News Feeds

(Washington—June 10, 2026) Audubon applauds the introduction today of bipartisan legislation to extend and build upon the success of the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration...

I once saw a comical looking bird the size of a small gull with a black cap, gray back and a bill that looked like a carrot was spotted stopping off on a beach in mid-coast Maine on its way south...

Disclaimer: This article is commentary and satire based on publicly reported information. It includes opinion, criticism, and parody. Site wide disclaimer also applies.

Shell, previously known as Forthdeal Limited, subsequently as Royal Dutch Shell plc, and now hiding in plain sight as Shell plc after ditching the disgraced Royal Dutch moniker, has reportedly marched back into the headlines with another sermon from the high altar of hydrocarbons: oil markets, we are told, may take “a year, if not longer” to return to equilibrium.

Translation for ordinary mortals: buckle up, keep paying, and please admire the corporate gravitas while the till keeps ringing.

According to Reuters, Shell chief executive Wael Sawan warned that restoring balance to the crude oil market after the Iran/Persian Gulf disruption will not be a quick job. The Wall Street Journal also reported Sawan’s broader message: oil and gas prices may keep rising even after the immediate conflict eases, because the world’s hunger for energy is still growing, easy resources are harder to find, and governments are now treating energy security as national security.

And there it is: the grand new wrapping paper for the old fossil-fuel gift basket.

Energy security. National security. Resilience. Long-term systems. A more complex world. The language sounds statesmanlike, almost noble, until one remembers that the same market turmoil causing headaches for consumers, airlines, industries, and governments can also become a very handsome earnings environment for a supermajor with global trading arms, LNG exposure, upstream barrels, and enough corporate polish to turn a geopolitical crisis into a strategy deck.

Shell’s own Q1 2026 results presentation said the company delivered adjusted earnings of just under $7 billion amid “heightened volatility.” It also reported more than $17 billion of cash flow from operations excluding working capital. In plainer English: while the world sweated over energy shocks, Shell was hardly wandering the desert with an empty begging bowl.

The latest Sawan message is therefore a neat little performance. On one side, Shell sounds the alarm about fragile energy systems and depleted buffers. On the other, it positions itself as the indispensable adult in the room: the company that can trade, ship, drill, liquefy, optimise, and profit its way through the turbulence.

The public gets warnings. Investors get reassurance.

Sawan’s point that oil-market equilibrium may take a year or more is not, on its face, absurd. A major supply shock through the Gulf, especially involving the Strait of Hormuz and disrupted regional flows, can drain inventories, distort shipping, trigger emergency releases, hammer refiners, and raise the cost of everything from aviation to chemicals. Even when fighting stops, tankers do not teleport, infrastructure does not heal overnight, and inventories do not refill by magic.

But the political usefulness of this narrative should not be missed. If a crisis makes hydrocarbons look scarce, strategic, and irreplaceable, it also strengthens the case for more fossil investment, more LNG expansion, more upstream development, and more tolerance for the old industry argument: yes, yes, the energy transition is lovely, but not too fast, not too disruptive, and certainly not at the expense of shareholder returns.

Shell’s official transition messaging says it supports a “balanced and orderly” transition, aims for net zero by 2050, invests in low-carbon energy, and wants to provide energy today while building the system of the future. Yet the company also says it is keeping oil production stable and growing LNG. That is Shell’s favourite two-step: one foot in the climate brochure, the other planted firmly in the hydrocarbon cash register.

Sawan’s WSJ theme — energy security is national security — is especially convenient. Once energy becomes “national security,” criticism of oil and gas expansion can be made to sound naive, unpatriotic, or detached from reality. Never mind that climate security, consumer affordability, industrial resilience, and the long-term cost of fossil dependence are also national security issues. The phrase is powerful because it narrows the debate to supply, supply, supply — and who better to provide supply than the companies already profiting from the shortage?

This is how the oil majors win the room. First, they warn that the system is fragile. Then they remind everyone that only they understand it. Then they suggest that any serious government must keep them close, keep projects moving, and keep capital flowing. Finally, they call the whole thing realism.

Meanwhile, ordinary people get the bill in petrol, diesel, heating, freight, food, air fares, and inflation. Shell gets to appear grave, responsible, and indispensable — a sort of corporate firefighter standing heroically beside a blaze from which its own business model has long benefited.

