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August 15, 2025 – On July 29, 2025, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced a proposal to rescind the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding. This finding specifically states that greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, that are produced by vehicles and polluters are critically dangerous to human health. These and other greenhouse gases are considered air pollutants under the Clean Air Act (CAA) by the Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA (2007). 

Simply put, the Supreme Court considered empirical scientific data on climate change when forming the Massachusetts opinion, not solely legal reasoning. This is a critical nuance as it considers the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases to be much more than a political ploy. As such, in 2007, the Court determined that the EPA has a legal duty to act because the emissions of greenhouse gases harm human health and fuel climate change. Today, Administrator Zeldin actively denies that climate change is an imminent danger to the American public. But, from disastrous floods to devastating wildfires, the immediate impacts of climate change pose a public health crisis right in front of our faces. 

The “Climate Chaos Plan” to repeal the endangerment finding would not only give polluters a free pass, but would subject the general population to a significantly decreased quality of life. The proposed rescission is technically legal, but without the ability to formally recognize threatening pollutants for what they are, the EPA won’t have authority to regulate them under the CAA. This is an outright denial of critical scientific data compiled by esteemed scientists around the globe. Trump and Zeldin’s plan ignores basic pillars of human health and the ongoing climate crisis, all to ensure polluting facilities stay in business. If passed, this “Climate Chaos Plan” will ultimately allow the fossil fuel industry to emit greenhouse gases at mass rates, putting the general population at further risk. These risks include more respiratory illness (both chronic and acute), catastrophic wildfires, and disease-carrying insects, as well as less safe drinking water.

Trump and Zeldin’s plan drastically contradicts the EPA’s core purpose. Where the goal once was to protect the public from climate change, the current administration has manipulated the narrative. Stripping away cornerstone protections on public health and climate change to allegedly save a quick buck is not in the best interest of the population nor the environment. The plan will not provide the economic opportunity it alleges. Instead, it will drive up the costs of everyday goods, healthcare, and energy. 

Your health should not be up for debate. Take action today to protect your family’s future from the “Climate Chaos Plan.” The EPA is holding mandatory public comment hearings on the proposed rule on August 19 and 20, 2025, and a potential additional session on August 21, 2025. To register, email EPA-MobileSource-Hearings@epa.gov. The public comment period for written comments ends on September 15, 2025. 

The majority of countries, including the Pacific Small Island Developing States, the European Union, and champion countries in Latin America and Africa, are aligned in key provisions to address the plastic pollution crisis across the life cycle—such as addressing plastic production, banning toxic chemicals, and setting clear financial mechanisms for implementation. Yet, a handful of oil and plastic-producing countries—Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the United States, among others—have gotten away with obstructing the process, which has been fixated on an unachievable consensus. If ambitious nations want to stop the endless loop of blocked deals, they must find a new path to advance the negotiations.

Despite a lack of space for interventions and restricted access throughout the process, Indigenous Peoples, frontline and fenceline communities, waste pickers, workers, scientists, and civil society have consistently brought their views into the heart of these corporate-heavy negotiations. Their knowledge, experience, and expertise have been instrumental in shifting the narrative on plastic pollution from a narrow focus on marine litter to a widespread affirmation that plastic pollutes throughout its entire life cycle. Their work highlighted countries’ duty to place human health and human rights at the core of the treaty negotiations.

As delegates leave Geneva, observers emphasize the need for a clear and effective process moving forward that ensures the majority of countries can work together to fulfill the mandate that brought them here - to protect the world and future generations from plastic pollution. The last ten days have seen a majority of countries finding further alignment on key elements for an effective treaty, and rejecting a weak treaty text; they must now turn their words into collective and decisive action. Meanwhile, the fight against plastic pollution continues in various forms across the world. Frontline communities are challenging - including through legal avenues - harmful facilities and practices, such as petrochemical production and expansion, incineration, and waste colonialism. NGOs and communities, together with local authorities and (small) businesses, are supporting strong regulatory frameworks at the national and local level, while implementing zero-waste solutions, including reuse and refill systems, paving the path towards a future free from plastic pollution. 

Break Free From Plastic members react to the end of the Plastics Treaty INC-5.2:

Fabienne McLellan, Managing Director, OceanCare (Switzerland), said:

“Despite the disappointing outcome, these negotiations have shown both the best and worst of multilateral diplomacy. We witnessed passionate efforts from over 120 countries – including progressive leaders like Colombia, Panama, Fiji, the UK and the EU – standing firm for science-based measures against enormous pressure from the petrochemical states. The process itself resembled climate COPs more than traditional environmental agreements, with the same fierce resistance from vested interests but also remarkable determination from the majority to push for real action. What's encouraging is that this has built coalitions and raised global awareness about plastic pollution in ways we've never seen before.”

Larisa Orbe, Acción Ecológica México (México), said: 

“Organizations that see the impact of plastic pollution on communities and nature every day will not stop. We will continue to fight for a plastic-free world by promoting policies in our countries that protect us and we are ready to continue supporting our governments in making the best decisions. The last few years have been a great learning experience for the organizations that have followed the negotiations. We are prepared to continue fighting and making progress so that future generations of all living beings can live in a world free of plastics.”

Jo Banner, Co-Founder, The Descendants Project (U.S.), said: 

“Although the current round of negotiations to establish a plastics pollution treaty is a failure, it is a step forward on the path to developing an instrument that will protect frontline communities. Fenceline communities, like mine in “Louisiana’s Cancer Alley,”  suffer immensely from the extraction and production of plastic. It is encouraging to see the majority of countries listening to our interventions and pushing back against petrostates that are aiming to drown us in trash and smother us with toxic chemicals by continuing their advocacy for plastic production. Yet, fenceline community members are still here, more passionate than ever to do their part in establishing an effective treaty. Now it is time for Member States to do theirs. Our movement will only grow stronger as we continue to engage with scientists, finance experts, Indigenous knowledge holders, and other frontline advocates, demanding a stop to plastic production. It is time to break the chains of the modern-day slavery of plastic and free communities who have lived with the sacrifice of their human rights for too long.”

Pui Yi Wong, Researcher at  Basel Action Network (Malaysia), said: 

“This process of negotiation at the plastics treaty INCs is fundamentally flawed. The same arguments have been repeated for more than two years, with no convergence in sight. We should not waste any more precious time and resources doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome. The process must be changed, including the consideration of voting for decision-making. The plastic crisis is worsening every second. Importantly for the Global South, millions of kilograms of plastic waste continue to be exported to low-income countries, overwhelming their domestic waste management systems. Several Global South countries had called for prior notification and consent for all plastic waste exports in the treaty agreement, but their demands had been ignored by other member states. This, coupled with no controls on the transparency of chemicals nor planned phase-out of hazardous chemicals, exposes recipient countries and communities to serious harms.”

Rico Euripidou, Chemicals and Campaign Support, groundWork South Africa (South Africa), said: 

“Plastic harms health along its whole life cycle. In particular, the chemicals added to give plastics their properties are where the scientific evidence of the health harms of plastics is strongest. To address the most harmful of these chemicals routinely added to plastics and plastics  products, traceability and tracking of these chemicals must be a mandatory requirement alongside elements to measure the health harms in the future treaty.”

Additional reactions from BFFP members and allies (including additional countries and languages) are being added here.

 

The last 24 hours

The INC-5.2 negotiation process had many flaws and persistent challenges, as demonstrated by the INC Chair’s surprising statement shortly before midnight on what was supposed to be the final scheduled day of negotiations—following hours of delay that left country ministers, delegates, and observers alike waiting and in the dark—wherein he announced that the meeting would be adjourned until a time “to be determined” the following day. Plenary reconvened at 5:30 am with limited advance notice—running the spirits of small delegations from the Global South at a complete and utter loss. The Chair also mentioned that the session would be adjourned after observer interventions, but then adjourned it without doing so—continuing the trend of limited participation for civil society, scientists, wastepickers, and Indigenous Peoples throughout the negotiations. 

###

 

Notes to the editor

• PR translations in several languages will be available here in the next approx 12 hours.
• Photos and videos are available here
• POPLites Daily INC-5.2 Summary here 
• Events to feature:
  • Actions + Press Conferences by BFFP Members and allies
    • Action: “Fix the process. Keep your promise. End Plastic Pollution.”
    • Action opposing the INC Chair’s (first) new draft text 
    • Press conference before the penultimate plenary (which was supposed to be the final plenary)
  • Indigenous Peoples Day press conference
  • Waste Picker press conference
  • Greenpeace “oil” action & banner drop outside of the Palais
  • Press conferences and/or other actions
    • Civil Society press conference
    • GAIA Global South press conference
• (1) CIEL Analysis numbers: The  Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) has been tracking how many fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists registered to participate in each round of Plastics Treaty negotiations, beginning at INC-3 in Nairobi, Kenya, and found at least 143 lobbyists at INC-3, 196 lobbyists at INC-4, 220 lobbyists at INC-5, and 234 lobbyists at INC-5.2. These estimates are likely conservative as only those lobbyists that openly disclose their connections were counted.

• What text will be negotiated next? Negotiators will revert back to the Busan text, as both texts presented by the Chair in Geneva were rejected.
• What happens to the INC Chair? The INC Chair is still in place. It’s an elected position.
• What's next for the negotiations? The negotiations will continue, but it’s unclear when and where. The bureau will need to meet and determine that (which is an elected body with representatives from the different UN member regions). Member States could also decide to leave this process altogether and do something different.

About BFFP — #BreakFreeFromPlastic is a global movement envisioning a future free from plastic pollution. Since its launch in 2016, more than 2,700 organizations and 11,000 individual supporters from across the world have joined the movement to demand massive reductions in single-use plastics and push for lasting solutions to the plastic pollution crisis. BFFP member organizations and individuals share the values of environmental protection and social justice and work together through a holistic approach to bring about systemic change. This means tackling plastic pollution across the whole plastics value chain – from extraction to disposal – focusing on prevention rather than cure and providing effective solutions. www.breakfreefromplastic.org.

