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'All politics is theatre' Channel Comment brendan 12th May 2026 Teaser Media

The emergence of a strong El Niño weather pattern this year in a world that is warming as a result of human-caused climate change could fuel “unprecedented” weather extremes, climate scientists have warned.

Meteorologists expect El Niño – the natural climate phenomenon characterised by unusually warm sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean – to develop as early as this month. Some forecasters say that this time around the event could become particularly powerful.

Scientists say the combination of El Niño and rising global temperatures could push 2026 to either the warmest or second-warmest year on record. A previous El Niño helped drive average global temperatures in 2024 to a record 1.55C above preindustrial levels.

Researchers warn that a strong El Niño risks supercharging extreme weather conditions, contributing to more severe fires and droughts in some regions and storms and floods in others.

El Niño meets global warming

Friederike Otto, professor in climate science at Imperial College London, said El Niño itself is “not the reason to freak out” but rather the fact that it is now happening on an increasingly warmer baseline.

“El Niño is a natural phenomenon that comes and goes,” she told journalists this week. “What makes it so dramatic is not the event itself and whether it’s a ‘Super El Niño’ or not, but that it is happening in a dramatically changing climate.”

“The records will still be broken because of human-induced climate change and the continued burning of fossil fuels,” Otto added.

The World Meteorological Organization will issue its next update on the prospects for an El Niño in late May, which it says will provide more robust guidance for decision-making on how to protect people and nature from associated impacts.

• May 8, 2026 Justice EU warns on solar geoengineering but research debate grinds on For the first time, EU foreign ministers express concern that solar radiation modification poses “significant risks”, a stance welcomed by those both for and against more research Read more
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Even before the likely arrival of the El Niño pattern, 2026 has already been an “extraordinary” year for weather extremes, scientists at the World Weather Attribution (WWA) research group said.

Sea surface temperatures neared all-time highs in April, while Arctic sea ice reached its lowest level for a second-year running. In March, the United States saw a record-breaking heatwave that would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change, according to WWA analysis.

Dramatic wildfire risk

Across the globe, the wildfire season got off to a dramatic start. Record-breaking fires in Western Africa and the Sahel, as well as big outbreaks in India, Southeast Asia and parts of China, contributed to the world recording its largest burned area ever for the January-April period, according to Theodore Keeping, a WWA researcher.

He noted that the emergence of a powerful El Niño event could have a major effect on supercharging wildfires by increasing the likelihood of seeing “severe” hot and dry conditions in Australia, the US and Canada, as well as the Amazon rainforest.

“The likelihood of harmful extreme fires potentially could be the highest we have seen in recent history, if a strong El Niño does develop,” Keeping added.

The post Scientists warn El Niño could intensify climate extremes in 2026 appeared first on Climate Home News.

Release The Files, Unity Is Power, Support Unions They Gave Us Weekends.Your Labor Is Your Leverage.

The Association on American Indian Affairs is seeking a full-time Cultural Sovereignty Director to lead and grow one of their core program areas!

The post Job Opening: Cultural Sovereignty Director, Association on American Indian Affairs appeared first on Native Organizers Alliance.

Climate Watch Bird Surveys Commence May 15 Looking for an opportunity to make your bird sightings meaningful to Audubon’s climate scientists? Consider adopting a Climate Watch plot and visiting it...

Between now and 2030, the increase in electricity demand for air conditioning systems alone will exceed that for data centers, one of the fastest-growing energy uses globally. By 2050, cooling electricity demand is expected to match the combined annual electricity consumption of the United States, China, India, Germany, and Japan today. Yet, cooling hasn’t made it to the top of energy transition conversations and receives far less attention than is needed.

This year is proving to be yet another hot and humid one. But this comes as no surprise, as it joins the warmest decade in recorded history. Just last month, several regions in South Asia and the Southwest United States already experienced pre-summer heatwaves, with temperatures exceeding historical averages by several degrees.

Now more than ever, tackling extreme heat is about more than just comfort. It’s also about productivity, survivability, and safely being able to operate outdoors and live inside our homes and other essential buildings and facilities such as data centers, factories, hospitals, and schools.

The scale of the cooling challenge

In 2022, cooling equipment consumed an estimated 5,000 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity globally — about the same as the entire electricity consumption of the United States today. By 2050, this demand is projected to triple to 18,000 TWh.

Cooling also carries a significant emissions impact due to the use of electricity (still generated from fossil fuel-based power plants in most regions) and refrigerants that leak into the environment during servicing or at the end of life. It already accounts for 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions — roughly equal to the cement sector — and could rise to 15% by 2050. As increasing cooling drives energy and peak power demand and need for refrigerants , it will create more emissions and warming, feeding a dangerous cycle.

An integrated approach to solving the cooling challenge

No one technology can solve this unprecedented cooling challenge. An integrated approach is foundational to ensure that people can better respond and adapt to extreme heat events as well as adopt sustainable cooling solutions that reduce planet warming emissions.

RMI and our partners around the world have prioritized three core pillars to tackle the rising heat stress issue and enhance thermal comfort for people: build resilience, enhance comfort, reduce emissions.

• Build Resilience — Build urban heat resilience through heat mitigation strategies, including nature-based solutions such as urban greening and reflective materials.
• Enhance comfort — Enhance affordable thermal comfort through passive design strategies and other low-cost, scalable solutions that reduce cooling needs and make cooling accessible to more people.
• Reduce emissions — Reduce energy use and emissions through super-efficient technologies, improved system design, and better refrigerant management, while scaling next-gen, innovative solutions that lower life-cycle costs and emissions.

When key actors across policy, technology and market align around this framework, it helps create the conditions needed to scale the right solutions that benefit the people and the planet.

Putting the approach into action

Build Resilience — Mitigating urban heat at the source

Reducing cooling demand effectively begins with understanding where heat poses the greatest risk. In many cities, responses are still guided by temperature thresholds rather than real-world impacts on people, infrastructure, and livelihoods.

But cities also need tools that help identify priority hotspots and target interventions to help prepare communities and infrastructure in advance, reducing exposure and managing cooling demand during the hottest periods when grids may otherwise fail. To address this, India’s National Disaster Management Authority developed the Heat Impact Assessment (HIA) Framework and a digital dashboard, empowering cities to identify priority hotspots and target interventions where they can deliver the greatest benefit.

