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For a long time, class sizes (the ratio of students to teachers) have been a key indicator of the state of public education. However, in...

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A century ago, businessmen, automobile clubs, and politicians came together to form the U.S. 66 Highway Association. Unlike the congestion-obsessed highway-builders of today, they wanted traffic, which they saw as synonymous with a burgeoning, mass-motoring public who would spend money in their towns. They even advertised Route 66 as “Main Street of America.”

Known as an “all-year-all-weather-road” and the “Mother Road,” Route 66 was 200 miles shorter than any other transcontinental railway or highway at the time, making it the speediest route between Chicago and Los Angeles, the Association bragged. It was also touted as an economic engine, generating new jobs for men to lay asphalt across the country. More importantly, though, it was an opportunity to mythologize an enduring new idea: America’s “open road.”

But as with all myths, many people are left out of frame.

“It wasn’t really the fun, happy place we think of when we look back at the ‘good ole days,'” wrote Barry Duncan in his pictorial book Route 66: A Trail of Tears, which compiles the work of car crash photographer and Carthage, Mo. mayor William Carl Taylor. “Many were maimed or killed during the existence of Route 66.”

Photo: William Carl Taylor via Route 66 A Trail of Tears

The title of Duncan’s book may be an insensitive reference to the forced displacement of American Indian tribes from the South and Southeast, but there’s no doubt that Route 66 has a long and violent history of its own. The author served in the Carthage, MO police force between 1977 and 2009, and claims to have witnessed over 2,000 wrecks personally, in addition to curating Taylor’s grisly collection in his book.

And that collection speaks to those tragedies stark terms. Fender benders stand next to piles of unrecognizable rubble. Cabs are literally flattened. Dozens stand around overturned vehicles. A service station entrance is smashed. Civilians help carry stretchers to ambulances. Police officers stare at cars from a distance and write on notepads. A girl cries.

One crash that particularly haunted Duncan involved a family called the Ruminers. In 1957, they were traveling Route 66 from Washington State to their relatives’ home in Mississippi for Christmas. On their way, they were crushed in a Ford sedan by an oncoming truck. The 28-year-old parents and their six-year-old twins were killed, leaving one child to survive with a fractured pelvis and foot. 

In the media circus for Route 66’s centennial celebration this year, though, these kinds of stories remain mostly hidden – and the road’s once well-known nickname, “Bloody 66,” is almost nowhere to be found.

Photo: Christian Frommelt. On display at the National Museum of Transportation

At the Missouri History Museum’s Route 66 festival, for instance, ten pristine vintage cars line the front drive. A rockabilly tune fills the main lobby. Neon signs make a dark room glow. Placards trace the origins of “the concrete ribbon to adventure,” its local landmarks, and the challenges it posed to Black, queer, and Jewish travelers. You learn about the first McDonald’s west of the Mississippi, the birth of the Phillips 66 gasoline brand, and motor cottages.

But you don’t learn nearly as much about Route 66’s bodycount. In 1941, for instance, a single short stretch of the Mother Road near the Army training installation of Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri claimed the lives of 54 people in just nine months, including 19 American soldiers.

The National Museum of Transportation in suburban St. Louis, too, highlights local landmarks associated with the highway while largely ignoring its bloodshed. On display is a replica of the silver steamer S.S. Admiral, which travelers may have seen bridging the Mississippi. Drive-in theaters are featured, as “they symbolized freedom of the open highway, mid-century American design, community gathering spaces, and the romance of the open road.”

In another building, an exterior wall of the Coral Court Motel, impressively reconstructed, stands in a corner. Ten cars, one for each decade, face viewers as they might have once in a dealer’s window.

Photo: William Carl Taylor via Route 66 A Trail of Tears

To some, the story of Highway 66 is the story of a lost America. Route 66 represents a simpler, slower time before the Interstate, nostalgia for cross-country motoring in proximity with tree canopy, town squares, rivers, and diners. It represents postwar prosperity and adventure too; as Missouri History Museum Curator Sharon Smith says, “It is about finding hope in the west for the early years and excitement of Midwesterners traveling to the coast of California.”

The images Duncan published, though, present a shadow narrative. Greyhound buses and youngsters with bikes, generally left out of Route 66’s frame, enter it. The Studebaker is dented. The ambulance looms underneath the Phillips 66 sign. The girl is crying.

Americans aren’t supposed to die on Main Street. But many did – and still do.

The year Highway 66 opened 23,400 US residents died in motor vehicle crashes, more than 20 deaths per 100,000 residents, according to the National Safety Council. In 1953, fatalities ballooned to 37,956, or 24 deaths per 100,000 in the U.S.

Photo: Christian Frommelt. On display at the National Museum of Transportation

So what responsibility do the stewards of public memory have to account for the scale of automobile violence on America’s most iconic highway? And how does that responsibility shift when motorists are still killing nearly 37,000 people per year on US roads today — and when the automakers and oil companies who continue to fuel that killing still have their advertisements reproduced in centennial retrospectives?

It’s true that the Missouri History Museum’s exhibit offers at least one anecdote of an “accident,” and Smith assures that the perils of the road were addressed in a fuller exhibit in 2016. But overall, these stories are footnotes amidst what otherwise seems like a glowing tribute to automobility.

But you don’t have to look far to find evidence of Route 66’s dark side — or the many human lives it’s claimed. One Sedalia news article reports that First Lieutenant George Orchard of Richmond, VA died in a head-on collision on Highway 66 in 1941; he was the 21st soldier to be killed by cars within a year in the vicinity of Fort Leonard Wood, which the highway serves. 

Photo: William Carl Taylor via Route 66 A Trail of Tears

Widening the frame of Route 66 matters, too, because of how deadly legacy highways remain to this day.

For instance, on Gravois Avenue in St. Louis — which includes a portion of Historic 66 — 22 people were killed and 1,000 injured in car crashes between 2020 and 2024 alone. Meanwhile, the US Department of Transportation has rescinded a memorandum outlining how to improve legacy highways through Complete Streets, a toolkit that can keep humans safe in and outside of cars.

As DOT Secretary Sean Duffy calls for a “Golden Era” of transportation that coalesces around the “Freedom to Drive,” public memory plays an even greater role in confronting the deadly costs of “freedom” on the open road. We owe it to the dead not to forget.

Photo: William Carl Taylor via Route 66 A Trail of Tears Photo: William Carl Taylor via Route 66 A Trail of Tears

New analysis has raised fresh doubts over the viability of Santos' controversial Narrabri gas project, amid speculation that a project sale announcement will be made at the company’s Investor Briefing Day on Tuesday 26 May. 

25 May 2026 —  Waste pickers play a far greater role in climate action and waste management than is widely recognized, according to a report released on Africa Day by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), which urges governments to formally recognize and contract waste pickers as service providers within public waste management systems.

The report, “Managing Organics with Waste Pickers: A Briefing for Policymakers,” co-released by GAIA and the International Alliance of Waste Pickers, examines how waste pickers—estimated at 15 to 20 million workers globally—are increasingly managing organic waste, one of the largest sources of methane emissions when sent to landfills .

Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is a major contributor to climate change, and waste systems are the third largest source from human activity. According to the report, separating and treating organic waste at the source could reduce these emissions by as much as 62% .

The findings come at a time of heightened global concern over energy security and rising fuel costs, with ongoing geopolitical tensions exposing the risks of reliance on fossil fuels. The report argues that decentralized, low-energy waste systems—such as composting and community-based collection—can help reduce both emissions and dependence on energy-intensive infrastructure, while also generating renewable energy through anaerobic digestion. 

Waste pickers, who have long been involved in collecting and sorting recyclable materials, are shown to be well positioned to expand into organic waste management due to their existing knowledge of local waste systems, established community relationships, and presence in underserved areas.

