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Polling by Squadron Energy finds higher support than expected in western Victoria and central NSW, as renewable developers begin to use activist playbook.

The post “Anti-renewables populism is the largest unpriced risk:” But poll data shows support is growing, even in hot zones appeared first on Renew Economy.

Contracting for huge pumped hydro project has reportedly been suspended by the state treasurer and energy minister in light of cost blowouts of Snowy 2.0.

The post LNP hits brakes on pumped hydro project, spooked by Snowy 2.0 cost blowout appeared first on Renew Economy.

Even now, with $12 billion sunk, stopping Snowy 2.0 may be the least-worst decision. It needs a rigorous cost-benefit analysis, but will one be done?

The post Snowy 2.0: The potentially $50 billion shambles that really needs a proper cost-benefit analysis appeared first on Renew Economy.

Electricity market rule changes could see data centres forced to power down to assist grid stability.

The post Data centres without sufficient firm power could be switched off under Bowen rule change proposal appeared first on Renew Economy.

New battery project is competing for a sweet spot on the Queensland grid, between an "accommodation village," a substation, and two other battery proposals.

The post Coal giant seeks green tick for another very large, four-hour battery to the north of a very small town appeared first on Renew Economy.

Campaigners backing attempts to sue Shell over a typhoon in the Philippines have launched an online archive showing that the British oil major knew that burning fossil fuels could harm the climate as early as the 1960s. 

ExposeShell.com features documents including a 1966 memo Shell commissioned from British scientist James Lovelock and the ‘Greenhouse Effect’, a confidential 1988 report predicting that human-caused warming could trigger “dramatic” changes in sea level, ocean currents, weather and precipitation — “larger than any that have occurred over the last 12,000 years.” [Read these and other documents in the DeSmog series #ShellKnew]

The interactive site went live as Shell announced the latest figures showing that oil majors are enjoying bumper profits as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran pushes oil prices higher. Shell said its adjusted third-quarter earnings had doubled to £10.8 billion in comparison to the same period last year.

“We don’t need any more reports to us that this big oily industry has been creating disaster,” Robin Wells, director of Fossil Free London, one of the groups behind the website, said in a statement. “Shell researched the reality but tore up the truth and locked it in the dark. Now, we are all facing the disastrous consequences.”

Fossil Free London protesters took to the streets outside Shell’s head office in London on Thursday, dressed in 1960s-style suits and holding banners that read “Shell Knew.”

ExposeShell.com is also backed by The Odette Case, a campaign group supporting more than 100 survivors of Typhoon Rai — known in the Philippines as Typhoon Odette — who began seeking damages from Shell last December in a first-of-its-kind case in the UK courts. 

The typhoon tore through the Philippines in December, 2021, killing 400 people, injuring more than 1,000, and forcing almost 3.2 million people from their homes. 

The survivors argue that Shell should be held liable for its historic contribution to the greenhouse gas emissions fuelling extreme weather events and its support for climate science denial via its past membership of industry groups such as the Global Climate Coalition — despite its early knowledge of the risks posed by burning its products.  

Filed by UK law firm Hausfeld, the case draws on recent advances in attribution science that enable scientists to assess the degree to which climate change has contributed to an extreme weather event. Through Shell’s contribution of more than 2.5 percent of historical global greenhouse gas emissions, the suit alleges that Shell contributed to both the likelihood and severity of Typhoon Rai. It is the first civil claim to link the climate impacts of an oil and gas company’s activities with death, personal injury, and damage to property that has already occurred in the Global South.

Shell has dismissed the lawsuit as “baseless” and said that it had no “unique knowledge about climate change.”

(This story was updated at 12:44 GMT on October 29, 2026 to include Shell’s third-quarter earnings)

The post Interactive Archive Shares Secrets of Shell’s Early Climate Research appeared first on DeSmog.

Dolores Huerta, a labor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the organization that became the United Farm Workers (UFW), died on October 28, 2026, at her home in Bakersfield, California, according to the Dolores Huerta Foundation. She was 96.

“Her life’s work was to empower her community to face and overcome injustices, and she has left farm workers and the entire Latino community stronger and more organized than she found it,” UFW President Teresa Romero said in a statement.

Born Dolores Clara Fernández on April 10, 1930, in Dawson, New Mexico, Huerta grew up in Stockton, California. After earning a teaching credential, Huerta began working as an elementary school teacher in the San Joaquin Valley.

Witnessing the poverty experienced by her students and their families, she decided to pursue community organizing. “I thought I could do more by organizing farmworkers than by trying to teach their hungry children,” she recalled in a 2017 PBS Independent Lens documentary about her life.

Huerta became involved with the Community Service Organization (CSO), a Latino civil rights group. She organized voter registration drives, advocated for improvements in underserved neighborhoods, and founded the Agricultural Workers Association.

She met fellow organizer César Chávez in 1955, and in 1962, Huerta and Chávez established the National Farm Workers Association. The organization later merged with the Filipino-led Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to form what became the United Farm Workers.

During the Delano grape strike in 1965, Huerta helped organize a nationwide boycott that brought millions of consumers into the campaign and put economic pressure on California grape growers. In 1970, after five years of strikes and boycotts, Huerta helped negotiate collective bargaining agreements which secured higher wages, health benefits, pensions, and protections against unsafe working conditions.

In 1963, she helped secure disability insurance and Aid to Families with Dependent Children benefits for California agricultural workers. She later helped build support for the state’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975. The law established farmworkers’ right to union representation and required employers to bargain in good faith with unions chosen by their employees.

