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Registered nurses at Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nev., will hold an informational picket on Thursday, June 11, to protest the hospital administration’s anti-union tactics and refusal to bargain a fair contract.

The public utility will use $5 million in state funding and partner with community groups to boost participation among lower-income customers, it said last week.

California Assembly utilities committee advances bill cutting red tape for ‘balcony solar’ Anthony Lacey June 10, 2026

SACRAMENTO – The Environmental Working Group today applauds the state Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee for advancing a bill that will help Californians tackle sky-high energy bills by installing small “balcony solar” systems in their homes.

The Plug and Play Solar Act, SB 868, would cut the red tape blocking these affordable systems from being placed in apartments, condos and single-family homes. The bill would also ensure the systems meet strict safety standards.

The bill is authored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and sponsored by EWG and the Abundance Network. The legislation cleared the Senate last month. The Assembly Appropriations Committee will debate it in August. 

“Balcony solar lets California residents place a small solar panel on a sunny patio or balcony, plug it into a regular wall outlet and start saving on their electricity bill right away,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, EWG’s senior vice president for California.

Balcony solar already thrives in Europe, with over 4 million systems installed in Germany alone. And efforts to ease their deployment continue to gather steam in other countries.

But in the U.S., regulatory barriers have kept this technology out of reach for many. SB 868 removes those barriers while setting statewide safety standards.  

Other states are also taking steps to make these systems more accessible, including in New York, where a balcony solar bill now sits on Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk.  

‘Powerful cost-cutting tool’

“Installing balcony solar is as simple as plugging an appliance like a toaster into a standard wall outlet,” said Del Chiario. “At a time when many struggle to pay their energy bills, balcony solar is a powerful cost-cutting tool.”

A single 400-watt balcony solar system can cover roughly 14% of the average apartment’s electricity usage, providing savings of about $250 per year. While the cost of balcony solar starts around $500 today, with broader adoption enabled by SB 868, EWG expects costs to fall, making solar even more accessible to renters and low-income households.

California electricity rates have nearly doubled over the past decade, leaving the state with the nation’s second-highest energy prices. SB 868 provides consumers with a straightforward way to take control of their energy bills.

The bill ensures these plug-and-play systems meet strict safety standards. All systems must be certified by UL, or Underwriters Laboratories, the global independent safety science company, or an equivalent national testing lab. To protect utility workers and prevent electrical hazards, systems must automatically shut off within seconds if the grid goes down. 

System size is capped at 1,200 watts, enough to power everyday appliances such as fridges, lights, Wi-Fi routers and window AC units.

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The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.

Areas of Focus Energy Renewable Energy California Affordable plug-in systems can generate savings on monthly electricity bills Press Contact Alex Formuzis alex@ewg.org (202) 667-6982 June 10, 2026

The United States is facing record growth of electricity usage, but the system that delivers electricity to our homes is outdated, increasingly unreliable, and currently cannot support the expansion...

At the same time, the state’s electric system is “operating with the narrowest reliability margins in recent years,” said a report from the New York Independent System Operator.

Three-quarters of organizations say they aren’t fully overseeing the activities of user accounts belonging to agents and other AI tools.

Heating jeopardises the freshwater cycle’s ability to support vital Earth system processes

Source

ELAP provides emergency assistance to eligible producers of livestock, honeybees, and farm-raised fish. It covers losses due to adverse weather or other loss conditions including blizzards, disease, flood, water transport, and wildfires.

The post What is ELAP? appeared first on RAFI.

Summer is almost upon us, and with it comes opportunities to enjoy what our planet has to offer — or enhance your understanding of the environmental issues that affect us all.

We’ve collected several great new books about birds, reptiles and amphibians, green gardening, and climate change. They offer wonderful insights into the natural world and how to enjoy and protect it.

We’ve also paired some of these books with related reads for young people, so kids and adults can explore and discuss the beauty and important challenges facing our wildlife and environment together IRL.

We’ve adapted the books’ official descriptions below, and the link in each title goes to the publisher’s page. You can also find any of these titles through your local bookseller and library.

 

Eco Revolution: Climate Justice, Community, and the Fight for Our Planet

by Maya Penn

With 15 years of hands-on experience, award-winning environmental activist Maya Penn writes resoundingly about the ever-growing threat of the climate crisis, putting the world on notice that we’ve not only entered into a once-in-a-generation era of social and environmental justice advocacy but a deep-rooted overlap between environmental crises and inequities.

This book chronicles sustainability history and highlights unsung eco-warriors, offering solutions for a more sustainable and equitable world, exploring our collective connection to the natural world through inherited ecology and Traditional Ecological Knowledge passed down through Indigenous cultures, which used naturally occurring ecosystems to create thriving, functional societies and how this now translates to our modern understanding about sustainability.

Penn looks at the current green movements around the world and how they have discovered new approaches to sustainable living, and how we can use our creativity to bring about real change. Penn also looks at the future — and how we can remain optimistic in the midst of crisis.

 

Owls: Nocturnal Birds of Prey From Around the World

by David Alderton

Owls have been a source of fascination and awe throughout history. In Indian folklore owls represent wisdom and helpfulness, while in Ancient Greece they were seen as a good omen if sighted before a battle. Today owls are often kept as pets by bird lovers and can be found in woodland and forests from the Canadian Arctic to the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. Full of fun facts and expert insights, Owls introduces these iconic birds in all their variety. Did you know that owls can rotate their necks 270 degrees, or that an owl’s ears are asymmetrical? Or that owls are considered apex predators? Or that the tiniest owl in the world is the elf owl, a mere five inches tall, while the largest North American owl is the great gray owl at 32 inches tall? Or that barn owls swallow their prey whole — skin, bones, and all — and they eat up to 1,000 mice each year?