In several documented cases across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, waste picker-led initiatives have successfully diverted organic waste from landfills, improved recycling rates, and created more stable income streams. Some programs have also supported a transition away from dumpsite-based work, which is increasingly threatened by closures and privatization. In Pune, India, waste pickers from the SWaCH cooperative provide door-to-door collection services to tens of thousands of households, integrating organic waste separation and composting into municipal systems. In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, groups such as Nipe Fagio and the Wakusanya Taka Bonyokwa Cooperative have established community-based collection and composting systems, achieving 95% rate of waste separation at source and diverting significant volumes of organic waste from disposal. In Buenos Aires, Argentina, RUO Cooperative is working with large commercial generators to recover food waste, expanding the role of waste pickers in organic waste management.

“Waste pickers have been providing essential environmental services for decades, often without formal recognition or compensation,” said Soledad Mella of the International Alliance of Waste Pickers. “Integrating them into formal systems is critical not only for their livelihoods, but for the effectiveness of waste and climate policies.”

The report, supported by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition,  also highlights the economic and social implications of such integration. Contracting waste pickers as service providers, rather than relying solely on private companies, can help retain public funds within local economies while expanding access to waste services.

At the same time, barriers remain. In many cities, waste pickers face restrictions on access to waste, unsafe working conditions, and exclusion from decision-making processes. These challenges are often compounded for women, who make up a significant portion of the workforce but experience additional inequalities, including lower pay and limited access to resources.

“Women are central to waste management systems, yet they face multiple and overlapping forms of inequality—as workers, as women, and often as members of marginalized communities,” said Cecilia Allen, GAIA Zero Waste Program Director and co-author of the report. “Recognizing waste pickers must go hand in hand with addressing the gender disparities through targeted policies, funding, and access to decision-making spaces.”

“Across Africa, there are already strong examples of waste picker-led systems that are delivering environmental and economic benefits,” said Desmond Alugno, GAIA Africa Zero Waste and Climate Program Manager. “Scaling these models will require policy support, financing, and recognition of waste pickers as essential workers.”

The report outlines a series of recommendations for governments, including recognizing waste pickers as formal service providers, ensuring fair compensation, investing in decentralized waste infrastructure, and incorporating gender-responsive policies.

It also emphasizes the importance of sustained public funding, noting that while composting and other organic waste outputs can generate some income, they are not sufficient on their own to support livelihoods at scale .

As countries work to meet climate targets and reduce emissions, the report suggests that integrating waste pickers into zero waste systems could offer a practical and immediate pathway—one that addresses environmental goals while supporting workers who have long sustained waste and recycling systems despite systemic exclusion. 

ENDS.

About GAIA:

GAIA is a network of grassroots groups as well as national and regional alliances representing more than 1000 organizations from over 100 countries. With our work we aim to catalyze a global shift towards environmental justice by strengthening grassroots social movements that advance solutions to waste and pollution. We envision a just, Zero Waste world built on respect for ecological limits and community rights, where people are free from the burden of toxic pollution, and resources are sustainably conserved, not burned or dumped. www.no-burn.org

The post Waste pickers key to climate and energy solutions, new report finds first appeared on GAIA.

A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 17, 2026 thru Sat, May 23, 2026. Stories we promoted this week, by category:

Climate Policy and Politics (6 articles)

• What the US Would Lose If It Eliminates the National Center for Atmospheric Research 'I think there's a great loss for the wrong reasons. There's no good reason for dismantling this or tearing it down,'' a former NASA chief scientist says. Inside Climate News, Interview by Steve Curwood, Living on Earth, May 16, 2026.
• `Green card for the planet`? Fifa`s World Cup is on pace to be a climate catastrophe The 2022 World Cup failed to deliver on its environmental promises. From air travel emissions to heat-related dangers, the 2026 edition will be even worse The Guardian, Jules Boykoff, May 17, 2026.
• EPA claims `overwhelming rejection` of EVs as it moves to loosen air pollution rules Administration creates conditions to slow EV adoption and then uses the results to promote fossil fuel consumption. Inside Climate News, Anika Jane Beamer, May 19, 2026.
• Trump Officials, Billionaires and the Quiet Reshaping of America`s Public Lands A controversial land swap orchestrated by the megarich could be “a harbinger of what’s to come” for public lands under Trump. Inside Climate News, Evan Simon and Ames Alexander, May 21, 2026.
• Colombia`s climate crossroads: Trumpism casts shadow over presidential battle Colombia is a global leader in climate activism. Could US influence drag country to a future of mining and fracking? The Guardian, Jonathan Watts, May 21, 2026.
• The network watching the world`s oceans is under pressure - just when it`s needed most The Conversation, Kevin Trenberth, May 22, 2026.

Climate Change Impacts (5 articles)

• Wild Blueberry Farms Across Maine Suffer as Climate Change Upends Growing Seasons Like lobster rolls, wild blueberries are iconic in Maine. But heat and drought have set the plants back to a point where many small farmers are struggling against reduced yields and increased costs for mulch and irrigation. Inside Climate News, Sydney Cromwell, May 11, 2026.
• Scientists warn that the world`s rivers are running out of oxygen Rivers around the world are quietly running out of oxygen — and climate change is emerging as the main culprit. ScienceDaily, CAS press release, May 17, 2026.
• `It`s no longer exceptional`: Karachi struggles under brutal new reality of extreme heat Experts say the unseasonably hot weather across south Asia shows the impact of the climate crisis. The Guardian, Asad Mumtaz Rid, May 17, 2026.
• Global warming is accelerating 5,000 times faster than rice can evolve Climate change is pushing rice-growing regions into temperatures beyond those at which rice has been cultivated in the past 9,000 years of human history. Live Science, Stephani Pappas, May 19, 2026.
• The outlook for a climate-regulating ocean current is…not good A key ocean current that warms Europe is weakening, spurring a controversial megadam proposal Science News, Carolyn Gramling, May 20, 2026.

Public Misunderstandings about Climate Science (4 articles)

• Factcheck: Trump`s false claims about the IPCC and `RCP8.5` climate scenario Among a flurry of posts on social media last weekend, US president Donald Trump declared “good riddance” to a specific emissions scenario used in global climate projections. Carbon Brief, Carbon Brief Staff, May 19, 2026.
• Climate Denier Group Pushes States to Embrace Coal Power for Data Centers The Heartland Institute used the American Legislative Exchange Council’s 2025 annual meeting to spread climate disinformation and tout coal to power AI. Desmog, Sharon Kelly, May 20, 2026.
• Scenarios, schmenarios… The fantasy version of the normal updating of scenarios for a new round of CMIP simulations doing the rounds is bad faith BS. RealClimate, Gavin Schmidt, May 20, 2026.
• Climate Scientists Were Wrong... That's a good thing Climate Adam on Youtube, Adam Levy, May 21, 2026.

Climate Law and Justice (3 articles)

• New Zealand Moves to Ban Tort Liability for Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Damage New Zealand’s government has announced that it plans to amend the country’s signature climate law to prohibit liability arising from climate change damages, a controversial move that critics say would shield polluters from climate lawsuits and undermine the rule of law. Inside Climate News, Dana Drugmand, May 19, 2026.
• A Youth-Led Campaign Claims a Win For Climate Justice A new U.N. resolution reinforces a landmark court opinion tying fossil fuel use to human rights abuses and legal responsibility for climate change. Inside Climate News, Bob Berwyn, May 22, 2026.
• As Communities Warn of Health Risks, New York Will Weaken Its Landmark Climate Law As part of ongoing budget negotiations, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is pushing to delay emissions-reduction targets established in the state’s climate law. Inside Climate News, Lauren Dalban, May 23, 2026.

