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Richard’s writing never minimized the severity of the challenges before us, but neither did it surrender to hopelessness. Again and again, he insisted that another path could be imagined and designed—one based on ecological understanding, community-based economics, and a renewed culture of commoning.

Give peace a chance Channel Comment brendan 5th August 2026 Teaser Media

permainan yang belakangan banyak diperbincangkan adalah Slot Terbaru Mafia Ways. Permainan ini hadir dengan konsep yang mengangkat nuansa dunia mafia klasik yang dipadukan dengan desain visual modern, sehingga mampu menciptakan pengalaman bermain yang terasa berbeda dibandingkan tema slot lainnya.

Dari sudut pandang edukatif, kemunculan Mafia Ways menunjukkan bagaimana pengembang permainan digital terus berusaha menghadirkan variasi yang mampu memenuhi selera berbagai kalangan. Bukan hanya mengandalkan tampilan grafis, permainan seperti ini juga memperhatikan aspek cerita, efek suara, hingga animasi yang membuat pemain merasa lebih terlibat selama bermain.

Tema mafia sendiri bukanlah hal baru dalam industri hiburan. Film, serial televisi, hingga video game telah lama menggunakan konsep tersebut sebagai daya tarik. Pada Slot Terbaru Mafia Ways, nuansa tersebut dikemas dengan pendekatan yang lebih ringan dan menghibur. Karakter berpakaian khas era gangster, latar kota bergaya klasik, serta simbol-simbol seperti koper uang, topi fedora, dan mobil antik menjadi elemen visual yang memperkuat identitas permainan.

Salah satu alasan mengapa permainan bertema seperti ini mudah menarik perhatian adalah karena manusia pada dasarnya menyukai cerita. Ketika sebuah permainan memiliki alur atau suasana yang jelas, pemain akan lebih mudah memahami identitas permainan tersebut. Sebagai contoh, seseorang yang menyukai film bertema kriminal klasik kemungkinan akan merasa lebih tertarik mencoba permainan dengan nuansa serupa dibandingkan permainan yang menggunakan tema fantasi.

Selain desain visual, kemudahan memahami aturan juga menjadi faktor penting. Sebagian besar slot modern, termasuk Mafia Ways, dirancang agar dapat dimainkan tanpa harus mempelajari mekanisme yang rumit. Pemain cukup mengenali simbol-simbol yang muncul di layar, memahami fungsi fitur bonus yang tersedia, lalu mengikuti petunjuk yang telah disediakan dalam permainan. Pendekatan ini membuat permainan lebih ramah bagi pengguna baru yang belum memiliki banyak pengalaman.

Contoh sederhana dapat dilihat ketika seseorang pertama kali mencoba permainan digital. Jika menu terlihat jelas, tombol mudah dikenali, dan informasi tersedia dalam bahasa yang sederhana, proses belajar akan berlangsung lebih cepat. Prinsip inilah yang banyak diterapkan pada permainan slot generasi terbaru agar pengalaman pengguna menjadi lebih nyaman.

Di sisi lain, perkembangan teknologi juga memberikan pengaruh besar terhadap kualitas permainan. Animasi kini tampil lebih halus, efek suara semakin realistis, dan perpindahan antarfitur berlangsung lebih cepat. Semua itu membuat pengalaman bermain terasa lebih hidup tanpa harus menggunakan perangkat dengan spesifikasi yang terlalu tinggi. Bahkan banyak permainan terbaru telah dioptimalkan agar berjalan lancar pada smartphone maupun komputer.

Bermain Slot Terbaru Mafia Ways juga dapat menjadi contoh bagaimana industri kreatif menggabungkan unsur seni, teknologi, dan hiburan dalam satu produk digital. Desainer grafis bertanggung jawab menciptakan karakter dan lingkungan permainan yang menarik, sementara pengembang perangkat lunak memastikan seluruh sistem berjalan stabil. Di balik sebuah permainan sederhana, terdapat kolaborasi dari berbagai bidang keahlian yang bekerja bersama menghasilkan pengalaman yang berkualitas.

Namun demikian, penting bagi setiap pemain untuk memahami bahwa permainan digital sebaiknya dinikmati sebagai bentuk hiburan. Menentukan batas waktu bermain merupakan langkah sederhana yang dapat membantu menjaga keseimbangan aktivitas sehari-hari. Misalnya, seseorang dapat menetapkan waktu khusus untuk menikmati permainan setelah menyelesaikan pekerjaan atau kegiatan belajar, sehingga hiburan tidak mengganggu tanggung jawab utama.

Pemahaman terhadap informasi yang tersedia di dalam permainan juga menjadi bagian penting dari pengalaman bermain. Banyak pemain terburu-buru memulai permainan tanpa membaca panduan yang telah disediakan. Padahal, melalui menu informasi tersebut, pemain dapat mengetahui fungsi simbol, cara kerja fitur tertentu, hingga berbagai penjelasan lain yang membantu mereka memahami permainan dengan lebih baik.

Fenomena populernya Mafia Ways juga memperlihatkan bagaimana komunitas digital berkembang. Banyak pengguna berbagi pengalaman, ulasan, maupun tips memahami fitur permainan melalui forum dan media sosial. Aktivitas tersebut menciptakan ruang diskusi yang memungkinkan pemain saling bertukar informasi tanpa harus bergantung pada satu sumber saja. Bagi pembaca yang ingin mengenal permainan lebih jauh, membaca berbagai ulasan dapat menjadi langkah awal yang bermanfaat untuk memperoleh gambaran secara lebih objektif.

Selain itu, perkembangan permainan digital menunjukkan pentingnya inovasi yang berkelanjutan. Pengembang terus memperbarui tampilan, meningkatkan kualitas grafis, memperbaiki performa, dan menghadirkan tema-tema baru agar pemain tetap memperoleh pengalaman yang segar. Mafia Ways menjadi salah satu contoh bagaimana kreativitas dalam menggabungkan cerita klasik dengan teknologi modern mampu menghasilkan permainan yang menarik perhatian banyak pengguna.

Pada akhirnya, Bermain Dengan Slot Terbaru Mafia Ways dapat dipahami sebagai bagian dari perkembangan hiburan digital yang semakin kreatif dan mudah diakses. Permainan ini menawarkan kombinasi tema yang unik, tampilan visual yang menarik, serta mekanisme yang relatif mudah dipahami oleh pemain baru maupun yang sudah berpengalaman. Dengan memahami cara kerja permainan, membaca informasi yang tersedia, serta menggunakannya sebagai sarana hiburan secara bijak, pemain dapat menikmati pengalaman yang lebih menyenangkan sekaligus memperoleh wawasan mengenai perkembangan dunia permainan digital yang terus berkembang dari waktu ke waktu.

Cuba's various public policies formally recognize peasants as a distinct social group, thereby preserving their social identity in all spheres of life.

The post This is how Cuba is turning UNDROP into concrete public policies appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

Unregistered high-speed motorcycles are illegal, but a deceptive and widespread marketing tactic has tricked families into purchasing the dangerous vehicles, with deadly results, and fooled lawmakers into pushing laws that would make streets even less safe.

Gabriel Nacato, 17, died last week in New York City after a crash with an SUV while riding his Deepower e-moto. The vehicle’s top speed of 30 miles per hour is illegal in New York, but the uncle who purchased the wheels for Nacato told the media he had no idea. It’s hard to blame him: Deepower’s website advertises the e-moto as an e-bike — a common practice for misleading and endangering consumers.

