses still looms large in political battleground areas, and are especially relevant when talking about working-class politics in post-industrial and rural areas.

“For decades, both parties have promised working people that “free trade” deals would bring good jobs and rising wages,” said Melinda St. Louis, Global Trade Watch director at Public Citizen. “Instead, initiatives like the NAFTA and the WTO led to massive outsourcing, the closure of thousands of factories, the destruction of millions of good-paying jobs, and left rural and working-class communities abandoned nationwide — and current chaotic and corporate-friendly trade policies have only made matters worse.”

Key Revelations:

• ALMOST EVERY STATE GOT HIT HARD – The U.S. has about 4.4 million fewer manufacturing jobs today than in 1994, when NAFTA went into effect. Nationwide, more than 3 million workers were certified by the U.S. government as losing their jobs to trade policy during this period. The share of manufacturing jobs in 43 states dropped by more than 30% in that period and by more than 50% in 12 states.
• BATTLEGROUND STATES PARTICULARLY IMPACTED – One quarter of manufacturing job losses took place in the seven key 2024 battleground states. Overall, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin lost more than 1 million manufacturing jobs combined. Manufacturing’s share of total jobs in these states fell by nearly 40% on average, and union density fell by 46% on average, 10 points higher than the national average.
• THE DECLINE OF THE INDUSTRIAL HEARTLAND – Nearly one third of national manufacturing job losses came from just six states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Combined, these states lost more than 1,400,000 manufacturing jobs.
• HUGE LOSSES IN THE NORTHEAST – The Northeast, New England plus New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, lost more than 40% of its manufacturing jobs – more than any other region. New York and Rhode Island each lost more than half of their manufacturing jobs.
• THE SOUTHERN RUST BELT – In the Southern states, manufacturing’s share of total jobs dropped by more than 45%, 10 points higher than in the Midwest. This shift was most pronounced in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, where the drop was more than 50%. North Carolina lost 365,000 manufacturing jobs—110,000 more jobs lost than Michigan, 54,000 more than Illinois, and 39,000 more than Ohio and Pennsylvania; and manufacturing’s share of total jobs dropped by 63%, worse than any other state.
• UNION MEMBERSHIP WAS DECIMATED – Ten states saw union density declines of more than 50%, five of which are in the South. Union density declined most in South Dakota, followed by Wisconsin and Arkansas, at 72%, 65%, and 63%, respectively. Nationwide, overall union density fell 35%, while only one state, Vermont, saw an increase.
• FARM LOSSES HIT HARDEST IN THE SOUTH – Of the 10 states that saw the largest proportional declines in the number of farm operations, six are in the South. Tennessee and North Carolina lost more than 30% of their farms, the highest percentage losses of any state. The South lost more than 140,000 farms, more than half from just three states: Tennessee, North Carolina, and Kentucky.
• WORKERS LEFT WITHOUT RELIEF – Since 2022, Congress has left over 100,000 workers who lost their jobs due to our trade policies stranded by failing to reauthorize the Trade Adjustment Assistance program. Almost a quarter of those workers are from just two states – Texas and Oregon. Thirty-two states had more than 1,000 workers who were awaiting assistance at the time.

Atrazine taints tap water for millions – California says it causes cancer. EPA’s plan won’t fix it. Anthony Lacey October 22, 2026

Three recent developments underscore the health threat posed by atrazine, one of the most widely used herbicides in the U.S. 

Earlier this month, California’s environmental health agency said it planned to list atrazine as a carcinogen. 

A new analysis found roughly one-quarter of the miles of rivers and streams in the U.S. are contaminated by it at levels harmful to aquatic life. 

And a separate study said the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed approach to curbing atrazine runoff would do little to resolve the contamination problem. 

EWG's Guide to Safer Drinking Water

Reduce your exposures to common drinking water pollutants with EWG's handy tipsheet!

Prevalence and exposure 

Agrochemical giant Syngenta’s atrazine is one of the most widely used herbicides in the U.S., with roughly 70 million pounds applied annually, primarily to cornfields across the Midwest. 

Rain washes the chemical off farm fields and into nearby rivers, streams, lakes and groundwater. About 860,000 miles of rivers in the U.S. are contaminated with the weedkiller at levels that can harm aquatic life, according to a new analysis by the Center for Biological Diversity. 

The problem isn’t limited to the Midwest. Atrazine is especially prevalent in five hot spots, including the Chesapeake Bay, Lake Okeechobee and Texas’ Gulf Coast. In the Chesapeake Bay, atrazine contaminates more than 5.5 million acres of the watershed at levels higher than those known to harm aquatic ecosystems. 

The runoff also pollutes sources of drinking water for millions of Americans. Atrazine is consistently the most frequently detected crop chemical in tap water, according to EWG’s Tap Water Database, which shows that 2,055 water utilities in 36 states detected atrazine, affecting drinking water for about 40 million people.

Of those utilities, 479 in 18 states serving roughly 3 million people reported atrazine levels above EWG’s health guideline of 0.1 parts per billion, or ppb.

The EPA’s own monitoring data repeatedly show atrazine in Midwestern drinking water sources at levels that spike above EPA’s woefully inadequate legal atrazine tap water limit of 3 ppb. 

What exposure can do to your health

A growing body of scientific research links atrazine exposure to serious health concerns, including reproductive and developmental harm, such as premature birth and low birth weight, as well as endocrine disruption, which can interfere with the body’s hormone systems. 

More recent research has also raised concerns about the connection between atrazine exposure and an increased risk of cancer.

In 2025, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, or IARC, classified atrazine as “probably carcinogenic to humans,” underscoring the urgent need for the EPA to reassess the chemical’s safety. 

But the agency, parroting Syngenta’s talking points, dismissed IARC’s findings. It claimed the science shows exposure does not increase cancer risk. 

Federal and state regulation

Set in 1991, the EPA’s outdated atrazine tap water standard fails to reflect the full body of scientific evidence accumulated over the past three decades. 

EWG’s health guideline is 0.1 ppb to protect from harm to the developing fetus, harm to the reproductive system and hormone disruption. 

A second recent peer-reviewed study by researchers with CBD, published in the Journal of Environmental Quality, concluded that the EPA’s proposed measures to curb atrazine runoff would do little to protect U.S. waterways from the herbicide. The agency in 2024 proposed a contamination-relief plan but is yet to finalize it.

The researchers estimated that just 1% of the 11,248 watersheds contaminated with atrazine would fall below the EPA’s threshold for concentrations that can harm aquatic ecosystems if the plan were implemented. 

The CBD, the Center for Environmental Health and the Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network this month sued the Trump EPA for failing to establish Clean Water Act-required water quality criteria for the weedkiller. 

The lawsuit comes just as EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin considers whether to renew approval of atrazine for another 20 years.

The suit doesn’t seek a ban, but its outcome could eventually shape how states regulate herbicide runoff from farmland. 

Recent California action may force the issue. 

Earlier this month, the state’s EPA announced its intent to list atrazine as a carcinogen under the state’s Proposition 65 law. 

Prop. 65 requires businesses to warn state residents about the health risks of exposure to certain chemicals. A conclusion by the state EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment carries weight among environment and safety advocacy experts.

Government action and inaction

Today more than 60 countries prohibit the use of atrazine. Yet it remains legal in the U.S. and widely applied to agricultural fields, despite widespread water contamination and mounting evidence of its potential harm to human health.

And given the Trump administration’s increasingly industry-friendly approach to pesticides, there is little reason for confidence that the review will result in meaningful restrictions.

The initial report from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again Commission explicitly acknowledged that atrazine “can cause hormone disruption and birth defects” in babies. 

But even that limited recognition of the weedkiller’s health risks provoked an intense backlash from the pesticide industry. All references to atrazine and other crop chemicals were subsequently stripped from the final report.

Over the past year, the Trump EPA has approved more than five new pesticides containing “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, while President Donald Trump signed an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act to boost domestic production of glyphosate, the nation’s most widely used weedkiller. 

Against this backdrop, the prospect of the EPA taking decisive action to curb atrazine’s use and protect public health remains uncertain.

The bottom line

The growing evidence of atrazine’s potential health risks, its widespread presence in drinking water and waterways, and its classification as probably carcinogenic to humans demand a serious response from federal regulators. 

Rather than dismiss independent scientific findings and yield to pesticide-industry pressure, the Trump EPA should thoroughly reassess atrazine, establish more protective water-quality standards and put the health of families over the narrow financial interests of chemical corporations. 

Americans should not have to wonder whether the water flowing from their taps contains a pesticide that likely causes cancer and developmental harm to children and that dozens of countries have banned.

What can consumers do to protect themselves?

While stronger federal safeguards are needed to protect everyone from atrazine and other drinking water contaminants, consumers can take steps to learn more about what is in their drinking water. 

EWG’s Tap Water Database helps fill critical information gaps by allowing people to search by ZIP code for reports on contaminants detected in their local water supply, the levels found for each and the potential health risks in their drinking water.

The database also offers guidance on water filters that may help reduce contaminants detected in a user’s water supply, helping consumers identify options tailored to their local water-quality concerns.

Areas of Focus Water Farming & Agriculture Guest Authors Aspen Rosner (EWG communications intern) October 22, 2026

Open access notables

Rapid Increase in Geogenic CO2 Emissions from Antarctic Permafrost, Ruggiero et al., Global Biogeochemical Cycles

Antarctic permafrost and ice-free soils are generally assumed to make only a minor contribution to the global carbon cycle. This study shows that this assumption is incomplete. Using repeated field measurements and carbon isotope analyses, we document a marked multi-year increase in carbon dioxide emissions from Antarctic permafrost terrain and identify a substantial contribution from deep geologic carbon rather than modern microbial activity alone. Our results show that Antarctic permafrost can act as a pathway for the release of ancient carbon. This previously unrecognized process has implications for high-latitude carbon budgets and highlights the need to evaluate Antarctica in Earth system and climate assessments.

Experimental evidence of threshold-driven gas breakthrough in thawing permafrost, Shang et al., Frontiers in Environmental Science

Gas breakthrough is an important but poorly constrained mechanism for abrupt methane release during permafrost warming. This study presents an experimental investigation of gas breakthrough in saturated permafrost analogue soils subjected to controlled freezing and progressive thawing. A silty sand collected from Alaska’s North Slope was tested using an integrated program comprising unfrozen water content measurements, direct tensile tests, constant-volume gas breakthrough experiments, and stress-controlled breakthrough tests under confining pressures representative of shallow to deep permafrost. Unfrozen Water Content (UWC) measurements revealed a sharp, nonlinear reduction below 0 °C, with residual unfrozen water persisting at low temperatures and minor thermal hysteresis between freezing and thawing paths. Tensile strength increased nonlinearly with decreasing temperature, transitioning from ductile behavior near −2 °C to brittle failure at lower temperatures, while tensile resistance near −1 °C was negligible. Gas breakthrough occurred only when gas pressure exceeded thresholds governed by temperature-dependent unfrozen water content, tensile resistance, and confinement. Under high confinement, breakthrough pressures substantially exceeded unconfined tensile strength and occurred primarily during thawing near −1 °C. These results demonstrate that permafrost thawing significantly increases susceptibility to gas breakthrough and provide experimental constraints for assessing methane release from degrading permafrost.

Palaeoclimate constraints narrow uncertainty in future Arctic winter sea ice projections, Fu et al., Nature Geoscience

Arctic sea ice decline has been observed across all seasons and is projected to continue in the future. Relative to historical observations, climate models show their largest biases and uncertainties during winter, when ice cover strongly regulates air–sea heat exchange, ocean mixing and atmospheric circulation. Palaeoclimate records offer opportunities to evaluate model performance beyond the historical period, but applications have remained largely qualitative. Here we compile an Arctic-wide database of mid-Holocene (5–7 thousand years ago) biomarkers to assess sea ice simulations of this past warm period. Using a recently developed proxy system model, we present a Bayesian palaeoclimate model weighting scheme that refines the multi-model mean winter sea ice extent through fully quantitative proxy-model comparisons, accounting for model interdependence and non-stationary proxy seasonality. We demonstrate that, by adjusting the contribution of each model to the ensemble mean based on proxy evidence, model weights can eliminate biases and reduce uncertainties by 85%, to the level of interannual variability. Weighted projections using the same climate models indicate that future winter sea ice extent may be nearly 1 million km2 lower than prior estimates across forthcoming decades and possible emissions scenarios, with broad implications for Arctic ecosystems, mid-latitude weather, and cryosphere stability.

Resolving short-term meteorological variability amplifies projected glacier loss and sea-level rise, Tricht et al., Nature Communications

Global glacier models typically rely on temperature-index mass balance calculations forced with aggregated meteorological data, limiting their ability to resolve short-term variability. Here, we develop a daily-resolution version of the Global Glacier Evolution Model (GloGEM), which we apply globally and compare against the monthly configuration. Our results show that the daily model more closely reproduces mass balance observations and provides a more detailed representation of glacier runoff. Accounting for short-term meteorological variability leads to systematically greater projected mass loss, with up to 25% greater loss in Svalbard. These differences arise from extreme melt days, precipitation-phase transitions, and surface-type feedbacks not fully represented at monthly resolution. Globally, the daily model yields ice volume losses of 26 ± 10% under low-emission and 47 ± 17% under high-emission scenarios over 2025-2100 (ensemble mean ± 1 StD), resulting in an additional 5-10% mass loss (20-33 mm of global mean sea-level rise) relative to the monthly implementation. Resolving high-frequency forcing, or accounting for its effects through parameterisations, is therefore essential for robust glacier projections, while its omission may systematically underestimate future glacier loss.

From this week's government/NGO section:

The Myth of “Baseload” Power in Modern Power Grids, Jennifer Danis and Christoph Graf, Institute for Policy Integrity

the authors the term “baseload” power, together with other reliability-related energy concepts that are often used interchangeably, or in various combinations, to describe the resources’ role in electricity markets and regarding grid reliability. They also discuss why, despite the rhetoric indicating that electric grid reliability is at risk because of retiring “baseload,” “dispatchable,” or “firm” resources, these terms have distinct meanings for reliability in a diversely resourced grid.

Sounding the Alarm, Inside Track

The authors are deeply concerned that the level of physical climate and environmental risk they are seeing is increasing at a dangerous rate. The frequency, severity, and unpredictability of hazards are broadly increasing, as are the exposure and vulnerability of many parts of society to these hazards. They are worried that the risk levels we are seeing either are not being communicated to or are not being properly internalized by government. Without intervention these physical risks will translate into major economic risk. The undermining of the mortgage market drove the Global Financial Crisis – they are worried a major increase in uninsured, high-risk properties could manifest in a similar way as climate effects intensify.