Additionally, urban areas are often hotter than surrounding regions due to the urban heat island effect, where buildings and infrastructure trap heat. Expanding tree cover, improving ventilation, deploying heat-rejecting surfaces, and using thermally efficient materials can help reduce the impact of heat.

At scale, these solutions offer broader system-level benefits by reducing heat buildup across urban areas, lowering neighborhood temperatures, and helping mitigate the urban heat island effect.

Insights from work in communities highlight how combining building-level interventions like cool roofs with neighborhood-scale strategies — and including heat-sensitive urban design — can reduce heat exposure more effectively than stand-alone solutions. Layering interventions like cool corridors across neighborhoods using nature-based solutions, building materials, and urban form is critical to delivering sustained cooling at scale. Together, these approaches are key to improving heat resilience while easing grid stress during extreme heat days.

Enhance comfort — Reducing cooling needs affordably

Enhancing thermal comfort for people begins with helping people stay cool without relying on mechanical cooling systems. One key solution is to use materials that not only reflect sunlight but also actively shed heat. Pilots in Chennai, India, have demonstrated how “cool” roofs and surfaces can significantly reduce indoor temperatures, improving comfort — especially for those without access to air conditioning.

RMI’s climate tech accelerator, Third Derivative, is advancing passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) technologies, including specialized paints, films, and membranes. Unlike conventional cool roofs that primarily reflect solar radiation, PDRC materials are engineered to both reflect sunlight and emit heat as mid-infrared radiation that passes through the atmosphere into space. This dual mechanism enables them to cool surfaces below ambient temperatures, with the potential to lower indoor temperatures by up to 18°F (10°C) on hot days — without using electricity.

Passive design strategies, including PDRC, cool roof coatings, efficient building envelopes, solar shading, and proper ventilation, reduce the need for active cooling solutions, improving comfort and making cooling more affordable and accessible for all.

Reduce Emissions — Advancing efficiency and accelerating innovation

Today’s air conditioners (ACs) need to be re-designed to fully optimize the refrigeration cycle and deliver better comfort and energy performance using high-efficiency components. The Global Cooling Efficiency Accelerator, supported by RMI and partners, conducted extensive prototype field testing in Palava City, India, where super-efficient AC prototypes maintained consistent comfort (below 27°C/80.6°F and 60% relative humidity) even in extreme conditions, while cutting peak power demand by up to 50%. Additionally, they used 60% less energy than today’s common models and delivered better dehumidification, reducing the need for overcooling the indoor spaces, which means dramatically lower total cost of ownership for consumers. This is particularly important as many households buy their first AC to seek respite from high wet-bulb temperatures that are reaching critical human survivability thresholds.

However, scaling these improvements requires more than better technology. Updated testing and performance standards are needed to enable fair comparison and clear differentiation of efficient technologies. At the same time, aligned procurement specifications and strong demand signals from like-minded buyers give manufacturers the confidence that the market is ready — helping drive a fundamental shift in how technologies are produced and purchased.

RMI and partners are actively working across both the demand and supply sides to help shape the market for products that ease the tension between people’s comfort, grid reliability, and emissions.

As ACs get widely adopted globally, addressing refrigerant emissions is as critical as improving energy efficiency. Transitioning to low-GWP and natural refrigerants, as well as improved life-cycle refrigerant management — including leak reduction, recovery, and reclamation — is essential to prevent significant climate impacts from cooling systems.

And as we improve today’s AC technology to become super-efficient, there is an opportunity to go even further. Innovation across the cooling sector is essential to unlocking the full range of solutions needed to address this challenge. For example,  desiccant-based systems and hybrid solutions using membrane technologies can separately and independently manage dehumidification from cooling, enabling more efficient operation in humid climates.  Solid-state technologies, which use an applied field or pressure instead of refrigerants, can offer improved efficiency and comfort, quieter operation, lower energy costs, and reduced emissions.

RMI’s Third Derivative program is actively sourcing and supporting these emerging cooling innovations, working with eight startups globally that are developing innovative active cooling technologies, from optimized system design to highly efficient humidity management with liquid desiccants and refrigerant-free solid-state cooling.

The path forward

In the coming years, we will continue to deepen our engagement with key stakeholders to support them in implementing national and sub-national policies and to adopt low-cost scalable passive design strategies and solutions that reduce cooling demand at the source.

We will also continue working to accelerate the development and scale of super-efficient cooling technologies, advance refrigerant management efforts, and unlock next-generation innovations. We aim to deepen our understanding of the rapidly evolving cooling technology landscape to identify the most relevant and impactful opportunities for intervention. We will work closely with policymakers, manufacturers, buyers, and startups to pilot solutions, strengthen performance standards, and build the market confidence needed to drive widespread adoption.

Taking a holistic, whole-systems approach — build resilience, enhance comfort, and reduce emissions — can deliver significant impact, on both the building level and across the entire cooling sector. This could translate into electricity savings of up to 8,500 TWh by 2050 — more than the current annual consumption of the United States and the European Union combined — while reducing peak demand and avoiding the need for thousands of new power plants. And improving AC efficiency levels by over 50% means people can cool their homes when they need to without stressing the grid, driving up electricity bills, or adding to emissions.

In a warming world where heat stress is rising and rapid urbanization and increasing incomes will drive significant growth in cooling demand, accelerating these efforts is critical. By working collaboratively, we can ensure cooling needs are met for all without accelerating the warming of our planet.

We would like to thank Ankit Kalanki, Tarun Garg, and Tess Healy for their contributions to this article.

The post Tackling the World’s Surging Cooling Demand appeared first on RMI.

Hi everyone! CCEJN and VISIÓN partners are in the process of hiring a manager for the VISIÓN (Voices In Solidarity Against Oil In Neighborhoods) coalition. VISIÓN is an environmental justice coalition representing frontline communities impacted by neighborhood oil drilling in Kern and Los Angeles Counties. The coalition works to phase out all neighborhood oil drilling […]

If you take a stroll down Flores Trail to Los Nogales Nursery, you will spot a small patch of blue flags along the hillside to your left. And much like the rest of our restoration sites, the flags...

By: Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla

Our team has been working tirelessly to defend the Delta and our communities against the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP). 

