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More clean energy tax credits are hitting the market. Credits tied to electricity production are holding their value, while investment tax credits based on the cost of building face price pressure as buyers weigh uncertainty over new federal rules.

By participating in programs that ease grid congestion, school districts can recoup thousands of dollars from the price of electric school buses.

On Wednesday, Sept. 23, Food Tank will host “The Roots of Organic: From Soil to Shelf” at Climate Week NYC 2026, in partnership with Organic Trade Association, Organic Valley, Once Upon a Farm, Handsome Brook Farms, Stonyfield, and Amy’s Kitchen, and in collaboration with Organic Voices, Lundberg Family Farms, Tradin Organic, and Rodale Institute.

The all-day, invitation-only summit will celebrate the organic movement’s journey while charting its path forward. 

“This event is a timely opportunity to shine a light on the important connection and benefits of organic for positive climate impact,” said Matthew Dillon, Co-CEO of the Organic Trade Association. ”We expect attendees to gain inspiration and insight from the expertise of the farmers, scientists, and industry leaders who will be taking the stage—this will be a day to come together for knowledge sharing, problem-solving, and collective action to continue to drive the US$76 billion organic sector forward.” 

Panel discussions will explore science and innovation in organic practices, organic’s current successes and challenges, and how to move collectively with commitment, innovation, and inspiration into the future. 

Much of the conversation will focus on the farm, including farmers’ voices on stage to share their journey and what’s working. 

“’The Roots of Organic: from Soil to Shelf’ summit is an important event that gives people the opportunity to hear directly from farmers and brands of agricultural products just how climate changes are impacting their operations. But the good news is they will also hear how farming organically has shown to help combat climate change and what steps farmers and brands are taking now to be more resilient,” says Tracy Favre, Senior Vice President of Sustainability and Organic Strategies at Handsome Brook Farms. 

“The audience will leave with an understanding that while the sense of urgency is real, we do have the tools and knowledge to make agriculture a force for good in the fight against climate change.”

That farm-level work is also part of a broader effort to build resilience across the organic food system, from individual farms to the supply chain.

“Organic Valley is proving that climate solutions start on organic farms. Together with Food Tank at Climate Week NYC, we’re bringing leaders together to highlight innovative working models, like carbon insetting, that demonstrate climate action on farms and within the supply chain,” says Jessica Luhning, Senior Sustainability Manager at Organic Valley. “As the nation’s largest organic farmer-owned cooperative, we’re proving organic agriculture is a powerful solution for a more resilient food system.”

Throughout the day, speakers will explore how the original principles of organic can continue to evolve alongside a changing climate—and how community plays a role.

“While organic food and agriculture has an institutionalized framework that’s been around for several decades, it also has a movement surrounding it that transcends this framework,” says Jane Kuhn, Senior Director of Strategic Sourcing & Sustainability at Once Upon a Farm. “This summit is an important opportunity to convene around both the movement and the framework, reflecting together to celebrate accomplished impact, while also surfacing gaps and possibilities to inform where it goes next.”

For many, looking ahead also means returning to those principles that have defined the movement from the beginning and considering how they can shape a more resilient food system.

“Organic farming has always been about looking at the whole system, from soil health to financial sustainability for farmers,” says Britt Lundgren, Senior Director of Sustainability and Government Affairs at Stonyfield. “At Stonyfield, we’ve always believed that organic farming can help us overcome the challenges of climate change—both by reducing agriculture’s contribution to GHG emissions and by storing more carbon in the soil. This event is an opportunity to bring that whole conversation together, from what happens in the soil to what ultimately reaches consumers, and to look at what organic has taught us about building a more resilient food system for the future.” 

Where the movement goes next—a central theme of the summit—will consider that balance between honoring organic’s roots and growing its reach.

“At Amy’s, we’ve spent nearly four decades proving that organic food can grow and reach millions of families without losing sight of the values it was built on,” says Paul Schiefer, CEO of Amy’s Kitchen. “But for organic to have the impact we know it can, the entire movement has to keep pushing forward. I hope this summit challenges all of us to think bigger about how we make organic more accessible and impactful, while protecting the standards and principles that have made it meaningful in the first place.”

The event will kick off at WNYC-NPR Studios’ The Greene Space in New York City at 9am with breakfast and live musical performances. An afternoon session will kick off with lunch at 1:30pm, and the evening programming will run from 6:30pm to 9:30pm, including networking opportunities. 

Speakers include Benjamin Bartley, Director of Responsible Procurement, UNFI; Alexis Bramley, Director of Strategic Projects, Organic Trade Association; Will Brinkerhoff, Soil Scientist, Chef, and Science Communicator; Marcia Brown, Food and Agriculture Reporter, POLITICO; Amy Bruch, Sixth-Generation Organic Farmer and President, Cyclone Farms; Taylor Clayton, Director of Global Impact and Responsible Sourcing, Adams Group; Beatriz Daim, Sustainability Specialist, Tradin Organic; Kathleen Davis, Producer, WNYC Studios’ Science Friday; Matthew Dillon, Co-CEO, Organic Trade Association; Abianne Falla, Founder, CatSpring Yaupon; Tracy Favre, Vice President of Sustainability, Live Operations, Handsome Brook Farms; Christopher Gergen, CEO, Regenerative Organic Alliance; David Gonthier, Associate Professor, Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky; Alison Grantham, President, Grow Well Consulting; Stephanie Grotta, Vice President of Responsible Sourcing & Sustainable Capabilities, Target; Chef Johanna Hellrigl, Chef-Owner, Ama Restaurant, Washington DC; Steven Jennings, Health Partnerships & Stakeholder Engagement Lead, Ahold Delhaize USA; Jane Kuhn, Senior Director of Strategic Sourcing & Sustainability, Once Upon a Farm; Annie Leeson, Co-Founder, AgriCarbon; Brandon Lombardi, Chief Legal Officer & Chief Sustainability Officer, Sprouts Farmers Market; Jessica Luhning, Senior Manager of Sustainability, Organic Valley; Britt Lundgren, Senior Director of Sustainability and Government Affairs, Stonyfield; Chef Joshua McFadden, James Beard Award-Winning Chef and Author; Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank; Kousha Navidar, Host, WNYC and Co-host, Climate One; Shawna Nelson, CEO, Organic Valley; Chef Priyanka Naik, Chef, Author, TV Personality & Food Network Champion; Leah Penniman, Farmer, Author, and Food Justice Activist, Soul Fire Farms; Sandy Pfaff, Vice President of Media Relations, Organic Trade Association; Gwyneth Rampton, Vice President of Sustainability, Compass Group USA; Maria Rodale, Board Co-Chair, Rodale Institute; Paul Schiefer, CEO, Amy’s Kitchen; Amber Sciligo, Senior Director, The Organic Center; Suzanne Sengelmann, Chief Executive Officer, Lundberg Family Farms; Erin Silva, Professor of Organic and Sustainable Cropping Systems, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Katrina Staves, Executive Director, Organic Voices; Sarela Herrada, Co-Founder, SIMPLi; Annie Watson, Organic Dairy Farmer, Sheepscot Valley Farm and Stonyfield Producer; Jake Wedeberg, Organic Dairy Farmer, Compost Expert, and Participant in Carbon Insetting; Stefanie Wilbur, Farmer and Owner, Lazy Dog Farm; Nijia Zhou, Climate, Nature, and Supply Chain Standards Lead, Amazon Worldwide Grocery; and Duron Chavis, Urban Farmer and Food Justice Advocate, Founder and Director, Happily Natural Day and Founder, Sankofa Community Orchard.