With chapters divided into type of owl — barn and grass owls, typical owls, snowy, horned and eagle owls, wood owls, pygmy owls, and owlets and nesting — this book examines these superb aerial hunters in over 200 vivid photographs.

 

Cold-Blooded Murder: Reptiles and Amphibians on the Brink of Extinction

by Craig Stanford

Around the world reptile and amphibian species are facing grave threats to their survival: Habitat destruction due to logging, agriculture, development, commercial exploitation and wildlife trade, to say nothing of climate change. Examples include Galápagos giant tortoises slaughtered for meat, pets and decorative items, Caribbean rock iguanas driven to the brink of extinction by invasive species such as cats and dogs, commercial exploitation of the ploughshare tortoise, severely threatened by poaching for the illegal pet trade, and the critically endangered Cuban crocodile for its valuable skin.

In Cold-Blooded Murder, Craig Stanford tells the stories of dozens of endangered reptiles and amphibians, depicting the ecological roles and unique characteristics of each species. He takes readers on a globe-spanning journey, revealing the diversity and beauty of the creatures with whom we share our world. He also highlights conservation projects that are protecting critically endangered animals, sharing inspiring success stories while acknowledging the challenge of saving species. This gripping and poignant book shows why we should be fascinated by reptiles and amphibians — and strive to prevent their extinction.

 

The Gardener’s Mindset: A Gardening Book Connecting With Nature Through Plants

by Stephen Orr

A reflection on being a gardener, this absorbing collection of essays and photographs by the former editor-in-chief of Better Homes and Gardens examines the restorative power of gardening while recounting Orr’s own challenges in the garden, offering advice on growing green things.

This book helps readers understand not just how to garden but how to think about it. Orr brings his musings and practical advice to gardeners everywhere, no matter what skill level. Gorgeous photographs and easy projects range from cultivating a color scheme to building a wildlife habitat, and Orr gives practical advice on how to cultivate plants that stay resilient in the face of climate change.

On Eating: The Making and Unmaking of My Appetites

by Alicia Kennedy

Author and journalist Alicia Kennedy’s captivating new book is a deeply personal work that asks: Can we eat and cook in a way that’s true to ourselves, roots us in the places we call home, and helps define our politics and ethics? Guided by curiosity and a hunger for flavor and experience, she posits that we don’t have to choose between what is delicious and what can sustain our planet and ourselves.

On Eating is not only a provocative bildungsroman and a celebration of desire but a challenge to each of us to consider our own relationship with food and how our need to eat — to live — affects the world.

 

Insect Safari: Exploring the Wondrous World of Everyday Bugs

by Margie Patlak

Join veteran science writer Margie Patlak on a fascinating adventure as she explores the ever-more-astounding world of insects — all in her own backyard. It started when she took a close-up snapshot of a bee in her backyard; that was the start of a years-long passion for cataloging and understanding the tiny creatures that were all around her. This book showcases the superpowers, alien anatomies, and striking untold behaviors and thinking abilities of bugs hidden in plain sight in backyards, parks, gardens, and even in the flowerpots that dot city courtyards and balconies.

Even more intriguing is the book’s reporting on the plethora of recent scientific findings revealing there’s more to the inner lives and behaviors of insects than people ever thought possible. Who knew wasps use tools and recognize faces, bees play with balls and do math, ants invented farming way before we did, and even fruit flies mull over their mating choices? These findings reinforce the notion that we aren’t the only intelligent beings on Earth and tease people’s curiosity about the alien life right here on their own planet.

 

Healing the Land Teaches Us Who We Are: How Indigenous Cultural Resistance Can Restore the Earth, Recover Community, and Create Sustainable Futures

by Maceo Carrillo Martinet, Ph.D.

Rooted in Indigenous wisdom and a four-element framework, this book invites readers to rediscover and re-embody the truth that caring for ourselves and caring for the living Earth are one and the same. Find how climate solutions are still possible and already exist, practiced by communities around the world. Explicitly decolonial, this book offers a framework rooted in reciprocity, resistance, and kinship with the living Earth and is built around four elements:

1. 1. Water: How ancient Indigenous water-harvesting technologies are vital for sustaining water, land, and community.
   2. Earth: How successful community land stewardship continues to support ecological health and human life in spite of colonial desecration.
   3. Fire: How “Indigenous fire” — frequent, low-intensity burns rooted in deep cultural relationship — functions as a crucial medicine for restoring forest health, preventing wildfires, and sustaining cultural and environmental resilience.
   4. Air: The profound connection between linguistic diversity and biodiversity — and how language can be nurtured to heal and awaken humans.

Combining these four elements shows us how enduring human and ecological systems are built upon the interconnectedness of collective action, cultural appreciation, and diverse, restorative relationships with nature.

 

Noticing: Intimate Encounters With the Natural World

by Richard Louv

Long beloved for his insightful, inspiring nature writing, Richard Louv returns with his most personal book yet. Noticing is about discovering who you are by exploring the natural world. Louv shows how, by tapping into the 30 or more human senses, readers can develop skills — sensory, scientific, artistic, and spiritual —to see and experience the other worlds of nature.

Through personal essays, rich with descriptions of the California wilderness around his home in the most biodiverse county in the nation, Louv draws on wisdom from influences as far-reaching as neuroscience, nature photography, Indigenous traditions, and mindfulness to foster what he calls “bio enchantment.” He offers a new, deeper understanding of what it means to see a tree, know a fox, and to become fully human.

Books for young people to explore this summer, including titles that can be paired with the selections above.

