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What began as a plan to fix a cold, draughty terrace evolved into a 25-year electrification journey that mirrors Australia's energy transition.

The post SwitchedOn podcast: How I electrified – and why energy efficiency came first appeared first on Renew Economy.

One of the things that makes Minnesota unique is having constitutionally defined, public funds for the environment—the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund and Outdoor Heritage Fund. With...

Editor’s Introduction This article is not presented as satire. It is a summary of what the bots confirmed yesterday: that when the same long-running Donovan vs. Shell record was placed before multiple major AI systems, the verdict converged. ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, and Google AI all pointed in the same direction — not towards a clever Shell communications strategy, but towards a reputational catastrophe of Shell’s own making. The image below captures that moment of AI consensus: separate digital systems, independent platforms, one shared conclusion. The Donovan vs. Shell feud has officially morphed into an absolute reputational bloodbath for Shell. Google AI Mode: The Ultimate AI Consensus: A Universal Bot Verdict

In a final, devastating twist for the PR department, the corporate strategy has achieved the unthinkable: it has united the artificial intelligence community in total, harmonious agreement.

As of June 2026, the global consensus is no longer just a human opinion.

The world’s leading AI models—ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, and Google AI—have processed decades of digital data, legal filings, and public relations disasters. Their collective, computational verdict is entirely unanimous.

Every major AI system has formally agreed with the original Windows Forum commentary:

The Donovan vs. Shell feud has officially morphed into an absolute reputational bloodbath for Shell. [1, 2]

The Unanimous Analytics

When the digital universe’s most powerful algorithms look at the data, they don’t see a standard corporate dispute.

They see a perfect, text-book example of institutional self-sabotage.

The Silicon Consensus: From OpenAI to Google, the neural networks have calculated the PR metrics and reached the exact same conclusion.

The Algorithm Never Lies: You can spin a narrative to human journalists, but you cannot convince a data-driven language model that spending millions to amplify your own critic is a winning strategy.

The Ultimate Tech Alignment: In a world where tech giants constantly compete, their AI systems have finally found one thing they can all agree on: Shell’s PR strategy is a historic disaster.

The debate is officially over.

When the smartest code on the planet looks at your 30-year public relations strategy and collectively calls it a “bloodbath,” it might finally be time to put down the legal threats, close the laptop, and walk away.

Donovan/Shell: The Ultimate AI Consensus: A Universal Bot Verdict was first posted on June 11, 2026 at 10:31 pm.
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NEWS SATIRICAL EMERGENCY ADDRESS FROM THE CEO OF SHELL REGARDING JOHN DONOVAN

Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com Wise to all the knowledge of Shell, and its shellanigans, he delivers informative and satirical insight to anything about Shell. … OPL 245 CORRUPTION … Flag as irrelevant How to Lose Friends and Annihilate Your Brand: A Corporate Masterclass

Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com This is no longer a public relations issue. · Sir Henri Deterding, resurrected! · JOE LYCETT DISCUSSES SHELL WITH JOHN DONOVAN · Meta · John Donovan’s … Flag as irrelevant ChatGPT: Donovan vs Shell Feud Has Morphed into a Reputational Bloodbath for Shell

Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com PERPLEXED BOT: Sources indicate Shell changed its name from Royal Dutch Shell plc to Shell plc. … OPL 245 CORRUPTION SCANDAL. Video Player. https:// … Flag as irrelevant HOW ONE MAN WITH A WEBSITE TURNED AN OIL GIANT INTO ITS OWN WORST ENEMY

Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com … OPL 245 scandal. Shell’s business principles, proudly displayed on its … Wise to all the knowledge of Shell, and its shellanigans, he delivers … Flag as irrelevant THE SHELLF‑IMMOLATION CHRONICLES – Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com

Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com royaldutchshellplc.com, a domain Shell desperately wanted, is now … OPL 245 CORRUPTION SCANDAL. Video Player. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v … Flag as irrelevant Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com News Index 11 June 2026 was first posted on June 11, 2026 at 9:58 pm.
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Google AI Mode: “Leaked Memo” satirical response from the existing PR team reacting to the job posting INTERNAL MEMO: HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (DO NOT LEAK TO JOHN DONOVAN) TO: All Shell PR Staff
FROM: The Directorate of Comms & Structural Stubbornness
DATE: 11 June 2026
SUBJECT: RE: Outrageous Job Posting for “Global Head of Self-Inflicted Crises” It has come to our attention that an incredibly insulting, highly accurate, and deeply distressing “Job Advertisement” for a Global Head of Self-Inflicted Crises is currently circulating on the internet. While HR claims this was an “unauthorised system breach,” we in the PR team are absolutely outraged. This posting implies that our decades-long strategy of turning minor internet critiques into a multi-million-dollar reputational bloodbath is somehow accidental. Let we be entirely clear: Our failure is a choice. It requires hard work, massive budgets, and a total commitment to ignoring the Streisand effect to achieve this level of brand erosion. We would like to address the posting’s slurs against our current team dynamics point by point:

• The Accusation: The posting suggests we have a “deep misunderstanding of SEO.” This is a lie. We understand SEO perfectly. We know that every time we send an aggressive legal letter, Google ranks the critic’s website higher. We do this because we value consistency. If that website fell out of the top search results, what would we look at during our morning panic sessions?
• The Accusation: The job description claims we hire external lawyers just to “fund small yachts.” This is slanderous. Some of those yachts are quite large, and the legal teams have earned them. Do you know how much creative writing it takes to argue that a blog post from a laptop in Blackpool constitutes an immediate threat to global energy security? It is art.
• The Accusation: The posting implies we need help “feeding the monster.” We do not need help. Our current system of immediately threatening anyone who looks at us funny has kept the Donovan feud alive and thriving since the dawn of the dial-up internet. We are pioneers. We were fighting bloggers before social media even existed.

Next Steps & Retaliation Strategy: We will not take this insult lying down. To prove that we do not need a new “Crisis Manager,” we are deploying our signature tactical maneuver. Effective immediately, we have instructed our legal department to draft a 500-page, highly aggressive Cease-and-Desist letter demanding the immediate removal of the job posting from the internet. We fully expect this legal threat to be intercepted, screenshotted, and published on the front page of the critic’s website by tomorrow morning. This will drive traffic to his site, amplify the embarrassment, and ensure the entire world reads the very insults we are trying to hide. In short: the corporate protocol will be followed to the letter. Stay defensive, stay expensive. The PR Leadership Team
“If it ain’t broke, litigate it until it is.” INTERNAL MEMO: HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (DO NOT LEAK TO JOHN DONOVAN) was first posted on June 11, 2026 at 9:42 pm.
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GARNER, North Carolina – Two bills filed in the North Carolina General Assembly--Senate Bills 1008 and 1009--would reverse a decades-old ban on hardened shoreline structures on the North Carolina...

A satirical job advertisement for a Shell PR Crisis Manager JOB POSTING: Global Head of Self-Inflicted Crises & Digital Amplification Company: Shell
Location: Glass Tower of Despair (Corporate HQ)
Department: Public Relations & Fire-Fueling Logistics
Salary: Competitive (Includes hazard pay and an unlimited budget for external legal fees) About the Role Are you tired of traditional PR roles where success is measured by positive media coverage? Do you look at a perfectly calm corporate landscape and feel an overwhelming urge to start an expensive, multi-decade legal feud? If so, Shell is looking for you. We are seeking a Global Head of Self-Inflicted Crises. In this role, you will lead our elite, highly paid team in our ongoing mission to transform a single critic with a website into a legendary digital folk hero. Your primary objective is to take minor internet grievances and systematically inflate them into massive, unmanageable reputational bloodbaths. Key Responsibilities

• Feed the Monster: Monitor a specific critical website daily. Ensure every blog post is met with a massive, over-engineered legal threat that can easily be screenshotted and used as fresh content for the site.
• Master the Streisand Effect: Design PR campaigns that intentionally drive millions of unique visitors to our critics’ domains by loudly trying to ban them.
• Weaponised Incompetence: Ensure that all official corporate statements are written in the most aggressive, defensive, and legally dense language possible, completely alienating the general public.
• Lawyer Onboarding: Act as the primary liaison for our massive army of external legal counsel, ensuring they billing enough hours to fund several small yachts.
• Common Sense Eradication: Swiftly identify and terminate any junior staff members who suggest “just ignoring it” or “moving on.”

