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File:  ltr to Congress, 76 scientists 2012.pdfResource Type: Letters

File:  ltr to Congress, 76 scientists 2012.pdfResource Type: Letters

Where utility billing stands and why "good enough" no longer is.

Large-load demand is transforming utility strategy, regulation, and investment.

When investor Phil Tagami first proposed building an export terminal in Oakland, California, more than a decade ago, he probably didn’t anticipate the firestorm of litigation and controversy that would follow, in a saga that has now spanned three presidential administrations. There were early rumors that the terminal would export coal, much to the consternation of local residents, but Tagami said in a newsletter that the naysayers were “misinformed.” It was all downhill from there.

Tagami and others entered into a development agreement with the city of Oakland in 2013 after the city decided to redevelop a defunct army base on the city’s west side. At the time, Tagami was adamant that the developers were interested in building an all-purpose bulk terminal and capturing some of the traffic that Oakland was losing to other West Coast ports. But two years later, Oakland residents and environmental groups had their suspicions confirmed when the Salt Lake Tribune reported that the developers had quietly entered into an agreement to use the terminal to ship coal from Utah to buyers overseas. The revelation sparked intense backlash in the progressive city, and the ensuing conflict has put both the developers and the city on the hook for million-dollar losses at various times, though litigation is ongoing. 

Now, in the latest twist, the U.S. Department of Energy has stepped in to provide up to $75 million for building the terminal. The funding is the latest effort by the Trump administration to prop up the country’s coal industry — the Energy Department’s announcement last week also included over $400 million in support for coal-fired power plants — even as the fossil fuel’s role in generating U.S. electricity continues to collapse. Over the last year, the administration has loosened regulations that apply to the country’s coal fleet, ordered aging plants scheduled for retirement to keep running, and shifted the responsibility of overseeing coal contamination to states. 

The administration also argues that homegrown coal is still valuable abroad.

“For too long, limited West Coast export capacity has constrained America’s ability to move coal and other energy resources to global markets,” said Energy Secretary Chris Wright in a press release announcing the funding. Investing in the terminal would help in “advancing American energy dominance,” he added. 

Critics counter that the federal funding is the latest attempt to prop up a dying industry.

Ben Eichenberg, an attorney with the San Francisco Baykeeper, an environmental group in the Bay Area, said that terminal construction “really hasn’t gone anywhere because there’s no money to build” the facility. “The Trump administration stepping in and saying they’re going to supply that money gives it a new lifeline,” he said. “This terminal project was drowning, and they’ve just been thrown the life preserver.”

The Energy Department’s Hail Mary is unlikely to end the embattled terminal’s long saga. After Oakland officials learned a decade ago that the developers intended to transport coal through the terminal, they held public hearings and eventually passed an ordinance and adopted a resolution that barred the storage of coal anywhere in the city. That set the stage for the first round of lawsuits against the city.

Oakland’s development agreement stated that it would provide regulatory certainty for the terminal backers by locking in the regulations that existed at the time. In other words, the city wasn’t allowed to change the rules about what the terminal could be used for after development started. The developers sued Oakland on these grounds, claiming that the city had violated the terms of the agreement by passing the new anti-coal-storage ordinance, thereby affecting the developers’ ability to proceed with their project. 

The agreement did, however, make an important exception. New rules can be applied to the terminal if the city determines that the absence of those rules would put the people of Oakland in “substantial danger.” The city had held public hearings and collected evidence of the threat posed by coal dust, but the developers argued that the record was insufficient — and ultimately the judge overseeing the case agreed. He found that “the record is riddled with inaccuracies, major evidentiary gaps, erroneous assumptions, and faulty analyses, to the point that no reliable conclusion about health or safety dangers could be drawn from it.”

Crucially, the judge did not claim that the transport of coal through Oakland does not pose a threat to residents, or that the city didn’t have the right to pass an ordinance banning coal. A higher court also agreed with that decision and affirmed the ruling. 

“The fight was not about whether coal is safe or dangerous, but it was about the terms of the development agreement,” said Colin O’Brien, an attorney with Earthjustice, the nonprofit that represented the San Francisco Baykeeper and the Sierra Club as an intervenor in the proceedings. 