Who’s Making That Big STINK?!

by Darrin Lunde, illustrated by Erica J. Chen

Ages 3-7

Ew! Who smells like rotten eggs and smelly feet? Yuck! Whose burps smell like cow poop? Find out which animals stink (and why) in this reeky, cheeky guessing game. Animals make all sorts of smells for all sorts of reasons. Can you guess the stinker from its stink? Simple clues and laugh-out-loud art make this guessing game perfect for rowdy read-aloud times. Fun facts from a world-class zoologist reveal the science behind the stink. Readers are introduced to the striped skunk, the stink bird, the musk ox, the corpse flower, the bombardier beetle, the sea hare, and the binturong.

 

Plastic Problem: 60 Small Ways to Reduce Waste and Help Save the Earth

By Aubre Andrus, illustrated by Dynamo Ltd Illustrator

Ages 6 to Grown-ups

Learn how to transform yourself from a plastic polluter to a plastic patroller with this practical, easy-to-understand book. Actions are big and small, so what can you do to address climate change? It’s time to step up and end our toxic relationship with plastic. It’s actually easy when you do it in small steps. Whether it’s buying in bulk, bringing reusable bags to the grocery store, or using zero-waste toothpaste, this guide offers advice on the practical ways to minimize your plastics footprint. This guide not only shows you how but why it’s worth investigating our relationship with plastics. A great book for adults and children to work together making changes instead of gaming or doomscrolling.

 

Owls (National Geographic Kids Readers, Level 1)

By Laura Marsh

Ages 4-6

National Geographic presents young readers with an exploration of the feathery world of adorable owls. Follow these curious-looking creatures through their wooded habitats, and learn how owls raise their young, hunt, and protect themselves. Beautiful photos and carefully leveled text make this book perfect for reading aloud or for independent reading.

Pairs well with Owls: Nocturnal Birds of Prey From Around the World

 

The Ultimate Book of Reptiles: Your Guide to the Secret Lives of These Scaly, Slithery, and Spectacular Creatures!

by Ruchira Somaweera and Stephanie Warren Drimmer

Age 8-12 years

Sink your fangs into the hidden worlds of these scaly and sensational creatures with leading reptile scientist and National Geographic Explorer Dr. Ruchira Somaweera as your guide.

Meet the coolest cold-blooded animals ever. From lizards to snakes, turtles to crocodiles, something called a tuatara, and even enormous prehistoric reptiles (think real-life sea monsters!), you’ll discover what makes a reptile a reptile; how these creatures live, hunt, hide, and raise their young, and the wild adaptations that make them so unique. Learn which snake is the most venomous on the planet and which are surprisingly gentle creatures, which reptile is born with a highly developed third eye in its forehead, and which one is so tiny it could balance on the tip of your finger — plus loads of super important conservation information and impactful ways to join the fight to save endangered reptile species right from home.

Pairs nicely with Cold-Blooded Murder: Reptiles and Amphibians on the Brink of Extinction

 

Amphibians and Reptiles: A Compare and Contrast Book

by Katharine Hall

Ages 4-9

What makes a frog an amphibian but a snake a reptile? Both classes may lay eggs, but they have different skin coverings and breathe in different ways. Pages of fun facts will help kids identify each animal in the class like a pro. Using stunning photographs and simple nonfiction text to get kids thinking about the similarities and differences between these two animal classes, this picture book includes a four-page For Creative Minds section in the back of the book and a 67-page cross-curricular Teaching Activity Guide online. Amphibians and Reptiles is vetted by experts and designed to encourage parental engagement. Its extensive back matter helps teachers with time-saving lesson ideas, provides extensions for science, math, and social studies units, and uses inquiry-based learning to help build critical thinking skills in young readers.

Pairs nicely with Cold-Blooded Murder: Reptiles and Amphibians on the Brink of Extinction

 

Force of Nature

by Melissa Clark

Ages 12-18

This fresh, smart, funny young adult book asks the question: What if Mother Nature was a teenage girl? Chloe Lovejoy is a straight-C student, a girl with a crush on the cutie from chorus, an all-powerful being responsible for taking care of the planet … or perhaps all three. Chloe finds out on her 16th birthday, when she unexpectedly inherits the role of Mother Nature from her grandmother. Overwhelmed, when the unthinkable happens and Grandma is gone, Chloe is left to oversee the natural laws of the world all by herself.

A unique coming-of-age story about a teen girl rising to the occasion, even when she feels completely in over her head.

Pairs nicely with The Gardener’s Mindset: A Gardening Book Connecting With Nature Through Plants

Make your sunny days (and rainy days) this spring and summer fun and engaging for yourself and those young people in your life. You can find hundreds of additional environmental book recommendations in the “Revelator Reads” archives.

Let us know what you’re reading: Drop us a line at comments@therevelator.org

The post New Environmental Books: Spring-to-Summer Reads to Brighten and Enlighten appeared first on The Revelator.

PJM will consider up to 10 interconnection requests annually over two years for resources of at least 250 MW that can come online in three years.

The closure of Investors for Paris Compliance has prompted renewed debate about whether investor pressure on climate ever really mattered. 

Critics argue that shareholder resolutions rarely succeeded, that companies continue to produce oil and gas, and that governments and state policies ultimately matter more than investors. 

There is truth in some of those observations. But they also miss where investor influence is most visible. 

The strongest evidence is not found in annual general meetings. It is found in capital allocation. 

Geology dictates what is in the ground. Capital expenditure dictates what comes out. 

For decades, oil companies were rewarded for growth. Investors celebrated reserve additions, production increases and large-scale project development. The assumption was simple: future demand would be higher than today, so more reserves meant more value. Over the past decade that assumption has become far less certain. 

Investors began asking different questions. What if oil demand growth slows? What if electric vehicles scale faster than expected? What if renewable power becomes cheaper? What if some reserves prove less valuable than markets assume? 

Carbon Tracker’s work on stranded assets, our analysis of whether O&G production plans aligned with IEA net-zero scenarios, helped bring these questions into the mainstream of investor debate. Divestment campaigns and broader climate narratives reinforced them.  