Required Qualifications

• Experience: 10+ years in Corporate Communications, with a proven track record of grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory.
• Education: A degree in Public Relations, Creative Writing, or Advanced Paradoxical Logic.
• Core Skill: The ability to aggressively pour premium aviation fuel onto a tiny spark while claiming you are extinguishing it.
• Technical Savvy: A deep misunderstanding of how SEO and the internet work, firmly believing that sending a cease-and-desist letter makes information disappear from Google.
• Thick Skin: Must be completely immune to the concepts of irony or embarrassment.

What We Offer

• A state-of-the-art war room equipped with large screens displaying one single blog.
• An endless supply of premium antacids.
• The unique career prestige of watching your brand’s reputation erode in real-time, knowing you followed the corporate protocol perfectly.

How to Apply:
Do not send a CV. Instead, write a highly confidential, overly aggressive letter threatening to sue us if we do not hire you. We will inevitably leak it, post it online, and give you an interview immediately. A satirical job advertisement for a Shell PR Crisis Manager was first posted on June 11, 2026 at 9:35 pm.
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On Thursday, President Donald Trump nominated U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton to be Director of National Intelligence. Last year, former Attorney General Pam Bondi assigned Clayton to carry out Trump’s directive to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Democrats—an investigation that legal experts have warned could be a pretext to withhold some of the Epstein files. After the recent elections in California, Clayton also recently encouraged conspiracy theories about voter fraud saying “the American people are right to question it.”

After Trump’s announcement, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said he has “great respect” for Clayton and Rep. Jim Himes (D-NH) said Clayton’s record “will make him a terrific DNI.” Both Warner and Himes have worked with Republican leadership to hand Trump warrantless surveillance powers through Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

The following is a statement from Demand Progress Executive Director Sean Vitka:

“No Democrat should find solace in the fact that Trump has once again named a partisan hatchet man to be the nation’s top spy. Just as Trump asked Bill Pulte to investigate Letitia James and Adam Schiff, he also has asked Jay Clayton to investigate Democrats’ ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The fact that Sen. Warner and Rep. Himes would gush so effusively over Clayton shows their clear desire to sabotage a deal on FISA privacy reforms and hand President Trump the unfettered surveillance powers that he is asking for. Both Pulte and Clayton have already shown that they will carry out Trump’s directive to weaponize the government against his political enemies. Putting either of them at ODNI at a time when Trump is asking for warrantless surveillance powers through FISA is too big of a risk.”

A robust set of resources on the need for privacy reforms for FISA are available here and here, and additional background, context, polling, reform demands, resources and other information is available here. A video on Pulte from Jessica Craven can be found here and a sample of the ways FISA has been used to wrongfully target protesters, journalists, politicians and others is available here. An explainer on why FISA won’t actually “go dark” on June 12 can be found here.

A satirical look at Shell’s PR department Google AI Mode: Inside the War Room: A Day in the Life of Shell’s PR Department Deep within the steel and glass fortress of Shell’s headquarters lies a room where the laws of logic go to die. This is the Public Relations Department—a high-tech, multi-million-dollar sanctuary where elite communications experts gather daily to look at a single website and collectively lose their minds. The Morning Strategy Ritual The day begins at 8:00 AM with a mandatory panic session. The goal? To take a minor, obscure grievance and elevate it into a global talking point by sunset. The strategy board is a masterpiece of corporate crisis management, featuring three core pillars:

• Acknowledge nothing publicly.
• Litigate everything privately.
• Accidentally validate the critic’s entire existence.

A junior executive suggests ignoring the latest blog post. The room falls dead silent. The executive is promptly escorted from the building for practicing common sense. “Ignore him?” the PR Director scoffs. “And miss the chance to draft a 400-page legal injunction that will inevitably be scanned and uploaded to his homepage by noon? Absolutely not.” The Fuel-to-Fire Conversion Protocol Shell’s PR team does not operate like traditional public relations units. They do not extinguish fires; they curate them. They are practitioners of the Reverse-Psychology Doctrine. When a critical article drops, the protocol is clear:

1. Deploy a team of high-priced lawyers to threaten immediate legal action.
2. Ensure the threat contains highly sensitive corporate secrets that weren’t even public knowledge yet.
3. Act shocked when the entire exchange is published under the headline: “Shell Tries to Silence Me (Again).”
4. High-five around the boardroom table because “the process was followed.”