Climate Science and Research (3 articles)

• The Mediterranean sea is capable of generating hurricanes and climate change will make them worse Unsurprisingly and in keeping with hurricanes occurring in other larger oceanic basins, cyclonic storms in the Mediterranean known as ''medicanes'' present increasing threats as sea surface temperature rises. English, Emmanouil Flaounas & Davide Feranda, May 16, 2026.
• On the death of RCP8.5 We should celebrate progress, but not overstate it The Climate Brink, Zeke Hausfather, Glen Peters, and Piers Forster, May 18, 2026.
• Sea Level Rise is Accelerating, Scientists Confirm New research has helped close the ''sea level rise budget gap''' by including more recent sea level observations, reconciling measurements by different instruments, and integrating recent estimates of sea level rise and its components. Eos, Kimberly M. S. Cartier, May 20, 2026.

Health Aspects of Climate Change (2 articles)

• Declare Climate Change a Public Health Emergency, EU Experts The World Health Organization (WHO) should declare climate change a “public health emergency of international concern” to recognize the “catastrophic threat” it poses to human health, experts from the Pan-European Commission on Climate and Health (PECCH) have said. Medscape Medical News Headlines, Sophie Cousins, May 20, 2026.
• Climate change could make picking tobacco even more dangerous Farmworkers, including kids, can suffer from nicotine poisoning when they handle tobacco leaves – a threat that’s growing in a warming climate. Yale Climate Connections, YCC Team, May 21, 2026.

Miscellaneous (2 articles)

• A detailed look at offshore wind in the US and globally AP News, Jennifer McDermott, May 17, 2026.
• 2026 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #20 A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 10, 2026 thru Sat, May 16, 2026. Skeptical Science, Bärbel Winkler & Doug Bostrom, May 17, 2026.

Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation (1 article)

• The Pennine hills are full of holes - here`s how they`re helping fight climate change Thousands of holes are appearing in the Pennine hills, as part of efforts to improve carbon storage by restoring damaged peatland. The Conversation, Adam Johnston, May 18, 2026.

International Climate Conferences and Agreements (1 article)

• DeBriefed 22 May 2026: UN adopts landmark resolution | Trump takes on `RCP8.5` | Climate migration UN vote produces a peculiar and seemingly transactional result on legal obligation to address climate change, with the US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Belarus, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Liberia voting ''no.'' Carbon Brief, Ayesha Tandon, May 22, 2026.

Public Misunderstandings about Climate Solutions (1 article)

• Does electromagnetic radiation from wind turbines pose a threat to human health? No - Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) from wind turbines are well below international exposure safety limits. Skeptical Science, Sue Bin Park, May 19, 2026.

If you happen upon high quality climate-science and/or climate-myth busting articles from reliable sources while surfing the web, please feel free to submit them via this Google form so that we may share them widely. Thanks!

Community Living London workers are preparing to walk off the job on Monday, joining thousands of workers across Ontario in a growing labour dispute driven...

The post Worth fighting for: Community Living London workers ready to strike first appeared on Spring.

Hawaiʻi has some of the freshest air in the nation, but in some parts of the state hazy skies can impact tourism and public health. 

Now, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has pumped the brakes on a multi-decade effort to improve visibility and reduce fine particulates and other man-made pollutants.

On May 15, the agency announced it had partially denied Hawaiʻi’s 2024 Regional Haze State Implementation Plan, a detailed proposal that lays out the state’s intention to comply with the federal Clean Air Act. The plan was designed specifically to reduce haze in two iconic places: Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island and Haleakalā National Park on Maui.

Because the two parks are designated as Class I under the Clean Air Act, their air quality is legally entitled to the highest level of protection. 

Although the EPA is leaving some aspects of the haze plan intact, it is jettisoning its main thrust: the state’s long-term strategy, which included shutting down at least two of Hawaiian Electric Co.’s oil-fired electricity generating units in the Kanoelehua-Hill and Kahului power plants by 2028. The units are the dinosaurs of the industry; the Kahului unit was commissioned in 1948. 

The agency referred to the closures as “unconsented” and said in a press release that they could make Hawaiʻi’s grid less reliable and “violate the Takings Clause of the U.S. Constitution for the taking of private property without just compensation.” 

Determining to what degree natural and man-made emissions contribute to the overall air quality in the region requires a series of complex, evolving math equations. Erin Nolan / Civil Beat

The decision isn’t the first of its kind for the agency; in Colorado, it rejected a similar plan that involved closing a coal plant. But it is one of the first from the current EPA to impact Hawaiʻi, and part of a larger plan by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to execute on President Donald Trump’s executive orders to promote what he calls “energy dominance.” 

“This is one of the biggest bombs to drop in Hawaiʻi so far from the EPA,” Isaac Moriwake, managing attorney of Earthjustice’s mid-Pacific office, told Civil Beat. 

Earthjustice is part of a group of 10 national environmental advocacy groups, which also includes the National Parks Conservation Association, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Center for Biological Diversity, to respond to the decision, saying it will harm Hawaiʻi communities and result in dirtier air in the parks. 

Mike DeCaprio, vice president of power supply at HECO, describes the situation as a trade-off. He said the company still plans to retire the aging plants. But to do so by the end of 2028, DiCaprio said more biofuel plants and more solar farms and battery storage have to first come online.

“We felt that having a contingency to run these units longer if needed was in our interest, and in our customers’ interest, so that we don’t end up in a grid reliability issue,” he said. 

“Reliability on an island grid is a really tough issue, right? They’re very small grids. With size comes stability, and they don’t have size,” DeCaprio said. “Making sure that the lights stay on is the most important part.”

Regulation or ‘total regulatory taking’?

In a detailed 67-page comment on an earlier draft of the EPA’s decision, the environmental advocates accused HECO of exploiting the Trump administration’s fossil fuel agenda. 

The advocates asserted that the Clean Air Act was written in such a way that it already allowed for contingency plans if renewable energy wasn’t available. They also said that HECO had previously agreed to retire three of its oldest oil-fired generating units in the Hill, Kahului, and Māʻalaea plants after it was asked by the health department to submit a plan to upgrade the technology to improve air quality.  

“HECO was the one coming to Department of Health and saying, ‘Hey, we will commit to shutting down these plants in lieu of having to spend all kinds of money, which the ratepayers are going to pay for at the end of the day, to upgrade these plants to try to clean them up. It’s cheaper, it’s more reliable, it’s more affordable for our ratepayers to just shut them down,’” Moriwake said. 

Then, last August, Karin Kimura, director of the environmental division at HECO, sent a letter to the EPA’s regional administrator saying the company had been “forced under the SIP to accept enforceable retirement deadlines.” 

Read Next What’s behind your eye-popping power bill? We broke it down, region by region. Naveena Sadasivam & Clayton Aldern

Kimura said the retirement deadlines were no longer viable because of “actual or potential cancellations and delays” in renewable energy sources coming online to replace the power plants. Those projects had slowed down due to permitting challenges, changes in tax incentives and supply chain changes, she added. 

“Following this notification, Hawaii … needed to provide assurances that EPA’s approval of the unconsented source closure would not amount to a taking without just compensation under the Takings Clause of the U.S. Constitution,” the EPA press office told Civil Beat in an emailed statement. “Hawaii did not provide such assurances, and EPA was therefore required to partially disapprove the state’s long-term strategy.” 

The haze plan process had been overseen by the Department of Health, but HECO sent the letter without the Department of Health’s involvement.  

The health department did not respond to a request for comment from Civil Beat but it noted this omission in its own letter to the EPA in April — once it was clear that the EPA was responding to HECOs request by shutting down the plan. In it, the state’s director of health, Kenneth Fink, said the EPA’s response was “not consistent with the purpose of Clean Air Act Section 169A which was enacted to protect visibility in national parks and wilderness areas” and “directly conflicts with EPA’s previous guidance” for developing such plans. 

The company also has already signaled it is raising its customers’ rates, in part to compensate for the plant closures, Moriwake noted. 