Emissions Gap Report 2026: The point of return – Urgent emissions cuts needed to come back from overshoot of 1.5°C, Olhoff et al., United Nations Environment Programme

The authors detail the cuts to emissions needed by 2030, 2035 and 2040 to get on a return pathway — finding that the cuts needed are far above what current Nationally Determined Contributions deliver. However, the authors find that it is possible to close this emissions gap — pointing to many successful climate policies that have already delivered real-world emissions cuts and could be scaled up globally to accelerate action. 138 articles in 57 journals by 932 contributing authors

Physical science of climate change, effects

Enhanced Efficacy Contributes to Tropical Cyclone Intensification in Warmer Climates via Stronger Storm-Scale Radiative Feedbacks, Zhang et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-25-0570.1

Estimating the Maximum Mean Precipitation in Hothouse Climates, Bonan & Schneider, Journal of Climate pdf 10.1175/jcli-d-25-0593.1

Heatwave intensification and associated driving mechanisms across High Mountain Asia, Zhao et al., Advances in Climate Change Research Open Access 10.1016/j.accre.2026.10.004

Improved Estimates of Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity From Non-Equilibrated Climate Simulations, He et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres Open Access 10.1029/2026jd046855

Increased southward swings of the South Indian convergence zone under greenhouse warming, Wang et al., Nature Climate Change 10.1038/s41558-026-02767-x

Interdecadal Changes in the ENSO-Induced Summertime Anomalous Western North Pacific Anticyclone, Wu et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-26-0211.1

Local and Cross-Basin Driving Mechanisms for Marine Heatwaves in the Kuroshio Extension Region, Cao et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans Open Access pdf 10.1029/2026jc024634

Modulation of Global-Scale Warming of the Atmosphere and Subsurface Ocean by Diathermal Heat Transport in the Equatorial Pacific Cold Tongue, Iyer & Moum, Journal of Physical Oceanography 10.1175/jpo-d-26-0100.1

Why the midlatitude ocean is warming faster in summer than in winter, Vimont et al., npj Climate and Atmospheric Science Open Access 10.1038/s41612-026-01567-6

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: Adjustments to Climate Perturbations—Mechanisms, Implications, Observational Constraints, AGU Advances, 10.1029/2023av001144 16 cites.

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Observations of climate change, effects

Changes in precipitation seasonality over the Indochina Peninsula during 1981–2020: observational evidence and attribution of anthropogenic forcing, Zhang et al., Frontiers in Earth Science Open Access pdf 10.3389/feart.2026.1937024

Heatwave intensification and associated driving mechanisms across High Mountain Asia, Zhao et al., Advances in Climate Change Research Open Access 10.1016/j.accre.2026.10.004

Multidecadal Changes in Atmospheric Dryness Over East Asia Dominated by Internal Climate Variability, Wang et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access 10.1029/2026gl125508

Rapid Increase in Geogenic CO2 Emissions from Antarctic Permafrost, Ruggiero et al., Global Biogeochemical Cycles Open Access pdf 10.1029/2026gb009134

Significant Acceleration of Wintertime Current in South China Sea Western Boundary Region During Satellite-Observed Time, Wang & Lan, Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans 10.1029/2026jc024895

Threefold Land-Use Forcing Intensifies Twofold Warming of Urban Europe, Swain et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres Open Access 10.1029/2026jd046541

Warming-driven lower-tropospheric stratification intensifies ducting over global oceans, Zhao et al., Nature Climate Change Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41558-026-02774-y

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: Global rise in forest fire emissions linked to climate change in the extratropics, Science, 10.1126/science.adl5889 199 cites.

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Instrumentation & observational methods of climate change, effects

Evaluating space-based methane detection through a one-year blind test, Reuland et al., Nature 10.1038/s41586-026-11115-0

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: Dheed: an ERA5 based global database of compound dry and hot extreme events from 1950 to 2023, Earth system science data, 10.5194/essd-17-6621-2025 9 cites.

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Modeling, simulation & projection of climate change, effects

An ensemble of regional CMIP3/CMIP5 wind wave scenarios for the North Sea and the Baltic Sea: a revisit, Groll & Grabemann, Ocean science Open Access pdf 10.5194/os-22-3185-2026

Anthropogenic attribution and constrained projections of summer wet-bulb globe temperature over global land areas, Li et al., Global and Planetary Change 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2026.105737

Changing patterns of compound coastal flooding along the Pacific coast of North America: precipitation-surge interactions under climate change, Fereshtehpour et al., Weather and Climate Extremes Open Access 10.1016/j.wace.2026.100963

Declining Surface Solar Radiation Resources in Polar Regions Under Global Warming, Huang et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2026gl125763

Evaluating the Coupled GEOS-AOGCM for Climate Research: Response to an Abrupt Quadrupling of CO2 Forcing, Li et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres 10.1029/2025jd044986

Intensification of East Asian summer extreme precipitation under a net-zero anthropogenic CO2 emission scenario, Paik et al., Science Advances Open Access 10.1126/sciadv.aec9366

Millennial-Scale Climate States Alter Atlantic Multidecadal Variability Mechanisms in a Climate Model, Kjellsson & Park, Geophysical Research Letters Open Access 10.1029/2026gl123473

NUKLEUS—A First Convection-Permitting Multimodel Ensemble for Germany: Assessment of Future Changes in Temperature and Precipitation Extremes, Beier et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-25-0613.1

Probabilistic constraints on the zero emissions commitment, Hohn et al., Frontiers in Climate Open Access 10.3389/fclim.2026.1877157

Reversible Atlantic overturning despite continued Greenland ice sheet melt, Guo et al., Science Advances Open Access 10.1126/sciadv.aee5373

Significant Spatiotemporal Asymmetry in Future Global Rainstorm Flood Risk, Zhao et al., Earth s Future Open Access pdf 10.1029/2025ef007148

The 2023 North Atlantic marine heatwave could have evolved into a far more extreme event, Gregory et al., Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-026-78863-5

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: Projected changes in mean climate and extremes from downscaled high-resolution CMIP6 simulations in Australia, Weather and Climate Extremes, 10.1016/j.wace.2024.100733 25 cites.

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Advancement of climate & climate effects modeling, simulation & projection

The Sensitivity of a Coupled Climate Model to Numerical Mixing in Its Ocean Component, Megann et al., Journal of Climate Open Access 10.1175/jcli-d-25-0661.1

Tropical Ocean Evaporation-Temperature Sensitivity to Surface Radiative Property Perturbations in Fully Coupled CESM2, Wei et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres Open Access pdf 10.1029/2026jd048440

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: Implications of a Pervasive Climate Model Bias for Low-Cloud Feedback, Geophysical Research Letters, 10.1029/2024gl110525 30 cites.

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Cryosphere & climate change

Abrupt permafrost thaw overwhelms vegetation-driven erosion reduction in sediment export on the Tibetan Plateau, Ma et al., Communications Earth & Environment Open Access pdf 10.1038/s43247-026-04125-3

Alaskan Glaciers in a Warming Climate, Wells et al., Earth s Future Open Access pdf 10.1029/2026ef009035

Antarctic marine-based ice destabilized when warming outpaces solid-Earth feedbacks, Swierczek-Jereczek et al., Nature Geoscience Open Access 10.1038/s41561-026-02117-8

Palaeoclimate constraints narrow uncertainty in future Arctic winter sea ice projections, Fu et al., Nature Geoscience Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41561-026-02123-w

Resolving short-term meteorological variability amplifies projected glacier loss and sea-level rise, Tricht et al., Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-026-78260-y

Seasonal surface melt onset and firn freeze-up across the central Wrangell and St. Elias Mountains, Kindstedt et al., cryosphere Open Access 10.5194/tc-20-5941-2026

Sudden collapse of ice mélange under increasing submarine melt at tidewater glaciers, Summers et al., Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-026-78423-x

Tuvaijuittuq: The Last Refuge of Multiyear Ice (MYI) Is Becoming Increasingly Open, Pu?ko et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans Open Access 10.1029/2025jc023023

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: Seasonal changes in black carbon footprint on the Antarctic Peninsula due to rising shipborne tourism and forest fires, Science Advances, 10.1126/sciadv.adp1682 7 cites.

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Sea level & climate change

Changing patterns of compound coastal flooding along the Pacific coast of North America: precipitation-surge interactions under climate change, Fereshtehpour et al., Weather and Climate Extremes Open Access 10.1016/j.wace.2026.100963

Global ice loss drives source-independent amplification of sea-level rise at Pacific and Indian Ocean Small Island Developing States, Powell et al., Communications Earth & Environment Open Access pdf 10.1038/s43247-026-04132-4

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: The rate of global sea level rise doubled during the past three decades, Communications Earth & Environment, 10.1038/s43247-024-01761-5 153 cites.

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Paleoclimate & paleogeochemistry

Constraints on Past CO2 and Climate Sensitivity From Global Temperature and Sea Level Reconstructions Across the Plio-Pleistocene, Köhler & Clark, Geophysical Research Letters Open Access 10.1029/2025gl120608

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: Expanded subsurface ocean anoxia in the Atlantic during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, Nature Communications, 10.1038/s41467-024-53423-x 15 cites.

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Biology & climate change, related geochemistry

Climate Change Experienced by Life on Earth—Drivers and Mechanisms of Future Trends in Microclimates, Wolters et al., BioScience 10.1641/0006-3568(2000)050[1089:eogcoa]2.0.co;2

Coordinated Leaf Trait Acclimation Reduces Simulated Global Photosynthesis Sensitivity to Elevated CO2 in a Land Surface Model, Bian et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences 10.1029/2026jg010127

Detecting long-term canopy change and vegetation shifts in northern peatlands using LAI and climate data, Burdun et al., Biogeosciences Open Access pdf 10.5194/bg-23-7289-2026

Dispersal Limitations Restrict Predicted Climate-Driven Biodiversity Dynamics Across North America, Meng et al., Global Ecology and Biogeography Open Access pdf 10.1111/geb.70321

Drought tolerance and mortality risk of European beech, Walthert et al., Agricultural and Forest Meteorology Open Access 10.1016/j.agrformet.2026.111541

Effects of climate change on marine biodiversity on the western Atlantic coast, Oliveira et al., Conservation Biology Open Access pdf 10.1111/cobi.70399

Escalating competition in changing seas: baleen whales exploit killer whale prey herding, Jourdain et al., Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences Open Access pdf 10.1098/rstb.2025.0197

Explainable artificial intelligence reveals spatially divergent effects of global change on mammals, Song et al., Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-026-78677-5

Global grassland productivity and carbon storage benefit from functional diversity under climate change, Wirth et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Open Access pdf 10.1073/pnas.2528067123

Hemispheric asymmetry in predicted range shifts of anti-tropical fish under future climate change, Zhang et al., Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-026-78577-8

No Net Increase in Ecosystem Water Limitation Under Greenhouse Warming, Xu et al., Earth s Future Open Access pdf 10.1029/2026ef008222

Norway spruce shows stronger growth sensitivity and weaker intrinsic water-use efficiency response than Scots pine under increasing water limitation in southern Finland, Szejner et al., Biogeosciences Open Access pdf 10.5194/bg-23-7223-2026

Persistent effects of experimental heatwave duration on population dynamics, Gruntz & Grainger, Biology Letters Open Access 10.1098/rsbl.2026.0444

Regime Shifts During Compound Drought-Heatwave Events Amplify Ecosystem and Heat Stress Risks, Yang & Tang, Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2026gl125653

Spatio-temporal dynamics of ringed seal density and habitat use in the Arctic's Last Ice Area, MacLean et al., Ecography Open Access 10.1002/ecog.08562

Thermal Generalism Shapes Tolerance to Extreme Heatwaves in Estuarine Fishes, Mitchell et al., Global Change Biology Open Access pdf 10.1111/gcb.71143

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: Global exposure risk of frogs to increasing environmental dryness, Nature Climate Change, 10.1038/s41558-024-02167-z 46 cites.

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GHG sources & sinks, flux, related geochemistry

Bedrock erodibility governs transient erosion and CO2 release in alpine landscapes, Marder et al., Science Advances Open Access 10.1126/sciadv.aei9275

Characterizing Point-Source Carbon Emissions by Combining TROPOMI CO and OCO CO2 Data, Leguijt et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres Open Access 10.1029/2025jd044636

Climate Warming Impaired the CO2 Sink Capacity and Efficiency in a Suaeda salsa-Dominated Salt Marsh, Wei et al., Global Change Biology 10.1111/gcb.71151

Cross-Network Synergies Fundamental to Sustained Global Ocean Carbon Observing, Sutton et al., Earth s Future Open Access pdf 10.1029/2026ef008722

Disentangling the drivers of soil CO2 ventilation in a Mediterranean dryland using in situ and remote sensing techniques, Abril-Gago et al., Biogeosciences Open Access pdf 10.5194/bg-23-2569-2026

Divergent Spatial and Temporal Sensitivities of Forest Biomass to Climate Challenge Space-For-Time Assumptions and Models, Yang & Anderegg, Ecology Letters Open Access 10.1111/ele.70466

Drivers and implications of declining fossil fuel CO2 concentrations in Chinese cities revealed by radiocarbon measurements, Li et al., Atmospheric chemistry and physics Open Access 10.5194/acp-26-5085-2026

Drivers of long-term grassland CO2 fluxes: effects of management and meteorological conditions during regrowth periods, Wang et al., Biogeosciences Open Access pdf 10.5194/bg-23-1625-2026

Eastern Arabian Sea Is a Perennial Source of CO2 With High Coastal Fluxes: Quantifying Key Drivers, Sherin & Gupta, Global Biogeochemical Cycles 10.1029/2024gb008368

Effects of disturbance on seasonal CO2 dynamics in two boreal forest sites underlain by permafrost, Vas et al., cryosphere Open Access pdf 10.5194/tc-20-2017-2026

Experimental Determination of the Global Warming Potential of Carbonyl Fluoride (COF2), Kim et al., Atmospheric chemistry and physics Open Access pdf 10.5194/acp-26-2707-2026

Experimental evidence of threshold-driven gas breakthrough in thawing permafrost, Shang et al., Frontiers in Environmental Science Open Access pdf 10.3389/fenvs.2026.1820261

Flash drought promotes decoupling of soil CO2 emissions and CH4 uptake in seasonal subtropical wetlands: A case study in Dongting Lake, Youxin et al., Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 10.1016/j.agrformet.2026.111542

Global Anthropogenic Methane Emissions: Bottom-Up Simulations of Current Trends and Scope for Future Mitigation, Höglund-Isaksson et al., Global Biogeochemical Cycles Open Access 10.1029/2026gb009471

Global mapping of disaggregated international trade-linked transportation CO2 emissions, Luo et al., Science Advances Open Access pdf 10.1126/sciadv.adz1670

Interpretable Machine Learning Reveals Global Nonlinear Responses of Soil Respiration to Climate, Laffitte et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2026gl124051

Linking sea–air and benthic methane fluxes across seasons in a tropical seagrass meadow of Taiwan, Tseng et al., Biogeosciences Open Access pdf 10.5194/bg-23-7309-2026

Methane Uptake by Inland Waters: Fact or Fiction?, Peacock & Webb, Global Biogeochemical Cycles Open Access pdf 10.1029/2026gb009212

Microbially Mediated Soil Carbon Sequestration Under Long-Term Increased Snow Cover: Divergent Mechanisms Between Topsoil and Subsoil in a Temperate Grassland, Ma et al., Earth s Future Open Access pdf 10.1029/2025ef007819

Net CO2 Emissions From Dry Inland Waters Persist in the Presence of Vegetation, Sharma et al., Global Biogeochemical Cycles Open Access 10.1029/2025gb008801

Rapid Increase in Geogenic CO2 Emissions from Antarctic Permafrost, Ruggiero et al., Global Biogeochemical Cycles Open Access pdf 10.1029/2026gb009134

Respiration-Induced Weakening of Land Sink Contributed to the Largest CO2 Increase in 2024, Dang et al., Global Change Biology 10.1111/gcb.70831

Soil Invertebrate Body Size Groups and Effect Magnitude Jointly Influence Global Soil CO2 Emissions, Liu et al., Global Change Biology 10.1111/gcb.70770

Symbiotic nitrogen fixation sustains carbon sinks under warming Tibetan permafrost region, Xu-Ri et al., Communications Earth & Environment Open Access pdf 10.1038/s43247-026-04085-8

UEx-L-Eddies: decadal and global long-lived mesoscale eddy trajectories with coincident air–sea CO2 fluxes and environmental conditions, Ford et al., Earth system science data Open Access pdf 10.5194/essd-18-969-2026

Wetland Expansion Reduces CO2-Equivalent Emissions and Strengthens the Congo Basin's Role as a Net Carbon Sink, Byrne et al., Global Change Biology Open Access pdf 10.1111/gcb.70746

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: The restoration of karst rocky desertification has enhanced the carbon sequestration capacity of the ecosystem in southern China, Global and Planetary Change, 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2024.104602 70 cites.