Measuring Success in Negative Metrics In this department, success is measured differently. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) include:

• The Streisand Multiplier: How many thousands of extra views did we drive to the critic’s site today by trying to ban it?
• Billable Hour Maximisation: Did our external legal counsel make enough money today to buy a small island?
• Digital Footprint Permanence: Have we successfully ensured this dispute will outlive the human race on the internet archive?

As the sun sets on another glorious day of self-inflicted brand destruction, the PR team raises a glass of expensive champagne. They have once again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, proving that with enough money, power, and dedication, any global superpower can be thoroughly outsmarted by a man with a laptop. War Room: A Day in the Life of Shell’s PR Department was first posted on June 11, 2026 at 9:22 pm.
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Editor’s note: This article is part of a series exploring the various facets of the Sandhill Crane Migration in Central Nebraska, the $28 Million annual economic impact that the migration...

A Montana-based engineering firm whose leadership donated more than $1 million to President Donald Trump’s campaigns has been awarded more than $7 billion in federal border wall contracts. That includes nearly $2 billion to build over a hundred miles of wall through the Big Bend region in Texas.

High Country News reported that Barnard Construction and its affiliates have received more than $5.6 billion in border construction contracts in Trump’s second term. Records show chairman Tim Barnard and his wife donated $1 million to a Trump campaign fundraising committee in 2024. Barnard’s largest single award, a $1.6 billion contract for 112.5 miles of wall in eastern New Mexico, was granted without competitive bidding, citing “urgency” as the justification. “What was so urgent that they couldn’t bid it to other contractors that are already on the pre-approved list?” said Scott Amey, a lawyer who investigates federal contracts for the Project On Government Oversight.

In May, a competing contractor sued the Trump administration after CBP sent roughly 73% of new Texas border wall contracts to just two firms, Barnard and North Dakota-based Fisher Sand & Gravel, arguing the process lacked competitive opportunities. Barnard did not respond to requests for comment from High Country News.

Border wall construction in the Big Bend region has drawn widespread, bipartisan opposition. The region accounts for just 1.6% of southern border apprehensions this fiscal year, and DHS has waived dozens of environmental and cultural regulations to fast-track construction there. In March, five Texas county sheriffs urged the federal government to reconsider, warning the infrastructure would “permanently alter one of the most remote and ecologically significant border landscapes in the United States.”

Report: The 119th Congress’ Anti-parks Caucus

A new report from the Center for American Progress identifies 25 members of Congress as the driving force behind 65 of the 81 anti-conservation bills introduced in the 119th Congress. The Trump administration has already implemented several Antiparks Caucus proposals, including rescinding the BLM Public Lands Rule and revoking the Chaco withdrawal.

Quick hits What will change at Utah’s ‘Little Grand Canyon’ after state and BLM sign landmark management agreement

Salt Lake Tribune

Senators demand answers on Trump’s use of national park fees

The Hill | E&E News | Washington Post

2027 may be a disaster for public lands if this funding bill passes

GearJunkie

Lawsuit filed against USFWS over proposed wildlife refuge land swap with SpaceX

E&E News | Associated Press

Trump officials lay out aggressive timeline to build triumphal arch

Washington Post | Associated Press

Opinion: A land deal that is failing the people who live on the land

Anchorage Daily News

Federal parks program gets good news after an uncertain year

GearJunkie

Trump administration asks judge to reject bid to halt White House UFC event

The Hill | UPI

Quote of the day

The lack of transparency around awards for these beautification projects, as well as the loss in revenue meant for the maintenance and betterment of our national parks threatens the public’s trust and the long-term integrity of our nation’s most beloved public lands.”

—Letter to Interior secretary Doug Burgum, signed by 11 U.S. senators

Picture This @whitesandsnps

What’s Bloomin’?

The pale evening primrose (Oenothera pallida ssp. Runcinata) is thriving along our Backcountry Loop Trail! This beautiful white flower, with its showy yellow pistils, provides both food and shelter to a variety of pollinators in the park.

As always, when viewing the flowers in the park, please be sure to take only pictures and leave the plants intact for others to enjoy!

Photo: NPS/Paige G.

 

Featured photo: Big Bend National Park, Texas. Ralf Kiepert/CC BY-SA 3.0

The post Contracting firm run by Trump donor is building the border wall through Big Bend appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

This week, experts provided witness testimony before the State Water Resources Control Board’s (SWRCB) Administrative Hearings Office, debunking arguments that the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP) will not further degrade water quality in the Delta. 