Beyond wages and labor rights, Huerta fought to protect farmworkers from hazardous pesticides and helped organize a boycott to pressure growers to reduce their use. She also advocated for immigration reform, reproductive rights, and greater political representation for women and Latino communities.

“As a Latina in the labor movement, she challenged the norms that kept women of color out of those spaces and brought women and families onto picket lines and up the ranks of unions and community organizations,” Neidi Dominguez, Executive Director of Organized Power In Numbers, said in a statement. “She showed that women were and are central to the farmworkers and all workers’ collective struggle.”

She coined the phrase “Sí, se puede,” or “Yes, it can be done,” which became a rallying cry for labor and civil rights movements.

Huerta was jailed 22 times during labor demonstrations and endured threats and violence throughout her career. In 1988, while protesting then-Republican presidential candidate George H.W. Bush, Huerta was struck by a police officer’s baton, breaking several ribs and rupturing her spleen. Following her recovery, she continued organizing and increasingly focused on women’s rights and encouraging Latinas to seek elected office.

In March 2026, Huerta bravely disclosed in an interview with the The New York Times that Chávez had sexually assaulted her twice during the 1960s. Both assaults resulted in pregnancies.

Huerta explained in a statement that she had remained silent for decades because she feared revealing the abuse would undermine the farmworker movement. “The farmworker movement has always been bigger and far more important than any one individual,” Huerta wrote.

After stepping down from her leadership role at UFW, Huerta established the Dolores Huerta Foundation in the early 2000s. The organization supports community organizing and civic participation, particularly in California’s San Joaquin Valley. It has trained thousands of community members to advocate for improvements in education, environmental health, public services, and political representation.

Huerta’s contributions earned numerous honors, including the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights in 1998 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. She was also the first Latina inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Schools are named in her honor in California, Texas and Colorado. She received 15 honorary degrees.

Food Tank President Danielle Nierenberg had the chance to meet Huerta several years ago in California and remembers that “she was magnetic and so full of energy. Her leadership inspired so many people in the food and agriculture movement.”

Huerta continued participating in demonstrations, registering voters, mentoring young organizers, and advocating for underserved communities into her 90s. Throughout her life, she emphasized the importance of empowering people to organize and advocate for themselves.

“I hope that my legacy will be one of an organizer that organized to fight injustice,” Huerta said in the 2025 documentary Seeds of Change: The Life and Legacy of Dolores Huerta. “We want to give our children an inheritance of justice, right, not jewels or property or money.”

Huerta is survived by 14 children, 24 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren, and 7 great-great-grandchildren. Her legacy continues through the United Farm Workers, the Dolores Huerta Foundation, and generations of organizers working to advance labor rights and social justice.

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

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

The post Honoring Dolores Huerta appeared first on Food Tank.

New York City residents are riding commuter trains at record rates thanks to cheaper tickets that let people pay less to ride between stations inside city limits, MTA officials said on Wednesday.

Ridership on the Long Island Rail Road and the Metro-North Railroad has nearly rebounded to pre-pandemic numbers — largely thanks to disproportionate ridership growth in New York City, whose residents have taken advantage of $5 off-peak and $7 peak “City Tickets” for intracity travel that the MTA expanded from a weekend-only deal in 2022.

Ridership at city stations has grown a flabbergasting 180 percent compared to just four years ago, according to figures revealed at Wednesday’s MTA board member.

Commuter rails have become a popular ride for New Yorkers in the last few years.

“Ridership at stations within New York City is outpacing ridership growth at at non-New York City stations,” said MTA Chief Customer Officer Shanifah Rieara. “That growth has exploded since the expansion of the weekday City Ticket back in 2022.”

LIRR President Rob Free said the agency’s move to attract more riders has paid off handsomely. This year, 29 percent of all ticket sales on the commuter railroads were City Tickets, and ridership has increased by 478 percent at the Laurelton station in Queens and 503 percent at the Melrose station in the Bronx.

“In looking at ways to increase ridership, address transit deserts and provide more affordable travel options for New York City residents, we uncovered a new market for commuter rail service,” Free said on Wednesday. “From 2022 to 2025 [City Ticket] ticket sales grew a whopping 361 percent for the commuter railroads.

The MTA introduced the City Ticket in 2003 as a $4.50 weekend-only discount ride for intracity travel on the LIRR and Metro-North. Advocates and elected officials spent the following years pushing the MTA to make even better use of its commuter rail stations inside the five boroughs, many of which are service neighborhoods with limited or zero subway service. In 2022, the agency began offering a $5 off-peak version of the ticket; in 2023, it introduced a $7 peak option, Gov. Kathy Hochul endorsed the idea as a way to encourage post-pandemic transit ridership.

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Advocates who pushed the MTA to open the city to more potential riders celebrated the good news as proof that giving people options can increase ridership.

“The success of the City Ticket shows that people want to be able to choose their mode of choice or whatever is easiest for them to make their trip shorter, and that riding the railroad is often that that way of travel,” said Lisa Daglian, the executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA. “We recommended this dozens of years ago, and are thrilled that it’s going stronger than ever.”

Daglian and the PCAC previously pushed the MTA to more widely adopt a different type of discount commuter rail ride that they called the Freedom Ticket. The proposed arrangement would have paired a weekly City Ticket with a seven-day MetroCard. While the MetroCard has gone the way of the Laserdisc, Daglian still hoped the MTA would explore more ways to take advantage of the clear interest in the City Ticket.

