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Katrina Navickas’ clear and persuasive history invites readers to reflect critically on space, place and the commons, writes Rhian E Jones

The post Contested Commons – review appeared first on Red Pepper.

Burnham's life and death decision Channel Comment brendan 16th October 2026 Teaser Media

The battery industry is about to witness another change in chemistry and technology. Valo Energy CEO Peter Fath explains why. Plus: All the news from a busy week.

The post Energy Insiders: Grid scale sodium batteries are on their way appeared first on Renew Economy.

Picture a bride walking down the aisle in ancient Rome, holding a bunch of garlic and dill. Not exactly the Pinterest-ready scene we expect today. Yet that pungent bundle is the great-great-grandparent of the bouquet you see at nearly every American wedding in 2026. The story of how we got from kitchen herbs to garden roses is really a story about fear, hope, status and changing taste.

Why brides first carried herbs, not flowers

In ancient Greece and Rome, a wedding was considered a risky moment. People believed evil spirits were drawn to happy couples, and a bride was thought especially vulnerable. So she carried protection. Garlic and strong-smelling herbs such as dill, sage and chives were bundled together to keep malicious forces away and, ideally, to bring fertility and good fortune.

There was a practical side too. Hygiene in the ancient world was what it was, and aromatic plants helped mask unpleasant smells. I find it oddly touching that the first bridal “bouquet” was part talisman, part air freshener.

Herbs also carried meaning:

• Rosemary stood for remembrance and fidelity.
• Thyme signified courage.
• Ivy, popular in Greece, symbolized an unbreakable bond.
• Myrtle, sacred to Aphrodite and Venus, represented love and marriage.

Brides often wore herbal wreaths on their heads as well, and those crowns slowly shaped the idea that a bride should be wrapped in plants.

Medieval posies, orange blossoms and the origin of the toss

By the Middle Ages, herbs were still central, but sweet-smelling flowers began to join them. Orange blossoms arrived in Europe through trade with the Middle East and quickly became a symbol of purity and fertility. They had a long run as the “official” bridal flower.

The bouquet toss has a less romantic origin. In 14th-century England, guests reportedly believed a piece of the bride’s clothing brought good luck, and some got so eager that they tore at her dress. To escape, brides began throwing their bouquets into the crowd instead. The flowers became a decoy, and the custom stuck. Whoever caught them was said to be next in line to marry.

The Victorian era: when flowers learned to talk

The 19th century changed everything. Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in 1840 wearing a wreath of orange blossoms, and her very public wedding turned floral details into fashion news. A sprig of myrtle from a nosegay given to Victoria in the 1840s was planted at Osborne House, and cuttings from that plant have appeared in royal bridal bouquets ever since.

This was also the golden age of floriography, the “language of flowers.” Small, tightly packed bouquets known as nosegays or tussie-mussies were assembled so that each bloom sent a message. A red rose meant passion, ivy meant fidelity, and lily of the valley meant a return to happiness. A bride’s bouquet could read like a coded love letter, and guests who knew the vocabulary could read it.

Roses gained ground in this period, too. Breeders were producing new hybrids, including the first hybrid tea, ‘La France’, introduced in 1867. Roses became more reliable, more varied and easier to grow, which paved the way for their dominance in the next century.

The twentieth century: from shower bouquets to cascades

Bouquet styles started to follow the decades almost like hemlines did.

• 1920s–30s: Long, trailing “shower” bouquets and arm sheaves of calla lilies suited the sleek lines of Art Deco gowns.
• 1950s: Smaller and more formal. Grace Kelly’s 1956 bouquet, a lily of the valley arrangement carried with a prayer book, was widely admired and copied.
• 1960s–70s: Daisies, baby’s breath and loose wildflowers reflected a more relaxed, countercultural mood.
• 1980s: Drama returned. Princess Diana’s 1981 cascade of gardenias, roses, orchids and myrtle set the tone for oversized, sculptural bouquets.
• 1990s–2000s: Tight, round, hand-tied bundles, often all roses or peonies, became the American default.

Cut-flower logistics mattered here, too. Refrigerated shipping and global flower farming meant roses were available year-round at a fair price. That is a big reason the rose became the “classic” choice. It was not always the oldest tradition, just the most dependable one.

What bouquets look like in 2026

The pendulum has swung back toward the garden. Many couples now favor loose, asymmetrical arrangements with seasonal stems, fragrant herbs and trailing greenery. If that sounds a bit like ancient Greece, it is. Rosemary, mint, eucalyptus and thyme are popping up in bouquets again, now for texture and scent rather than demon-repelling.

Several trends stand out:

• Heirloom garden roses with ruffled petals and real fragrance, rather than tight, scentless supermarket blooms.
• Locally grown flowers from regional farms, which cut transport and fit the season.
• Dried and preserved elements, which help the bouquet last as a keepsake.
• Personal symbolism, such as a sprig from a grandmother’s garden or a flower tied to a hometown.

