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On the 13th of September, people gathered in protests across more than 17 cities in Europe on the 3rd International Day for the Ban of Night Flights at Airports. But this year this initiative was broadened: the movement fighting for their right to sleep joined together with groups promoting the expansion of night trains. This way, as a red line was drawn over night flights, and a green light was…

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Meta will receive “exclusive rights to all environmental attributes associated with energy” from the project, including all renewable energy credits, according to Apex.

On Thursday afternoon, Sept. 24, Food Tank will host “Acting at the Speed of Crisis: Challenges & Opportunities for Food Security Rapid Response” at Climate Week NYC 2026, in partnership with RAAPID and the Arrell Food Institute. The summit will explore how organizations can rapidly mobilize resources, leverage innovation, and build more resilient systems to meet urgent food security needs. 

“Food security crises rarely happen in isolation. Severe weather, conflict, supply chain disruptions, and other pressures can compound quickly, while the information needed to understand what is happening on the ground often arrives too slowly. We now have the tools to change that,” says Inbal Becker-Reshef, Managing Director of Microsoft AI for Good Lab and Founder of RAAPID. 

Food security emergencies are becoming more frequent, more complex, and more interconnected, driven by conflict, climate change, economic instability, and public health crises. Responding effectively requires not only speed, but stronger coordination across governments, nonprofits, researchers, and the private sector. 

“By bringing together Earth observations, AI, and expert networks, we can turn complex signals into actionable information when decisions can still prevent a shock from becoming a crisis. The challenge now is building the system and investments needed to make that capability available when and where it matters most,” says Becker-Reshef.

Experts will identify opportunities to strengthen preparedness, collaboration, and long-term resilience for communities around the world. Panel discussions will cover topics including the power of geopolitics and food, as well as how climate change is fueling more frequent food crises.

“As climate change escalates and more people around the world face crop failure and food precarity, anticipatory action becomes absolutely essential,” says Evan Fraser, Executive Director of the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph. 

“Anticipatory action is not an optional extra. Combining remote monitoring with on-the-ground context means that emergency aid can go where it is most urgently needed, and we can identify the supports and buffers required to prevent catastrophic failure.” 

The event will kick off at WNYC-NPR Studios’ The Greene Space in New York City at 1:30pm with lunch and live musical performances, followed by a reception until 4:30pm.

Speakers include Governor David Beasley, Trustee, The Rockefeller Foundation; Former Governor, South Carolina and Former Executive Director, United Nations World Food Programme; Inbal Becker-Reshef, Managing Director, Microsoft AI for Good Lab, Founder & Co-Director NASA Harvest, and Founder, RAAPID; Ambassador Ertharin Cousin, Founder and CEO, Food Systems for the Future; Máximo Torero Cullen, Chief Economist, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; Evan Fraser, Executive Director, Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph; Ruth Hill, Director, Markets, Trade, and Institutions, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); Melissa Mahtani, International Affairs Journalist; Adam Met, Musician of multi-Platinum band AJR, Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, and Climate Activist; Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank; Ambassador Philip Thigo, MBS, Special Envoy on Technology, Office of the President of Kenya; Michael Werz, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations; Simon Winter, Vice President for Reimagining Humanitarian Nutrition Security, Rockefeller Foundation Catalytic Capital (RFCC); and Andrew Zolli, Chief Impact Officer, Planet.

“Acting at the Speed of Crisis” will feature a special musical performance by Oluchi Nwaokorie, Broadway actor and singer currently Elphaba standby in Wicked, following performances in the Parade National Tour and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. She will be joined by Noah Turner, Music Director, Conductor, Pianist, and Arranger.

This summit will be streamed live on FoodTank.com and Food Tank’s YouTube channel, here. Join the Food Tank newsletter list for reminders, and click here for Food Tank’s full lineup of events at Climate Week NYC 2026.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

The post Rethinking the Future of Food Security at Climate Week NYC appeared first on Food Tank.

EWG evaluation of food chemicals: Aspartame rcoleman September 17, 2026 Dayna de Montagnac, MPH Sydney Evans, MPH Tasha Stoiber, Ph.D. Jump to: What is aspartame and why is it added to food? Where is aspartame found in foods? What is the regulatory status of aspartame? Are foods containing aspartame ultra-processed? Is aspartame allowed in organic foods? What are the potential health harms associated with aspartame? Uncertainties/where more research is needed Cited resources September 17, 2026 EWG’s recommendation

Aspartame is an ingredient of concern, and EWG suggests limiting consumption of foods containing this ingredient. 

Aspartame poses specific risks to vulnerable populations, such as individuals with phenylketonuria. 

While scientific consensus remains limited, some research in animals and humans has suggested associations between aspartame consumption and certain cancers. Oxidative stress, which aspartame can produce, has been proposed to play a role in carcinogenesis. Based on limited evidence, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies aspartame as Group 2B (“possibly carcinogenic to humans”). 

The World Health Organization (WHO) advised against using non-sugar sweeteners (like aspartame) for weight control. Their review concluded that long-term use does not help with reducing body fat in the long run and is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. 

Science analysis

What is aspartame and why is it added to food?

Aspartame is a low-calorie sweetener about 200 times sweeter than sugar. It is commonly used as a dietary sugar substitute.

Where is aspartame found in foods?

Aspartame is typically added to diet beverages, powdered drinks and sugar-free chewing gums. 

Aspartame is used in 919 of the 172,081 foods added to EWG’s Food Scores between 2023 and 2025.

The 15 food categories with the most products containing aspartame (by supermarket shelf): 

Image

Source: EWG’s Food Scores. Label created between 2023-01-01 and 2025-10-22.

What is the regulatory status of aspartame?

As of February 2026, the European Food Safety Authority, or EFSA, was re-evaluating the safety of the mixture aspartame and acesulfame, a sweetener commonly used with aspartame. In the last EFSA evaluation, in 2013, it concluded aspartame was not a safety concern at its acceptable daily intake, or ADI, of 40 mg/kg per body weight per day.

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration requires food containing aspartame to state the additive is not for use as a sugar substitute in cooking or baking because it is not heat stable.  

The FDA also requires any food containing aspartame to have the label: “Phenylketonurics: Contains Phenylalanine.”

Are foods containing aspartame ultra-processed?

Aspartame and other synthetic sweeteners are common ingredients in ultra-processed foods, or UPF. As an industrially synthesized ingredient and artificial sweetener, it falls into the NOVA framework as a UPF ingredient (Monteiro et al., 2019). 

Under a recent California law defining UPF, food served in schools containing aspartame is considered UPF because of aspartame’s property as a non-nutritive sweetener and flavor enhancer (Real Food, Healthy Kids Act, 2025). 

Is aspartame allowed in organic foods?

Under Department of Agriculture organic standards, synthetic substances such as aspartame are prohibited in certified organic foods. 

What are the potential health harms associated with aspartame?

In 2023, the IARC classified aspartame as possibly carcinogenic to humans based on limited evidence in humans of hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer.

A 2026 meta-analysis found that dietary sources of each common non-nutritive sweetener (NNS), including aspartame, and total NNS were associated with higher risk of type 2 diabetes and that total NNS and certain types were associated with some cardiovascular disease outcomes (Wang et al. 2026). Using computer modeling, Yang et al. (2025) showed that aspartame can bind to key proteins in the body, potentially triggering the chronic inflammation and cell damage that could lead to heart disease. Zhang et al (2025) found that aspartame might worsen ischemic stroke by latching onto core targets in the body that control blood flow, clotting, and neuroinflammation. Using animal models, Wu et al (2025) found that aspartame can trigger an insulin spike that causes a specific protein to trap passing immune cells on blood vessel walls, accelerating the arterial plaque buildup that leads to heart disease.

A large population-based cohort study conducted in France found an association between cancer risk, specifically breast and obesity-related cancers, and aspartame and acesulfame-K (Debras et al 2022). Some studies have also observed carcinogenesis in animal models (Landrigan & Straif 2021). But comprehensive safety reviews did not find this link (EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources 2014; National Toxicology Program, 2005). 

A 2025 systematic review of studies of human consumption of aspartame observed an increased incidence of clinical depression, high irritability and spatial orientation impairment at levels below the ADI (Fogel et al 2025). This review also found that those with preexisting neurocognitive deficits or metabolic disorders were more vulnerable to the neurocognitive effects of aspartame (Amin, Hassan & Rashed 2018; Ediga et al., 2023). 

Parallel rodent studies monitoring subchronic doses at or below the ADI reported alterations in brain function, such as changes in neurotransmitter activity (Onaolapo et al 2017), as well as decreases in learning and memory deficits (Iyaswamy et al., 2018). 