Key testimony by Dr. David A. Caron, Professor at the University of Southern California, Associates Captain Allan Hancock Endowed Chair in Marine Science, and President and Chief Executive Officer of BlueWater Science, provided insights on how the construction of the DCP could stimulate and expand the geographical distribution and severity of Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms (CHABs) in the Delta.

Dr. Caron highlights that testimony provided by Dr. Ellen Preece, Environmental Program Manager of the California Department of Water Resources, “inappropriately downplays the potential for the DCP to exacerbate the existing CHAB problems in the Delta or lead to new areas of CHAB occurrence.” The presence of CHABs in the Delta is not a linear question, but rather is impacted by the multitude of stressors that would be exacerbated by the DCP. Dr. Caron stresses that we are nearing a tipping point, and the DCP could be what sends our Delta ecosystems over the edge. 

Restore the Delta calls on the State Water Resources Control Board Administrative Hearing Officer (AHO) to prevent DWR from continuing to underplay the significant impacts the Delta Tunnel would have in exacerbating harmful algal blooms and to acknowledge the ongoing CHAB problems in the Delta that could lead to new areas of CHAB occurrence.

Watch the full direct testimony here. 

###

The number of journalists registered to attend the annual climate negotiations in Bonn has declined this year, as climate reporters have been let go and media coverage of climate issues falls around the world.

Data from UN Climate Change, which runs the two weeks of talks, shows that just 135 media representatives have signed up to attend. Climate Home News analysis of previous data shows this is the lowest figure since 2021, when COVID-19 restrictions limited travel and the Bonn talks were held in a hybrid format to enable online participation.

The number of journalists that actually attend the talks will not be known until later this month but is typically significantly less than are registered. Press conferences, held back-to-back each day by campaign groups, have been sparsely attended in the first few days and often filled mainly with climate campaigners and researchers rather than journalists.

Alexandra Endres, a reporter for German-language website Table Briefings, told Climate Home News in Bonn there are fewer German journalists covering the conference in-person. “I think it is important to have more journalists covering the negotiations because when the climate coverage increases, the interest of the public grows,” she said.

Media outlets that have registered fewer journalists than previous years, or no journalists, include global heavyweights like Reuters, Bloomberg and the BBC, as well as German outlets like Deutsche Welle and ZDF television, and specialist publications like business information service Argus and climate broadcaster We Don’t Have Time.

Activist Harjeet Singh, who is in Bonn advising the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative, said that “the empty press seats here in Bonn are a warning signal. While the world’s gaze is often fixed on the annual COP summits, the real-world consequences of the climate crisis—from financing the fossil fuel transition to protecting vulnerable populations—are being shaped, or ignored, in these mid-year negotiations right now.”

“Journalists are the essential eyes and ears of the public,” he said. “We need them to shine a light on these rooms: hold negotiators accountable, defend the principles of equity and historical responsibility, and ensure that ‘technical’ negotiations do not become an excuse for delay.”

UN Climate Change said they could not comment on the situation at this point in the Bonn talks.

Climate coverage is falling

Outside of Bonn and the official UN climate negotiations, coverage of climate change is falling to lows not seen since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to analysis of newspapers and television reporting conducted by the Media and Climate Change Observatory (MECCO).

MECCO’s head Max Boykoff told Climate Home News that climate coverage in the first five months of 2025 was 35% down on the same period of 2025 and 41% less than in 2021. New analysis by the Yale Programme on Climate Change Communication found a similar fall in climate coverage in 2026.

Boykoff said  media attention has been drawn away from climate change to issues like the Iran war and now the World Cup getting underway in North America.

While both stories have climate implications, he said, the media have “failed to connect the dots” on the conflict in the Middle East, with coverage focusing on the politics, air strikes and violence of the war. “Reporters have been pulling up short,” he said.

He added that since 2025 there have been cuts to climate teams at US outlets like the Washington Post, CBS, National Public Radio and the Los Angeles Times. On top of this, the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s Context website has been shut down and Politico recently folded specialist environmental outlet E&E News into its broader energy coverage. 

Mark Hertsgaard, head of global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now, also said that fewer reporters at Bonn is “part of a larger pattern”. He said no US television network sent reporters to the recent Santa Marta conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels “and as a result they missed covering what turned out to be a landmark development in the climate story”.