“The Roots of Organic: From Soil to Shelf” will feature a special musical performances by Celia Hottenstein, Glinda in Wicked on Broadway, who will be joined by Ryan Fielding Garrett, a New York City-based composer, music director, orchestrator, and musician whose Broadway credits include Kinky Boots, Wicked, Back to the Future, The Notebook, and Mean Girls; Travis Taber, Fiyero in Wicked on Broadway, who will also be joined by Garrett; Jayke Workman, Broadway actor, singer, and dancer currently starring as Mary Sunshine in Chicago on Broadway, who will be joined by Cullen Curth, New York City-based pianist, music director, and conductor who recently made his Broadway conducting debut with Just in Time; Singer-Songwriter Amber Rubarth; and Singer-Songwriter Taylor Hurd.

This summit will be streamed live on FoodTank.com and Food Tank’s YouTube channel, here. Join the Food Tank newsletter list for reminders, and click here for Food Tank’s full lineup of events at Climate Week NYC 2026.

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

The post Organic Agriculture Charts Its Future at Climate Week NYC appeared first on Food Tank.

At least 124 people were murdered last year for defending their forests, farms, or waterways from destruction or degradation, according to a stark new report. Its authors say that deep cuts to foreign aid by wealthy nations have weakened human rights groups that support environmental defenders. 

Read more on E360 →

Just as humans head indoors for warmth in the winter and shade in the summer, tree-dwelling animals use the arboreal equivalent of caves for refuge from temperature extremes.

At a time when climate change is supercharging heatwaves, holes and crevices in trees offer potentially life-saving cool spots for bats, birds and other creatures around the world, according to new research. When peak temperatures cross into heatwave territory, these holes are often more than 4°C cooler than the outside, according to a review of dozens of studies recently published in Forest Ecology and Management.

“Everywhere we looked, trees were great for buffering outside air temperature extremes,” said Joy O’Keefe the paper’s senior author and a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).

There are growing reasons for animals to try to escape the heat. In recent years, scientists have documented mass die-offs of various species in the midst of heatwaves. In 2014, a heatwave led to the deaths of some 46,000 flying foxes on a single day in eastern Australia. Four years later, another scorcher claimed 23,000 gray-headed flying foxes in the Australian city of Cairns, a third of the species’ population on the continent.

For years, O’Keefe has studied roosts for bats, chiefly in the eastern United States. The work revealed that natural resting spots often provided more protection from extreme temperatures than artificial ones, such as bat boxes. Did those findings apply elsewhere and for other kinds of animals?

To find out, the team combed through the scientific literature. They found 36 studies from five continents that contained data necessary to compiling a more complete picture, including measurements of maximum temperatures both inside and outside the crevices being studied.

Their analysis revealed that these natural shelters consistently provided a buffer against both high and low temperatures. Daily maximum temperatures were around 2.7°C cooler in the refuges than outside. On hotter days, when temperatures climbed above 30°C, that cooling difference grew to 4.1°C. These abodes also offered protection against cold. Compared to the lowest temperatures outside, the resting places were 2.8°C warmer. On days when the mercury dropped below 10°C, the difference was slightly greater at 3.1°C.

 

.IRPP_ruby , .IRPP_ruby .postImageUrl , .IRPP_ruby .centered-text-area {height: auto;position: relative;}.IRPP_ruby , .IRPP_ruby:hover , .IRPP_ruby:visited , .IRPP_ruby:active {border:0!important;}.IRPP_ruby .clearfix:after {content: "";display: table;clear: both;}.IRPP_ruby {display: block;transition: background-color 250ms;webkit-transition: background-color 250ms;width: 100%;opacity: 1;transition: opacity 250ms;webkit-transition: opacity 250ms;background-color: #eaeaea;}.IRPP_ruby:active , .IRPP_ruby:hover {opacity: 1;transition: opacity 250ms;webkit-transition: opacity 250ms;background-color: inherit;}.IRPP_ruby .postImageUrl {background-position: center;background-size: cover;float: left;margin: 0;padding: 0;width: 31.59%;position: absolute;top: 0;bottom: 0;}.IRPP_ruby .centered-text-area {float: right;width: 65.65%;padding:0;margin:0;}.IRPP_ruby .centered-text {display: table;height: 130px;left: 0;top: 0;padding:0;margin:0;padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 20px;}.IRPP_ruby .IRPP_ruby-content {display: table-cell;margin: 0;padding: 0 74px 0 0px;position: relative;vertical-align: middle;width: 100%;}.IRPP_ruby .ctaText {border-bottom: 0 solid #fff;color: #0099cc;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;letter-spacing: normal;margin: 0;padding: 0;font-family:'Arial';}.IRPP_ruby .postTitle {color: #000000;font-size: 16px;font-weight: 600;letter-spacing: normal;margin: 0;padding: 0;font-family:'Arial';}.IRPP_ruby .ctaButton {background: url(https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts-pro/assets/images/next-arrow.png)no-repeat;background-color: #afb4b6;background-position: center;display: inline-block;height: 100%;width: 54px;margin-left: 10px;position: absolute;bottom:0;right: 0;top: 0;}.IRPP_ruby:after {content: "";display: block;clear: both;}Recommended Reading:A tree’s bark can take a staggeringly large bite out of climate change

 

The beneficiaries weren’t confined to bats. Among the various studies were places occupied by birds, insects, bats and other mammals such as squirrels.