While we have secured victories in the courts regarding bond financing, the Delta Stewardship Council (DSC) has unfortunately approved the California Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) Certification of Consistency for the proposed the DCP, even though the project fails to meet the co-equal goals of protecting the Delta and reducing water reliance on the Delta.

Last week, Restore the Delta along with Tribes, expert witnesses and multiple coalition partners also filed rebuttal testimony with the Administrative Hearing Office for the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB). In our testimony, we disputed numerous claims made by DWR regarding the “merits” and planning for the DCP. 

A revelatory point in our case elucidates how hundreds of thousands of impacted water users, both local residents and Tribes, were written out of the footprint of the project as a way for DWR to bypass investigating any harm and having to provide the appropriate level of mitigation. Our argument is that DWR must prove that with the Change in Point of Diversion they are proposing – allowing for two new intakes along the Sacramento River in the North Delta – would not negatively impact water users in the Delta watershed.

But importantly, the effort doesn’t end there if we are to prevent the tunnel from being frontloaded in continuing business for the next Governor, whoever that may be. 

We have two important items that you can help take action on by calling your State Senators and Assemblymembers.

Supporting a DWR financial audit

Assembly Member Rhodesia Ransom has been the primary legislative proponent of an audit of DWR for its spending on the DCP. To date, DWR “has spent over $700 million on planning and public engagement related to the Delta Conveyance Project and past iterations of the project. Despite this substantial expenditure, critical public information remains inaccessible, and significant questions remain unanswered—particularly regarding whether DWR has done its due diligence to ensure the fiscal integrity of the project, and whether hundreds of millions of dollars are being appropriately allocated,” alleviating financial pressure and impact on ratepayers, and any risks that could be attributed to California ratepayers and property taxpayers. 

The next Joint Legislative Audit Committee is scheduled to meet June 1.  Although the hearing time and agenda have not yet been made public yet, we are asking our supporters to call their State Senator and Assembly Members to express their support of the audit, even if they are not part of the Audit Committee since elected officials should ALL be advocating for financial accountability of DWR.  

If you don’t know who your representatives are, you can find them here. Next, call their office to voice your support for the DWR Audit. Here’s a script that you can opt to use: 

“I expect Senator/Assembly Member [Official’s Name] to support the audit of the Department of Water Resources and their spending on the Delta Conveyance Project. Please urge your colleagues on the Audit Committee to support this important audit. The Delta Conveyance Project is set to financially mirror the out of control spending on High Speed Rail, and without benefit for increased water delivery.”

It is our duty to keep the legislature accountable, and we must make sure they hear us and our concerns about the impact of failed water planning. A bad project like the DCP should not be left on the books for our next governor.

We are also hoping that our supporters can take the time on June 1 to join us to voice support with the committee. Although these hearings can be long and difficult with the public usually being relegated to only stating whether or not they support the item without additional commentary, it is important for us to have a sizable presence. We know that water contractors and special interest water industry leaders will all appear in large numbers (as they did last year) to oppose financial transparency. We’ve learned time and time again that “big water” provides fat paychecks for those who thwart public interest, protection of the Delta, and responsible water management in California.

A huge thank you to Assemblymember Ransom for her efforts to lead and bring accountability to the project. Once we learn more, we will continue to share updates about the audit and the hearing schedule.

Opposition to AB2215

The State Water Contractors are advancing AB2215 as a legislative solution to DWR’s expired water rights for the State Water Project and the DCP, rather than through proper procedure at the State Water Board. The bill, authored by Assemblymember Calderon, is moving for a floor vote in the Assembly and could happen at any time. If it passes, it will then move to the State Senate.

Now that you know who your State Senator and Assemblymember are (if you didn’t already), here’s a script you can use to call their office about opposing AB2215:

“I am calling to ask that you oppose AB2215 and legislative interference in water rights, especially in relation to the Delta Conveyance Project. The Delta Conveyance Project is a $100 billion boondoggle that California cannot afford. I ask that you side with our community that will be negatively impacted by this project rather than State Water Contractors who continuously work to undermine transparency and full inclusion of Californians in water management. The tunnel is a dangerous symptom of ineffective California water management.”

The Legislature, in many ways, is still beholden to Governor Newsom, and the special interests that have driven his failed water policies for the Bay-Delta watershed, urban water users, and San Joaquin Valley drinking water communities. His intent is clear – leave the system filled with bad projects and programs to drive this failed water agenda forward, despite whoever becomes the next Governor. 

In a recent press release, Governor Newsom provided more political spin that falls short of stating what the true devastating impact of the DCP would be and what it really means for Californians. While the administration celebrates restoring salmon habitat on the Klamath River, it also champions a massive tunnel project that would divert freshwater away from the Delta and further threaten fish populations and the communities that rely on a healthy bay-delta with adequate water flows.

It is time to stop the machine. Raise your voices and help us fight for the watershed, the Delta, fisheries, Tribes, Delta farming communities, the San Francisco Bay, and the people throughout the state who are impacted one way or another by the Delta Tunnel Boondoggle.

A top Trump appointee at the Interior department has acknowledged that she influenced policy that benefitted her family’s ranching operation. In previously-unreported remarks at a Congressioinal Western Caucus event last December, Karen Budd-Falen, associate deputy secretary at Interior, described grazing policy as part of her job and said that “the thing that was probably closest to my heart was grazing regulations.”

Karen Budd-Falen and her husband Frank Falen own at least five cattle or ranching operations valued at more than $1 million each, according to Budd-Falen’s financial disclosure forms. These companies collectively hold grazing allotments on more than a quarter-million acres of national public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, which is within the Interior department.

“The situation with Karen Budd-Falen seems to be quite brazen in the scheme of conflicts of interest,” Michelle Kuppersmith, executive director of the Campaign for Accountability, told the Washington Post. “She is, by her own admission, working on policy for grazing that will likely directly impact her own financial interests. And they’re not even trying to hide it.” Richard Painter, former chief Interior department ethics lawyer during the George W. Bush administration, agreed that holding grazing allotments while simultaneously overseeing Interior department grazing policy “would be a pretty slam-dunk financial conflict of interest.”

Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs’ Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, is calling for a review of Trump administration actions that could have benefitted Budd-Falen and her family’s companies. As Blumenthal pointed out to the Washington Post, “You don’t have to be an expert on land management to know that when she talks about how policy changes are going to benefit ‘private landowners,’ she’s talking about herself.”