Aspartame breaks down in the body into phenylalanine, aspartic acid and trace amounts of methanol. The re-evaluation of aspartame by the EFSA, in 2013, determined that aspartame can pose risks to people with phenylketonuria (PKU), or high levels of phenylalanine in the blood. Therefore, the ADI does not apply to these individuals. 

Phenylalanine can become neurotoxic at elevated concentrations, such as those observed in those with PKU, where it competes with other large neutral amino acids for transport across the blood-brain barrier and may disrupt neurotransmitter precursor availability. Dar et al. (2024) proposed that aspartame-derived phenylalanine could contribute to altered neurotransmitter balance; however, whether this mechanism occurs at typical dietary exposure levels remains uncertain (Dar, 2024). 

Aspartic acid, a metabolite of aspartame, can overstimulate nerve cells at high concentrations (Dar, 2024).  Excessive stimulation of nerve receptors can contribute to neuronal injury, although the relevance of this mechanism to typical aspartame exposure is uncertain (Zhao & Danbolt, 2014). 

This mechanism may also affect microglia, or immune cells within the brain, which can contribute to inflammation. Neuroinflammation is associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease (Bonte et al., 2021).

An acute rodent study observed rats that were given a dose of aspartame 1.5 times higher than the allowable daily intake led to detectable levels of blood methanol for 24 hours and increased lipid peroxidation level in multiple brain regions (Ashok et al., 2015). Methanol breaks down further into other toxic byproducts, such as formate and formaldehyde, a probable carcinogen. 

One rodent study found alterations in the structure, growth and function of the placenta of pregnant mice that consumed aspartame (Huang et al., 2023).

Uncertainties/where more research is needed

Because of its flavor profile, aspartame is rarely used in isolation. In commercial products it is frequently paired with other non-nutritive sweeteners like acesulfame-K or sucralose (Basson et al., 2021). More high-quality human research is needed that accurately isolates the long-term health outcomes of independent aspartame exposure from these broader sweetener mixtures (Choudhary & Singh, 2025). Further study on multiple appetite-regulating hormones is also needed (Boxall et al 2025).

Findings in cancer studies remain inconsistent. While some rodent studies show dose-related increases in tumors, epidemiological studies in humans have yet to establish a definitive link (Shaher et al., 2023; Doueihy et al., 2025).

The exact mechanisms by which aspartame causes disease are still largely theoretical (Dar 2024). More empirical evidence in humans is needed to establish a causal link. 

Cited resources

Global health and regulatory agencies

• EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources Added to Food (ANS). Scientific Opinion on the Re-Evaluation of Aspartame (E 951) as a Food Additive. EFSA J. 2013, 11, 3496.
• National Toxicology Program (NTP). NTP Report on the Toxicology Studies of Aspartame in Genetically Modified Mice; Department of Health and Human Services: Research Triangle Park, N.C., USA, 2005.
• World Health Organization. (2023). Summary of findings of the evaluation of aspartame at the international agency for research on cancer (IARC) monographs programme’s 134th meeting, and the joint FAO/WHO Expert committee on food additives (JECFA) 96th meeting. Geneva: World Health Organization. 
• World Health Organization. (2023). Use of non-sugar sweeteners: WHO guideline. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240073616 

Comprehensive reviews and frameworks

• Amin, S.N., Hassan, S.S., & Rashed, L.A. (2017). Effects of chronic aspartame consumption on MPTP-induced Parkinsonism in male and female mice. Archives of Physiology and Biochemistry, 124(4), 292–299. https://doi.org/10.1080/13813455.2017.1396348. 
• Basson, A.R., Rodriguez-Palacios, A., & Cominelli, F. (2021). Artificial Sweeteners: History and New Concepts on Inflammation. Frontiers in Nutrition, 8, 746247. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2021.746247. 
• Bonte, M., Idrissi, F. E., Gressier, B., Devos, D., & Belarbi, K. (2021). Protein network exploration prioritizes targets for modulating neuroinflammation in Parkinson’s disease. International Immunopharmacology, 95, 107526. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intimp.2021.107526. 
• Boxall, L.R., Eskandari, F., Wallis, J., Bielat, A.D., & Appleton, K. M. (2025). The Effects of aspartame on glucose, insulin, and Appetite-Regulating hormone responses in Humans: Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses. Advances in Nutrition, 16(7), 100449. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advnut.2025.100449. 
• Choudhary, A.K., & Singh, N. (2026). Neurotoxic and metabolic effects of chronic aspartame consumption in rodent models: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Toxicology Mechanisms and Methods, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/15376516.2026.2662931. 
• Dar, W. (2024). Aspartame-induced cognitive dysfunction: Unveiling role of microglia-mediated neuroinflammation and molecular remediation. International Immunopharmacology, 135, 112295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intimp.2024.112295.
• Doueihy, N.E., Ghaleb, J., Kfoury, K., Khouzami, K.K., Nassif, N., Attieh, P., Ghadieh, H.E., Azar, S., Kanaan, A., & Harb, F. (2025). Aspartame and Human Health: A Mini-Review of Carcinogenic and Systemic Effects. Journal of Xenobiotics, 15(4), 114. https://doi.org/10.3390/jox15040114. 
• Fogel, M.N., Khalil, A., Khaled, S.F., Rodriguez, E.M., Payne, K.M., Blount, J.R., Petschke, M., Nizamuddin, R.A., Jeidel, F., Riven, V., & Petrosky, S. (2025). Aspartame and its potential neurocognitive effects in humans. Nutrition Reviews, 84(5), 1026-1038. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuaf103. 
• Monteiro, C.A., Cannon, G., Levy, R.B., Moubarac, J., Louzada, M.L., Rauber, F., Khandpur, N., Cediel, G., Neri, D., Martinez-Steele, E., Baraldi, L.G., & Jaime, P.C. (2019). Ultra-processed foods: What they are and how to identify them. Public Health Nutrition, 22(5), 936–941. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980018003762. 
• Nam, T. (2011). Lipid peroxidation and its toxicological implications. Toxicological Research, 27(1), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.5487/tr.2011.27.1.001. 
• Shaher, S. A.A., Mihailescu, D.F., & Amuzescu, B. (2023). Aspartame Safety as a Food Sweetener and Related Health Hazards. Nutrients, 15(16), 3627. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15163627.         
• Wang, M., Wu, O. Y., Wallen, O. G., & Mozaffarian, D. (2026). Artificial and other non-nutritive sweeteners, the microbiome, and cardiometabolic health. Current Atherosclerosis Reports. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11883-026-01429-9   
• Xiao L., Xian M., Zhang C., Guo Q. and Yi Q. (2024) Lipid peroxidation of immune cells in cancer. Front. Immunol. 14:1322746. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1322746 
• Zhou, Y., & Danbolt, N. C. (2014). Glutamate as a neurotransmitter in the healthy brain. Journal of Neural Transmission, 121(8), 799-817. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-014-1180-8. 

Legislation

• 21 CFR 172.804 – Aspartame. (n.d.). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-172/subpart-I/section-172.804. 
• Real Food, Healthy Kids Act, Assemb. Bill 1264, Chapter 467 (Cal. 2025). https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1264. 