The new findings offer yet another reason for keeping trees standing, especially ancient ones that tend to be more riddled with gaps and gashes where critters can find shelter.

“Forest managers should focus on protecting and regenerating natural habitats for animals, especially in areas where you get heat waves that can result in mass mortality events,” said co-author Reed Crawford postdoctoral researcher at UIUC.

It’s also clear that today’s artificial replacements for these trees, such as boxes, don’t offer the same benefits. If people are going to use them, the results suggest a need to rethink their design to better mimic the thermal performance that nature offers.

“We know bat boxes almost always exceed outside air temperature, and then they don’t retain that heat at night,” said Crawford. “If people are compelled to use artificial roosts in their conservation plans, we need to improve their design to better replicate what’s happening in nature and try to keep those animals safe.”

Cotten, et. al. “A global review of the capacity of tree cavities to buffer temperature extremes.” Forest Ecology and Management. Aug. 25, 2026.

Image: ©Getty for UnSplash+

Headline News:

• “Congress Must Reject Attack On Clean Air Protections For Port Communities” • Congress is considering Congressional Review Act resolutions that would roll back state clean air protections, including standards that cut toxic diesel pollution from ships and commercial harbor craft that. They will be voted on in the House this week. [CleanTechnica]

Tugboat at San Francisco (Bruce Warrington, Unsplash)

• “How can Europe decarbonize without sacrificing economic development?” • Europe wants to clean up its heavy industries without sacrificing jobs or economic growth. A study suggests that may be possible, but it will require compromises. For example, most steel, ammonia, and methanol would have to be produced using green hydrogen. [Euronews]
• “What Are The Top Threats Posed By AI And Should You Be Worried?” • The most powerful AI industry executives warn of a grave threat the technology poses. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned of “serious risks.” Sam Altman of OpenAI said AI could go “very badly.” Elon Musk said AI could prove more dangerous than nuclear weapons. [ABC News]
• “Enter The Hoax Buster: Trump Dismisses AI Concerns As Europe And China Fret” • US President Donald Trump has dismissed AI extinction fears as a “hoax.” In a barrage of six posts on Truth Social, he cast himself as the only safeguard the world needs. Meanwhile, Europe and China both call for guardrails on the fast-moving technology. [Euronews]
• “Loosened EPA Power Plant Regulations Could Negatively Impact Wisconsin Public Health” • The EPA removing its rules regulating emissions for coal and gas power plants. That could hurt people, but it won’t ultimately buck the economic trend toward cleaner fuels, according to Steph Tai, University of Wisconsin Law School professor. [WPR]

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

By Yvette Ahenkorah, 2026 Africa Zero Waste Academy Participant

I came to the GAIA Africa Zero Waste Academy ready to learn. I expected new knowledge, new ideas and a deeper understanding of what zero waste could look like in our communities. What I did not fully expect was to leave the six-day in-person experience carrying a greater sense of responsibility, not only towards the waste we generate, but towards the people whose lives and livelihoods are deeply connected to it.

Yvette during a presentation at the Africa Zero Waste Academy 2026, in Ghana.

There is something about knowledge that changes you when you can no longer separate what you have learnt from what you see around you.

Suddenly, waste is not just the overflowing bin, the plastic on the street or what disappears after collection. You begin to ask where it goes. Who collects it? Who sorts through what we throw away? Who recovers the materials that still have value? Who bears the health and environmental consequences of the systems we have created?

And somewhere within those questions, the people behind our waste systems become impossible to overlook: Waste workers. Who are part of what keeps our communities and cities functioning, yet their contribution can easily disappear from the larger conversation about waste. 

For me, the Academy reinforced that we cannot speak meaningfully about a zero waste future without speaking about the people already doing much of the work of recovery, collection, sorting and recycling.

That realisation made zero waste feel less like an environmental concept I was studying and more like a movement I wanted to contribute to.

Because what would a zero waste transition mean if the people already holding parts of our waste systems together are left behind?

Movement building, then, has to be about more than changing where materials go. It must also be about people, dignity, recognition, livelihoods and justice.

Over those six days, learning alongside people committed to changing our relationship with waste reminded me that movements do not always begin with something big. Sometimes they begin with a conversation. With questioning a system we have accepted for too long. With recognising the value in something we once called waste. With listening to those whose livelihoods give them an understanding of these materials that many of us may never have considered.

And perhaps most importantly, movement begins when knowledge moves beyond us.

I have carried that thought with me since the Academy, particularly into my work at AERC-Ghana. As I engage with community-based approaches such as composting and continue exploring circular solutions, I find myself returning to a question that has become increasingly important to me:

How do we turn what we know into action that communities and the people working within our waste systems can experience, own, and sustain?

Yvette & other participants during a session at the Africa Zero Waste Academy 2026, in Ghana.

I am learning that building the zero waste movement is not about arriving in communities with all the answers. It is about listening. It is about recognising existing knowledge and labour. 

It is about creating space for communities and waste workers to help shape the solutions that affect them. And it is about ensuring that our pursuit of cleaner communities does not erase the people whose work has helped keep those communities clean.

This is where the experience became deeply personal for me. I may have walked into the Academy seeking knowledge about zero waste, but I walked away thinking more deeply about people. About whose voices are heard when solutions are designed. About whose labour we notice. About the kind of transition we are building, and whether dignity and justice sit at the centre of it.

Six days cannot solve our waste crisis.

Six days cannot address every challenge waste workers face.

But six days can change the questions someone begins to ask.

For me, the question is no longer simply, “How do we achieve zero waste?”

It is also, “How do we build a zero-waste movement where no resource and no person is treated as disposable?”