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Transit Advocates Seek Even More ‘Atlantic Ticket’-Style Discounts on Intra-City Commuter Rail
Dave Colon

October 14, 2021

“We continue to encourage the MTA to look at a City Ticket weekly, a City Ticket monthly, a City Ticket with some kind of transfer to transit. Give the people what they want. If it works, make it better. And it works, so we can make it even better. Let’s figure out how to do that, now’s the time,” she said.

MTA leadership wouldn’t commit to adding a subway transfer to the City Ticket, but said they were open to exploring ways to grow the program and introduce even more discounts.

“We will always consider them as part of our consideration of strategies to keep the system affordable,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber. “We’re always looking at new ideas in the appropriate time frame.”

We talk to the developers of one of Australia's biggest, privately-owned non-mining microgrids, that will power a massive almond farm and slash diesel use by 90 pct. Plus news of the week.

The post Solar Insiders Podcast: The utility, the almond farm, and the landmark renewable microgrid appeared first on Renew Economy.

Almost every day, I get to listen to water flowing, leaves rustling, and birds singing, punctuated by the occasional horn from the nearby 110 Freeway. I have the privilege of working at the Audubon...

In our latest, we talk about the “Tax the Rich” campaign, that has manifested as state wide ballot initiatives called Proposition 3 and Proposition 40, in California. Listen in: Proposition…

On Tuesday, Oct. 27, one week before the midterms, registered nurses in six U.S. cities demanded the country’s major hospital groups do their part to protect free and fair elections.

Researchers estimate output from solar farms in worst bushfires would have fallen by up to 70 pct within 50 km of hotspots, and 40 pct in regions more than 150km away.

The post Bushfire smoke chokes output from solar farms, even more than 100 km away, researchers find appeared first on Renew Economy.

Location: Mid-Atlantic & Northeastern States with easy access (via plane or train) for regular travel to Washington, DC & Salt Lake City, UT; can also be based out of SUWA’s Washington, DC Office.  
Department: Campaigns 
Team: Organizing
Reports to: Regional Organizing Manager 
Status, Salary, & Benefits: Full-time, Non-Exempt. Benefits & salary range at suwa.org/careers.  

The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), Utah’s largest conservation organization, has an immediate opening for an East Coast Organizer. Interested applicants should send a cover letter, resume, a writing sample of your choosing (a link to materials online is fine), and three references to the East Coast Organizer Hiring Team at jobs@suwa.org.  The deadline to submit your application is Monday, November 23, 2026. Please include your name and the words “East Coast Organizer” in the subject line.

Of note: This position is open to individuals currently residing in or willing to relocate to a Mid-Atlantic or Northeastern US State with easy access (via plane or train) for regular travel to Washington, DC & Salt Lake City, UT; they can also be based out of SUWA’s Washington, DC Office. 

Click here to view this job description as a PDF

Position Summary 

The Regional Organizer builds and sustains grassroots power across a multi-state region in support of SUWA’s mission. Working within the Campaigns Department and collaboratively with other program teams, this position implements organizing tactics within their region; identifies opportunities for influence, recruits and develops advocates and emerging leaders, and builds coalition and constituent relationships. The Regional Organizer represents SUWA to the general public, elected officials and their staff, and coalition and Tribal partners. They mobilize activists nationally, especially when developments require a rapid, coordinated grassroots response outside of Utah by activating individuals, building networks, and engaging with regional coalitions.  

This is a dynamic, travel-intensive role suited to someone who thrives in field and community-based environments, communicates and coordinates well across diverse coalition spaces, and is comfortable balancing independent judgment in the field with close collaboration across teams. 

Duties & Responsibilities  Campaign Strategy & Grassroots Organizing 

• Contribute to the design, evaluation, and adaptation of regional campaign strategy; enacts tactics in response to legislative, legal, and political developments. 

• Build and sustain a regional network of grassroots advocates and volunteers; recruit, mentor, and develop emerging leaders through training, coaching, and leadership pipelines. 

• Cultivate constituent power in priority states, districts, and communities, and in coordination with other SUWA staff leverage that power to meet the organization’s goals.. 

• In consultation with Regional Organizing Manager, recruit, supervise, and support interns, fellows, and contractors. 

Federal Advocacy & Coalition Building 

• Advance federal legislative and administrative priorities through coordinated advocacy, grassroots mobilization, public comment campaigns, earned media, and coalition action. 

• Build and strengthen relationships with conservation organizations, Tribal partners, outdoor industry leaders, educators, and other allied stakeholders; represent SUWA in regional and national coalitions. 

• Prepare advocates and partners for effective engagement with elected officials and federal agencies, and translate complex public lands policy into clear, compelling public narratives. 

Events, Training & Public Engagement 

• Lead the planning and execution of advocacy events, fly-ins, rallies, and trainings; deliver presentations as a public spokesperson for SUWA. 

• Work collaboratively with other Regional Organizers to refine leadership curricula and advocacy training that build skills and capacity among advocates and emerging leaders. 

Operations & Project Management 

• Manage multiple concurrent campaigns, work plans, timelines, and regional budgets. 

• Track supporter engagement and campaign performance through CRM systems and produce evaluations and reports to inform organizational planning. 

Other Duties & Responsibilities 

• Support organizational retreats, publications, donor and member engagement, and other special initiatives connected to campaign goals; perform other duties as assigned to advance SUWA’s mission. 

Work Environment & Travel Requirements 

• Work independently in the field and collaboratively across teams, departments and time zones, exercising sound judgment. 