As confidence in future demand weakened, investors became less willing to fund growth at any cost. Demand uncertainty, a wider climate context and declining confidence in long-dated projects helped shift investor priorities towards capital discipline, a theme we set out in Carbon Tracker’s landmark report Blueprint for an Energy Transition in 2015. As investors increasingly prioritised capital discipline over growth, behaviour across the sector started to change. 

Following the shale boom, oil companies were pushed to prioritise free cash flow, dividends and share buybacks over aggressive expansion. This shift is now visible across much of the listed oil industry: reserve replacement rates have fallen, exploration spending has declined, shareholder distributions have risen, and consolidation has accelerated. Many companies increasingly resemble mature cash-generating businesses rather than growth businesses. 

In 2023 Goldman Sachs noted that since 2014, “concerns around future demand and stranded assets had contributed to a sharp reduction in oil industry resource life, which it estimated had fallen from more than 50 years in 2014 to around 23 years.”  

Whether one agrees with every aspect of that analysis is almost secondary. Even critics of climate-focused investing increasingly acknowledge that investor expectations changed. 

The question is not whether investor pressure worked. If investor pressure had no influence, we might expect companies to continue pursuing reserve growth as aggressively as they did during the commodity supercycle.  

A more searching question is:  if projects became more economic, why were fewer sanctioned? And why did reserve life continue to fall?  

The answer lies at least partly in changing investor preferences and expectations, as well as better knowledge of the risks involved. 

At the same time, the debate itself has evolved. 

Ten years ago, much of the discussion revolved around scenarios, forecasts and long-term climate targets. Critics could dismiss these as hypothetical. 

Today the transition is increasingly observable. Decreasing oil company capital expenditure is measurable. Declining reserve replacement is measurable. Rapidly increasing buybacks and dividends are measurable. And on the other side of the ledger, surging electric vehicle sales are measurable. Global-scale industrial wind and solar deployment is measurable. Battery manufacturing is growing at exponential rates. 

The argument is becoming less about what might happen and more about what is already happening.

Investor pressure by itself will rarely determine the outcome. But it helped change what investors considered valuable. And when investors change what they value, companies eventually change how they behave. 

The balance sheets and capital allocation decisions of the oil industry suggest that the process is already under way. 

That does not mean the work is finished. As transition trends become more visible, debates increasingly focus on what those trends mean for competitiveness, industrial policy, security and investment decisions. The risk is not a lack of evidence, but a failure to respond to it. 

To hear more about the evidence, read our ‘Quiet Retreat’ and our interview on the topic with Christiana Figueres on Outrage & Optimism.

The post Does Investor Pressure Matter? Look at What Oil Companies Are Actually Doing appeared first on Carbon Tracker Initiative.

Last month, for the first time in the U.S., solar generated more electricity than coal, a reflection of both the rapid adoption of renewable power and the declining fortunes of America's aging fleet of coal power plants.

Read more on E360 →

This article is part of Food Tank’s primer series, “Food Tank Explains.” Each installment unpacks the ideas, innovations, and challenges shaping today’s food and agriculture systems, offering clear insights into complex topics. To explore more articles in the series, click here.

CRISPR is a gene-editing technology that can make targeted changes to the DNA of living organisms. Adapted from a immune system mechanism found in bacteria, it has become a widely used tool across medicine, research, and agriculture.

Short for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, CRISPR originated from a defense mechanism that bacteria use to identify and eliminate invading viruses. The system is made up of two key parts. One component identifies a target DNA sequence, another cuts it. The bacteria then stores fragments of the virus’s DNA, helping the bacterium recognize and eliminate the virus if it attacks again.

For thousands of years, humans have used genetic modification methods like selective- and cross-breeding to grow crops and raise animals with desirable traits, like corn that grows taller or watermelon that has fewer seeds. “Nature is basically gene editing all the time,” Alison Van Eenennaam, an Animal Geneticist and Biotechnology Specialist at the University of California, Davis, tells Food Tank.

But once the molecular mechanism for its DNA-cleaving ability was discovered, CRISPR was quickly repurposed into a tool for editing the DNA of living cells. In the past decade, CRISPR has taken the biomedical world and life sciences by storm and is now being used in thousands of labs worldwide.

When compared to other genome editing tools, researchers say CRISPR is more versatile and more efficient. They also underscore the tool’s accuracy. “Genome editors are far more precise than some of the tools we already use for plant breeding,” Christine Tait-Burkard, Group Lead at the Roslin Institute, tells Food Tank.

Gregory Licholai, a biotechnology entrepreneur and lecturer at Yale School of Management, compares earlier gene-editing methods to editing a book by removing entire pages. CRISPR, by contrast, allows scientists to edit individual letters, enabling more precise changes to DNA.

The technology has expanded opportunities for both biomedical research and the treatment of genetic disease. Researchers use CRISPR to create cell and animal models for studying diseases including cancer and mental illness, while clinicians have used CRISPR-based therapies to treat sickle cell disease. Scientists used CRISPR to edit disease-causing mutations in human embryos in 2017, and, in 2019, Victoria Gray became the first person in the U.S. to receive a CRISPR treatment for a genetic disorder.

Researchers from around the world have applied the technology to a wide range of crops and livestock, while patent data suggest growing commercial interest. CRISPR can improve crop yields by shortening breeding timelines and targeting and modifying genes linked with productivity and stress tolerance. Researchers used CRISPR to recreate naturally occurring traits in sorghum that help protect the crop from Striga hermonthica, a parasitic weed responsible for significant yield losses across parts of Africa.

CRISPR can also be used to improve food quality and shelf life. Scientists modified potatoes to reduce compounds that can be converted into acrylamide during frying, resulting in potato chips with substantially lower acrylamide levels. Researchers have also developed non-browning avocados to extend shelf life and reduce food waste.