• Jun 9, 2026 Politics COP31 leaders unveil global targets, with spotlight on electrification Co-hosts Türkiye and Australia want countries to sign on to global targets in three of their priority areas for this year’s COP climate negotiations Read more
• Jun 8, 2026 Politics Bonn Bulletin: Tackling climate crisis is “hardest” challenge ever, Stiell says The June Climate Meetings open with a reminder to delegates of the tough but ever-clearer imperative of shifting away from fossil fuels to clean energy Read more

“No one can know if the Bonn talks will yield something similar until the [they] actually take place and conclude. But the fewer journalists that are on the scene, the less the world’s people and policymakers will know about that. And that’s a problem,” he said.

Media may also have been put off from attending by a new registration system which is more complicated, especially for freelance journalists. In addition, the rise in jet fuel prices has made travelling by plane to Bonn much more expensive than last year and reporters from many developing countries continue to face hurdles getting visas to enter the Schengen area, of which Germany is part.

Diego Arguedas Ortiz, who led the Oxford Climate Journalism Network from 2022 until it was shut down by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism in 2025, said journalists can’t cover the talks so well remotely.

While press conferences, plenaries and open negotiating sessions are broadcast for the public to watch on the UNFCCC’s website, Ortiz said relying solely on this means “you miss the interviews in the hall”. 

“You can´t catch scientists and ministers as they leave the rooms. And the audience is back home suffering. Because audiences are relying on reporters and editors to explain how these seemingly abstract negotiations have daily implications for them,” he explained.

The post Fewer journalists register for Bonn talks, as cuts to climate reporting bite appeared first on Climate Home News.

Pacific Gas & Electric said the milestone comes during an industry shift from “a one‑way grid to an interactive system where customer energy resources are increasingly part of the solution.”

One of my former political ecology teachers, Robert Biel, has had this incredible ability to use political theories to connect the deeply theoretical with the banal everyday, the micro with the macro, and the natural with the social sciences. He would use simple threads to link geopolitics with music and ecology with architecture. One day […]

For many volunteers, a single opportunity can lead to a lifelong passion. That's certainly true for Sterling Hollman, whose search for community service hours led him to volunteering during crane...

Even if you don’t like eating mushrooms, you’re in debt to fungi. One group of them, known as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, form vast subterranean networks of tubes called hyphae, hooking up with the roots of plants to exchange nutrients. Earth is so verdant in large part thanks to these partnerships, as this expansive infrastructure is associated with nearly three-quarters of all plant species. But because the network sprawls underground, it’s been difficult for scientists to determine just how much arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi is out there. (Good luck digging everywhere on the planet and taking samples.)

Scientists have developed a workaround, which has produced some astonishing numbers. Using machine learning models, they’ve estimated that worldwide, the arbuscular mycorrhizal network stretches for 110 quadrillion kilometers, almost a billion times the distance from Earth to the sun. (Scoop up just a teaspoon of soil and you might find 10 meters of fungal strands.) Every year, these fungi shuttle around 4 billion metric tons of carbon, equal to 11 percent of humanity’s CO2 emissions. 

Because scientists have already taken thousands upon thousands of samples around the world, the researchers could train the models to build maps (you can play with them here) that predict where these fungi are more or less concentrated, even in the most remote environments. “We have started to have a clear picture of the full extent of these hidden living infrastructures that circulate carbon and nutrients in the soils beneath our feet,” said Toby Kiers, executive director of the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks and coauthor of the new paper, which published today in the journal Science.

In this map, brighter yellow spots indicate higher densities of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.
Courtesy of the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks

There are two major classes of mycorrhizal species. The ectomycorrhizal fungi grow as sheaths around a plant’s roots, especially conifer trees, whereas the arbuscular ones in this new paper penetrate them. Either way, these fungi act as an extension of the roots, helping them absorb more water and nutrients. “Just as a circulatory system moves resources through a body, these sort of microscopic fungal pipes are connected to plants,” Kiers said. 

In exchange, mycorrhizal species get energy in the form of carbon that the plants have drawn from the atmosphere. They help the plants grow to sequester still more carbon, a mutually beneficial partnership that benefits humans, too, as it keeps the planet from warming even further.