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CO2 capture, sequestration science & engineering

A Two-Phase Layered Model for Simulating Leakage Along Faults Considering the Blocking Effect of CO2 Exsolution, Jixing et al., Greenhouse Gases Science and Technology 10.1002/ghg.2384

Development and Application of a Simplified Method for Preliminary Assessment of Enhanced Oil Recovery and CO2 Geological Storage in Petroleum Reservoirs, Oliveira et al., Greenhouse Gases Science and Technology Open Access pdf 10.1002/ghg.70009

Electrified release of pure CO2 from postcapture liquid: A two-stage system lowers the total energy cost, Jung et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Open Access 10.1073/pnas.2528655123

Experimental and Numerical Investigation on Gas–Liquid Two-Phase Breakthrough Behavior of Wellbore Micro-Annuli in CO2 Geological Storage, Zhang et al., Greenhouse Gases Science and Technology 10.1002/ghg.70049

Impact of Wettability on CO2 Mineral Trapping in Carbonate Saline Aquifers: A Reactive Transport Simulation Study, Khoramian et al., Greenhouse Gases Science and Technology 10.1002/ghg.2387

It depends on the question: How survey format shapes the measurement of public attitudes to carbon capture and storage in Norway, Andersen et al., Energy Research & Social Science Open Access 10.1016/j.erss.2026.105032

Optimization of CaO–Ni Blends for Enhanced CO2 Adsorption: Aspen Plus Simulation Study, Sarmad et al., Greenhouse Gases Science and Technology Open Access pdf 10.1002/ghg.2385

Reductions in Climate Zone Changes Under Stratospheric Aerosol Injection Compared to Unabated Warming, Brunelli & Diamond, Earth s Future Open Access pdf 10.1029/2026ef008937

Salt Precipitation-Driven Rock Failure Mode Transition During Geological CO2 Sequestration, An et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2025gl120303

Simulation of CO2 Storage in a Low-Pressure Depleted Gas Reservoir and Economic Assessment of Multiphase CO2 Injection Strategies under Two Business Models of Storage Services, Ilham et al., Greenhouse Gases Science and Technology 10.1002/ghg.70027

Temporary carbon storage can mitigate slow-responding climate changes, Dickau & Matthews, Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-026-78620-8

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: A global assessment of mangrove soil organic carbon sources and implications for blue carbon credit, Nature Communications, 10.1038/s41467-024-53413-z 101 cites.

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Decarbonization

A multi-model analysis of hydrogen uptake in a climate-neutral Europe, Fattahi et al., Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-026-78681-9

Enviro-Economic Cement Production With Minimal CO2 Emissions: Implications to Net Zero Emissions, Rashid et al., Greenhouse Gases Science and Technology 10.1002/ghg.70013

Impact of proposed wind turbines on seismic monitoring stations at the Xiaolangdi Reservoir, Wei et al., Scientific Reports Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41598-026-75011-3

Market Integration Pathways for Enhanced Geothermal Systems in Europe, Franken et al., Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) Open Access 10.5281/zenodo.21778393

Revealing the Synergistic Drivers of Air Pollutants and CO2 Emissions Reduction in China's Resource-Based Industries, Sun et al., Greenhouse Gases Science and Technology Open Access pdf 10.1002/ghg.70014

Targeting high-value uses to unlock the mitigation potential of clean hydrogen, [authors did not process], Nature Climate Change 10.1038/s41558-026-02766-y

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: Impacts of renewable energy resources on the weather vulnerability of power systems, Nature Energy, 10.1038/s41560-024-01652-1 111 cites.

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Geoengineering climate

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: Early life stages of fish under ocean alkalinity enhancement in coastal plankton communities, Biogeosciences, 10.5194/bg-21-4521-2024 23 cites.

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Aerosols

Forcing closure suggests stronger aerosol forcing and higher climate sensitivity than the consensus, Yuan et al., Science Advances Open Access 10.1126/sciadv.aeh6401

Climate change communications & cognition

Climate change worry and generalized anxiety among high school students in a rural district of Türkiye: a cross-sectional study, Sa?lam, BMC Public Health Open Access 10.1186/s12889-026-29987-2

Local voices for a global cause – youth in climate movements in Poland, Gorczyca et al., Climate and Development 10.1080/17565529.2026.2748877

Political affiliation impacts climate attention and choice beyond extreme weather exposure, Wyss et al., Nature Climate Change Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41558-026-02765-z

Re-examining the prevalence of Self-focused Value Profiles and Their Relation to Climate Change Outcomes: Findings from the European Social Survey, Ward et al., Journal of Environmental Psychology 10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.103245

Reciprocal Associations Between Immigration Attitudes and Climate Change Concern: An 11-Year Longitudinal Study, Zong et al., Journal of Environmental Psychology Open Access 10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.103252

Risk in the eye of the beholder: Climate-risk perception and livelihood heterogeneity among indigenous Maya households, Gonzalez & López-Feldman, Climate Risk Management Open Access 10.1016/j.crm.2026.100899

Risk perception and decision-making during multiple climate hazards, Heimbach et al., Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Open Access pdf 10.1002/etc.3631

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: Climate emotions, thoughts, and plans among US adolescents and young adults: a cross-sectional descriptive survey and analysis by political party identification and self-reported exposure to severe weather events, The Lancet Planetary Health, 10.1016/s2542-5196(24)00229-8 85 cites.

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Agronomy, animal husbundry, food production & climate change

Behavioral Readiness for Climate-Smart Agriculture Adoption Among Smallholder Farmers in Southwest Ethiopia, Gafaro et al., Climate Resilience and Sustainability Open Access pdf 10.1002/cli2.70071

Developing a Climate Impact Indicator Framework for the UK Agri-Food Sector: A Literature Review and Stakeholder Co-Production Approach, Mollard et al., Climate Resilience and Sustainability Open Access 10.1002/cli2.70068

Editorial: Impact of climate change on plantation crops, Tsai et al., Tree Physiology Open Access pdf 10.1093/treephys/tpy026

Explaining Climatic Drivers of Yield Anomalies in Global Crop Models Through Metamodel-Based Attribution, Oberleitner et al., Earth s Future Open Access 10.1029/2025ef007457

Multi-scale feedback mechanism and synergistic governance of carbon emissions and fragmentation in cultivated land, Liu et al., Environment Development and Sustainability 10.1007/s10668-026-08233-0

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: Carbon farming in India: are the existing projects inclusive, additional, and permanent?, Climate Policy, 10.1080/14693062.2024.2416497 23 cites.

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Hydrology, hydrometeorology & climate change

Changes in Flood Frequency and Seasonality Across Midwestern U.S. Watersheds Under a Warming Climate: Insights From Convection-Permitting Climate Simulations and Physics-Based Hydrologic Models, Abbasian et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2026gl124622

Changes in precipitation seasonality over the Indochina Peninsula during 1981–2020: observational evidence and attribution of anthropogenic forcing, Zhang et al., Frontiers in Earth Science Open Access pdf 10.3389/feart.2026.1937024

Extreme discharge asymmetry over the Tibetan Plateau under a changing climate, XIE et al., Advances in Climate Change Research Open Access 10.1016/j.accre.2026.10.001

Flood Responses to Climate Warming on Tribal Lands Using High-Resolution Hydrodynamic Modeling, Pu et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2026gl124766

Intensification of East Asian summer extreme precipitation under a net-zero anthropogenic CO2 emission scenario, Paik et al., Science Advances Open Access 10.1126/sciadv.aec9366

Long-term changes in extreme precipitation and their non-stationary teleconnections with ENSO and PDO over Vietnam (1981–2024), Thien, Frontiers in Climate Open Access pdf 10.3389/fclim.2026.1899944

Projected intensification of soil salinization in global drylands under future aridity increase, Yu et al., Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-026-78622-6

Significant Spatiotemporal Asymmetry in Future Global Rainstorm Flood Risk, Zhao et al., Earth s Future Open Access pdf 10.1029/2025ef007148

Topology-aware and constraint-guided deep reinforcement learning for climate-resilient control of urban stormwater systems, Jing et al., Frontiers in Environmental Science Open Access pdf 10.3389/fenvs.2026.1963502

Variability and Attribution of the Surface Water Budget Under the Background of Warming and Wetting in Northwest China, Yang et al., International Journal of Climatology Open Access pdf 10.1002/joc.70599

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: Climate change impacts on hydrology and water resources in East Africa considering CMIP3, CMIP5, and CMIP6, Frontiers in Climate, 10.3389/fclim.2024.1453726 18 cites.

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Climate change and the circular economy

Material circularity implications of battery degradation in shared electric mobility, Yang et al., Nature Sustainability 10.1038/s41893-026-01969-7

Climate change mitigation public policy research

Assessment of Brazilian household consumption patterns and their associated CO2 emissions, Santos et al., Climate and Development 10.1080/17565529.2025.2509069

Combining climate policy instruments for a just transition to a climate-neutral economy, [authors did not process], Nature Climate Change 10.1038/s41558-026-02757-z

Translating EU renewable energy community policy under geopolitical constraint: An actor-network analysis of Cyprus, Kalemis et al., Energy Policy Open Access 10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115666

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: The key role of sufficiency for low demand-based carbon neutrality and energy security across Europe, Nature Communications, 10.1038/s41467-024-53393-0 65 cites.

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Climate change adaptation & adaptation public policy research

Adaptation Potential of Local Water Management Practices to Glacier Loss, Jésus et al., Earth s Future Open Access 10.1029/2026ef008697

Diminishing cooling returns of urban greening amid a warming climate, Leng et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Open Access 10.1073/pnas.2616535123

Intensifying Tropical Cyclones and Expanding Renewable Energy Call for Climate-Resilient Planning in China, Zhang et al., Earth s Future Open Access 10.1029/2026ef009261

Schools in a warming world: how climate change reveals institutional vulnerability, Draelants, Environmental Sociology 10.1080/23251042.2026.2750356

Supporting climate change adaptation worldwide: a web application for exploring uncertain future changes in water resources, Döll et al., Geoscience Communication Open Access pdf 10.5194/gc-9-473-2026

Synthesizing lessons from European adaptation pathways projects for climate resilience, Zorita et al., Environmental Science & Policy Open Access 10.1016/j.envsci.2026.104525

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: An analytical framework for assessing heat vulnerability in urban thermal environmental planning, Urban Climate, 10.1016/j.uclim.2024.102145 14 cites.

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Climate change impacts on human health

Impact of climate change on malaria incidence in Senegal and Nigeria: a machine learning approach, Diouf et al., Frontiers in Climate Open Access 10.3389/fclim.2026.1877760

Intensifying summer-monsoon human thermal stress across eastern China's major urban agglomerations, Iqbal et al., Urban Climate Open Access 10.1016/j.uclim.2026.103195

Projected climate extremes and health burden in Kenya to 2050: a scenario-based analysis under SSP245 and SSP585 pathways, Muchangi et al., Frontiers in Climate Open Access pdf 10.3389/fclim.2026.1890697

Rare diseases are an overlooked dimension in climate–health adaptation, Sasongko, Nature Climate Change 10.1038/s41558-026-02770-2

When climate risk enters the household: Climate disasters and intimate partner emotional violence, Chang et al., Climate Risk Management Open Access 10.1016/j.crm.2026.100898

[Comment] Early career insights on boundary crossing for planetary health and a just future, Kennedy et al., The Lancet Planetary Health Open Access 10.1016/j.lanplh.2026.101507

Climate change & geopolitics

Quantifying assets for the geopolitics of climate change mitigation, Pan et al., Nature Sustainability Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41893-026-01971-z

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: Measuring the climate security nexus: The Integrated Climate Security Framework, PLOS Climate, 10.1371/journal.pclm.0000280 13 cites.

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Other

Rebels in a changing climate: insurgent perspectives on disasters and the rise or fall of rebellion, Ide et al., Global Environmental Change Open Access 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2026.103250

The Cold Fresh Pulse in the Northwest Atlantic in 2023/2024, Gawarkiewicz et al., Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans Open Access 10.1029/2026jc024883

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: On the fidelity of high-resolution numerical weather forecasts of contrail-favorable conditions, Atmospheric Research, 10.1016/j.atmosres.2024.107663 13 cites.

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Informed opinion, nudges & major initiatives

Global emissions slow — but world hurtles towards 2 °C of warming, Dinneen, Nature 10.1038/d41586-026-03355-x

Most cited from this section, published 2 years ago: Over-reliance on land for carbon dioxide removal in net-zero climate pledges, Nature Communications, 10.1038/s41467-024-53466-0 51 cites.

Articles/Reports from Agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations Addressing Aspects of Climate Change

World Energy Transition Outlook 2026: 1.5°C Pathway, Collier et al., International Renewable Energy Agency

The global energy transition has entered a decisive new phase. Renewable energy deployment continues to break records, technology costs have fallen significantly and electrification is advancing across transport, buildings and industry. However, the authors found that this progress remains too slow and uneven. The central challenge is increasingly one of accelerating implementation: scaling renewable energy, electrification, energy efficiency, grids, storage and flexibility together, while maintaining energy security, affordability and public acceptance. Under IRENA’s revised 1.5°C Scenario, electricity’s share of global final energy consumption would rise from around 23% today to 35% by 2035 and more than 50% by 2050, supported by around 18.4 terawatts (TW) of renewable power capacity by 2035 and 38.2 TW by 2050. By 2050, electricity would account for around 77% of final energy use in buildings, 47% in transport and 42% in industry, with sustainable bioenergy, renewable hydrogen and other sustainable fuels complementing direct electrification in hard-to-abate contexts. Delivering this transformation would also require a major expansion of grids, storage and flexibility, alongside more than USD 256 trillion in cumulative investment and expenditure between 2026 and 2050 (i.e. around 10.3 trillion/year).