One thing I have noticed is that couples increasingly ask what a flower means before they ask what it costs. The Victorians would approve.

What the long history tells us

The wedding bouquet has always reflected what people feared, valued and could get their hands on. Garlic guarded the bride, orange blossoms promised fertility, myrtle spoke of love, and the rose rose to fame when growers and shipping networks made it possible. Underneath all of it is the same instinct: to hold something living at a moment that matters.

If you are planning a wedding, or just curious, try tracing the meaning of a single flower, such as rosemary, ivy or the humble rose. Each one has a surprisingly rich backstory, and choosing a bouquet with that story in mind can make it feel far more personal than any trend.

• Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy may have nine kids, but the self-described “fertility president” tying transit funding to birth rates is not going to help families that fled cities for car-centric suburbs — nor will it help struggling parents who can barely afford a metro card, let alone a car. (Vox)
• Another of the Trump administration’s priorities is to spend billions of dollars completing an interstate highway system that was actually finished in 1992. (Transportation for America)
• FedEx is spending $300 million on 2,000 electric delivery trucks, but could save almost three times that much on diesel fuel. (Electrek)
• In the face of fiscal uncertainty, too often cities make short-sighted cuts, like deferring maintenance on transportation infrastructure, that lead to long-term problems. (Governing)
• New Trump administration press secretary Katie Zacharia was cited multiple times in Los Angeles for distracted driving. (L.A. Material; registration required)
• Climate change is causing a Southern California coastal Amtrak line to collapse into the Pacific Ocean, and it could cost $5 billion to fix. (Los Angeles Times)
• Austin’s main street, Congress Avenue, is getting a major bike- and pedestrian-friendly makeover. (My San Antonio)
• The Detroit city council is urging the Michigan DOT to prioritize safety on Gratiot Avenue, a major six-lane thoroughfare. (Bridge Detroit)
• MARTA was expected to roll out new train cars before the World Cup came to Atlanta, but they still haven’t arrived. (Fox 5)
• A Salt Lake City business owner who almost ran over a cyclist is now on a crusade to get rid of a new bike lane. (KSL)
• Mass Transit explains how a small New Mexico transit system is shooting for zero emissions.
• Uber is testing robotaxis in Manchester, England. (The Guardian)
• A new European initiative will help up to five cities tackle transportation inequality. (Cities Today)
• Police are arresting Toronto demonstrators trying to stop the Ontario government from ripping up bike lanes. (CTV News)

What good is a “walkable” city if average people can’t afford to live in it?

That’s just one of the questions asked by this provocative new video from Safe By Design, which argues that even the urbanist darlings of Europe can fall short of their potential when “design, governance, and affordability failures” get involved.

And while livable streets policy itself isn’t responsible for, say, the wave of tourists overwhelming Barcelona or collapsing pedestrian walkways in Naples, it is an interesting reminder that the conversation about building great places can’t stop at the edge of the sidewalk.

Watch this video YouTube.

Ultra-processed food affects metabolism and brain activity, even with the same nutrients Anthony Lacey October 16, 2026

It’s not just poor nutrition that links ultra-processed food to health harms, a new study finds. 

The body’s response is also determined by the amount of processing the food has gone through, which changes the way we get energy from food.

Researchers at Virginia Tech gave 32 study participants two different meals three days apart. The meals had the same amount of calories and nutrients, but one was ultra-processed and the other wasn’t. 

Participants had a greater insulin response after eating the ultra-processed meal, meaning their bodies were working harder to regulate their blood sugar. Their brain activity also changed when they looked at pictures of ultra-processed foods, or UPF.

How the study measured UPF metabolism

In the study, published recently in Nature Metabolism, the researchers wanted to find out whether a meal of ultra-processed food would be metabolized, or used for energy, differently than a meal of minimally processed food.

The researchers designed two 300-calorie meals whose nutrition matched: They were nearly identical in calories, carbs, fat, fiber, protein, sodium and water content.

The ultra-processed meal included portions of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, deli turkey, veggie chips, instant mashed potatoes, cereal and a cookie. These foods are not always ultra-processed, but the brands used in this study were.

The minimally processed meal was made from banana, dried cranberries, cheese and egg.

Participants ate the meals three days apart. Before and after each meal, they entered a metabolic chamber – an airtight room that measures calories burned based on the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the chamber.

Researchers found that the ultra-processed meals led to higher insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar, and lower use of carbohydrates for energy.

How the study measured brain activity

The study also assessed whether the two meals would activate the brain in different ways.

Researchers later showed participants pictures of ultra-processed and minimally processed foods while they received a specialized brain scan called a functional MRI. Some of the food pictured was the same food used in the study’s meals.

One key finding: Ultra-processed food caused different responses in the area of the brain related to motivation and reward.