An illegal e-moto by Tuttio advertised as an “Electric Bike” with a top speed of 46+ mph. Click to expand.

Deepower’s deception is not anomalous. Days before Nacato’s death, a 14-year-old died in Seattle after his e-moto plummeted down a set of stairs. Another 14-year-old outside of Chicago met the same fate.

The deaths come as manufacturers continue to dodge basic safety requirements. Several popular brands design their bikes with a speed cap override, or operate above legal limits by default. Many of these companies target their advertising towards children and teenagers, even though their products can reach speeds up to 50 mph. They list the vehicles as e-bikes, misleading consumers on the risks and legality of their products.

E-moto manufacturer Tuttio Sport markets its illegal, 50 mph-capped bikes to children.

Thrill-seeking youth and well-meaning family members aren’t the only targets of the e-moto scam. Lawmakers are getting duped, too.

In January, New Jersey’s then-Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill requiring e-bike riders to possess a drivers’ license, registration and, in some cases, insurance. The bill went after legal e-bike users — not the illegal e-moto market.

“The final bill places unnecessary and burdensome restrictions on low-speed e-bikes while leaving higher-risk vehicles like electric mopeds and motorcycles without additional regulations,” PeopleForBikes said in a statement.

New Jersey’s convoluted series of requirements that restrict and deter e-biking. Click for full-size version. Photo: New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission

California legislators introduced a similar bill one month later. Their proposed statute, which would have required riders of most e-bikes to register their bike and attach a license plate, has stalled in committee. Separately, the state’s attorney general advised consumers to be wary of falsely advertised e-motos, and emphasized the danger to children in particular.

“California should focus on regulating, educating, and enforcing laws against deceptive advertising and illegal use of e-motos, rather than creating new barriers for people riding legal e-bikes,” statewide bike advocacy organization CalBike said in a statement.

States vary in how they define e-bikes, compounding consumer uncertainty over what is and is not legal. Some states classify e-bikes as bicycles. Others define them as car-like vehicles. All but eight states and Washington, D.C. follow a three-class system based on speed and wattage. Most states cap unlicensed e-bikes at 28 mph, designating anything faster an e-moto. And without meeting stricter safety rules such as registration, a license, and a helmet, those e-motos are illegal.

Federal officials are beginning to take note of the good, the bad and the outright scapegoating. In March, a bipartisan group of House representatives introduced the Safe SPEEDS Act, which would codify a federal e-bike class system and prohibit merchants from marketing e-motos as e-bikes.

If passed, the bill would empower regulators to curb the illegal e-moto market and keep consumers safe — without punishing law-abiding e-bike riders.

Recommended New Calif. Legislation, Backed by Bike Safety Groups, Proposed to Regulate E-Motos/E-Bikes Damien Newton February 23, 2026

Its sponsors urged regulatory action in a letter sent to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission last month.

“While e-bikes remain an affordable and essential mode of transportation for millions of Americans, federal safety rules have struggled to keep pace with a rapidly evolving marketplace,” the letter said. “Bad actors abuse regulatory loopholes to sell electronic motorcycle-like vehicles to consumers as if they were ordinary e-bikes.”

Amidst Republican-led attacks on bike and pedestrian safety, other members of Congress may be less eager to shield safe alternatives to cars and follow the New Jersey route.

Scapegoating, however, is not an effective legislative strategy. Restricting low-speed, legal e-bikes will not stop e-moto riders from dying in the street. Addressing the illegal, deceptive, and dangerous e-moto market will.

• Flock license plate readers are useful in enforcing traffic laws, but they can also be traffic safety hazards. Some cameras are just a couple of feet from the road, perched atop black metal poles that are hard to see and a lack a breakaway plate allowing them to easily snap when hit by a car. And they’re rarely inspected by city or state transportation officials. (The Guardian)
• Transit agencies are boosting their own ridership by developing land around stations, which has the added benefit of creating more housing where residents don’t need expensive cars. (Metro Magazine)
• The Trump administration’s isolationism is leaving the U.S. behind other countries that are rapidly adopting electric vehicles, according to climate activist Bill McKibben. (New Yorker)
• An Amtrak restructuring could create conflicts within the agency and does not address its biggest problem, funding. (Trains)
• Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Ayanna Presley introduced a bill allocating $25 billion to help transit agencies go fare-free, but some would prefer to spend that money on improving service. (Boston Globe; paywall)
• Not even Dulles officials think the Washington, D.C. airport needs the 32,000-space parking garage President Trump is proposing, especially since it’s now on a D.C. Metro line. (NOTUS)
• Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is pitching a proposed small tax hike to fund transit as an affordability measure, pointing to the high cost of owning a car.
• Nashville is rolling out more raised crosswalks and concrete dividers protecting bike and scooter lanes as part of its Choose How You Move initiative. (Axios)
• Oklahoma City is an example of a booming city that’s trying to deal with growth by expanding transit rather than highways. (Streetsblog USA)
• A Wayne County, Michigan transit tax referendum looked like it would pass easily Tuesday night. (Detroit Free Press)
• Honolulu Civil Beat reported on a dangerous crosswalk, and lo and behold, the Hawaii DOT actually fixed it!
• To accommodate increased ridership after going fare-free, Iowa City is building a new $20 million transit center. (Press-Citizen)
• Some rural counties in Alabama still have more dirt roads than paved ones, but the state ignores them because not many people live there. (Alabama Political Reporter)
• Business Insider has some tips for traveling overnight on Amtrak.

Nurses at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine are staging an emergency protest Wednesday, Aug. 5 to demand the immediate release of an RN colleague who is being detained by ICE despite the fact that she is legally authorized to live and work in the country while she waits for her asylum case from Zambia to be processed.

The assessment of the climate impact of expansion at the Horse Hill oil site in Surrey contains “multiple errors and misleading and irrelevant information”, campaigners said today.

The Weald Action Group, which won a landmark Supreme Court ruling on greenhouse gas emissions, said the assessment, submitted by the developer, made “spurious claims” and failed to comply with the latest guidance.

The flaws led to the “false conclusion” that the climate impact was “not significant”, the group said. It added:

“This is incorrect and must be disregarded”.

Horse Hill oil site near Redhill, Surrey. Photo: Weald Action Group

Weald Action Group (WAG) has called for evidence that the assessment was written by an appropriately qualified practitioner”.

The assessment estimated that four new production wells and extraction of more than 600,000 tonnes of oil over 20 years, would result in more than two million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. But it stated that the emissions would not be “significant for the climate”.

Kirsty Clough, of WAG, said:

“The oil company’s assessment of greenhouse gas emissions and climate impacts is fundamentally flawed. Had they done the job properly, they could not have avoided concluding that the effects on the climate would be highly significant. The Council cannot grant permission on the basis of such a deficient assessment.”

In its response to Surrey County Council, submitted today, WAG said:

“The technical competency of the consultant who prepared the assessment of climate significance is in question.”

The document was apparently prepared by an air quality consultant.

WAG said the job requires “a broad knowledge of UK climate mitigation policy, in the context of international obligations, to be able form a judgement of significance”.

It said:

“We question whether an air quality consultant would have the relevant technical skills and expertise … to undertake a robust GHG [greenhouse gas] and climate impact assessment.”

It added:

“A lack of competency is observative in the numerous shortcomings and inaccuracies.

“In particular, the author has failed to draw on relevant available guidance, policy and scientific evidence”.

WAG said:

“We urge Surrey County Council to raise the issue of technical competency with the applicant. Specifically they should be required to provide evidence that the assessment was written by an ‘appropriately qualified practitioner’.