• Travel occasionally within the region, national travel may occur during periods of urgent conservation threats or rapid-response mobilization; work evenings and weekends as campaign priorities require. 

• Regular public speaking and presentation responsibilities; ability to transport outreach and event materials up to 50 lbs. 

• Work performed in office, community, travel, remote, and public settings. 

Training & Qualifications 

The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or ability required for the role — the ideal candidate will have all or some of these qualifications. If you don’t have all of them, apply anyway and tell us about your skills and experience. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. We strongly encourage applications from people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, veterans, and other underrepresented groups.

Required Qualifications 

• A passion for SUWA’s mission of conservation of wilderness lands in Utah and a strong desire to connect people to action in service to these lands.  

• Demonstrated experience in grassroots organizing, campaign management, or community engagement, across multiple states or regions a plus 

• Aptitude and inclination for building relationships across diverse constituencies, including Congressional offices, and to recruit, train, and manage volunteers or activist networks within region. 

• Strong organizational, budgeting, public speaking, and interpersonal communication skills 

• Ability to travel extensively (frequently 25–75%+ depending on programming needs), maintain a flexible schedule, and a valid driver’s license 

• Computer literacy including Google and MS Office products, plus database/CRM tools 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Experience in advocacy, campaigns, public affairs, conservation, political strategy, or coalition work 

• Knowledge and/or experience in land conservation, environmental advocacy, or related policy work; knowledge of wilderness conservation or federal land management 

• Experience building coalitions with allied organizations; familiarity with legislative or regulatory processes 

• Curriculum development or training/facilitation experience; experience representing organizations in public-facing or spokesperson roles 

• Bilingual or multilingual skills; ties to Utah a plus but not required 

The post Now Hiring: East Coast Organizer appeared first on Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

On October 27, 2026, Canada made a commitment to protect an additional three percent of its marine and ocean areas by the end of 2027. It is one in a series of announcements made as Madame Diana Fox...

On Tuesday, October 27, representatives from six communities dealing with the impacts of Canadian mining projects in Latin America and the Caribbean testified in a thematic hearing held by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. For years, these communities have fought to have their human rights and right to a healthy environment upheld both in their home countries and in Canada. 

Community leaders testify to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Corporate investment and abuses cross borders. Communities’ solidarity does too. At yesterday’s hearing, leaders from across Latin America and the Caribbean joined with Canadian and international NGOs to strengthen each others’ voices. Together, they posed a question to the Canadian government: The issues at each of these mine sites are well documented, so why hasn’t the Canadian government done more to hold Canadian mining companies accountable for their actions abroad?

Their testimonies show how individual community experiences add up to a pattern of corporate abuse that demands immediate action.

Canada’s government supports mining companies as communities call for action.

Canada’s laws and state practices provide political, legal and economic support that enables the sector… There are no effective mechanisms to prevent or investigate damages.

Charis Kamphuis, Justice and Corporate Accountability Project, Canada

Canadian stock exchanges are home to roughly half of the world’s publicly traded mining companies, but Canada does not hold the sector to strict and binding human rights and environmental due diligence standards. Mechanisms for corporate accountability in Canada fall short. Instead, it often uses its economic and diplomatic resources to support companies’ operations despite the impacts these have on local communities. 

In Argentina, toxic spills contaminate the Jachal River. 

For more than ten years, we have fought for our right to clean water… We have waited for more than ten years without response. We do not want more broken promises. We want clean water, justice, and guarantees that this will not repeat.

Saúl Zeballos, Argentina

Two witness testimonies heard yesterday relate to Barrick Gold’s operations abroad. 

At the Veladero Mine in Argentina, five spills have contaminated the Jachal River with cyanide and mercury, and community members are still asking for the company to take responsibility for the contamination. 

While mining company Barrick acknowledged the first three spills, in regards to two additional spills documented through independent water sampling, the company said it “is aware of the allegations regarding a recent incident at Veladero, and categorically denies them.” 

In the Dominican Republic, concerns about pollution are met with bottled water and denials.

We have many health problems, both kidney and lung problems, vision problems, lead in the blood… We are suffering from a lack of water… I believe it is not acceptable for us to be living in the situation we are living in…Without water, there is no life.

Casilda Lima, Dominican Republic

At its Pueblo Viejo Mine in the Dominican Republic, residents living near one of the largest gold mines in the world have to deal with constant air pollution and impacts on water. Community members have had to drink bottled water for the past 15 years.

The company denies any responsibility and has not developed a permanent solution for the  health issues and pollution that communities allege comes from their proximity to the mine. In response to a Guardian article about issues at the Pueblo Viejo mine, Barrick stated that it is “committed to operating in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. Contrary to the allegations, the water quality surrounding our operations has improved due to the extensive environmental remediation and water treatment activities we have undertaken.” 

In Ecuador and Colombia, land defenders are imprisoned and harassed.

We have people who are unjustly criminalized for defending our rights, for defending our nature, for defending our water, our Pachamama.

Marco Manobanda, Ecuador

In Ecuador, the Curipamba-El Domo mine threatens the health, livelihoods, and water resources of local Indigenous and campesino communities. Land defenders who have spoken out about the impacts of the project have faced criminalization and imprisonment without due process.

Those of us who have raised our voices for 17 years have been stigmatized and labeled as belonging to groups outside the law… 

We have gone to the authorities, we have gone to the courts, and the risk continues. That is why we have come before you today.