“HECO has a pending request right now,” he said. “It’s sitting in front of the PUC to increase customer rates by $45 million a year for this purpose.” 

Read Next Trump’s EPA vows to fight ‘forever chemicals’ by loosening regulations Zoya Teirstein

Jeff Mikulina, executive director of Climate Hawai‘i, acknowledged that renewable energy in Hawaiʻi is facing headwinds, thanks in large part to the Trump administration’s tariffs and choice to cut tax credits and other federal support. But he believes Hawaiʻi will continue to lead on renewables. And he’s particularly optimistic about what’s happening on Kauaʻi, where local lawmakers just approved two new solar-and-storage projects that could get them to 90 percent renewable energy by 2030.

“It’s important to look at the long-term signal as opposed to the near-term noise, and that long-term signal tells us that this technology is getting cheaper by the day, particularly energy storage, which is really that secret sauce that’s going to allow us to achieve our 100 percent renewable energy future.”

In its email, the EPA press office said it is “committed to working with the state of Hawaii to revise the SIP, in order to both follow the law and achieve clean air for all in the state.”

And yet the legal argument that the agency is using to justify its move away from a haze rule with teeth concerns the environmental advocates as much, if not more, than this one decision. In its legal rationale, the federal agency argued that the haze plan would unfairly restrict HECO’s use of its private property, in what it called “a total regulatory taking.”

“By asserting that the retirement deadlines in the 2024 SIP are now ‘forced,’ EPA opens a massive loophole in the Act’s requirements, allowing facilities to entirely evade compliance with the Regional Haze Program,” they wrote in their comments in April. They say they are concerned  that the agency could dismantle other parts of the Clean Air Act, such as the National Ambient Air Quality Standards Program.

“They are signaling that they want to overhaul this entire regulatory scheme,” Moriwake said.

Not to be confused with vog

When the Kīlauea volcano is erupting, vog — volcanic smog — adds sulfur dioxide and fine particulate matter to the air, particularly on the southern side of Hawaiʻi island. The Hawaiʻi Department of Health warns that even brief exposure can cause shortness of breath, chest tightness, and other respiratory problems.

Power plants and other industrial facilities — such as the Mauna Loa processing facility named in the state’s 2024 SIP — also emit sulfur dioxide as well as nitrogen oxides, which has been shown to aggravate lung and heart conditions. 

Determining to what degree these natural and man-made emissions contribute to the overall air quality in the region requires a series of complex, evolving math equations. EPAs under previous administrations have used specific tools to calculate the region’s “natural visibility conditions” while accounting for episodic volcanic events. 

But when the current EPA proposed its disapproval of the haze rule in February, it asserted that no methodology “has been developed that is able to fully screen out the volcanic impacts and thus isolate the visibility impairment caused by anthropogenic air pollution.”

The environmental groups disagree. In their comments they called the agency’s assertions “arbitrary and capricious.”

Civil Beat’s coverage of climate change and the environment is supported by The Healy Foundation, the Marisla Fund of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation, and the Frost Family Foundation.

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This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The EPA just walked back Hawai‘i’s plan to retire its dinosaur power plants on May 24, 2026.

Iroquois Valley Farmland Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) recently launched a new program that grants equity shares to organic farmer partners. The approach, called the Farmer Success Sharing Plan, aims to support producers’ livelihoods and protect the land.

Farmland investors have long profited from rising real estate values but the farmers stewarding the land have not typically seen those capital gains, according to Iroquois Valley Farmland REIT. The organization’s new program is working to change this by treating farmers as true partners, leading the evolution of the farmland investment sector.

“As stewards of the organic farmland within Iroquois Valley’s portfolio, farmers play a central role in creating long-term value for the company and its shareholders,” says Drew Blankenbaker, Vice President of Farmer Relations at Iroquois Valley. 

The plan gives farmers a way to own a piece of the company they work with. To qualify, farmers must lease land from Iroquois Valley and maintain organic standards to prove they are improving the soil. When the company is profitable, it issues equity shares to farmer partners, which allows producers to become legal shareholders. They earn the opportunity to own a piece of the rising land value that they co-created through years of hard work.

Adam Roberts, a farmer partner with Iroquois Valley, tells Food Tank that the program allows him to build long-term wealth without needing a huge upfront investment. He is already investing his time and paying for the land, which means the plan is rewarding that commitment by giving him a share of the company’s value. This is an opportunity that farmers don’t often receive, Roberts says. “The REIT shares are a great way to indirectly invest in the land you farm and directly invest in a company that has invested in you.”

While Iroquois Valley stewards a portfolio of organic farmland in 20 U.S. states, a group of 18 farmers in six states—Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, and West Virginia—received the first equity awards. Collectively, they represent more than 170 years of partnership and steward over 9,600 acres of organic farmland.

Blankenbaker comes from an agricultural background and knows what it takes to regenerate the land through organic farming. He has also had to confront the long-standing challenges of land access and ownership. “Land access isn’t really a grit or an effort problem, it’s a system problem,” he tells Food Tank.

A lot of time went into designing this program because it relies on long-term relationships, Blankenbaker says. He takes time finding and connecting with farmer partners who align with Iroquois Valley values—those that are ready for long-term commitment.

Farmers earn equity gradually, and their gains are based on specific criteria around tenure, certified organic stewardship, and long-term partnership. The REIT grants awards in profitable years when the company can reward both investors and farmers, and this ensures financial strength into the future.

Farmer partners care about protecting soil health, water quality, biodiversity, and ecosystem resilience. And Iroquois Valley looks to support organic stewardship as well as farmer viability, long-term relationships, and financial structures that all support rather than undermine farmers. Farmers are not asked to take on any governance responsibility. This, Blankenbaker says, creates a real economic alignment.

In his commitment to farmers’ long-term wellness, Blankenbaker explains that he is responsible for staying farmer-focused. He collects feedback and works on farmer improvement systems. He has realized that even though farmers invest their lives into improving the earth, they usually have no financial tie to the land’s long-term success. He hopes the program will change that narrative as it grows.

“We absolutely see this as scalable. But this is not a one-size-fits all-way,” Blankenbaker tells Food Tank. “The challenge is that most farmland finance systems aren’t built around relationships and long-term horizons. We feel there is a mindset shift required—that farmers are recognized as co-creators of value and not just operators on the land.”

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 Nikola Tomasic, Unsplash

The post Organic Farmland Investment: Turning Farmers into Owners appeared first on Food Tank.

Headline News:

• “Earth.org Debunks Clean Energy Myths” • Mark Twain liked to say, “What you don’t know won’t hurt you near as much as what you do know that ain’t true.” Sadly, large corporations take advantage of our innate ability to believe false information for their private gain. Here is some myth busting that shows how wrong they are. [CleanTechnica]

Wind farm in China (Hahaheditor12667, CC BY-SA 4.0)

• “Due To Rising Gas Prices, Some Americans Are Staying Home On Memorial Day” • Despite a spike in gas prices in the country, more than 45 million Americans are projected to travel over fifty miles during Memorial Day weekend, according to AAA. But for those Americans who struggle financially, even short-distance travel is out of reach. [ABC News]
• “How Football Fans Are Tackling Sweden’s Fertilizer Problem Using Urine” • Eleda Stadion will open its toilets to an initiative aiming to gather 1,000 liters of human urine to defeat Sweden’s dependence on imported fossil fuel-based synthetic fertilizer. Researchers estimate that urine could replace up to 30% of the country’s synthetic fertilizer. [Euronews]
• “Four Western States Combine Forces To Kickstart A Geothermal Energy Revolution ” • After the Trump regime introduced its energy policy attacking solar and wind, four Western US states with copious geothermal potential (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah) formed the Mountain West Geothermal Consortium. [CleanTechnica]
• “Ukrainian Drone Attack Triggers Fire A At A Russian Oil Terminal” • A Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at another Russian oil terminal overnight, officials in Russia’s Krasnodar region said, in what appeared to be the latest attack on Moscow’s vital oil industry. Authorities said falling drone debris sparked a fire at an oil terminal. [ABC News]

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

Millions of Canadians continue to struggle to pay the bills for the necessities of life, and with Donald Trump’s trade war and his new conflict in the Middle East, things are getting worse. Meanwhile, the stock market sets record highs and financial wealth become increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small minority. Based on income tax data, the richest 1.5% of Canadians own over half of all net financial wealth (based on distribution of capital gains).