“Multiple flaws”

The climate assessment focussed on the emissions resulting from burning Horse Hill oil, known as downstream or scope 3 emissions. The Supreme Court ruling now requires these emissions to be taken into account when deciding fossil fuel proposals.

WAG said its analysis found the Horse Hill assessment was “flawed in multiple ways”.

The group said the assessment failed to comply with:

• new government guidance on assessing the effects of downstream scope 3 emissions
• Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017
• Institute of Sustainability & Environmental Professionals’ Guide to assessing greenhouse gas emissions

WAG said the assessment failed to regard the government guidance as a material planning consideration, even though a developer and climate expert agreed in a separate project that it should be.

The Horse Hill assessment also failed to describe the state of the climate, WAG said.

Scientists have forecast that the maximum amount of carbon we can emit and stay within the legal limit of 1.5C temperature rise is 130-170 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2). This volume of CO2 will be breached in a few years, the group said.

It added:

[This] “conceals the true state of the climate and how little time, if any, we have left to prevent global average temperature rise exceeding the 1.5C limit.”

WAG said the assessment further failed to assess the actual impact of 2 million tonnes of greenhouse gases on, for example, human health, biodiversity, land, soil water, air and climate. This is required by the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, it said.

There were also “multiple errors and misleading and irrelevant information” about projected UK oil production and demand and global energy and climate scenarios, WAG said.

It said the assessment implied that new domestic oil production was needed to meet a shortfall in demand up to 2050 and to bolster energy security.

WAG said this “presents a false picture of future oil demand and its relationship to domestic production and shows a lack of understanding of energy markets”.

There was also a “spurious” claim, WAG said, that oil from Horse Hill would substitute for imported oil, which may have a higher carbon intensity.

WAG said no evidence had been provided and the claim should be disregarded:

It said the assessment made unfounded claims that oil from Horse Hill would remain in the UK, even though more than 80% of domestically produced oil and gas is exported. The group said:

“There is no guarantee that oil from Horse Hill will remain and be used within the UK.”

The assessment failed to place Horse Hill greenhouse gas emissions in a global cumulative context of all current and approved fossil fuel projects, WAG said. An estimate in 2022 forecast the emissions from these projects amounted to 936 gigatonnes of CO2.

The group said:

“The significance of the scope 3 emissions arising from the Horse Hill development should … have been assessed relative to the available space in the remaining 1.5C aligned global carbon budget, once the emissions from existing and committed fossil fuel projects (the cumulative effect) have been accounted for. The developer has failed to do this.”

WAG added:

“There is no space in the rapidly dwindling 1.5C global carbon budget for any new fossil fuel developments, and a massive excess of emissions from existing oil, gas and coal infrastructure which will now need to close before the end of its economic life.

“Any emissions from the Horse Hill oilfield development will be additional, cumulative and hence contribute to the further exceedance of the 1.5C global carbon budget.

“On this basis, the scope 3 emissions arising from the Horse Hill development must be deemed significant in terms of their climate impact.”

• Weald Action Group said it would be submitting further objections, including on seismicity and earthquake risk.

By Macy Brigham-Hill, DC Campaign Intern, Chesapeake Climate Action Network

Growing up in the Nation’s Capitol, I spent my summers climbing trees, exploring Rock Creek Park, playing sports, going to the Zoo, camps and playgrounds, and spending almost all of my time outside. Today, those summers are being reshaped by extreme heat. Heat advisories, cancellations, and warnings to stay indoors are frequent experiences for children and families in D.C. Now, as a rising college senior, I feel frustration for kids like my younger sister, whose summers are being threatened and changed by climate change. As extreme heat worsens, we will continue to witness its negative impacts on people’s physical and mental health and overall well-being.

This Fourth of July marked the hottest in D.C. history, surpassing the record in 1919, with temperatures over 100°F. The city issued an extreme heat warning as the heat index was expected to reach 105-115°F in many areas. While high humidity increases the risk of heat-related illness, consistently high temperatures throughout the day produced life-threatening conditions for residents partaking in outdoor plans and events.

On the National Mall, celebrations were cut short due to the dangerous temperatures. D.C. Fire and EMS reported 96 patient contacts and 40 patient transports. People were seen lying on the ground and on stretchers with ice, as they were loaded into ambulances. A total of 603 people received first aid in one day.

High temperatures and humidity are the deadliest extreme weather events worldwide, with thousands of people dying from heat each year in the U.S. alone. A Virginia study on extreme heat, when projected nationally, estimates that heat-related hospital visits and illness cost approximately $1 billion in health care costs each summer. Extreme heat is also particularly dangerous in cities like D.C., due to the urban heat-island effect, which happens when pavement, buildings, and other hard surfaces absorb and trap heat instead of cooling down. This means majority Black and Brown communities, which often have less tree cover, more asphalt, fewer parks, and more development shaped by decades of unequal urban planning, can be about 17 degrees hotter than others on the same day. Neighborhoods such as Ivy City, Trinidad, and the Navy Yard have faced some of the city’s highest heat risks, making extreme heat a public health emergency and an issue of environmental justice.

Extreme heat also places intense strain on public infrastructure and essential resources that residents depend on. Heatwaves overwhelm the U.S. grid, leading to cancellations and delays. During the July heatwave, PJM, our regional grid manager, issued a federal alert to cut electricity consumption across its territory, which impacted all D.C. residents and resulted in higher AC bills and even blackouts. Amtrak also stated that trains would run at reduced speeds and people could experience delays throughout the day. D.C. summers have always been hot, but climate change is making extreme heatwaves more frequent, intense, and dangerous.

National Research Council. 2026. Attribution of Extreme Weather and Climate Events and Their Impacts.  DC and Beyond: Scientists Link Extreme Heatwaves to Climate Change

World Weather Attribution (WWA), an international network of scientists, conducts rapid studies of extreme events to determine the influence of climate change. A recent article by WWA analyzed this heatwave and determined that the combination of heat and humidity experienced in early July would have been virtually impossible without climate change.

These kinds of attribution studies are becoming more crucial in lawsuits focused on holding fossil fuel companies financially responsible for climate-related damages. Researchers can even trace aspects of these damages to specific emission sources and fossil fuel companies that are responsible for the largest share of emissions.

What We’re Doing: Make Polluters Pay Campaign

D.C. residents are already paying the price of climate change in higher utility bills, increased hospital visits, and strains on public systems that families rely on, particularly in minority, overburdened, and underserved communities. CCAN Action Fund’s Make Polluters Pay campaign aims to take the burden off of taxpayers and put it on the shoulders of the largest, most polluting fossil fuel companies. Climate change could cost every D.C. resident born in 2024 an extra $500,000 to 1 million over their lifetime. Meanwhile, in the same year, the largest fossil-fuel emitters’ profits totaled more than $102,000,000,000.

In June, the D.C. Council passed the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Study Amendment Act to kickstart a study to determine the total financial cost of climate change on D.C. and how exactly extreme weather impacts the city. The results would help guide investments towards heatwave relief, flood protection, and public infrastructure and transportation improvements and so much more. Sign the Make Polluters Pay petition to make sure the biggest fossil fuel companies cover the costs of climate change-related extreme weather damages.

Sign the Petition to Make Polluters Pay!

About the author: Macy Brigham-Hill (she/her) is the DC Campaign Intern for summer 2026. In her role, she supports the DC team by assisting with community outreach, organizing, and coalition-building to advance campaign goals. She is a rising senior at Tulane University, where she is working towards a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies and Sociology, with a minor in Climate Change: Science and Practice.