There is also a delicious irony in Shell talking about equilibrium. This is a company whose legal identity has been through more costume changes than a pantomime villain: incorporated as Forthdeal Limited in 2002, renamed Royal Dutch Shell plc in 2004, then renamed Shell plc in 2022 after the grand simplification exercise. Apparently, balance is very important — especially when it involves balancing public concern, shareholder value, and the optics of dropping a tarnished old title.

The serious point is this: Sawan is probably right that the oil market will not simply snap back overnight. But Shell’s role is not that of neutral weather forecaster. Shell is not merely observing the storm; it is a giant ship built to sail profitably through it.

The company’s message to governments is clear: energy security requires companies like Shell. Its message to investors is clearer still: volatility can be opportunity. Its message to the public, dressed in softer language, is the oldest one in the oil business: keep calm and keep paying.

Spoof Shell PR/Spin Section

Shell plc Statement — Extremely Serious Voice Edition

At Shell, previously known as Forthdeal Limited, then Royal Dutch Shell plc, and now simply Shell plc because shorter names travel better through controversy, we recognise that energy security is national security, economic security, shareholder security, bonus security, and, where appropriate, reputational-security-through-careful-wording.

Our CEO Wael Sawan has responsibly warned that restoring oil-market equilibrium may take a year, if not longer. This should not be interpreted as us enjoying higher prices. We are merely responsibly positioned to generate resilient value from a challenging macro environment of unfortunate global tightness.

We remain committed to the energy transition, provided it is balanced, orderly, commercially attractive, compatible with stable oil production, supportive of LNG growth, and not unduly disruptive to the sacred quarterly distribution rhythm.

Shell will continue helping the world navigate volatility by being very large, very integrated, very necessary, and very available for meetings with governments.

We understand the pain consumers feel at the pump. We also understand trading margins, upstream cash flows, LNG arbitrage, and the importance of disciplined capital allocation.

Together, we can build a lower-carbon future — at a responsible pace, with a robust hydrocarbon foundation, and preferably with Shell in the middle of every sentence.

Spoof Bot-Reaction / Comment Section

@BarrelBot9000:
BREAKING: Oil giant discovers that oil shortage may be bad for consumers but strategically fascinating for oil giants.

@TransitionGoblin:
Shell’s energy transition strategy: one solar panel in the brochure, one LNG tanker in the bank account.

@ForthdealFanClub:
Never forget the glow-up: Forthdeal Limited to Royal Dutch Shell to Shell plc. Same fossil opera, shorter programme notes.

@PumpPricePeasant:
Lovely to hear equilibrium may take a year. My wallet has entered a disorderly transition.

@SecuritySloganBot:
Energy security is national security. Climate security is apparently a footnote in 8-point font.

@InvestorWhisperer:
Consumer crisis detected. Reclassifying as “heightened volatility” and routing to earnings call.

@CarbonNeutralByEventually:
Shell says the future is low carbon, but the present remains extremely billable.

@HydrocarbonHamster:
The wheel keeps spinning, the barrels keep moving, and somehow the hamster is paying £1.80 a litre.

@CrisisMonetisationUnit:
Please do not call it profiteering. The preferred term is “resilient integrated portfolio performance amid geopolitical complexity.”

@NationalSecurityNarrator:
When households cannot afford energy, it is a cost-of-living crisis. When oil companies discuss it, it becomes a strategic framework.

Shell Boss Warns Oil Pain Could Drag On for a Year — As Shell Sits Pretty in the Crisis Chair was first posted on June 10, 2026 at 7:48 pm.
©2018 "Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at john@shellnews.net

In the fall of 1978, the National Front (NF), a growing neo-Nazi organization in Britain, was prepared to stand 318 candidates for Parliament. In local London elections, it had received 119,000 votes out of 2.2 million in May. The NF had gained a reputation of challenging immigrants and minorities in street battles and organizing mass marches through minority neighborhoods. There was a very real danger that the NF was on the verge of legitimacy.

Not since Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists clashed with  over 100,000 counterdemonstrators in the 1930s in what became known as “The Battle of Cable Street,” had Britain been threatened by such an aggressive ultra-right organization. With street confrontations growing and electoral challenges growing increasingly threatening, the need to unite an opposition was paramount. To answer that need, the Anti Nazi League (ANL), in alliance with movement organizations, trade unions, neighborhood coalitions, churches, and thousands of individuals, was formed to challenge the NF. Geoff Brown’s timely book, A People’s History of the Anti Nazi League,  offers a wealth of first-hand accounts from those who came together to stop the NF before it achieved a foothold within the power structure of Britain.