Dominion-NextEra merger plan may slow clean energy transition, Dennis Wamsted, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis

September’s revised merger agreement between Dominion Energy and NextEra includes clues about future resource decisions in Virginia that should concern state regulators, political leaders, and renewable energy proponents. Despite the success of the utility’s current offshore wind projects and promises of consumer fuel cost savings related to the renewable technology, the merger agreement fails to mention offshore wind at all. Prior to the merger announcement, developing additional offshore wind was clearly a consideration for Dominion, but NextEra largely dismisses offshore wind—meaning the merger could challenge the state’s renewable energy transition. NextEra is looking out for its shareholders first and foremost, and not Virginia ratepayers. Politicians, regulators, and energy advocates in the commonwealth need to keep that point front and center as they consider the massive merger proposal in the months ahead.

Risk Factors and Failure Statistics of Lithium Ion BESS, Srinivasan et al., Electric Power Research Institute

Lithium ion battery energy storage system (BESS) deployment has increased exponentially in the past few years. Failure incidents are rare, but understanding their risks is important to support continued improvements in BESS safety. The authors calculated the likelihood of failures and quantify failure consequences. The risk of BESS failures is compared with risk of failure of other energy infrastructure such as transformers. Several BESS design factors, including site architecture and chemistry, are analyzed to understand the effects to risk.

Sounding the Alarm, Inside Track

The authors are deeply concerned that the level of physical climate and environmental risk they are seeing is increasing at a dangerous rate. The frequency, severity, and unpredictability of hazards are broadly increasing, as are the exposure and vulnerability of many parts of society to these hazards. They are worried that the risk levels we are seeing either are not being communicated to or are not being properly internalized by government. Without intervention these physical risks will translate into major economic risk. The undermining of the mortgage market drove the Global Financial Crisis – they are worried a major increase in uninsured, high-risk properties could manifest in a similar way as climate effects intensify.

Headwaters Counties: A Water Economy (Colorado), Harvey Economics, Northwest Colorado Council of Governments

This study is an update to a 2012 Report that explores the relationship between water and economic activity in a portion of western Colorado where the interaction of precipitation, elevation, and location produces water for the Headwaters Region, much of Colorado, and the western United States. The current study focuses on what has changed in the intervening 15 years for the Headwaters Counties, documenting the relationship between water and the Headwaters Counties’ economies due to new and evolving influences. One of these influences includes increased Understanding of climate change and its' effects on Headwaters Counties’ water users.

30X30 Global Assessment 2026, Campaign for Nature, Campaign for Nature and Together for the Ocean

The authors assess where global progress toward 30x30 stands today, what current trajectories imply for 2030, why implementation is not on track, and which priorities can accelerate delivery. Under the 2022 Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted Target 3, commonly known as 30x30: the effective protection and conservation of at least 30 percent of land, inland waters, marine and coastal areas by 2030 through protected areas, Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs), recognizing Indigenous and Traditional Territories where applicable, while respecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

Ocean Protection Gap Report 2026, Chia et al., Together for the Ocean

In 2026, the world passed an important milestone: more than 10% of the ocean is now reported as protected or conserved, up from 8.6% in 2025. However, progress remains far off track from the global target to protect and conserve at least 30% of the ocean by 2030 (30x30). At the recent historical pace, global coverage would reach only around 15% by 2030, halfway to the target. The expansion of marine protected and conserved areas is also not yet matched by the conditions needed to deliver effective implementation. Only 3.5% of the ocean is assessed and deemed to be effectively protected. While protection of key marine habitats is relatively high on paper, only a small share is assessed as being effectively protected: 33% of mangroves are reported as protected, but just 0.3% are fully or highly protected; for seagrass the figures are 34% and 1.1%, respectively; and while 47% of warm-water corals fall within protected areas, less than 10% are fully or highly protected.

The Affordability Advantage: How Virtual Power Plants Can Alleviate Household Electricity Bill Pressure, Volume I: Summary Report, Ryan Hledik and Kailin Graham, Brattle Group

Over the past five years, electricity prices have risen faster than an already elevated rate of inflation, increasing household electricity bills and putting renewed pressure on utilities, regulators, and policymakers to address affordability. The authors evaluate how aggregating flexible household technologies—including smart thermostats, electric vehicles, and behind-the-meter batteries—could reduce system costs and translate those savings into lower electricity bills for customers.

Clean Jobs America Initial Findings: Nearly 37,000 Clean Energy Jobs Lost in 2025, Timberlake et al., E2

The U.S. clean energy workforce fell by nearly 37,000 jobs last year to 3.52 million. It was the first annual job loss in the U.S. clean economy since the pandemic-driven economic crisis, ending four consecutive years of strong growth. The reversal coincided with the sharp increase in clean energy project cancellations since the Trump administration and Congress began ending and rolling back federal support for clean energy and electric vehicles beginning in January 2025.

Emergency Management Organizational Structures, Staffing, and Capacity Finding Study, National Preparedness Analytics Center, Argonne National Laboratory

The study is the most comprehensive effort to capture foundational data about public sector emergency management (EM) agencies to date. It includes quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis examining what EM agencies look like nationwide, the challenges they face, their directors’ strategic and tactical aspirations, and the relationship between agency characteristics and successful outcomes.

The Myth of “Baseload” Power in Modern Power Grids, Jennifer Danis and Christoph Graf, Institute for Policy Integrity

the authors the term “baseload” power, together with other reliability-related energy concepts that are often used interchangeably, or in various combinations, to describe the resources’ role in electricity markets and regarding grid reliability. They also discuss why, despite the rhetoric indicating that electric grid reliability is at risk because of retiring “baseload,” “dispatchable,” or “firm” resources, these terms have distinct meanings for reliability in a diversely resourced grid.

Global Hunger Index. No Security Without Food Security, Deutsche Welthungerhilfe, Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict and Helvetas

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) measures and compares the extent of various hunger indicators such as undernourishment and child mortality each year—worldwide, across regions, and in individual countries. Welthungerhilfe (WHH) releases the index annually with global, regional, and national figures. It aims to draw greater attention to the commitment to end hunger, to show in which regions of the world additional resources are most urgently needed, and to provide recommendations for action to eradicate hunger. Lower GHI scores indicate less hunger. Higher scores indicate more.

Global Estimate of Marine Oil Pollution, Skytruth

Marine oil pollution is a chronic and widespread global problem. Based on new model estimates, approximately 1.58 million km² of the world's ocean are covered in oil slicks each year from vessels and offshore platforms. Despite their protected status, many sensitive areas show some level of oil pollution. Oil pollution is occurring in many marine protected areas (MPAs), despite their designation. This can occur when slicks drift in from vessels and platforms operating outside the borders of protected areas. Certain sensitive areas are heavily impacted by oil pollution. Three of the most polluted Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMA) occur in the Mediterranean Sea. Pollution is largely caused by vessel traffic and concentrated in specific fleets. Vessels are associated with about 81% of the estimated annual oil slick area that can be attributed to a source, including both AIS-tracked vessels and dark vessels, while offshore oil infrastructure is associated with about 18%. Tankers and cargo vessels are the dominant types of polluting vessels.

The Climate-Exposed Workforce: Expectations, Responsibility and Trust at Work, Anthony Langlois and Astghik Mavisakalyan, The Curtin Centre for Applied Ethics

What do Australian employees expect of their employers in a time of disruptive climate change? Drawing on a national survey of 2,048 working Australians, the authors examine what employees expect of business, how far they trust corporate climate claims, and what they are prepared to do about it.

2026 Healthy NDC Scorecard. A global assessment of how comprehensively health is integrated into national climate plans (NDCs), Global Climate and Health Alliance

The 2026 Healthy NDC Scorecards assess the extent to which governments’ national climate commitments recognise and respond to the abundant linkages with health. Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs, are climate action plans that countries submit every five years under the Paris Agreement. Using a point-based method, 117 NDCs detailing the climate plans of 132 countries were evaluated based on how frequently, where, and how effectively they include health-related issues across eight key categories: health impacts; air pollution; health sector action; health co-benefits; just transition; integrated governance; economics and finance; and, monitoring and implementation.

Hidden assets. The economic and health case for climate and clean air action, Dietz et al., United Nations Environment Program

Climate change and air pollution share many of the same sources, yet are almost always assessed separately. This Assessment corrects that. The authors evaluate 25 proven solutions across energy, industry, transport, agriculture, cooking and waste, and finds that integrated action delivers more than acting on either alone. Every dollar invested returns around 15 dollars, an internal rate of return of 60 per cent, with market returns exceeding costs within ten years. By 2050 the solutions could avoid 144 million premature deaths and hundreds of millions of cases of chronic disease. The chief obstacles are often neither technical nor economic, but institutional. Investment in enabling conditions can bring full implementation forward by up to a decade, worth up to US$10 trillion in savings by 2040. Every region benefits. Benefit-cost ratios range from three in high-income regions to 26 in Southern Africa. Every year of delay forgoes more than US$1.5 trillion.

Impact of Climate and Environmental Change on Brain Health, Matonte et al., NeuroClimate Working Group

Excessive heat impairs cognition, neurological function, mental wellbeing, and sleep, raises the risk of neurological diseases and self-harm, and is associated with an increase in emergency department visits for numerous psychiatric disorders. Extreme weather events bring injury, trauma, displacement, disrupted care, and chronic stress, with neurological and psychological consequences outlasting disasters years after they arrive. Air pollution increases the risk of stroke, neurodevelopmental disorders, neurodegeneration, and cognitive decline, and is estimated to contribute to roughly one in four dementia deaths worldwide. Food insecurity impairs brain development, cognition, and mental well-being, with the most severe impacts occurring in the critical first 1,000 days of life, perhaps the most important neurodevelopmental period. Soil and water contamination raise exposure to arsenic, pesticides, plastics, and heavy metals like lead and mercury: all neurotoxicants that act on neurological development and function across the lifespan.

An Inflection Point for the U.S. Power Sector, Tom Taylor and Rachel Reolfi, Atlas Public Policy and the Environmental Defense Fund

The authors found that America’s power pipeline is shifting sharply toward fossil fuels after years of clean power growth. Clean energy still dominates new power coming online today, reflecting projects planned and developed over several years. finding that America’s power pipeline is shifting sharply toward fossil fuels after years of clean power growth. Clean energy still dominates new power coming online today, reflecting projects planned and developed over several years. Fossil power development is accelerating as clean power faces growing headwinds. Aging coal plants are staying online longer. A fossil-heavy buildout could significantly raise electricity costs.

Oregon Data Center Advisory Committee: Preliminary Learnings and Questions Document, Oregon Data Center Advisory Committee

This document does not contain the Committee’s final recommendations. Instead, it provides a foundation for continued discussion and public comment. Following review of additional information and public input, the Committee expects to submit final recommendations to the Governor before the end of 2026. The Committee has reached the collective understanding that Oregon must consider the individual effects of data centers at the local level, the cumulative effects of multiple facilities operating in the same community, airshed, basin, or energy system, and the industry’s role in Oregon.

Financing the AI Buildout, Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Fall 2026

The author combines three elements. First, he quantifies the physical and financial scale of the AI infrastructure buildout and compares it with earlier U.S. infrastructure booms. Second, he describes the emerging capital stack, including the growing roles of third-party ownership, leases, project finance, private credit, and structured-finance vehicles, and uses Meta’s Hyperion transaction to illustrate these arrangements in detail. Third, he analyzes how this financial architecture allocates and potentially amplifies technological, operating, and demand risk, with particular attention to asset-level leverage, contingent obligations, and the visibility of exposures outside hyperscaler balance sheets.

Statewide Summary: California’s Fifth Climate Change Assessment, Becker Lowe et al., California Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation

The Statewide Summary provides a high-level overview of key findings from across the Fifth Assessment’s research and data, and other relevant sources. It serves as an entry point to understanding the breadth of climate effects across California, and potential paths to build resilience based on the best available science and information. California will experience rising temperatures across the century. California will experience greater precipitation variability and more “climate whiplash.” California’s snowpack will decline substantially, affecting downstream water systems, local economies, and ecosystems. Climate change is reshaping California’s seasons, altering the timing, duration, and intensity of seasonal conditions. Wildfire smoke exposure and associated health risks are increasing. Extreme heat events are growing longer and more frequent. Climate risks are not distributed equally across California communities.

Geostationary Weather Satellites: Next Generation Program Challenges Put Vital Observations at Risk, Walsh et al., Government Accountability Office

Geostationary weather satellites provide critical information on atmospheric conditions, including severe storms and hurricanes. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is working on acquiring the next generation of these satellites, called GeoXO. Starting in 2025, NOAA restructured the GeoXO program. It reduced the number of satellites and cut costs from $19.6 billion to $13 billion. But this program needs to document its new cost estimates. It also needs to fully incorporate lessons learned from prior programs—including contingency planning to address gaps in satellite weather data.

Emissions Gap Report 2026: The point of return – Urgent emissions cuts needed to come back from overshoot of 1.5°C, Olhoff et al., United Nations Environment Programme

The authors detail the cuts to emissions needed by 2030, 2035 and 2040 to get on a return pathway — finding that the cuts needed are far above what current Nationally Determined Contributions deliver. However, the authors find that it is possible to close this emissions gap — pointing to many successful climate policies that have already delivered real-world emissions cuts and could be scaled up globally to accelerate action. About New Research

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The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today demanded that a U.S. manufacturer of electroshock weapons stop sending its devices to Israel following an investigative report revealing their systematic use in the torture and abuse of Palestinian detainees.

According to an investigation published by The Guardian and Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, American company Axon Enterprise (formerly Taser International) has continued to supply electroshock Taser weapons and accessories to Israeli security forces despite mounting documentation that these devices are deployed inside detention facilities to inflict severe physical abuse.

Released detainees interviewed in the report detailed horrific accounts of being tightly restrained, doused with water to intensify electric shocks, and repeatedly tortured, leaving lasting physical and psychological scars.

The investigation also highlighted findings from the UN Committee Against Torture regarding a sharp escalation of abuse, sexualized torture, and electrocution inside Israeli detention facilities since October 2023, alongside similar documentation by human rights organizations like Amnesty International.

In a statement, Washington, D.C.-based CAIR said:

"It is unconscionable that equipment manufactured by an American corporation is reportedly being used to carry out acts of torture and abuse against detained Palestinians. Axon must immediately halt all current and future contracts, shipments, and servicing of electroshock weapons to Israeli authorities. Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Commerce must rigorously enforce export oversight criteria to block the transfer of technologies to governments implicated in systemic human rights violations."

Dapperly dressed in black, white, and glacial gray, the Northern Shrike might pass as any other songbird. But don’t be fooled—it's also a brutal killer. With a bold black mask and hooked bill...