Perhaps that is where knowledge becomes movement. And where movement becomes action.

Writer’s Bio

Yvette is a youth development and sustainability professional from Ghana passionate about climate action, waste management, and community empowerment. She currently works with Alliance for Empowering Rural Communities, where she supports initiatives focused on inclusion, youth engagement, and equal access for underserved communities. Her interests include urban resilience, circular economy solutions, and empowering young people through environmental sustainability and advocacy.

The post Africa Zero Waste Academy: Where Knowledge Becomes Movement first appeared on GAIA.

In the midst of his mayoral election campaign let it be known that Bradford “Brad” Bradford (yes, Brad is short for Bradford) is many things…...

The post A hater’s guide to Brad Bradford  first appeared on Spring.

Across the country, hundreds of thousands of farmers are navigating disabilities, chronic health conditions, injuries, and the physical changes that may come with aging. The National AgrAbility Project and Healing by Growing Farms work to support farmers with disabilities so they can keep doing the work they love.

The post Helping Farmers Keep Farming appeared first on RAFI.

After a year of drought and unpredictable weather, farmers share lessons learned for building on-farm resilience.

The post Lessons From the Drought appeared first on RAFI.

Farmers seeking support can call the Farm Aid Hotline at 800.FARM.AID or RAFI’s Farmer Financial Crisis Hotline at 866.586.6746. Providers from across the country share tips on how to make the most of this kind of support.

The post Know Before You Call appeared first on RAFI.

Tracing the history of SNAP reveals how the narrative about people experiencing hunger changes over time. Justine Post writes that only by understanding these narrative shifts can we begin to create a new narrative — one that shifts the blame and shame around food insecurity away from hungry individuals and instead demands systemic change in our current food system.

The post Corporate Welfare Queens appeared first on RAFI.

Energy prices are up, and farmers need creative solutions to keep their operations running. RAFI is using solar pumps to help farmers in Puerto Rico and North Carolina achieve energy independence.

The post Solar Futures appeared first on RAFI.

They may not be battling space aliens or leaping tall buildings in a single bound, but North Carolina farmers are teaming up to tackle an even bigger challenge: fixing the regional food system. RAFI is teaming up with farmers from across the state to give NC producers a voice in policy decisions that shape the agricultural landscape.

The post Advocates Assemble! appeared first on RAFI.

Becoming USDA certified organic helps farmers demonstrate their commitment to environmental practices and communicate value to customers, but the process can be daunting. Farmers share their lessons learned from the road to organic certification, the challenges and pitfalls along the way, and advice for farmers making the shift.

The post The Road to Organic appeared first on RAFI.

Lou Leon Guerrero, the governor of Guam, learned about the government’s plan to mine her people’s waters the same way everyone else did: by reading the news.

It was November 12, and her advisor had sent her an article link — apparently, a journalist had inquired about it. She opened the page, and was stunned by what she read. The Trump administration planned to lease millions of acres of seafloor around the island to mining companies. 

“I’ll never forget the date,” Leon Guerrero said from her office overlooking Agaña Bay. “I had not heard anything about it.”

She immediately called David Apatang, the governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a neighboring U.S. territory.

“We were both very upset that we didn’t get any kind of warning,” she said. Shortly after, she rang Bill Hague, an official in the Department of the Interior, an agency that handles federal relations with territorial leaders and tribal nations. 

“I know we are a U.S. territory,” Leon Guerrero recalls saying to him. “I know that you as the federal government can just come in and say, ‘I don’t care about what you guys say. We’re going to do it anyway.’” But still, she said, “I want you to know I don’t support this.” Hague reassured her, she said, that mining would never proceed without the community’s support. 

Nearly a year later, that’s exactly what’s happening. 

Read Next American Samoa says no to deep-sea mining. The Trump administration might do it anyway. Anita Hofschneider

The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to lease vast swaths of seafloor to mining companies. It is part of a broader push to secure critical minerals and counter China, which dominates the global supply. These resources — including copper, manganese, nickel, and rare earth elements — are essential to military technologies and batteries.

First up are America’s Pacific island territories. In July, the Marine Minerals Administration said that it would auction access to 31 million acres of the continental shelf around American Samoa in mid-November. A month later, the agency announced plans to do the same in December across more than 67 million acres on either side of the Marianas archipelago, which includes the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam. About half of those acres border a national marine monument established by President George W. Bush.

Local leaders and environmentalists staunchly oppose these plans. Recently, Earthjustice, an environmental law nonprofit, filed lawsuits against the Trump administration on behalf of conservation groups in American Samoa and the Mariana Islands, arguing that the government does not yet know if seabed mining would harm animals that are protected by the Endangered Species Act, like whales and sea turtles.

The Marine Minerals Administration declined to comment on the ongoing litigation. Brent Lawrence, a spokesperson who responded to Grist’s questions, said that the department would continue “to closely coordinate with territorial leadership” as well as community members in American Samoa, Guam, and the Mariana Islands.

Unlike neighboring Pacific nations, which can decide for themselves whether to allow mining, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands are subject to federal decisions often made without their approval. Under international law, the Indigenous peoples of these islands have the right to free, prior, and informed consent to projects affecting their lands and waters. The Trump administration, however, says it has the authority to proceed under U.S. law.

That decision is the latest example of how the United States has for more than a century denied the residents of these islands a meaningful voice in decisions that affect them, said Adi Martínez-Román, co-director of Right to Democracy. They cannot vote for president, have no voting representation in Congress, and their right to self-determination is generally ignored, she said.

“The territories are practically invisible to the general U.S. society and to public officials,” said Martínez-Román. “It is an insidious result of the colonial framework.”

Lourdes “Lou” Aflague Leon Guerrero, governor of Guam, attends a a full committee hearing in Washington, DC, alongside other leaders of U.S. territories on June 17, 2026.​ Ken Cedeno / AFP via Getty Images​

On July 16, while staying with family in Manuʻa, American Samoa, J.V. Langkilde awoke at 2 a.m. It was Manuʻa Flag Day, a holiday commemorating the islands’ chiefs signing a treaty that brought Manu‘a under U.S. sovereignty more than a century ago.