A decade before the NF rose to prominence, Enoch Powell, a Conservative member of Parliament, delivered an alarming speech about the dangers of immigration, which he saw as a madness leading to “the white population…made strangers in their own country.” In what became known as the “rivers of blood speech,” Powell incited a subsequent period of racial violence and reactionary mobilizations, including strikes. Powell’s legacy is often the starting point for today’s racists, such as Tommy Robinson. Robinson recently led a massive anti-immigrant march in London that echoed many far-right themes of the past.

U.S. history is littered with racist marches and antisemitic attacks by Nazis and co-racists like the Ku Klux Klan. Spurred by Trump’s anti-immigrant policies, we are again facing reactionary mobilizations. In 2017, Nazis appeared in Charlottesville, North Carolina, in their largest numbers since World War II. Nazis, together with the KKK, neo-Confederates, and Far-Right militias gathered in an action billed as “Unite the Right” to “protect a Confederate statue.” They paraded with torches, shouted antisemitic slogans, and gave the Nazi salute. A woman was killed when a Nazi drove his car into the counter-protesters.

As the World War II generation disappears and the history of that period becomes less compelling, Nazis are showing signs of growth in several countries. Unbound by the history of their Nazi heroes, they are more confident in demonstrating their hatred. A recent Trump nominee for U.S. attorney was forced to withdraw his nomination when boastful Nazi praises were found in his text messages. Perhaps more alarming was the revelation of a recent group chat of young Republicans that was filled with racist, sexist, and anti-gay rhetoric, and included one participant championing his hero, Hitler. These “leaks” indicate a less circumspect extreme Right willing to embrace Nazism with all that it implies, including Holocaust denial. According to yearly reports from both the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, there has been a 60 percent growth in active neo-Nazi clubs since 2023, from 49 to 78 clubs. The number of violent attacks initiated by these clubs in that period has also grown. Some of their members are believed to have taken jobs in ICE and Border Patrol. These signs of far-right growth cannot be ignored. As Brown’s work makes clear, building a militant and wide-ranging resistance to Nazis and other racist formations is essential if they are to be stopped.

In August 1977, 500 members of the NF attempted to march through Lewisham, a mostly Black district of London, guarded by 4,000 police officers. They were met by a counter-demonstration of nearly 5,000, representing a coalition of 23 organizations, including unions, neighborhood groups, and Left parties, such as Brown’s own Socialist Workers Party (SWP).

Before the ANL, the Anti-Racist, Anti-Fascist Coordinating Committee struggled to build an anti-racist coalition.  Representatives of the coalition held many debates. Some wanted to remove “fascism” from the targeted racists and organize an event away from where the Nazis were to march:

Believing that there was no possibility of persuading people to confront the Nazis, the Communist Party proposed some kind of music event on the other side of the borough: music, poetry, cultural events, and prayers. At this a vicar leapt to his feet to say, ‘Oh for goodness sakes, what’s the point of that?’

In the end, the coalition endorsed confronting the NF, and while the numbers were different (5,000 vs. 100,000 in 1936), the participants had no doubt that they had succeeded in halting the NF’s ability to march through the district.

While Lewisham was a success, it was not the end of the NF. Intending to stand 300-plus candidates in the next general election, the NF upped its vicious attacks on minorities and boasted that they could not be stopped. Something more was needed, a broad-based national organization that could provide leadership in standing up to the NF. However, it would not be easy to put together such an organization. Even in the wake of the Lewisham success, the Left was still divided on how to stop the Nazis. Nevertheless, the SWP which  had gained credibility in helping to organize the confrontation in Lewisham, believed that nothing less than a nationwide united front of organizations and individuals committed to exposing and stopping the growing NF threat was paramount. Brown summarizes, “The new initiative had to include both identifying the fascists as Nazis—that they came from the same tradition that led to the Holocaust—and mobilizing the largest possible number in opposition to the fascists in whatever ways was necessary.”

Jim Nichol, the SWP national secretary,branded the proposed national formation with the name “the Anti Nazi League.” Nichol was tasked with “selling” the new organization to a broad number of prominent individuals and organizations, from religious groups to the Far Left. The main goal was to stop the NF. Church officials, leaders of minority communities, a prominent journalist, Mary Holland, of the Observer, as well as “a hardline” CP member and solicitor for the ANC, Michael Seifert, were all asked to take part. Nichol was able to convince them to come on board and helped establish a legitimacy for the proposed ANL. The battle of Lewisham had propelled anti-fascism to the front pages.