Bill would give Interior Secretary Doug Burgum a two-year window to approve projects a future president could not undo

DENVER — A bipartisan permitting bill headed for a Senate vote right after the election would give President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum two years to approve data centers, nuclear facilities, and fossil fuel projects on public lands, then make those approvals nearly impossible to reverse, according to a new analysis from the Center for Western Priorities.

The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, written and sponsored by Senators Mike Lee, Shelley Moore Capito, Martin Heinrich, and Sheldon Whitehouse would be disastrous for public lands:

• Industry lock-in: Section 1401 bars agencies from altering any permit in effect on or after September 16, 2026, unless they meet a “clear and convincing evidence” standard far higher than agencies normally face.
• Public lock-out: Courts could no longer pause projects with botched environmental reviews. Construction would continue while reviews are redone, agencies could not act on what they find, and challengers would get just 150 days to sue.
• Taxpayer price tag: Section 1402 would make taxpayers pay developers 50 to 100 percent of construction costs if a future administration slows a whole category of projects, such as gas plants or nuclear fuel facilities, with money drawn from a Treasury fund that requires no vote of Congress.

Burgum’s Interior Department is already reviewing applications for around 17 data centers on public lands, and it attempted to approve the first one by skipping environmental review and public comment entirely. If this bill passes, that could become the norm for permitting data centers on public lands. The bill would shield permits issued by the Trump administration for everything from drilling to nuclear waste storage on public lands from revocation by a future administration, while Trump’s cancellations of wind and solar projects would remain in place. The bill also rewrites the National Historic Preservation Act, drawing opposition from nine national Tribal organizations and the All Pueblo Council of Governors.

The Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Executive Director Aaron Weiss.

“Senator Heinrich says his bill ‘will age very well over time.’ As it’s currently written, it will indeed age, locking in data centers and a new nuclear legacy on our public lands for generations—after all, the half-life of plutonium-239 is about 24,000 years.

“Any permitting deal passed under this administration must strengthen the guardrails that keep Burgum and Trump in check, not hand them a blank check. Senator Heinrich should pump the brakes on this bill during the lame duck session and work with leaders in the next Congress to get it right.”

Read our full analysis of the bill on Westwise.

Learn more:

• New map tracks data center applications moving through BLM’s pipeline – Center for Western Priorities
• 6 threats to public lands in the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act – The Wilderness Society
• NRDC Assessment of BAAJA, the 2026 Permitting and Transmission Bill – National Resources Defense Council
• Hard Questions About the Permitting Bill – National Resources Defense Council

 

Feature image: The Utah Data Center located in Bluffdale, Utah; Swilsonmc/Wikimedia Commons 

 

The post Senate permitting bill would cut the public out of public lands and lock in Trump-era data center, nuclear, and fossil fuel approvals appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

The nation’s largest and most profitable corporations paid an average federal income tax rate of just 10.4 percent in 2025, the lowest rate documented in more than four decades of research by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), according to a new study released today.

The study examines the current federal income taxes of 706 major U.S. corporations that collectively reported $1.88 trillion in domestic profits last year. Despite these enormous earnings, the companies collectively paid less than half the statutory federal corporate income tax rate of 21 percent, and 114 paid no current federal income tax at all.

The findings illustrate the combined effects of two rounds of corporate tax cuts enacted under President Trump: the 2017 tax law, which slashed the statutory corporate income tax rate from 35 to 21 percent, and the 2025 tax law, which expanded and made permanent lucrative corporate tax breaks.

Among the study’s key findings:

• 114 corporations paid no current federal income tax in 2025, including well-known companies such as Tesla, Walt Disney, CVS, Citigroup, United Airlines, and DoorDash.
• 258 corporations paid effective tax rates below 7 percent, or less than one-third of the statutory rate. Together, these companies reported $683 billion in U.S. profits but paid an effective federal income tax rate of just 1.7 percent.
• The 706 corporations studied received $198 billion in federal tax subsidies by paying less than the statutory 21 percent rate. They also benefited from an additional $263 billion in tax savings attributable to the 2017 reduction of the statutory rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.
• Just 25 corporations accounted for more than half of the 2025 tax subsidies. Alphabet ($18.9 billion), Microsoft ($18.7 billion), Amazon ($17.4 billion), and Meta ($13.9 billion) were among the largest beneficiaries.

“These findings show just how dramatically the corporate tax system has been tilted in favor of the nation’s wealthiest and most powerful companies,” said Matt Gardner, ITEP Senior Fellow and co-author of the report. “At a time when lawmakers claim the country cannot afford investments in families and communities, some of the most profitable corporations in American history are paying little or nothing in federal income taxes. This is not an accident. It is the predictable outcome of deliberate policy choices that have steadily eroded the corporate tax base.”

The study finds that corporate tax avoidance is particularly pronounced in several industries. Technology companies collectively paid an effective federal income tax rate of just 10 percent, receiving $68.5 billion in federal tax subsidies. Motor vehicle companies paid just 2.7 percent, while telecommunications companies paid 6.7 percent and aerospace companies paid 7.6 percent.

The research also documents how corporate tax breaks enacted or expanded in Trump’s 2025 tax law have helped some of the nation’s largest tech companies dramatically reduce their tax bills. Provisions allowing companies to immediately deduct investments in equipment and research have provided substantial benefits to corporations making massive investments in artificial intelligence and other technologies.

While these subsidies are frequently promoted as necessary to encourage investment, the report raises questions about why highly profitable corporations should receive billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies for spending they may have undertaken regardless.

“Congress has repeatedly chosen to expand tax breaks for corporations that are already extraordinarily profitable,” said Steve Wamhoff, ITEP Federal Policy Director and co-author of the report. “Rather than continuing to subsidize corporate investments and reward aggressive tax avoidance, lawmakers should close these loopholes and ensure that large corporations pay a meaningful share of their profits in taxes.”

ITEP’s analysis draws on annual financial reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by corporations in the Fortune 1000 or S&P 500. The study calculates effective federal income tax rates based on companies’ reported current federal income tax expense relative to their U.S. pretax profits.

The findings continue a series of corporate tax studies conducted by ITEP and Citizens for Tax Justice over more than four decades. The 10.4 percent effective rate in 2025 is even lower than the 11.2 percent rate documented in 1982 following President Reagan’s first round of corporate tax cuts, and the 11.3 percent rate reported in 2018 following Trump’s first tax law.

In December 2025, former B.C. Premier Christy Clark gave an interview on Global News where she described Canada’s west coast ban on oil tankers as a “ridiculous” constraint on the Canadian economy.

A clip of Clark’s interview then began to circulate online, where it was shared by several Canadian conservative influencers and aggregator accounts on platforms including X and Facebook with captions including “reality check,” “huge truth bomb” and “economic self-sabotage.”

Within days, the interview clip was spreading across the social media feeds of people in B.C. and beyond, eventually surpassing 1.6 million views.

But this was not necessarily a case of west coast residents suddenly deciding organically they wanted to overturn the ban on coastal oil tanker traffic brought in by former Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The digital media amplification of Clark’s comments was orchestrated in part by Canada Action, a pro-oil industry advocacy organization partly funded by Cenovus Energy, Canada’s third-largest oil and gas company.

It was one example of “showcasing Canada Action’s content leadership influencing the public discussion,” according to an internal slidedeck from the Calgary-based group. That slidedeck, which hasn’t yet been reported on, was obtained by Greenpeace Canada and published in its October 2026 report Manufacturing Petro-Populism.

Screenshot from a Canada Action Slidedeck called “Extended Third Party Reach: Showcasing Canada Action’s content leadership influencing the public discussion”.

These and other presentation slides from Canada Action demonstrate how fossil fuel interests manufacture the appearance of consent for increased oil and gas production in Canada, according to experts who study the spread of climate disinformation online.

“Most people can pretty easily see through messages coming directly from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) or industry CEOs,” said Shane Gunster, a professor at Simon Fraser University’s School of Communications, in a statement to DeSmog. 

“But when the message comes from people in their social network, local business leaders, their family and friends, they’re far more likely to engage with it and maybe even be persuaded by it. And this is especially true for growing segments of the public that don’t consume a lot of news.”

Canada Action didn’t respond to DeSmog’s questions about the slidedeck.

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Canada Action was founded in 2012 by Cody Battershill, a Calgary-based realtor. Though Canada Action claims to be a grassroots effort, it has numerous reported ties to the fossil fuel sector and its lobbyists. According to the Greenpeace report, Canada Action spent $1.9 million CAD on marketing in 2024, and $1.5 million CAD in 2023.

The presentations were made in the context of a funder session for the group Canadian Energy Prosperity (CEP), through its Energy in Action (EIA) initiative, and held at the Calgary Petroleum Club in January 2026.

According to the Greenpeace report, Energy in Action is an oil-industry backed network of thirty organizations that advocate for the fossil fuel sector, including front groups, charitable organizations, companies, media organizations and lobby groups. EIA is itself funded by Canadian Energy Prosperity.

Though neither of these are public facing organizations, members of EIA’s network are prominent pro-oil and gas voices in Canada. They include, among others, the Fraser Institute, Canada Action, Energy United, Debunk, Canadians for Affordable Energy, Young Canadians for Resources, Resource Works, Energy Creates, and The News Forum.
 

Two of those organizations, Resource Works and Energy United, prepared a slidedeck for the Calgary Petroleum Club event describing environmental groups as “opponents” and Indigenous rights as a “problem,” as reported previously in the Narwhal.

 Many of the groups that are funded by CEP also receive funding from Gwyn Morgan, a Canadian fracking magnate who has financed a climate misinformation ecosystem with nearly $10 million in funding to right wing anti-regulation lobby groups. Morgan is also linked to Cenovus (which has funded Canada Action), as well as Second Street, a libertarian advocacy organization.

In its presentation to CEP, Canada Action explained how it was able to manufacture viral pro-oil content online from a December 1 interview former B.C. Premier Clark gave to Global News.

First, Canada Action explained, “we snipped and posted a critically important message from former B.C. Premier Christy Clark, highlighting the importance of revisiting the federal tanker ban.”

Then, the group “modified the video to add the ‘On the Oil Tanker Ban’ text on the video, so any other video containing that graphic can be directly attributed to stemming from our post.”

Screenshot from a Canada Action Slidedeck called “Extended Third Party Reach: Showcasing Canada Action’s content leadership influencing the public discussion”.

Canada Action carefully tracked “other major pages who have taken our content and then directly re-uploaded it on their platforms as a new post on their page.”

One of these reposts was from the page Debunk, Inc., which characterized Clark’s comments as explaining “why the Pacific tanker bank is pointless.” That post garnered thousands of likes and comments. In a separate slide presentation obtained by Greenpeace, Debunk stated that “the energy narrative is ours to shape. With your continued support we will continue to challenge the myths, engage Canadians, and advocate for the energy future our country deserves.”

All told, the Clark clip generated 1,614,000 views across Canada Action’s social media pages as well as “unattributed traffic” due to the video being shared by third-party accounts, according to metrics shared by the group.

In a separate slide deck, titled “Digital Reach Report: April 2026 Social Media & Website Views & Impression”, Canada Action indicated its social media content received over 37.5 million views. The bulk of its monthly impressions came from one of its three Twitter accounts — @LNGAction, @OilSandsAction, and @CanadaAction — which together brought in over 25 million views.

Amplification Machine

Canada Action has considerable social media reach, noting in its presentation that its Facebook and Instagram posts “are being reached and interacted with by millions of unique Canadians.” Indeed, according to its presentation slides, the Canada Action Facebook page drew 2.8 million unique people while the Oil Sands Action Facebook page drew 1.4 million. On Instagram, Canada Action claimed to have attracted 559,000 while Oil Sands Action drew 476,000.

Canada Action uses its sizable digital imprint to amplify other groups in the CEP network, including Young Canadians for Resources, its youth advocacy arm.

The Canada Action presentation also highlights a  partnership with Resource Works “to amplify the economic leadership of 5 Mayors from the Alliance of Resource Communities,” an effort to build public support for oil and gas and other natural resource projects in B.C.  “We can now say that we are the LNG capital of Canada,” Kitimat mayor Phil Germuth stated in one Facebook post. At the time the screenshot was taken, that post had garnered 6,600 likes, 490 comments, and was forwarded 274 times.

Resource Works is also identified in the Greenpeace report as an organization with ties to the fossil fuel sector. DeSmog has previously reported that the organization has been involved in other influence campaigns, including an astroturf campaign to oppose a ban on natural gas that involved template comments for restaurant owners, hospitality workers and residents of Vancouver.

Gunster argues that the sorts of digital campaigns led by Canada Action and its allies have influenced how Canadians think and feel about the oil and gas sector.

“Look at the big swings in public opinion in favour of oil and gas projects over the past year-and-a-half,” said Gunster. “Some of that is obviously Trump and the trade war, and some of that is the Carney government. But I have no doubt that the kinds of campaigns described in this [Greenpeace] report are also having a significant impact, saturating our social media feeds with pro-industry messaging.” 

DeSmog reached out to Christy Clark and Global News to determine whether Canada Action had asked permission to use the video clip and still images in their promotional materials. Neither responded.

The post ‘Snipped And Posted’: How Pro-Oil Groups Generate Viral Content Online appeared first on DeSmog.

The board of the UN’s Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage agreed on Thursday to set aside $20 million to help Nepal recover from the devastating climate-driven flood it suffered in August.

At an extraordinary online meeting, board members unanimously invited Nepal’s government to submit a proposal for how to use the money, which will be considered at a future board meeting.

The board’s co-chair Camila Minerva Rodriguez described the decision as “truly historic” as it is the first time the new fund has allocated any money since it was set up three years ago. It is expected to approve its first set of projects at its next board meeting in December.

Maheshwar Dhakal, a senior official at Nepal’s climate ministry, told the meeting the decision was “a powerful expression of humanity, compassion, solidarity and hope” and, for the flood victims, a “recognition of their suffering, respect for their dignity and hope that they are not alone in their darkest hour”.

A woman carries belongings recovered from her destroyed home following flash floods, on August 29, 2026 in Devighat, Nepal. (Photo: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)

While board members were united in approving the $20 million, plus $1.6 million of administrative costs, representatives of developed and developed countries were divided over the extent to which the decision should set a precedent for the fund’s long-term way of operating.

Germany and Czechia’s board members said it should not set a “precedent” while Japan’s representative said the decision is “truly exceptional” and that the fund’s support must be “in accordance with established rule and procedure”.

Learning the lessons?

Responding, Pakistan’s Ali Sheikh said the lessons from the Nepal case should “feed the long-term model and its work on rapid disbursement” of funds.

He added that he had heard Jan Dusik, Czechia’s board member saying that “we are open for learning but not in setting precedent”. “Please do not define the boundaries for learning,” he emphasised.

Sheikh complained that the decision approved by the board – the result of negotiations between a group of four developed and four developing-country representatives – was narrower than developing countries had hoped for.

“We are saying it is a one-time and Nepal-only window, a sentiment against which many developed countries have raised their voice,” he said, adding there had been no time to review the decision.

Walter Schuldt from Ecuador echoed Sheikh, saying “we should not put limits on lesson learning”. He said the decision, which he was involved in negotiating through “intense exchanges”, tells the fund’s staff to assess the lessons learned.