Mayerly López, Colombia

Members of the Santurban Committee protesting a Canadian mine project in Colombia have also faced harassment and criminalization. 

In response to these allegations, Aris Mining claims “we remain steadfast in our assertion that we do not and have not participated in, nor do we condone, the intimidation of anyone.” 

The Committee and UN experts have sent letters to the Canadian Government about the situation. Despite this, Canada has not responded or taken responsibility for the actions of Aris Mining.

In Panama, residents cannot enter their home communities without company permission.

Before we had to travel on foot through the mountain for many hours. Now, even though the road is much faster, the company controls it and complicates our access. There is a security checkpoint and they monitor who enters or leaves… If there is an emergency, and my family calls me, without a company ID, I cannot get to them quickly. 

Why do we have to ask First Quantum for permission to pass if the company is on our territory? Instead of asking the Indigenous People for permission, they come to tell us what to do…

This testimony is anonymous because I am worried that they will threaten me and my community, or that they will prevent me from using the road to reach my family.

Name withheld

In Panama, Canadian mining company First Quantum Minerals has had its contract revoked twice by the country’s Supreme Court. Despite this, they continue to operate a checkpoint along the main road into the mine concession area. First Quantum Minerals told the media that the checkpoint is “only within the industrial zone itself” with “no restrictions in the remainder of the region.” 

Nevertheless, nine communities are located within the concession area, and are required to have a company-issued identification in order to pass through, greatly restricting their freedom of movement. Canadian officials have repeatedly expressed their support for First Quantum and the company has filed international arbitration for $20 billion USD against Panama. 

In Mexico, a community leader opposing a mine was murdered.

We are not saying that the [Canadian] Embassy ordered my father to be killed. But by denying him support for security, and by only working in favor of the company, we think that they put him at greater risk… Today, almost 17 years after my father’s murder, we are still seeking justice.

José Luis Abarca

In 2009, community leader Mariano Abarca was murdered for his opposition to a Canadian mining project near his home in southern Mexico. This was after the Canadian Embassy received multiple letters stating that Abarca feared for his safety. Canadian authorities have refused to investigate the case and a Canadian court claimed that human rights policies were not binding for government officials. 

At the time of Abarca’s murder, Blackfire’s CEO claimed that the company “is not involved in this in any fashion…We’re just trying to continue working and moving forward with our projects.” Mariano Abarca´s son, José Luis Abarca, continues to fight for justice for the murder of his father. He testified on Canada’s obligations in the hearing.

It’s time for the Canadian government to uphold human rights.

Each of these communities have had their livelihoods, health, safety and wellbeing threatened by Canadian mining companies. 

This is not the first time that these issues have been raised to the Canadian government. In a 2023 House of Commons hearing, Catherine Coumans stated that, “Harm caused or contributed to by Canadian mining companies, their subsidiaries and contractors overseas is widespread globally and persistent.” 

Leaders from countries across Latin America and the Caribbean made their message clear: It is past time for Canada’s government to uphold international human rights standards and hold its mining industry accountable for the many harms it has caused abroad. 

The post Hearing Spotlights Human Rights Failures of Canadian Mining throughout Latin America and the Caribbean appeared first on Earthworks.

With a mission of protecting birds and the places they need, the National Audubon Society was founded more than a century ago. Despite Audubon’s work to establish laws holding people accountable...

This article Tens of thousands get ready to defend the vote was originally published by Waging Nonviolence.

Garnet DeGrave and other organizers with Citizen Action Wisconsin watched in shock as news broke this June that FBI agents had raided the office of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a nonprofit that hosts voter registration drives and does political organizing. The incident was largely understood to be an attempt to intimidate progressive organizers in the state and foster uncertainty in the state’s elections. DeGrave realized if a similar situation happened in Wisconsin — if a government agency interfered with community organizers or, in the worst case scenario, the election — they were woefully unprepared. 

“There weren’t enough people that were organized in the western half of the state to be able to handle that,” DeGrave, Citizen Action Wisconsin’s northeast organizer, said. 

This spurred the organization to try to fill the gap. At the end of September, Citizen Action Wisconsin — which does grassroots organizing around electoral and issue-based campaigns for social and racial justice — partnered with local organizations to pivot to election protection  ahead of a crucial midterm. 

It’s one of many community organizations and advocacy groups across the United States that have built out their election protection and defense work this year in an effort to combat misinformation and protect election integrity — a basic tenet of democracy that has come under attack from a president who is an election denier. Alongside national groups like the ACLU, which has had 68,000 sign-ups for its Democracy Defenders Task Force program, these state and local organizations have undertaken an unprecedented coordinated effort to bolster voting rights amid efforts by the federal government to undermine election results. 

According to DeGrave, the work falls into two categories. “Election protection” is pre-election work to help people overcome any barriers to voting — a process that differs in every state. This can include challenging laws that might restrict voter access, running voter assistance hotlines or holding voter education campaigns.

“Election defense,” on the other hand, is work during voting and after polls close to ensure every vote is counted and to defend election results. This can include nonpartisan poll watcher programs and community-led trainings that prepare people to mobilize in the event of a contested count due to political interference. 

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For Citizen Action, the pivot was a natural one, as the group had done small-scale election protection work and occasional direct action, DeGrave said. Citizen Action partnered with GROWW, a grassroots group that organizes behind progressive candidates in western Wisconsin, to host training sessions on how to mobilize in the event of election interference. In Michigan, Voters Not Politicians is running a similar election defense program, taking inspiration from protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. In Maine, organizations like the League of Women Voters have worked to grow a statewide poll watching program — a tactic also being used by groups in Florida and California.