That might mean that, in addition to variations in how our bodies use food for energy, the ways the brain thinks about and values food fluctuates depending on how processed it is.

Science is showing that food processing can affect health

Some researchers say nutrition, not processing, makes ultra-processed food harmful to health. It’s true that ultra-processed foods are often high in added sugar and saturated fat, and low in beneficial nutrients like fiber and protein.

But this isn’t the first study to show that processing plays a role. In 2019, the first randomized controlled trial showed that an ultra-processed diet led to greater calorie intake and weight gain than a minimally processed diet – even when they had the same nutritional profile.

What’s more, many researchers who have critiqued the main classification system for ultra-processed food have received food industry funding.

What you can do 

It’s not practical for most people to avoid all ultra-processed food – they’re widely available, affordable and appealing for consumers. Research has even shown that food companies took tips from the tobacco industry to create products with maximum pleasure and appeal.

The federal government has failed to regulate ultra-processed food. States like California are taking the lead, recently enacting a law establishing a “non-ultra-processed” label for foods sold in California stores.

Until change comes to your state, you can use EWG’s Food Scores, which rates more than 150,000 products on nutrition, ingredients and processing and flags UPF for you. 

Shoppers on the go can also use EWG’s Healthy Living app to find non-UPF options at the grocery store.

Areas of Focus Ultra-Processed Foods Family Health Authors Sarah Reinhardt, MPH, RDN October 16, 2026

Fossil fuel interests spent $1.2 million on Meta ads in the last three months, a wall of money the renewables industry met with near silence.

The post Anti-renewables groups still spending big on Meta – and met with near silence by green energy industry appeared first on Renew Economy.

We have had an eventful first few weeks of fall! Thank you to everyone who came to our Candidate Forums. A combined 200 people were educated at these forums and helped make them a big success. Thank you to our co-sponsors, to the great moderators from the Portland Mercury, and to the candidates. In case you missed out, you can now watch the Forums on our Youtube, thanks to KBOO Locus Focus host Barbara Bernstein!

Click here to watch District 3 Forum Click here to watch District 4 Forum Photo Credit: Dana Schot

Ballots have now been sent out to voters and there are only 20 days until Election Day. If you want to fill out your ballot together with others in the 350PDX community, join us at a Ballot Filling Party on Tuesday, October 27 at 6:00pm at our Climate Justice Workshop (3639 N Mississippi Ave). This will be a casual space to be with others where you can hang out while you individually fill out your ballot, ask questions about ranked choice voting, and view our Voter Guide. There will be pizza! Please RSVP to Dineen so we get enough food: dineen@350pdx.org.

——————————————————————————————————————————- Welcome Amanda!

Last month, 350PDX welcomed Amanda Conroy to the team as our new Director of Development! For close to two decades, Amanda has led development and marketing efforts for mission-driven organizations across California and Oregon. A passionate nonprofit leader, she specializes in relationship-based fundraising, strategic communications, and building organizational cultures rooted in philanthropy and community impact. Read more about Amanda here.

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Energy Justice Team: Celebrate CEI Hub Policy Wins!

Thanks to great collaboration among community-based organizations, Bureau of Planning and Sustainability staff, and the leadership of Councilors Green, Pirtle-Guiney, Kanal, Koyama Lane, and Clark, Portland City Council is set to pass a Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub Policy with many of the amendments our community coalition suggested! We’re ensuring the CEI hub is safer and less risky in the future than it is currently, and we also started a plan for drawing down the amount of fuel stored at the hub. There will be one more vote on the final draft of this policy on or around Nov. 5, incorporating approved amendments. We want to see this whole package passed as amended with no changes — feel free to let your councilors know this!

This CEI Hub Policy is stronger because you participated — through public comments, rallies, phone calls and emails to councilors, questions at town halls, and much more this year — and for the last decade! THANK YOU! This policy instructs staff to return to City Council next September with a modified drawdown plan based on the companies’ data about tank fill levels, so we’ll keep working on this in 2027, and beyond, until this area is safer.

Speak Up to Support Healthier Buildings for a Healthier Climate!

Portland is taking a major step toward decreasing building emissions and increasing regional climate resilience through a new policy: Climate and Health Standards for Existing Buildings. Buildings account for nearly half of Portland’s greenhouse gas emissions, and this policy would address the largest of these (>20,000 square feet) to create healthier homes, lower emissions, and provide greater transparency and protections for renters. This is big!

October 20 at 2:00 pm there’s a public hearing in the Housing & Permitting Committee, and community voices matter. Show your support through testimony!

• Modify and send this email to City Council

• Use this toolkit to draft a written or verbal public comment

Support No Immunity for Big Oil

We’ve been involved in various strategies at the local, state, and national levels to hold Big Oil companies accountable.