The fund is currently in a start-up phase and the board will debate its long-term model – including whether and how to rapidly disburse funds in response to climate-driven disasters – at its next board meeting in the Philippines in December.

At Thursday’s meeting, several developing-country board members called for wealthy nations to put more money into the fund. Recovery and reconstruction from Nepal’s flood alone is estimated to cost $4.8 billion – in comparison, the fund has only around $350 million available to allocate to countries, with a current cap of $20 million per project.

Climate justice experts welcomed the decision to allocate money to Nepal as a sign of solidarity but lamented that it came only after significant pressure and is a tiny amount compared with the country’s recovery needs.

“Setting aside millions is not the same as delivering billions,” said Lien Vandamme, a climate justice campaigner with the Centre for International Environmental Law. “What’s clear is that a fund that is desperately under-resourced will remain toothless in the face of escalating climate disasters.”

Editor’s Desk: Nepal’s disaster has laid bare the world’s adaptation accountability gap

Communities on the frontline of those disasters are owed reparations “as a matter of legal obligation”, she added, referring to last year’s advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice which made clear that states most responsible for the climate crisis have a duty to repair the harm it causes.

Brandon Wu, director of policy and campaigns with ActionAid USA, noted that three years after being established, the loss and damage fund has yet to send any money to countries hit by climate impacts and has not provided a concrete timeline for paying out the money it reserved for Nepal this week.

“If the fund were adequately resourced, an immediate disbursement to Nepal would be an absolute no-brainer. But it seems rich countries are terrified that the fund – which has received a paltry $500 million to date – will run dry, thus putting more pressure on them to provide the money they owe,” he added.

This story was updated after publication to add comment from climate justice campaigners.

The post Loss and damage fund agrees $20m for Nepal but rich nations warn it should not set precedent appeared first on Climate Home News.

EWG evaluation of food chemicals: Seven artificial dyes rcoleman October 22, 2026 Jump to: What are artificial dyes and why are they added to foods? Where are artificial dyes found in foods? What is the regulatory status of artificial dyes? Are foods containing artificial dyes ultra-processed? Are artificial dyes allowed in organic foods? What are the potential health harms associated with artificial dyes? Uncertainties/where more research is needed More details about artificial dyes Cited resources October 23, 2026 EWG’s recommendation

Petroleum-based, synthetic dyes, including Blue Dye No. 1, Blue Dye No. 2, Green Dye No. 3, Red Dye No. 3, Red Dye No. 40, Yellow Dye No. 5 and Yellow Dye No. 6, are ingredients of concern. 

EWG suggests limiting consumption of food that contains them. 

Human and animal studies suggest artificial food dyes may affect behavior and learning, particularly in children. A 2021 assessment by the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard, or OEHHA, linked these dyes to adverse behavioral outcomes in children both with and without preexisting behavioral difficulties. 

Animal studies have concluded that prenatal exposure to synthetic food dye mixtures can produce lasting changes in offspring behavior, including altered activity levels and measures of anxiety-like behavior and exploration.

Red 3 has been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals exposed to high doses, prompting the Food and Drug Administration in 2025 to finally revoke its authorization of the dye for use in food. 

Science analysis

What are artificial dyes and why are they added to foods?

Artificial dyes are added to processed foods to give them color, restore color lost during processing, and make them visually appealing. 

Six synthetic food dyes are authorized for general use in U.S. food: Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Red 40, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6. Red 3, another petroleum-derived synthetic dye, is currently being phased out. 

Ingredient nameSynonymEuropean numberRed 40Allura Red ACE129*Red 3ErythrosineE127Yellow 5TartrazineE102*Yellow 6Sunset Yellow FCFE110*Blue 1Brilliant Blue FCFE133Blue 2Indigotine / Indigo CarmineE132Green 3Fast Green FCFE143 (Not authorized in the EU)

* Must carry a warning label in the EU.

Where are artificial dyes found in foods?

Artificial dyes are most commonly added to candy, baked goods, desserts, beverages, breakfast cereal and other snacks.

They are found in 23,312 of the 172,081 foods and beverages added to EWG’s Food Scores between 2023 and 2025.

The 15 food categories with the most products containing food dyes (by supermarket shelf):

Image

Source: EWG’s Food Scores. Label created between January 2023 and October 2025.

What is the regulatory status of artificial dyes?

In 2025, the FDA revoked the use of Red 3 in food products and oral medication on the basis of the Delaney Clause, which bans authorization of a food or color additive found to induce cancer in humans or animals. Red 3 must be phased out of all food products by January 15, 2027. 

In 2025, the FDA announced plans to work with manufacturers to phase out the remaining six artificial dyes in foods by the end of 2027.

Bills have been enacted in California, Utah, Arizona, Virginia and other states to ban Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Red 40, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 in food sold in public schools. And in 2025, West Virginia enacted a bill to ban these artificial dyes statewide.

Food containing Red 40, Yellow 5 or Yellow 6 sold in the European Union must carry a warning label stating the dye “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.” The EU doesn’t allow the use of Green 3 as a food additive.

In 2025, EWG supported the Ban Harmful Food Dyes Act, a bill in Congress which aimed to revoke approval for use of Blue 1, Blue 2, Citrus Red No. 2, Green 3, Orange B, Red 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, titanium dioxide and any additive similar in chemical makeup. The FDA revoked authorization for Orange B in 2026, and proposed revoking authorization for Citrus Red 2.

Are foods containing artificial dyes ultra-processed?

Industrially synthesized ingredients such as artificial food dyes are common in ingredients defined as ultra-processed food, or UPF, ingredients in the Nova framework (Monteiro et al., 2019).

Under a recent California law defining UPF, food containing artificial dyes is considered UPF (Real Food, Healthy Kids Act, 2025). 

Are artificial dyes allowed in organic foods?

Under Agriculture Department organic standards, synthetic substances are banned in certified organic foods. 

What are the potential health harms associated with artificial dyes?

Thorough review by the OEHHA found artificial food dyes are linked to adverse behavioral outcomes in children both with and without preexisting behavioral disorders (OEHHA, 2021), which is of particular importance since foods containing artificial food dyes are typically marketed to children (Dunford et al. 2025). 

Although mixtures of all seven food dyes produced observed effects across studies, the most evidence of toxicity comes from studies of Red 3, Red 40 and Yellow 5. Reviewed studies support the evidence of their behavior and learning effects. 

The research found changes in the behavior and learning of children exposed to artificial food dyes, both when the colors were added and eliminated from their diets.

This assessment of human and animal studies showed that because of outdated toxicity data, current allowable daily intake values do not sufficiently protect children from harm. 

In one study, Yellow 5 was found to increase behavioral changes such as irritability, sleeplessness and decreased attention span in a dose-dependent manner in children (Rowe & Rowe, 1994).

In animal studies, developmental effects were observed in rodents exposed to artificial food coloring in utero. A series of studies that exposed pregnant mice to a mixture of artificial dyes and followed their offspring to adulthood observed long-term neurobehavioral changes. 

Exposed offspring exhibited significant changes in movement and exploratory behaviors and altered anxiety profiles (Doguc et al., 2013, 2015, 2019). In one of these studies, these effects occurred with doses relevant to human exposure.

The neurobehavioral effects of artificial food dyes are believed to be caused by the ability of the dyes to bind to certain proteins and affect neurotransmitter pathways. When studying learning and behavior changes in rodents, researchers found that exposure during pregnancy can lead to altered expression of receptors that control memory (Ceyhan et al., 2013). 

Red 3 was linked to cancer when it was observed to induce thyroid tumors in rats (Hiasa et al., 1988). Separate laboratory research found Red 3 can interfere with thyroid hormone signaling and estrogen-related pathways in human breast cancer cells, raising questions about its potential to disrupt hormones (Dees et al., 1997). 

A 2015 study of human lymphocytes observed damage to genetic material  exposed to Yellow 5 (Soares et al., 2015). 

Another found that long-term consumption of this dye, even at levels established as safe, significantly changed how epigenetic genes are regulated in multiple mouse organs, suggesting the potential for developing cancer and behavioral effects (Zand et al., 2023). 

Other research has linked certain food dyes, such as Yellow 5 and 6, to disruption of the human gut microbiome (Elder et al., 2023), and Red 40 to colitis in animal studies (He et al., 2021; Kwon et al., 2022). 

Although research is limited on how artificial food dyes affect human health, some epidemiological evidence suggests that consumption of foods with both natural and artificial dyes is associated with an increased incidence of Type 2 diabetes (Shah et al., 2026). 

Uncertainties/where more research is needed

From its 2021 report, the OEHHA identified important gaps in research on synthetic food dyes, including limited understanding of individual susceptibility, long-term developmental effects, absorption and metabolism, and differences in exposure and effects across population groups. 

It also noted that current FDA acceptable daily intakes are based largely on decades-old studies that were not designed to assess behavior and learning effects. 

The OEHHA nevertheless concluded the available human and animal evidence supports behavioral effects in some children and called for modern, dye-specific research to set exposure levels that adequately protect children’s health.

More details about artificial dyes

Red 40, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 account for most of the dyes used in the U.S. market.

Synthetic food dyes can contain manufacturing-related impurities, including carcinogenic compounds, that raise potential health concerns. A review by the Center for Science in the Public Interest called attention to p-cresidine as one potential carcinogenic impurity in Red 40 and benzidine and 4-aminobiphenyl in Yellow 5 and Yellow 6. Benzidine is classified as carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Orange B, an artificial color used only to color sausage casings, was “abandoned by industry” and is no longer approved for use as of September 2026. Since it is no longer being used, it doesn’t need to be evaluated. 

Citrus Red 2 is allowed to be used only to restore the orange color to the skin of oranges that lose their color, but is also abandoned by industry.

Cited resources

Global health and regulatory agencies

• Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on food additives. (2008). Official Journal of the European Union, L 354, 16–33. http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2008/1333/oj 

Comprehensive reviews and frameworks

• Monteiro, C.A., Cannon, G., Levy, R.B., Moubarac, J., Louzada, M.L., Rauber, F., Khandpur, N., Cediel, G., Neri, D., Martinez-Steele, E., Baraldi, L.G., & Jaime, P.C. (2019). Ultra-processed foods: What they are and how to identify them. Public Health Nutrition, 22(5), 936–941. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980018003762. 
• Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. (April 2021). Health effects assessment: Potential neurobehavioral effects of synthetic food dyes in children. California Environmental Protection Agency, Children’s Environmental Health Center. https://oehha.ca.gov/media/downloads/risk-assessment/report/healthefftsassess041621.pdf 

Legislation

• Arizona House Bill No. 2164, 57th Leg., 1st Reg. Sess., Ariz. (2025). https://legiscan.com/AZ/text/HB2164/2025
• Ban Harmful Food Dyes Act, H.R. 5027, 119th Cong. (2025). https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5027/all-info 
• California Assembly Bill No. 2316, Chapter 914, Cal. Stat. (2024). https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2316
• Real Food, Healthy Kids Act, Assemb. Bill 1264, Chapter 467 (Cal. 2025). https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1264. 
• Food and Drug Administration. (2025, January 15). FD&C Red No. 3. https://www.fda.gov/industry/color-additives/fdc-red-no-3 
• FDA. (April 22, 2025). HHS, FDA to phase out petroleum-based synthetic dyes in nation’s food supply. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/hhs-fda-phase-out-petroleum-based-synthetic-dyes-nations-food-supply 
• Utah House Bill No. 402, General Session, Utah State Legislature (2025). https://legiscan.com/UT/text/HB0402/2025
• Virginia Senate Bill No. 1289, Chapter 222, Va. Acts (2025). https://legiscan.com/VA/text/SB1289/id/3191585/Virginia-2025-SB1289-Chaptered.html
• West Virginia House Bill No. 2354, Chapter 206, W.Va. Acts (2025). https://legiscan.com/WV/text/HB2354/id/3177443/West_Virginia-2025-HB2354-Enrolled.html 

Specific health impact studies

• Ceyhan, B. M., Gultekin, F., Doguc, D. K., & Kulac, E. (2013). Effects of maternally exposed coloring food additives on receptor expressions related to learning and memory in rats. Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association, 56, 145–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2013.02.016 
• Dees, C., Askari, M., Garrett, S., Gehrs, K., Henley, D., & Ardies, C. M. (1997). Estrogenic and DNA-damaging activity of Red No. 3 in human breast cancer cells. Environmental health perspectives, 105 Suppl 3(Suppl 3), 625–632. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.97105s3625 
• Doguc D.K., Ceyhan B.M., Ozturk M., Gultekin F. 2013. Effects of maternally exposed colouring food additives on cognitive performance in rats. Toxicol Ind Health 29:616623.
• Doguc D.K., Aylak F., Ilhan I., Kulac E., Gultekin F. 2015. Are there any remarkable effects of prenatal exposure to food colourings on neurobehaviour and learning process in rat offspring? Nutr Neurosci 18:12-21.
• Doguc D.K., Deniz F., Ilhan I., Ergonul E., Gultekin F. 2021. Prenatal exposure to artificial food colorings alters NMDA receptor subunit concentrations in rat hippocampus. Nutr Neurosci:1-11.
• Elder, R., Vancuren, S. J., Botschner, A. J., Josephy, P. D., & Allen-Vercoe, E. (2023). Metabolism of azo food dyes by bacterial members of the human gut microbiome. Anaerobe, 83, Article 102783. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anaerobe.2023.102783 
• He, Z., Chen, L., Catalan-Dibene, J., Lafaille, J. J., Furtado, G. C., & Lira, S. A. (2021). Food colorants metabolized by commensal bacteria promote colitis in mice with dysregulated expression of interleukin-23. Cell Metabolism, 33(7), 1358–1371.e5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2021.04.015 
• Hiasa, Y., Ohshima, M., Kitahori, Y., Konishi, N., Shimoyama, T., Sakaguchi, Y., Hashimoto, H., Minami, S., & Kato, Y. (1988). The promoting effects of food dyes, erythrosine (Red 3) and rose bengal B (Red 105), on thyroid tumors in partially thyroidectomized N-bis(2-hydroxypropyl)nitrosamine-treated rats. Japanese Journal of Cancer Research, 79(3), 314–319. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1349-7006.1988.tb01593.x 
• Kwon, Y.H., Banskota, S., Wang, H. et al. Chronic exposure to synthetic food colorant Allura Red AC promotes susceptibility to experimental colitis via intestinal serotonin in mice. Nat Commun 13, 7617 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35309-y 
• Rowe, K. S., & Rowe, K. J. (1994). Synthetic food coloring and behavior: A dose response effect in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, repeated-measures study. The Journal of Pediatrics, 125(5), 691–698. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-3476(06)80164-2 
• Sanam Shah, Anaïs Hasenböhler, Guillaume Javaux, Marie Payen de la Garanderie, Fabien Szabo de Edelenyi, Paola Yvroud, Cédric Agaësse, Alexandre De Sa, Inge Huybrechts, Fabrice Pierre, Marc Audebert, Xavier Coumoul, Chantal Julia, Emmanuelle Kesse-Guyot, Benjamin Allès, Valérie Deschamps, Serge Hercberg, Benoit Chassaing, Emmanuel Cosson, Sopio Tatulashvili, Mélanie Deschasaux-Tanguy, Bernard Srour, Mathilde Touvier; Food Coloring Additives and Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes in the NutriNet-Santé Prospective Cohort. Diabetes Care 20 May 2026; 49 (6): 1067–1077. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc25-2727 
• Soares, B. M., Araújo, T. M. T., Ramos, J. A. B., Pinto, L. C., Khayat, B. M., Bahia, M. O., Montenegro, R. C., Burbano, R. M. R., & Khayat, A. S. (2015). Effects on DNA repair in human lymphocytes exposed to the food dye tartrazine yellow. Anticancer Research, 35(3), 1465–1474. https://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/35/3/1465 
• Zand, A., Enkhbilguun, S., Macharia, J. M., Budán, F., Gyöngyi, Z., & Varjas, T. (2023). Tartrazine Modifies the Activity of DNMT and HDAC Genes-Is This a Link between Cancer and Neurological Disorders?. Nutrients, 15(13), 2946. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15132946 

Other

• Dunford, E. K., Galligan, T. M., Taillie, L. S., & Musicus, A. A. (2025). All the Colors of the Rainbow: Synthetic Dyes in US Packaged Foods and Beverages in 2020. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 125(9), 1207-1217.e9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2025.05.007 
• Simon, J.E., Decker, E.A., Ferruzzi, M.G., Giusti, M.M., Mejia, C.D., Goldschmidt, M. and Talcott, S.T. (2017), Establishing Standards on Colors from Natural Sources. Journal of Food Science, 82: 2539-2553. https://doi.org/10.1111/1750-3841.13927 

This article Inside the resistance to Spain’s crackdown on migrants in Ceuta was originally published by Waging Nonviolence.