• news@breakfreefromplastic.org 

Portland, OR | October 6-10, 2025

Sustainable Building Week offers a week of events to break down siloed thinking to improve cross-disciplinary education, connectivity, and future collaboration to promote sustainable practices and design across the city of Portland and beyond.

With planned educational events, plus partner events, SBW will increase the profile of sustainable building issues through outreach, advocacy, and education. A collaborative group of volunteer professional organizations and academic institutions has come together to provide a truly compelling program.

Calendar of Events

The post Sustainable Building Week first appeared on NW Energy Coalition.

The NW Energy Coalition’s Fall Clean & Affordable Energy Conference returns on December 3 at Portland State University. Join utility leaders, policymakers, advocates, and energy experts from across the region to explore solutions for a reliable, equitable, and decarbonized energy future. 

This year’s conference will dive into some of the most pressing challenges and opportunities in the Northwest’s energy transition. We will:

• Explore how to meet rapidly growing electricity demand while maintaining reliability, protecting affordability, and achieving carbon reduction targets.
• Examine strategies for strengthening community and utility resilience in the face of extreme weather and wildfire risks, with a focus on protecting public health and advancing local energy solutions.
• Share insights into the latest research and innovations in transmission planning, from efficiency upgrades to new line proposals, and the vital role of state and Tribal leadership in shaping these efforts from the start. 

Be part of this timely discussion and solutions-focused conversation in Portland this December. 

Join us for a reception on December 3 from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. following the main conference. 

NW Energy Coalition Members are encouraged to join us for the NWEC Member Meeting on December 2 from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. at Portland State University. Member reception will be from 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. that day. 

Sponsorship, scholarship, and volunteer opportunities are available. Please contact kasi@nwenergy.org.

Schedule

8:00 – 9:00: Registration and Networking Breakfast 

9:00 – 9:30: Welcome from NW Energy Coalition Executive Director, Tamara Kennedy 

9:30 – 10:50: Panel 1 – Extreme Weather Resilience and Utility System Preparedness 

10:50 – 11:20: Networking Break 

11:20 – 12:20: Table Top Discussion 

12:20 – 1:35: Lunch and Awards 

1:35 – 3:10: Panel 2 – Transmission Planning for a Modern, Reliable Grid 

3:10 – 3:40: Networking Break 

3:40 – 5:00: Panel 3 – Meeting Increasing Energy Demands in the Region 

5:00 – 7:00: Clean Energy Reception 

Panel 1: Extreme Weather Resilience and Utility System Preparedness 

Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, from wildfires to heat waves. This panel will look at how utilities and communities can work together to reduce wildfire risks, strengthen local energy projects, and maintain access to essential services during emergencies. Panelists will share approaches to balancing investments in clean energy goals with system planning that supports community resilience and public safety. 

Panel 2: Transmission Planning for a Modern, Reliable Grid 

Modernizing the Northwest’s transmission system is essential for meeting clean energy goals and ensuring reliable service. This panel will review recent efforts to plan for and improve transmission. Panelists will discuss what is needed, where upgrades are most critical, and how state and Tribal leadership can help guide these conversations early, before specific new transmission lines are proposed. 

Panel 3: Meeting Increasing Energy Demands in the Region 

Electricity demand in the Northwest is projected to grow faster than ever, raising questions about how to keep power reliable, affordable, and low-carbon. This panel will explore strategies for making the most of our existing infrastructure while adding new generation and transmission, managing costs for customers, and meeting state carbon reduction targets. Panelists will also discuss the roles of thermal generation, energy efficiency, demand management, distributed resources, and new renewables in meeting peak demand. 

The post Fall 2025 Clean & Affordable Energy Conference first appeared on NW Energy Coalition.

Zainab Abu Halib was only six-months old when she died in her mother’s arms on July 26, starved to death by Israel. At the time,  she weighed less than she did at birth. Another child murdered, born and killed in a world that is completely defined by a ruthless genocidal war. In the brutal clarity of her grief, Zainab’s mother Esraa spoke:

With my daughter’s death, many will follow. Their names are on a list that no one looks at. They are just names and numbers. We are just numbers. Our children, whom we carried for nine months and then gave birth to, have become just numbers.

Another life taken, another entire world destroyed.

The visible, ravaged humanity, and the deepening impact of the enforced starvation of Palestinians and the looming plans for the Zionist military’s full occupation in Gaza has provoked some criticism of Israel from some very unlikely corners. Individuals like Jeremy Ben-Ami, the head of the staunchly pro-Israel J Street this week admitted that now he is “convinced that Israel is committing genocide.” A number of prominent Israeli figures, including Avraham Burg, a former speaker of the Knesset and the head of an organization tasked with encouraging settlements, signed a letter calling for “crippling sanctions on Israel” because of Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of genocide. Others, from ex-attorney generals to prominent authors, have made similar public comments.

Here in the U.S., in the gaseous bowels of the Republican party, various GOP congresspeople—who hold nothing but contempt for Palestinians—have voiced support for more food aid.  Trump himself, shockingly, has called to “get the children fed” to alleviate the “real starvation.” Marjorie Taylor Greene—one of the most hardline of the parties’ far right, “America First,” MAGA wing—has come out to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide, and remarkably proposed a recent, failed, amendment to cut military aid to Israel’s missile “defense” system. None of these should be confused as allies, but the changes in their language reflect the intensity of the situation.

The changing imperial dynamics being hastened by Trump, along with the public outcry about the severely worsening conditions, has also led countries like France, the United Kingdom, and Canada to state that they would move to recognize a Palestinian state—in a month’s time. In lieu of swift action to achieve a ceasefire or attempts to resolve the humanitarian situation, these sage imperialist powers, many of whose colonial ambitions carved up the region of Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) to begin with, are making a symbolic move to recognize a two-state solution. China and the other BRIC countries have responded in similarly contradictory fashion, with some public condemenation while seeking to maintain their business and military ties to Israel. Of course, the path of a two-state solution has long been implausible, routinely rejected by a majority of Palestinians, and has merely been kept on life-support by Western liberals and soft Zionists who want to preserve an exclusionary Zionist ethnostate while giving lip service to Palestinian rights.

The contradictions and fractures among supporters of Israel, in Israeli society, and in imperialist political parties have driven some to pretend they have a semblance of a conscience when they  otherwise care nothing for the liberation of Palestine. Nonetheless, the starvation of Gaza is a dire situation demanding an expeditious resolution. Immediate aid is needed.

At the same time, an end to Israel’s barbaric starving of Palestinians is not enough to stop the genocide in Gaza. Starvation is but one component of the plan of genocide and ethnic cleansing that the Zionist entity has been carrying out on Palestinians since before 1948. Indeed, since Israel’s 2006 blockade of Gaza, the settler-colonial state has grotesquely been calibrating and facilitating hunger within the concentration camp. The calculation of calories, connected to shipments allowed in, had as its goal, as described by an advisor to then-prime minister Ehud Olmert: “ to put the Palestinians on a diet.” For years before October 7, 2023 many international humanitarian groups routinely warned of the impending “uninhabitable”conditions in Gaza. By December 2023, per the UN, 80 percent of those people in the world experiencing catastrophic hunger lived in Gaza. That “diet” has now become starvation.

Control of food is also applied by Israel to the West Bank, from the dividing up of Palestinian agricultural areas, the destruction of orchards, the attempts to restrict the olive harvest, and the control of over 85 percent of the West Bank’s water. Israel also controls the tax revenue collected in the West Bank and often refuses to turn it over to the Palestinian Authority, thus purposefully starving the West Bank of access to resources. At least $1.25 billion has been withheld from the territory by Israel since October of 2023. The current starving of Gaza is a macabre continuation and escalation of these politics of settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing across historic Palestine.

The current focus of concern with the active starving of children in Gaza is depressingly welcome, just as it is criminally belated and too often skips over the role of the West and the U.S. in creating the very situation over which many are now acting surprised. Many of the same individuals who called those of us who marched and rallied to end the genocide in Gaza “antisemitic”are now admitting the genocide. To be clear, while we should wholly welcome those of our neighbors and co-workers who may, just now, be coming around to call Israel’s actions a genocide, our attitude toward the Israeli apologists in power should be nothing but scorn and contempt.

The current focus of concern with the active starving of children in Gaza is depressingly welcome, just as it is criminally belated and too often skips over the role of the West and the U.S. in creating the very situation over which many are now acting surprised.

The current forced famine is a joint project of Israel and the U.S. ruling classes. It was Biden, rallying the majority of the major Western countries behind him who cut funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in retaliation for the International Court of Justice finding that Israel was committing genocide. UNRWA was the primary humanitarian agency in Gaza with over 2 million people depending on it for their sheer survival. The U.S., and much of the West, endorsed the position of forced famine. Biden then rejected and buried internal reports that Israel was restricting aid.  The UN and nearly every international aid organization issued warnings about the campaign of deliberate mass starvation.  And yet the aid that the U.S. has happily delivered is billions upon billions ($18 billion just from October 2023-October 2024) of weapons to Israel used to murder Palestinians and raze homes, hospitals, and schools.

The U.S.-backed dismantling of UNRWA, its arming and supporting of the Israeli assault on Gaza, and the maintaining of the border by the Egyptian client state have led to the dire condition we see now. The joint US-Israeli Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) brings in a pitiful fraction of food aid needed. Run by a pro-Trump, Christian Zionist evangelical, the measly aid is administered under such fierce control that U.S. mercenaries and Israeli troops round up hungry Palestinians forced into the caged corrals to accept food and routinely open fire, killing roughly 1,400 Palestinians at aid centers since May of 2025. The number of roughly 400 aid distribution locations operated by UNRWA has dropped to an astonishing three or four. One ex-GHF contractor likened the aid operation to the sci-fi novel “Hunger Games.” These handful of sites located in the south of Gaza act as deadly bait to draw hungry and desperate Palestinians into what Gaza’s Government Media Office calls “weaponized humanitarian corridors.” This is part of the Israeli occupation plans to ethnically cleanse Gaza and the West Bank.