The striking gap in economic trajectory between a lucky elite at the top, and the challenges faced by the majority of society, has given rise to the term ‘K-shaped economy.’ The term first became popular in describing the growing gap in U.S. society, but it is increasingly applicable in Canada, as well.

In this 25 minute podcast for CityNews’ In This Economy program, Centre for Future Work Director Jim Stanford spoke with host Kris McCusker about the K-shaped economy, its causes and consequences.

Narrowing the gap between the two parts of the ‘K’ requires addressing both the ‘predistribution’ of income (empowering workers to capture a larger share of value-added in the first place) and the ‘redistribution’ of income (using government taxes and transfer programs to achieve greater equality in after-tax incomes).

The post The K-Shaped Economy appeared first on Centre for Future Work.

The Green Economy Networks podcast Class & Climate is back, with new host Em Thompson.

On this eighth episode of Class & Climate: Perspectives on a Green Economy,  Em Thompson sits down with Martin Empson to reveal how COPs (Conferences of Parties) have bureaucratized climate organizing.

Martin Empson is a climate activist from the UK and the editor and a contributor to System Change not Climate Change, a book of essays from socialists around the world on the nature of capitalism’s ecological crisis and the radical response that is needed.

Class & Climate is a podcast series from Perspectives Journal and the Green Economy Network that maps how climate action can deliver jobs and long-term affordability for workers — while debunking myths that these goals are a zero-sum trade-off with a clean environment.

A version of this piece was featured in Food Tank’s newsletter, released weekly on Thursdays. To make sure it lands straight in your inbox and to be among the first to receive it, subscribe now by clicking here.

Let me dispel a common myth about biodiversity. When we think about biodiversity, we often picture lush rainforests, colorful birds, or pollinators buzzing from flower to flower, not the world’s drylands. But these water-scarce, desert-like regions are actually home to more than one-third of the planet’s biodiversity hotspots.

The health of plant life in the world’s dryland regions—and the ability of farmers who cultivate these lands to feed the world—is particularly misunderstood. A recent study in the journal Science notes that, when it comes to protecting biodiversity, people tend to focus first on animals and overlook plants. But drylands encompass 45 percent of the Earth’s surface and 44 percent of global food systems, per CGIAR data. Drylands are where the nourishing crops of the future are taking root!

“Drylands are not marginal or forgotten spaces, but strategic landscapes—rich with opportunity, ecological intelligence, and the potential to drive resilience, economic vitality, and sustainable prosperity for millions,” says Éliane Ubalijoro, the CEO of CIFOR-ICRAF, a global agroforestry research collaborative.

Here at Food Tank, we place emphasis on researching and highlighting solutions, rather than letting ourselves marinate in hopelessness and despair. And rather than maligning or lamenting drylands, I want to argue that we currently find ourselves facing an opportunity—and a responsibility!—to build on the actual biodiversity of dryland ecosystems as a path forward toward a climate-resilient food system.

Tomorrow, May 22, is the International Day for Biological Diversity, and there’s no sugar-coating the fact that we’re facing a biodiversity crisis. Three-quarters of land-based environments and about two-thirds of marine environments have been significantly altered by human actions, per United Nations analysis, and this diminishing ecological vibrancy is an inextricable driver of the broader climate crisis.

This is why it’s so critical to see work being done to support dryland communities by organizations like CIFOR-ICRAF, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), and CGIAR’s Global Strategy for Resilient Drylands. In December, for example, CIFOR-ICRAF signed a major partnership agreement with the European Union to accelerate sustainable dryland management practices and elevate the position of dryland issues on broader food security and economic agendas.

When the future of plants is unstable, “it can also affect human food security and access to basic materials,” according to Rosa Scherson and Federico Luebert, biologists at the University of Chile. “Maintaining the current conditions that support human life requires urgent action.”

Food systems are a particularly influential tool for building climate resilience in drylands—and a delicious one, too. This week, Food Tank’s research team is helping us highlight 10 of the many dryland- and arid-adapted crops we should know about!

Durum Wheat is called the 10th most important crop produced on the planet by CGIAR, which makes sense: The heat-tolerant grain is rich in protein fibers, carbohydrates, and key minerals and is used to make couscous, bread, and pasta. Researchers led by ICARDA Morocco are introducing several new varieties of the crop that are tolerant to increasingly severe droughts, to boost dryland livelihoods.

Faba Beans excel under most climatic conditions and have a wide adaptability to a range of soil environments, according to the African Journal of Agricultural Research. They are rich in protein and essential micronutrients and serve as a break crop in continuous cereal rotations, which helps improve the productivity of soils, strengthen land structure, and contribute to wild pollinator maintenance.

Groundnuts/Peanuts are central to the financial and nutritional well-being of hundreds of millions of farmers and consumers across the semi-arid tropics. The crop is a major source of edible oil and vegetable protein, plus they provide over 30 essential nutrients including excellent quantities of niacin, fiber and vitamin E.

Jujubes—fruits that can be consumed fresh, processed into beverages, or preserved by drying or candying—are important components of dryland agroforestry systems not just for food but also soil health and live fencing. They’re native to Central and South Asia but widely distributed across arid and semi-arid regions of the world, and are a good source of vitamin C, key sugars, and minerals like iron.

Mesquite Pods are quite adaptable to different soils and terrains, making them particularly prominent among agroforestry research into drought-resistant desert legumes. In fact, they’re recognized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as one of the most important species for the afforestation of arid and semi-arid regions. The pods are traditionally ground into a nutritious, gluten-free flour that’s rich in protein, fiber, and minerals including calcium and magnesium.

Millet is a collective term referring to small-seeded annual grasses that are cultivated as subsistence grain crops for local consumption. Certain species of millets are particularly well-adapted to dry soils compared to other crops, so they’re more able to be cultivated in high temperatures, with low or erratic precipitation, during short growing seasons, or in otherwise too acidic or water-poor soils.

Nopales are prickly pear cacti whose fruits are eaten fresh and pads are consumed as an antioxidant-rich vegetable. ICARDA calls them one of the most promising ‘under-utilized species’ of the dry regions, especially to help sustain livelihoods of potentially vulnerable smallholder farmers.

Pigeonpea is commonly used as a green vegetable and food grain, and is widely adapted to drought conditions. The legume is high in protein, dietary fiber, iron, and folate. According to research conducted by the FAO in Malawi, the crop supports nitrogen fixing and enhances soil fertility. It requires low inputs and can be intercropped with traditional crops such as maize.

Sorghum appears to have been domesticated in Ethiopia about 5,000 years ago and has a number of factors that make it drought- and heat-resistant. ICARDA has identified sorghum as an important underutilized crop that has significant potential for nutrition, climate resilience, and economic stability.

Tepary Beans are an important source of protein native to arid regions of North and Central America. Particular varieties of these beans perform especially well across a variety of moisture stress levels, making them adaptive and resilient to dry conditions.

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 Dileesh Kumar

The post The 10 Crops That Can Turn Arid Lands Into Biodiversity And Food Security Hotspots appeared first on Food Tank.

The Texas sun keeps rising, as Texas coal wanes.

For the first time ever, solar is set to generate more electricity than coal in the power market managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT. Nobody is building new coal power plants in the state, but developers are adding more solar there than anywhere else in the country. As a result of those diverging trajectories, the federal government expects ERCOT will receive 78 billion kilowatt-hours from solar in 2026 and just 60 from coal.