In September, a No Immunity for Big Oil resolution passed the Portland City Life Committee! It will likely come to the full City Council this month. This resolution states that it’s vitally important to continue to have the right to take Big Oil to court, and support legislation such as the Make Polluters Pay coalition’s climate superfund bill.

Now, federal lawmakers and the American Petroleum Institute are trying to give polluters immunity from accountability. Our Members of Congress have the opportunity to stand against this by indicating their opposition to these immunity bills, and a resolution in Portland gives them extra backing.

 You can help by: 

• Urging your US Senator and Representatives to give No Immunity to Big Oil (Sen. Merkley and Reps. Bonamici and Dexter have already made statements in opposition to such immunity bills)

• Encouraging City Council to pass the No Immunity for Big Oil resolution

Fight for the Right to Breathe

On October 29, a Right to Breathe policy will have its first hearing in the Community & Public Safety Committee. This will prohibit the use of chemical weapons (such as tear gas) in Portland. You may recall the Action Night we had in February about the environmental and public health concerns around tear gas and other chemical weapons (where we premiered this incredible and informative short film, “Gas Me, Teddy”), and this has been an ongoing issue 350PDX has worked on since we signed onto a lawsuit in 2020. In addition to concerns around rights of free speech and assembly, chemical weapons pose health problems for our rivers, trees, and wildlife. Check out our Take Action page for this and other current actions you can take today, and read more about this policy and the overall concerns around chemical weapons here.

Reach out to dineen@350pdx.org and cherice@350pdx.org to get plugged into the Energy Justice Team. We work on everything from fighting data centers, Zenith, and the CEI Hub to advocating for PCEF and transportation justice!

 Forest Defense Team:

This week the Forest Defense Team joined forces with organizations and community members from across Portland to say NO to PGE logging of Forest Park’s ancient trees. On Wednesday, we attended a rally at City Hall and hosted a watch party at the 350PDX workshop!

Last year, Portland City Council voted unanimously to deny PGE’s permit to log five acres of Forest Park. Now, PGE and the City of Portland reached a backroom agreement to allow PGE to seek a new permit. We need another unanimous vote opposing this permit from City Council!

The Forest Defense Team meets on the first and third Monday of each month, alternating between virtual and in-person meetings. Our next meeting will be on October 19 from 6 – 7:30 PM. Reach out to tyler@350PDX.org for details.

Art Team:

Are you attending No Kings this Saturday? Make sure to stop by and say hi to our puppeteers this weekend as they bring joyful activism to the Vote Early Rally downtown. Interested in becoming a last minute Puppeteer? Email: arts@350pdx.org.

Last month, the Art Team hosted the Forest over Profits conference for a combined Art Build! We also screen printed small flags that were used by the Energy Justice Team at City Council to fight for better CEI Hub regulation, saying, “Rose City wants our river back!”

In an exciting update, our team leads have introduced monthly planning meetings in addition to our regular art builds. These meetings are an opportunity to meet the team in a more relaxed setting and a chance to help us brainstorm our plans for the next art build. The planning meetings will be on the last Wednesday of every month while our regularly scheduled art builds will continue as usual on the second Sunday.

• Next Planning Meeting: Wednesday, October 28, 6-7:30 PM
• Next Art Build: November 8, 1-4 PM

Meetings are held in the 350PDX workshop (3639 N Mississippi Ave). RSVP to arts@350pdx.org.

Book Club:

The 350PDX Book Club meets every month on the first Wednesday of the month at 6:30PM. Every other month is in person and the others are virtual. Reach out to books@350PDX.org with any questions or to join our list, and please RSVP so we can inform you of any meeting changes.

We are in the process of deciding our next few books! Email Kami and Lizy at books@350PDX.org to recommend a read (all genres welcome) or to sign up to vote.

Save the date for our upcoming discussions:

• TBD November meeting

• Wednesday, December 2 at 6:30 PM (in person; fiction) — book to be selected in October

• Wednesday, February 3 at 6:30 PM (in person; nonfiction)

Milwaukie Advocates for Climate Justice:

The Milwaukie Neighborhood Team has two events this month. We hope folks will join us and help spread the word!

Last Saturday, October 10, we hosted our kick-off potluck event with a featured presentation and guided conversation on how to reduce fossil fuels facilitated by our friends on the SW Neighborhood Team. We enjoyed connecting with people in Milwaukie who are interested in learning more about climate justice and getting involved, and those who are already passionately engaged!

Next Monday, October 19, we will be hosting a PGE Rate Increase workshop with Citizens Utility Board from 6:00-8:00PM. This workshop will take place at the Ledding Library Community Room (10660 SE 21st Ave, Milwaukie) directly after our abbreviated monthly meeting from 5:30-6:00 PM.

The MAC team meets monthly on the 3rd Monday from 5:30 – 6:30 PM at Milwaukie City Hall — all are welcome! To get connected, sign up here or email MAC@350pdx.org.