Health impact studies

• Ashok I, Sheeladevi R, Wankhar D. Acute effect of aspartame-induced oxidative stress in Wistar albino rat brain. J Biomed Res. 2015 Sep;29(5):390-6. doi: 10.7555/JBR.28.20120118. Epub 2014 Jan 12. PMID: 26445572; PMCID: PMC4585433. 
• Debras, C., Chazelas, E., Srour, B., Druesne-Pecollo, N., Esseddik, Y., De Edelenyi, F. S., Agaësse, C., De Sa, A., Lutchia, R., Gigandet, S., Huybrechts, I., Julia, C., Kesse-Guyot, E., Allès, B., Andreeva, V. A., Galan, P., Hercberg, S., Deschasaux-Tanguy, M., & Touvier, M. (2022). Artificial sweeteners and cancer risk: Results from the NutriNet-Santé population-based cohort study. PLoS Medicine, 19(3), e1003950. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003950.
• Ediga, M. G., Annapureddy, S., Salikineedy, K., & Nimgampalle, M. (2023). Aspartame consumption causes cognitive impairment in streptozotocin-induced diabetic Wistar rats. Biologia, 78(9), 2393–2407. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-023-01363-0.
• Huang, S. Y., Sun, R., Chen, Y. C., Kang, L., Wang, C. T., Chiu, C. F., & Wu, H. T. (2023). Aspartame consumption during pregnancy impairs placenta growth in mice through sweet taste receptor-reactive oxygen species-dependent pathway. The Journal of nutritional biochemistry, 113, 109228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnutbio.2022.109228. 
• Iyaswamy, A., Kammella, A. K., Thavasimuthu, C., Wankupar, W., Dapkupar, W., Shanmugam, S., Rajan, R., & Rathinasamy, S. (2017). Oxidative stress evoked damages leading to attenuated memory and inhibition of NMDAR–CaMKII–ERK/CREB signalling on consumption of aspartame in rat model. Journal of Food and Drug Analysis, 26(2), 903–916. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfda.2017.11.001. 
• Landrigan, P. J., & Straif, K. (2021). Aspartame and cancer - new evidence for causation. Environmental health : a global access science source, 20(1), 42. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-021-00725-y. 
• Onaolapo, A. Y., Onaolapo, O. J., & Nwoha, P. U. (2017). Aspartame and the hippocampus: Revealing a bi-directional, dose/time-dependent behavioural and morphological shift in mice. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 139, 76–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2016.12.021.
• Wu, W., Sui, W., Chen, S., et al. (2025). Sweetener aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation. Cell Metabolism, 41(x). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2025.01.006 
• Yang, T., Luo, J. Z., Zhang, L., Li, H., & Wang, J. (2025). Aspartame and cardiovascular disease: Unraveling potential molecular mechanisms through integrative network toxicology, molecular docking, and dynamics simulation. Medicine, 104(47), e46012. https://doi.org/10.1097/md.0000000000046012 
• Zhang, T., Wang, T., Yu, K., Huang, C., & Bao, K. (2025). Aspartame and ischemic stroke: Unraveling the molecular link through network toxicology and molecular docking analysis. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 23871. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-08898-z 

In Colorado, the U.S. Forest Service plans to let Pitkin County take over management of the Maroon Bells Scenic Area because it can no longer cover a $300,000 annual shortfall.

It plans to do this using a legal shortcut known as a categorical exclusion, which lets federal agencies skip the environmental review and public comment process required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for decisions the government has already determined won’t significantly affect the environment. According to the Center for Western Priorities’ Lilly Bock-Brownstein, this could set a dangerous precedent for public lands.

The specific exclusion the Forest Service intends to use was written for small permits like mountain bike passes and backcountry ski guiding, not full management of one of the West’s most popular and iconic recreation areas.

Other areas have received much more thorough review than is proposed for the Maroon Bells. In 2024, the Forest Service proposed handing management of Sweetwater Lake, an 832-acre site in the same national forest, to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. It prepared a full environmental impact statement—a review that’s still underway. Maroon Bells would get none of that scrutiny.

Pitkin County has the third-highest per capita income in the United States and a dedicated open-space tax through 2040—a best-case scenario for this kind of deal. But if the precedent is set for categorical exclusions to be used as a shortcut to transfer land management, the same could happen at any underfunded site, in counties with fewer resources and less commitment to conservation, which could lead to logging, mining, and drilling.

According to Bock-Brownstein, the solution for budget and staffing shortfalls should be to properly fund the Forest Service.

“The Maroon Bells belong to everyone, and the public has a right to be part of the decision about how it is managed,” she wrote.

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Quote of the day

We need to modernize a system developed for a different era to respond to climate change, invasive species, increasingly severe wildfire, accelerating habitat loss, and evolving public expectations.”

—Mark Salvo, senior conservation advisor at Oregon Natural Desert Association, Ground Shift

Picture This @nationalparkservice

Put a bird on it.

Alright, folks. Tackle today like a hungry magpie or or similar cleaner bird perched on the head of a large mammal: focused, determined, and apparently willing to eat whatever’s crawling around up there.

You could also channel your inner elk or bison. Stand tall. Chew thoughtfully. Stare off into the distance as if you’ve just remembered an important meeting. And then crush those goals so thoroughly you’ll be saying, “Elk yeah.” Which is not a phrase anyone has ever needed to say, but here we are.

Fun fact: large herbivores like elk and bison are often visited by “cleaner birds,” such as magpies, which pick parasites from their skin or hair. The elk gets groomed. The magpie gets dinner. Everyone’s a winner. Maybe not the parasite.

NPS Photos

 

(Featured image: Maroon Lake at Maroon Bells. Photo by John Fowler, Flickr)

The post Forest Service plan would cut the public out of Maroon Bells management decision appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Energy and Alternatives Thematic Group Members Zoé VanGelder, Rose Benedice Lawaetz, Alex Jensen, Franco Augusto, Vasna Ramasar, Raquel Castillo, Matthew Burke, Trimita Chakma, Rebeca Roysen, Manthan Shripad, Madhuresh Kumar (Coord.) and Carlos Tornel (Coord.)alternativesalternativesGTAalternativesalternativesalternativesvsalternativesalternativesalternativesGTAweaversendorsersalternatives

The off-price retailer is planning installations at upcoming facilities in Arizona and California, as well as an existing warehouse in Georgia.

Learning and Education (TG) Members Anchors: Raquel, Xochitl Members: Mugdha, Franco, Ashish, Laura, Pallavi, Steven, Sujit, Melanie, Dan, Annabelle, Pooja, Luci, Virginia, Raquel, Deissy, Nariman, Chris Itzel, Shrishtee, Vasna, Mwanaah, Jesús Martín, Necibe, Jay, Mona, Madhulika, Ishaan, Wakamonji, Valentina, Fabienne, Halwest, Chaitali, Hannah, Shail, Manisha, Alice, Bea.alternativesalternatives

Star Energy, the oil and gas operator with multiple UK onshore sites, is planning to expand its portfolio, according to company accounts.

Singleton oil site. Photo: DrillOrDrop

Interim results for the first half of 2026 reported:

“we are seeking to materially increase profitable production through a combination of acquisitions and the development of our existing in-field and near-field opportunities.”

Chief executive Ross Glover said:

“we have been actively evaluating a number of acquisition opportunities, both in the North Sea and more widely, and have committed management and technical resource to this process.

“We are encouraged by the range of opportunities we are seeing, but to date we have not identified a transaction where the combination of asset quality, risk and valuation will provide the level of return we require for shareholders.”

Star Energy said its “core UK oil and gas business remains fundamental to our strategy.”

It said it intended to use the £8.5m proceeds from a fundraise in May 2026 to increase profitable production. The company said it was focussing on operated or non-operated portfolios of up to 2,500 boepd [barrels of oil equivalent per day].

Star Energy’s net production in the first half year averaged 1,866 boepd. This was down from 1,894 boepd in the same period in 2025.

The company said production had been “adversely affected” by “temporary operational and reliability issues across parts of the portfolio, together with the natural variability associated with operating mature fields”.

But production in July and August 2026 was “materially higher” than the first-half average, following “the resolution of a number of these issues and the completion of optimisation activities”, the company said.

Singleton

Star Energy also blamed delays in the grid connection at the Singleton gas-to-wire project in West Sussex for the fall in production rates.

It said the project, which involves generating electricity from waste gas, would add 74 boepd and reduce routine flaring.

Electricity would be transmitted 1.4km by cable from the Singleton site to a grid connection on the A286 road.

Star Energy said all major equipment had been delivered to the site during the first half of 2026. Export cabling had been laid to the substation and gas processing equipment installed and commissioned on site.

The company said:

“We are working closely with the Distribution Network Operator to complete the final stages of the grid connection, following which final commissioning will be undertaken. First production is currently expected in early October 2026.”

Other  onshore developments

Official figures show Star Energy operated 27 formal producing oil and gas fields onshore in the UK in 2026. The fields comprised 18 producing oil and 1 producing gas. There are also 8 oil fields where there had been no production in 2026..

The company said it had invested £3.2 million in oil and gas assets in the first half of 2026, including the Singleton project (see above). Net cash capital expenditure for 2026 was expected to be £6.6million, the company said.

Investment was being targeted to offset what Star Energy called “natural declines” and improve operating reliabilities. The accounts described work at:

Stockbridge, Hampshire: conversion of well to water injector

Bletchingley, Surrey: installation of gas generator

Welton, Lincolnshire: installation of replacement separator

Glentworth, Lincolnshire: development of the western extension of the Mexborough reservoir that could add 162 bopd, Star Energy said. It said technical and regulatory work is progressing to maintain the site as “a development-ready opportunity”.