Researchers are also exploring how CRISPR can support sustainable food and agriculture systems, including by developing crops with greater tolerance to drought and other environmental stresses. Researchers are also investigating whether gene editing can reduce food production emissions by modifying microbes and other organisms used in manufacturing processes.

The African Plant Breeding Academy, launched in 2013 by the University of California, Davis in partnership with the African Orphan Crops Consortium (AOCC) and AUDA-NEPAD, trains African plant breeders in advanced crop improvement techniques, including genomics and CRISPR-based breeding techniques.

Hosted in Nairobi, Kenya, the Academy has trained more than 150 scientists from 28 countries, helping strengthen local capacity to develop improved crop varieties. At the program’s launch, Howard-Yana Shapiro, founder of the AOCC, described the initiative as part of a broader effort to equip African scientists with the tools needed to improve nutrition, food security, and agricultural resilience across the continent.

Using CRISPR, scientists have modified traits in farmed animals and aquaculture species. Researchers at Auburn University developed blue catfish with improved resistance to bacterial disease, offering a potential alternative to routine antibiotic use in aquaculture. In livestock, researchers used CRISPR to remove a gene that enables the PRRS virus to infect pigs, creating animals resistant to a disease that costs the U.S. pork industry billions of dollars each year.

The technology’s precision and versatility and the potential ability to repair disease-causing mutations has sparked excitement in the scientific community, Licholai says. And the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) calls CRISPR a promising tool for agriculture, citing its potential to contribute to food security, climate adaptation, and more efficient food production systems.

But CRISPR has raised concerns among some researchers, ethicists, and policymakers. A series of studies have linked the technology to unintended genetic changes, highlighting the need for continued research into its safety. And in a briefing to the U.K. Parliament, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics warned that gene editing could contribute to “unethical or unsustainable practices” if it enables animals to endure poorer living conditions rather than improving animal welfare.

Care must therefore be taken to ensure that genome editing does not contribute to an acceleration of unethical or unsustainable practices,” the Council states. They emphasized that the introduction of genetically edited animals to the marketplace should be guided by robust public dialogue and aimed at raising animal welfare standards.

Moving forward, FAO argues that gene editing’s potential to improve food security, nutrition, and environmental sustainability will depend on effective governance. The organization calls for clear regulatory frameworks, ongoing safety assessments, and attention to economic, social, and ethical considerations, while encouraging greater international coordination as countries develop different approaches to regulating gene-edited products.

According to the Food and Drug Law Institute, despite various hurdles to overcome, CRISPR is “likely to revolutionize how we eat.”

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.

Photo courtesy of the National Cancer Institute

The post Food Tank Explains: CRISPR appeared first on Food Tank.

There’s some good news growing along the coasts of countries around the world.

Mangrove forests, the imperiled ecosystems championed for their ability to store carbon and protect land from storm-driven flooding, are bouncing back.

These woodlands that thrive at the soggy boundary between land and sea suffered alarming declines through much of the 20th century, chopped down chiefly to make way for fish ponds, rice paddies and other kinds of agriculture. But in the last decade, mangroves have been gaining ground, erasing nearly all of the losses since 1980, according to research recently published in Science.

“After decades of loss, we’re finally seeing a global turning point for mangroves,” said Zhen Zhang, a postdoctoral researcher at Tulane University and lead author of the study.

Zhang and colleagues used computer programs to comb through 40 years of satellite images from around the world. The distinctive way mangrove forests reflect light enabled them to train the computers to pick out this vegetation and track its ebb and flow over time.

The analysis revealed that in much of the world, years of loss began changing course in recent decades. Between the 1980s and 2010, global mangrove forests shrank from around 155,000 square kilometers to 152,000 square kilometers, a loss equal to half of Rhode Island. While that might not sound like a lot, mangroves often grow in relatively narrow coastal strips, so their coast-protecting benefits are outsized compared to their overall dimensions.

Since 2010, forests have rebounded to nearly 154,000 square kilometers, almost enough to recover from the losses dating back to the 80s.

 

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“While some mangroves are still being lost, this could make them a rare conservation success story and an important source of optimism for climate action,” said Daniel Friess, a co-author who heads The Mangrove Lab at Tulane.

The greatest gains have come in southeast Asia, home to roughly a third of the world’s mangrove forests. The region gained more than 1,000 square kilometers of mangroves since 2010, the researchers found. Forests have begun bouncing back in other parts of Asia, South America and the Middle East as well.

While the reasons for the rebound vary from place to place, the researchers say many of the gains appear to be from forests colonizing terrain created by abandoned aquaculture ponds and from mudflats emerging along shorelines as sediment builds up. That is coupled with efforts to plant new mangrove forests, as governments and conservation groups have come to better appreciate their benefits.

In Indonesia, once a center for mangrove declines, the recent gains appear to be linked to increased awareness and restoration on the heels of the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, coupled with increased legal protections and management, the authors reported.

It’s not all good news, however. Some regions continue to lose ground, notably in Africa. There, mangroves have declined in recent years in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, the continent’s largest mangrove system, due at least in part to damage from oil pollution.

And some places that are making gains still haven’t recovered from previous losses. Myanmar has witnessed a 10% increase in mangrove forests since 2010. But that still leaves it with a net 29% decline since the 1980s.

The tree’s remarkable ability to quickly colonize land suggests that rather than pursuing tree-planting projects, conservation work might be better spent protecting existing forests and the earth-building dynamics that create mudflats, the authors noted. The trees can then spread on their own. Sometimes the most important thing humans can do for restoring nature is get out of the way.

Zhang, et. al. “Unexpected expansion and regrowth in Earth’s mangrove forests over the past four decades.” Science. June 4, 2026.