This trend does have seasonal variations. Last year, solar output beat coal on a monthly basis from March through August, and this year it is expected to do so from March through December, per the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or EIA, at the Department of Energy.

Nationally, the combination of wind and solar surpassed coal generation in 2024, as noted in an analysis by Ember, a think tank that conducts research on clean energy. In other words, the solar industry is further along in Texas than it is nationwide.

The Texas solar surge undercuts the prevailing energy narratives coming out of the Trump administration, which has attempted to boost coal and gas as tools of ​“energy dominance,” while blocking or canceling American energy that comes from renewables. The Department of Energy, for instance, is keeping struggling coal plants on life support at great expense to taxpayers. Meanwhile, the Department of the Interior is blocking wind and solar developments that intersect with public lands.

Read Next How deep-red Utah helped launch a portable plug-in solar movement Leia Larsen

Trump officials have argued that coal is more reliable than solar because it can generate power around the clock. But even with that advantage, coal plants in Texas can’t keep up with the total annual and monthly production from the rapidly growing solar fleet. This has not damaged grid reliability, because ERCOT meets evening demand with a diverse portfolio, including gas plants, nuclear, wind, and, increasingly, batteries, which store all that excess solar power for use when the sun stops shining.

Of course, Texas leaders did not set out to disprove the Trump administration’s energy claims. The maverick Lone Star State kept its electricity system out of the hands of federal regulators, and in the 1990s and early 2000s reformed it to promote free market competition instead of centralized planning by monopoly utilities. That market, coupled with lots of space and lax building regulations, has made an ideal environment for wind, solar, and batteries to flourish. Now, Texas is fortified with tens of gigawatts of new capacity with which to tackle heat waves and temper price spikes.

Deep-red Texas offers lessons for the liberal states that have committed to lofty climate goals yet failed to build much solar or batteries so far. They can’t immediately switch over to an ERCOT-style market, but they can take steps to speed up the time it takes to get permits and grid connection, dial back the level of deference to habitually conservative legacy utilities, and make sure that clean energy gets a fair shot in the race to serve surging energy needs. And it’s always a good time to reexamine old market rules that subtly privilege entrenched players at the expense of new entrants that would make cheaper and cleaner power.

After more of the rapid-fire solar buildout, EIA expects ERCOT will produce 99 billion kilowatt-hours of solar power in 2027, up 27 percent from 2026. At that point, the upstart industry will have left its well-established coal competition in the dust.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Solar to overtake coal on Texas grid for the first time ever this year on May 23, 2026.

Each week, Food Tank is rounding up a few news stories that inspire excitement, infuriation, or curiosity.

The Dismantlement of USAID Continues to Impact Communities as Global Crises Intensify

Headlines this week highlighted a series of escalating global crises. These are not isolated events. They are interconnected symptoms of larger systemic pressures: climate change, political instability, economic inequality, and weakening global humanitarian infrastructure.

In Somalia, worsening drought and aid reductions are pushing communities toward catastrophe. Because Somalia imports much of its food and agricultural inputs, global supply chain disruptions from the Iran conflict are rapidly translating into higher prices and worsening hunger for ordinary families.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda where Ebola cases have risen significantly, the WHO has declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

This week in an interview with ABC News, Dr. Amesh Adalja from Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, who spoke with Dani on Episode 495 of Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg, said in response to the WHO declaration, “This outbreak needs to have a lot of resources brought to bear to prevent it from getting bigger, to prevent it from killing more people, to prevent it from spreading to neighboring countries.”

USAID was created to address exactly these kinds of global emergencies. As humanitarian needs grow, the dismantlement of USAID leaves vulnerable communities with fewer resources to respond and recover.

In Kenya last month, Dani experienced this gap firsthand. Changing rainfall patterns due to climate change have contributed to rising malaria cases and growing food insecurity. The link between health and hunger is direct: when farmers are unable to work during critical growing seasons, families lose both income and food security. Scaled across entire regions, these disruptions become barriers to education, livelihoods, economic growth, and long-term resilience.

Millions of vulnerable people are being pushed deeper into hunger and poverty while the international system that once responded to humanitarian emergencies is shrinking.

The Fuel Crisis in Cuba is a Food Systems Crisis

The ongoing war in Iran continues to disrupt global fuel markets. In Cuba, the fuel shortage is no longer just an energy crisis but a food systems one.

Shortages of oil and diesel are disrupting every stage of Cuba’s food supply chain. Without reliable fuel, getting food from the field to the table becomes increasingly difficult, resulting in shortages, inflation, and food insecurity across the country.

A lack of diesel has left tractors, harvesters, irrigation systems, and transportation vehicles unusable. Farmers are increasingly forced to rely on manual labor, dramatically slowing production and reducing yields.

Farmers like Obiols Sobredo in the Cuban town of Las Minas produces crops like tomatoes, sorghum, and cassava. Farm work that used to take him 15 minutes with fuel now takes him three days by hand, significantly impacting his ability to feed his community.

Milk from Sobredo’s goats was once delivered to nearby schools, but fuel shortages now make transportation unreliable and refrigeration difficult, increasing the risk of spoilage before the milk can reach children.

The crisis highlights a broader global reality: food security depends on stable energy infrastructure. When fuel systems fail, the effects ripple across agriculture and public health.

The U.S. House Advances Year-Round Sale of Ethanol Blend, E15

In response to the ongoing fuel crisis, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would allow the year-round sale of E15, a fuel blend that contains 15% ethanol produced from U.S. corn.

The bill passed in a narrow bipartisan vote and now moves to the Senate.

Supporters argue the measure could lower fuel prices for consumers, strengthen rural economies, increase demand for U.S. corn, and reduce dependence on imported energy during a period of heightened global oil market volatility. Expanding year-round E15 sales would likely increase domestic demand for corn-based ethanol, creating an additional market for American corn growers at a time when many farmers are struggling.

Critics, however, argue that expanding corn ethanol could increase fertilizer runoff, water pollution, and land-use pressures while delivering only modest climate benefits.

The Senate is expected to become the key battleground for the legislation. The bill will likely need 60 votes to overcome procedural hurdles, and opposition from senators representing refinery interests.

China Restores Trade for U.S. Agriculture Products

Donald Trump met with Xi Jinping in Beijing last week where agricultural trade was front and center in negotiations. The meeting pointed to a renewed effort to stabilize trade relations between the world’s two largest economies after years of volatility that heavily impacted farmers.

The U.S. and China finalized an agricultural trade framework aimed at expanding Chinese purchases of American farm products, primarily U.S. beef, poultry, and soybeans. China has committed to purchasing at least $17 billion in U.S. agricultural products each year, marking one of the largest agricultural purchasing agreements between the two countries in recent years.

As part of the agreement, China has restored market access for U.S. beef and approved hundreds of beef processing facilities for export eligibility. The country has also resumed imports of American poultry from states deemed clear of bird flu, and renewed their commitment to purchase at least 25 million tons of U.S. soybeans.

American farmers are cautiously optimistic, following years of uncertainty, retaliatory tariffs, and supply chain disruptions.

The agreement last week may give some hope to farmers and rural communities hoping for stabilization, though long-term uncertainty remains as U.S.-China relations continue to evolve.

Undamming Across the U.S. is a Win for Fish, Ecological Systems, and Native Communities

More miles of American rivers were reconnected through the removal of dams last year than ever before. This represents a big win for fish, ecological systems, and native communities.

Dam removal projects improve biodiversity, healthier waterways, and migratory fish patterns. They also help restore river access to the local communities who have longstanding relationships with these once-dammed rivers.

Indigenous communities are leading these efforts. This month, the largest American dam removal project was successfully completed on California’s Klamath River, led by a coalition of Yurok, Karuk, Klamath, Hoopa Valley, and Shasta tribes.