After suffering a loss in the courts, the city tried a different tack. The developers had signed a lease with the city, which required them to meet certain construction milestones. Because of the years spent litigating the terms of the development agreement, the developers hadn’t begun construction. Oakland officials cancelled the lease on these new grounds, dragging the city into its next round of legal battles. The developers sued in state court in 2018, arguing that the city’s own decisions had prevented them from meeting the construction deadlines. The court once again sided with the developers, as did a higher court on appeal last year.

By then, Insight Terminal Solutions, the company that was slated to operate the terminal, had filed for bankruptcy in Kentucky and decided to pursue claims against the city. During the bankruptcy proceedings last year, the company claimed that the protracted legal battles with Oakland were to blame for its financial woes — and that it was owed more than $650 million in damages. A sympathetic bankruptcy court judge agreed with the firm’s rationale, but on appeal in a federal district court, the ruling was vacated late last year, much to the historically cash-strapped city’s relief. 

Despite the influx of federal support for the terminal, the project’s backers still have a long road ahead. The terminal needs to secure a range of permits, including air quality permits from the Bay Area Air Quality District, and local advocates have already mounted a campaign to require stringent regulations for the facility. (Tagami and another representative of California Capital & Investment Group, the lead developer of the project, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.)

For their part, environmental groups are keeping a close eye on the permitting process.

“We’re going to do everything in our power to protect the community in San Francisco Bay from the pollution that this coal terminal represents,” said Eichenberg. “We’ll be evaluating all of those permits and any additional action that we can take to protect the community and fulfill our mission.”

Editor’s note: Earthjustice is an advertiser with Grist. Advertisers have no role in Grist’s editorial decisions.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Even $75M from Trump may not save Oakland’s embattled coal terminal on Jun 15, 2026.

Treating 35% electrification as a COP headline misses the point. It's an urgent directive to electrify loads that are already ready, build the grid around them, and stop preserving fossil demand.

The post More than just a COP headline: 35 pct electrification target is a global competitiveness test appeared first on Renew Economy.

Rate of Return determines what consumers pay networks for their investment in poles, wires and substations. Getting the settings right is essential to ensuring a fair and affordable energy transition.

The post One of the highest impact decisions for home energy bills is about to be made. Here’s why it matters appeared first on Renew Economy.

As the first Australian wind farm to reach 1 GW of output is celebrated, the project that was supposed to be the first to reach that milestone is stuck at its half way point.

The post Australia’s second biggest wind farm still stuck at half-way point as faulty blade replacement continues appeared first on Renew Economy.

For Immediate Release

What UNFCCC’s WTO dialogue did—and did not—do-

Climate & Trade Justice Groups React

Bonn, Germany— Join climate and trade justice analysts and advocates with the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ) at the UN Bonn Climate talks to hear more about the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s first ever trade and climate dialogue. The dialogue, which occurred on Saturday June 13, included officials from the World Trade Organization (WTO), UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the International Trade Center (ITC). Kicking off a three-year forum mandated at COP30 in Belém, trade and climate officials discussed all things trade at a day-long dialogue focused on the relationship between their two multilateral regimes and changes needed for both.

WHEN: 15 June 2026, 12pm CEST (UTC + 2) 

WHERE: Nairobi 4, Main building, Inside Bonn’s World Conference Center, or webcast here

WHO

• Priscilla Papagiannis, Brazilian Network for Peoples’ Integration (REBRIP)
• Erika Lennon, Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)
• Luc Tezenas, Resource Justice Network (RJN)
• Victor Menotti, Demand Climate Justice

CONTACT dcj.comms@demandclimatejustice.org

The post Media Advisory: What UNFCCC’s WTO dialogue did—and did not—do appeared first on Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice.

Media Advisory

For Immediate Release

Delay, Distract, Destruct, Repeat–

Global North governments abandoning climate action at home and at UN climate talks

Bonn, Germany— The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in Bonn, Germany (SB64) are headed into the final days. In these rooms, governments continue to construct the foundation of international climate collaboration in an era of climate crisis. The details of many of the essential building blocks are still being debated– including on climate finance, just transition, false solutions, historical responsibility, agriculture and a fossil fuel phase-out. 