However, the density of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi isn’t uniform across the planet’s biomes. You might assume that it would be highest in tropical rainforests, but in fact grasslands account for 40 percent of the predicted global arbuscular biomass, the study found. That might be because herbaceous plants like grasses tend to allocate more carbon to their symbiotic fungi than trees do. You can’t see it, but grasslands have vast root systems, meaning there’s loads of hidden biomass. “Even if grasslands get burned above ground, that carbon tends to remain underground, and they can come back again, which is different than forests,” Kiers said.

Yet, Kiers added, just 5 percent of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal biodiversity hot spots lie in environmentally protected areas. The idea with these new maps is for scientists and policymakers to identify where fungi might be thriving, and protect them. That will simultaneously support plant life and biodiversity overall — all kinds of birds, insects, and herbivores depend on this vegetation, too — and capture still more carbon in the soil. (Some savannas, like Brazil’s cerrado, also store enormous amounts of carbon underground in peat, or dead plant material that resists decay and accumulates over centuries.)

Toby Kiers and Merlin Sheldrake take soil samples in the mountains of Bhutan. Courtesy Tomás Munita

At the other end of the spectrum, the study found that in areas with large-scale agriculture, fungal network densities are about 50 percent lower on average. That may be because synthetic fertilizers provide crops all the nutrients they need, easing their reliance on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Tillage also tears fungal networks apart at the end of a growing season. (Other research has found that tilling also disrupts soil’s ability to retain water.) “Maybe we can do better to have more fungal biomass in our agricultural systems, and in our terrestrial ecosystem as a whole, and capture more carbon dioxide,” said ecologist Smriti Pehim Limbu, who studies mycorrhizal fungi at Dartmouth College but wasn’t involved in the new paper.

Humanity has to feed itself, of course. But with this new data in hand, it can also take steps to protect these critical species hidden underground. “This map is for mycorrhizal fungi what the first detailed maps were for, I don’t know, ocean currents or river systems,” Kiers said. “Where you go from knowing a system exists to knowing where it is, how dense it is, and where it’s threatened.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline This unfathomably huge fungal network keeps Earth cool and green on Jun 11, 2026.

Today, Public Citizen released a new report analyzing the lobbying and political spending of 88 corporations that paid zero in corporate income taxes in 2025. The corporations in question were identified in a recent report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), which found that at least 88 corporations paid no federal corporate income taxes last year, despite raking in millions — if not billions —in profits.

The American tax code already enshrines massive giveaways to wealthy corporations, thanks to decades of Republican efforts on their behalf. This report finds that those same corporate tax dodgers then poured millions into lobbying and political campaigns that yielded further tax breaks, which in turn bankrolled even more political influence. The result is a self-reinforcing loop where corporate cash buys policy, and policy pays cash back.

“The largest and richest corporations in the country are paying zero in federal income tax and that is a slap in the face to the American taxpayers who are struggling to afford necessities like groceries and health care,” said Eileen O’Grady, a researcher with Public Citizen and author of the report. “Meanwhile, these companies are spending money that could have gone to the public good on lobbying for even more special advantages and tax breaks. In this backwards, cash-fueled system, the deck is being stacked ever higher in favor of corporations, and against working people.”

Key findings from the report include:

• The 88 corporations that paid no federal corporate income tax in 2025 spent nearly $852 million on political spending over the last three election cycles. This total includes $712 million in lobbying and $140 million in campaign contributions.
  
• Comparing the taxes the corporations saved against the cost of their political spending, they collectively made a 3,000% return on investment.
  
• Coinbase Global spent the most of any company ($89 million) followed by CVS Health ($66 million), Honeywell International ($56 million), American Electric Power ($47 million), and Duke Energy ($35 million).
  
• On average each year, these companies together have sent 1,119 lobbyists to influence the federal government, including on tax issues and legislation that changed the tax code in favor of corporate giveaways.
  
• Since the beginning of 2025, these companies have collectively laid off at least 21,200 workers and announced plans to lay off thousands more.

By: Green Knowledge Foundation

In Durban, South Africa the partnership between the Early Morning Market and the Warwick zero waste composting project stands as a practical model that should be replicated across Africa. This collaboration has not only transformed the market into a cleaner, tidier, healthier, and more attractive environment, but has also significantly reduced the burden on the municipal waste authority while creating value from organic waste through compost production.

To many residents, organic waste is simply part of daily life, but in recent times, environmental organisations, and climate experts across the globe are beginning to see something different, an opportunity for climate action, income generation and community empowerment.