Washington County Team:

The Washington County Team invites all to our next monthly online meeting at 6:30 PM on Tuesday October 13. We are currently working on getting out the vote and defending democracy, and look forward to catching up with each other online.

We always welcome newcomers to our events and to our (mostly) monthly online meetings (6:30 PM on the second Tuesday of the month). For the link, join us here or contact us at 350washco@gmail.com.

Southwest Neighborhood Team:

The 350PDX Southwest Neighborhood Team includes neighborhoods on the south and west sides of Portland. We work together to raise awareness of the climate emergency.

Our street corner demonstrations continue weekly in October every Friday from 4:00 – 5:00 PM at SW Terwilliger & SW Taylor’s Ferry. Some parking is available in the Chez Jose and Anytime Fitness lot, or reach us via bus or bike.

Our monthly meetings happen on the third Monday of the month. To get involved, please contact Pat Kaczmarek at patk5@msn.com.

Before closing our newsletter, a few reminders:

• Check out our Take Action page, which we update regularly. It includes actions that may not be in our newsletter.
• Join the 350PDX community Slack channel! This is a great way to stay connected on an ongoing basis. Contact to info@350pdx.org and we can add you.
• 350PDX is still searching for a wonderful, new home. Please reach out to info@350PDX.org if you have ideas for a space where we can have meetings, our arts team can create show-stopping puppets, and more!

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Thank you for reading our monthly newsletter. We hope to see you soon!

With gratitude,

Amanda, Cherice, Dineen, Jessica, Maeve, and Noelle

The post 2026 October Newsletter! appeared first on 350PDX: Climate Justice.

Australian Renewable Energy Agency says the country can still become a major solar PV manufacturer, says deal with new supplier in the pipeline.

The post Australia can still become a giga-scale solar manufacturer, says Arena, as it flags new local PV maker appeared first on Renew Economy.

Birmingham, Mich. (Oct. 15, 2026) — Don Burlett of Oakland Bird Alliance, an Audubon affiliated chapter in Oakland County Michigan, was presented with Audubon Great Lakes’ 2026 Alan Dolan Great...

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The post Don’t Miss the Opportunity to Play Various Types of Togel123 appeared first on HAMBACHFOREST.

Caltrans will have to measure its highway projects against regional climate goals, and the state’s metropolitan planning agencies will update those plans every eight years instead of four, under a bill Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last month.

Senate Bill 1087, authored by Sen. Christopher Cabaldon (D-West Sacramento), updates the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008, better known as SB 375. The new law requires each region to plan housing, transportation and land use together to cut greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks. It also extends the law’s emissions targets through 2045 and changes the conditions some regions must meet to receive state transportation funds. The bill passed the Senate 31 to 9. Supporters, including regional planning agencies and environmental groups, say it will shift the focus from planning to building projects.

Senate Bill 1087, authored by Sen. Christopher Cabaldon (D-West Sacramento), updates the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008, better known as SB 375. The new law streamlines regional planning requirements, extends greenhouse gas reduction targets through 2045, and strengthens the connection between state transportation funding and regional climate plans.

The legislation was sponsored by a coalition of regional planning agencies and environmental groups, with support from more than 80 organizations, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the regional planning agency for the nine-county Bay Area.

“We’re proud to have supported SB 1087. SB 375 established the idea that California needs to plan for housing, transportation, and land conservation together to meet its climate goals. Nearly 20 years later, SB 1087 starts to move that framework beyond planning by pushing the state to align its transportation investments with regional plans and putting more focus on getting the right projects built,” said Lesley Beatty of Climate Plan, a sponsor of the bill.

That shift from planning to implementation is central to the new law.

…more of this. Lead image: Caltrans. This image: City of Los Angeles From regional plans to projects

SB 375 requires California’s metropolitan planning organizations to develop Sustainable Communities Strategies as part of their regional transportation plans. These strategies coordinate land use, housing and transportation investments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks.

Under SB 1087, metropolitan planning organizations will prepare their strategies every eight years instead of every four, with a progress report after four years. The change is intended to reduce duplicative work and administrative costs while maintaining accountability for progress toward emissions-reduction goals.

The legislation also extends the framework’s greenhouse gas reduction targets through 2045, bringing regional planning into closer alignment with the state’s long-term climate goals. It increases transparency around the California Air Resources Board’s process for setting emissions-reduction targets and reviewing regional strategies.

The Southern California Association of Governments, which develops regional transportation and land-use plans for six counties, said the changes will give regional agencies and local governments more flexibility and certainty while helping them focus on implementation.

“SB 1087 refocuses the sustainable communities strategy on its core purpose to align housing, transportation, and climate,” said SCAG Executive Director Kome Ajise. “We believe these reforms will give regional agencies and local governments more certainty, flexibility, and tools to turn planning into real action.”