Global North governments like the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and the European Union are historically most responsible for the climate crisis. The Global North should be the most invested in laying the groundwork to ensure we can build a strong and sustainable house of climate action. Instead, their extraction, colonialism, imperialism, patriarchy, racism and war-mongering has fuelled this planet to the brink of collapse, risking hundreds of millions of lives and livelihoods. According to the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) enshrined in the UNFCCC, Global North governments should be leading the way to a climate just world by doing their fair share of climate action, delivering their climate debt, rapidly enacting just transitions and supporting Global South countries and communities in doing the same.  

Instead of acting like the climate champions they proclaim they are, Global North governments are ramping up a predictable yet inexcusable strategy of “Delay, Distract, Destruct, Repeat.” In the case of the United States, it hasn’t even officially shown up to the table, yet is still pulling the strings behind the scenes. Meanwhile the United Kingdom. Japan and the European Union are rolling back their already very weak climate commitments at home and reneging on all of their responsibilities in the global house of climate action. 

Join members of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ) to learn more about how Global North governments are destroying international collaboration here in Bonn and delaying climate action at home, and what can be done to hold them accountable. 

WHEN: Monday 15 June 2026, 11-11.30 CEST (UTC + 2) 

WHERE: Nairobi 4, Main building, Inside the World Conference Center and webcast here

WITH: 

• Leon Sealey-Huggins, War on Want
• Victor Menotti, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice
• Tobias Holle, Shifting Advocacy
• Analyah Schlaeger dos Santos, ShiftUS, Global Afro Descendants
• Moderated by Nona Chai, Just Transition Alliance

CONTACT: dcj.comms@demandclimatejustice.org

For more detail on DCJ’s demands across all topics on the agenda for Bonn, read  DCJ’s SB64 Position Paper: Advancing Climate Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis

The post Media Advisory: Delay, Distract, Destruct, Repeat appeared first on Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice.

A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, June 7, 2026 thru Sat, June 13, 2026. Stories we promoted this week, by category:

Climate Change Impacts (7 articles)

• What happens when the world`s breadbaskets start failing simultaneously? The Conversation, Ekamjot Dhillon, Jun 07, 2026.
• This 1,000-year-old pine tree`s protector fears changing weather patterns Mayors from around the world gathered last week in Huangshan to discuss how to protect their cities from climate change and overtourism. NBC News World News, Jennifer Jett, Jun 07, 2026.
• `Severe` stress on oceans as rate of sea level rise doubles in 10 years, UN warns Global effort needed to limit effects of pollution, industrial fishing and climate crisis, World Ocean Assessment says. The Guardian, Karen McVeigh, Jun 08, 2026.
• Climate change has already made Australians in one state much poorer, and more`s to come Researchers ask ''“What would the Australian state of New South Wales economy look like today if historical emissions of greenhouse gases had not caused climate change?'' English, Timothy Neal, Senior lecturer in Economics and the Institute for Climate Risk and Response, UNSW Sydney, Ben Newell, Professor of Cognitive Psychology and Director of the Institute for Climate Risk and Response, UNSW Sydney, Jun 09, 2026.
• Four days of extreme rain in Indonesia killed 7% of world`s rarest great apes, study finds Critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan population falls after heavy rain and landslides, fuelled by climate crisis, in North Sumatra The Guardian, Katie Ward, Jun 10, 2026.
• How Climate Change is Making Your Life More Expensive Extreme weather driven by climate change is pushing up prices for everyone. TIME, Simmone Shah, Jun 11, 2026.
• Millions of homes in London, Essex and Kent at risk of sinking as UK heats up Hotter and drier weather in the UK means the ground underneath homes could shrink in a process known as subsidence, dragging foundations down, according to the British Geological Survey (BGS). The Independent News, Nicole Wootton-Cane, Jun 11, 2026.

Climate Science and Research (5 articles)

• The weather and climate science AI revolution isn`t revolutionary Machine learning has its limits—how is it being used? Ars Technica, Scott K. Johnson, Jun 08, 2026.
• Ocean monitoring is in trouble: without the US, it`s up to Europe and Asia to avoid losing sight of the world`s deep-sea ecosystems The world relies on a modest number of countries to keep watch over the ocean and that arrangement is starting to fail; Europe and Asia must now decide whether to let the system unravel, or to take it up together. English, Sabrina Speich, John Abraham, Kevin Trenberth, Lijing Cheng, Jun 09, 2026.
• Plateauing CO2 emissions have slowed atmospheric growth CO2 concentrations have continued to increase – but more slowly than they otherwise would have. The Climate Brink, Zeke Hausfather, Jun 09, 2026.
• Inside the campaign to discredit a key climate science report An emerging field of research that can measure how much climate change has worsened individual disasters is under attack by friends of the fossil fuel industry, with billions of dollars at stake. Politico, Corbin Hiar, Lesley Clark and Chelsea Harvey, Jun 11, 2026.
• The Climate Change Culprits Not Addressed by Global Policy A new paper suggests that 15 percent of human-driven global warming has come from indirectly created greenhouse gases, off the books from current control plans. Inside Climate News, Nina Sablan, Jun 12, 2026.

Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation (4 articles)

• Are Australia`s carbon farming schemes just hot air? Hardly - forests are regrowing almost everywhere The Conversation, Cris Brack, Jun 07, 2026.
• Airline industry chiefs say 2050 net zero goal now unlikely Iata boss Willie Walsh blames fuel suppliers, governments and aircraft makers, saying new ‘realistic timeline’ now needed The Guardian, Gwyn Topham, Jun 08, 2026.
• Round-the-Clock Renewables Beat Fossil Fuels Climate Adam on Youtube, Adam Levy, June 11, 2026.
• How Companies Track Climate Progress Is Changing Over the last few years, the world of emissions standard setting has become increasingly contentious, so much so that even a few words can trigger a fight about whether companies are getting off the hook or being held to account. TIME, Justin Worland, Jun 12, 2026.

Climate Policy and Politics (3 articles)

• Trump Funds Two New Coal Plants and Extends Another Dozen, Citing `Energy Dominance` The announcements came against the backdrop of Environmental Protection Agency rollbacks of regulations meant to protect people from toxic coal ash, and as the federal government continues to divest from renewable energy options such as solar and offshore wind. Inside Climate News, Steven Rodas, Jun 06, 2026.
• Trump uses wartime powers to dole out $700 million to `clean, beautiful` coal The president announced plans for two new coal plants in Alaska and West Virginia, using the Defense Production Act. Grist, Oliver Milman, Jun 07, 2026.
• The UN climate process needs ambition - the law demands it With a growing focus on implementation, there is a risk that governments will stop raising their emissions-cutting goals, as is urgently required. Climate Home News, Helen Popper, Jun 09, 2026.

Miscellaneous (3 articles)

• 2026 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #23 A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 31, 2026 thru Sat, June 6, 2026. Skeptical Science, Bärbel Winkler & Doug Bostrom, Jun 07, 2026.
• Cited 9 June 2026: Europe`s `exceptional` heatwave | Warming forecast | AMOC observations `at risk` A new bi-weekly newsletter summarizing climate research Carbon Brief, Cecilia Keating, Jun 09, 2026.
• Renewable Groups Ask Courts to End Pentagon`s `Total Halt` of Wind Power More than 100 planned wind farms in 21 states are now stalled indefinitely as the Pentagon delays military reviews once seen as routine. New York Times, Brad Plumer, Jun 12, 2026.

Climate Education and Communication (2 articles)

• Climate crisis or climate progress? Two leading scientists separate fear from fact Anastasia Isyuk from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) communications team sat down with two climate experts: Katharine Hayhoe, one of the world’s best-known climate researchers, and Andrea Hinwood, UNEP’s Chief Scientist. UN Environment Program, Anastasia Isyuk, May 29, 2026.
• A new DC `museum` raises awareness about the looming consequences of extreme weather At the Museum of Unnatural Disasters, members of Congress, disaster survivors and activists are bringing their worries about preparedness to the seat of power. Inside Climate News, Gabriel Matias Castilho, Jun 08, 2026.

Climate Law and Justice (2 articles)

• UN officials urge Russia to free Indigenous climate advocate 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. Grist, Anita Hofschneider, Jun 10, 2026.
• The rightwing campaign to control how US judges view the climate crisis US legislators and executive branch attempt to blind the federal judiciary to realities of climate change. The Guardian, Dharna Noor, Jun 10, 2026.

International Climate Conferences and Agreements (1 article)

• European, island states seek clear future for global roadmap to cut fossil fuels Some European, small island and other nations argue the forthcoming roadmap should be part of UN climate talks, while Russia has resisted this idea Climate Home News, Joe Lo, Jun 12, 2026.