Key figures for six months to June 2026

Interim unaudited results released on 169/2026

Revenue: £23.2m (Six months to 30 June 2025: £18.3m)

Oil sales: £22.5m (Six months to 30 June 2025: £17.80m)

Profit before tax: £0.6m (Six months to 30 June 2025: £4.5m)

Profit/(loss) for the period: £2.361m (Six months to 30 June 2025: (£4.069m))

Oil and gas adjusted EBITDA: £6.2m (Six months to 30 June 2025: £5.5m)

Operating cashflow before working capital movements: £6.0m (Six months to 30 June 2025: £4.8m)

Net cash/(debt): £4.6m (Six months to 30 June 2025: (£4.3m))

Cash and cash equivalents: £15.7m (Six months to 30 June 2025: £7.6m)

Loss on commodities hedge: £5m

Capital expenditure in oil and gas: £3.2m.

Expected net cash capital expenditure for 2026: £6.6m

Proceeds to Star Energy of sale of Croation geothermal subsidiary IGeoPen: £1.1m

May 2026 fundraise (net of expenses: £8.5m

Average net production: 1,866 boe/d (Six months to 30 June 2025: 1,894 boe/d

Expected full year production for 2026: 1,900-1,950 boe/d

Net assets: £45.8m (Six months to 30 June 2025: £34.8m)

The bill would “largely reinforce” a transition that is already underway as more states adopt large-load tariffs and is unlikely to pass the Senate before the midterm elections, according to ClearView Energy Partners.

To the apocalypse! And beyond! Possible futures in and beyond UN climate modeling …

Coastal Erosion at Atherington by Chris Richardson Wikimedia

By Paul Atkin

The new modeling now being used by the UN Panel on Climate Change to map possible futures has shifted its methods. I’m going to attempt to get behind the jargon to spell out what the projections indicate, but also to highlight some flaws in the process.

Key differences are

The old “no action” baseline projection of what would happen if nothing was done about climate breakdown at all has been dropped on the grounds that some action is being taken and will continue to be: so the points of comparison now are between the consequences of sticking with the current level of action, and advancing or retreating from it.

The overall effect is to remove the highest, most damaging scenarios, as fossil fuel use is peaking – despite Trump – and they can no longer be considered the most dominant future fuel source. This reflects the partial success of actions to date.

The inevitable claims by Trump and his acolytes that the removal of projections based on what would happen if the “drill baby drill” polices they advocate were universally applied that this proves climate breakdown itself is “a hoax” are beyond surreal. To spell this out. If the world were to act with blithe insouciance and just double down on fossil fuels in the way that Trump wants to do to secure “US Global Energy Dominance” based on them, the worst case scenario would be back with a vengance. In fact, if “every last drop” of fossil fuels on the planet were to be burnt, as they advocate, that would drive a rise in temperature of 16C.

On the contrary, this drop in the worst case scenario is a sign that the world is not being completely bullied into its own self destruction. As there is now $2 trillion a year investment in renewable energy (double the current level of investment in FFs) so most new energy even in the US, and even in Texas, is now being provided by renewables; as they are now too cheap to be replaced by coal. But, $1Trillion is still being invested in Fossil Fuels annually. This is because the rate of profit on the investment is four to five times greater than for investment in renewables; so the search for returns is risking all our futures.

Nevertheless, dropping the worst case scenario has come in for criticism, as it replicates at international level what the Trump administration is trying to do to the still legally mandated US National Climate Assessment. In so doing, it implies that the worst outcomes are not possible – which it would be rash to assume – and therefore that taking action has less urgency – which is dead wrong.

This is particularly the case as the lowest scenarios have been revised upwards, reflecting the rapidity with which the climate is heating – and implicitly highlighting the inadequacy of the measures taken so far to stop it.

The headline from this is that 1.5C will be overshot. Although the IPCC only counts a threshold being passed after ten years on average, we are evidently already there, or thereabouts. 1.4C this year. Possibly 1.7C next. Again, this has been seized on by climate deniers to argue that “the battle” that they didn’t want us to engage in in the first place “has been lost”; so we’d best just give up and adapt to a new normal.

The problem with that is that a new normal of unchecked climate breakdown is not a slightly balmier set of stable conditions, in which Yorkshire becomes like Tuscany, but a state of spiralling crisis, weather whiplash between extreme droughts and torrential rain, failed harvests and hunger; and the more we put off action the worst it will get. The UN has noted that even a temporary overshoot will do “irreparable damage”. Battles are only lost if we give up, and every tenth of a degree is a front line.

The deeper point about “overshoot” is that we’ve been overshooting since we passed the 350 CO2 ppm mark in 1986, so everything we are now doing is about damage limitation. We care now at 430ppm, and rising.

The possible futures they spell out are clear and make it clear that what happens next depends on what we do, and don’t do, now.

Possible futures

The new assessment puts forward seven scenarios ranging from high to low emissions trajectories. In these scenarios the range of possible heating is between 1.6C and 3.3C by the end of the century.

• The high scenario envisages emissions of 55 billion tonnes a year, significantly up from the 38 billion tonnes now. This gets us to 3.3C by 2100.
• The medium scenario, based on existing policies, projects 34 million tonnes a year, a minimal reduction. This gets to 2C by 2050, 2.9C by 2100 and 3C by 2150.
• The low scenario based on accelerated action cuts emissions to 9 billion tonnes but temperatures still rise to 1.8C by 2050 and fall back to 1.5C by 2100.
• The old baseline warning of the likely consequences of no action – the policy favoured by Trump, Reform, and now the Conservative Party (which has banned anyone who takes climate change seriously as a possible Parliamentary candidate) – was a possible rise of 4.6 – 4.9C by century’s end, and more beyond. Meltdown, basically. If these forces win in enough places, that is back on the table.
• As “there are no good outcomes above 1.5C” we are in for a lot of trouble at least for the rest of this century. This is why it is so mind bogglingly idiotic for the BBC to post a story entitled “what will you tell your grandchildren about the summer of 2026?”, as if what we have just experienced is a one off, a weird anomaly after which we get back to normal, not a warning of Summers to come, during which we may well reminisce fondly about how relatively cool it was just to have 35C heatwaves.

All these projections are essentially technical. And that the changes already in train will develop with an orderly predictable Fabian gradualism that we can slowly adapt to. tPlaying down the potential for sudden catastrophic shifts as we reach tipping points – the mass deaths of coral – the Amazon becoming a carbon source not a carbon sink – accelerating methane release from melting permafrost – gives a false impression that everything is under control. The point about tipping points is that that seems to be the case, until it isn’t. A report just out indicates that “Warming-induced” emissions of greenhouse gases from natural sources – including permafrost, wetlands and wildfires – could amplify global temperature rise by a further 20-30% for example.

We have to bear in mind that the rise in greenhouse gases driven by human industrial and agriculture activity now is 40 times faster than during the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum 50 m years ago and over 100 times faster than during the warming at the end of the last ice age. Those who say that the Earth’s climate has always changed for natural reasons are right, but wrong to ignore the way our actions are giving it such a ferocious acceleration in such a short space of time. In the case of the PETM it took about 3,000 years for global temperatures to increase by 5-8C. On average, that works out at between .0017 and .0027 C a year. At the moment the temperature is increasing on average by .35C a year. So this is almost unbelievably fast, and so must our response be.

And we should bear in mind that the last time the Earth had a 430ppm concentration of CO2 was during the Pliocene, three million years ago, when temperatures were 3-4C higher than the pre industrial average and sea levels were 5 – 25 metres higher.

This is the East coast at a 5 metre rise, the low end of that projection. Peterborough and Cambridge are on the Wash.

And the Thames Estuary would start around Wapping. At 25 metres it would start at Windsor. Current IPCC projections are for a 1 metre rise by 2100, with an outside chance of 2 metres, but the rate is rising and it keeps going after that.

A recent report from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (the Insurance Industry essentially) and Exeter University applied a planetary solvency model on the basis that the existing technical models underestimate the risks and the knock on negative impacts that are already being felt and are accelerating.

Their projection is that by 2070 – 2090 the impacts will be so severe that world GDP will halve and 4 billion people will die. While fact check websites poo poo this, this is actuaries making this projection based on insurance industry risk projections, so shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand. And if it is even the most remote possibility, it should concentrate minds and give us more of a sense of proportion…and urgency.

Social and geopolitical factors

And here’s the core of the problem. All of these projections seem to be based on presumptions that all other factors are equal, and that existing social economic and political structures stay essentially the same, when there is actually no way that they can; if only because of the impact of climate consequences that are already baked in.

They rest on UN projections that the global population will rise from 8.23 billion now to 9.6 billion by 2050, peak at just over 10 billion around 2080, then slowly decline from then on. By the end of the century, the projection is that people will be, on average, 10 -25% poorer than they are now.