For Southern California, the changes could free up resources to advance projects included in its regional plan, Connect SoCal. The law does not guarantee funding for any particular project, but it changes how regional plans are developed and connected to implementation.

Opposition from Business Groups

The Orange County Business Council (OCBC) was one of the leading groups opposed to the legislation. In a statement released while the legislation was moving through committee, the group said it supported modernizing SB 375 but objected to CARB’s expanded role in reviewing regional strategies, warning that the changes could limit regional flexibility and raise concerns about regulatory transparency and stakeholder participation.

While debates over regional autonomy and state oversight are legitimate, SB 1087 does not give CARB control over local zoning or housing approvals. Instead, it strengthens coordination between regional climate plans and state transportation investments while reducing the administrative burden of planning. That balance is central to the law’s effort to turn California’s climate goals into real-world results.

Caltrans must better align with regional goals

One of SB 1087’s biggest changes is that it makes it easier for California to ensure state transportation spending supports regional climate goals.

The law requires Caltrans to consider measures of success that help advance the goals of the California Transportation Plan. It also changes the rules for some state transportation funding programs to better connect which projects get money with the goals in regional plans.

The changes are especially important in regions whose plans fall short of state greenhouse gas reduction targets. In those areas, projects seeking money through programs such as the Solutions for Congested Corridors Program and the Trade Corridor Enhancement Program must meet additional requirements tied to reducing emissions or addressing barriers to meeting regional targets.

The goal is to reduce the chances that state money goes to transportation projects that undermine regional climate plans, while still allowing projects that meet the law’s requirements to move forward.

The law does not prohibit highway projects outright. Its impact will depend on how state agencies apply the new requirements and select future transportation investments. But it creates a stronger statutory link between regional climate goals and decisions about which projects receive state support.

“For the first time, SB 1087 also requires Caltrans to better align state planning with regional goals—which should yield fewer highway boondoggles and more safe streets on which people of all ages and abilities can travel,” said Zak Accuardi of the Natural Resources Defense Council, another sponsor of the legislation.

On World Food Day, African chefs unite to reclaim the continent’s culinary heritage, champion agroecology and put African food at the centre of Africa’s future.

On World Food Day 2026, the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) calls on African citizens, governments, chefs, farmers, young people and food system actors to reclaim Africa’s rich food heritage and place healthy, culturally appropriate and ecologically produced food at the heart of the continent’s future. Under its Pan-African campaign, My Food Is African, AFSA is advancing a powerful message: Africa’s food is a source of identity, dignity, health and sovereignty, and its future must be shaped by the people who grow, prepare and consume it.

Across Africa, traditional food systems that have sustained communities for generations are increasingly threatened by industrial agriculture, the expansion of ultra-processed foods and changing dietary habits that undermine indigenous knowledge and local food cultures. Traditional African foods, despite their extraordinary diversity and cultural significance, are too often portrayed as inferior, outdated or incompatible with modern lifestyles. Meanwhile, the smallholder farmers, women, seed custodians and traditional food producers who sustain Africa’s food systems remain insufficiently recognised and supported.

For AFSA, reversing this trend requires a fundamental shift in how African societies understand and value food. My Food Is African is a call to reclaim our food, our health, our culture and our power. It challenges the notion that progress must come at the expense of African food traditions and asserts that the continent’s food future lies in embracing its rich culinary diversity, strengthening agroecological production and restoring the connection between people, land and food.

African Chefs Take the Lead in Reclaiming Our Food

This year’s World Food Day carries particular significance as African chefs across the continent come together to translate this vision into action. From 12 to 16 October 2026, the My Food Is African Chefs Network is leading the first continental MyFIA Chefs Week, celebrating indigenous ingredients, traditional recipes, African food knowledge and the farmers and communities who keep these traditions alive.

The initiative builds on the historic First African Chefs’ Gathering and Policy Convening on African Food Systems, organised by AFSA in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in July 2025. Bringing together participants from 23 African countries, the gathering adopted the Declaration of African Chefs, affirming a collective commitment to elevate African cuisine, defend indigenous food systems and strengthen the role of chefs in advancing food sovereignty.

That commitment is now taking shape through a growing continental movement of chefs who recognise that their responsibility extends beyond preparing and serving food. African chefs are educators, cultural ambassadors, storytellers and advocates who can reconnect consumers with the origins of their food, celebrate forgotten ingredients, preserve ancestral recipes and promote food grown through agroecological practices.

Throughout Chefs Week, participating chefs are sharing stories from their kitchens, farms and local markets, highlighting the relationship between indigenous seeds, healthy soils, traditional food preparation and African culinary identity. The week culminates in an online gathering on 16 October, bringing together chefs, farmers, seed custodians, journalists and other food system actors to celebrate their collective efforts, discuss the future of African cuisine and consider the adoption of the MyFIA Chefs Network Charter.