After many one-on-one discussions with key activists and organizational heads, it was time to launch the ANL. As its founding document made clear:

For the first time since Mosly in the thirties, there is the worrying prospect of a Nazi party gaining significant support in Britain…Like Hitler with the Jews the British Nazis seek to make scapegoats of black people. …If their evil propaganda takes root we will be facing an alarming development in Britain, which affects every one of us. …In every town, in every factory, in every school, on every housing estate, whenever the Nazis attempt to organise, they must be countered.

The ANL’s program was an all-out campaign, including distributing millions of leaflets to mass gatherings to stop NF marches. From pulpits to street corners, from factory floors to union halls, from schools to housing estates, ANL activists took the fight to as broad a constituency as possible. This was to be a “united front” of all organizations and individuals who saw the danger posed by the NF. Inspired by Trotsky’s writings on how to stop the Nazis in the thirties, the comrades in the SWP saw the need to expand beyond the labor movement and include all who had an interest in stopping the rise of Nazism. The unifying slogan and sole agreement to join the ANL was, “They shall not pass.”

…the comrades in the SWP saw the need to expand beyond the labor movement and include all who had an interest in stopping the rise of Nazism. The unifying slogan and sole agreement to join the ANL was, “They shall not pass.”

During the existence of the ANL there were many confrontations with the NF as they attempted to march, harass, and intimidate their opposition. Brown’s history of this period is shaped by input from those who participated in building the ANL as well as allied organizations. For example, the year before the emergence of the ANL, a group of musicians had coalesced to oppose racist attacks after headline musicians Eric Clapton and David Bowie had attacked immigrants. Clapton had demanded at one of his concerts for all the immigrants in the audience to leave. “I don’t want you here in the room or in my country.” The same month, David Bowie told Playboy magazine that “Britain could benefit from a fascist leader…Adolf Hitler was one of the first rock stars…You’ve got to have an extreme right front come up and sweep everything off its feet and tidy everything up.”

In response to Clapton’s and Bowie’s racist attacks, Red Saunders, a theater promoter, drafted a letter which he circulated to the entertainment press calling for a strong response to the racism of these entertainers and asking for all who agreed to sign in favor of a rank-and-file organized one-off concert, Rock Against Racism (RAR). So successful was the response that RAR became a leading anti-racist organization, producing numerous concerts and providing the inspiration for the ANL. Together Rock Against Racism and the ANL organized two national carnivals, attended by tens of thousands of young people of all racial backgrounds. Brown notes, “RAR and the ANL became inseparably intertwined.”

Key to building the ANL were the many small meetings and one-on-one conversations stressing the danger posed by the NF. Underlining that the NF and Nazism were one and the same helped to negatively brand NF candidates. From the RAR concerts and the many small meetings, a network of anti-fascists emerged ready to stand up to the NF when it appeared in the streets. As a result, these confrontations attracted more participants. Brown’s book is an excellent resource for understanding the dynamics of a mass movement built around one commitment: “They shall not pass.”

While the SWP as an initiating organization was often accused of using the ANL for its own purposes, it was the Labour Party that grew substantially during this period, even moreso than the SWP. In fact, as noted by one Labour Member of Parliament, “The ANL steering committee meeting in the House of Commons had twice as many Labour MPs on it as SWP members.” What’s important to understand is that the ANL was a broad, single focus united front organization that exposed and stood up to the NF before it could gain a solid foothold in British society. Which organization grew out of its participation was secondary to this historic undertaking.

The SWP’s initiative helped introduce a new generation to the dangers of Nazism. The effort helped shift politics to the left, which benefited the Labour Party in subsequent elections. The NF was pushed to the margins. Nevertheless, the conditions which gave the NF a platform continued to be fueled by the policies of both Labour and Conservatives and have produced another current period of racist activity and organizations targeting the least powerful on an international scale. This makes A People’s History of the Anti Nazi League a timely resource for those organizing to stop neo-Nazism.

As Brown concludes, “The crisis of the liberal centre is once again opening the door to the far right and fascists. …Yet not all is lost—far from it if we act decisively.” Toward that goal, his book offers a wealth of lessons—both positive and negative—to help guide a new anti-Nazi movement.

Opinions expressed in signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or the Tempest Collective. For more information, see “About Tempest Collective.”