Though election protection and defense efforts have been an integral part of American politics for decades, part of the reason this year’s efforts have grown in size is because the stakes feel so high.

“This election is such an important moment for us to be prepared for, in order to vote out authoritarians,” DeGrave said.

A surge of volunteers

In the lead-up to the 2026 midterm elections, the Trump administration has intensified tactics that advocates say are meant to intimidate or disenfranchise voters. 

On the pretext of combating voter fraud — which experts say is virtually nonexistent in the U.S. — the administration has demanded sensitive voter information to identify alleged noncitizen voters from every state. Its attempts have been consistently denied by judges, though that hasn’t stopped the administration from trying to remove 20,000 people from voter rolls in California or from creating a federal voter database that’s incorrectly flagged some voters as noncitizens. The administration also tried to make voting more difficult for Americans with new Postal Service restrictions on mail-in voting, which a district court put on hold until after the election. 

State Republicans have followed President Donald Trump’s lead. Since Trump entered office in January 2025, at least 19 states have passed laws that will make it harder to cast ballots in the midterms. 

Government officials have also repeatedly implied they will deploy armed federal agents to poll sites, an action illegal under national law since it could constitute voter intimidation. The administration has also indicated its intention to send around 1,000 Department of Justice federal monitors to all 50 states to observe voting procedures, which advocates say is another intimidation tactic. And privately, Trump opponents worry he could claim that foreign governments interfered in the election as a way to discredit results. 

“It’s highly, highly unlikely. But if ICE were to be around the polling places, we want our observers to report it.”

Jen Lancaster, League of Women Voters of Maine

Mel Neal, legal counsel on voting rights issues for democracy defense organization the Campaign Legal Center, characterized the Trump administration’s actions as undermining trust in the election system. “They are attacks on democracy and are an attempt to sow distrust in our election system so that election results can’t be trusted,” she said. 

In response to these threats, organizers have built statewide coalitions of nonpartisan poll watchers: people who travel to poll sites during early voting and on Election Day to ensure that people are able to vote without difficulty. 

Such poll watching programs have been around for decades, explained Amy Keith, executive director of Florida’s chapter of Common Cause, a national voting rights group founded in opposition to the Vietnam War in 1970 whose initial campaign successfully reduced the voting age from 21 to 18.

Poll watching emerged first and foremost to document any and all issues that could discourage voters trying to cast their ballots: police presence, overlong lines, lack of disability access, language barriers, etc. Jen Lancaster, the deputy director of the League of Women Voters of Maine, said the league’s poll watching program emerged during COVID-19 to ensure all polling places followed public health standards, such as by implementing plexiglass or acrylic barriers. 

“We are always watching for anything that could intimidate or deter or make it harder for voters,” Keith said. The goal, she added, was “to make sure that polling places are calm and welcoming, so that everybody can have that experience to cast their ballot and to participate in the process.”

But this year, organizations have also begun advising volunteers about what to do if agents from federal agencies like the FBI or ICE show up. 

“It’s highly, highly unlikely,” Lancaster emphasized. “But if ICE were to be around the polling places, we want our observers to report it.” The presence of any officer, including ICE agents, near a polling location can discourage voters, which is why organizers look out for it. “It can be scary to walk by an armed officer in order to cast their ballot,” Keith said. Poll observers don’t typically engage in direct action themselves when these situations arise; instead, they alert their teams, who often have experienced advocates or lawyers on standby to provide advice or assistance.

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Maine’s nonpartisan poll watching program has grown to around 400 registered volunteers. “For Maine, this is a pretty big number,” Lancaster said. In Florida and California, poll watching programs co-run by Common Cause chapters reported over 1,000 recruits. They are part of a nationwide boom in poll watching volunteers, which state-level chapters of Common Cause and the League of Women Voters have worked quickly to accommodate. 

Eileen Ma, director of democracy and national initiatives at the Asian Law Caucus, which has co-led an election protection program in California since 2012 with Common Cause, said the program could only channel the surge of volunteers into trained roles because of years of  infrastructure development.

“We have the capacity to bring on and train 1,000 volunteers because we built up over time the materials and the expertise and the practical knowledge of how to do that,” Ma said. “The work over the last decade [has] been critical to our being able to respond in this moment.”

Combating misinformation and building trust

Advocacy organizations have also, for years, operated national and state-level voter hotlines where prospective voters can call to clarify any questions they have about voting and make plans to cast their ballots. All day, including on weekends, Keith and her team at Florida Common Cause field calls about early voting, ID laws and polling locations. 

Lately, the Florida Common Cause team and other organizations with voter hotlines have fielded questions related to new voter ID laws, which have gone into place in several states. These laws have caused confusion about what identification can be used to vote, organizers said. 

Keith sees clarity on voter laws as crucial to combatting voter misinformation, which she and other advocates characterize as an unfortunate side effect of the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine election results. 

Misinformation has included false rumors about the number of noncitizen voters in elections, how ballots marked by poll workers could be disqualified, incorrect guidance about how to register to vote, and more. 

“We want people to have the correct information, not misinformation — whether it’s disinformation being spread by bots or [others] intentionally trying to confuse people, or it’s misinformation because they don’t understand the process,” Keith said.

By combatting these rumors through voter education and voter hotlines, which are increasingly available in more languages, Keith believes trust in the electoral system — the number one defense against attempts to overturn election results — could be restored. 