As this article is being written, Netanyahu is moving to escalate the situation further with the initiation of plans for the military occupation of all of Gaza. This corresponds with the desire of the fascist settler movement to deepen its campaign to expel Palestinians, steal Gazan land, and construct Jewish settlements. In the West Bank this means using the terroristic violence of armed settlers in conjunction with the Israeli military, working towards further annexation at a fever pitch. Israel has also made raids, led by the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, on the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam.

Alleviating the starvation is essential; at the same time, it cannot be separated from the genocidal project that Israel is carrying out with the support, backing, and contribution of the United States. Disconnecting those two elements lets those in marble halls of power who are complicit off the hook.

It is the staunch U.S. bi-partisan support for Israel that has made this genocide possible. Democratic party politicians, who supported Biden and his policies, or rallied support for them behind lies—like the claim that Harris was “working tirelessly for ceasefire”—are complicit. Of the 44 Democrat senators who implored Trump to send more humanitarian aid, nearly half of them couldn’t even vote for a recent resolution put forward by Bernie Sanders to restrict the sale of specifically “offensive weapons” to Israel. In the House, even beloved liberals like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, in an act of characteristic cowardice, refused to vote on the amendment to divest Israel of money used on its Iron Dome missile system. We should also  remember the police repression carried out by Democratic party mayors to suppress the encampments on university campus calling for ceasefire of the genocide.

It is the staunch U.S. bi-partisan support for Israel that has made this genocide possible. … While immediate relief is desperately needed, we should be wary and hold as enemies those in power whose concern is merely cover for their continued support of genocide.

Beware those who may cry crocodile tears about the death of Gaza’s children by enforced hunger while they plot and fund their murder with bombs and guns, drones and planes. While immediate relief is desperately needed, we should be wary and hold as enemies those in power whose concern is merely cover for their continued support of genocide.  As writer Nisha Atalie wrote of resisting the starving a year ago: “We must learn to nourish ourselves on built solidarity rather than on the promises of liars.” In contrast with the actions of the world’s states, we have witnessed the courageous efforts of regular people, including the Freedom Flotilla activists attempting to sail aid to Gaza despite the forcible blockade by Israel’s army. We see the massive attempt of the Sumud Convoy of activists, from all across the Maghreb, to drive to the Rafah crossing stymied by Egyptian and Libyan police. We celebrate the brave sabotaging of weapons manufacture by the activists of Palestine Action. We praise the refusal of dock workers in France, Greece, Italy, and elsewhere to load or unload ships carrying Israeli weapons. We hold up the trend of Egyptian activists in the Netherlands and elsewhere padlocking embassy doors and Egyptian police stations to protest Egypt’s role in locking in the people of Gaza.

Continuing to build a movement for Palestine in the U.S. is of the utmost importance. During the rebellion against ICE in Los Angeles, we saw solidarity in the form of the flags of Mexico and Palestine being waved amidst the smoke and rage. Deepening this connection between the Palestine movement and the broader resistance against Trump and the current U.S. state is not only more possible now it greatly strengthens both. It can serve to even further deepen popular support for the Palestinian struggle while simultaneously helping to bring more of the political clarity about the bipartisan nature of the U.S. imperialist project, into the broader resistance.

Deepening this connection between the Palestine movement and the broader resistance…can serve to even further deepen popular support for the Palestinian struggle while simultaneously helping to bring more of the political clarity about the bipartisan nature of the U.S. imperialist project.

The repression of the Palestine movement is one of the key lines of attacks of political reaction and has been used to undermine all of our democratic rights. Bolstering Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, initiatives like the Apartheid Free Communities campaigns should be required in our organizing within the labor movement, communities, schools and universities; it is key to fostering political independence and sustaining and building the movement. When the protests and actions in the immediate term seem inadequate in the face of astonishing brutality and misery, they are critical to nourishing and strengthening our movements. These protests facilitate the longer term orientation that we need while retaining the fierce urgency of now given the dire and immediate need to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians.

It is astonishing that the world continues to turn while Gaza suffers. Genocide and starvation, decimation and murder. And yet while most of the world’s people sympathize or solidarize with Palestine, the world’s states have abandoned them or joined in their slaughter. The leaders don’t listen, our states aren’t our own, and our regimes need to fall. As pediatrician Dr. Omar Abdel-Mannan wrote of his work in Gaza: “The starvation of Gaza is not a glitch in the system; it is the system—a system that deems some lives worth mourning and others worth erasing, a system that needs to be torn down.” The necessity of liberation for Palestine has never been more urgent.

Free Palestine!

Long live the Intifada!

Glory to the martyrs!

An injury to one is an injury to all.

Opinions expressed in signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or the Tempest Collective. For more information, see “About Tempest Collective.”
Featured Image credit: Pedro Fanega; modified by Tempest.

The post “The starvation of Gaza is not a glitch in the system” appeared first on Tempest.

For the last dozen years, scientists have been on the hunt for a killer that has claimed billions of lives. They’ve finally found it.

In 2013, researchers from Olympic National Park reported what looked like a sea star massacre: ochre sea stars with limbs that had split off from their decaying bodies. It was the first of what soon became a coast-wide underwater epidemic stretching from Mexico to Alaska.

Within years, the mysterious condition, dubbed sea star wasting disease, had wiped out billions of sea stars. It was declared the largest known disease outbreak in the open ocean. The effects were both devastating and gruesome for more than 20 species. Sea stars broke apart, their arms crawling away seemingly in a failed attempt to escape before dissolving into goo.

Many-armed sunflower sea stars as big as bicycle wheels were some of the hardest hit, declining by 99% in U.S. coastal waters and earning the designation of “critically endangered” from the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Scientists struggled to figure out what was behind this devastation. Initial suspicions of a kind of virus proved wrong. Warming waters appeared to play a role, but that in itself couldn’t explain it.

Starting in 2021, Canadian and U.S. scientists mounted a massive, 4-year hunt to find the culprit. Last week, they announced the results in Nature Ecology & Evolution: a bacteria called Vibrio pectenicida, part of a family of particularly nasty pathogens known to cause everything from cholera to scallop-killing outbreaks.

The discovery is a critical first step in figuring out how to protect or restore sea stars, which are linchpins of many coastal ecosystems such as kelp forests. Those forests are in decline partly because they are being devoured by sea urchins, once prey to sea stars. “Now that we’ve identified the disease-causing agent, we can start looking at how to mitigate the impacts of this epidemic,” said Melanie Prentice, a scientist at the University of British Columbia involved in the research.

The sleuthing involved years spent painstakingly narrowing down the possible causes of the disease, much of it at a U.S. Geological Survey laboratory in Washington state equipped to handle waterborne diseases.

 

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First, scientists tried different ways of exposing healthy sea stars: they put them in tanks with infected ones; added water from tanks with sick sea stars; and injected the sea stars with tissue from infected ones. All approaches proved deadly. Of 50 healthy sea stars, 46 succumbed.

The researchers zeroed in on a substance called coelomic fluid, likened to sea star blood. When sea stars were injected with the fluid from an infected individual, they grew sick. But when they received a version that had been heat-treated to kill live organisms, they remained healthy.

When the DNA of the contents of coelemic fluid from healthy and sick sea stars was scrutinized, the sick ones contained a lot of DNA from the Vibrio bacteria.

“When we looked at the coelomic fluid between exposed and healthy sea stars, there was basically one thing different: Vibrio,” said Alyssa Gehman, a marine disease ecologist at the Hakai Institute and the University of British Columbia. “We all had chills. We thought, ‘That’s it. We have it. That’s what causes wasting.’”

As a final test, they refined a pure sample of the bacteria, then injected it into 6 sunflower sea stars, while another 6 received doses inactivated by high heat. The ones with the live bacteria all died, while the others all survived.

“This is the discovery of the decade for me,” said Drew Harvell, an ecologist with the University of Washington and author of several books about ocean life “What’s crazy is that the answer was just sitting right there in front of us. This Vibrio is a sneaky critter because it doesn’t show up on histology like other bacteria do.”

Other factors, such as heat, might still play a role. It’s not known how the disease first reached sea stars on this coast. But Vibrio bacteria generally thrive in warmer conditions. In fact, scientists have called them a “barometer of climate change.”

The new discovery doesn’t mean scientists will be able to find a “cure.” But it can help guide their work to find sea stars that are resistant to the disease. And researchers can now monitor for outbreaks in the wild by taking water or tissue samples. That might help them decide where to release lab-raised sea stars to give them the best chance of surviving.

“This finding opens up exciting avenues to expand the network of researchers able to develop solutions for recovery of the species,” said Jono Wilson, head of ocean science for The Nature Conservancy’s California chapter, which helped fund the research. “We are actively pursuing studies looking at genetic associations with disease resistance, captive breeding and experimental introduction of captively-raised stars back into the wild.”

Prentice, et. al. “Vibrio pectenicida Vibrio pectenicida strain FHCF-3 is a causative agent of sea star wasting disease strain FHCF-3 is a causative agent of sea star wasting disease.” Nature Ecology & Evolution. Aug. 4, 2025.

Image: Wasting cookie sea star near Calvert Island. courtesy of Grant Callegari/Hakai Institute

Let me tell you a story (with the assistance of ChatGBT5)—about barrels that weren’t and a blue-chip oil giant that treated “truth” like a rounding error.

In January 2004, Shell detonated its own credibility by admitting it had been wildly overstating what matters most in the oil game: proved reserves. How wildly? It began with a 3.9 billion-barrel “recategorisation” on 9 January 2004—about 20% of previously claimed reserves—and kept spiraling across multiple follow-ups until 4.47 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) (≈23%) had been pushed out of the “proved” column by May 24, 2004.

The U.S. SEC later said Shell also overstated its standardized future cash flows by about $6.6 billion and juiced a key KPI—its reserves replacement ratio—from a real 80% to an advertised 100% for 1998–2002. 

And then there’s the email—the one executives pray never sees daylight. On 9 November 2003, Shell’s head of Exploration & Production, Walter van de Vijver, wrote to chairman Sir Philip Watts:

“I am becoming sick and tired about lying about the extent of our reserves issues and the downward revisions that need to be done because of far too aggressive/optimistic bookings.”