Quick hits Border wall plans cancelled for Big Bend National Park after backlash, Border Patrol commissioner claims

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Lower Basin states announce temporary plan to save water from the Colorado River

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Plugging away at the millions of derelict oil and gas wells in the U.S.

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NM federal, local and tribal leaders celebrate legislation to protect the Caja del Rio

Source NM

Quote of the day

The Caja del Rio is not acreage on a map. It is a place of memory, of identity, of ceremony, of recreation and refuge. Its future depends on our ability to embrace this shared responsibility, not just for ourselves, but for everyone who will come after us.”

—U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Source NM

Picture This @whitesandsnps

What’s Bloomin’?

The beautiful Purple Sand Verbenas (Abronia angustifolia) are in full bloom here at the park. This hardy wildflower produces pale pink to purple flowers with white centers that bloom in clusters. Peak bloom in the park is from late April into May. The silvery appearance of the plants comes from sand grains sticking to its hairy leaves.

Despite being in a desert, White Sands National Park has a wide variety of plant life. The Purple Sand Verbena is just one plant that has adapted to harsh desert living.

As always, when checking out the flowers in the park, please be sure to take only pictures and leave the plants there for others to enjoy!
– Ranger Paige

 

Featured image: Cattle grazing on national public lands near the Nevada-Oregon border, BLM Oregon and Washington

The post Interior appointee admits conflict of interest on grazing policy appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Join us on May 21st at 6:30pm for a panel on Radicals, Realists, and Repression: The State of Activism in the US. The panel will feature Prof. Thomas Zeitzoff, professor…

Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform Program (FTLRP), launched in 2000, sought to correct colonial-era land inequalities by redistributing land from approximately 4,500 white commercial farmers — who held over 70% of arable land — to millions of landless Black Zimbabweans. While rooted in legitimate grievances, the program’s hasty and often violent implementation triggered severe economic collapse, social disruption, and environmental degradation.

This case study examines the FTLRP’s historical context, motivations, and wide-ranging impacts, drawing critical lessons for future land reform efforts across Africa and beyond.

Read the case study here

No Kings No Wars.Step Up For Democracy.

Mary Purdy, an integrative and eco-minded Registered Dietary Nutritionist, is the former Managing Director of the Nutrient Density Initiative. Her work integrates personal well-being and ecological health. As a dietary educator, she connects the dots between farming practices, food systems and individual health. Mary is also an adjunct faculty at the Master’s Program in Sustainable Food Systems at The Culinary Institute of America. She is a podcaster and author of “Serving the Broccoli Gods” and “The Microbiome Diet Reset.” This article is an edited transcript of her talk at a recent Bioneers Conference.

The concept of One Health states that humans and our health are inextricably connected to the health of the environment, of our fellow animals, of bees, birds, and are interdependent. The cornerstone of those relationships is the soil. Currently, the industrial way that we are producing food is contributing to greenhouse gases and biodiversity loss. It is using enormous amounts of land, using and contaminating freshwater, contributing to eutrophication which is killing our marine life, eroding our soil, and is a leading cause of soil contamination and air pollution. We’re losing habitats for people and animals. And a lot of this is disproportionately affecting BIPOC and marginalized populations.

Along with all of that collateral damage, the food system is producing, in large proportion, foods that don’t support health and well-being. Half of all Americans are diabetic or prediabetic. About 40% of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer and one third of teenagers are prediabetic.  Needless to say, we have a serious health crisis on our hands.

The majority of calories come from ultra processed foods, which sometimes is the only food accessible or affordable to people. A large chunk of the protein that we consume comes from industrial processed animals. Agriculture uses over one billion pounds of pesticides every single year, and we have increased the use of synthetic fertilizer 800 percent compared to 50 to 75 years ago. If we want to change this system, we should look at corporate farms and large agribusinesses that promote the practices that degrade our environment and make us suffer. 

But I don’t want to blame the farmers. I want to honor and uplift them. Farmers are doing incredible work and getting paid very little money for it. But the question is: “Why have we been farming this way?” The main reason is that yield is emphasized over quality of food. There’s a reliance on government subsidies that incentivize farmers to continue to use industrial practices. There’s security in using agrochemicals which have been in use for a long time. There’s a lack of time, resources, and education.

The current system does not provide the basic minimum nutritional needs of vitamins A, C, E, D, K or minerals. We’re not getting enough fiber. We’re not getting enough omega 3 fatty acids. We’re definitely not getting enough polyphenols to help support our health and well-being.

Why is this? Because food grown in the industrial system is less nutritious, in other words the food is not nutrient dense. The Nutrient Density Initiative defines nutrient-dense foods as foods that are rich in the vitamins, minerals, fiber, healthy fats, and polyphenols that research has shown to be beneficial for human health. And that these foods are also free of ingredients that we know degrade our health – agrochemicals, pesticides, additives, etc. All of these nutritional qualities are absolutely influenced by the way that we grow our food and the agricultural practices that are used.

Nutrients drive every chemical reaction in your body. The production of neurotransmitters in your brain and your gut are driven by nutrients. The creation and function of your immune system is driven by nutrients. The synthesis of your liver that is trying to neutralize all the toxins that regularly come into your body are driven by nutrients. So our brain and our body are functioning in accordance with the nutritional value of that food that we give it.

We are what we eat, kind of. The idea that food is our medicine isn’t always true, although it should be. The USDA has documented a significant decline in the nutritional quality of food over the past 50 years. There are up to 25 to 50 percent less vitamins and minerals, depending on the crop, than there were 5 decades ago. There are lower levels of polyphenols and omega 3 fatty acids in a lot of the foods that should be high in them. The science is really clear about this.

Food and nutrition start in the soil; 95 percent of our food is grown or raised on soil. When the soil is healthy, humans tend to be healthier. Soil health and fertility directly influence the nutritional quality of food. Healthy soils provide those essential nutrients. Soils are the medium in which food is grown and determines the quality and flavor of food. So when nutrition is deficient in the soil, there is less uptake by the plant of those nutrients.