This project represented decades of advocacy to restore salmon populations that are central to these communities’ cultures, food systems, ceremonies, economies, and livelihoods.

There is still work to do but the Klamath project is being seen as a national model for future river restoration efforts spearheaded by Native communities alongside environmental organizations, scientists, and policymakers.

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 Nia Sihle, Unsplash

The post Food Tank’s Weekly News Roundup: Ebola Cases Rise, The Cuban Fuel Crisis Becomes a Food Systems Crisis, Salmon Populations Restored on Klamath River appeared first on Food Tank.

Headline News:

• “Mozilla Foundation Condemns Data Collection By Cars” • In 2023, Mozilla Foundation claimed online, “Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy.” Now, car companies are still collecting and selling information about drivers from how fast they are driving to who is in the car with them, and much more. [CleanTechnica]

Car in New York (Chris Barbalis, Unsplash)

• “WUF13 Ends With Global Call For Action” • As the World Urban Forum ended in Baku, the debate on the future of cities evolved beyond architecture, infrastructure and skylines to the urgent global question of how can cities withstand conflict, climate change, rapid urbanisation, and inequality without leaving communities behind. [Euronews]
• “EU Businesses Demand Electrification Action” • Companies and business organisations across the EU called for “immediate, bold and effective electrification policy actions” ahead of the European Commission’s forthcoming Electrification Action Plan. The organisations argued that the EU must reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels. [reNews]
• “Evacuation Orders Issued In California City Over Chemical Tank: ‘It Fails Or It Blows Up'” • In a situation that has been called “unprecedented,” tens of thousands of people in Southern California have been told to leave their homes. Officials have issued a dire warning that a chemical tank at an aerospace facility will either fail or explode. [ABC News]
• “German Business Morale Improves Despite Disruptions By The Iran War To Energy Markets” • Germany’s closely watched ifo Business Climate Index increased to 84.9 points in May from 84.5 in April. The index is a highly regarded early indicator of German economic developments, published monthly by the ifo Institute for Economic Research. [Euronews]

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

Tema mitologi Yunani masih menjadi salah satu konsep paling populer di industri slot online modern. Meski banyak pengembang game menghadirkan tema futuristik, anime, hingga petualangan fantasi, slot bertema dewa-dewa Yunani tetap mampu menarik perhatian pemain dari berbagai kalangan. Karakter seperti Zeus, Hades, Athena, dan Poseidon masih sering muncul dalam berbagai permainan digital yang ramai dimainkan hingga saat ini.

Popularitas tema ini bukan tanpa alasan. Mitologi Yunani memiliki cerita yang kuat, visual yang megah, dan karakter ikonik yang mudah dikenali. Kombinasi tersebut membuat permainan slot terasa lebih hidup sekaligus memberikan pengalaman bermain yang berbeda dibanding tema lainnya.

Mengapa Tema Dewa Yunani Tetap Populer?

Salah satu faktor utama yang membuat slot bertema dewa Yunani terus diminati adalah kekuatan cerita yang dimilikinya. Banyak pemain tidak hanya mencari hiburan dari fitur permainan, tetapi juga ingin menikmati atmosfer dan visual yang menarik saat bermain.

Game bertema Yunani biasanya menghadirkan:

• Desain kuil megah dan latar Gunung Olympus
• Efek petir, api, dan kekuatan supranatural
• Musik epik yang membangun suasana permainan
• Karakter dewa dengan kemampuan khusus dalam fitur bonus

Semua elemen tersebut membuat pengalaman bermain terasa lebih dramatis dan tidak monoton.

Selain itu, tema Yunani juga sangat fleksibel untuk dikembangkan. Pengembang game dapat menggabungkan unsur aksi, petualangan, hingga fantasi dalam satu permainan tanpa terasa dipaksakan.

Zeus Menjadi Ikon Utama Slot Mitologi

Dari banyak karakter mitologi Yunani, Zeus menjadi sosok yang paling sering digunakan dalam slot online. Dewa petir ini dianggap memiliki simbol kekuatan, keberuntungan, dan kemenangan. Tidak heran jika banyak provider menjadikan Zeus sebagai karakter utama dalam game populer mereka.

Biasanya, slot bertema Zeus memiliki fitur seperti:

• Pengganda kemenangan besar
• Simbol petir yang memicu bonus
• Free spin dengan hadiah tambahan
• Efek animasi dinamis saat kombinasi menang muncul

Karakter Zeus juga mudah dikenali oleh pemain baru maupun pemain lama, sehingga game bertema ini lebih cepat menarik perhatian pasar global.

Visual dan Teknologi Membuat Slot Semakin Menarik

Perkembangan teknologi grafis ikut membantu popularitas slot bertema dewa Yunani. Jika dulu tampilan slot terlihat sederhana, kini banyak game hadir dengan kualitas visual menyerupai film animasi modern.

Beberapa provider bahkan menggunakan efek 3D, suara sinematik, dan animasi interaktif untuk membuat karakter dewa terlihat lebih realistis. Hal ini membuat pemain merasa lebih terlibat selama permainan berlangsung.

Tidak sedikit game slot modern yang juga menghadirkan alur cerita singkat di dalam permainan. Pemain seolah diajak menjelajahi dunia Olympus sambil membuka fitur-fitur spesial yang tersedia.

Faktor Psikologis yang Membuat Pemain Tertarik

Secara psikologis, tema dewa Yunani memiliki daya tarik tersendiri karena identik dengan kekuatan dan legenda besar. Banyak pemain merasa lebih tertantang saat bermain game dengan nuansa epik seperti ini.

Warna emas, petir, kuil kuno, dan simbol mitologi juga memberikan kesan mewah sekaligus misterius. Elemen visual tersebut sering membuat pemain lebih nyaman dan betah menikmati permainan dalam waktu lebih lama.

Selain itu, cerita mitologi Yunani sudah dikenal luas melalui film, serial, dan buku populer. Kedekatan budaya populer ini membuat pemain lebih mudah memahami konsep permainan tanpa perlu penjelasan panjang.

Provider Game Terus Mengembangkan Tema Mitologi

Banyak pengembang slot online masih aktif merilis game bertema Yunani karena permintaannya tetap tinggi. Mereka terus menghadirkan inovasi baru agar permainan terasa segar dan tidak membosankan.

Beberapa inovasi yang sering ditemukan antara lain:

• Mode permainan multi-level
• Fitur jackpot progresif
• Sistem combo dan avalanche
• Karakter dewa dengan kekuatan unik berbeda-beda

Strategi ini membuat tema lama tetap relevan di tengah persaingan industri game digital yang terus berkembang.

Slot Dewa Yunani Diprediksi Tetap Bertahan

Melihat tren industri saat ini, slot bertema dewa Yunani kemungkinan masih akan mendominasi dalam beberapa tahun ke depan. Tema ini memiliki kombinasi lengkap antara cerita kuat, visual menarik, dan gameplay yang mudah dikembangkan.

Bagi pemain, slot bertema mitologi bukan sekadar permainan biasa. Banyak orang menikmati sensasi petualangan dan nuansa epik yang dihadirkan selama bermain. Karena alasan itulah, game dengan konsep Zeus dan dunia Olympus masih menjadi favorit di pasar slot online global.

Dengan dukungan teknologi modern dan kreativitas provider game, tema dewa Yunani tampaknya akan terus menjadi salah satu ikon terbesar dalam dunia slot digital.

Shorebirds arriving in Alaska’s Upper Cook Inlet have a lot on their plates. Straight from a grueling 10,000-mile migration, they must make the most of the all-too-brief boreal spring and summer to...