That’s not a paraphrase. That’s the quote. From Shell’s own internal correspondence, exposed in 2004. 

Fallout: Resignations, Security Escorts, and a Collar

Within weeks of the first cut, the top brass were out. Sir Philip Watts and van de Vijver resigned in March 2004; CFO Judy Boynton was shown the door in April. The Guardian’s contemporaneous reporting is brutal; Reuters’ retrospectives confirm the timing and scope. 

And yes, Watts was escorted from Shell Centre by security—the humiliating capstone to the reserves fiasco, as later reported in the London Evening Standard. Then he pivoted: ordained in 2011 and serving as a Church of England priest thereafter. (The local press covered his parish posting in 2013.) 

Regulators to Shell: Pay Up, Fix It

Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic treated this as exactly what it looked like: a colossal misstatement.

• SEC (U.S.): Shell settled a fraud case over the 4.47bn boe overstatement, agreeing to a $120 million civil penalty, $1 disgorgement, and $5 million toward a compliance program. The SEC’s press release also details the RRR restatement (1998–2002: from 100% to 80%). 

• FSA (U.K.): Issued a Final Notice describing “market abuse” and “particularly serious” misconduct; fined Shell £17 million—a record at the time—and laid out damning chronology and control failures. 

For the legally inclined, the primary documents are still online—read them and weep (or rage):

• SEC Administrative Order & Complaint (overstatements, RRR fixes, $6.6bn standardized cash-flow overstatement): Order No. 34-50233 and the Houston complaint. 

• FSA Final Notice (24 Aug 2004) (the full market-abuse analysis): PDF. 

• Davis Polk & Wardwell Report to Shell’s Audit Committee (31 Mar 2004) (the internal probe Shell wished you wouldn’t read): Executive summary and tabs archived via SEC. 

The Payouts: When “We’re Sorry” Costs Nearly Half a Billion

Once investors lawyered up, Shell started writing checks:

• Non-U.S. investors: initial settlement $352.6m (2007); later the Amsterdam Court of Appeal declared a WCAMsettlement binding in 2009 for $381m. 

• U.S. class action: $89.5m approved in 2008 (District of New Jersey). Shell estimated the total tab for both to be ~$470m. 

What Broke (Besides Trust)

The SEC and FSA record lays it out: Shell’s internal reserves rules didn’t conform to SEC definitions; internal warnings about Nigeria, Oman, Brunei, and Australia (Gorgon) were waved off; and the desire to sustain heroic reserves-replacement optics drove decision-making. The FSA details how exposure catalogues showed billions of boe “at risk”before the public ever heard a word. 

Translation: This wasn’t one rogue estimate. It was a culture problem—with the paper trail to prove it.

Corporate Damage Control (a.k.a. Rebrand and Move On)

Shell promised new controls, overhauled reserves auditing, and governance reforms. Then, in a move not entirely unrelated to the reputational inferno, Royal Dutch and Shell Transport unified into a single parent—Royal Dutch Shell plc—by 2005. 

Greatest-Hits Headlines (Yes, These Are Real)

• “Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and the ‘Shell’ Transport and Trading Company, P.L.C. Pay $120 Million to Settle SEC Fraud Case Involving Massive Overstatement of Proved Hydrocarbon Reserves.” (SEC press release title) 

• “Shell’s shame: FSA spells out abuse.” (The Guardian) 

• “E-mail lifts lid on Shell scandal.” (Pinsent Masons / Out-Law) 

• “Shell Chairman Resigns Over Reserves Shock.” (NYT/Reuters report cited contemporaneously) 

• “Sick and tired about lying.” (The Economist’s headline—about that email)

• Shell Reserves Scandal 2004 (images)

Legal Documents & Core Source Links

• SEC press release (Aug. 24, 2004) – settlement, $120m penalty, $6.6bn standardized cash-flow overstatement, RRR restatement. 

• SEC Administrative Order No. 34-50233 (June 10, 2004) – 4.47bn boe recategorized Jan–May 2004; background and findings. 

• SEC Complaint (S.D. Tex., filed Aug. 24, 2004) – reclassification narrative and legal counts. 

• FSA Final Notice (Aug. 24, 2004) – £17m fine; “market abuse”; internal chronology. 

• Davis Polk & Wardwell Report to Shell’s Audit Committee (Mar. 31, 2004) – internal review structure, findings (archived via SEC). 

Key Context & Confirmations

• Van de Vijver email (“sick and tired of lying”) – reporting and extract. 

• Resignations – Reuters timeline; Guardian coverage; CFO exit. 

• Watts’ escorted exit & ordination – Evening Standard; Maidenhead Advertiser. 

• Non-U.S. and U.S. settlements – Reuters; Stanford Law Securities Class Action. 

Bottom Line (With Feeling)

Shell didn’t just “misplace” a few barrels. It inflated billions of them, then took a regulatory sledgehammer to the mess while trying to keep the optics of inexhaustible reserves and bulletproof growth. The paper trail shows internal warnings, a corrosive “scorecard” culture, and the now-infamous confession of being “sick and tired of lying.” Executives walked. Security walked one of them out. And the company wrote checks large enough to sting, but not large enough to change the past.

The next time you hear soaring promises about reserves, replacement ratios, or “trust us” disclosures, remember: they once over-counted by 4.47 billion boe and called it a recategorisation.

Related Domain Drama with Visual Flair

“Shell Tumbles Online: Billion-Barrel Lies, ‘Sick of Lying’ Emails—Then Loses Its Own Domain to a 90-Year-Old Veteran”

 Shell’s very own domain—RoyalDutchShellPlc.com—was never secured, and now serves up news of the company they can’t control, complete with disclaimers and unsolicited HR pitches.

Domain Name Drama: The Goliath vs. Donovan Showdown

As if the 4.47 billion-barrel reserves fiasco wasn’t enough of a face-palm, Shell committed an epic online blunder: failing to buy the domain that matched its merged corporate branding—RoyalDutchShellPlc.com. Instead, a U.K. anti-corporate crusader (and longtime critic), John Donovan, beat them to it. He registered the domain name and turned it into a watchdog site. ([Source site image above])

Sher followed up with a WIPO complaint in May 2005, accusing Donovan of registering the domain in “bad faith.” But neutrality won the day: WIPO ruled in Donovan’s favour—he’d used the domain for criticism, not profit, and Shell hadn’t even intended to use it themselves. (wipo.int)

Even crazier: internal communications disclosed that Shell never planned to use the domain themselves—yet still pursued legal action to strip it from Donovan. (royaldutchshellplc.com)

Donovan’s site now coped with everything from unsolicited Shell job applications to random harassment mail—because Shell’s legal muscle created a free-for-all. One highlighted offer from Shell’s own legal counsel?

“Maybe you should choose a domain and e-mail without the word ‘shell’ in it.”

That’s not satire—that’s the real correspondence. (royaldutchshellplc.com)

Why This Digital Farce Matters

• Biggest FAIL in branding: Shell couldn’t even secure a functional domain for its own new corporate identity.

• Legal petulance backfires: Shell sued without standing, reinforcing a sense of corporate entitlement.

• Crowning embarrassment: Shell lost the case. In front of WIPO and the public. Over a domain it never used.

• Everlasting irritant: Donovan’s site remains online—a permanent thorn in Shell’s digital side.

Working Links 

• WIPO Decision (D2005-0538): Shell’s dispute loss over RoyalDutchShellPlc.com — wipo.int

• Narratives from Donovan’s site detailing Shell’s domain battle and internal memos:

  • 2007 recap: royaldutchshellplc.com

  • 10th-anniversary reflection: royaldutchshellplc.com

  Why the Image Works

This pseudo-official banner, complete with “NOT a Shell website” disclaimer, visually nails the absurdity of the domain debacle. It adds a layer of dark corporate comedy and illustrates just how badly Shell misjudged the game—while Donovan sat back and played defense.

DISCLAIMER

This piece contains strong opinions and satirical commentary grounded in publicly available facts. All direct quotes are reproduced exactly from the cited sources.

The Day Security Escorted a disgraced Shell Group Chairman out of Shell’s HQ was first posted on August 13, 2025 at 12:53 pm.
©2018 "Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at john@shellnews.net

It is quite a remarkable moment in our history that the Canadian Labour Congress has found its voice over the genocide in Gaza. CLC President,...

The post Canadian Labour finding its voice on Palestine first appeared on Spring.

The planet-wrecking colossus known as Shell — proudly backed by Wall Street heavyweight BlackRock — just lost its $1.7 billion arbitration battle against Venture Global. The scrappy U.S. LNG upstart sold cargoes on the spot market for huge profits instead of delivering them to Shell under long-term contracts. Shell whined: “Trust in long-term contracts is the bedrock of the LNG industry.” Translation: “We’re fine making billions, but only if it’s on our terms.”

Venture Global, which banked nearly $7 billion in 2022–23, crowed: “We have consistently honored these agreements without exception.” The ruling leaves Shell sulking and the rest of us wondering if corporate karma actually exists — because for once, Big Oil didn’t win.

On Tuesday, an arbitration tribunal sided with scrappy U.S. LNG upstart Venture Global in its two-year slugfest with Shell — the same Shell that has spent decades wrapping its logo in friendly sunshine while leaving an oil-slicked trail of climate destruction behind. And to add a little irony seasoning to the schadenfreude, one of Shell’s biggest backers is none other than BlackRock — the asset management behemoth that loves talking about ESG while happily bankrolling the ultimate “sin stock.”

Here’s the gist: Shell thought it had locked in a sweet, long-term deal to buy LNG from Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass facility in Louisiana. But when Russia invaded Ukraine and gas prices skyrocketed, Venture Global decided to, ahem, “delay” delivering those contracted cargoes. Instead, it flogged them on the spot market for fat profits. Shell and friends — BP, Edison, Portugal’s Galp — claimed this was profiteering on steroids, to the tune of $6.7–$7.4 billion in total.