The League of Women Voters of Maine distributes a community newspaper at a No Kings rally on October 17, 2026. (League of Women Voters of Maine)

Groups around the country are using various channels to get correct information to voters. In Wisconsin, the legal advocacy group Law Forward has invested in its social media strategy, and used social media and op-eds as avenues to combat voter misinformation. 

Democracy Defense Foundation adviser Brian Jones said the organization, which was founded in 2024 in part to reverse the erosion of trust in the U.S. electoral system and operates in eight states, has heavily invested in partnering with community organizations like churches and local nonprofit groups to get information about elections out.

In Maine, where internet access in rural areas remains an issue, Lancaster said the League of Women Voters prints a newspaper with information about candidates across the state. This year, they distributed 50,000 copies in 16 counties. In rural counties, they left the newspapers in town hubs — community centers and libraries — for people to see. 

“There’s a transparent system here and play,” Jones said. “People need to understand that and ensure that faith and trust in their elections, and it’s not driven by just a partisan point of view.”

Ready to deploy

Unlike Common Cause and the League of Women Voters, organizations that have worked in voting rights spaces for years, like Citizen Action Wisconsin and GROWW, don’t have a volunteer base dedicated to this type of work. In the past month, Citizen Action Wisconsin and GROWW have trained about 70 volunteers across Wisconsin in voting rights and post-election mobilization, and then trained those volunteers to conduct outreach to get others involved in election defense. 

“If they talk to five people and those five people talk to five people, then we can actually end up at over 700 people that are motivated and organized and ready to be deployed in a rapid response situation if something does go wrong with the election,” DeGrave said.

Volunteers will be posted outside of key polling sites across Wisconsin when ballot counts begin, and will remain at the ready to host vigils and press conferences outside polling sites if any issues arise.

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In Michigan, Voters Not Politicians, which primarily focused on distributing information about early voting and ballot drop-off locations to voters across the state, has worked on recruiting dozens of volunteers to mobilize in anticipation of election interference. 

Communications director Melinda Billingsley said the organization plans to have volunteers watch polls and, if needed, advocate for voters experiencing issues at the ballot box as part of a statewide nonpartisan poll watching program. 

In the event of a contested election, “we’re recruiting folks to be willing and able to go to any place they’re needed and to throw a party and create a joyful, safe atmosphere,” Billingsley said. This strategy is partially inspired by anti-ICE protests across the United States, which has involved organizers utilizing creative approaches to defend community members from federal agents.

Staying on watch

Though organizers have welcomed the increased interest in poll watching and voter education programs this year, many are wondering how to sustain that energy in future election cycles, where the stakes will arguably be just as high. 

“It’s even more important because in 2028, we have a presidential election year and in 2030, we have a census year,” Darius Kemp, California Common Cause’s executive director, said. Census counts help determine congressional districts, and voting rights organizations are advocating and educating against legislation that would skew a census count, such as a proposed rule to not count noncitizens.

But beyond ensuring fair and accurate elections safe from federal interference, organizers see the expansion of their work as critical to restoring Americans’ faith in the electoral system, which has dropped in the past decade. 

“It is not just a one-day struggle,” said Ma, from the Asian Law Caucus. “It’s not just a one kind of activity kind of struggle. It has to be a full-frontal assault or full-frontal defense, however you choose to look at it, in order to preserve people’s voting rights.”

This article Tens of thousands get ready to defend the vote was originally published by Waging Nonviolence.

After the state endured its hottest year-to-date period on record and a multi-million-dollar battering by Hurricane Marie in September and Hurricane Rachel in October, much greater destruction could be on the way this winter. El Niño is continuing to warm coastal waters, and because water expands as it heats, sea levels could rise to unprecedented heights during the coming king tides at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and late January. In concert with the rising seas will likely come a battering by record-wet atmospheric rivers when the jet stream assumes its usual California-centered configuration during the coming very strong ("super") El Niño winter. Atmospheric rivers, like rivers in the sky, carry moisture out of the tropics.

If it comes to pass, a disaster this winter in California would strain FEMA, which has been decimated under the Trump administration. Since 2025, “the agency has so far lost 17 percent of its staff, including one-third of full-time employees responsible for the agency’s day-to-day operations," according to the Brennan Center. And it's an open question how much the federal government would help: According to a March analysis by politico.com, President Donald Trump has approved just 23% of blue state requests for disaster aid, compared to 89% for red states.

Figure 1. Predicted precipitation from the October 1 run of the European seasonal model. A very wet winter is predicted for California. (Image credit: Daniel Swain)

An unusually high risk of a record-wet winter for California

In an October 12 post at weatherwest.com, climate scientist Daniel Swain shared alarming odds of a record-wet winter for California. He analyzed the winter forecasts from 10 different seasonal forecast models; eight of them gave at least 10% odds that one or more months from January through March 2027 would be the wettest on record in Southern California, Central California, or both.

"In a few locations along the Central Coast, the odds are depicted as being as high as 40-50%," Swain wrote. "Technically, a dry winter is still possible, though it is very unlikely (in my estimate, 5-10% or less)."

The latest run of the European Copernicus climate service (C3S) October 14 outlook, which combines 10 seasonal forecast models from nine weather agencies, concurred with Swain's analysis: About 13% of the 454 model ensemble members explicitly predicted California’s wettest winter on record; only 8% showed a drier-than-average December through February period statewide.

The Golden State has a long history of cataclysmic floods, which have occurred about every 200 to 400 years — most recently in the Great Flood of 1861-62, which swamped the 300-mile length of the Central Valley. And climate change has made these extreme floods more likely.

