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After Bill Pulte’s appointment, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) has conspicuously failed to join the chorus of Democrats and Republicans calling for reforms to FISA that would protect privacy and democracy itself. Pulte’s history of weaponizing the government against President Donald Trump’s political enemies was jarring enough to move previous opponents of FISA privacy protections, like Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), to explicitly call for “reforms to ensure Americans’ privacy and rights are protected.” On the other hand, Warner, who is negotiating with Republicans and the Trump administration to renew FISA, has only commented on how bad Pulte is and notably stopped short of saying anything about FISA reform. This is particularly telling considering Warner’s history of promising future reforms to get FISA renewed and failing to deliver.

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

“Sen. Warner’s opposition to Bill Pulte masks the fact that he is still the Democrats’ chief advocate for handing over unchecked spying powers to the Trump administration. Pulte obviously must go, but he’s also proof that this administration is eager and willing to use the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as a weapon. If Trump pulls Pulte, he can easily appoint another eager goon to fill the slot. By focusing on Pulte and not broader reforms, Sen. Warner is not standing up for Americans or the Constitution, he is disguising his work to engineer warrantless mass surveillance against us. We know this because he’s been doing it publicly for months. An unprecedented, bipartisan movement is demanding privacy reforms but Sen. Warner’s machinations threaten to derail this progress and hand Trump the surveillance powers he needs to threaten Americans and democracy itself for the rest of his administration.”

A robust set of resources on the need for privacy reforms for FISA are available here and here, and additional background, context, polling, reform demands, resources and other information is available here. A video on Pulte from Jessica Craven can be found here and a sample of the ways FISA has been used to wrongfully target protesters, journalists, politicians and others is available here.

Lydia Larce has what she calls “storm PTSD.”

The elected officials behind 2025’s failed public lands sell-off attempts – Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-UT-02) – introduced a joint resolution to undo the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Management Plan using the Congressional Review Act (CRA). 

If both chambers of Congress pass the measure by simple majority votes, the plan – which sets expectations for how these remarkable public lands will be managed for recreation, camping and outdoor access, collaboration with Tribal Nations, dark night skies, grazing, and other uses – will be undone and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will be barred from issuing another plan that is “substantially the same” in the future. This would be a devastating blow to the monument and could turn it into a wildly different place. We cannot let this happen. 

View our StoryMap and learn more

• Visit our action page and email your members of Congress, telling them to vote NO on the joint resolution. 

• Reach out to your friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues who you know also love the redrock, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and southern Utah. Send them a link to our action alert and encourage them to join our email list too!

• Share this action on social media – be sure to tag our accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and TikTok. 

• Call your Representative and both of your Senators (find office numbers here), saying something along the lines of: “Hi my name is _____, and I’m a constituent from ______. I am calling to urge you to vote NO on the Congressional Review Act Resolution targeting the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument management plan.  The monument — a crown jewel of America’s public lands and a place like nowhere else in the world — should be protected for its rich biodiversity, unique geology, and remarkable cultural values. The resolution to disapprove the plan puts everything that is special about Grand Staircase-Escalante at risk. Please vote NO. Thank you.”

• If you live outside of Utah, reach out to a member of SUWA’s Grassroots Organizing Team to get more involved and find out if your member of Congress is one who could cast a deciding vote.  

• View and share our Grand Staircase-Escalante StoryMap.

• Watch our recent Virtual Rally for Grand Staircase-Escalante and learn about ways to take effective action from wherever you live.

• If you’re able, consider financially supporting SUWA. Our members and supporters make our work possible. 

• If you’re looking for another way to participate, we encourage you to get creative! We’re seeking artistic works for use in an interactive map for Grand Staircase-Escalante. Create something new or share a piece you’ve already made. This can range from short stories about your experiences in the monument, to quick sketches, to your favorite photographs! Email files to loveforgse@suwa.org. 

For over 40 years, SUWA and the nationwide Protect Wild Utah movement have worked tirelessly to protect wilderness-quality lands, including the monument. That work continues, undeterred.  Thank you for standing with us at this critical moment.  