The significance of this initiative goes beyond culinary celebration. It represents a growing recognition that the transformation of Africa’s food systems must also take place in our kitchens, restaurants, schools and everyday food choices. By bringing traditional African foods into contemporary culinary spaces, chefs can help challenge perceptions that equate imported and industrially processed foods with modernity, while demonstrating that African culinary heritage offers opportunities for creativity, innovation, livelihoods and entrepreneurship.

Healthy Food Begins with Healthy Soil

At the heart of the My Food Is African campaign is a principle that AFSA considers fundamental to Africa’s food future: what we eat cannot be separated from how our food is produced.

African food is deeply connected to the land, the seeds and the ecological knowledge that have sustained generations of farming communities. Its value cannot be measured by taste and cultural significance alone. It must also be understood through the health of the soil, the diversity of crops, the integrity of production systems and the well-being of the people who produce it.

AFSA therefore calls for a transition towards agroecological food systems that restore soil fertility, protect biodiversity, safeguard farmer-managed seed systems and strengthen resilience to climate change.

The campaign also draws attention to the growing public health concerns associated with unhealthy dietary transitions and the increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods. Reviving diverse African diets, including indigenous grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits and traditionally prepared foods, is an important part of promoting healthier food environments and protecting the continent’s nutritional heritage.

Healthy soil, healthy seeds, healthy food and healthy people are inseparable. Protecting African food therefore means protecting the ecological and cultural systems that make it possible.

Innovate Today, Nourish Tomorrow: Africa’s Knowledge Must Shape the Future

As the international community commemorates World Food Day under the 2026 theme, “Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow,” AFSA emphasises that meaningful innovation must recognise and build upon the knowledge, practices and resources that African communities have developed over generations. The global theme highlights the importance of combining forward-looking solutions with traditional knowledge and inclusive approaches to ensure nutritious food for all while protecting the planet.

For Africa, innovation must begin by recognising the enormous potential already present in its food systems. Indigenous crops, farmer-managed seeds, traditional food preservation methods, agroecological farming practices and culinary knowledge offer opportunities to improve nutrition, strengthen local economies and respond to environmental challenges. These resources must be protected, developed and passed on to future generations.

AFSA believes that African chefs, particularly young culinary professionals and women food entrepreneurs, have an important role in this transformation. By combining traditional ingredients with contemporary culinary creativity, strengthening relationships with local farmers and bringing African cuisine into new markets, they can help create livelihoods while preserving the integrity and identity of African food.

But innovation must also extend beyond the kitchen. It requires supportive public policies, investment in agroecological enterprises, stronger territorial markets, greater recognition of women’s contributions and education systems that teach African children the value of their own food heritage.

A Call to Reclaim Africa’s Food Future

On this World Food Day, AFSA calls upon African governments and institutions to recognise food sovereignty as a foundation of sustainable development. This requires policies that protect farmer-managed seed systems, support smallholder food producers, promote agroecology and integrate indigenous African foods into national nutrition strategies, school curricula and public food procurement programmes.

AFSA also calls upon chefs, restaurants, culinary institutions and food entrepreneurs to become active champions of African food sovereignty by celebrating indigenous ingredients, sourcing from local agroecological producers, preserving traditional recipes and introducing younger generations to the extraordinary diversity of African cuisine.

To African citizens, particularly young people, the message is equally clear. Our food heritage deserves to be celebrated, protected and carried forward. Every traditional recipe preserved, every indigenous seed protected, every local farmer supported and every African meal prepared with pride contributes to a larger movement for healthier people, thriving communities and a more sovereign Africa.

My Food Is African is a declaration of identity, a commitment to ecological responsibility and a call for collective action. It reminds us that our food connects us to our ancestors, sustains our communities and carries the possibilities of our future. Reclaiming African food means reclaiming the knowledge, resources and choices that determine how Africa feeds itself.

As African chefs unite this World Food Day, AFSA reaffirms its commitment to building a continental movement that celebrates African culinary heritage, strengthens the relationship between farmers and consumers, and advances food systems rooted in justice, health, biodiversity and dignity.

Our food. Our heritage. Our health. Our future.

My Food Is African.

Grow with Nature. Eat with Pride. Live with Dignity.

Campaign: #MyFoodIsAfrican | #JeMangeAfricain | #WorldFoodDay2026

Hunter Valley community groups have welcomed last night’s passage of the Future Jobs and Investment Bill in the NSW Parliament’s Legislative Council, which marks a major step towards a more secure future for the state’s coal-dependent regions as global coal demand wanes. 

Plans for a massive wind farm with 92 turbines and an up to eight-hour battery have been lodged, adding another hybrid to the list of projects lining up to replace coal.

The post Approval sought for another huge wind and battery hybrid as state prepares to move beyond coal appeared first on Renew Economy.

As birds embarked on their fall migration journeys, Audubon and partners welcomed approximately 250 visitors to Community Day at the John James Audubon Center (JJAC) in late September. The event...