The family had agreed to cater the day’s festivities, which included a cricket tournament, a parade, and a competition to determine who could make the best oka, a Samoan raw fish dish similar to ceviche. His favorite dish of the day was lobster with coconut sauce, but there was also pig, and smokey Samoan taro cooked in an umu, or earthen oven, he said. 

The early start meant Langkilde immediately noticed when his phone screen lit up the darkness with a text message alerting him to the news: On a day marking the anniversary of the United States agreeing to respect Samoan property rights, the Trump administration had announced it was proceeding with a plan to allow deep-sea mining in the waters of American Samoa.

The subject came up again and again during his time at home. The first concern people in Manuʻa have is, “Shouldn’t there be a full understanding of impacts before someone gets a property interest in our ocean floor?” said Langkilde, an attorney at the environmental nonprofit Earthjustice. During the rest of his visit home, his fellow Samoans repeatedly expressed their unease.  

“They think it’s a little bit backwards that some company who has no stake in the community here will have property interest on our ocean floor without a full understanding of impacts,” he said.

Deep-sea mining has not yet occurred on a commercial scale, and scientific understanding of the consequences is scant. One recent study suggests mining could create sediment plumes that harm large fish like tuna, which makes up more than 99 percent of American Samoa’s exports. Mining companies dispute these claims, but locals and environmentalists remain unconvinced.

“The throughline of concern I hear is becoming a test site with no kind of guarantees for money being reserved, not just for revenue share, but even for environmental protection,” Langkilde said. “There could be some sort of bond or fund imposed upon the company should things go wrong.” 

The governor of American Samoa, Pula’ali’i Nikolao Pula, has expressed similar concerns. In June of 2025 he announced that the government was united in its opposition to mining “in line with the express will of the people and the protection of American Samoa’s natural resources.”

Five months later, the Trump administration nearly doubled the area that might be mined.

A field of manganese nodules on the Pacific sea floor as seen during NOAA’s 2015 Hohonu Moana expedition. NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research

Because American Samoa is a U.S. territory, its ban on seafloor mining only extends three nautical miles from shore, a fraction of the 200-mile radius around the islands that the federal government claims jurisdiction over.

By contrast, Samoa, which lies just 40 miles to the northwest, has complete control over its waters, of which it plans to protect at least 30 percent. The nation has also joined others calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining in international waters. It was the first of a dozen Pacific island nations that have achieved independence from colonial powers in the modern era, an autonomy that allows them to determine how their waters are managed. 

Read Next Digging for minerals in the Pacific’s graveyard: The $20 trillion fight over who controls the seabed Anita Hofschneider

Some, like the Republic of Naoero (which was until this month known as Nauru) and the Kingdom of Tonga, are eager to see the industry move forward. The two countries sponsor deep-sea mining companies, allowing them to apply for exploration contracts in international waters through an international body in exchange for financial benefits. “For Nauru, seabed minerals represent more than economic diversification. They are a pathway to resilience and a pathway to contribute to global solutions,” said David Adeang, the president of Naoero, at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2025. 

Earlier this year, Tonga’s prime minister, Lord Fatafehi Fakafānua, signed an agreement with the Trump administration for mining research and exploration. Fakafānua called it an “exciting development.” Others, like the Republic of Kiribati, are considering similar moves. 

But the majority of Pacific nations support an international moratorium on the industry. Palau has banned the practice in national waters, while others like Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands have taken similar stances amid concerns about its effects on fisheries and cultural practices. 

Residents of the Mariana Islands protest seabed mining during a visit by federal officials to the CNMI governor’s office on Feb. 28.
Courtesy of Leigh Gases / Marianas Press

Unlike U.S. territories, independent Pacific nations have a vote in international negotiations over seabed mining. More than 45 countries have called for an international moratorium or ban.

A 1994 United Nations treaty created the International Seabed Authority to oversee mining in international waters, which lie beyond any country’s jurisdiction and cover about half the globe. That body holds biannual meetings to develop potential rules for the industry. This mining code has been under debate for more than a decade, and commercial extraction has not yet been approved.

The Trump administration isn’t waiting. The president ordered federal regulators to begin processing applications for mining in international waters under a decades-old U.S. law. That prompted outcry from other nations, which say the United States is circumventing international law. As with mining in U.S. waters, it could also leave Indigenous Pacific peoples with little say over industrial activity in the seas they have long stewarded.

More than 170 nations have ratified the treaty establishing the seabed authority, allowing them to attend meetings and cast votes. But territories without independence are excluded. The federal law extending U.S. citizenship to the people of Guam explicitly grants Congress the right to overturn any law passed by the island’s legislature. 

“A decision about our islands is going to be made at a desk,” said Sabrina Suluai-Mahuka, a fellow at Right to Democracy from American Samoa. “It does not make sense that we can’t have any say in how our futures go.”

Four months after the Trump administration announced plans to lease the seabed around Guam, Lou Leon Guerrero met with officials in Washington, D.C. to share her concerns. Three days later, back on Guam, she learned that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management had doubled the area that might be mined, including waters closer to Guam than initially proposed. Again, she called Hague at the Interior Department. The department had not told Leon Guerrero that they were days away from making the change.

“You guys don’t include us in your discussions,” she told him. “We’re the ones that’re going to be impacted. 

“He said he made it very clear to everybody to make sure that the governor and the leaders are apprised about what’s happening,” she recalled Hague assuring her. 

“We hear it only in the media or in the CFR announcements,” Leon Guerrero told him, referring to federal regulatory notices.

Lou Leon Guerrero gestures in her office in Adelup, Guam as she describes her efforts to block seabed mining off of her island’s shores. Anita Hofschneider / Grist

Hague did not respond to Grist’s request for comment. A department spokesperson, Alyse Sharpe, clarified that while the agency facilitates support for tribal people and nations, “Mr. Hague does not have a role in that,” and that the department regularly communicates with U.S. territory leadership and will continue to do so. In an emailed statement, she declined to comment on or verify the conversations with Leon Guerrero, “due to the often confidential and deliberative nature of these conversations.”

The statement also said, “The Department of the Interior is committed to maintaining a transparent process as the possibility of mining critical minerals from the seafloor is explored,” and noted that a signed lease does not necessarily grant permission to mine and that any lease holder would be subjected to a feasibility, safety, and environmental assessment.