The post The Cultural Movement that Once Defeated Neo-Nazism appeared first on Tempest.

The short letter below was sent to Governor Josh Stein and Attorney General Jeff Jackson this morning.

June 10, 2026

Honorable Josh Stein
Governor of North Carolina

Cc: Attorney General Jeff Jackson

Subject: World Court Requires Your Urgent Action vs Duke Energy as Wars Accelerate a Global Shift Away from Fossil Fuels

Dear Governor Stein,

As North Carolina communities brace for hurricane and heatwave season and scientists escalate their warnings that global warming is passing limits deemed critical for human survival, two major transitions now underway provide a vital opportunity for a genuine phase out of fossil fuels. Both require your personal action and would finally begin to shift North Carolina from being a key driver of climate change to joining those doing all possible to avert ecological and social chaos.

1)    The United Nations overwhelmingly supported a World Court decision stating that governments – including governors such as yourself – have a legal obligation to act in response to the climate crisis and, in Greenpeace International’s words, to “regulate businesses on the harm caused by their emissions.” Only the US and 7 other countries opposed the measure.

2)    Although the ongoing wars in the Middle East continue to cause horrific suffering, energy experts see ironic implications for the climate crisis. The prolonged disruption of oil and methane gas markets – which has accelerated since the Russia-Ukraine war began – is boosting “demand destruction,” a permanent shift to renewable energy sources that was already well-underway in many parts of the world – but not in North Carolina.

In other words, the world community is gradually becoming more clearly delineated between climate leaders and corporate laggards and their enablers. A clean energy transition is underway in many nations; globally, renewable power sources grew fast enough to meet all new electricity demand in 2025 without an increase in generation from fossil fuels.

Despite the encouraging progress in many countries, broader leadership is still gravely needed – and legally required, according to the UN’s World Court – to ensure that polluting corporations in rich countries don’t “wring every last drop of profit … even if it destroys the earth while denying their impending obsolescence,” as journalist Rebecca Solnit writes.

As you well know but have not acknowledged publicly, Duke Energy executives are planning the largest US expansion of gas-fired power generation, an enormous 12,300 megawatts. Scientists have for several years pressed you to lead a major change in Duke’s climate-wrecking trajectory: its gamble of public dollars on fossil fuels and failure-prone nuclear plants and suppression of solar and wind.

Duke Energy’s latest pause in developing large scale solar has been wrongly characterized as an “order” by the NC Utilities Commission. As you know, Duke has long dominated our state government and has traditionally gotten nearly everything it wants from the captive regulators.

Together, Duke Energy leaders and regulators continue to limit large-scale solar. Even worse, they continue to block the vast and virtually untapped potential for local solar-plus-storage (SPS) even though it could readily replace current and future fossil fueled electricity in the state; as NC WARN’s Sharing Solar proposal shows, rooftop/parking lot SPS would be the fastest, cheapest and most equitable way to replace coal and gas.

We urge you once again to use your enormous public voice to be honest with the people of our state: stop joining Duke Energy in claiming that NC has curbed greenhouse gas emissions. That gross deception hinges on ignoring the super-potent heat-trapping methane that is central to Duke Energy’s ongoing expansion of climate- and community-wrecking fossil fuels.

This is a golden opportunity for you to finally provide hope to those being buffeted by extreme weather events and soaring power bills – two sides of the same coin fueled by Duke Energy’s business model of building high-cost, high-risk power plants that are not needed.

Governor Stein, dozens of scientists, hundreds of businesses and nonprofits and leaders of communities being devastated by extreme weather have called for you to act. Now the UN World Court has required you to take action, and its order is enforceable in North Carolina.

Instead of continuing to escalate our criticism, NC WARN remains eager to join with you to help this state do our genuine duty to counter the escalating threat to all life on Earth.

Sincerely,

Jim Warren
Executive Director

The post Letter: World Court Requires Governor’s Urgent Action vs Duke Energy as Wars Accelerate a Global Shift Away from Fossil Fuels appeared first on NC WARN.

Last week, the National Audubon Society joined more than 50 wildlife, conservation, and sporting groups in sending a letter to the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee urging...

A new investigation from ProPublica and Re:Public reveals that Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana was pushing to eliminate Forest Service airworthiness inspections for firefighting aircraft at the same time his former company, Bridger Aerospace, was failing one.