Graphic by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) via Creative Commons

So, what is healthy soil? There are different definitions. I will characterize three. The first one is having a diverse community of a large number of microorganisms in the soil. Second is soil organic matter, which is made up of decomposed plants and animals that provide living plants with nutrition. And lastly, it is a well-developed structure so the soil is able to withstand floods, droughts and erosion by retaining water. Good soil structure also allows plant roots to reach deep into the soil and gather more nutrients.

Soil health is not only one of the strongest pathways to improve the quality of nutrition, but it also increases soil’s capacity to sequester carbon and support healthier ecosystems.  

The plant is not acting alone. Plants depend on soil microbes for their health. There’s a wonderful symbiotic relationship with the plant and soil microorganisms. The plant’s roots only go so far, so plants need help. The microbes provide that help by bringing minerals and other nutrients to the root zone in exchange for carbohydrates that the plants provide to the microbes. Beneficial microbes suppress the pathogenic microbes that we don’t want in the soil. And they are key for helping the plant synthesize the compounds called polyphenols, which have wonderful antioxidant properties and also provide flavor to the plants.

Polyphenols have a really positive influence on human health. When we don’t get enough polyphenols, people become more susceptible to all different kinds of diseases.

Additionally, polyphenols are a prebiotic feeding the beneficial microbes in our gut. Flavonoids are a type of polyphenol and flavones are a class of flavonoids that contribute to aroma and flavor. There is a strong connection between flavor and nutrition.

When we eat a carrot or a piece of spinach that has not been excessively washed or heated, along with it, you are ingesting some of the microorganisms from the plant’s microbiome which helps support our gut microbiome.

But when synthetic fertilizers are used to grow crops, that hinders the formation of the plant’s roots going further down into the ground to take up nutrients. Additionally, when we use synthetic chemical fertilizers year-after-year, there is a depletion of nutrients in the soil. Microbial diversity is reduced. It reduces phytochemical production, as well as things like vitamin C and trace minerals in plants. Chemical fertilizers are also bad for the environment. They run off of the farm into waterways contaminating drinking water.

And then there’s pesticides. Pesticides also reduce the soil microbial diversity. When people get exposed to pesticides, whether that’s direct exposure or from residues, there’s a higher incidence of endocrine disruption issues, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases. A lot of farmers are struggling with Parkinson’s disease. Birth defects, respiratory illnesses, cancers are also caused by pesticides. Needless to say, farm workers are on the front lines of exposure to toxic chemicals. So there’s a serious environmental injustice issue around pesticides.

Pesticides are having a negative impact on the human gut microbiome and inhibit phytochemical synthesis. A plant under stress normally creates phytochemical compounds as an immune response to protect themselves when it is exposed to things like pests, predators and adverse weather conditions. When we eat the plant, we get the benefit of the phytochemicals which make our immune system strong as well. However, if a pesticide is used to protect the plant, the plant doesn’t have to produce those immune-enhancing compounds.

Phytochemicals, which is the family name for different polyphenols, are associated with better cardiovascular health, better brain health, better blood sugar balance, improved lung function, better immune health, less incidents of cancer, as well as a healthier and diverse gut microbiome.

In contrast to an industrial chemical approach to farming, there are practices – whether we call them regenerative, conservation, organic, common sense, or traditional – that build the health of the soil and, as a result, grow more nutritious crops: reducing the disturbance to the soil by using low or no tillage, having a lot of biodiversity on the farm or garden, keeping the ground covered with cover crops or mulch, using compost, rotating crops, eliminating chemicals, and integrating livestock into the fields. It’s not just about using one or two of these practices, it is the whole suite that increases soil health and grows more nutritious crops.

And the good thing is that they also have planetary benefits. When we garden or farm, whether it is large scale or small scale, we are helping to elevate the ability of the soil to sequester carbon, which is key for the climate crisis. These practices also help provide pollinator habitats and reduce environmental harm in general.

There’s a huge variation between the nutrient density of plants that come from different farming systems, but in general, when we see more of these agroecological practices in play, we see higher levels of vitamins, minerals, beta carotene, etc. and lower levels of heavy metals.

The Nutrient Density Initiative works with Edacious, a nutrition analysis food lab. We had a number of our members, who use these practices, send in samples of their produce and meat products and had Edacious compare them to the conventional versions of the same product.

Peaches tested from Frog Hollow Farm had over 200% higher vitamin C compared to the conventional peaches, much higher iron levels, much higher alpha carotene, and a number of other vitamins and minerals were much higher. While we may not be able to say definitively that we will always get the same results, data like this suggests a link between the positive benefits of soil health and the nutritional density of plants.

The regeneratively grown citrus that we tested had higher amounts of flavones, and higher total value antioxidant levels when compared to conventionally grown samples.

We also looked at dairy. An Alexandre Family Farms dairy product, when compared to a conventional product, had a much more favorable omega 6 to 3 ratio which is very important for inflammation and other immune functions. It also had higher protein and higher levels of certain nutrients such as calcium, B2, and phosphorus.

The Rodale Institute did a side-by-side trial comparing butternut squashes grown conventionally and with regenerative methods and found that regenerative butternut squash had higher total polyphenols, and higher levels of carotenoid levels.

We conducted a pilot protein project. Nutrient Density Initiative members sent in chicken and beef products, and once again compared them to conventionally grown counterparts. We found higher amounts of omega 3s, lower amounts of overall fat including saturated fat, more balanced omega 6 to 3 ratios, more protein per serving, and no heavy metals detected in the products raised with the regenerative practices.

These are small trials, there’s always going to be variation depending on environment, depending on species or varietal of food, etc. I want to make sure that, at this point, I am not making grandiose claims, but that data we have collected so far is clearly demonstrating that when the soil is healthy, we’re going to produce crops with higher nutritional density.

So when and if possible, we can be citizen eaters. Support organic and regenerative farmers who are using the practices that I mentioned, let your grocer know that you want nutritious food, choose minimally processed food, if you can. Let your politicians know food nutrition is an issue you care about. Ask them to support a Farm Bill that actually protects soil health and biodiversity, and rewards the farmers for doing regenerative practices.

The post The Path to Good Health is Made of Soil appeared first on Bioneers.

Dan Kittredge is an organic farmer in Massachusetts following in the footsteps of his parents who are organic farming movement pioneers. As a farmer, he became interested in the flavor and aroma of food, and turned his attention to researching the complexities of food quality and nutrient density. Dan has worked with researchers, NGOs, and farmers in India, Russia, and Central America. In 2010, he founded the Bionutrient Food Association to educate and empower people to make healthy food choices based on research and science. This article is an edited transcript of Dan’s talk at a recent Bioneers Conference.