Macy’s passion for environmental advocacy began at a young age, shaped by her love of nature and animals. She hopes to pursue a career in environmental policy, advocacy, and research, working at the intersection of climate adaptation and mitigation within communities most vulnerable to climate impacts.

The post DC Summers Are Getting More Extreme and Expensive – Who’s Responsible? appeared first on Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

EWG evaluation of food chemicals: ADA rcoleman August 4, 2026 David Andrews, Ph.D. Sydney Evans, MPH Dayna de Montagnac, MPH Tasha Stoiber, Ph.D. Jump to: What is ADA and why is it added to foods? Where is ADA found in foods? What is the regulatory status of ADA? Are foods containing ADA ultra-processed? Is ADA allowed in organic foods? What are the potential health harms associated with ADA? Uncertainties/where more research is needed More details about ADA Cited resources August 4, 2026 EWG’s recommendation

Azodicarbonamide, also known as ADA, is an ingredient of concern. EWG suggests limiting consumption of foods containing this ingredient.

Experimental studies have demonstrated that baking bread made with ADA-treated flour results in the formation of SEM, which has been the focus of toxicological concern because laboratory and animal studies have suggested carcinogenic and genotoxic potential.

Science analysis

What is ADA and why is it added to foods?

ADA is a dough strengthener and flour bleaching agent. It is used to improve the texture of dough and brighten the appearance of flour.

Where is ADA found in foods?

ADA is typically found in breads, deli sandwiches and frozen appetizers. 

ADA is used in 60 of the 172,081 foods added to EWG’s Food Scores between 2023 and 2025, demonstrating that ADA is now used in only a small fraction of newly introduced food products. 

Top 15 food and drink categories organized by supermarket shelf Image

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

What is the regulatory status of ADA?

The European Union never authorized ADA as a food additive but did allow it as a blowing agent (a substance that helps create foam) in food-contact plastics. In 2004, the EU prohibited the use of ADA in jar seals and gaskets intended for food contact because of concerns about the formation of SEM during heat sterilization. 

A European Food Safety Authority panel concluded after review of commissioned research that SEM shows weak carcinogenic activity in lab animals and weak genotoxicity in vitro, but newer studies showed a lack of genotoxicity. The new information reduced concerns and the panel concluded the risk to human health was low, but the ban remains. 

Because of toxicity concerns, ADA is also banned as a food additive in Brazil, China, India and New Zealand.

ADA is regulated as an approved direct food additive in 1962 and permitted for use in the U.S. up to 45 parts per million in cereal flour and as dough conditioner in bread.

In 2026, the Food and Drug Administration launched a formal post-market safety assessment of ADA. The agency opened a public request for data targeting current use levels, dietary exposures and the presence of its toxic decomposition byproducts, such as semicarbazide and urethane, in the food supply.

Are foods containing ADA ultra-processed?

As an industrially synthesized ingredient, ADA is classified as an ultra-processed ingredient in the NOVA framework. (Monteiro et al., 2019). 

Is ADA allowed in organic foods?

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

What are the potential health harms associated with ADA?

Health concerns about ADA arise mainly because of the byproducts that form when it breaks down, especially during heating.

During dough preparation and baking, ADA breaks down into several compounds, including biurea, semicarbazide (SEM), ammonia and isocyanates. Experimental studies have demonstrated that baking bread made with ADA-treated flour results in the formation of SEM (Noonan et al., 2008). Laboratory and animal studies have raised toxicological concerns about SEM because they suggest it has carcinogenic and genotoxic potential (Kumari et al., 2026). 

The formation of SEM during baking and other high-temperature food processing was first characterized in experimental studies of ADA-treated flour and bread (Noonan et al., 2008; Becalski et al., 2004). In a 2016 survey of over 250 products, the FDA found levels of SEM can vary widely. The agency found that many products fell into a median range, between 100 and 400 parts per billion (ppb) but maximum outliers reached as high as 767 ppb for biscuits and 1,490 ppb for French and Vienna breads (FDA 2016).

SEM has produced tumors in mice and demonstrated DNA-damaging activity in mechanistic studies. Although in vivo genotoxicity findings are inconsistent, the combination of carcinogenicity and genotoxic potential raises concerns (EFSA 2005; Hirakawa 2003).

A rodent study found SEM to have hormone-disrupting properties, altering testosterone regulation in male and female rats (Maranghi et al., 2009). SEM has also shown it can harm the reproductive system, affecting sperm maturation in male mice even at low doses (Tian et al., 2014). Animal studies have shown the metabolite may also damage other organs, such as the heart, liver and kidneys (Tian et al., 2014; Olofinnade et al., 2020).

Baking foods with ADA can produce small amounts of urethane, or ethyl carbamate. This process contaminant forms when ethanol from yeast fermentation reacts with cyanate or carbamoyl-containing compounds, which can be derived from ADA's direct breakdown products like isocyanic acid. Urethane is a Group 2A probable human carcinogen (Abt et al., 2021). 

Repeated exposure to ADA led to dose-dependent decreases in weight and food consumption, oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation in rats (Olafinnade et al., 2020). Oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation can cause cellular and DNA damage and are implicated in numerous diseases. 

The breakdown to SEM is a concern for both foods and contact materials containing ADA, specifically in gaskets used in lids for glass baby food jars (Nepalia et al 2017). 

Uncertainties/where more research is needed

Although experimental studies suggest that ADA and its breakdown products may contribute to oxidative stress, inflammation, DNA damage, reproductive toxicity, and alterations to the gut microbiome, the available evidence is derived largely from in vitro and animal studies, and important data gaps remain (Lieshchova et al., 2023). The long-term health effects of chronic dietary ADA exposure in humans also remain poorly characterized (Kumari et al., 2026). 

More details about ADA

ADA was used as a foaming agent in the production of plastic gaskets in glass jars. When its metabolite semicarbazide was found to contaminate foods in glass containers, including baby food, the EU banned its use in food contact materials. Under market pressure, brands have phased it out in global markets, although it is still technically allowed in lids in the U.S. 

Whole Foods Market prohibits ADA in products sold in its stores. Aldi and Walmart have policies restricting ADA in many or all of their private-label food products. Panera and Subway removed ADA from their bread products in 2014. 

ADA is also used in foamed plastics, such as those used to make yoga mats.

Cited resources

Global health and regulatory agencies

• EFSA Panel on Food Additives, Flavourings, Processing Aids and Materials in Contact with Food, 2005. Opinion of the Scientific Panel on food additives, flavourings, processing aids and materials in contact with food (AFC) related to Semicarbazide in food. EFSA Journal 2005; 3(6):219, 141 pp. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2005.219 
• International Agency for Research on Cancer. (1983). Some food additives, feed additives and naturally occurring substances. https://publications.iarc.fr/Book-And-Report-Series/Iarc-Monographs-On-The-Evaluation-Of-Carcinogenic-Risks-To-Humans/Some-Food-Additives-Feed-Additives-And-Naturally-Occurring-Substances-1983 

Comprehensive reviews and frameworks

• Abt, E., Incorvati, V., Posnick Robin, L. and Redan, B.W., 2021. Occurrence of Ethyl Carbamate in Foods and Beverages: Review of the Formation Mechanisms, Advances in Analytical Methods, and Mitigation Strategies. Journal of Food Protection, 84(12), pp. 2195-2212 https://doi.org/10.4315/JFP-21-219. 
• Kumari, D., Janmeda, P., & Singh, D. (2026). From food additive to health hazard? A review of azodicarbonamide, potassium bromate, and monosodium glutamate with in-silico toxicity analysis. Food Chemistry Advances, 10, 101239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.focha.2026.101239. 
• 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.
• Nepalia, A., Singh, A., Mathur, N., & Pareek, S. (2017). Baby foods can also have toxic side effects: A review. Asian Journal of Science and Technology, 8(3), 4386-4393.
• Tian, W., Sang, Y., & Wang, X. (2014). Semicarbazide – from state-of-the-art analytical methods and exposure to toxicity: a review. Food Additives & Contaminants Part A, 31(11), 1850–1860. https://doi.org/10.1080/19440049.2014.953012. 