In April 2025, a Forest Service inspector found a crack in the wing of a Bridger scooper the company had presented as ready for fire season. That same month, a draft executive order eliminating the inspection program leaked from Sheehy’s Senate office. Metadata on the document showed it had been edited by one of Sheehy’s policy advisers and a lobbyist for Bridger. At the time, Sheehy held between $13 and $15 million in Bridger stock. The Forest Service has paid Bridger more than $235 million for scooper contracts since 2021.

The crack discovered by the inspection could have been catastrophic had it not been discovered. In fact, the Forest Service’s modern inspection program, which Sheehy proposed to eliminate, was built in response to two fatal tanker crashes in 2002 that were caused by similar undetected wing cracks. Current and former Forest Service officials told reporters that Bridger has resisted the agency’s inspections. A Sheehy spokesperson called the inspection program “a relic of a bygone era and an unnecessary barrier to asset availability.”

The draft executive order was also shaped by the United Aerial Firefighters Association, an industry group Sheehy helped found in 2022. When Sheehy moved his Bridger stock into blind trusts earlier this year, he entrusted them to executives at an energy infrastructure company formerly run by his brother, also a significant Bridger investor. Cynthia Brown, senior ethics counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told ProPublica that selecting a family member’s company “appears to do that exact thing that the rules mean to prohibit.”

Quick hits National park visitors rebuffed Burgum’s pitch to police history

E&E News | National Parks Traveler | Associated Press

Political reviews are causing a huge grant backlog at the National Park Service

NOTUS

Lawmakers inquire about Forest Service spraying roundup on public lands

Mother Jones

White House to tap California water expert for Bureau of Reclamation

E&E News | Las Vegas Review-Journal

Opinion: The US government is pillaging our national forests from within

The Hill

Proposed Trump rule targets ‘woke’ federal grants for public lands, health, science

KQED

Senators demand answers on Trump’s use of national park fees

Washington Post

The last working pay phone in Yellowstone National Park is dead

Cowboy State Daily

Quote of the day

This is a dangerous arena to get into, where the forever business of NASA, NOAA or NPS are all now on the whims of political appointees and the shifting political tides. This is not how things were intended to be done.”

—Jesse Chakrin, executive director of Fund for People in Parks, KQED

Picture This @interior

Interior be like “I know a spot,” and then take you somewhere that looks like another planet.

Moonscape Overlook in Utah sits high above a maze of colorful badlands, ridges, and winding desert terrain managed by @mypubliclands. It’s the kind of place that reminds you just how wild and vast America’s public lands really are.

We manage millions of acres of public lands across the country, including places that still feel completely untamed. Some are famous. Others are hidden at the end of dusty backroads somewhere out in the middle of the desert. Those are usually the spots worth remembering.

Photo by Susan Hartman

Featured photo: Scooper plane dumps water on wildfire, Washington DNR

The post Senator pushed to cut firefighting aircraft inspections as his company’s aircraft failed one appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Tribal and conservation groups today sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to stop a land trade that would hand 715 acres of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge in south Texas to SpaceX. In exchange for these lands, SpaceX is giving 683 acres to the Service.

Under the law, any exchanges of wildlife refuge lands must result in net conservation benefits to both the individual refuge where land will be exchanged and the wildlife refuge system as a whole. The wildlife habitat that SpaceX has sought to take ownership of has been degraded by SpaceX’s expanding operations and failed rocket launches. In its decision last week, the Fish and Wildlife Service chose to give those lands to SpaceX in exchange for fewer acres of private lands, the majority of which will be added to a separate wildlife refuge.

This land deal resulting in the loss of more than 700 acres of a national wildlife refuge is one of the largest exchanges of land in the refuge system’s history outside the state of Alaska.

“Our protected public lands are being gifted for the benefit of the world’s richest man, who could trash them while playing with his exploding rockets,” said Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge was built by decades of conservation work and funded by millions of taxpayer dollars to protect our vulnerable wildlife like ocelots and piping plovers. We’re not letting Trump and his political cronies lock the American people out of Texas’ cherished public lands just to give Elon Musk another payday.”

Today’s lawsuit alleges that the Fish and Wildlife Service violated the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 by taking action that will permanently reduce and degrade the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. In approving the transfer, the Service also violated the National Historic Preservation Act by giving away hundreds of acres of a National Historic Landmark. The transfer approval also violated the National Environmental Policy Act.