My parents were back-to-the-land homesteaders starting in the early 1980s. They bought land and built a farm. Their day job was running the Northeast Organic Farming Association, commonly referred to as NOFA. They wrote some of the first organic standards in the country and produced a conference; that was their day job, but their lifestyle was the farm.

After working on their farm through my teens and 20s, I got married and realized I needed to make a living. Like a lot of farmers, I wasn’t able to because the farm suffered with pest pressure and disease pressure. So I started studying beyond the organic rubric because organic was not providing me the success I was looking for. I looked to nature and saw plants flourishing, but didn’t see plants flourishing in my fields.

I did a lot of research and shifted my farming practices, still staying within an organic framework. I got to a point where pests were dissipating, diseases were dissipating, yields were going up, flavor was going up, shelf life was going up, cost of production was going down, and I was making a living farming, working 20 hours a week. At that point, I felt obliged to start talking about what I was learning. I knew the permaculture, biodynamic and agroecology communities, but none of them were focusing on the nutritional caliber of food, so in 2010, I founded an organization called the Bionutrient Food Association, focusing on the nutritional quality of food as the objective.

By quality, I’m talking about flavor, aroma, and nutrient value, not aesthetics and uniformity, which is how a lot of food is defined by the industry today. Our initial work for a number of years focused on education: conferences, courses, workshops, etc. We found a lot of success in educating people about how nature evolved things to grow, as opposed to a narrow focus on NPK fertilizers and soil pH, which are the things that people are taught in universities about agronomy. We decided to teach people how nature has been growing plants for hundreds of millions of years, and as we did that, we found success across multiple ecosystems, with various scales, and with different crops, and tried to figure out a way to bring that to scale.

Economics is a powerful force in today’s age. Our goal was to figure out how to align economic incentives with ecological benefits and human health benefits. If we could provide a dynamic where people buying food could differentiate between a higher and lower nutritional content of, for example, carrots, our supposition is that people will choose the higher and leave the lower quality on the shelf. The work we’ve been doing for the last eight years from a research standpoint is characterizing that variation, identifying what causes it, and developing ways to assess it.

Dan Kittredge

From a foundational standpoint, our vision is to go beyond labels and certifications. It’s not about if you are organic or not, if you are regenerative or not, if you are local or not. We want to give people the ability to actually measure the nutrient levels of the food in real time, and the science with which you would do that is called spectroscopy. That’s how the Hubble space telescope works. It’s how the James Webb telescope works. We can read the atmosphere of a planet 10,000 light years away and determine that it has methane in it. If we can do that, we should be able to tell what a carrot a few millimeters away is made up of.

We built our first handheld meter in 2017 and our first lab a year later. We had people send in carrots and spinach from across the U.S., from grocery stores, farmers’ markets and farms, organic, and non-organic. We wanted to survey the supply chain, to find out how much nutrient variation there is. In 2019, we set up our second lab in California at Chico State University. That year in both of our labs in Michigan and Chico State, we had farmers send in crops from the field in triplicate. They would harvest the crops, they would pull samples of the soil, and they would answer management data questions: What was the variety? When did you plant it? How did you prepare the soil? What’s your fertility program? So we could overlay nutrient variations in food against managing practices and causal factors against soil metrics to see what patterns we could find.

In 2020 we set up our third lab in Europe. Farmers sent in crops from their fields for testing and citizen scientists sent in crops from grocery stores and farmers’ markets. We tested samples for four years – 10,000 crop samples, 25 different crops, hundreds of farms, from four continents – to understand the nature of the supply chain and what causes nutritional variation in foods. All the data is available on the Bionutrient Food Association website and is in the public commons.

As an example, let’s look at sulfur, which is an element or nutrient the body needs to function. In carrots, the lowest level we found was 8.41mg per 100g. The highest level was 33.19. That’s a 4x variation. If we assign 100 to the highest level, the vast majority of the samples were between 20 and 40 out of 100. Most carrots have relatively low levels of sulfur in relation to what they could have.

Phosphorous in carrots, we found an 8x variation. Most carrots tested in the 27th percentile. The vast majority of the sample sets were below the 50th percentile. Most crops have relatively low levels of nutrients in them in relation to what they could have. There is a presumption that all food is uniform. We have found that that is absolutely not the case.

What about antioxidants? Antioxidants are known to protect cells against free radical damage and help prevent disease. Antioxidants are measured in FRAP (Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power) units. In carrots, 4.92 FRAP units per 100 grams is the lowest we found, 195 is the highest we found. That’s a 40 to 1 variation.

In the old days, before they invented pharmaceuticals, medical practitioners talked about medicinal plants, which have intense flavor and aroma that are associated with compounds such as polyphenols, terpenoids, and alkaloids which promote good health.

Humans have evolved with a capacity to discern relative nutrient levels in food through flavor; a whole bunch of our DNA is associated with discerning nutrient levels with our noses and our tongues. It’s the high flavonoid compounds that are understood to be anti-cancer, anti-diabetes, and protect against heart disease, etc.

Our testing showed a 20x variation in flavonoids. Most samples were in the 7th percentile. The vast majority of the samples were below the 20th percentile. Almost everything out there in the supply chain is relatively poor in relation to what’s possible.

What causes that variation? Some people say genetics. We tested different carrot varieties–Napoli, Bolero, Nantes, Mokum. We found a wide range in nutrient levels in the same crop variety, and have not found any connection between genetics and nutrient levels.

Then we tested soil type and have not seen any connection between soil type, bioregion, or climate zone, and nutrient levels.

Some people say point of purchase: we tested crops from farm stands, CSAs, farmers markets, home gardens, and stores and saw quality variation in all categories. We see variation everywhere. None of these dynamics is sufficient to predict quality.

Based on our testing, regenerative, organic, biodynamic, and permaculture also do not seem to, from a scientific standpoint, connect to increased nutrition. None of these various individual factors seem to correlate with increased nutrient levels.

The first question we started with was: What is the spectrum of nutrient variation? We found that the spectrum of nutrient variation was large. Second question: What causes it? What seems to cause it is functionality of the biological system, not individual practices or certifications. Third question: Can you build a handheld, consumer priced, flash-of-light nutrient meter at a consumer price point?  