On July 30, images streamed across TVs, social media feeds and newspapers of thousands of people approaching a fence along the beach, in boats and by foot. Migrants, including children and families, were attempting to cross into Ceuta, a Spanish enclave bordered by Morocco. Facing violent border guards and the threat of drowning, over 70,000 people made it to Ceuta, with hopes of eventually reaching the Spanish mainland. Officials in Ceuta said that 100 people died in the crossing — either by drowning or being crushed — and sources on the ground believe the number was higher. 

“I lost my phone, my money, my ID card, everything I had,” one Moroccan teenager recalled. “At one point I got pulled to the bottom, so far down that my feet touched the sand. When I looked around me, I saw women and babies who had drowned.”

“There was no proper humanitarian response from the local authorities — whether it is basic hygiene, food or shelter,” said Ric Fernández, coordinator and spokesperson for humanitarian and migrant advocacy group No Name Kitchen, or NNK, about the first days after the mass crossing. “Instead, there was an institutional response of pressuring people to ‘voluntarily’ return to Morocco. … There was repression, violence against people on the move in every form — legal, administrative and physical, and the forced expulsion of people.”   

Facing intense pressure and violence from both the Spanish police and military, within 96 hours most people returned to Morocco. Estimates about how many migrants remain are in flux, but the Spanish government said in late September that up to 10,000 people are still in Ceuta.

While the global mainstream media quickly moved on from this story, the situation in Ceuta has remained tense over the last three months, with increased violent harassment by the police, evictions and collective expulsions. In recent weeks, “voluntary returns” and evictions from makeshift camps on the beach have ramped up.

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Irene Estébanez Gutiérrez, a family and community doctor in Madrid, spent two weeks in Ceuta as a volunteer. “An information campaign has been waged that portrays people on the move as invaders, violent and dangerous,” she said. The media coverage, she believes, has failed to adequately address “the resulting humanitarian crisis, the systematic violation of rights, the lack of protection for minors, and the systematic violence and discrimination to which people are being subjected to, particularly by the military.”

Those who remain include Moroccan men and women, alongside Sudanese, Syrians, Palestinians, Malians and Nigerians. According to NNK, a significant number are minors. They are still stranded; the majority of them have slept in the street or in makeshift tents since they crossed into Ceuta over two months ago. 

Kora, who uses a pseudonym as an activist to protect her identity, arrived in Ceuta to volunteer in early August and found the violence and the lack of access to basic necessities particularly angering. The authorities were “not letting them access the supermarkets to get food or water,” she said. “They turned off the publicly and freely accessible water [to shower or drink] on the beaches and beat them or scare them in the middle of the night … to purposefully making their lives more miserable.” 

Organizing solidarity, facing criminalization

This violence, however, did not prevent activists and migrants from developing forms of organizing and resistance. Hundreds of migrants staged a protest on a popular beach in Ceuta in August to demand asylum. On Sept. 21, Migreurop, a Euro-African network of organizations, activists and researchers that monitors European migration policies, noted in a joint statement with over 100 organizations: “We have witnessed forms of resistance in everyday survival practices.” They mentioned the sharing of information, food and medicine, as well as safety and protection practices. 

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Besides migrants’ self-led efforts, civil society has stepped up to help, with the Spanish Red Cross distributing food at Trampolín Beach, the site of one makeshift camp. Other local charities like Luna Blanca, have been providing between 2,700 and 3,500 meals a day in five locations with initial funding from the Spanish government. NNK, a group started by Serbian activists in 2017 that supports migrants along the Balkan and Mediterranean routes to the EU, has been working in Ceuta since 2021. It has grown from a fixed team of four to more than 21 volunteers, after a call for help in early August through social media and Signal groups with other grassroots organizations providing aid to migrants in EU borders. Operations have shifted in the three months since the migrants arrived, and NNK is now cooking and serving over 1,200 meals a day in a new industrial-size kitchen. 

Fernández shared how the group has adapted its work on the ground to keep up with a crisis situation. “For more than a month [after July 30], we were not able to do proper legal accompaniment, because the system was broken and we were just trying to register people,” he said. “We tried to divide our work into four different teams: legal, health, cooking, awareness.” To keep things coordinated, aid groups in Ceuta hold a weekly meeting to share information and needs. The most pressing needs are for immediate humanitarian assistance, including clothes distribution, housing for vulnerable groups and phone charging. 

Volunteers arrive from Spain and mostly other European countries, contributing what they can based on their experience. “I provided direct basic health care because of the barriers to accessing medical care and the huge health needs due to violence and living conditions,” said Irene, the doctor who volunteered with NNK. She said she assessed dozens of cases involving wounds or injuries resulting from assaults, mostly perpetrated by the Spanish military. 

The hostility of authorities toward migrants has also extended to volunteers, who carry out their daily work under intense police monitoring. Police constantly ask for identification documents and conduct searches, including of food containers meant for distribution. Reprisals against volunteers and grassroots groups have taken multiple forms, from administrative fines to criminal charges of “trafficking.” A volunteer who had previously spent time in Ukraine and Syria reported that the seven-square mile enclave of Ceuta felt considerably more militarized than either of those countries.

Lessons learned and the way ahead 

Spain’s response to the people who crossed into Ceuta has been shocking to many observers, especially for a country that has been considered among the more progressive in the European Union on migration. This comes at a time when states are slowly beginning to implement the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, a new and comprehensive reform to migration management which includes a focus on external borders. Legal advocates argue that this pact, coupled with the use of emergency laws, could suspend migration and human rights law in the EU during mass border crossings like the one in Ceuta. 

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Solidarity groups have also come under attack and are looking for ways to move forward in this new atmosphere. Greece is among the first countries to implement the pact and one that has led the way in criminalizing humanitarian efforts to support migrants. This increasing criminalization is happening “through the misuse of the criminal justice system to target and persecute activists and people in solidarity for their work, as well as through administrative law, such as harsher requirements for the registration of civil society organizations,” said Eleni Sirri from the Border Violence Monitoring Network, a network of NGOs, associations and collectives that monitors human rights violations at and within European borders. 

Anna Gruber is the advocacy manager from Collective Aid, an NGO working with migrants in the borderlands of Serbia, Bosnia and Greece. She shared how Collective Aid also had to reorganize and strategize about the way ahead, given the increase in crackdowns on humanitarian work, as well as the anticipated changes because of the EU pact. “We are now focusing more on capturing conditions in detention, [and] mapping deaths and disappearances on the borders,” she said. “While these are hard to trace, bringing all the scattered evidence we can find together helps showcase the EU’s focus on detention camps and the containment of migration that is at heart of the new pact.” 

Like other groups navigating the criminalization of migration and anticipated changes under the new pact, NNK feels it is important for grassroots groups across the EU and beyond to come together around migrant rights. Fernández believes putting energy into growing networks and collectives of grassroots groups is the way forward. “The far-right in Europe and instrumentalization of migration will continue to grow,” he said. “We need to prepare for that and learn from each other to be stronger.” 

Kirsten Dimovitz, the advocacy coordinator for the Border Violence Monitoring Network and a volunteer in Ceuta, contributed additional reporting to the story.

This article Inside the resistance to Spain’s crackdown on migrants in Ceuta was originally published by Waging Nonviolence.

In nearly two years the Trump administration has protected just three species as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act and missed dozens of deadlines to make decisions promised in a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service workplan. No other administration in the more than 50 years since the law was passed has protected so few animals and plants from extinction.

“The Trump administration is just a pure disaster for the natural world and America’s struggling wildlife will pay the price,” said Noah Greewnwald, endangered species codirector at the Center for Biological Diversity. “To benefit polluters and billionaires the administration is taking a wrecking ball to protections not just for wildlife but also our air, water and climate.”

In 2024 the Service published the fifth version of its workplan since 2016, providing a schedule of protection decisions for hundreds of species by fiscal year (Sept. 30 to Oct. 1) over the next five years. In fiscal year 2026 the Service failed to make scheduled findings for 39 species, leaving wildlife like little brown bats, golden-winged warblers, Arizona toads and more in the lurch.

“Even before Trump species waited far too long for protection,” said Greenwald. “Now massive spending and staffing cuts and contempt for environmental protections mean hundreds of plants and animals won’t get badly needed protections anytime soon, pushing them closer to extinction. It’s truly sad.”

Under the Clinton administration 521 species were protected and under the Obama administration 361 species were protected. Only 22 species were protected under the first Trump administration. To date, the second Trump administration has listed just three Florida reptiles: the Florida Keys mole skink, rim rock crowned snake and the Key ringneck snake. All three were listed following court orders.

In July the Trump administration published a new version of the workplan that dropped decisions for 64 species over the next five years, meaning animals including pygmy rabbits and Florida manatees have no prospects for gaining lifesaving protection.

The Trump-Vance administration has abandoned its appeal in National Council of Nonprofits et al. v. McMahon, a case brought by a broad coalition of nonprofit organizations, more than a dozen local governments, and labor unions against the U.S. Department of Education. The case stopped a new rule that would have allowed the Secretary of Education to disqualify government and nonprofit employers that disagree with the administration’s policies from a program intended to support borrowers working in public service jobs.

Earlier this year, a federal court ordered the Trump-Vance administration to stop its unlawful rewriting of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program as a way of silencing nonprofit organizations and local governments that do work that runs counter to the administration’s political agenda. The government had filed an appeal of the ruling, but on Wednesday submitted a joint stipulation of dismissal, which will formally end the matter and ensure the new rule will never take effect.

Plaintiffs in the case include the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), City of Albuquerque, City of Boston, City of Chicago, City and County of San Francisco, County of Santa Clara, Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Legal Aid DC, National Association of Social Workers, National Council of Nonprofits, Oasis Legal Services, American Federation of Teachers, and National Education Association. The coalition is represented by Democracy Forward and Protect Borrowers in this matter; the County of Santa Clara and City and County of San Francisco represent themselves.

“The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program was created so public service workers can pursue careers serving their communities without being burdened with debilitating debt,” said AFSCME President Patrick Moran. “Countless essential workers rely on this program, and weaponizing it for political purposes would hurt not just these workers but the communities they serve. We’re glad the administration is now following the law and abandoning this illegal scheme.”

Quotes from additional plaintiffs included in the coalition about the court’s ruling are available here.

The legal team on this case includes Sarah Goetz, Victoria Nugent, Simon Brewer, Jennifer Fountain Connolly, and Robin Thurston from Democracy Forward, Persis Yu and Winston Berkman-Breen from Protect Borrowers, and attorneys from the County of Santa Clara Office of the County Counsel and San Francisco City Attorney’s Office.

Read the opinion that decided the case here and learn more about the case here.

On Sunday, October 25, 2026 Brazilians choose between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who finished narrowly ahead in the first round. For Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement (MST), whose communities are featured in this episode of Field Notes, the stakes are concrete. They remember what happened the last time a Bolsonaro was in power.

Six demands to policy and decision-makers to strengthen policies in support of family farmers, by the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSIPM).

There are nearly 900 million food producers at the heart of food systems. More than 90 percent of the world’s roughly 608 million farms are family-run, and generate around 80 percent of global food value; smallholdings under two hectares alone account for roughly a third of the food produced worldwide. Yet many of these smallholder farmers, pastoralists, fisherfolk, Indigenous Peoples’, women and youth face massive challenges that threaten their livelihoods and agency. 

Commitments to family farmers are not lacking. Since 2011, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) has adopted a series of policy recommendations that recognise their central role:

• How to Increase Food Security and Smallholder-Sensitive Investments in Agriculture (2011)
• Investing in Smallholder Agriculture for Food Security and Nutrition (2013)
• Connecting Smallholders to Markets (2016)
• Promoting Youth Engagement and Employment in Agriculture and Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition(2022)

The CSIPM developed these key messages in consultation with smallholder farmers, peasants, pastoralists, fisherfolk and Indigenous Peoples across a balance of regions. They reflect the experiences, lessons and struggles of those living with the gap between policy and practice. 

The CSIPM calls on policy-makers to act on the following six priorities:

• Rights-holders must take part in decision-making. 
• Policy coherence is political, not technical 
• Youth must shape prorgrammes meant for them 
• Agrarian reform and an end to the criminialisation of peasants and Indigenous Peoples
• Redirect public finance to smallhoderls, territorial markets and fair prices
• A gender lens in every policy

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The post Words Won’t Feed Us: Six Priorities of the People Who Already Do appeared first on CSIPM.

EWG comments to HHS and FCC on radiofrequency radiation exposure limits Anthony Lacey October 22, 2026

Attached are EWG’s comments to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Communications Commission urging joint action to update radiofrequency radiation exposure limits to protect public health and children.

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Nurses at Watsonville Community Hospital (WCH) in Watsonville, California, will hold a Care Not Cuts Town Hall on Saturday, October 24, to warn community members about the potential decision to close the neonatal intensive care, labor and delivery, and postpartum units, a major shutdown of all birthing care services at the facility.

We could all use a little extra environmental inspiration these days, so here are 15 new books for readers of all ages.

We’ve adapted the books’ official descriptions below, and the link in each title goes to the publisher’s page. You can also find any of these titles through your local bookseller and library.