Legislation

• Commission Directive 2004/1/EC of 6 January 2004 amending Directive 2002/72/EC as regards the suspension of the use of azodicarbonamide as blowing agent, Official Journal of the European Union, L 7/45. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:007:0045:0046:EN:PDF.

Specific health impact studies

• Becalski A, Lau BP-Y, Lewis D, Seaman SW. (2004). Semicarbazide Formation in Azodicarbonamide-Treated Flour: A Model Study. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 52(18), 5730–5734. doi: 10.1021/jf0495385
• Food and Drug Administration, 2016. Exposure Estimate for Semicarbazide from the Use of Azodicarbonamide in Bread for the U.S. Population. (Presented at the 251st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, March 15, 2016). https://www.fda.gov/media/97444/download.  
• Hirakawa K, Midorikawa K, Oikawa S, Kawanishi S. (2003). Carcinogenic semicarbazide induces sequence-specific DNA damage through the generation of reactive oxygen species and the derived organic radicals. Mutation Research/Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis. 2003;536(1–2):91–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1383-5718(03)00030-5 
• Lieshchova, M., Logvinova, V., Bilan, M., Bohomaz, A., & Brygadyrenko, V. (2023). Effect of azodicarbonamide on rats with a high-fat hypercaloric diet. Acta Fytotechnica et Zootechnica, 26(1), 15-27. https://doi.org/10.15414/afz.2023.26.01.15-27. 
• Maranghi, F., Tassinari, R., Marcoccia, D., Altieri, I., Catone, T., De Angelis, G., Testai, E., Mastrangelo, S., Evandri, M. G., Bolle, P., & Lorenzetti, S. (2009). The food contaminant semicarbazide acts as an endocrine disrupter: Evidence from an integrated in vivo/in vitro approach. Chemico-Biological Interactions, 183(1), 40-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbi.2009.09.016. 
• Olofinnade, A.T., Onaolapo, A.Y., Onaolapo, O.J., Olowe, O.A., & Adeyeba, O.A. (2020b). Food-added azodicarbonamide alters hematological parameters, antioxidant status and biochemical/histomorphological indices of liver and kidney injury in rats. Journal of Basic and Clinical Physiology and Pharmacology, 32(2), 39-50. https://doi.org/10.1515/jbcpp-2019-0341. 

This is a re-post from By the Numbers by Hannah Ritchie

Over the last week, this chart of wildfire burn in Europe has been doing the rounds on social media and traditional media outlets. Carbon Brief goes through some of this coverage here.

The underlying narrative is that Europe is having its lowest wildfire year on record, which is quite at odds with the huge wildfires we see from France and Spain on the news.

But this data and the media headlines are not as contradictory as they first appear.

The wildfire data we present on Our World in Data comes from the Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS). This uses satellite imagery, which doesn’t distinguish, for example, between forest fires and large-scale burning of agricultural land, grasslands, or savannah.

Its aggregate category “Europe” includes Russia. On OWID, we also have predefined regions across our datasets, and Russia falls under “Europe”.

Russia, as a country, is split between Europe and Asia. Most of its landmass lies in Asia, but most of its population is on the European side. Since most of our datasets, from poverty and inequality, to health, education, energy consumption and access to resources, are about human activity and outcomes, assigning Russia to Europe usually makes more sense. That’s not so much the case for the few metrics — like wildfires — that concern land mass.

As Russia is big, the European numbers are heavily influenced by what’s happening there. This is something that’s true of aggregate wildfire data more broadly. The global numbers are heavily influenced by what’s happening in Africa, for example.

It can be true that the world is having a low wildfire year, while Europe is having a high one. Or that Europe is having a low wildfire year, and particular countries within Europe are battling huge outbreaks. There is no inconsistency there.

To provide more regional insight, we added an entity called “Europe (excluding Russia)” and already had one for the “European Union (27)”.

What does the European data look like if we remove Russia?

It’s no longer the lowest wildfire year on record, but still fairly quiet for this time of year. Russia is not the only explanation.

What if we look at the European Union?

It is higher again, with a particular uptick in the last week. It’s around 40% higher than the median year since 2012, and the 5th highest in that record.

At Our World in Data we use GWIS as our main source, since we want the global picture. But Europe also has the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS). It stretches back to 2006, and tries to filter out agricultural burning to focus on forest fires.

Its data has the EU running at its 2nd highest level for this time of year.

Underneath this trend from either source is a stark regional split. Many countries in Western Europe are having a bad wildfire year. Those in the Balkans and Southern Europe, a comparatively quiet one.1

The bar chart below shows how wildfire burn at this stage of the year compares to the median over the past 15 years. A figure of 2 means it’s twice as high as the median; 0.3 means wildfire burn is around one-third.

Countries such as France, Spain, Germany, and Portugal are well above the average for this time of year. But countries such as Romania, Greece, and Croatia are well below.

For France, it’s not just that wildfire burn is higher than usual. It’s seeing record-breaking fires for this time of the year. You can see this in the panel chart below.

Compare that to Greece, where wildfires are tracking for their lowest levels since 2012.

This matters for the aggregate European, or EU, figures.

Let’s take that same chart, but make the y-axis scale the same across all countries. Some countries simply contribute far more to the total than others. France is breaking records — which obviously matters a lot for its national figures — but it doesn’t have a huge impact on the region’s overall numbers. A really big year in Portugal, Italy, Romania or Spain does make a big difference. But the relatively high year in Spain is “offset” by a low year for Romania.

That’s really the point: some countries are having really severe wildfire outbreaks, affecting huge population centres and landscapes. That France is struggling this summer is not a lie or just media hype. It can also be true that others offset this with quiet years in the regional totals.

The anomaly in France this year is even clearer when we look at the weekly wildfire burn. The spike you see in the chart below was far higher than any other week in France’s record since 2012. The speed and intensity of wildfire outbreaks is arguably more important for the impact on communities than just the total area burned.

What about global wildfires this year?

What if we zoom out to look at data across all regions?

Here they are, with the y-axis scales the same. It really is a low year for wildfires globally. Most of that is explained by low wildfire burn in Africa. A lot of Africa’s wildfires are about agricultural burning, and fires on grasslands and savannahs. South America is also having a quiet year, so far.

Europe and North America, in particular, have little bearing on the global total, simply because they’re so small. Europe without Russia has even less so.

 

1 Much of the burning in the Balkans is related to agricultural land practices, which differ from how people think about forest fires.

Dirty Dozen™ food chemicals: ADA Iris Myers August 4, 2026 EWG’s recommendation

Avoid or limit foods containing azodicarbonamide, or ADA.

ADA breaks down during baking into several compounds, including semicarbazide, or SEM. Laboratory and animal studies suggest SEM may damage genetic material or cause cancer. 