But, there is no average person, no average state. Projections of climate impacts vary – with the Canadian government projecting rises of 3-5C by 2100, with 10C in the Arctic, the threat of mass deaths from wet bulb temperature events at a global average of a 2C rise primarily in Northern India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Eastern Asia, the Arabian Gulf and the African Sahel Zone. Lets not forget that the medium scenario gets us to 2C in 2050 – 24 years from now.

Further, the existing state of affairs is not socially or economically static. It is characterised by rapid shifts in wealth and power within states and between them. The ever growing concentration of wealth in fewer and fewer hands in the West under neoliberalism, the increased global weight of the BRICS in general (with a combined economy now greater than the G7) and China in particular, with its colossal exports of renewable products and technology. Part of this is an attempt by the Western ruling classes to sustain their bloated lifestyles by keeping the global South as poor as possible to keep kits carbon footprint down. The UK government decision under Starmer to cut ODA, including climate finance to pay for the first installment of increased war spending expresses this perfectly.

These questions will be resolved in political struggle within and between states. The most decisive of these now is to defeat the attempt by the United States to sabotage international cooperation, to shore up its slipping global imperial dominance by preparing itself and its allies for an apocalyptic war, to roll back the deployment of renewable energy and transport, to secure “global energy dominance” through its own abundance of fossil fuel reserves, control of those of other states, and enforced dependence on its exports by those without. Part of this is an attempt to sustain the bloated lifestyles of the western ruling class by keeping the global south as poor as possible. The UK’s cut of ODA, including climate finance, to pay for the first installment of increased war spending expresses this perfectly.

The good news on this is that we could be reaching tipping points in this energy shift. The cost of renewable technology, wind, solar, batteries, has dropped so far and so fats that they are now cheaper than FF alternatives just about everywhere. More than half of countries have passed peak FF use and China is plateauing, with solar now producing more energy there than coal for the first time and other GS countries having a viable sustainable path to development which also liberates them from FF dependence and everything that goes with it. Its possible we could move not only away from unipolarity but through multi polarity to no polarity as a result. And because electric energy is so much more efficient that FFs, every unit of additional RE displaces 3 units of FF energy. And the total amount of extractive mining needed for all the resources needed for the transition up to 2050 is equivalent to the amount needed just for coal, just in 2024. Once the initial bottleneck of grid upgrades is dealt with, costs will drop even further. Quids in.

The post To the apocalypse! And beyond! Possible futures in and beyond UN climate modeling … first appeared on Greener Jobs Alliance.

Europe’s effort to break its dependence on Russian nuclear fuel has a paradox in Germany: making Russian-designed fuel without buying it from Russia may initially require working with Rosatom.

That contradiction is now headed to court. The German environmental group BUND last week sued the state of Lower Saxony over its decision to allow Framatome subsidiary Advanced Nuclear Fuels to expand its fuel fabrication plant in Lingen. The expansion would allow the facility to manufacture fuel for Russian-designed VVER-1000 reactors using licenses and technology from TVEL, Rosatom’s nuclear fuel subsidiary.

The arrangement is supposed to help European nuclear operators do exactly the opposite: reduce direct purchases of Russian fuel.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, European countries operating Soviet-designed VVER reactors — including Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary and Slovakia — have been searching for alternatives to Russian nuclear fuel. Several have already begun introducing fuel from Western suppliers, while Hungary and Slovakia remain more dependent on Russian supplies.

Framatome argues that cooperation with TVEL is an interim step that will allow it to supply those customers while developing its own independent production technology.

But BUND claims that the arrangement creates security risks inside a piece of European nuclear infrastructure. The group says some manufacturing and quality-control processes will use Rosatom-supplied machinery, raising the possibility of manipulation, espionage or sabotage. Its lawsuit also alleges procedural shortcomings in the approval process, including reliance on outdated environmental assessments.

German authorities themselves acknowledge the uncomfortable fit.

Lower Saxony approved the expansion in July only after consultations with the federal government and imposed unusually strict conditions. Rosatom and TVEL personnel are generally prohibited from entering the Lingen facility. Russian-supplied hardware and software must undergo outside security checks and remain isolated from other plant computer systems, while fuel components arriving from Russia must be inspected for possible manipulation.

Lower Saxony Environment Minister Christian Meyer has said he fundamentally opposes cooperation with Rosatom. But federal and state authorities concluded that existing German nuclear law provided no legal basis to reject the application on the security evidence before them.

Berlin says the proper mechanism for stopping such cooperation would instead be European Union sanctions against Russia’s nuclear sector—sanctions Germany supports but which have failed to win sufficient backing from other EU members.

The dispute highlights a problem Bellona has followed since the invasion of Ukraine: replacing Rosatom is considerably more complicated than simply signing contracts with other fuel companies.

Decades of Soviet and Russian nuclear development left VVER operators dependent on specialized fuel designs and supply chains. Western companies are developing alternatives, but creating a completely independent manufacturing capability takes time.

According to Bellona nuclear expert Dmitry Gorchakov, Framatome is out on a limb with several existing orders for VVER fuel for reactors in Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary—orders it can only fulfill on time with Rosatom’s help.

“Framatome needs to cooperate with Rosatom because it does not yet have its own fully licensed, independent technology for manufacturing fuel for VVER reactors,” Gorchakov said. “The company is developing that technology in parallel, but it will need several more years to complete and test it.”

A joint facility at Lingen is a shortcut to that goal, Gorchakov added.  Instead of waiting for an entirely Western VVER fuel-production chain, Framatome would manufacture Russian-designed fuel in Germany while gradually developing its own technology.

The controversy also raises a broader question about how Europe defines nuclear independence. Germany considers cooperation with Rosatom politically undesirable and has imposed extraordinary security conditions on the Lingen arrangement. Yet it also considers the project one route toward replacing Russian fuel imports.

“Continuing to cooperate with Rosatom on the production of VVER fuel in Europe would simply shift this dependence into another, somewhat less direct and obvious form,” said Gorchakov. “But it would still be dependence.”

It also creates two risks, he added. First, it preserves a revenue stream to Rosatom from Europe’s nuclear economy. Second, it could delay the introduction of Framatome’s own fully independent, proprietary fuel in Europe and postpone the complete phaseout of Russian-produced fuel for VVER reactors in the EU.

“However, as long as there are no sanctions or restrictions on Russian supplies to the EU, this cooperation is far from unique,” Gorchakov noted. “Rosatom has supplied — and plans to continue supplying — several dozen tonnes of enriched uranium annually to the Lingen plant for the production of nuclear fuel for Western-designed reactors.”

Cooperation between the French and Russian nuclear industries also continues on Rosatom projects outside Europe, Gorchakov said. So while the Lingen plant is a particularly visible and high-profile example, it is far from the only instance of Franco-Russian cooperation in the nuclear sector. Whether Lingen represents a practical bridge to independence or simply relocates Russian nuclear dependence inside the European Union is now a question for Germany’s courts.

The post Germany wants independence from Russian nuclear fuel, using Rosatom as a bridge appeared first on Bellona.org.

As a cofounder of Native Species Network, I’m grateful for those who go beyond treasuring native plants and actually get out in the field to do the hard work of clearing away undesirable alien plants. But I have concerns about how some projects are affect the larger landscape, including the animals who live there.

For instance, when I taught an animal-tracking class in Point Reyes National Seashore this past June, I was surprised to find that someone had uprooted all the cakile (sea rocket) in my favorite tracking spot on the open sand at Abbots Lagoon. And they had also removed the few harmless foxgloves that managed to grow along the trail, as well as some ice plant and a few other nonnatives.

Tracking is an integrated practice in which we study all the visible lifeforms in certain areas and how they interact. In Sonoma County, where I’m based and have studied wildlife for virtually all of my 90 years, we like to see cakile because it has become a major food source for mice and voles, which themselves are a major food source for raptors, herons, foxes, bobcats, coyotes and weasels. Pipits, plovers, sand pipers and other insectivore birds like it because it harbors a rotating zoo of insects. Plus, it provides cover. At the end of the annual cycle, if there are any geese around, they graze the plant nearly to the ground, occasionally killing it.

If ever there are any non-native plants welcomed into our biosphere, cakile should be among them. The California Invasive Plant Council acknowledges it is an invasive non-native, but is generally not a problem, and they do not recommend a removal plan. Plus, it is an attractive flowering plant for people, many of whom have tasted the peppery leaves. To my eye this plant is integrating productively into the landscape. There are a few places where it displaces natives, and in those locations, it could easily be controlled by selective hand pulling a few times a year.