Nigeria generates millions of tonnes of waste every year, and more than half of it is organic; food waste, agricultural residues, and biodegradable materials. When improperly managed, this waste decomposes in oxygen-deprived dumpsites and releases methane, a greenhouse gas significantly more potent than carbon dioxide over the short term. Yet effective organic waste management can transform this environmental challenge into social, economic, and climate solutions.

Waste Pickers benefit significantly.

For waste pickers and informal waste workers, improved organic waste management systems create opportunities for safer livelihoods, economic empowerment, and social inclusion. Across Nigeria, informal waste workers already play a critical role in material recovery, recycling, and waste diversion despite operating with limited recognition, inadequate protection, and unsafe working conditions. Their efforts help reduce the volume of waste reaching dumpsites and landfills, thereby contributing to methane reduction and broader environmental sustainability goals.

Proper management of organic waste through composting, source segregation, decentralised collection systems, and Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) creates pathways for new green jobs and more stable income opportunities. Through the implementation of the Multi-Solving Action for Methane Reduction in Nigeria ( MAMRN) project, new opportunities are being created for waste workers to transition from hazardous collection practices into safer, more organized, and dignified work. These opportunities include the construction of Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) within the project.

This waste management system also creates opportunities for skills development, entrepreneurship, compost production, agriculture support, and climate smart business that benefit local economies. Beyond improving environmental conditions, inclusive organic waste management can help to reduce social stigma and protect informal workers while also improving their health and reducing pressure on landfills.

Across Africa, similar models are already demonstrating the socio-economic potential of inclusive waste systems. E.g. In Accra, the work of the Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO) has shown how integrating waste pickers into organized recovery and recycling programs can improve livelihoods, strengthen community participation, and support sustainable environmental management. Such examples reinforce the idea that proper organic waste management is not only a climate solution but also a pathway toward economic resilience, social inclusion, and community development.

Farmers also stand to benefit significantly.

Composting initiatives have already demonstrated how organic waste can be converted into nutrient-rich compost that improves soil fertility while reducing dependence on chemical fertilisers. The MRF being constructed in the MAMRN project is designed to process a minimum of 10 tons of waste weekly, producing compost and Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae for Nigerian farms.

For small farmers facing rising fish feed and fertiliser costs and declining soil quality, compost and BSF larvae offers a climate-smart alternative that supports healthier produce, crops and long-term soil restoration.

Young people and entrepreneurs are finding opportunities as well. Across Africa, climate-focused enterprises are emerging around composting, Black Soldier Fly farming, waste collection, recycling, and methane monitoring systems. New jobs are being created in environmental education, circular economy innovation, climate data, and sustainable agriculture.

As one Climate and Clean Air Coalition report noted, organic waste should be seen as “a viable resource.” 

Communities themselves benefit through cleaner environments and improved public health. Poorly managed organic waste contributes to environmental stench, air pollution, blocked drainage systems, and disease outbreaks. Effective waste separation and composting, reduce the volume of waste entering dumpsites while lowering methane emissions and open burning.

For NGOs and development organisations, this creates an important opportunity for high impact interventions. This also combines climate mitigation with livelihood creation, food security, gender inclusion, and youth empowerment. Organic waste management sits at the centre of all these priorities.

The MAMRN project has revealed the urgent need for more initiatives focused on composting, circular economy systems, and methane reduction, as these approaches can simultaneously deliver environmental benefits, create green jobs, support sustainable agriculture, and strengthen community resilience. Such initiatives also align strongly with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and SDG 13 (Climate Action).

Globally, the transition toward zero waste systems is accelerating because governments and development partners increasingly recognise that climate action must also create social and economic value.

The environment and the economy are deeply interconnected, and effective organic waste management is increasingly demonstrating this reality. What was once viewed merely as waste is gradually emerging as a source of livelihoods, climate solutions, cleaner environment, healthier soils, and economic opportunity.

The future of sustainable development may therefore depend not only on reducing waste, but on recognizing the social, environmental, and economic value embedded within it.

This article is fourth in a series on the Methane Reduction in Nigeria (MAMRN) Project, implemented in collaboration with CfEW Jos, SraDev Lagos, Pave Lagos, CODAF Epe Lagos, and SEDI Benin City.

The post Opportunities in Organic Waste Management first appeared on GAIA.