Photo by Kristin Hoel on Unsplash

Headline News:

• “A Bog Is Like A Minefield” • Talking about defence, people usually imagine tanks, drones, or hardened borders. Peatlands usually don’t come to mind. But their wetness, inaccessibility, and limited passability make them a factor of relevance for security policy. The issue combines climate action, biodiversity, and water management with defence. [Euronews]

Bog (Luke Hodde, Unsplash)

• “Solar And Storage Provide Over 90% Of All New Power Added To The US Grid In Q1” • The US added 7.8 GW of solar capacity in the first quarter of 2026, as solar remained the leading source of new power added to the grid. Despite changing tax policy and regulatory actions targeting clean energy, 91% of new capacity were solar and energy storage. [CleanTechnica]
• “A Pair Of Bills Now Head To Ayotte’s Desk” • Governor Kelly Ayotte kicked off 2026 with a call to open New Hampshire to advancement and expansion of nuclear power. None of the three bills that came would do. Lawmakers say they have successfully worked with the governor to draft a compromise bill that pushes nuclear power. [New Hampshire Bulletin]
• “‘EU’s Environmental Policy Must Be Part Of Defence Strategy,’ Commissioner Roswall Says” • The environmental policy of the EU should now be considered a key part of Europe’s defence strategy, according to Jessika Roswall, European Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience, and a Competitive Circular Economy, in an interview. [Euronews]
• “GM Announces A Sodium-Ion Grid-Scale Battery Storage Developed In The US” • GM announced an effort for sodium-ion batteries in partnership with Peak Energy, with an investment by GM Ventures. It’s a deliberate bet on matching the chemistry to the right application rather than forcing one solution across every use case. [CleanTechnica]

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

QRIS dirancang sebagai standar pembayaran nasional yang memungkinkan berbagai aplikasi pembayaran saling terhubung dalam satu ekosistem. Hal tersebut memberikan fleksibilitas lebih tinggi dibandingkan metode transfer konvensional.

Beberapa keuntungan yang sering dirasakan pengguna antara lain:

• Proses transaksi berlangsung dalam hitungan detik.
• Mendukung berbagai aplikasi e-wallet dan mobile banking.
• Mengurangi risiko kesalahan input data pembayaran.
• Antarmuka sederhana sehingga mudah digunakan oleh pemula.
• Verifikasi pembayaran cenderung lebih cepat.

Kombinasi kemudahan tersebut membuat metode pembayaran berbasis QR semakin populer di kalangan pengguna yang mengutamakan efisiensi.

Slot QRIS Terpercaya Mengutamakan Keamanan Transaksi

Selain faktor kecepatan, keamanan menjadi salah satu alasan utama mengapa banyak orang memilih platform yang menyediakan pembayaran melalui QRIS. Platform yang memiliki sistem transaksi terpercaya umumnya menerapkan perlindungan data pengguna, enkripsi informasi, serta proses validasi pembayaran yang lebih baik.

Pengguna juga disarankan untuk memastikan bahwa platform yang dipilih memiliki layanan pelanggan responsif, informasi transaksi yang transparan, dan sistem pembayaran yang bekerja secara stabil agar pengalaman penggunaan menjadi lebih nyaman.

Proses Pembayaran Lebih Efisien untuk Aktivitas Sehari-hari

Efisiensi menjadi nilai tambah yang sulit diabaikan. Dengan QRIS, pengguna cukup membuka aplikasi pembayaran favorit, memindai kode yang tersedia, memasukkan nominal sesuai kebutuhan, lalu melakukan konfirmasi.

Tidak diperlukan lagi proses berpindah aplikasi untuk menyalin nomor rekening atau melakukan pengecekan manual secara berulang. Bagi sebagian orang, langkah sederhana ini dapat menghemat waktu sekaligus meningkatkan kenyamanan dalam bertransaksi.

Di era digital saat ini, kemudahan seperti tersebut menjadi salah satu faktor penting dalam memilih platform dengan sistem pembayaran modern.

Tips Memilih Platform Slot QRIS yang Terpercaya

Sebelum menggunakan layanan apa pun, ada beberapa hal yang patut diperhatikan agar pengalaman transaksi berjalan lebih aman dan nyaman.

1. Pastikan Sistem Pembayaran Jelas

Platform yang baik biasanya memberikan informasi lengkap mengenai metode pembayaran, langkah transaksi, serta estimasi waktu pemrosesan.

2. Perhatikan Reputasi Layanan

Cari ulasan dari berbagai sumber mengenai kualitas pelayanan, stabilitas sistem, dan pengalaman pengguna lain untuk memperoleh gambaran yang lebih objektif.

3. Cek Dukungan Customer Service

Layanan pelanggan yang aktif selama jam operasional atau bahkan 24 jam dapat membantu menyelesaikan kendala transaksi dengan lebih cepat.

4. Gunakan Metode Pembayaran Resmi

Selalu lakukan pembayaran melalui kanal resmi yang disediakan platform dan hindari membagikan informasi pribadi kepada pihak yang tidak dikenal.

Inovasi Pembayaran Digital Membawa Pengalaman yang Lebih Praktis

Integrasi QRIS dalam berbagai layanan digital menunjukkan bagaimana teknologi mampu menyederhanakan proses pembayaran. Pengguna kini dapat menikmati transaksi yang lebih cepat tanpa harus menghadapi prosedur yang rumit.

Tidak mengherankan apabila slot QRIS terpercaya dengan proses pembayaran yang lebih efisien semakin banyak dicari karena menawarkan kombinasi antara kemudahan, fleksibilitas, dan pengalaman transaksi yang praktis. Selama pengguna tetap memilih platform yang memiliki sistem transparan dan menjaga keamanan data, metode pembayaran berbasis QR dapat menjadi solusi modern yang mendukung kebutuhan transaksi digital secara lebih efektif.