A remotely operated vehicle, Deep Discoverer, images the seafloor off American Samoa during an expedition in 2017. NOAA OER​

Neildino Taisacan, an Indigenous Carolinian-Chamorro environmental advocate in the Marianas, said the community submitted extensive comments opposing the proposal despite the short notice. The governors had requested a 120-day extension which would give residents until after the holidays to leave a public comment. The Trump administration instead approved a 30-day extension. In the end, when the proposed area was eventually doubled, many residents were left wondering whether their concerns had been heard, Taisacan said.

“All we can do is just scream at the top of our lungs and say, ‘No, we don’t want this,’” he said. 

The administration is also pursuing seabed mining in the waters of Alaska and Virginia. But residents of those states can vote and have representatives with sway in Congress. Those rights are not extended to residents of the territories, giving lawmakers little motivation to take their concerns seriously. 

That hasn’t stopped territorial leaders from trying. In June, Pula’ali’i Nikolao Pula, the governor of American Samoa, flew to Washington, D.C. to testify before the Senate. There, wearing a black suit and yellow tie, he reaffirmed his opposition to deep-sea mining. 

“However, should the federal government move forward,” he said to senators, “we would like to have basically a seat at the table.” If mining is done in an environmentally friendly way, he said, “our little territory would very much appreciate revenue sharing.”

Kimberlyn King-Hinds, who is the U.S. House delegate for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, plans to introduce legislation that would give the commonwealth half of all seabed mining revenue. “If they’re going to shove this down our throats,” she said, “I want to be able to ensure that we have a backup plan, we have insurance and that we actually benefit from the waters that surround us.” 

Still, what happens next remains to be seen, because she, as a delegate, cannot vote on bills.

One company interested in mining in the region, Impossible Metals, has suggested a benefit-sharing agreement that would give territories a small percentage of their profits, as a gesture of goodwill. But these promises are not yet legally binding. 

And with decision-making power consolidated in Washington, D.C., there is little incentive for companies to approach territorial leaders like Pula. The Metals Company, for example, has instead spent about $800,000 lobbying federal officials to permit seabed mining. 

If the nascent industry becomes profitable, even a small share of the windfall could provide a significant boost to Pacific island economies.

In American Samoa, a single StarKist tuna cannery employs about 2,000 people and accounts for 80 percent of the private-sector jobs. The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands has endured a prolonged tourism downturn and was battered by two super typhoons earlier this year. In Guam, fewer people have visited since the pandemic, leaving the island increasingly reliant on military investment. Without stable economies at home, many residents leave their island communities for jobs abroad.

That’s one reason some Pacific governments with more autonomy than U.S. territories are in favor of mining. The Cook Islands, for instance, supports the industry and has used government funds to explore nearby waters for mineral deposits.

Prime Minister Mark Brown has described that exploration as part of the islands’ “journey of sovereign independence.” Mining companies have been courting the islands’ communities for years, sponsoring local cultural organizations and sporting events. Brown has said the industry could boost revenue significantly. 

But some mining analysts and environmentalists doubt that. A recent study found that mining near American Samoa would carry steep operating costs and might not generate enough revenue to be profitable. It also concluded that demand for some targeted minerals — including cobalt, manganese, and nickel — may not hold, while other analyses found that proposed financial arrangements would return little revenue to developing countries.

Langkilde, the Earthjustice attorney from American Samoa, said his community was shocked by how the latest lease proposal doesn’t include revenue sharing. And while the federal notice suggests that deep-sea mining companies invest in training a local workforce and upgrading public facilities like ports, neither is mandated.

Seeing it in black and white is, he said, “very discouraging to people here who might have otherwise been like, ‘Maybe the federal government will do right by us.’”

In April, Sheila Babauta hid with her parents and her 2-month-old son in a storage room for hours, listening to 150-mph winds moan and rattle the windows as Typhoon Sinlaku battered her home island of Saipan. 

They had no running water or electricity for weeks afterward. While cleaning up flood damage, collecting water for baths, and caring for her newborn son, Babauta received a group chat message about the federal government’s latest push to accelerate seabed mining.

Five weeks after Typhoon Sinlaku hit the Marianas, Sheila Babauta lives without electricity in her home in northern Saipan while caring for her newborn son. She feels grateful that her family kept their house when so many others lost theirs. Anita Hofschneider / Grist

“I didn’t have capacity to even think about it,” she said. “All of the immediate needs definitely took priority over keeping track of what was happening with seabed mining.”

Babauta, a former member of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives, is a longtime Indigenous Chamorro-Pohnpeian environmental advocate who has been vocal about opposing seabed mining. But even she has found it difficult to keep track of what the federal government is doing and find the time and energy to weigh in as her community recovers from two climate-fueled typhoons.

“After the typhoon, I definitely felt overwhelmed, especially with a baby, because he’s my priority, right?” Babauta said of her son, whom she envisions growing up and living on the island.

“Deep-sea mining is also important to me because I want to protect our home for future generations,” she said. “All of that is going on in my head while outside of me, in reality, you see destruction all over.”

Pacific islands are on the front lines of climate change, with rising seas and worsening storms already impacting residents. But as the Trump administration pushes seabed extraction while undermining climate action, those immediate crises leave many territorial residents with less time and energy to influence whether mining proceeds.

That’s happening despite what many Pacific Islanders describe as the incalculable cultural costs seabed mining could impose on the environment and on the ancestral beliefs, practices, and traditions of Indigenous peoples.

Companies like the Metals Company have spent hundreds of millions of dollars exploring deep ocean ecosystems. Scientists who conducted that research later published some of their findings independently in peer-reviewed journals, concluding that these habitats are fragile and slow to recover.

Any risk to fishing, an essential part of culture and identity in American Samoa, looms large. 

“The people of American Samoa have a profound connection to the ocean, relying on it for sustenance, cultural practices, and economic activities, particularly through fisheries and tourism,” then-Governor Lamanu Peleti Mauga wrote in his 2024 moratorium on seabed mining. 

Other Indigenous Pacific Islanders, including John Castro, worry about how mining would impact traditional seafaring.