Ice plant is another plant that looks different through a tracker’s eye. We know that deer eat it a lot. Rabbits and voles eat it occasionally, as do some other critter we have not yet identified that takes the very tips of the leaves…maybe an insect. What seems to be the case around here is that in places where ice plant is getting enough moisture, like on the ocean facing side of Bodega Head, it becomes more invasive and displaces especially desirable, often uncommon, native plant life. But further inland, along the drier coastal terraces, it seems more like a hundred-year struggle is raging in slow motion between the ice plant and the natives. Ice plant thrives and spreads with damp weather, but in dry locations in the hind dunes, it dries out and dies back massively every summer. Now that the climate is warming, the natives are winning more battles. It makes me smile to find a waist-high yellow lupine blooming in a 20-foot circle of dead, black ice plant.

I say, sure, pull out the ice plant, especially where it’s doing harm. But treat it as an actor in the larger landscape. On Bodega Head, for example, the summers are tough on deer. As the milk herd, with 20 or so does, forms up in the fall, forage becomes precious. Among invasive plants that helps sustain them, in addition to ice plant and nonnative forbs, are the nonnative wild radish/mustards. By fall their leaves are almost stripped bare, but in the moist air they grow small new leaves that are eaten by the deer. Recognize, too, that many native plants are unpalatable to native herbivores.

I would like to see invasive plant priorities determined place by place, based on the role they now play in the local ecology. It seems pretty narrow for people to just pick projects based on the single principle that it’s good to eliminate any nonnative under all conditions, even where the species in integrating well. Removing a plant species is an intervention with impact on the local balance of nature that radiates out some distance. If we want to intervene, we should understand what we are doing not only to the species, but to the local environment. This is something you have to spend quite a bit of time in the landscape to learn to recognize. Trackers call this “dirt time.”

In Sonoma County, we track a lot in the Salmon Creek estuary. This tidal creek snakes lazily down out of the coastal hills and makes a 90-degree bend on the south bank a hundred or so yards before the ocean, then runs north almost a quarter of a mile, before bending 90 degrees again into the sea. The peninsula dunes that formed between the creek and the ocean is composed of dune grass, ringed on three sides by patches of cakile and various native plants. Mice, voles, rabbits, and gophers colonized the area. Geese and occasionally ducks nested there. Otters cross it as a shortcut from the creek to the ocean. There were always large open sandy patches, with a few natives. It was a great place to track because in that small, but productive area, we reliably found coyote, bobcat, fox, rabbit, skunk, raccoon, mice, and vole tracks, plus birds ranging from geese to sparrows and pipits. To us, this was a thriving ecozone.

One day, going on three years ago, we were astonished to find a crew completely digging out all the dune grass from this entire peninsula. I talked to the supervisor, and he explained they had gotten a contract to remove the dune grass. There was quite a bit of community opposition. It was further explained that Cal Trans wanted to open a channel directly through the peninsula to protect the north cliff faces from potential erosion, which had never happened yet. I was never able to determine who let the contract. And as far as I know there was never any community outreach for such a large, high-impact project. I told the contractor that dune grass roots go down 10 feet and will probably resprout, which is now happening even though a few clusters of natives have taken hold. One or two maintenance visits were undertaken, but I suspect that is all that the contract covers.  Personally, I think this was perfectly good grant money down the drain.

Now all the predators, except for the otters and a couple of foxes, have disappeared — not only from that location, but in large measure from the adjacent mainland for a half mile or so south of the creek. What we see now are only occasional forays into the old hunting grounds.

I tell this story for two reasons: One, to encourage native plant people to notice and account for the larger biological accommodations that the animals are making. Two, to show that removal projects at scale can affect not only the animals but the local human communities.

A third consideration involves failure to plan for maintenance. I’m not sure there’s a gain in removing ice plant, say, only to let wild nonnative grasses and forbs take over. Anybody who’s been involved in broom removal, for instance, knows that success requires years and years of maintenance to deal with the long-lasting seed bank. One project near Ft. Bragg, some time ago, involved an expensive, massive, and welcomed removal of Scotch Broom, followed up with five years of contracted maintenance. In the sixth year it all came back, thicker than ever.

And lastly, I want to mention priorities. In the Bodega Dunes and along the coast there have been several expensive campaigns to remove pampas grass, but now it’s returning. It would make sense to take it out now, while it’s relatively easy, rather than to wait until the infestation is unbearable. I think the parks understand this, but they’re starved for funding. This is much harder work than removing ice plant, but probably more important. Also, in addition to nonnative grasses, there are many other exotics that are at least as harmful as ice plant, ranging from poison hemlock to Monterey pines, and are seldom dealt with.

I’m not against intervention. I’m suggesting we need to understand what our objectives are. Even native plants should sometimes be controlled. Meadows, which are rich in both plant and animal diversity, are also said to be better carbon sinks than conifer forests, which support very restricted levels of wildlife. Yet many meadows in my area are being overrun by Doug firs, eucalyptus, coyote brush, coffee berry, poison oak, and blackberries. The local Pomo and Miwok treasured the open grasslands and meadows and kept them vital by burning. We should control them, too. To this end, the natural succession in this coastal area has already been interrupted for ten thousand years by burning the coast facing hillsides. In years past, grazing performed some of that job. But now chaparral is forming, and Doug firs are working their way downhill, while invasive Monterey pines are working uphill. Without intervention, redwoods will probably ultimately crowd all the way to the beaches, destroying the beautiful, open and fruitful habitat that characterizes the south Sonoma County landscape.

The most advanced regional resource I know of for science-based research into all of these problems is Pepperwood Preserve. I urge those who want to volunteer their efforts to acquaint themselves.

All of that said, I don’t want to discourage the good work being done by native plant activists. But realistically, we will never be able to eliminate more than a fraction of the nonnative species that always accompany the expansion of human population. Moreover, the worst is still to come, as climate change increasingly alters the environments that native plants evolved to thrive in.

I don’t have a solution to all of this, but I can attest that it’s rewarding to get out in the field and pay close attention to the struggles plants and animals are engaged in as they try to survive the epochal changes that characterize our era. I think we’ll make better choices if we respect some of the accommodations being made.

The post Is Removing All Nonnative Plants Always the Answer? appeared first on The Revelator.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has issued a sweeping new directive that attempts to strip imperiled wildlife of protections from most activities that can kill or injure them.

“This stabs at the very heart of the Endangered Species Act by giving federal approval to the killing of some of America’s most beloved wildlife,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Trump administration is desperate to annihilate environmental protections, but this incredibly radical measure is both cruel and profoundly unlawful. Killing endangered wildlife is illegal, whether that’s your purpose or not.”

The Sept. 14 memo from Brian Nesvik, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, attempts to fundamentally rewrite the Endangered Species Act’s prohibition on “take,” effectively ending nearly all potential law enforcement activities under the Act.

The unintentional or incidental killing of an endangered whale, for example, would no longer be considered illegal, even if it was easily foreseeable.

“A vessel that inadvertently strikes a whale has not taken it, because the vessel’s course was not set against the whale,” the Nesvik memo says. “Felling a tree is not a take of the bats roosting in it unless the tree is felled for the purpose of killing or capturing them.”

The new directive goes substantially beyond the administration’s recent elimination of the longstanding regulatory definition of “harm.” It declares that prohibited “take” requires an intentional act directed at a particular animal that directly and immediately affects that animal.

The administration’s July rule rescinded the regulatory definition of “harm,” which had expressly covered significant habitat modification that actually kills or injures protected wildlife. But the Sept. 14 directive goes considerably further. Rather than merely interpreting the word “harm,” the directive establishes requirements that it says apply to “take” generally — a statutory term Congress defined to include “harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect.”

The directive also violates the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Babbitt v. Sweet Home Chapter of Communities for a Great Oregon, where the majority rejected the contention that “take” is limited to conduct intentionally directed against particular animals.

Under the new Nesvik directive, Fish and Wildlife Service personnel are instructed to look for four elements: an affirmative act; an act intentionally directed at an animal; a direct and immediate effect; and a particular animal rather than populations, future occupants or unoccupied habitat. That could radically shrink the universe of activities the government considers to constitute unlawful take.

The directive could have far-reaching consequences for logging, mining, development, water diversions and other activities that foreseeably kill or injure endangered wildlife without deliberately targeting individual animals.

“If you chop down a tree full of endangered birds or race a huge ship through a pod of endangered whales, you should be held accountable for your destructive acts,” Hartl said. “But this administration wants to give wildlife killers a ‘Get out of jail free’ card. Imposing new limitations on the entire definition of take is a flagrant and illegal attempt to rewrite the Endangered Species Act via unilateral fiat. This would drive imperiled species over the cliff to extinction.”