Spooky Rivers: 25 Strange and Mysterious Rivers That Snake Across Our Planet

By Geo Rutherford

A thrilling nonfiction book that follows the winding histories of 25 mysterious rivers around the world. Explore natural phenomena, scientific oddities, historical events, and environmental disasters, as well as the myths and legends tied to these waterways, which are increasingly threatened by climate change.

Rivers are the Earth’s restless travelers — carving landscapes, shaping history, and holding secrets. Some are forces of destruction, sweeping away everything in their path, while others are lifelines, sustaining civilizations for millennia. And some are both, bringing prosperity and devastation in equal measure. From deadly whirlpools to lost cities submerged beneath their waves, these rivers challenge everything we think we know about the natural world. There are rivers that catch fire, rivers that boil, and rivers so deep they seem bottomless. Some slither beneath the ground you stand on, while others vanish without a trace.

Who knew rivers could be so … spooky?

Big Cats

By Steve Winter and Sharon Guynup

National Geographic photographer Steve Winter has spent his career photographing big cats around the world, from the graceful jaguars of Brazil’s Pantanal to elusive Himalayan snow leopards. His photographs astound; his stories, even more so. Winter and environmental journalist Sharon Guynup share experiences behind the lens.

In chapters on every key species — cougar, jaguar, leopard, snow leopard, tiger, and lion — readers will witness the power of Winter’s work, including uplifting stories of how his photographs have made a difference and powered important conservation efforts on behalf of these mighty creatures.

Winter and Guynup’s work has changed the world — and it continues to awe and inspire us. But you don’t have to be a serious-minded conservationist to be pulled into their new book. All animal lovers, especially those who love cats, big and small, are invited to look deeply into the eyes and lives of these iconic species.

Wild Work: Adventures of Women Field Biologists

By Sophie A. H. Osborn and Susan B. Adams

More than 40 real-life adventure stories by 37 women field biologists take readers behind the scenes with wolves, condors, bats, bears, and other wild animals, highlighting the important work of women in field science and wildlife conservation. This is an inspiring and entertaining anthology that brings to light the often-untold stories of women in wildlife science, featuring first-person accounts by dozens of adventurous field biologists, immersing readers in the thrilling and compelling reality of studying and conserving fish and wildlife across the globe.

From playing tag with wolves or cuddling wild foxes to wading through rivers filled with venomous snakes or evading poachers, these women share stories of courage, curiosity, and resilience. And they share the delicate balancing act of juggling demanding fieldwork with family life, the lifelong friendships they forge in the wild, and the transformative power of connecting deeply with the natural world. They also bear witness to the fact that while women have been integral to fish and wildlife research for decades, their stories have rarely been represented in literature.

The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

By Gil Durán

When Silicon Valley says it’s ‘‘moving fast and breaking things,” the world is bullied into perceiving the chaos as a “necessary cost” of innovation. Gil Durán reveals something far more sinister: a decades-long campaign to replace elected governments with corporate rule. The Nerd Reich explains the origins, strategies, and ambitions of Silicon Valley’s war on democracy for the first time. From San Francisco’s weaponized elections and secret billionaire projects to the White House, Durán exposes how the world’s richest men are building a new political order.

Using insider political experience and new investigations, Durán traces this ideology from its philosophical roots in The Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg. He introduces its modern “messiahs” — Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan, and Elon Musk — and shows how the promise of technological liberation has become a global movement for digital feudalism, powered by cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, and the algorithmic propaganda of social media.

More than a hidden history, this book is an urgent warning: Democracy is being dismantled by code, capital, and the illusion of innovation. Durán insists there is still time to fight back — if we act now.

Profiles in Cowardice: A Study of Collaboration in the Trump Era

By Jacob Weisberg

History will be particularly harsh to Trump enablers who share and covet money and power. They represent intuitions that are central in determining whether America remains a free, functioning democracy or not — and they know very well they are committing crimes. In this bitterly humorous book, Weisberg has written a defining book of the Trump era — how this pitch-black political moment happened, why so few resisted, and what it reveals about the character of American leadership.

Big Tech, Wall Street, mega-corporations and the U.S. Congress are encapsulated in eight individuals who together form an entwined network of power in America, giving us a new way to understand how authoritarianism can take root in an open society — not by overthrowing institutions, but by bending and bullying them into submission.

We’ve Been Here the Whole Time! A Not So Sacred Guide to All Things Native America

By Joey Clift

Foreword by Shane Hawk / Illustrated by Julie Fiveash

Comedian Joey Clift (Cowlitz nation) takes you on a hilarious journey to discover the largest population you don’t know in this sharp debut for fans of Michael Harriot and Phoebe Robinson. Put away the construction paper: This contraband book contains everything your high school refused to teach you about Native American history, people, and culture — illustrated in an irreverent textbook-meets-notebook style by Diné artist Julie Fiveash.

Clift walks you through a wide range of misconceptions, weird questions, and even weirder assumptions, covering everything from Pocahontas and sports mascots to ancestry claims and the Land Back movement. This hilarious, NDN-approved guide to Native America is a great gift for history buffs, teachers, and comedy fans.

Brought to You By: How Corporations Warped the Truth, Conned the Public, and Broke Democracy

By Amy Westervelt

A gripping account of the corporate propaganda that has invaded our media, our democracy, and now the very nature of truth itself from investigative reporter and Drilled podcast host Amy Westervelt.

Whether it’s the tobacco industry lying about the health dangers of cigarettes, Big Pharma burying studies that make its products less marketable, or Big Oil misleading the public on the dangers of the climate crisis, we all know corporations use doubt and science denial to avoid responsibility. So why do we continue to let them get away with it?

Westervelt exposes the plot hidden within the familiar story of science denial. Over the last century, Big Industry has built a vast apparatus of think tanks, lobbyists, sponsored university labs, and obliging news networks to con the public and fool decision-makers, poisoning the informational ecosystem and warping the nature of truth along the way.

Forest of the Sea: The Remarkable Life and Imperiled Future of Kelp

By David Helvarg

A spectacular cold-water paradise 30 million years in the making is succumbing to warming oceans. Kelp forests are largely out of sight, hidden under the ocean’s surface, yet they are one of Earth’s most wonderous and underappreciated marine habitats. It’s an ethereal light-infused realm of sharks, otters, eels, sea stars, crabs, rockfish, and myriad other species vital to a functioning ocean and the countless coastal communities that make their living from the sea. Unlike coral reefs, whose similar plight plays out in tropical waters highly visible to vacationing tourists, kelp forests thrive along cold-water coastlines far from tourist centers. What will it take to stop the decline before these underwater playgrounds bursting with colorful life become vast fields of lifeless urchin barrens?

The Earth Said Remember Me: How to Revive Our Memories and Restore the Planet

By Jason Dove Mark

A rallying cry and resistance manual from one of the leaders breathing new life into the environmental movement. As the climate emergency worsens and biodiversity shrinks, we somehow get used to it. We struggle to remember what summers were like before the unrelenting heat, in those years before wildfires became an annual routine. We adapt, we normalize. Scientists call this “shifting baseline syndrome,” and they warn that it’s why we are increasingly sleepwalking toward disaster.

Read an excerpt.

Great Reads for Young People (and some adults too!)

Beatrix Potter’s Botanical: The Art of Flowers and Fungi

By Marta McDowell

A rare collection of Beatrix Potter’s own botanical art, and an exploration of the role these plants played in her personal and literary life. This beautiful book showcases 65 plants and fungi that Potter made special study of in her often-overlooked career as a botanical artist. For each species we see Potter’s original pencil and watercolor renderings, learn about the specimen’s role in her various beloved gardens, and hear the stories of how it inspired or appeared in her literary work. The result is a new look at the celebrated illustrator as a pioneering botanical artist and budding scientist.

Liars, Cheats, and Copycats: Trickery and Deception in Nature

By James O’Hanlon

Meet some of the world’s most dastardly creatures, who lie, cheat, and deceive for a living. There’s the deadly praying mantis that looks like an innocent pink flower. The assassin bug that strums spider webs to lure in a tasty snack. The cuttlefish that changes color to hide its romantic intentions.

To understand how these creatures swindle their way to survival, this book reveals the science behind camouflage, mimicry, and masquerade, taking readers on a journey from tropical rainforests to the darkness of deep ocean trenches to examine how animals and plants use deception to avoid predators, lure in prey, and even reproduce.

Let’s Explore Foxes: An Urban Wildlife Explorers Book

By Siski Kalla

Perfect for home or school, the new book for children in the acclaimed Urban Wildlife Explorer series takes a close look at foxes, one of the most common but least understood wild urban animals. Ideal for curious young minds, they’re bursting with laugh-out-loud moments, fascinating science, and beautiful watercolor illustrations. The series is also packed with tips on how kids can help protect and interact safely with local wildlife. Whether you’re a budding naturalist or just want to find out more, these are the perfect guides for young urban explorers.

A Raven of the Rainforest

By Rosanne Parry

A stand-alone addition to the New York Times and Indie bestselling Voice of the Wilderness novels by Rosanne Parry, which include A Wolf Called Wander, A Whale of the Wild, A Horse Named Sky, and A Wolf Called Fire.

On Westerly’s otherwise ink-black tail, one bright white feather stands out. Westerly stands out, too. She isn’t like her brother and sister — she’s different. Everyone knows it, including the roost’s story keeper, who proclaims that Westerly alone is destined to save her fellow ravens from a terrible fate. Questioning her destiny, isolated from her family, and full of doubt, Westerly takes to the sky, vowing never to return. But when a once-in-a-lifetime volcanic eruption finds her, she has no choice but to flee in the direction of home.

The Butterfly Season: What 64 Butterflies Taught Me About Nature’s Great Mysteries and the Meaning of Life

By Lea Korsgaard

Combining nature writing, philosophy, myth, science, and 64 beautiful hand-drawn illustrations, The Butterfly Season is a luminous account of one woman’s quest to see all 64 species of butterflies native to Denmark in a single year. Part field diary, part mythological tapestry, part existential reflection, Lea Korsgaard’s journey unfolds across seasons and geographies, through meadows, marshes, and ancient coastal lands as she discovers the mysteries and miracles of the natural world.

The Science of History: Ingenious Inventions From the Ancient Romans to Pirates, Vikings, Cowboys, Samurai, and More

By Mark Brake and Benjamin Bryant

We may think of ancient cultures as rudimentary — but in reality, the humans living hundreds and even thousands of years ago were remarkably savvy, establishing the foundations of the science we rely on today. From early Mesopotamia to the Stone Age, through Ancient Greece and Rome, the pirates of medieval England, and the seafaring Vikings of Scandinavia, the time of the Samurai, Chinese dynasties, and cowboy cultures from the American West to South American ranches and the Mongolian tundra, This fascinating book showcases how different peoples at different times have observed nature, reached rational conclusions, developed scientific techniques, invented revolutionary tools, and devised shockingly creative ways not only to explain the world about them, but to thrive in it.

Within the Earth humans found medicine; within the Air, navigation; within Fire, warfare; and within Water, the ability to manipulate their environment. Discover the origins of surprisingly sophisticated ancient science in this fascinating look at human ingenuity, such as: Terraced Farming (Ancient Andes, China), Samurai Land Stewardship (c. C16th), Roman Concrete (c. 3rd century BC), Stonehenge (c. 3100 BC, England), Samurai Armor Crafting (c. C16th), Viking Battlefield Herbalism (793–1066 AD, Scandinavia), The Pirate Compass (C17th–18th, England) and so many more clever stories and fun facts, textboxes, lists, and features, readers can open any page of The Science of History and learn something new.

 

You can find hundreds of additional environmental book recommendations in the “Revelator Reads” archives.

And let us know what you’re reading: Drop us a line at comments@therevelator.org

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The post New Environmental Books to Inspire Your Autumn appeared first on The Revelator.

A bipartisan permitting bill headed for a Senate vote right after the election would give President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum two years to approve data centers, nuclear facilities, and fossil fuel projects on public lands, then make those approvals nearly impossible to undo. While the bill would help speed the country’s grid buildout, it currently contains three provisions that would be disastrous for public lands, writes CWP Executive Director Aaron Weiss.

Section 1401 of the bill bars agencies from altering any permit in effect on or after September 16, 2026, unless they meet a “clear and convincing evidence” standard far higher than agencies normally face. Courts could no longer pause projects with botched environmental reviews. Construction would continue while the review is redone, and agencies can’t act on the review findings. Opponents of federal actions would get just 150 days to sue. Section 1402 would make taxpayers pay developers 50 to 100 percent of construction costs if a future administration slows a whole category of projects, like gas plants or nuclear fuel facilities, essentially locking in the priorities of the Trump administration.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Land Management is currently considering at least 35 data center-related applications covering more than 24,000 acres across six Western states. The bill would essentially shield permits for everything from data centers to drilling issued by this administration from reversal by future administrations. Trump’s cancellations of wind and solar projects, meanwhile, stay in place. The bill, as written, also weakens the National Historic Preservation Act, over objections from nine Tribal organizations and the All Pueblo Council of Governors.

Senator Martin Heinrich, who’s co-sponsoring the bill, once said every person “deserves a chance to provide input” on public land management. His bill, as written, gives Burgum and Trump a green light to cut them out. Read more in the latest post on Westwise.

GAO to probe Trump mineral deals

Federal watchdogs plan to investigate what safeguards the Trump administration is abiding by when taking financial stakes in mining companies and separately examine the Interior Department’s decision to create a new division overseeing offshore energy development. Senator Heinrich and Representative Jared Huffman requested the review from the Government Accountability Office.

Quick hits Trump officials ask Supreme Court to let border security project resume in national park

Washington Post

Judge halts U.S. Forest Service reorganization, ruling it is ‘overwhelmingly likely’ that plans violated federal law

Summit Daily

Trump administration plans to begin work on massive arch in two weeks

Washington Post

Burgum discusses Colorado River plan, calls Arizona’s water cuts ‘completely manageable’

13 News

The future of wolf protections in the West hangs on the Ninth Circuit

High Country News

Trump’s East Potomac Golf Course renovations face a growing legal fight

TIME

What’s behind the $105 million donation to Yellowstone National Park?

Mountain Journal | Wes Siler’s Newsletter

Poll: 96% of Coloradans support conserving public lands

9News

Quote of the day

It is overwhelmingly likely that the USDA’s planned closures and relocations violate Congress’s express restriction on those activities… There is no public interest in allowing the government to violate federal law.”

—U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, Summit Daily

Picture This

@usinterior

Hot moose summer is over. Welcome to cool moose fall.

At @grandtetonnps, autumn means the moose rut is underway. Bull moose roam in search of females, size up their competition and sometimes put those massive antlers to the test.

Romance, rivalry and really big antlers. Fall has arrived in the Tetons.

Photo by Kevin Yu Shi

Feature image: Spent nuclear fuel at the Hanford Nuclear Site, Wikimedia Commons

The post The Senate permitting bill would lock in data centers and nuclear waste on public lands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

TALLAHASSEE, FL – Audubon Florida recently honored conservation leaders during its annual Assembly, held October 15–17, 2026. For decades, Audubon Florida has brought together staff, members...