Shell alone wanted $1.7 billion from Venture Global. They got… nothing. Instead, the tribunal essentially told them to read the damn contract.

Venture Global smugly declared: “The plain language in our contracts, mutually agreed upon with all of our customers, is clear. We have consistently honored these agreements without exception.”

Shell, sounding like a jilted lover after being ghosted, moaned: “Trust in long-term contracts is the bedrock of the LNG industry and essential for continued investment and sustainable growth.” Translation: “We’re fine with fleecing the planet, but only if everyone plays by our rules.”

The bitterness has been personal. Shell’s top brass, including CEO Wael Sawan, have been publicly fuming for years. In 2023, Sawan called the whole thing “very unusual, and very disappointing.” (Not unlike Shell’s climate record, but we digress.)

The backstory only makes this sweeter: Shell’s early deal with Venture Global in 2016 basically put the company on the map. Big banks only piled in because Big Oil’s golden child was involved. Shell even quadrupled its orders later on. But when the market turned, Venture Global’s “unorthodox” business model — sell the most expensive gas to whoever will pay while telling contracted buyers to wait — proved a cash-printing machine.

Between 2022 and 2023, Venture Global raked in nearly $7 billion in net income while supposedly wrestling with “faulty electric systems” at Calcasieu Pass. By the time it finally started sending LNG to long-term buyers this April — more than three years after shipping its first cargo — it was already the second-largest U.S. LNG producer.

Investors? They’re conflicted. Venture Global’s IPO in January flopped from an ambitious $110 billion valuation down to a sad little $12-a-share reality. But the stock jumped 6% in after-hours trading after Tuesday’s ruling.

Meanwhile, Shell can console itself with the fact that it’s still drowning in profits from other ventures — oil spills, gas flaring, you know, the usual — while collecting cheques from its loyal institutional backers. BlackRock’s Larry Fink might not be thrilled about this specific loss, but rest assured: Shell’s sin-stock status remains firmly intact.

DISCLAIMER: This contains strong opinions and satirical commentary based on publicly available facts. All direct quotes are reported accurately from the original sources.

Shell Loses LNG Case to Venture Global was first posted on August 13, 2025 at 10:31 am.
©2018 "Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at john@shellnews.net

Biofuelwatch briefing about the impacts of irish government support for Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil

Tarbert Power Plant (currently burning Heavy Fuel Oil), Photo: Charles W. Glynn

Click here to download the full report

Summary:

Despite well-established fraud and sustainability concerns, the Irish government is pushing ahead with supporting HVO bioliquids as part of the solution for the country’s grid and heating. This is a retrograde step that harms the climate, rainforests and communities in Southeast Asia,, all while costing taxpayers money.

 

Headline News:

• “Ice Dam At Glacier Releases Floodwater Toward Downstream Homes” • A huge basin of rainwater and snowmelt dammed by Alaska’s Mendenhall Glacier is releasing, and residents in parts of Juneau are urged to evacuate ahead of flooding downstream. Last year, the Mendenhall River’s release flow was about half that of Niagara Falls. [ABC News]

Mendenhall River (Gillfoto, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped)

• “Casa Dos Ventos Selects Nextracker For 1.5 GW Of Solar Projects In Brazil” • Casa dos Ventos, known for its leadership in Brazil’s wind energy sector, is now including solar in its portfolio of renewables, part of a growing trend for Brazilian developers aiming to optimize projects. It awarded contracts for four solar projects totaling 1,563 MW. [CleanTechnica]
• “Use Of Plastics And Global Plastics Treaty Negotiations” • The world’s nations are convening at a UN conference in Geneva to negotiate a deal aimed at tackling plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. Many wish to reduce production and use of specific chemicals. Some oil-producing countries oppose these goals in favor of managing waste. [Euronews]
• “Rezolv Secures 731 MW In Romania CFD Auction” • Rezolv Energy has won three contracts for difference totalling 731 MW in Romania’s second renewable energy auction. The awards cover capacity from the 1,044-MW Dama Solar PV park in Arad County and the 300-MW Dunarea East wind farm in Constanța County. [reNews]
• “US Unlocks Frozen EV Charging Funds” • When the current US administration took office in January, one of the first things it did was impound all funds appropriated by Congress for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program. After fourteen states got a preliminary injunction, the Trump administration blinked and backed down. [CleanTechnica]

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

Agency speaks with the creators of The Elements of Mutual Aid, a new documentary series. 

The Elements of Mutual Aid is an exciting new docuseries project that received a Jen Angel Anarchist Media Grant from Agency and the Institute for Anarchist Studies in 2023. With the project recently having wrapped up the production stage, we were excited to connect with co-directors, Payton and Leah, to learn more about their inspiration, process, and plans for the upcoming release in 2026. Make sure to follow their work for updates on online availability and screenings in your area – website, instagram, kolektiva, kolektiva.media, youtube.

Agency: What inspired you to produce a 4-part docuseries about mutual aid, and what has the production process looked like?

Elements: The earliest ideas for the film began in 2018 when we facilitated the cross-country Mutual Aid Disaster Relief workshop tour. We got to travel with a group of comrades doing popular education and learning about community disaster responses. This experience deepened our understanding of mutual aid and revealed a lack of accessible multimedia resources on the topic.

With Leah’s journalism background and Payton’s experience in movement media, we felt compelled to create a project that would push the conversation about mutual aid to a deeper level. After considering a single film or several shorts, we decided on a four-part series. This format allowed us to explore different aspects of mutual aid through feature-length episodes, with the natural elements being a powerful container to help translate big themes.

We initially planned to start shooting in 2020, but the pandemic changed our plans. We stayed home, worked in our local mutual aid network, and refined the film’s concept. In 2022, we hit the road in our camper van and wrapped up shooting this year. Along the way, we’ve taken on an animator, a composer, an impact producer, and 18 groups “in association” with the film—including Agency!

Each chapter features 3-4 unique groups and a cast of individual narrators who tie everything together. We connected with most groups through personal relationships or social media, while others came by recommendation. Unfortunately, we couldn’t interview everyone we wanted, and some groups had to drop out. There are gaps in the narrative, as we couldn’t depict every type of mutual aid project from every perspective. However, as a two-person crew, we tried to include as many unique voices as possible.

Agency: You’ve mentioned filming in the “so-called United States,” Tijuana, and Puerto Rico, and even converting a van to contribute personal money to the project. How did this immersive lifestyle impact your understanding of mutual aid, and did it open doors to deeper connections with the communities you profiled?

Elements: It’s been important to us throughout this process to live our values as anarchists and not let film making distort the way we engage with people and their communities. Wherever we could, we spent time getting to know groups by breaking bread or getting our hands dirty alongside them before taking the cameras out. We usually spoke with groups for weeks or months ahead of shooting and tried to make sure that the groups themselves were also living in the values and not just defaulting to the most powerful voices.

When it was time to film, trust was everything. We didn’t want to make people feel like “subjects.” It’s been a big learning process and one that’s opened up some beautiful relationships that will long outlast this project. We’re not just making a film—we’re building family in the struggle.

Agency: Each episode of Elements of Mutual Aid is themed around one of the four elements—fire, earth, water, and air. How do these elements reflect the focus of each episode? What do you hope viewers will take away from each elemental theme?

Elements: The film opens with Fire where we talk about the history and context of the term. We describe its roots in Black and Indigenous communities, but also as a tactic that police and fascists use, too. We’re not the only people that mobilize the term, and it’s important to understand what we mean when we talk about it as anti-authoritarians. We use the phrase “insurrectionary mutual aid” to explicitly describe what we’re talking about—as the Panthers said, “survival pending revolution.”

Earth showcases how people are building infrastructure projects and takes a look at how communities can scale up across large regions to meet each other’s needs. Water goes deep into the wellspring of healing and care work that is required in order to achieve liberation. And Air wraps everything up by offering different perspectives on decision-making, formality, and permanence.

We believe the elements will help viewers connect with these ideas on a more intimate and spiritual level. After watching the full series, we hope that people feel more empowered to take part in mutual aid where they live in ways that are antagonistic toward the state—and not limited in their imagination to build toward liberation.

Agency: Were there specific instances during filming where the resilience or ingenuity of a mutual aid effort offered a particularly powerful counter-narrative?

Elements: In Los Angeles, a group called Reclaiming Our Homes has been locked in a fierce battle against the government and housing authorities since 2020. Inspired by Moms For Housing in Oakland, they used the model of occupying vacant homes to not only secure housing, but make a larger political condemnation of the real estate industry. The Reclaimers coordinated and seized 13 homes that had been sitting empty for decades after the California Transit Authority seized them in a failed highway expansion project. Most of the Reclaimers are elders and single mothers. With their extensive network, they reconnected water lines, set up generators, made repairs, furnished the houses, and organized rotating cop watches to keep them safe. They’ve been supported by dozens of community groups, including the El Sereno Community Land Trust, which has provided a roadmap for cooperative land stewardship and housing as a human right.

We followed them for a couple of weeks and captured powerful testimonies and moments of bravery. One Reclaimer, Benito Flores, tragically passed this year while defending his home. He was issued an eviction order and chose to stand his ground by erecting a tree sit on his property, from which he fell and died. Benito was killed by the callousness of the state, and his fire lives on in us as we continue his fight for dignity.

Agency: How do you think mutual aid can play a role in challenging the growing threats posed by authoritarian states that we are seeing in many parts of the world?

Elements: All states are authoritarian. Some have more power to use violence, but all nation-states are designed to have a monopoly of power to secure their borders, take natural resources, establish rule of law, and force the working class to keep everything afloat. Liberatory mutual aid is the opposite of the state mentality. Where the state tries to create a centralized power above, our understanding of mutual aid leads us to the conclusion that all states must be abolished and replaced by real people power—with decentralized networks of collective governance.

Mutual aid isn’t just about handing out food, medicine, or clothes to “those less fortunate.” It’s about building dual power—survival and community defense on our own terms as we fight to abolish the state. If we can learn to distribute resources at larger scales in ways that don’t rely on coercive labor relationships, are accessible, and decolonial, we can follow in the footsteps of others who have broken from the state like our fighting comrades in Rojava, Chiapas, and elsewhere.