We published the answer to that question in a peer-reviewed journal called Nature: Scientific Communications. The Bionutrient Food Association developed a handheld spectrometer, which is open source technology, to prove the concept. You can flash a light in the store on a vegetable or fruit and get a reading of its nutrient density and discern relative quality. Because nutrient density is associated with flavor, that may be helpful in encouraging your children to eat more fruits and vegetables.

From our research we now know that nutrient variation exists. And we can go beyond labels, certifications, and claims to measure it on a continuum of 1 to 100. That way consumers can make choices based on the nutritional quality of the food.

The challenge is to arrive at an accepted definition of nutrient density for different foods. We focused on beef first because it has a larger ecological footprint than any other food on the planet. More acres of land are used to produce beef than anything else. The hypothesis is if cows eat what they have evolved to eat rather than an unnatural diet of grains, they will be healthier, the land will be healthier, and the people who eat them will be healthier.

Agriculture has a significant effect on climate and ecosystem function, and if we can inspire a shift in the way the land is managed to improve its function that will have beneficial impacts for everyone. In researching beef, we looked at a number of different metrics: in the soil, management practices, feed stocks, and assessments of the microbiome of the animals. Our thesis is that there’s going to be patterns between soil function, ecosystem function, animal welfare, and human health. We are using a scientific method to look for the patterns of nature.

Finally we did human trials. Feed humans this meat and see what happens to them. Take the data from the meat, and the microbes, and the management, and the human health trials, give it to statisticians, and see what patterns they can find.

This is where we’re at right now. It looks like there are eight biomarkers that predict overall system function. Those eight biomarkers are measured and scored 1-100 and that information becomes public. Our understanding is that sensors to measure nutrient density can be built into phones; the cameras in your phone could be a spectrometer. Chinese phone companies have already built spectrometers into the backs of phones. Consumers will be able to test the food at point of purchase. Food can be tested by the grower or in the supply chain. We can have a completely open dataset sharing and learning, where the market can be incentivized to focus on nutrition as opposed to volume and aesthetic.

We feel that this project is important enough that one small NGO should not be doing it solely. A broad coalition of allies should be working on this globally. We’ve proposed a treaty on the definition of nutrient density. We engaged in a listening tour on six continents, and met with nutritionists, agronomists, chefs, corporations, government people, farmers, and eaters and asked them to tell us what you think about our plan. This is a process we think could potentially have a massive impact on the planet, and we welcome peoples’ engagement.

The feedback I’m getting from some of the biggest global food corporations is they want help to transform their supply chain before the public knows about this. They want to get ahead of this before they are threatened by it. We’ve done our market research, we understand that consumers want flavor, nutrition, and are concerned about the well-being of their children. So this is an economic advantage for any food company that is a first mover in the space.

Working in harmony with nature seems to be the best way forward to accomplish the goal of optimizing nutrient density in food. The question is how do we align economics with that, and how do we empower the transition. Most people have been trained in a reductionist paradigm, but they need to be supported in that transition to a holistic perspective. Some of the simplistic talking points such as if you cover crop, all will be well, is detrimental. It is incomplete and it is reductionist. You have to optimize soil health, which is all the levels of life in the soil. There are many tools in the toolbox, cover cropping is one, minimal tillage is one, biochemistry is one. Farmers must be empowered with a full toolbox, without dogmas and empiricism to support them in the process.

We are in the process of collecting the metadata to share and learn together in a mycelial fashion.

Our organization has been educating farmers for 18 years about how to work with nature. We’ve got hundreds of hours of content on our YouTube page, freely available. Now we teach courses. It takes a shift of consciousness required to understand that you are serving nature, you are in right relationship with nature, not that you’re applying practices. If you think that you can go out and do one practice and that’s all it takes, you’re missing the point. The biggest issue is understanding your role in the process.

It’s a shift in paradigm from recommending practices to humble, gentle listening and service. It’s a shift of perspective from a colonized approach to a more Indigenous perspective. The colonized perspective is thou shalt grow a cover crop; thou shalt use compost. In contrast, the Indigenous perspective is: I’m in service to the land, what does it need now? And only when we can get into that place of humility should we expect to be proper stewards.

The post Not All Food is Created Equal appeared first on Bioneers.

Emails obtained by Public Domain and Fieldnotes show the Interior department worked closely with Continental Resources to secure drilling permits in Converse County, Wyoming, despite a court injunction restricting new drilling on public land there. Continental Resources supplied the Bureau of Land Management with a playbook to bypass environmental restrictions meant to protect the county’s groundwater, and the BLM has since rushed to issue over 70 permits to Continental using the loophole.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum received $250,000 in campaign donations from Continental Resources, which is controlled by billionaire oil tycoon Harold Hamm, when he ran for president in 2023. Burgum has also received around $50,000 in oil royalties from land he leased to Hamm’s company.

“This reminds me of the days of the Bush-Cheney administration’s massive push to drill the West, when it was obvious that the oil industry was calling the shots when it came to public land management,” Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project, told Public Domain. “But we never had such direct and obvious proof that oil corporations were giving the orders, and BLM officials at the highest levels were obediently carrying them out.”

CWP says goodbye to executive director

In the latest episode of the Center for Western Priorities’ podcast, The Landscape, we say goodbye to former Executive Director Jennifer Rokala. In a conversation with the entire CWP team, Jen reflects on the highs and lows of leading CWP for 11 years, what she’s most proud of, and what gives her hope for the future of America’s public lands. Listen now wherever you get podcasts or watch on YouTube.

Quick hits How many federal public lands jobs did the Mountain West lose?

KUNC

Congressman seeks probe of $11 million no-bid contract for Park Service fountain revamp

E&E News

Opinion: Pikes Peak region’s outdoors future depends on LWCF funding

Colorado Sun

Navajo Nation residents push back on possible copper mine

KNAU

How controlled burns can help save taxpayers billions

Grist

This fight unfolding in southern Utah could have implications for states trying to take over federal lands

Bloomberg

Shared ground: Coalition forms to promote affordable housing on public lands

Deseret News

Wildfire is an increasing threat to the West’s recreation economy, according to new research

The Conversation

Quote of the day

Proposed budget cuts and growing bureaucratic obstacles are threatening to slow or stop LWCF-funded projects across the country… Whatever your politics, that should concern you. LWCF has never been a partisan program. It was built on a bipartisan foundation and has delivered results under presidents and Congresses of both parties for 60 years.”