John Castro sits under a damaged canoe house on Saipan, reflecting on what seabed mining might mean for traditional navigation. Anita Hofschneider / Grist

On an afternoon in May, Castro sat beneath a damaged canoe house in Susupe, Saipan. Its thatched roof had been partially destroyed by Typhoon Sinlaku, and Castro had joined others in repairing it. He is a fisher who coordinates a program that helps pass down the knowledge required to navigate canoes across the Pacific using the stars and waves.

Traditional seafarers rely on marine life to determine where they are, he said. “If deep-sea mining happens, and that thing kind of drives whales in a different course, then we’re going to get lost, too.” 

This knowledge was once widespread across the Pacific but was lost to colonization in many places, including the Marianas and Hawaiʻi. It has recently returned with the help of expert navigators from the Federated States of Micronesia. Disrupting that revival would be an enormous loss. 

Still, Castro is resigned to what feels like an inevitable consequence of his communityʻs status as a U.S. territory. “We do have a say-so, but it’s not going to be entertained,” he said. “We’re small compared to Uncle Sam, who makes the rules.”

Earthjustice is an advertiser with Grist. Advertisers have no role in Grist’s editorial decisions.

toolTips('.classtoolTips2','A group of 17 soft gray metals including lanthanides, scandium, and yttrium, so-called rare earths form key parts of the magnets in wind turbines and are used in high-tech products ranging from consumer electronics to defense satellites.'); toolTips('.classtoolTips5','In scholarly research, a “peer-reviewed” study or article is one that has been independently evaluated by other experts in the field to assess scientific accuracy. Not all studies go through a peer-review process, so peer-reviewed studies and journals typically indicate a higher level of confidence in methodologies and results.'); toolTips('.classtoolTips10','A conductive and heat-resistant metal that forms a key part of many battery cathodes, which allow electric charges to flow. It is used in the lithium-ion batteries that power many EVs as well as solar energy systems and wind turbine components.'); toolTips('.classtoolTips11','A scarce blue metal that helps battery cathodes store large amounts of energy without overheating or collapsing. It is a key component of lithium-ion batteries. ');

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline She governs a US territory. But she has no say in who mines its waters. on Sep 16, 2026.

Renewing the mandate is not simply about maintaining a UN mechanism but ensuring that the voices, rights and struggles of peasants remain visible and recognised.

The post LVC Calls on the UN Human Rights Council to Renew the Mandate of the Working Group of Experts on UNDROP appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

On a spring day earlier this year, 10 men stood on the rooftop of a door manufacturing facility in the central Ukrainian town of Bila Tserkva, surveying the rows of solar panels that surrounded them. Since Russia invaded in 2022, the town has endured repeated attacks, triggering mass power outages. For the factory, which supplies doors to homes and businesses, keeping production going had become extremely challenging. The outages were particularly brutal in the winter, when limited power supplies led to rolling blackouts across the country.

Some days, the employees burned discarded wood in a fireplace to keep the warehouse warm. The facility has backup generators, but they were expensive to run. Tired of relying on a grid that was being routinely bombarded by Russian missiles, Yaroslav, the facility’s owner, decided to switch to solar earlier this year.

Switching to solar energy will enable them to “further expand our capacity and be a bit more independent from the general grid,” he said. “It will be cheaper, more economical, and more ecological.” (Yaroslav requested that Grist use only his first name and withhold details about the facility for fear of Russian retaliation.)

In the spring, he contacted Yasno, a private Ukrainian electricity and gas supplier, to install solar panels on his rooftop. Yasno’s clients pay for the panels to be installed, often with the help of a government program that covers some of the installation expenses. Ukraine created incentives to encourage businesses to switch to renewable energy, like the “Affordable Loans 5-7-9” program, which offers loans to purchase solar panels and other equipment. The preferential loans have interest rates of 5, 7, or 9 percent, depending on the type of business, and can cover up to 80 percent of the installation costs.

Yasno will ultimately decide where to station hundreds of solar panels on the warehouse rooftop and install them. The project is one of dozens that the company has undertaken across the country. In the past two years, it has installed solar panels at 117 sites with a combined capacity of 23 megawatts. The company paused its work for the first two years of the war, but resumed operations in the summer of 2024.

Workers install solar panels on the roof of a door manufacturing facility in Bila Tserkva, Ukraine, in 2026.
Anna Conkling

Volodymyr Hershtun, a service maintenance manager with Yasno who led the project in Bila Tserkva, said that Ukraine is rapidly developing its renewable energy portfolio in part because the country needs to be resilient as it continues to face a barrage of Russian attacks.

“The enemy is trying to destroy energy infrastructure, and we are building what is very easy to restore,” he said. “And those same systems can store electric energy.”

Before Russia’s invasion, Ukraine relied on a highly centralized electricity system dominated by nuclear power. More than half of the country’s electricity came from four nuclear power plants, while natural gas and coal generated roughly a quarter of the energy mix.

A damaged solar panel remains on a roof of a residential house after a Russian drone strike in August 2026 in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

Renewables made up a small share of the energy portfolio, though the country had been rapidly expanding its solar generation in the years leading up to the war. The surge was driven by the country’s “green tariff” program, which encouraged households and businesses to produce solar and wind power through guaranteed above-market payments for electricity. Ukrainian law guarantees the tariff until 2030, and lawmakers have described the program as a step toward integrating the country into the European Union’s energy market.

Those government incentives led Ukrainian businesses to install about 8 gigawatts of solar by 2022. But Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure over the past few years have upended that model. Since the invasion, missiles and drones have repeatedly struck power plants, substations, and transmission lines, leaving millions without electricity during the coldest months.

Roughly 30 percent of the installed solar capacity and most of the country’s 36 wind farms in the south were either destroyed, fell under Russian occupation, or are unaccounted for. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine has also been shut down and under Russian control since the invasion began. Given the legacy of Chernobyl, many Ukrainians live with the fear of another nuclear disaster.

The repeated attacks on the grid have caused prolonged power outages. Parts of Kyiv continue to ration electricity with scheduled power outages that can last for hours. Ukraine’s National Bank has said that Russia’s energy infrastructure attacks this year have worsened the electricity deficit assumptions, raising them from 3 percent to 6 percent.