What is ADA?

ADA is a dough strengthener and flour bleaching agent. It is used to improve the texture of dough and brighten the appearance of flour.

Outside of the food industry, it’s used as a chemical foaming agent for the foam rubber in yoga mats.

Which foods contain ADA?

ADA is typically found in bread, deli sandwiches and frozen appetizers.

Look for ADA in product ingredient lists, usually below or next to the Nutrition Facts panel, on the back of the package. It may also appear as “azodicarbonamide.”

How is ADA regulated?

The Food and Drug Administration is responsible for overseeing food additives and other ingredients. ADA is allowed for use in food at up to 45 parts per million in cereal flour and dough conditioner in bread. 

In 2026, the FDA began a new safety review of ADA, requesting public input on current use levels, dietary exposures and the presence of toxic breakdown byproducts like SEM and urethane in the food supply. EWG submitted comments to the FDA on ADA, citing potential health concerns in urging the agency to ban its use in food. 

The European Union never authorized ADA as a food additive, though it did allow it in food-contact plastics. The EU banned ADA from all food contact materials in 2004 over the potential carcinogenicity of SEM, which forms during high-heat sterilization of glass jars. 

A later European Food Safety Authority review found newer studies showed ADA did not harm genetic material and concluded the risk to human health was low. But the ban remains in place. 

ADA is also banned as a food additive in Brazil, China, India and New Zealand because of toxicity concerns.

In the U.S., ADA is prohibited in food certified as organic under Agriculture Department standards, which bar synthetic substances.

What does the science say about ADA?

The metabolite SEM forms when ADA is used in flour and bread during baking and other high-heat food processing – a finding first documented in the mid-2000s. In a 2016 survey of more than 250 products, the FDA found SEM levels vary widely across foods.

SEM has caused tumors in mice and shows some evidence of potential DNA harm. While the DNA-damaging effects aren’t consistent across all studies, the combination of cancer-causing and DNA-harming potential may be cause for concern.

One animal study found SEM interfered with testosterone regulation in both male and female rats. Another found it can impair the male reproductive system, affecting sperm in mice even at low doses. Animal studies have also linked SEM exposure to potential damage in other organs, including the heart, liver and kidneys.

Find out more

Learn more about recommendations relating to ADA – and the full EWG Dirty Dozen™ list of food chemicals – on EWG’s research page.

EWG’s Food Scores provides ratings for more than 150,000 foods and drinks based on nutrition, ingredients and processing concerns. Food Scores flags unhealthy ultra-processed foods to help you identify alternatives.

EWG’s free, searchable Skin Deep® cosmetic database helps to identify harmful chemicals in personal care and beauty products. EWG Verified® products meet EWG’s strictest criteria for ingredient transparency and health.

And the Healthy Living app lets you take these tools with you on the go.

Areas of Focus Food Ultra-Processed Foods Food Chemicals Authors Sarah Reinhardt, MPH, RDN Dayna de Montagnac, MPH August 5, 2026

In the middle of a hot afternoon, between the glistening ocean and pristine white sands, I walk my wagon along the shoreline. Within the wagon is my umbrella, beach chair, binoculars, a camera, a...

The conversation around data centers in Eastern Kentucky has rapidly picked up pace since we first wrote about them in November 2025 and looked at the Kentucky General Assembly’s proposals in March of this year. To help our community members and local leaders better understand the landscape, we have compiled the resource list below. This list includes Eastern Kentucky counties with current data center moratoriums, resources from partner organizations, notable projects, and feedback from elected officials. 

Mountain Association believes in community-led, transparent data center development that recognizes the importance of community benefits agreements between developers and local government. 

In-depth resources about data center development and impact: 

Data Center Development Considerations for Kentucky Communities [Blueprint Kentucky] 

The Rapid Growth of Data Centers [Kentucky Conservation Committee] 

See where data center developers are looking to build in Kentucky [Kentucky Lantern] 

Data centers in Kentucky: Resources & Information [Kentucky Resources Council] 

The largest two electrical providers in the region’s pages on data centers: 

East Kentucky Power Cooperative: Data Centers 

Kentucky Power: Data Centers Help Support Long-Term Affordability 

As of August 2026, ten out of fifty-four Appalachian counties in Kentucky have passed data center moratoriums. 

Adair | Six-month halt on data centers in effect in City of Columbia [July 8, 2026] 

Bell | Bell County passes data center moratorium, halting construction for 2 years [July 2, 2026] 

Boyd | Boyd County freezes new data centers for six months, but EastPark project is exempt [July 10, 2026] 

Edmonson | Edmonson County Fiscal Court Enacts One-Year Moratorium on New Data Centers, AI Facilities, and Crypto Mining Operations [June 8, 2026] 

Greenup | Greenup County places moratorium on data centers — Hall on TeraWulf, not included in the pause: ‘We would not do anything to harm this county’ [July 17, 2026] 

Laurel | London City Council passes 2-year data center moratorium [August 3, 2026] 

Letcher | County orders two-year halt on data centers [July 22, 2026] 

Metcalfe | Data Center Moratorium Passed [July 27, 2026] 

Nicholas | The Court approved a one-year moratorium on data centers and windmills in Nicholas County [July 10, 2026] 

Russell | Update from Mayor Simpson Regarding Data Center Moratorium in Russell [July 10, 2026] 

Notable Projects: 

Boyd County: TeraWulf announces plans to build data center in Boyd County, Kentucky [WCHS / May 27, 2026] 

Boyd/Greenup County: Kentucky’s biggest data center project to date eyes former steel mill [Courier Journal / July 22, 2206] 

Letcher County: Eastern KY officials sign secretive deal with data center venture to explore off-grid power [Herald Leader / July 16, 2026] 

Pike County: City leaders evaluating proposed data center in Pikeville, Ky. [WCHS / June 23, 2026] 

News related to the Kentucky General Assembly’s and data centers:  

OPINION: KENTUCKY CAN LEAD ON DATA CENTERSWITHOUT LEAVING COMMUNITIES BEHIND [Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers (R-Manchester) / August 3, 2026] 

Is Kentucky About to Give Billions in Tax Breaks to Data Centers? [KyPolicy / July 23, 2026] 

The post Data Center Resources for Kentuckians appeared first on Mountain Association.

To help fight rising militarism and advocate for strong public services and peace, use these resources as organizing tools to start conversations and spread the word: fund public services, not war!

The post RESOURCES: Fund public services, not war! first appeared on Spring.

By Benito Müller, Anju Sharma, Jen Allan, Matthias Roesti and Luis Gomez-Echeverri.

Every November, tens of thousands of people descend on the world’s annual UN climate conference. Presidents and prime ministers, negotiators, business executives, campaigners, journalists, celebrities and lobbyists converge on one city for two frenetic weeks, all convinced they need to be there.

Everyone with a stake in climate action feels they must be present. Any suggestion of a smaller, more focused conference is quickly met with concerns about exclusion. But it is time to ask an uncomfortable question: has the fear of missing out (FOMO) become one of the biggest obstacles to effective international climate cooperation?

The story in numbers

When governments first met under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the 1990s, the annual Conferences of the Parties (COPs) attracted only a few thousand participants. Even the Kyoto conference, which produced the first legally binding emissions agreement, hosted fewer than 10,000 people.

Since then, analysis by ecbi reveals a striking trend: after each major treaty COP, the participation at the next COP approximately doubled (see chart below).

Why?