View Our “Love for Grand Staircase-Escalante” StoryMap of Art Submissions

The post Actions You Can Take to Defend Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument appeared first on Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

By: Green Knowledge Foundation

Nigeria’s growing waste crisis is no longer just an environmental concern; it is also a major socio-economic and public health challenge. From the bustling Alaba International Market in Lagos and Igbudu Market in Warri to places such as Ojota, Ajah, Epe, Akpakpava, and Gwagwalada, heaps of unmanaged waste continue to accumulate in open spaces, drainage channels, markets, and dumpsites. 

The majority of this waste is biodegradable and decomposes, releasing methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide. Beyond its environmental consequences, poor management of organic waste contributes to many challenges like disease outbreaks from poor sanitation, flooding, reduced productivity, e.g. Waste workers falling sick, leachate that affects ground water and also farm products etc and lost economic opportunities that arise from zero waste approaches to waste management. Yet, hidden within these waste streams is a valuable resource capable of creating jobs, improving soil health, supporting local agriculture, and driving a more circular and sustainable economy.

Organic waste, which includes food waste, agricultural residues, slaughterhouse waste, and other biodegradable materials, makes up a significant percentage of Nigeria’s municipal solid waste stream. When improperly managed, this waste decomposes anaerobically, emitting methane into the atmosphere and contributing significantly to climate change. 

Yet, beyond the climate implications of organic waste, there is a deeper human story, stories of poverty, health challenges, negative stigma, inequality, weak infrastructure, and other socio-vulnerabilities.

Many Nigerian communities are heavily dependent on informal waste workers. Waste pickers play a crucial role in recovering recyclable materials and diverting waste from dumpsites, often under dangerous and unregulated conditions. Their contribution to reducing landfill pressure and methane emissions is significant, yet they remain largely invisible in policy discussions. 

A visit to the Olusosun Landfill in Lagos or the Gosa Dumpsite will reveal the critical work these informal waste pickers do. At the Gosa dumpsite, once the disposal trucks finish dumping waste, waste pickers begin sorting and collecting, and, in no time, the waste is reduced to items with little or no value. For many, this might be seen as undignified work, without the social protections needed, but for the waste pickers working here, it means feeding their families.

According to the World Bank, poorly managed waste disproportionately affects vulnerable and low-income communities, contributing to flooding, disease transmission, respiratory problems from waste burning, and adverse economic impacts.

Sadly, many Nigerian communities have a bad habit of burning waste, and where organic waste is openly burned or dumped, methane emissions are often accompanied by toxic smoke and foul odours that threaten both environmental and human health.

The social stigma, and the economic burden carried by informal waste workers, is particularly alarming. Many have suffered injuries from landfill fires, exposure to hazardous waste, and long-term health complications due to unsafe working conditions. Informal waste workers face forced evictions from informal settlements near dumpsites (e.g. Karu axis in Abuja), without access to social protection or alternative livelihoods. Despite contributing to recycling and climate mitigation efforts, they are often excluded from government planning and investment opportunities.

Environmental activist Wangari Maathai once stated, “The environment and the economy are really two sides of the same coin.” This reality is evident in Nigeria, where environmental degradation from poor waste management directly impacts livelihoods, healthcare costs, food systems, and community wellbeing.

Methane reduction presents not only an environmental opportunity but also an economic one. Investments in composting, source segregation, Black Soldier Fly (BSF) Farming and other specialised organic waste management systems can create jobs, strengthen local economies, and improve public health outcomes. Speaking on climate action, Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, emphasised that “Cutting methane is the strongest lever we have to slow climate change over the next 25 years.” For Nigeria, this means that addressing organic waste management must become a national priority within both climate and development policies.

Civil society organisations like GAIA, GKF and a host of other GAIA members across Nigeria are increasingly advocating for zero-waste systems, an all-inclusive system for waste management. 

Solving Nigeria’s methane challenge requires more than technical solutions. It demands a socio-economic approach that recognises the dignity of waste workers, invests in green infrastructure such as MRFs, and empowers communities of farmers, waste pickers, and other critical stakeholders.