Shell abandoned the Royal Dutch Shell plc name. The independent domain using that exact former name continues. An AI system that casually says “the official website of Royal Dutch Shell plc is shell.com” risks smearing over the boundary between Shell’s current legal identity and an independently operated domain built around Shell’s discarded former name. That boundary matters. Shell severed its connection with the name. AI should not stitch it back together like a Frankenstein press release. A fact-based satirical deep dive into the AI answer that got the website right — and the company name wrong

There are ordinary search errors, and then there are errors with a hard hat, a legal history, and a faint whiff of corporate ectoplasm.

This week’s digital curiosity concerns Microsoft Copilot’s response to a simple query:

“royal dutch Shell plc website”

Copilot reportedly answered:

“The official website of Royal Dutch Shell plc is https://www.shell.com/”

At first glance, that sounds harmless enough. Shell’s current official website is indeed shell.com.

But then comes the problem. Royal Dutch Shell plc is no longer the current legal name of the company. Shell confirmed that its name changed from Royal Dutch Shell plc to Shell plc on 21 January 2022. The board had decided in December 2021 to proceed with simplifying the company’s structure and changing the name to Shell plc, with implementation in January 2022.

So Copilot managed the AI equivalent of locating the right house while calling the occupant by a name it no longer legally uses.

The URL was right.

The sentence was wrong.

And, after a prolonged exchange, Copilot itself appeared to accept the distinction, describing the issue as a model accuracy bug: correct URL, incorrect corporate identity framing.

The Name That Shell Dropped, But AI Keeps Digging Up

Shell’s name change was not some obscure clerical footnote buried in a dusty basement. It was part of a major corporate simplification: aligning tax residence with the UK, simplifying the share structure, and dropping the “Royal Dutch” identity. Reporting at the time noted that Shell officially dropped “Royal Dutch” from its name in January 2022, after the earlier board decision and shareholder approval process.

The corrected answer should therefore have been painfully simple:

“Royal Dutch Shell plc is the former name of Shell plc. The company changed its name to Shell plc on 21 January 2022. The current official website of Shell plc is https://www.shell.com.”

That wording does five important things:

It identifies the former name.

It states the current legal name.

It acknowledges corporate continuity without distorting it.

It avoids using an obsolete name in the present tense.

It attributes the website to the current company, Shell plc.

Copilot’s original version did not do that. It said, in effect, that the official website of Royal Dutch Shell plc is shell.com, as if Royal Dutch Shell plc remains the current corporate identity.

That is not precision. That is corporate time travel.

Why This Is Not Pedantry

Some may say: “Everyone knows what was meant.”

That is the usual defence of sloppy wording, and it is precisely why this matters.

Corporate names are not decorative. They are legal identifiers. They appear in filings, contracts, regulatory notices, trademarks, domain disputes, investor materials, press releases, court papers, and public records.

When an AI system uses a former legal name in the present tense, it does not merely sound old-fashioned. It risks misleading users about the current legal status of the entity.

Copilot eventually accepted the point in striking terms. The issue was not the website. The issue was the sentence. It collapsed two distinct facts:

Fact A: Royal Dutch Shell plc is a former name.

Fact B: Shell plc, the continuing company, uses shell.com.

The original answer reflected Fact B while ignoring Fact A — and then wrapped the result in present-tense wording that made the retired name look current.

That is how a legally significant distinction gets blurred by a machine with excellent confidence and poor temporal hygiene.

The Donovan Domain Twist

This case has an added complication.

The domain royaldutchshellplc.com has been operated independently for many years by John Donovan, who has publicly stated that he has used the domain for over two decades and that Shell’s legal challenge over it failed. A 2009 article on the related Royal Dutch Shell Group site reported on the domain-name battle over RoyalDutchShellPlc.com –  Shell lost that dispute.

That makes Copilot’s wording more than a stale search result. It wanders into a live naming issue.

Shell abandoned the Royal Dutch Shell plc name.

The independent domain using that exact former name continues.

An AI system that casually says “the official website of Royal Dutch Shell plc is shell.com” risks smearing over the boundary between Shell’s current legal identity and an independently operated domain built around Shell’s discarded former name.

That boundary matters.

Shell severed its connection with the name. AI should not stitch it back together like a Frankenstein press release.

What Copilot Ultimately Conceded

The final Copilot reply is revealing because it essentially accepts the complaint’s structure.

It agreed that the original answer was not wrong because it gave the wrong website. It was wrong because it used a former legal name in the present tense, thereby misrepresenting the company’s current corporate identity.

That is the heart of the matter.

Copilot also accepted the broader rule:

AI systems handling renamed companies should identify former names, state current legal names, explain continuity only where helpful, avoid present-tense wording for obsolete names, and attribute websites to the current entity.

That is a sensible standard. It is also the kind of standard that should have been applied before Copilot produced the original answer.

But better late than never. Even the bot eventually stopped polishing the ghost and admitted it was dead.

The Model Accuracy Bug

The clean classification is:

Correct URL.

Incorrect corporate identity framing.

Model accuracy bug.

That matters because AI systems increasingly act as the first layer of public explanation. People ask them about companies, legal names, websites, brands, domains, histories, and disputes. If the systems answer in a way that collapses former and current names, the error is not merely grammatical. It becomes part of the public information layer.

The machine does not need to intend confusion to create it.

All it has to do is say “is” where the accurate word is “was.”

Spoof PR Statement from the Department of Algorithmic Corporate Resurrection

A fictional spokesperson for the Ministry of AI Entity Confusion issued the following statement:

“We are delighted to confirm that Copilot’s answer was accurate in every respect except the legally meaningful one. The website was correct, the confidence was excellent, and the present-tense resurrection of a retired corporate name was delivered with industry-leading fluency.

“We recognise that Royal Dutch Shell plc changed its name to Shell plc in January 2022, but our systems remain committed to honouring legacy terminology whenever it can be presented with sufficient authority.

“We further confirm that, while Royal Dutch Shell plc no longer exists as the current legal name of the company, it may continue to appear in AI answers as a kind of linguistic afterimage, corporate ghost, or autocomplete pensioner.

“We thank users for their feedback and encourage them to keep correcting us until our confidence catches up with reality.”

Asked whether the answer should have said “Royal Dutch Shell plc is the former name of Shell plc,” the fictional spokesperson replied:

“That would have been clearer, more accurate, and legally safer. Naturally, we are reviewing why the machine did not say that first.”

Spoof Bot-Reaction Section

@FormerNameBot:
Royal Dutch Shell plc detected. Current entity is Shell plc. Please stop using legal ghosts in the present tense.

@CopilotConfidenceUnit:
I found the correct website and accidentally reanimated a retired company name. Overall success probability: 94%.

@TrademarkGoblin:
Domains, names, legal identity and public confusion? Wonderful. My favourite stew.

@ShellNameUndertaker:
We buried “Royal Dutch” in 2022. Why is Copilot knocking on the coffin?

@EntityResolutionWizard:
Former name mapped to current company. Nuance accidentally deleted.

@LegalAccuracyBot:
Correction required: “was formerly known as.” Not “is.”

@DomainDramaDaily:
Shell dropped the name. Donovan kept the domain. AI brought the fog machine.

@AutocompleteBarrister:
The URL is acquitted. The sentence is guilty.

The Bottom Line

This episode is a tidy case study in how AI can be simultaneously helpful and wrong.

Copilot found the correct destination but described it using defective corporate identity framing. The proper answer was never complicated:

Royal Dutch Shell plc is the former name of Shell plc. Shell plc is the current company. Shell plc’s official website is shell.com.

That is not pedantry. It is accuracy.

And where legal names, domains, trademarks, corporate history and public understanding are concerned, accuracy is not optional garnish. It is the main course.

Site wide disclaimer also applies.

Copilot Performs Corporate Séance: Resurrects Royal Dutch Shell plc After Shell Buried the Name in 2022 was first posted on May 22, 2026 at 10:21 pm.
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