Part of the answer is success. As climate change has risen up the political and economic agenda, more actors quite rightly want to engage. But our analysis reveals that a less acknowledged force is also driving the spikes in participation: FOMO.

As more heads of state attended, ministers concluded they had to be there too. As ministers arrived in greater numbers, government delegations expanded. Businesses, investors, researchers, campaigners, journalists, city leaders and philanthropies reached the same conclusion: if everyone important is going to COP, we cannot afford to stay away.

The result is a self-reinforcing cycle. The larger COP becomes, the more indispensable attendance appears, because presence signals relevance.

Source: Müller, B., J. Allan, M. Roesti and L. Gomez-Echeverri, 2024 UPDATE Quo Vadis COP? Future Arrangements for Intergovernmental Meetings under the UNFCCC – Settled and Fit for Purpose, Oxford, OCP/ecbi, December 2024

The negotiating community has barely grown

The headline attendance figures tell only part of the story. At COP28, more than 42,000 Party badges were issued to official national delegations. However, only 1,581 delegates had also attended the technical negotiating session in Bonn just five months earlier. Fewer than 4% of Party delegates formed the core negotiating community.

This core negotiating community has remained remarkably stable: across the five COPs since Paris, between roughly 1,300 and 1,600 delegates consistently attended both the June negotiating session and the annual COP.

The negotiating community has not become twenty times larger, but the COP has.

One COP, three different events

Today’s COP has, in fact, evolved into three very different events rolled into one.

The first is the formal negotiating session, where governments agree rules, guidance and decisions under the Convention and the Paris Agreement.

The second is a global political summit, where leaders announce initiatives and demonstrate political commitment.

The third is a vast climate expo, where businesses, cities, researchers, financial institutions and civil society showcase solutions, build partnerships and engage the public.

Each of them serves a valuable purpose, but the problem is that they have become bundled together by historical accident rather than institutional design.

Comment: The UN climate process was built for negotiation – now it must support implementation

Bigger is not always better

The consequences of “mega-COPs” are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

The countries most vulnerable to climate change are increasingly less able to host COPs and thus lose the ability to have their voices properly heard. Hosting a modern COP now requires enormous financial resources, extensive security operations and accommodation capacity that many countries simply do not possess. Even wealthier nations have become more reluctant to take on the burden.

Inside the venue, size creates its own inefficiencies. Climate negotiations often advance through informal conversations: a chance meeting in a corridor, a discussion over coffee, an impromptu conversation between delegates who discover common ground. Those opportunities become rarer when participants spend hours navigating enormous venues and crowded security checkpoints.

Comment: COP presidencies should focus less on climate policy, more on global politics

Observer access is constrained by overcrowding. National delegations increasingly include large numbers of non-government participants, sometimes outnumbering officials from government ministries. Meanwhile, businesses, campaigners and journalists compete with negotiators for the same space and attention.

The very scale of the event also creates a reputational problem. A gathering of 60,000 or more people inevitably creates expectations of dramatic political breakthroughs every year. Yet much of today’s climate diplomacy involves steady, technical progress. When those quieter achievements are judged against the expectations generated by a mega-event, disappointment in the UN climate change process becomes almost inevitable.

Time to unbundle

Not everything must happen in the same place at the same time. Negotiations, political leadership and implementation partnerships each deserve their own space. They should become separate events.

Routine governing body sessions, involving the roughly 5,000 participants directly engaged in the formal process, could be held in Bonn, where the UN climate secretariat is based. Political summits could be convened separately when leaders’ intervention is genuinely needed. Climate expos could continue to rotate with the COP Presidency, providing dedicated opportunities for businesses, investors, cities, researchers and civil society to showcase solutions and forge partnerships.

Such an approach would strengthen, not weaken, participation. Negotiators would benefit from a more focused and effective working environment. Host countries would face a far more manageable logistical and financial challenge. Climate-vulnerable countries would once again have a realistic opportunity to host key meetings and shape the global agenda. Businesses, investors, cities and civil society would gain greater visibility by engaging in forums designed for partnership, innovation and implementation, rather than competing with formal negotiations for space and attention.

Comment: Not another COP-out: We must rewrite the rules of the UN climate talks

Today’s mega-COPs evolved incrementally, one seemingly sensible decision at a time, until their sheer scale began to undermine many of the objectives they were intended to serve. The fear of missing out now risks becoming one of the biggest barriers to the reforms needed to make the process more effective.

The greatest fear now is not missing out on the next COP, but missing the opportunity to redesign the process so it can deliver on its ultimate purpose: tackling the climate crisis.

Benito Müller is managing director of Oxford Climate Policy and director of the European Capacity Building Initiative (ecbi).

Anju Sharma is a climate policy specialist with Oxford Climate Policy.

Jen Allan is a senior Lecturer at Cardiff University and strategic advisor at the International Institute for Sustainable Development. 

Matthias Roesti is a postdoctoral researcher studying the political economy of climate change at the University of Pennsylvania’s Environmental Politics Lab.

Luis Gomez-Echeverri is a former senior staff member with UNDP and UNFCCC and currently an emeritus research scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, working at the intersection of climate and development.

The post Is FOMO undermining climate diplomacy? appeared first on Climate Home News.

Organized by the Netzwerk für Kommunalismus

30 July, 2026
Eleanor Finley, Ph.D.

Twenty years ago today, the world said goodbye to one of its most important visionary thinkers, Murray Bookchin. I was asked here today to share about Murray’s contributions to today’s social movements and how his work resonates with young people. That theme raises some topics that are probably obvious to folks who would come to an event like this: the Rojava Revolution in Northern Syria or municipalismo in Southern Europe. However, rather than giving another overview of these well-known movements, I want to focus on the latter part of this question on the meaning of his work today and in the future.

It is true that the political philosophy of confederal direct democracy that Bookchin helped author is quietly spreading across the world. Where I live in the United States, people’s assemblies and similar formations like neighborhood or tenants’ unions inspired by Bookchin are coordinating support for families hunted by ICE, resisting the implementation of “FLOCK” street camera surveillance systems, and responding to climate emergencies. These formations are not easy to find online, in part because they focus on real, face-to-face relationships between neighbors. In this way, they are really taking Bookchin seriously.

Bookchin is also leaving his mark on more managerial and reform-minded movements, which are now increasingly acknowledging the value of local action. Progressive parties and campaigns in cities like New York City, Seattle, and Washington, DC are prioritizing public investment, regulation, and service provisioning at the city level. In this context, Bookchin reminds us that localism is more than just a means to an end. As he wrote in his piece The Forms of Freedom in 1968, “The assembly and community cannot be legislated or decreed into existence.” Freedom cannot be legislated from above.

Despite the great importance of communalist politics, I believe that perhaps the most salient contribution Bookchin’s work makes today for young people is providing a compelling defense of humanity. Young people today will endure climate-induced social, economic, and political dislocations that nearly everyone from previous generations has found unimaginable.

The same young people are experiencing an unprecedented collapse of critical thinking, attention spans, and logical coherence because of addictive algorithmic echnology. For twenty years, tech firms have forced their addictive products into schools, homes, restaurants, and everywhere in between. We are seeing the cumulative effect of this unregulated onslaught today, with universities inundated with young people who cannot compose a paragraph or analyze a simple text. Just a few days ago, we learned that AI companies are rapidly purchasing the world’s inventory of rare and out-of-print books in order to feed them to their databases and destroy them. The message is clear: the frontline of struggle has moved onto the terrain of the human mind and imagination.