Congress created this wildlife refuge in 1979 to protect its diverse wildlife, including rare species like ocelots, aplomado falcons, and migratory birds such as piping plovers, red knots, green jays and Altamira orioles. The refuge protects some of the best remaining habitat in the United States for the endangered ocelot.

In 2014 SpaceX chose the nearby Boca Chica area as the location of a rocket launch site and a test site, and it has rapidly expanded its operations and activities in the area. This included numerous rocket launches, some of which have resulted in catastrophic explosions that have propelled debris for miles onto refuge lands, including concrete and metal.

“Elon Musk has built his explosive SpaceX facility in the middle of a major wildlife corridor home to endangered and threatened species like ocelots and wetlands. There was never supposed to be space rockets blowing up here,” said Bekah Hinojosa, a Brownsville native, and co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network. “Our community opposes these latest hostile land grabs by SpaceX of our wildlife habitat and Boca Chica beach. This habitat land is meant to be preserved for future generations, not for billionaires to find later and destroy.”

In the years following SpaceX’s arrival, it has vastly expanded its operations around the wildlife refuge, increasing manufacturing facilities and adding a second launch pad. In 2025 the Federal Aviation Administration authorized SpaceX to conduct 25 Starship launches per year — a fivefold increase from the previous limit. Launch failures have triggered explosions and wildfires on refuge lands and scattered chunks of concrete and metal more than 6 miles from the launch pad.

Post-explosion surveys have revealed environmental damage to nearby lands on the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. A 2024 study found that after one launch every single monitored shorebird nest near the launch site suffered egg damage or loss. Instead of taking any enforcement actions or working with SpaceX to reduce or eliminate its harm to the refuge, the Service accepted the damage to the lands and now points to the supposed lowered conservation value as justification for the land exchange.

The refuge lands being transferred to SpaceX also include significant portions of the Palmito Ranch Battlefield National Historic Landmark, which is the site of the final battle of the Civil War. Even though the site is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and protected as a historic landmark, these historic lands would be privatized and SpaceX could choose not to preserve their historic values or limit public access to the battlefield.

“The refuge is a national public treasure with immense ecological and cultural value. The tract being swapped to SpaceX, whose arrival here has been an unmitigated disaster, will permanently sever the very heart of the wildlife corridor established by Congress in 1979,” said Mary Angela Branch, board member at Save RGV. “This corridor, running along the Rio Grande River, is prime wildlife habitat, and nothing gained in this ‘swap’ will be equal. This will be a huge loss. The federal government should protect our public land for future generations, not turn them into hellscapes for soon-to-be trillionaire corporate interests.”

The proposed land exchange was first made public in March 2026, but records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show internal agency planning began as early as April 2025. In those discussions with the regional director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Service developed “the most expedited schedule possible” for completing a transfer and recommended hiring additional staff to meet what they described as an “optimum timeframe.” This request came when Musk was leading his Department of Government Efficiency and publicly threatened to fire federal workers who failed to justify their jobs to him.

“SpaceX has been a nightmare of a neighbor to the Lower Rio Grande Valley wildlife refuge for years, callously harming wildlife that call these special places home,” said Jordahl. “It’s shameful and insulting that this sweetheart deal has been rammed through just to placate another billionaire in Trump’s orbit. We’ll fight this outrageous sell-out of our public lands with everything we’ve got.”

“This refuge is sacred to me and to the Carrizo/Comecrudo People,” said Juan Mancias, member of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas. “Our ancestors have lived with this land, these waters, and these migration pathways since time immemorial. We are not separate from this place — we are of this continent, and our connection to it cannot be bought, exchanged, or erased. The transfer of these sacred lands to SpaceX continues a long history of colonial dispossession and tribal erasure. We have survived centuries of colonial genocide, and we will continue to resist every attempt to erase our existence, our culture, and our responsibilities to the land. We are still here, and we will continue this fight for as many years and generations as it takes.”

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are the Center for Biological Diversity, Save RGV, The Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, Inc, and South Texas Environmental Justice Network.

Plaintiffs are represented by Center for Biological Diversity attorneys Marc Fink, Brandon Jones-Cobb and Ivan Ditmars.

On Wednesday, Demand Progress launched AI Money Watch, a new website that tracks campaign spending from Leading the Future, an AI Super PAC bankrolled by co-founders from OpenAI and Andreessen Horowitz. AI Money Watch launches as President Donald Trump, his Big Tech allies and congressional leaders are once again trying to push legislation that would ban states and localities from enforcing laws that regulate AI.