With the vulnerabilities of relying on large, centralized power stations exposed, Ukraine has begun accelerating its shift toward smaller, distributed sources of electricity that are harder to knock offline. ​In 2025, the Solar Energy Association of Ukraine estimated that 1.5 GW of new solar capacity was built — almost double the prior year’s total — and it expects 2026 installations to at least match that pace.

“Renewables have become the very obvious choice for Ukraine when the full-scale invasion started and when Russia started deliberately and heavily attacking the energy infrastructure, especially the centralized generation facilities,” said Anastasia Vereshchynska, the director of the European-Ukrainian Energy Agency, a nonprofit that works with energy efficiency and renewable resources in Ukraine.

The investments are likely to help Ukrainians weather brutal winters. Last year, as temperatures dropped to -1 degree Fahrenheit, Russia’s bombardments caused widespread electricity and heating outages. Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, had just half the electricity supply it needed to weather the winter, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared a state of emergency.

Volodymyr, a taxi driver in Kyiv who asked that his last name be withheld for safety reasons, told Grist in May that during last winter’s attacks, his apartment building lost power, leaving him and his family without heating and hot water. Fortunately, he said, his apartment faced south and received sunlight most of the day, keeping it relatively warm.

In an attempt to minimize the effects of outages, the building’s management company has since decided to install solar panels on the roof to help keep the boiler turned on and operate the elevators. The installation is part of the 5-7-9 program.

“It’s a cool thing that the government covers at least part of the cost,” said Volodymyr. “In emergency cases, during power outages, you could turn to the solar panels. There is no harm to the planet. It’s a good thing.”

A photovoltaic power station at the industrial site of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 2025. Volodymyr Tarasov / Ukrinform / NurPhoto via Getty Images

The need for renewable energy is especially critical in communities closest to the war’s frontlines. As Russian forces advance, towns and villages are increasingly cut off from the energy grid as attacks destroy power lines, and the threat to maintenance workers makes repairs difficult or impossible. Some villages in particular have become so dangerous that repairs cannot be conducted, leaving residents without electricity and access to the outside world.

In those communities, volunteers and nongovernmental organizations have stepped in to install solar panels and battery systems that can power homes and businesses. ​Denny Ugorchuk, the founder of Kosmo Tabir, an NGO that works to help villages access solar energy, said that much of the funding for large projects comes from the help of international partners in the West, while local donations from Ukrainians help fund smaller projects. In one village, solar panels installed at a private residence gave a 50-year-old woman access to online university classes.

In Ukraine, solar panels are a “basic human right,” said Ugorchuk. “People should have access to communicate with one another — you can call a doctor, the police, and it helps you feel safe.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline As Russia attacks Ukraine’s grid, solar offers a path to resilience on Sep 16, 2026.

Let’s put this summer’s extraordinary heat in perspective.

Last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed what so many Americans suspected, that the heat has been extra unbearable lately: This meteorological summer, which runs from June through August, was the hottest on record for the contiguous U.S., beating the previous champions of 1936 and 2021 by 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Compared to the average over the 20th century, this summer was 3 degrees hotter, with August specifically climbing even higher at 3.5 degrees. Across the pond, Europe has been suffering under one heat wave after another, which have killed more than 25,000 people this year.

Blame the sun for doing what it’s been doing for billions of years, but also blame human-driven climate change. According to an analysis released today by the research group Climate Central, this summer 293 million Americans, or 86 percent of the population, sweltered through at least 30 days of risky heat. (Meaning those that were hotter than 90 percent of previous days in a given area.) In Asia, some 2.8 billion people faced the same exposure. Of the top 10 most unusually hot countries globally, seven were in Europe, which remains the fastest-warming continent.  

“The numbers are just really mind-boggling,” said Kristina Dahl, vice president for science at Climate Central. “Extreme heat on its own can cause health problems, but it can also exacerbate a lot of underlying health conditions.”

Courtesy of Climate Central

This summer, the average American suffered about 26 days with temperatures strongly influenced by climate change, the report found, but some regions were hit harder than others. Four of the five states with the most risky days were in the west: New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, and Utah. Colorado’s plight has been especially glaring, as its summer temperatures were 4.4 degrees F above normal, followed by Utah and Nevada, both at 3.8 degrees.

Still, Europe takes the crown as the fastest-warming continent, and it certainly showed this summer. (As we reported last month, the heat pushed electrical grids to their breaking points, but solar power swooped in to save the day.) This is due in part to the region’s proximity to the Arctic, which is warming far faster than the rest of the planet — as more sea ice disappears, it exposes darker waters that absorb more of the sun’s energy. A stranger factor is an unintended side effect of clean air policies: While they’ve massively benefited public health, they’ve also reduced the atmospheric particulate matter that reflected solar energy back into space. “As we clean up our industrial processes and we have less aerosols in the atmosphere, which is the case in much of Europe, we’re unmasking that climate signal,” Dahl said. “Europe’s experiencing more of the full brunt of climate change because of that.”

Courtesy of Climate Central

In Europe and beyond, rapidly climbing temperatures are creating a public health nightmare that got even scarier this summer. Climate change isn’t just making heat waves hotter, it is extending them. At the same time, nights are warming faster than days. So with day after day of relentless heat, and less of a cooldown at night, the human body doesn’t get a chance to recover. “When you don’t have the ability to cool off at night, your body is storing some of that accumulated heat from the daytime and carrying it over into the next day,” Dahl said.

Extreme heat can kill on its own, of course, but it can also exacerbate heart and lung conditions. This is especially dangerous for farmworkers and other outdoor laborers, who return to work in the morning carrying the heat effects of yesterday’s shift. The elderly are also at high risk, as their bodies aren’t as efficient at cooling themselves. 

And now the world is staring at what could turn out to be an incredibly strong El Niño, the band of warm Pacific water extending from South America. This is adding still more heat to the atmosphere, and played a part in driving up temperatures this summer, the analysis found. But scientists worry that as El Niño continues to develop, next year’s summer could be even hotter. “It’s still an event that’s taking shape,” Dahl said, “so it’s nowhere near its peak.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Yes, this summer really was as hot as you think it was on Sep 16, 2026.

With age, I’ve become more aware of the world’s complexity but also better equipped to come to simple, albeit painful, conclusions: We need to replace fantasies of endless growth with ideas about managing the contraction.