Two years ago, John Lowrey woke to the roar of water surging into his home. The 65-year-old retiree and father of five rushed toward his basement just as a 3-foot wave slammed through the door, tearing it from its hinges.

Water crashed through his bay windows, drowning the family’s piano and heirloom cedar chests. His 29-year-old daughter piled family photos on a bed until it started floating. The inundation ruined documents, appliances, and insulation, and repairs cost the family $150,000. “We lost everything,” Lowrey said.

What Lowrey didn’t know then was that the flood that wrecked his home would return the following summer. And the summer after that.

Alaska is warming at two to three times the global average, and the changing climate poses a particular risk to Juneau. Since 2011, meltwater and rain collecting in a basin beside the Mendenhall Glacier have periodically flooded neighborhoods along the Mendenhall River. For more than a decade, the floods remained relatively small. Then, in 2023, the river reached a record high of nearly 15 feet. New benchmarks followed in 2024 and again in 2025.

Another flood came last month. Scientists expect them to return annually for decades to come.

That has forced Juneau to confront a problem that communities around the world are increasingly facing: How do you prepare for a natural disaster when you know it will come back?

The Mendenhall Glacier overlooks a residential neighborhood in Juneau. Marina Lopes

Juneau is beginning to find an answer. Scientists and local officials are putting increasingly sophisticated flood forecasts directly into the hands of residents. The online dashboard rolled out in 2025 translates complex glacier and hydrology data into information they can use to decide when to protect their belongings, prepare for rising water, or leave their homes.

The forecasts are changing how Juneau responds to the threat by providing officials and thousands of people in the flood zone more time to act before the water arrives. The approach could offer lessons far beyond Alaska as communities elsewhere contend with floods, hurricanes, and other climate-driven disasters that strike again and again.

Juneau sits amid the mountains and wilderness that define much of southeast Alaska. Although it is the state capital and home to 32,000 people, it is accessible only by air or sea. Lowrey’s family has deep roots in this rugged landscape. He recounted his story standing beneath the hide of a brown bear his grandfather shot decades ago. Still, the flood traumatized his family. His daughter tears up thinking about it. 

“We didn’t know anything,” he said. “We didn’t understand the nature of the basin. We thought it was a 100-year flood.”

They quickly learned otherwise. Each summer, the basin beside the Mendenhall Glacier fills with meltwater and rain. The glacier acts as a dam until enough water accumulates to trigger a flood downstream. In 2023, one of those floods inundated roughly two dozen homes, sweeping a house into the river and causing millions of dollars in damage. A year later, another flood damaged nearly 300 homes.

John Lowrey points to how high floodwaters rose inside his home in Juneau during a glacial flood. Marina Lopes

Glacial outburst floods are not unique to Juneau. They occur in Iceland, the Alps, the Himalayas, and other regions with glaciers. In Alaska’s capital, however, residential neighborhoods sit directly in the flood’s path, leaving thousands of residents exposed to the recurring threat.

“For Sale” signs dot the valley, but it’s a buyer’s market in the flood zone. Those within it have had little choice but to adapt to the annual floods. Some have dug moats. Others have raised their houses several feet above the ground. The city has built roughly 6 miles of barriers between the Mendenhall River and residents’ homes. 

Amid the uncertainty, the dashboard has become a source of comfort. Mark Miller, 75, checks it every day, waiting for the warning he knows is coming. “It’s pretty much on my mind constantly,” he said.

Two years ago, the sound of water pouring into the crawl space beneath his home jolted Miller awake in the wee hours. When he ventured into the garage and opened the door, a wall of gray slush surged toward him.

By the time the water receded, 16 inches of water filled the garage and mud and silt streaked the walls. Setting it all right took seven months and cost $35,000. Tears still fill his eyes at the memory of it all. Now, he prepares for each flood by placing sandbags on both sides of his doors to hold them in place against the water’s pressure. He turns to the dashboard to understand what happened and what is coming. 

“It can accurately predict the height of [glacial] floods within hours, which is pretty amazing,” he said.

Barriers, installed by the city of Juneau with help from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, line the Mendenhall River to protect residential neighborhoods from recurring glacial floods. Marina Lopes

Last year, more than 15,000 people accessed the dashboard for real-time updates on the floods. In addition to flood maps and forecasts, it offers an interactive explanation of how the basin formed and how glacial outburst floods happen.

It was there that Miller learned the science behind the water that invaded his home.

The Mendenhall Glacier peeks out behind verdant mountains in the summertime, a vast block of ice streaked with blue and gray that has long drawn tourists and scientists to Alaska’s capital.

The basin beside the glacier is known as Suicide Basin. As the water accumulates, the pressure can lift the expanse of ice, creating a drain that sends a torrent rushing toward the Mendenhall River. During a large outburst flood, the basin can release upward of 15 billion gallons, enough to fill 22,000 Olympic-size swimming pools.

Mendenhall Valley first flooded in 2011, but scientists had no idea why. They hopped in a helicopter and discovered that water in the basin behind the glacier was leaking.

Looking for a way to communicate directly with residents, researchers at the University of Alaska Southeast and the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center collaborated with the city to develop the dashboard. They then worked with residents to distribute flyers and magnets with QR codes that directed people to the dashboard.

Residents created and distributed flyers with a QR code to the flood dashboard. Marina Lopes

Eran Hood, one of the environmental scientists who developed the tool, said he sees a broader lesson in Juneau’s experience.

“You can do the same thing with hurricanes, storm surges,” he said. “You could do the same thing with floods on rivers like the Mississippi.” The goal, he said, is to “find the best way to provide people with information that gives them the power to make decisions. That to me is the biggest lesson from this.”

The flood data and forecasts are also shaping the city’s response. In 2024, officials started studying them to determine where to build miles of temporary walls along the Mendenhall River to protect homes from future floods.

On a rainy July afternoon, Nate Rumsey, deputy director of engineering and public works for the city, stared up at stacks of army-green, dirt-filled barriers lining the river to protect residents from a deluge that came on August 13.

Another severe flood “could put the viability of our community at risk,” he said.

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The defenses, known as Hesco barriers, snake through town, behind the library and elementary school and past homes, sometimes coming within inches of windows. The fabric-lined wire-mesh baskets, which are filled with sand and gravel, connect like Legos, stacked two, three, or four high. Rumsey spent months working with the Army Corps of Engineers to map out and oversee their installation.

The dashboard helped homeowners watching soldiers carry barriers into their backyards understand the threat they faced and the city’s response, Rumsey said.

“We recognized early on that the community needs to have information pertinent to this available to them for their own decision-making,” he said.

Residents could use the online tool to see how high the water might rise on their property without the barriers, and understand what those defenses were designed to prevent.

Sandbags are deployed by residents to protect their homes in anticipation of the next glacial flood in Juneau. Marina Lopes Flood barriers line the Mendenhall River, coming within inches of some homes. Marina Lopes

The dashboard has also changed how residents understand the landscape around them. 

Alyssa Fischer never gave much thought to the glacier towering over her house until she woke at 2 a.m. to find her street had turned into a river.

As the water rolled into her garage and swept away her front porch, the 33-year-old single mother decided it was time to go. She grabbed her 8-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son and carried them through knee-deep, icy water, shouting to wake her neighbors. She put her pet duck, quail, and goose in the bed of her red pickup as water rose above the wheels.

Alyssa Fischer stands in her backyard with her pets. A glacial flood destroyed part of her home. She carried her children through the icy current and put her pet duck, quail, and goose in the bed of her pickup as water rose above the wheels. Marina Lopes

Like so many residents in Juneau, Fischer now speaks the language of the scientists studying the ice above her. She talks about how rainfall can change a flood’s timeline and how many cubic feet of water could spell disaster for her and her neighbors. During flood season, she checks the dashboard hourly.

“Before it impacted my life, it was, like, ‘Oh, that’s interesting,’” she said. “Now, I want to know what’s happening.” That knowledge shapes decisions about her home, her children, and her future. “It’s your life,” she said. “It’s your money and your investment, and understanding what’s actually happening in the world around you and how it’s going to affect you.”

Armed with a radio, flashlights, and the dashboard, she awaits the next flood.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Juneau can’t stop the floods, but it’s learning to see them coming on Sep 17, 2026.

In 2025, a third of rivers worldwide had below-normal flows

Source

More than 300,000 solar panels and 120 battery containers are helping to power Africa’s largest copper mine with continuous clean energy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as miners turn to solar as an alternative to expensive diesel and energy imports.

The project at the Kamoa Copper mine in the south of the DRC, which became operational last month, is one of the largest solar and battery facilities generating baseload power on the continent.