Agency: Elements of Mutual Aid received a Jen Angel Anarchist Media Grant in 2023. How important have grassroots fundraising efforts been for this project, and what would you recommend to others looking to fund radical media projects?

Elements: We did! And we’re very grateful to be connected to Jen’s legacy and spirit. Grassroots fundraising is the only way this docuseries has been possible. The Jen Angel Grant is the only one we’ve ever been awarded since our material and distribution model are too extreme for most granters, which makes this grant all the more precious. Besides the grant, we’ve mostly relied on t-shirt sales and our relationships worldwide to make this possible. We reached out to people we knew, and people we’re inspired by, to establish our list of “in association” partners. We invited each partner to join us in creating this film by contributing things like promo, feedback, merch, connections, or cash. Having a cast of powerful allies who each contribute a little makes the process a lot more powerful.

We also took the time to bust our asses and hustled to self finance much of our work. We’d recommend anyone interested in doing a project like this to not just expect that money will come because you’re on the righteous path, but to get creative and hustle to make it happen—even if that means taking a less ambitious approach to the work. Limitations can actually lead to more creative solutions.

Agency: What are your plans for distributing and screening the docuseries? How can people get involved?

Elements: From the jump, we always agreed that the film would never be sold, we’d never get it trapped in the festival circuit, and we’d never stream it on a capitalist platform. There’s a growing number of awesome streaming sites that share some of our values like Cinema Politica, MeansTV, New Day Films, and Waterbear. But, we’ve ultimately decided to just throw it up on YouTube.

That decision ended up giving us a lot more freedom since we’re not held to the same production standards regarding “fair use” of content. News clips for instance will run upwards of $500 a piece, which we obviously could not afford. So, when we were planning to stream it, we were severely limited by the content we could legally rip from across the internet. Since deciding to demonetize it on YouTube, we’re cutting footage from all over with far less concern. As a backup, we’ll also host it on platforms like PeerTube, Archive.org, and PirateBay with less fear of it being deplatformed. Our goal is for the film to be available for free as fast and accessibly as possible.

Besides digital distribution, we’ll also be touring throughout 2026 taking the film back to many of the places it was shot in and a handful of other communities excited to see it. We’re excited to host events where people can talk and engage with these ideas, and sharpen our collective understanding. We need support with booking and tour management as well as social media. If you feel excited to help us make a powerful impact with the film, please send us an email.

Agency: Is there anything else that you would like to share?

Elements: We keep joking that we’re gonna get a bunch of haters after release because the film doesn’t speak on certain subjects or platform certain expert opinions. But, we’re very confident in what we’ve produced and agree that it is not anywhere near as comprehensive as the moment demands. But, a single film couldn’t possibly be. So, we encourage everyone with an idea and a spirit of curiosity to keep pushing the conversation forward with us. We desperately need more long-form media, like Sub.Media’s InterRebellium series, that examines our situation and maps out pathways forward.

Long-running anarchist radio show and podcast The Final Straw, speaks on international anarchist prisoner solidarity efforts. 

This week, we’re sharing three segments. First up, you’ll hear Yara speaking about Solidarity International, a new initiative to support prisoner support and anti-repression work beyond borders initiated by various anarchist and anti-authoritarian groups networked together, including the International Anarchist Defence Fund and various anarchist black cross groups across the world. Yara’s voice has been re-recorded for anonymity. [ 00:02:19 – 00:29:02 ]

• SolInt Transcript
• SolInt PDF (Unimposed)
• SolInt Zine (Imposed PDF)

We’re releasing this in the run up to the 2025 Week of Solidarity With Anarchist Prisoners (or WOSWOP), August 23-30th, in which people are invited to gather, connect and take action against borders and against prison walls. You can find more about Solidarity International at their website, Solidarity.International, find them on their mastodon, bluesky, telegram or instagram accounts, and see the 2025 WOSWOP call for solidarity on that site or linked in our show notes. We read the statement here as well. [ 00:29:21 – 00:32:37 ]

Then, you’ll hear 2 segments from recent episodes of B(A)D News, a monthly podcast in English from the international A-Radio Network. More audios like these, plus archives, can be found at A-Radio-Network.Org

• The first of these is from the Anarchist Assembly of Biobío near so-called Concepción, Chile from the June 2025 episode of B(A)D News, featuring a chat with the art collective Mesa 8, where they discussed memory, art, and the military dictatorship that began in 1973. [ 00:33:18 – 00:38:23 ]
• Following this, Ausbruch from Freiburg in the German territory spoke with the Red Aid, “der Rote Hilfe” about their work and current challenges from it’s founding over 100 years ago by the German Communist Party (KPD) into it’s current iteration. This segment can be found in our July 2025 episode of B(A)D News. [ 00:39:12 – 00:53:34 ]

Finally, you’ll hear a segment from Sean Swain… [ 00:53:36 – 01:01:50 ]

Some Materials Related To Mentioned Cases:

• Roman Shvedov, fallen comrade
• Antifa OST & Budapest Complex including Maya who just ended a hungerstrike (TFSR ep)
• Moscow ABC and Solidarity Zone supporting Russian dissidents
• Marianna, Dmitra plus their fallen comrade Kyriakos Xymitiris, of the so-called Ampelokipoi case in Athens (TFSR ep)
• Women Prisoners of Iran facing death: Sharifeh Mohammadi, Pakhshan Azizi, Verisheh Moradi and Nassim Simiyari
• Stop Cop City 61 RICO defendants

Image via: Indybay.org

The Dugout speaks with former anarchist political prisoner Eric King. 

In this raw, reflective conversation, former political prisoner and anarchist Eric King shares the emotional depth of his journey—through solitary confinement, court battles, and spiritual struggle—to the slow and ongoing work of healing. From tattooing as therapy to fighting patriarchal power in prisons and families, Eric explores how trauma, solidarity, and resistance intersect. We discuss paralegal activism, building an abolitionist legal strategy, the challenges of unity across tactical lines, and the danger of romanticizing suffering.

Whether it’s organizing with inside comrades, challenging the state through lawsuits, or building care-based relationships, this is a vital portrait of survival and struggle in the belly of the beast.

Support anarchist in DFW Texas – Fundraiser and updates

Bread and Roses Law – breadandroseslaw.org/

Eric King instagram.com/supportericking

Chapters 1.18

01:18 What was a young Eric like

03:15 What is you healing journey been like? with a focus on your spiritual health both incarcerated and now on the outs?

04:52 “I am hurting, some one is doing this to me and I don’t deserve this… this is not a choice im making to suffer”

06:52 “getting free had the same disappointment, expectation let down that going in did.”

07:28 Tattooing as apart of the healing journey

08:56 Role of world building

12:52 – What does family mean to you

14:27 Machismo in family dynamics and fighting patriarchy in a family unit

16:20 Being jaded by the world and time incarcerated

19:21 What was the support from other incarcerated folks like during your sentence

21:54 List of People to support

22:48 What has been the importance of traveling around and engaging in critical dialogue

26:43 The TEA pm press book management and Sean Swainn Using the courts for patriarchy and control

37:68 – How are you seeing the carceral state expand under trump and people response to it

41:00 How does organizing by and with incarcerated comrades effect this conversation

42:31 Tactics for change and the sacrifice of the incarcerated bodies with tactical rigidity

43:53 How are we doing on a united front what are some steps you feel can be taken

45:20 How do militants find unity in above and bellow tactics and even strategies

49:14 Eric King’s paralegal work at Bread & Roses

51:15 What other books, people, collectives should people be keeping an eye on?

54:35 What power is there to build as anarchist in the legal arena?

57:30 Fighting to decrease suffering of being incarcerated is not being soft on the state?

59:03 Eric’s Pathway to becoming a paralegal

59:54 Organizing with lawyers

1:02:53 Doing local court support and court watch

1:03:43 Final thoughts

Mentioned Media:

BOOKS 

📚Rattling The Cages Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners – https://bookshop.org/a/109212/9781849355216

📚A Clean Hell by Eric King – https://bookshop.org/a/109212/9798887441597

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Common Cause today reaffirmed its commitment to fair, people-powered democracy, making clear that independent redistricting commissions remain the gold standard for ending partisan gerrymandering.

However, as political leaders in states like Texas are imposing mid-decade partisan maps to distort the will of the people ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, the organization announced it will closely evaluate, but not automatically condemn, countermeasures to these actions.

The organization’s policy experts will hold a national media briefing tomorrow, Wednesday August 13 at 12 p.m. ET to walk reporters though the six pieces of criteria the organization will use to evaluate any proposed maps. To register, click here.

“We will not sit idly by while political leaders manipulate voting maps to entrench their power and subvert our democracy,” said Virginia Kase Solomón, President and CEO of Common Cause. “But neither will we call for unilateral political disarmament in the face of authoritarian tactics that undermine fair representation. We have established a fairness criteria that we will use to evaluate all countermeasures so we can respond to the most urgent threats to fair representation while holding all actors to the same principled standard: people—not parties—first.”

Common Cause emphasized that while partisan gerrymandering is a harmful manipulation of voters, some states, such as California, are considering mid-decade redistricting as a countermeasure to President Trump’s directive to Governor Abbott and the Texas legislature to deliver him five Congressional seats to entrench unaccountable power.

“Courts, Congress, and political leaders have failed to act,” Kase Solomón continued. “This moment is about more than responding to a single threat — it’s about building the movement for lasting reform. This is not an isolated political tactic; it is part of a broader march toward authoritarianism, dismantling people-powered democracy, and stripping away the people’s ability to have a political voice and say in how they are governed.”

Common Cause’s position follows decades of advocacy against partisan gerrymandering, including taking Common Cause v. Rucho to the Supreme Court, drafting provisions in the Freedom to Vote Act to ban partisan gerrymandering, and championing independent redistricting commissions nationwide.