Ten U.N. officials are calling on Russia to immediately release Daria Egereva, an Indigenous international climate advocate, and her colleague Natalia Leongardt, both of whom have been jailed for six months on terrorism charges, ahead of a key court hearing this week. 

Egereva, who is Indigenous Selkup from Russia, is co-chair of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change, which represents Indigenous peoples’ perspectives at United Nations gatherings. Russian authorities arrested her and Leongardt on December 17, just weeks after Egereva returned from the COP30 climate conference. Leongardt, a former intern at the U.N. headquarters in Geneva, has spent her career working on educational programs for Indigenous peoples in Russia.

The two face accusations of participating in a terrorist group due to their past involvement in the Aborigen Forum, an informal network of Indigenous advocates that the Russian government shut down two years ago. But U.N. experts say they’re concerned the arrests are reprisals for participating in U.N. meetings and are part of a broader shift in Russia to crack down on civil society freedoms including Indigenous activism. 

“We urge your Excellency’s Government to immediately and unconditionally release Ms. Egereva and Ms. Leongardt from detention, to drop all charges against them as stemming from their peaceful human rights activities, and to ensure that they are able to continue their legitimate human rights work and their cooperation with the United Nations’ bodies and mechanisms without fear of intimidation or reprisals,” read the letter from the U.N. officials, who included the U.N. special rapporteurs for the environment, Indigenous peoples, and human rights in the context of climate change. 

Their letter, sent in April, was made public last week by the U.N. Russian officials do not appear to have responded. Egereva and Leongardt are expected to appear in court on Thursday in Moscow, where they could be sentenced to as long as two decades in prison. Their imprisonment has brought international condemnation, with more than 100 organizations calling for their release at April’s U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York City. 

Egereva in particular has been a fixture in international climate discussions and was arrested in December shortly after returning from COP where she spoke publicly on the importance of having more Indigenous women participate in climate talks. “Women are one of the most vulnerable groups within Indigenous peoples, so we are working to ensure that Indigenous women are included in all climate negotiations affecting their rights, and their interests, and their priorities,” she said at COP on November 21.

Read Next The uncertain future of the UN’s leading voice on Indigenous rights Anita Hofschneider

Egereva was expected to be in Germany this week for the Bonn Climate Change Conference, where officials are preparing for another COP climate gathering this fall. Her incarceration prompted the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change to vote Tuesday to extend Egereva’s term, making her a third co-chair until her release. That unprecedented move was made in solidarity with her detainment, as typically there are only two co-chairs.

The U.N. officials wrote that since her arrest in December, Egereva has been denied regular phone calls and visits with her husband and children. “Over recent months, she has only been able to see her husband at three court hearings, during which Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia (FSIN) officers prohibited any personal communication or contact,” their letter said. 

The same officials are worried not only about the conditions that Egereva and Leongardt are enduring, but also the impact their detainment could have on U.N. participation. “We are concerned about the chilling effect on Indigenous advocacy, international cooperation and engagement with the United Nations, and human rights defenders’ work that their prosecution is prone to generate,” the letter states. 

Friends and colleagues of Egereva and Leongardt say that their work exemplified routine advocacy on behalf of Indigenous peoples and was not extremist or reflective of the “terrorism” allegations. 

“We want everyone to see that they are part of a huge network and that the work they’ve been doing is completely legitimate, completely within regular diplomatic channels,” said Kate Finn, a citizen of the Osage Nation and executive director of the Tallgrass Institute who has worked with Egereva at the U.N. “It’s being framed by the Russian government as terrorist activity, but it’s activity that Indigenous women do every day for the U.N. system these days.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline UN officials urge Russia to free Indigenous climate advocate on Jun 10, 2026.

Brazil is rushing to regulate its critical minerals industry and unlock its vast untapped reserves of rare earths, aiming to position itself as a strategic producer with Chinese and US companies competing for fresh supplies.

Despite opposition from some environmental and Indigenous rights groups, lawmakers in Brazil’s lower house of Congress passed the government’s critical minerals policy bill last month, and backers now hope to secure final Senate approval before October’s presidential election.

Already a major mining nation with large reserves of graphite and copper, Brazil has the world’s second-largest reserves of rare earth elements after China, with the difference that Brazilian reserves are largely untapped. This group of 17 minerals is used in permanent magnets for electric motors vital for clean technologies such as electric vehicles (EVs) and wind turbines.

As Chinese and US companies compete to secure supplies, Brazil hopes to serve them both.

“We don’t have any preferences. Whoever wishes to participate with us to help with the mining, processing, and production of the wealth that these rare earths can bring is welcome to invest in Brazil,” President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told journalists after meeting President Donald Trump in Washington in May.

Value-added mining

The draft legislation, which is backed by industry groups, creates a $380-million Guarantee Fund for Mineral Activity meant to provide financial support for mining projects, grants priority status for permitting strategic mining projects, and requires companies to dedicate a share of their revenue for domestic research and development on mineral extraction and processing – part of the policy’s effort to maximise the benefits of mining.

To select strategic projects and support their environmental licensing, the bill envisions establishing a Committee for Strategic and Critical Minerals, which includes representatives from different government agencies, state and local governments, industry and civil society.

Mining Minister Alexandre Silveira said the government’s bill “aligns mineral exploration with national interests”, and he has pledged to work closely with the Senate to pass it in the coming months.

“Brazil … doesn’t intend to be a mere exporter of unprocessed raw materials, but to expand its industrial and technological capacity, too,” Silveira said last month.

The Brazilian government says the country presents an “unparalleled” opportunity for refining “green minerals”, given that around half of its electricity comes from hydropower.