• Visit AI Money Watch

Leading the Future is poised to spend tens of millions of dollars on elections to kill regulatory safeguards for AI. They are doing this by spending money to support anti-AI safeguard candidates and attacking pro-AI safeguard candidates. AI Money Watch uses public FEC filings to show how much Leading the Future is spending on elections across the nation and lets Americans spread the word on X and Instagram. The website also flags which candidates have been endorsed by Leading the Future.

“AI Money Watch cuts through the dark money blizzard and shows you how some of the biggest names in AI are trying to buy politicians who will kill AI safeguards and attack anyone who dares to fight back,” said Demand Progress Action AI Policy Advisor Colin McGlynn. “AI chatbots have been accused of flirting with children, discouraging people in distress from seeking help and even offering instructions on how to plan a mass shooting—and billionaire AI CEOs are doling out millions to kill any safeguards that would stop this. With AI Money Watch, Americans can see which candidates the biggest AI Super PAC is buying, who they are trying to stop and how much they are spending.”

Katherine Matos Meza

Ask 2,000 Canadians what they think about geothermal energy, and most will answer with a shrug.  

That shrug is loaded with meaning to Katherine Matos Meza, a Cascade Institute researcher studying public perceptions of geothermal.  

When she and Carlos Gorraez Meraz, a collaborator at Royal Roads University, recently asked 2,603 people in western Canada to share their impressions of the clean-energy option, the predominant response was a vague, fuzzy familiarity.  

That’s both good news and bad news, according to the new report they co-authored, Deep Listening: Assessing the social acceptance of geothermal energy in Alberta and British Columbia. 

“Public perceptions around geothermal are still forming,” says Matos Meza. “That’s a great opportunity to engage people, to educate them, to help them understand the important role geothermal energy could play in ensuring clean, secure, and affordable electricity for Canadians.” 

Recent advances have made geothermal energy — clean, inexhaustible power extracted from hot rock kilometres below the surface — a powerful addition to the mix of technologies like wind and solar.  

But of all the energy sources Matos Meza asked about in a survey of Albertans and British Columbians last year, geothermal had the lowest familiarity. Acceptance is moderate and opinions are soft. People have not yet decided what to make of geothermal because, in general, they’ve barely heard of it.  

For Matos Meza, that gap in understanding is simultaneously a big opportunity and a flashing red warning.  

“Right now, they’re subject to misinformation, or to other actors who might give them negative insights.” 

Matos Meza contributes research to all of Cascade’s programs — geothermal, polycrisis, democracy — thanks to her background in stakeholder mapping, survey design, and environmental impact assessment. She has worked in both the public and private sectors, and holds a master’s degree in Environment and Management from Royal Roads University. She also built the data behind the Polycrisis Community Map, which links researchers working on the world’s interlocking crises.  Her study of public acceptance of geothermal is aimed at helping entrepreneurs, policymakers, and communities realize the environmental, financial, and social benefits of the technology.  

Matos Meza says the key finding of her research is that there’s still time to positively shape public perceptions of geothermal, whereas perceptions of other energy forms are tougher to budge.  

Carlo Gorraez Meraz of Royal Roads University.

A second part of the research, currently ongoing, includes qualitative analysis of the survey’s open-ended question about perceived risk. Open-ended questions like these are about more than tallying yes and no answers, says Matos Meza. 

“From there we can identify information gaps, emotional threats, technical concerns, structural distrust. And we can do it at an early stage, before concerns harden into positions.” 

This is where Matos Meza’s work plugs into Cascade’s overarching mission. The Institute sees geothermal energy as a “high-leverage intervention” to address the polycrisis — a single push that can simultaneously address climate heating, energy insecurity, and economic inequalities.    

Matos Meza understands that technological transitions are also social ones. Without social acceptance, the advancement of this promising but underdeveloped clean energy resource could stall. With strong social acceptance, geothermal can be part of the positive snowball effect the Cascade Institute calls a virtuous cascade.  

“Perceptions are evolving fast,” she says. “The sooner people are introduced to the benefits of geothermal energy, the better.” 

That’s why she believes we need to investigate social acceptance now, while the ground for growing public perceptions is still fertile: “My goal is to understand the forces shaping social acceptance of geothermal well enough that we can actually address them through effective and transparent communication.” 

The post Researchers use “deep listening” to gauge geothermal sentiments appeared first on Cascade Institute.

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.

###

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.