This is why the MAMRN project is unique, it recognises that organic waste should no longer be treated with kid’s gloves.

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

The post Social-Economic Perspectives on Organic Waste and Methane Emissions in Nigeria first appeared on GAIA.

“In Las Vegas, one of the fastest warming cities in the country, you cannot live without electricity,” said protest organizer Leslie Vega, who said she’s lost loved ones to heatstroke.

Rebecca Pearce is building a model of something nobody can see: the intense heat trapped kilometres beneath Canada. It’s also a model of a better future for all. 

Pearce is a geophysicist and the science lead for the Cascade Institute’s Ultradeep Geothermal program. She studies a resource tucked so deeply out of sight that most people don’t realize it’s there. Pearce is modelling an inexhaustible zero-carbon resource that could power Canada’s prosperity for generations. 

“Geothermal energy is our next energy revolution,” she says. She and her Cascade Institute colleagues have conducted research and published reports demonstrating that existing Canadian technology and expertise (inherited from the oil and gas industry) can quickly spark big advances in geothermal.  

The Cascade Institute studies the polycrisis: the tangled web of compounding climate, energy, economic and geopolitical crises we’re living through. The Institute identifies high-leverage interventions (well-timed nudges that can ripple outward to address numerous problems at once) and works with governments and frontline actors to act on them. Geothermal energy is among the most promising of those interventions.  

Just as multiple crises can interact and snowball in pernicious cascades, so too can the right intervention at the right time spark a virtuous cascade of improvement toward a better future.  

Research shows that geothermal energy can significantly ease some of the pressures straining the global energy system while accelerating the shift to clean energy sources in response to climate change.  

Pearce aims to translate the complex geophysics of geothermal into language that resonates with the policymakers and communities who stand to benefit from it. To that end, she delivered an impassioned TEDx Talk at Royal Roads University in 2025: 

 “Beneath us lies an infinite supply of heat,” she says in the talk. Energy from just the top 10 kilometres of crust, she explains, “could supply our current global energy needs for over 200 million years.” 

Pearce has chased underground heat round the planet since pursuing her PhD at University College London. She is an expert in applied magnetotellurics (think X-rays for the ground, which allow scientists to locate geothermal hotspots deep below the surface). 

“Geothermal can truly be found anywhere,” says Pearce, who lives in Victoria, BC.  

Her fascination with the underground began early, during childhood hours spent gazing at the Royal Ontario Museum’s volcano exhibit. She was fascinated by the hidden forces that shoved continents together and pushed up mountains.  

Although the geophysics Pearce pursues is complex, the basic principles behind geothermal energy are simple: heat from underground makes steam, which spins a turbine to make electricity. It’s similar in that regard to oil and gas, with a key differentiator—geothermal doesn’t burn anything, so there are no emissions. The power is constant and clean.  

The heat beneath Canada, and much of the world, has been largely inaccessible until recent advances have made geothermal both widely achievable and affordable.  

But there’s a problem: large swaths of Canada’s underground remain unmodelled. Without a model, there’s no government support, no drilling, no progress.  

The goal, Pearce says, is for the model to be “akin to a wind or solar map, so we can illustrate to policymakers that geothermal resources exist across Canada.” 

Pearce and her Cascade Institute colleagues will be part of the World Geothermal Congress, which is being held this June in Calgary. Hosting the event on Canadian soil is a rare opportunity to showcase the incredible potential for geothermal energy in the country.  

Pearce points out that in 2023, the world invested $2 billion in geothermal technology; wind power, by comparison, received $200 billion That kind of money could have funded 400 full-scale geothermal demonstration projects, Pearce says, “but we currently have four.”  

“Geothermal isn’t failing us,” she told her TEDx audience. “We are failing geothermal.” 

Pearce is convinced this can change, and that Canada is unusually well-placed to change it. The country’s decades of oil and gas drilling expertise transfer almost directly to geothermal. She hopes to change that, and believes geothermal energy is on the cusp of a boom for those who seize the opportunity.   

“It will sustain us for thousands of generations to come,” she says. “That is our return on investment.”