The version of record of this op-ed was published in Yellowknifer on October 15, 2026.

By Jax Jacobsen (Strategic Communications Lead, Geothermal Energy Office, Cascade Institute) and Emily Smejkal (Policy Lead, Geothermal Energy Office, Cascade Institute)

With the Ekati diamond mine closing early, Yellowknife has to rethink what will drive its economy next. Jax Jacobsen and Emily Smejkal argue that the biggest barrier to growth in the North is energy: the NWT grid leans heavily on hydropower, and drought-driven low reservoirs have caused outages and pushed the territory's power corporation back onto costly, high-emission diesel.

Their answer is geothermal. The heat beneath Yellowknife itself is best suited to heating buildings, but power-grade resources lie south of Great Slave Lake, near Hay River and other South Slave communities. If the proposed Taltson hydro expansion connects the South Slave and North Slave grids, electricity generated there could flow straight to Yellowknife. With enhanced geothermal systems now delivering utility-scale power and drilling costs falling fast, they write, steady, low-cost, low-emission geothermal power could give the city the foundation for a new Northern industrial base.

Read the full op-ed in Yellowknifer.

Featured image: Old Town Yellowknife by Mike Tidd, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The post Yellowknife can become an energy powerhouse through geothermal appeared first on Cascade Institute.

Harm reduction services and nonprofit supportive housing play a vital role in addressing the overlapping crises of opioid overdose, mental health, and homelessness that are causing so much hardship in many parts of Canada. These services have been widely debated and researched, but this discourse often overlooks the workforce that provides these services, whose skills and knowledge are often taken for granted.

During the summer of 2026, a research team based at the University of British Columbia’s School of Social Work undertook a study involving 30 online and in-person interviews with frontline workers and managers working in harm reduction and supportive housing in Vancouver’s downtown eastside (DTES). The interviews explored the knowledge and skills of harm reduction workers, and what changes they would recommend to strengthen this work. The findings documentd the wide array of finely-honed skills, knowledge and practices used by these workers, as they endeavour to provide dignity and care for those facing the challenges of homelessness, mental illness and addiction.

The findings of this innovative research are contained in a new report, ‘Do More for Less and Get Blamed for It’: What Harm Reduction Workers Bring to their Jobs and their Community, by Donna Baines, Oliver Hsueh and Denise Cheung. Their research confirms that the workers providing these frontline services bring a rich and multi-dimensional set of skills, both formal and informal, to their jobs. Investing in those workers, including through expanded training, improved safety and working conditions, and adequate compensation and benefits, must be an essential aspect of future efforts to improve these services and better help the populations they serve.

The post New Research Documents Vital Skills of Harm Reduction Workers appeared first on Centre for Future Work.

On September 30th, 2026, West Gateway sublessee Insight Terminal Solutions (ITS), owned by hedge fund mogul Jon Brooks, suffered a stinging defeat in its frivolous and forum-shopped bid to impose a claim for hundreds of millions of dollars on the City of Oakland.

US District Court Judge Benjamin Beaton issued his scolding decision in an 18-page ruling that laid out in exacting detail why ITS had no business filing its case in a Kentucky bankruptcy court. Judge Beaton ruled:

the absence of any identifiable pre-confirmation claim or post-confirmation distribution dooms the jurisdictional basis for ITS to return to bankruptcy court. This litigation doesn’t involve application of the Bankruptcy Code, the interpretation of the reorganization plan, or any potential effects on creditors….The only relevant nexus between this case and ITS’s bankruptcy is the one linking its current owners to a potential future recovery. And that does not suffice…. Even the expansive reach of related-to bankruptcy jurisdiction doesn’t stretch this far.

Judge Beaton then went on to make clear that if his decision were overruled on “related to” jurisdiction, he would nonetheless abstain from hearing the case, as “tort claims between a California-based plaintiff and a California municipality, involving alleged misconduct in California that violated California state law” ought to be litigated in a California court. In his discussion on the question of abstention, Judge Beaton wrote, “Particularly given the degree to which the state-law issues bear on sensitive questions of sovereignty and finality, however, principles of federalism and comity counsel deference to California courts.”

ITS filed notice on October 13, 2026 that it would nonetheless appeal the case to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The developers’ opening appeal brief will be filed in the coming months.

No Coal in Oakland’s Ted Franklin, in his October 6 analysis of Judge Beaton’s dismissal, wrote that – despite the narrow chance ITS has of prevailing in this case – they might choose to appeal or refile in California for “the nuisance value of holding formally unresolved claims over the City’s head.”

No Coal in Oakland continues to assume that’s the game the would-be coal developers are playing. It’s unfortunate that the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals judges are being asked to direct their time and attention to a lawsuit that never should have been filed.

 

 

Image: Map of the Sixth Circuit United States Court of Appeals. Image credit: Marginal Cost, via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)