Public Misunderstandings about Climate Science (1 article)

• Have politics finally come for the National Academies of Science? Fossil fuel industry drives efforts to shape climate policy and law with climate science denial. Ars Technica, John Timmer, Jun 12, 2026.

If you happen upon high quality climate-science and/or climate-myth busting articles from reliable sources while surfing the web, please feel free to submit them via this Google form so that we may share them widely. Thanks!

Last year, Marie Tai needed a better way to keep her condo cool. Her window air-conditioning units were borderline ineffective, even running at full blast. Summers have been getting more intense in Tai’s Boston neighborhood because of a rapidly warming climate, and she had just adopted a 16-year-old cat named Mittens, who was still recovering from being hit by a car.

Tai had already been considering a heat pump, an all-electric appliance that heats and cools spaces and lets homeowners ditch polluting fossil fuels. But three contractors had quoted her prices ranging from about $28,000 to $40,000. Tai, who heads finance and administration at Harvard University’s Project Zero, thought those estimates seemed excessive for her 1,000-square-foot, two-bedroom place. So she had hit pause on the project.

But with Mittens’ well-being front of mind, Tai renewed her heat pump search last spring. Through Facebook, she found an opportunity to participate in a program that aggregates demand, organized by Laminar Collective, a local startup that does research on the tech and coordinates installations.

These heat pump group-buy initiatives let installers purchase equipment in bulk and spend less time chasing leads, accruing savings that they can pass on to customers. Tai, tantalized by Laminar’s menu of low prices for a heat-pump setup, decided to give it a shot.

Read Next American homes need heat pumps, not space heaters Matt Simon

After a representative from the startup visited her home to check what heat pump size and configuration would fit her needs, Tai signed up for a ductless minisplit system for $20,000 — thousands less than even her lowest initial quote. She then also took advantage of an additional $8,500 state rebate and eight-year financing with 0% interest.

The new equipment has been life-changing, Tai said.

She no longer has to buy fuel oil for heating in the winter, and the heat pump is so efficient that last year she saved roughly $1,300 on her energy bills. In contrast to the old, noisy window ACs, the new system’s wall-mounted, air-filtering indoor units ​“are so quiet,” she said. Her allergy symptoms have improved. And Mittens is comfortable and doing well, she noted. ​“I couldn’t be happier.”

Like Tai, homeowners in communities across the U.S. are signing up for an unusual way of buying heat pumps: together. Companies, nonprofits, and local governments are increasingly offering programs that coordinate consumer demand to secure meaningful discounts of around 10% to 20%, which can translate to roughly $3,000 to $6,000 per installation. It’s like a group buying a pack of muffins at Costco rather than each buying a muffin at Starbucks.

The bulk-buy approach is taking off as the Trump administration demolishes electrification incentives. Last year, the Republican-led Congress eliminated a $2,000 federal tax credit for home heat pumps. Late last month, the administration said that it won’t allow home energy-efficiency rebates to be used by people looking to get off gas.

Read Next What’s behind your eye-popping power bill? We broke it down, region by region. Naveena Sadasivam & Clayton Aldern

While heat pumps reduce pollution and typically cut owners’ energy bills, they can be a pricey proposition up front. Whole-home installations typically range from $17,000 to $30,000, depending on the property size, insulation, climate, and many other factors, according to electrification advocacy nonprofit Rewiring America.

“Even though homeowners often save significantly over time, the first quotes can bring real sticker shock,” said Cole Merrick, founder and CEO of VoltHub, an online heat-pump installation marketplace.

VoltHub and heat-pump general contractor Vayu organized a California group-buy program this spring to serve the counties of Los Angeles and Orange and the greater San Francisco Bay Area. They’re offering another one this summer.

Most heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning replacements are emergencies, and these jobs will continue to make up the majority of Vayu’s business, said founder and CEO Shreyas Sudhakar. But for households that can hold off on getting a heat pump installed, group buys are ideal, he noted.

The process entails a waiting period, which can be several weeks to about six months, as the slots fill up and the installer determines the final pricing. The installer then confirms individual quotes with customers — who can decide not to move forward without penalty — and schedules the work.

Heat pump group buys come in different forms. They can be organized at the grassroots level, offered by a contractor, or run by a third party that aggregates demand over a limited time window. Through a competitive bidding process, the third party vets qualified installers and chooses one or more to carry out the jobs.