—David Leinweber, founder of Pikes Peak Outdoor Recreation Alliance, Colorado Sun

Picture This

@Interior

Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge offers a chance to unplug from the stresses of daily life and reconnect with Minnesota’s tallgrass prairie.

Photos by Mike Budd / USFWS

Feature image: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum (left) and oil tycoon Harold Hamm (right); Source: Burgum photo by Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia, Hamm photo by david_shankbone via Flickr

The post Interior bypasses court injunction at behest of oil donor appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

1. Background and Context

Secure land tenure, agroecology, and ecological restoration are deeply interconnected pillars of sustainable development in Africa. Evidence from AFSA’s work across the continent demonstrates that when communities, particularly smallholder farmers, pastoralists, women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples, have recognized and protected rights to land, they are more likely to invest in long-term practices that regenerate soils, conserve biodiversity, and build resilience to climate shocks.

Agroecology provides a proven framework for such practices by combining traditional knowledge with ecological principles to restore degraded landscapes while advancing food sovereignty. Ecological restoration, in turn, thrives where tenure security empowers communities to steward their territories.

It is against this backdrop that AFSA is commissioning this consultancy to develop a campaign strategy that bridges grassroots struggles with continental and global policy spaces, while amplifying community voices and driving systemic change.

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) is inviting consultants to submit a technical and financial proposal for a consultancy to design and develop a comprehensive campaign strategy for the Protect Our Land, Restore Our Soil Campaign, which AFSA plans to roll out in mid-2026 over a three-year period.

AFSA is seeking an experienced consultant (or team) with a strong background in land governance, agroecology, food sovereignty, ecological restoration, food system advocacy, and movement-building in Africa, and we believe your expertise aligns well with the scope and ambition of this assignment.

2. Objective of the Assignment

Develop and design a campaign strategy to build a continental campaign and movement that places secure land tenure and ecological restoration at the centre of Africa’s transformation.

3. Scope of Work

The consultancy will entail the following components:

a) Background Paper Development

• Synthesize evidence on the interconnections between secure land tenure, agroecology, food sovereignty, and ecological restoration.
• Review AFSA documentation, relevant continental and national policy frameworks, and community testimonies.

b) Campaign Strategy Design

• Develop a robust campaign strategy aimed at:
  • Shifting public and political narratives
  • Mobilizing diverse constituencies
  • Influencing policy processes
  • Building sustained public pressure for land governance reforms.
• The strategy should prioritize:
  • Protection of communal land rights
  • Prevention of land grabbing
  • Promotion of agroecology as a pathway to healthy soils, climate resilience, and food sovereignty.

4. Expected Deliverables

The consultant will be expected to deliver the following outputs:

1. Inception Report
   • Detailed work plan, methodology, and stakeholder engagement approach.
2. Background Paper
   • A comprehensive, well-referenced paper linking land tenure security, food sovereignty, and ecological soil restoration as the foundation of the campaign.
3. Campaign Strategy Package, including:
   • Strategic framework and advocacy roadmap of the campaign
   • Three-year implementation plan
   • Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) framework
   • Branding and communications toolkit.
4. Validation and Final Outputs
   • Validation meeting and report
   • Final (approved and launched) campaign strategy
   • Translated background paper and campaign strategy (English French).

5. Proposed Methodology

The consultancy is expected to apply a mixed-method approach, integrating doctrinal analysis and participatory techniques, including:

• Desk Review of scholarly literature, policy documents, and AFSA materials (Agenda 2063, AU Land Governance Strategy, Malabo Commitments, etc.);
• Participatory Research and human-centred design approaches through virtual FGDs with farmers, pastoralists, women, youth, and Indigenous communities;
• Key Informant Interviews with policymakers, CSOs, traditional leaders, land and agronomy professionals, AFSA Land working group, regional bodies, and funders;
• Stakeholder Consultations and Co-creation Workshops;
• Iterative Drafting and Validation with the AFSA Secretariat and steering committee.

 8. Submission Requirements

Kindly submit here your brief details here (https://forms.gle/gboWrxyGe7zrSE8cA) within 5 days (or not later than May 13). Please don’t attach CVs, technical proposals, financial proposal at this stage. We’ll invite selected candidates to submit these 1 week after the closing date.

Please feel free to reach out to me via admin@afsafrica.org if you require any clarification.

We look forward to receiving your proposal and potentially working together to advance land justice, agroecology, and ecological restoration across Africa.

In this special episode of The Landscape, the entire Center for Western Priorities team joins us for an interview with Jennifer Rokala, CWP’s outgoing executive director, to celebrate her 11 years leading the organization. Jen reflects on key victories throughout her tenure at CWP, the organization’s evolution as a communications-driven conservation hub, and her advice for Aaron as he steps into the role of executive director.

Plus, the team talks about the best food in the West. Here are the restaurants mentioned during this episode:

• Hot Tomato Pizza – Fruita, Colorado
• Bin 707 – Grand Junction, Colorado
• Eegee’s – Tucson, Arizona
• Taco Party – Grand Junction, Colorado
• Rome Station – Rome, Oregon
• BirdHouse – Page, Arizona

News

• Emails Show How Interior Dept Delivered New Drilling Permits for Burgum’s Billionaire Ally — Public Domain
• Shared ground: Coalition forms to promote affordable housing on public lands — Deseret News
• Solar ranch aims to prove grazing cattle under the panels is a farmland win-win — Los Angeles Times

Resources

• Housing and conservation experts agree: Public lands can’t solve the housing crisis. Here’s what can — Center for Western Priorities via Substack
• Watch this episode on YouTube 

Produced by Aaron Weiss, Lauren Bogard, Kate Groetzinger, and Lilly Bock-Brownstein
Feedback: podcast@westernpriorities.org
Music: Purple Planet
Featured image: Center for Western Priorities team

The post Jennifer Rokala on 11 years fighting for public lands at CWP appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

May 4, 2026: Read letter from San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, Greenaction, California Environmental Justice Coalition and allies demanding closure of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant

Click Here to Read The Letter to Senator Laird