Common Cause’s Six Fairness Criteria for Mid-Decade Redistricting

1. Proportionality: Any mid-decade redistricting should be a targeted response proportional to the threat posed by mid-decade gerrymanders in other states.
2. Public participation: Any redistricting must include meaningful public participation, whether through ballot initiatives or open public processes.
3. Racial equity: Redistricting must not further racial discrimination or dilute the political voice of Black, Latino, Indigenous, Asian American, and Pacific Islander, or other communities of color.
4. Federal reform: Leaders pursuing mid-decade redistricting must publicly endorse the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, including provisions banning mid-decade redistricting and partisan gerrymandering.
5. Endorsement of independent redistricting: Leaders pursuing mid-decade redistricting must publicly endorse citizen-led independent redistricting commissions as the long-term solution.
6. Time-limited: Any new redistricting maps must expire following the 2030 Census, which counts all people in our country, and be replaced through the regular decennial redistricting process.

###

To read Common Cause’s mid-decade redistricting policy, click here.

This article New data shows No Kings was one of the largest days of protest in US history was originally published by Waging Nonviolence.

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No Kings Day on June 14 was one of the largest single days of protest in United States history, and it was probably the second-largest single day demonstration since Donald Trump first took office in January 2017. The number of participants and expansive geographic spread that day are both signs of the persistent popular opposition to the second Trump administration.

The Crowd Counting Consortium has been collecting data on protest events and participation since the first Women’s March on Jan. 21, 2017. Last week, we published our most recent monthly update, with estimated figures for the month of June, including the nationwide No Kings protests on June 14. With 82 percent of anti-Trump events for which we tallied participation on June 14, our estimates suggest that between 2 and 4.8 million people participated in over 2,150 actions nationwide. (We could not confirm estimated protest figures at 18 percent of events; almost all of these missing figures were in small towns.) However, we estimate the turnout at No Kings to be substantially larger than the turnout at the Hands Off protests on April 5, which mobilized a significant number as well — between 919,000 and 1.5 million people. 

No Kings in context

The Women’s March in 2017 — which involved between 3.2 and 5.3 million people — was, at the time, probably the largest single-day demonstration in U.S. history. No Kings in June 2025 had comparable aggregate turnout, albeit across far more locations. Whereas the 2017 Women’s March involved actions in over 650 locations, No Kings saw events in over three times as many locations, with events organized in big cities, small towns and places in between.

In that regard, No Kings was geographically more similar to some of the dispersed protests that began to dominate the U.S. protest landscape in 2018. For instance, on March 14, 2018, between 1.1 and 1.7 million students walked out of their classrooms on the one-month anniversary of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. In an unprecedented demonstration, students in about 4,470 locations — from kindergartners to university students and even some homeschooled students — participated in what was then the largest number of recorded locations in a single day of coordinated protest in U.S. history. Ten days later, on March 24, 2018, the March for Our Lives drew an estimated 1.3 to 2.2 million participants in over 700 locations to demand safety from gun violence in schools. (The 2018 Women’s March, about two months earlier, had drawn an estimated 1.8 to 2.6 million people in 407 locations.) Protests throughout the month of June 2018 turned out several million protesters, largely accounted for by Pride marches and protests on behalf of LGBTQ+ rights — and over a thousand protests against the family separation policy implemented during the first Trump administration.

Sustained protest at geographically dispersed events in the U.S. reached its peak in the summer of 2020, during which millions of people mobilized at some 12,000 protest events in over 3,110 locations over eight months. This makes the wave of protests following the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery the largest and broadest mass mobilization in U.S. history; notably, it built on years of intense organizing against police violence toward Black people and communities, including through the work of Black Lives Matter and other Black-led organizations, following the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer in Florida in July 2013, and the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014. 

Notable movement growth in 2025

While media attention is often focused on actors acquiescing to Trump’s demands, in the streets the popular protest movement continues to push back against the administration with notable persistence over time. Consistent with our past reporting, 2025 so far has seen far more protests than were recorded at this time in 2017 — a trend that continues through at least the end of July.

Overall, June 2025 saw protests in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Geographic dispersion of protest is noteworthy in part because prior research has found associations between the location of protest, protest participation and election outcomes. Generally speaking, higher turnout at protests in 2009 and 2017 was associated with more votes cast for the opposition party during the midterm elections in 2010 (for Republicans) and 2018 (for Democrats), respectively. 

Reporting on No Kings day highlighted the protesters’ desire to build upon street protest and to expand the coalition. An organizer in Beaumont, Texas, told local news, “We hope to encourage other people by being present in our community, to come join us, connect with us and get involved.” As the Nebraska Examiner reported, “Democrats, nonpartisans, and some Republicans who oppose Trump have used the protests as a political rallying cry or organizational tool.”

Furthering the emphasis on protests as tools, the event in Durango, Colorado, included “action tables” where protesters could do everything from write postcards to Congress to submit letters to the editor. Part of the aim of protests is also about the emotional resonance of being joyful in a like-minded group. “Nothing makes the oppressors more furious than seeing the oppressed having a good time,” said a trombonist who played amidst the protests.

Participants included the young, the old and the clever, with one sign in Anchorage, Alaska, reading “The Only Kings we want are salmon.” In Milford, New Hampshire, Marcie Blauner, age 97, attended her very first protest ever, holding a sign mentioning her age and “Pearl Harbor and D-Day were current events to me. Protect Democracy Again!” In Rochester, New York, protesters from the retirement community St. John’s Meadows also joined the nationwide protests. In expressing deep concern about the U.S. today, one resident highlighted what he saw as a potential historical parallel: the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany.

In addition to the number of protests taking place, there are, of course, other indicators of the growing commitment of protesters to participate in a durable pro-democracy movement. One indicator is the willingness to participate in peaceful protests despite the threat of political violence. Tens of thousands turned out in Saint Paul despite the killing and attempted killing of several Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses the morning of the No Kings protests on June 14, followed by a warning of potential targeting of protesters by the at-large gunman. One peaceful marcher was killed in Salt Lake City by an armed volunteer who fired shots at a nearby armed man, who was also wounded. Counter-protesters in several locations around the country brandished weapons at No Kings protesters. However, those incidents of violence were exceptions — over 99.5 percent of reported protests had no injuries or property damage, with the latter reported in only 10 locations (just under 0.5 percent). 

A second indicator of commitment is that the No Kings coalition has hosted several online trainings over the past month that have attracted hundreds of thousands of views. The July 16 virtual training was probably the largest nonviolence training in U.S. history, with over 130,000 registered. 

Popular mobilization through protest is neither the entirety of the opposition to the Trump administration nor sufficient in and of itself to compel change. But historically, the mass public — in tandem with other societal actors like opposition politicians, lawyers, labor unions and courts — is likely to continue to play a crucial role in the U.S. and elsewhere in standing for the rule of law and democratic norms.

This article New data shows No Kings was one of the largest days of protest in US history was originally published by Waging Nonviolence.

It is with profound sadness that the Global Forest Coalition (GFC) has learned of the passing of Mr. Frank Muramuzi, Executive Director and founding member of the National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE) in Uganda.

Frank was a pioneering environmental and human rights defender whose leadership and vision transformed environmental advocacy in Uganda, East Africa, and beyond. Over the course of his life, he served in many roles, including Chairperson of the Uganda Chapter of East African Community Organizations for the Management of Lake Victoria Resources, Board Member of the Uganda Coalition for Sustainable Development and the National Association for Women in Development Uganda, founding member of the African Rivers Network, and East African Coordinator of the Oil Watch Network. He was among the pioneer activists who founded Friends of the Earth and served as the first Chair of its Membership Development Board.

Frank’s legacy is one of unwavering commitment to protecting forests, rivers, and communities. He spearheaded national campaigns to save the Mabira and Bugoma forests, defended the rights of those affected by the Bujagali Dam, promoted alternative energy in Uganda and East Africa, and mobilized grassroots movements such as NAPE’s Community Green Radio and the women-led environmental movement in Uganda. His advocacy extended across continents, making him a widely respected figure in the global environmental justice community.

He was a leader as well as a friend, mentor, and inspiration to many in the GFC network. His voice resonated far beyond Uganda—across Africa and the world—through the media, in community gatherings, and in international forums, always speaking truth to power and standing firmly for justice.

On behalf of GFC’s members and partners, we extend our deepest condolences to Frank’s family, friends, and colleagues at NAPE. We stand with you in grief, and we honor his remarkable life by continuing the struggles he so passionately led.

May his memory continue to guide and inspire the fight for environmental and social justice everywhere.

The post Condolence Message on the Passing of Mr. Frank Muramuzi of NAPE Uganda appeared first on Global Forest Coalition.

If evil needed a mascot, it would look suspiciously like a giant yellow shell. Forget SPECTRE and SMERSH—those were fiction. Shell’s record of villainy is all too real.

This is the story of an oil giant who funded Nazis, tested carcinogens on their own employees, and still have the gall to tell you they care about “net zero.”

From the Third Reich to Today: Same Script, Different Lies

Shell’s rap sheet starts early: during WWII, Shell effectively sacrificed its own Dutch employees to maintain ties with Nazi Germany, prioritising profits over human lives. Fast-forward a few decades and the playbook hasn’t changed—they’re still perfectly happy to gamble with lives, only now it’s under the glossy cover of corporate social responsibility.

Guinea Pigs in Overalls

Forget lab rats. Shell preferred human subjects. Workers were exposed to toxic, carcinogenic chemicals in experiments thinly disguised as “research.” That’s not a conspiracy theory; it’s documented history.

North Sea: Touch F*** All**

When it comes to worker safety, Shell adopted the memorable motto: “Touch Fuck All.” Result? and the unnecessary deaths of offshore workers in a Brent Bravo disaster that was entirely preventable. The corporate shrug was practically audible over the North Sea winds. Even the lifeboats were Unseaworthy.

The Nigerian Death Dividend

In Nigeria, Shell left behind a trail of oil spills, corruption, and corpses. Communities were poisoned. Activists were silenced—sometimes permanently. This wasn’t an accident; it was the cost of doing business.