At the other end of the supply chain, several Chinese companies have vast plans to assemble EVs in Brazil. EV manufacturing giant BYD opened a massive production facility in the state of Bahia last October – the company’s largest EV factory outside China. BYD’s top executive in Brazil told Reuters it is aiming to produce and source 50% of its vehicle components in the country by the end of the year. BYD’s subsidiaries in Brazil directly own mineral rights in the country’s “lithium valley”.

Brazil’s Congress defies Lula to push through “devastation bill” on COP30’s heels

Some pro-government lawmakers had proposed the creation of a state-owned agency that would hold a monopoly over mining projects, but that was eventually rejected after the federal government decided that no additional state intervention was needed in the sector.

Mônica Sodré, CEO of the think tank Meridiana and senior fellow at the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI), said the country’s mining rules were created when minerals were mainly seen as “commodities for export”. Today, they are “central to economic security, industrial policy and geopolitics,” she said.

The proposed legislation, she added, is “an important first step, not a final solution” to position the country as a major mineral producer, and developing projects will require continued efforts through the newly-created committee.

Soft on safeguards?

But despite the government’s pledges to develop a critical minerals sector that benefits the national interest, some environmental groups have opposed the critical minerals policy bill, saying it does not create enough safeguards for the protection of affected communities.

Adriana Pinheiro, public policy advisor with Observatório do Clima, a network representing 130 environmental nonprofits, told Climate Home News that the bill “lacks explicit provisions on free, prior and informed consultation”.

• Jul 17, 2025 News In Brazil’s lithium belt, locals fear push to dismantle legal protections As demand for transition minerals soars, pro-business lawmakers and environmental activists in COP30 host Brazil are in a tug of war over how to regulate the mining industry Read more
• Jun 5, 2026 Clean Energy Frontier The scramble to stockpile critical minerals could drive up energy transition costs Researchers warn that uncoordinated stockpiling could push up prices of minerals needed for clean energy technologies and delay their roll out Read more
• May 27, 2026 Clean Energy Frontier Recycling could meet half of Europe’s critical mineral needs by 2050 A new report by an EU-funded research project says the bloc could harness its “urban mines” to reduce its dependence on China for energy transition minerals Read more

The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib) said in a note to Congress that the bill has the “potential to significantly impact indigenous territories without adequately incorporating mechanisms for protection and participation”.

Sodré said the concerns are valid, but that the draft bill is not the place to address them. Instead, she said, indigenous rights and participation should be considered on a project-by-project basis and that safeguards exist under Brazil’s “extensive” environmental permitting legislation.

“Precaution is essential in mining policy, but it should not lead to inaction. Blocking investments or delaying projects without clear evidence of unacceptable risks can result in significant social and economic costs,” she said.

Pinheiro, of the Observatório do Clima, added that while the bill encourages domestic processing of critical minerals, it does not create mandatory quotas. Countries such as Indonesia and Zimbabwe have banned raw exports, forcing investors to set up processing plants in the country.

“This regulation is only positive if it combines industrial strategy with strong safeguards,” Pinheiro said.

Geological advantage

China extracts about 70% of the world’s rare earths and controls around 90% of the processing – creating a potential chokepoint that has alarmed Western countries at a time of heightened geopolitical tension. The US and China have opted to stockpile key minerals in case trade restrictions are enacted against them. 

Brazil, which has strong trade and diplomatic ties with both Beijing and Washington, views the intensifying competition for rare earth supplies as an opportunity for it to develop a new mining sector. Brazil’s National Mining Agency has reported about 2,700 rare earths projects under consideration, according to local news outlet Folha de Sao Paulo.

The country’s rare earths reserves also have a geological advantage, as they are predominantly contained in ionic clay rather than hard rock. These deposits contain sought-after “heavy rare earths” and require less processing to extract.

Workers of Sigma Lithium Corp SGML.V are seen at the Grota do Cirilo mine in Itinga, in Minas Gerais state, Brazil April 18, 2023. REUTERS/Washington Alves Workers of Sigma Lithium Corp SGML.V are seen at the Grota do Cirilo mine in Itinga, in Minas Gerais state, Brazil April 18, 2023. REUTERS/Washington Alves

Backed by $2.7 billion in financial support from US government agencies, American mining firm USA Rare Earths acquired Brazil’s Serra Verde group, which owns the high-grade Pela Ema mine. The ionic clay mine is the only one outside Asia capable of supplying all the four major rare earths at scale, according to the company’s CEO Barbara Humpton.

Other major firms have followed, with Canada’s Aclara conducting studies in the $680-million Carina mine and Australian companies Meteoric and Viridis also seeking to develop ionic clay mines for European and American buyers.

Despite growing Western investments, China remains Brazil’s largest trade partner and the country’s imports from Brazil have already tripled between 2024 and 2025, according to data by the Brazil-China Business Council.

The draft bill does not guarantee that Brazil will be able to compete with Chinese rare earths on the international market, Sodré noted. A “more realistic benchmark” is how effectively the country can position itself as major supplier of critical minerals for the energy transition, she added.

Pinheiro said clearer regulation may help shape investments into the country, but foreign companies will not necessarily wait for Brazil’s critical minerals policy.

“The central question is whether Brazil will use this moment to build domestic value chains, ensure socio-environmental safeguards and protect affected communities,” she said.

This article was edited to correct Mônica Sodré’s job title

The post Brazil jostles for rare earths share as US-China rivalry heats up appeared first on Climate Home News.

While coffee chains across North America generate mountains of disposable cups and lids every day, Italy's traditional café culture offers a different model. By serving coffee in reusable cups and encouraging customers to stay rather than rush away, Italian bars show that convenience and sustainability do not have to be at odds.

For more than a decade, Sue “Seabird Sue” Schubel’s lifelike decoys have anchored a global seabird restoration effort built on “social attraction,” luring colony-nesting birds back to lost or safer habitats, a strategy that has aided about a third of the world’s seabird species, including some of the most endangered.