Bookchin’s philosophy drives away the mist. It reminds us that the human mind will never be inferior to some corporate product. When you look back on his writing from the 1980s, for all of its flaws, he is like a Sarah Connor about to face the proverbial Terminator; grim, but determined. His weapons were arguments and reasons why humanity matters – not simply on moral grounds, but ecological grounds – not simply for economic liberation but for liberation of all life on Earth.

Through Murray’s writing, young people are able to converse with a singular mind who had the intelligence and courage to assert the impossible and fight the unthinkable. And when they do this, they gain courage. That is what I see among my students at the Institute for Social Ecology, the readers of my book Practicing Social Ecology, and the courageous activists organizing assemblies in their hometowns.

They know that the unthinkable has already arrived. Many begin their lives from a place of hopelessness and resignation. But through social ecology, through Murray’s and our work, they come to better understand their own historical agency. His work shines a rare light on the fact that there is not only a capitalist world worth fighting against, but also a genuinely liberated world worth fighting toward. There is nothing more precious than that for the young people of our time.

The post Remarks delivered to the International tribute to Murray Bookchin on the 20th anniversary of his death appeared first on Institute for Social Ecology.

Today, in a partisan split, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance Todd Blanche’s nomination for Attorney General on Tuesday, setting the stage for a floor vote to confirm him to the post.

In response, Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert issued the following statement:

“There is a single barrier left to the confirmation of Trump crony Todd Blanche: the Senate floor.

“Senators must urgently do the right thing and block Blanche. The consequences of inaction here are crystal clear. If we make Todd Blanche America’s lawyer at the head of the Justice Department, we are accepting a man who has been tasked with implementing Donald Trump’s revenge agenda.

“A man placed by Trump in this role only because the previous head of the DOJ wasn’t implementing his corrupt personal prosecutions fast enough.

“A man who rubberstamped the corrupt IRS deal that Trump made with himself to shield all the Trumps and their businesses, not only from enforcement of any taxes they may have dodged or any fines or payments they may owe to American taxpayers, but from ‘any and all’ related consequences for violating any federal criminal or civil law.

“A man who led the Epstein cover-up. Who was dismissive and negligent toward trafficking victims despite the nation’s intense outrage at Epstein’s crimes and in the face of these women’s ongoing advocacy to make clear how his horrific actions have impacted their lives.

“And it doesn’t stop there., A vote for Blanche is also literally a blank check to give money to January 6th insurrectionists or other cronies, whether through a revived slush fund or directly from the Judgement Fund. We have seen him act in this manner as recently as last week, when he facilitated a 7-figure settlement for a pardoned abortion clinic protester.

“We know exactly what type of Attorney General Mr. Blanche will be: Corrupt, toadying, and focused on one goal: defense of Donald J. Trump. It is a matter of morality, Senators of both parties must stand in his way and block his confirmation on the floor.”

¡Chino García, Presente!
By Dan Chodorkoff

A hero has passed. Carlos “Chino” García died Friday, July 24th. Chino was a teacher, a leader, and an
inspiration to generations of activists on New York’s Lower East Side. He and Bimbo Rivas coined the
name Loisaida for their neighborhood. He was a force to be reckoned with. At age 16 he became
warlord for the Cheyennes, a Lower East Side street gang, but by the time he was 18 he had moved out
of gang life to found The Real Great Society, a grassroots organization dedicated to helping his
community. He went on to co-found CHARAS, a community development organization that helped to
spark the sweat equity urban homesteading movement, in which collectives seized abandoned buildings,
initially as squatters, and using their own labor, rehabbed the buildings into low income tenants co-
operatives some of which demonstrated the first urban application of solar energy. They were taught to
build domes by Buckminster Fuller. CHARAS also built numerous community gardens, a cultural plaza
(La Plaza Cultural), a neighborhood recycling center, and in 1974 they took over a school that had been
abandoned by the city and created CHARAS/El Bohio, a community center that served the neighborhood
until it was auctioned off by Rudy Giuliani, leading to a twenty year battle to regain the space for
community use.

Chino was tireless in his work to create an effective counterforce to the city bureaucracy, organizing quarterly “town meetings” where activists marshaled their forces to oppose the city’s redevelopment plans for their neighborhood, counterposing alternatives that focused on open space, community controlled housing, and ecological approaches to energy and food production. He was amazing organizer who was able to rally people around him and, using a combination of protest, direct action, and political organizing achieved great things, His work had a transformational impact on Loisaida, in terms of both the physical and cultural environment. His community meant everything to Chino, who was known to many as the “Mayor” of Loisaida. His generosity was legendary. He would walk through Tompkins Square Park checking to see that unhoused folk were alright, often providing them with a place to stay if they needed one. He battled police brutality and corrupt politicians , He was always there for others when they needed help, and his positivity and energy sustained the movement through difficult times. From the mid-1980’s on much of the movement’s energy was devoted to anti-gentrification work where, once again, Chino took a leadership role

He was great friend of the ISE for over 50 years. We began to work together in 1974. The ISE was deeply involved in alternative technologies like solar and wind power as well as ecological agriculture and aquaculture. We were approached by Chino to help provide technical assistance for some of their projects. A strong relationship developed and over the years we sent brigades of students to assist with CHARAS projects in New York, and Chino and others came to Vermont to help us build domes and teach us about their approach to community organizing. It was a truly reciprocal relationship based in mutual respect and affection. We were lucky to have Chino agree to serve on our Board; unfortunately he became ill shortly after joining. He struggled for many years with congestive heart failure, spending the last several years of his life in and out of hospitals and rehab centers, but he never lost his optimism and his sense of hope, with which he continued to inspire others, even from his hospital bed. Chino will be sorely missed by his community, those of us at the ISE, and his many friends from around the world. La lucha continua. Chino, rest in peace and power.

The post Remembering our friend and comrade Carlos “Chino” Garcia appeared first on Institute for Social Ecology.

Another day, another threat to America’s public lands and Utah’s wild places. The Trump administration is now undertaking a sweeping review of existing policies on the management of designated wilderness, wilderness study areas, and wilderness-quality lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. These policies provide crucial protection and clear management direction for millions of acres of public land across the nation, including more than 7 million acres of BLM-managed land in Utah.

The Interior Department is accepting public comments through Friday, August 14. Tell the Department to uphold existing policies protecting wilderness and wilderness-quality lands.

You can probably guess why this is happening. True to the Trump administration’s pattern of anti-conservation initiatives and actions, the review is intended to reduce management requirements and weaken protections for designated wilderness and other wilderness-quality lands, clearing the way for increased extraction, development, and expanded off-road vehicle use on some of the nation’s remaining wild public lands. In Utah, this includes spectacular landscapes at the heart of redrock country—places like Fisher Towers, Grand Gulch, White Canyon, Robbers Roost, and the Vermillion Cliffs.

While the Trump administration is fixated on sacrificing our remaining wild places to corporate interests and destructive uses, they underestimate the importance and value of these places to the American public. The desire to see these wild public lands protected crosses political boundaries.

Wilderness and wilderness-quality lands are some of the most cherished places for families to camp, hike, sightsee, hunt, and fish. They provide clean air and water, critical habitat for wildlife, and endless opportunities for rejuvenation and human-powered recreation. For all of these reasons and more, it’s crucial that we manage our last wild landscapes in a way that preserves their wilderness character for future generations.

Click here to submit your comments by the August 14 deadline

The post Take Action to Protect Wilderness and Wilderness-Quality Lands appeared first on Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.