The Great Shareholder Scam

In 2004, Shell hit global headlines for a fraud so brazen it could make Enron blush: lying about its hydrocarbon reserves. Billions were wiped from shareholder value overnight. Cue investor outrage—and then, silence. Because, of course, dividends heal all wounds.

Hakluyt: Shell’s Own SPECTRE

Think James Bond villains are fictional? Meet Hakluyt, Shell’s private spy firm. Targets included environmental groups like Greenpeace. Surveillance, infiltration, dirty tricks—the full MI6 cosplay, but in service of oil profits. BP was in on it too. These two have danced together through history, from apartheid-era collusion to the Al-Yamamah oil-for-arms scandal.

The “Net Zero” Farce

Shell’s latest stunt? Storming out of the Science-Based Targets initiative because the draft rules suggested—brace yourself—that they should stop developing new oil and gas fields after 2027. Shell’s response?

“Standards should reflect realistic societal and economic changes.”

Translation: We’re not quitting oil until it runs out, burns us all, or both.

Investors like BlackRock and Vanguard nod along because, well, why kill the golden goose just because it’s laying toxic eggs?

Judges, Justice, and a Whiff of Rot

When John Donovan—publisher of royaldutchshellplc.com and Shell’s eternal thorn—took them to court, Shell played dirty. Evidence was withheld. Mr Justice L*****  forgot to mention his connections to Shell, turned a blind eye to misconduct, then resigned in disgrace—only to end up in a consultancy linked to Shell. You couldn’t script this better if you tried.

Shell didn’t sue Donovan for libel. Perhaps because telling the truth isn’t defamatory, and discovery might have turned their skeleton-stuffed closets inside out.

The Verdict

Shell is the ultimate sin stock: profitable, yes—but at what cost? Death, destruction, and deception. They left the Science-Based Targets initiative because honesty is bad for business. And yet, Shell keeps pumping, BP keeps grinning, and their biggest investors keep cashing the cheques.

The next time Shell brags about sustainability, remember: this is the company whose motto might as well be “Drill, Deny, Destroy.”

Graphic credit: royaldutchshellplc.com aided by AI

(This article was generated with AI and reviewed by an editor for accuracy.)

Shell: Public Enemy Number 1 – A Love Letter to Greed, Lies, and Pollution was first posted on August 12, 2025 at 8:02 pm.
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So-Called ‘Chemical Recycling’ Facility No Longer Planned for Pennsylvania Town Following Opposition From Local Leaders

SUGARLOAF, Pennsylvania (August 12, 2025) — Alterra Energy has withdrawn its proposal for a plastic pyrolysis facility in Sugarloaf, Pennsylvania, sparking relief from community members. Obtained from a public records request, a letter from Alterra Energy to the Sugarloaf Township Board of Supervisors officially withdrew the company’s proposal for a so-called “chemical recycling” facility. 

The project, which would have trucked in substantial amounts of plastic trash for high-heat processing, faced strong opposition from local residents, environmental advocates, and township leaders concerned about air emissions, hazardous waste, traffic impacts, and potential harms to public health. The proposal for Sugarloaf claimed to recycle plastic; however, pyrolysis historically produces dirty fuels and is known to generate toxic byproducts.

“The people of Sugarloaf and surrounding areas are elated that Alterra energy has officially decided to withdraw their state DEP permit for their proposed plastic facility from 42 Tomhicken Road. This is a big win for our area,” said Annie Vinatieri, a local community leader and member of Luzerne County Community Action Coalition. “The people have spoken and our voices have been heard. We will continue to fight for clean air, water and a safer, healthier future for Luzerne County.”

“”I am thankful to all who helped in and supported us with this effort to protect our precious environment,” said Lisa Logan, a local community leader and member of Luzerne County Community Action Coalition. “We are so blessed in many ways!” 

“I was concerned about the dangers for environmental and public health seemingly inherent to this type of chemical recycling technology,” said Jan E. Long, lifelong and multigenerational resident of Luzerne County. “I am all for fair, non-subsidized and clean economic development in the area, but will not support a business that has the potential to create a system for the continued production of more plastic waste.” 

“This local effort in Sugarloaf is proof that communities can reject false solutions and fight for the sustainable, waste-free future we deserve. These companies sometimes look for new locations after abandoning site proposals, so it’s important that other Pennsylvania towns are prepared to fight these proposals when they show up in other places,” said Jess Conard, Beyond Plastics’ Appalachia director. “So-called ‘chemical recycling’ is nothing more than greenwashing for the plastics industry. It doesn’t solve the plastic waste problem; it just turns plastic trash into toxic emissions and fuels we don’t need.”

“This was community led from start to finish. We welcome the swift withdrawal of this dangerous project. Plastic is toxic at every stage of its life cycle, from fossil fuel extraction to disposal,” said Josephine Gingerich, Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania’s health advocacy outreach coordinator. “Plastic pyrolysis unleashes a cocktail of harmful chemicals linked to cancer, respiratory disease, and other severe health problems. Our communities deserve strategies that truly protect health, safeguard the environment, and put people — not polluters — first.”

“We are thrilled to hear that Alterra will not build their proposed toxic plastics-to-fuel plant in Sugarloaf, Pennsylvania,” said Sandy Field, chair of Save Our Susquehanna. “This is a huge win for this small community! The Save Our Susquehanna group advocates for development that does not pollute communities and provides good paying jobs that do not harm workers. Chemical recycling of plastics is not the answer to the plastics crisis.”

“The withdrawal of Alterra’s chemical recycling proposal represents a significant win for the health and well-being of the Sugarloaf community,” said Talor Musil, Environmental Health Project’s field manager. “This decision will prevent the release of toxic air pollutants and the health harms associated with exposure to those pollutants. EHP applauds community members living near this proposed site for successfully raising awareness of the risks posed by petrochemical development.”

“Moms Clean Air Force celebrates with the people of Sugarloaf who will not be subjected to health-harming pollution. Chemical recycling, also known as advanced recycling, is neither advanced nor recycling,” said Rachel Meyer, Mom’s Clean Air Force’s Ohio River Valley field organizer. “It transforms plastics chemicals such as PFAS, heavy metals, and phthalates into toxic air pollutants that our families breathe, putting us at increased risk for cancer and respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurological diseases. Congratulations to all the community members who spoke up for their children’s health to end this deception.”

“The withdrawal of Alterra’s toxic plant is a great victory for the Sugarloaf community,” said Alex Bomstein, Clean Air Council’s executive director. “This dangerous technology, deceptively branded as chemical recycling, emits toxic pollution that poisons our bodies. It has no place in Pennsylvania communities. Alterra’s departure is a welcome relief.”

“The cancellation of the planned Sugarloaf Township pyrolysis plant is good news for the people throughout the region,” said Sean Hoffmann, Clean Air Action’s legislative director. “Pyrolysis is bad for our health and perpetuates the plastics crisis by creating more demand for harmful plastics when we should be doing the opposite. We all want good jobs and economic growth in our communities, but that shouldn’t come at the cost of our health and our land. Let’s work together to bring good jobs to our towns while also keeping them safe from pollution.” 

The Alterra Energy proposal was first discovered in a neighboring community’s council notes in September 2024 and opted to relocate to Sugarloaf. The community’s concerns have prevailed months later. 

Women from around Latin America gathered to debate food sovereignty ahead of Nyéléni 

By Inés Franceschelli, Heñói Centro de Estudios / Global Forest Coalition 

July 22, 2025

More than 30 women peasant and Indigenous leaders and activists in defense of the environment participated in the second in-person meeting of the Women’s School of the Continental Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Latin America and the Caribbean (known as EMA in Spanish).

From July 18 to 21, we engaged in an intense debate on how to strengthen women’s political participation in defending the right to adequate food and nutrition.

The Women’s School aims to strengthen the activist struggles of women in its networks to advance the search for a new food paradigm that overcomes the current global, capitalist, colonial, racist, and patriarchal agri-food system.

The discussions were focused on two main themes: 

• The need to converge and unify our approach in order to influence our own networks and decision-making spaces at the local, national, regional, and global levels.
• Care work—generally undertaken by women in all their diversity—as a fundamental part of the fight against extractivism and a source of strength for resistance.

The participants represented the various networks that make up the Continental Alliance: CLOC-La Vía Campesina, Latin American Agroecological Movement (MAELA), FoodFirst Information and Action Network (FIAN), Continental Network of Indigenous Women (ECMIA), World March of Women, Friends of the Earth Latin America and the Caribbean (ATALC), International Indian Treaty Council (CITI), Movement for the Right to Health, World Forum of Fisherfolk, Global Forest Coalition (GFC), among others. Voices were heard from Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Brazil, Panama, Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina, Guatemala, Colombia, and Ecuador.

Some of the participants will carry the voices of the region to the Third Nyéléni World Forum of the International Movement for Food Sovereignty, to be held in Sri Lanka in September 2025. This forum will bring together Indigenous peoples, peasants, fisherfolk, workers, pastoralists, feminists, grassroots environmentalists, migrants, nomadic peoples, impoverished urban populations, social and solidarity economy activists, popular health activists, consumers, researchers, and artists. Together, they are organizing to build a common political agenda for popular power and the transformation of the capitalist, patriarchal, imperialist, colonialist, racist, classist, and supremacist system. 

The Nyéléni Forum is part of a process of movements and organizations that share values and a political vision that encompasses food sovereignty and agroecology, popular feminism, sovereignty and self-determination of peoples over their territories, social, economic, environmental, and health justice, feminist economics, and internationalist solidarity. It is a process free from discrimination and harassment that seeks to build unity for action from diversity, based on knowledge sharing. It recognizes the indivisibility of society and nature and embraces the spiritual principle underlying the perspectives of Indigenous peoples, for whom the protection of Mother Earth is fundamental.

Latin America has a lot to contribute to global grassroots movements for food sovereignty, and our movements will in turn be nourished by the many examples of women’s struggles for collective liberation and wellbeing at Nyeleni.

The post Sowing Life and Resistance appeared first on Global Forest Coalition.