In fact, climate change has already doubled the risk of a megastorm, and more than tripled the risk of a trillion-dollar megaflood of the type that occurred in the 1860s, according to a 2022 study that Swain co-authored. The study authors found that the odds of a lesser megastorm costing tens of billions of dollars — less precipitation than in 1861-62, but more than in California’s recent wettest winters — were about 1% (26% over a 30-year period).

I asked Swain on Bluesky for the odds of such a lesser megastorm this winter. He replied, “It is reasonable to interpret that the risk is at least 10x baseline, and quite possibly higher.” That implies at least a 10% risk this winter of a California flood costing over $10 billion (2023 dollars), which would be the state’s costliest flood on record.

A separate 2022 study estimated that a 1% per year likelihood flood affecting only the Los Angeles area would likely inundate property worth about $56 billion containing a population of about 425,000 to a depth of a foot or more, with the risks disproportionately higher for non-Hispanic Black and other underresourced populations.

Figure 2. The 13 costliest California flood seasons (in 2023 USD), 1949-2025. This includes flooding from all causes. Of the eight seasons that exceeded $1.5 billion in statewide flood damage, only three were El Niño seasons: one very strong (1982) and two moderate (1994-95, 1968-69). (Image credit: Jan Null, ggweather.com)

Timing of the rains will be crucial

Despite their obvious power, strong El Niño events have historically been a mixed bag for severe flood impacts in California. San Francisco-based meteorologist Jan Null wrote by email that a very wet winter won’t necessarily bring destructive flooding if the storms are strung out over the winter.

For example, the strong El Niño winter of 1997-98 had more than double California’s average rainfall — the second-largest amount ever — but ranks only No. 13 for most destructive, because the rain was spread over almost twice the number of rainy days as usual. Conversely, the strong El Niño winter of 1982-83 had less rain but more significant damage (ranking No. 4), as multiple big storms occurred in a short period of time. And in the winter of 2015-16, predicted heavy rains from El Niño never materialized, despite much higher-than-usual odds.

Figure 3. Predicted departure of sea surface temperature from average from the ECMWF ensemble model average for November 2026-January 2027. Highly extreme sea surface temperature anomalies near or exceeding 10°F are predicted along the entire California coast and in the equatorial Pacific. (Image by Daniel Swain using ECMWF SEAS5.1 data)

Record sea surface temperatures will intensify

Sea surface temperatures along the California coast from San Francisco Bay southward are about 2-6 degrees Celsius (3.6-10.8°F) above average and are record-warm for this time of year along the stretch from San Francisco Bay to Los Angeles.

Why? Partially because California has experienced its hottest year-to-date period on record. In addition, an oceanic “Kelvin wave” has transported warm water from the tropics along the coast over the past few months. The Kelvin wave was generated by strong westerly winds from the intensifying super El Niño, which pushed record-warm waters from the western Pacific against the western coasts of North and South America. The Coriolis effect caused by the planet’s rotation then pinned the bulge of warm water against land, forcing it to spread along the Pacific coast. These warm waters will spread farther north and south later this autumn and into the winter.

Swain wrote that water temperatures along much of the California coast could average about 8-10°F above average this winter. "These are, again, pretty astonishing numbers, and would blow records from 1982-83, 1997-98, and 2015-16 right out of the water," he wrote. "In addition to (alas) potentially very serious marine ecosystem impacts, these extremely warm near-shore waters will likely add considerable additional moisture to incoming winter storms."

These warm waters will mean that much of the winter precipitation in the mountains of California will fall as rain, with snow restricted primarily to the highest elevations.

The unusual ocean warmth will also boost atmospheric instability this winter, increasing the risk of coastal thunderstorms, possibly bringing severe thunderstorms with flash flooding, damaging straight-line wind gusts, and a few isolated tornadoes. The unusually active jet stream expected this winter will contribute to this risk.

Record coastal flooding has already occurred and will worsen

Average water levels at Los Angeles were already running one to four inches above expected in the spring of 2026 and rose an additional 9.5 inches between May and September because of the arrival of the Kelvin wave. Water levels have ranged about one to two feet above expected levels so far in October. (An additional sea level rise of six to eight inches since pre-industrial times has already been factored into the “expected” water levels reported by NOAA.)

Figure 4. The top-10 water levels on record for three California cities with long-term periods of record. Data from NOAA Tides and Currents.

These high water levels contributed to millions of dollars of coastal damage as a result of the large swells from Hurricane Marie in September and Hurricane Rachel in October. Nearly the entire Balboa Peninsula near Los Angeles was inundated up to two to three feet by Hurricane Rachel’s waves in October.

Add in king tides

The highest tides of the year — the king tides — occur during the full moon of certain months. The king tides during July — which hit at the same time that a two- to three-foot swell from a Pacific storm arrived at the coast — brought San Diego its highest water levels since its tide gauge was installed in 1906.

More king tides are expected November 24-26, 2026, December 22-25, 2026, and January 20-23, 2027. These king tides are almost certain to cause coastal flooding, even on calm sunny days.

“Even a moderate storm could bring water levels higher still, and a strong storm would likely produce widespread damaging, and probably historic, coastal flooding,” Swain explained.

Figure 5. Forecast from NOAA of the percent probability of at least minor coastal flooding during the coming king tides of November, December, and January in California. The minor flood thresholds (in feet above high tide) are given at left beneath the city's name. (Image credit: Chris Gloninger)

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