The clean electricity is displacing millions of litres of polluting diesel and costs less than a fifth of the price of generator power per kilowatt hour, the mining company said.

The project is part of a massive solar deployment across the continent. Recent data from global energy think-tank Ember found record solar capacity of 17 GW will be installed in Africa this year – a 45% rise from 2025.

Installed by CrossBoundary Energy, a developer of distributed renewable energy systems, the solar-battery facility at the DRC mine is “proof of concept” that solar and battery systems can provide the reliable power at scale needed by remote industrial operations, Annebel Oosthuizen, managing director at Kamoa Copper, told Climate Home News in an interview.

“There’s always been this perception in the DRC that solar isn’t ideal because it is raining half of the year. But it’s perfectly ideal. We are seeing a lot of interest from other mines that are still depending on generators and power imports,” she said.

Mining drives solar and battery surge

Like Kamoa Copper, a growing number of miners in the DRC are looking to solar power to compensate for the country’s chronic energy deficit at a lower cost as global diesel prices hit record highs amid ongoing attacks on oil infrastructure in the Middle East.  

As a result, the mining sector has become a key driver of the country’s growing clean energy demand and one of the biggest importers of large-scale solar equipment.

Ember found the DRC is set to install a record 1.7 gigawatts (GW) of solar panels this year – a 544% increase compared to 2025 and the equivalent of adding more than 60% of the country’s entire 2023 grid capacity.

The deployment of combined solar and battery storage solutions to deliver stable energy supplies to mines has also caused battery imports to surge. In dollar terms, the DRC’s imports of batteries from China far exceeded that of solar in the year to June 2026, according to Ember.

A crippling power deficit

The DRC holds significant energy resources and some of the world’s largest reserves of the minerals required to manufacture clean energy technologies. It is the world’s largest producer of cobalt, which is needed to make batteries, and Africa’s top producer of copper – a metal sought after for its electrical conductivity which is pivotal to the world’s electrification efforts.

Yet just 22.5% of the DRC’s population had access to electricity in 2024 – one of the lowest rates in the world, according to the World Bank. And as mining expands and more of the minerals extracted are being processed in the country, unreliable power supply has become a major constraint for the sector, which contributed to more than a quarter of the country’s GDP in 2024, excluding oil and gas.

The country has enormous hydropower potential, with the hydroelectric potential of the Congo River estimated at around 100 GW. But only a fraction is being harnessed.

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Still, virtually all of the DRC’s grid-connected electricity is generated by hydropower by the state-owned utility, Société Nationale d’Électricité (SNEL).

The electricity then has to be transported more than 1,500 kilometres to reach the mining belt in the south – a challenge made more difficult by ageing grid infrastructure and limited transmission capability. SNEL did not respond to a request for comment.

“It is estimated that there’s around a 1 GW energy deficit for the DRC mining sector,” said Matt Tilleard, CEO of CrossBoundary Energy, which owns the solar and battery equipment at the Kamoa Copper mine and provides the power as a service.

“The interest in solar from the mining industry is not theoretical – it is already translating into large-scale solar and battery procurement for mining operations in the region,” he added.

Solar displaces gas, saves energy costs

The facility installed by CrossBoundary is part of a plan by Kamoa Copper to supply more of the electricity it needs with solar energy and batteries as its operations expand, a faster solution than relying on harder-to-build hydropower projects.

“Our processing capacity has increased drastically over the last couple of years. We’ve constructed the largest copper smelter in Africa and that is so power-intensive,” said managing director Oosthuizen.

A joint venture between Canadian firm Ivanhoe Mines, Chinese company Zijin Mining Group and the DRC government, the mine needs 235 megawatts (MW) of power, which is expected to nearly double to 450 MW in the next five years.

Kamoa Copper currently receives 100 MW from state utility SNEL – “and the rest we have to find a solution for”, said Oosthuizen.

Aerial view of a vast solar park and battery storage containers powering the Kamoa Copper mine in southern DRC (Photo: Kamoa Copper SA)

Another 30 MW solar and battery baseload facility is expected to come into operation this month, enabling around 25% of the mine’s power needs to be generated by solar energy. An additional 60 MW of continuous solar power will be added by the end of 2027, and the company is exploring options for more solar capacity and two hydropower projects.

The operational 30 MW of clean electricity provided by CrossBoundary Energy will power pumps that prevent 400 million litres of water from flooding the underground mine every day.

In August alone, the facility has reduced the mine’s diesel consumption by around four million litres, generating an estimated $11 million dollars in savings at current diesel prices, Oosthuizen said.

The mine still relies on generators to meet a 20-40 MW deficit and to power the trucks used in the mine, which Oosthuizen said would be difficult to electrify in the next five years because the technology isn’t yet ready to operate in the mine’s tough and wet conditions.

Avoiding a two-speed transition

To prevent a major imbalance between industrial players’ access to clean, reliable energy and the millions of Congolese who remain without power, the government requires private electricity producers to reserve at least 10% of their generated power for local communities living near rural production sites.  

Delivering this, combined with rural electrification, mini-grid development and national grid expansion, is critical to prevent a two-speed energy transition that leaves people behind, said Catherine Mukobo, head of ACERD, the Congolese Association for Renewable and Decentralised Energies.

“Without implementing these policies, the DRC could get in a situation where mines have access to abundant modern energy while a large part of the population remains without electricity,” she said.

The post DR Congo’s power-hungry mining sector drives record solar surge appeared first on Climate Home News.

Registered nurses at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center, in Baltimore, Md. will hold a rally on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026 to highlight unaddressed patient safety concerns — including short-staffing and lack of equipment and supplies — that have driven them to unionize.

"The National Land Agency, cannot become an institution that renders invisible the main subject of agrarian policy: the Colombian peasantry.", says FENSUAGRO

The post Colombia: FENSUAGRO demands respect for the Constitution and the rights of Colombia’s peasantry appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

A new ultra-black wool could make it desirable to be a black sheep. The specially dyed wool could be a low-cost, biodegradable material for producing potable water from saltwater using only sunlight.

The material reflects less than 0.5% of visible light falling on it and helps to purify saltwater by evaporating it. It produces water that exceeds both World Health Organization and Environment Protection Agency drinking-water standards, says Larissa Shepherd, a professor of human centered design at Cornell University. Shepherd and her colleagues reported their new ultrablack solar water evaporator in the journal Advanced Science.

Nearly half the world’s urban population is projected to face water scarcity by 2050. Conventional desalination technologies can convert seawater into potable water. But they are “too infrastructure-heavy and energy-intensive to reach the communities that need it most,” Shepherd says.

Distillation is one of the simplest ways of purifying water. It involves heating water into a vapor to separate any solid impurities such as salts, and then cooling the vapors to give fresh water. Researchers have been developing many methods and novel materials to distill water using only sunlight.

Most solar vapor generation devices that perform well, however, “rely on complex 3D fabrication or synthetic nanomaterials that are costly, hard to scale, and risk leaching into the water they produce,” Shepher says.

 

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So she and her colleagues took commercial white merino wool fabric and dyed it with polydopamine, a light-absorbing polymer inspired by melanin. The researchers took cues from the deep-black feathers of the riflebird, a type of Bird of Paradise. They etched the dyed wool to create spiky microscopic growths that mimic the tiny structures on the bird’s feathers that help absorb most of the light that hits them. They reported this “darkest fabric ever made” last year in the journal Nature Communications.

The team has now used the material as a solar water evaporator. The researchers created three wool structures with horizontal, one-sided vertical and two-sided vertical configurations. While the tiny spike fibers trap light, the polydopamine converts near-infrared light into heat.

In tests under simulated sunlight, the two-sided vertical system produced 2.43 liters of water per square meter of fabric each hour. That is the range of high-performing 3D architectures that require far more elaborate fabrication, Shepherd says. And it is lower than more complex systems and those using microplastics or nanomaterials.

But this material is 100% natural, simple, and low cost. The material weighs about 281 grams per square meter, and costs roughly $0.62 in materials for a 20 × 20 cm piece, she says. “Our modeling suggests a single square meter could yield around 4,700 liters of vapor a year in a sun-rich location like Mokha, Yemen. That makes off-grid, textile-based water purification realistic for vulnerable communities. I see it being used as an off-grid water source for communities that conventional infrastructure doesn’t reach.”

The researchers have already tested the material outdoors on a partly cloudy day in Ithaca, New York, on water three times saltier than seawater and it performed well. They now plan to test its performance on brackish ground water and wastewater.

Source: Kyuin Park et al. Polydopamine-Wool Textiles for Sustainable Interfacial Solar Vapor Generation. Advanced Science, 2026.

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