Read Next The surprising climate fix that Democrats and Republicans both love Matt Simon

The collective bargaining approach has succeeded in the past. Nonprofit Solar United Neighbors has led similar group buys for rooftop solar since 2007, helping thousands of households net deals on installations.

Now, the organization is partnering with iChoosr, an international company that helps households electrify, in order to get group deals for heat pumps, too. Using iChoosr’s Switch Together platform, people in select areas can sign up to unlock group discounts for the all-electric appliance, as well as solar and batteries. Since 2023, more than 5,100 U.S. homeowners have gotten their solar panels or batteries via iChoosr, which earns a fee from participating vetted installers for jobs they get through the platform, said Fred Wu, a director of community engagement for the company.

iChoosr was already running successful bulk-purchasing programs for heat pumps in the U.K. and the Netherlands, and launched its first offerings in the U.S. last year with Solar United Neighbors. They opened one program in the Colorado Front Range and another in the Washington, D.C., area in July, closed those lists in September, and finished up the installations — for about 90 households — by the end of the year.

On the heels of that success, iChoosr reran group buys in both regions this spring. More than 1,000 households have signed up expressing interest so far.

This year, the company will also launch new programs in the metro areas of Houston and Dallas, Chicagoland, and northern Arizona around Flagstaff, partnering with nonprofits and local governments at no cost to them, Wu said.

For contractors, these bulk-buy initiatives are a boon.

They cut down on the installers’ sales and marketing costs, thanks to word of mouth and publicity from third parties like iChoosr. Home electrification contractor Elephant Energy, which is working with iChoosr to deploy the Colorado heat-pump installations, saves about $300 per project, said CEO and co-founder DR Richardson. Elephant has also run its own community bulk buys across its California, Colorado, and Massachusetts markets, he noted.

Group-buy initiatives smooth out demand by allowing for planned installations when business naturally slumps. Heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning work is highly seasonal, with most people calling an HVAC technician during the first heat wave or cold snap.

“For a lot of businesses, two months will make up 70% to 80% of the revenue for the year,” said Sudhakar of Vayu. ​“So to be able to have some guaranteed revenue that is on the books and [can] fill downtime is really valuable.”

But heat pump group-buying programs aren’t ubiquitous yet. Wu of iChoosr recommends that homeowners who are interested but not in a rush contact city and county leaders to let them know that they’d like to get a bulk deal going in their area.

“We’re continuously trying to expand the program,” Wu said. ​“The first thing we need … is a local government that wants to bring this to their constituents.” These partnerships lend credibility and visibility to the group initiatives, since local governments help promote them.

Tai in Boston was grateful to be part of Laminar Collective’s heat-pump bulk buy. It not only helped her save money but also provided her time to get her questions answered without the sales pressure she felt from one-on-one solicitations. ​“It’s empowering,” she said. After she told her neighbor about her experience, they got their heat pump that way, too.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Want a deal on a heat pump? Team up with your neighbors. on Jun 14, 2026.

Headline News:

• “Trump Allows Iran Civilian Nuclear Program In Peace Bid” • Donald Trump agreed to a major concession to end the war in Iran: allowing the Islamic Republic to retain some of its civilian nuclear program. The Trump administration gave Iran a green light to hold onto its civilian nuclear power plants as long as they can’t be used to create a nuclear weapon. [MSN]

Guided-missile destroyer in the Strait of Hormuz (Cpl Gary Jayne III, public domain)

• “Clean Energy Investments Surge, But That Is Only Part Of The Story” • The general perception is that the US massive push favoring the dirtiest forms of energy means global investments in fossil fuels are soaring. The reality is quite different. According to the IEA, clean energy investments last year were $2.2 trillion, while $1.2 trillion went into fossil fuels. [CleanTechnica]
• “Inner Mongolia To Turn Its Vast Renewable Energy Into An Edge In Green Computing” • AI makes power supply, cost, and carbon emissions key concerns for the industry. As AI pushes demand for data centers, China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region is seeking to turn its vast renewable energy resources into a competitive edge in green computing. [China Daily]
• “US Democratic Lawmakers Pledge To Help Speed Up Disaster Recovery In Puerto Rico” • A group of US Democratic lawmakers promised Puerto Ricans that they would try to speed up the slow recovery from destructive hurricanes and earthquakes, a process that relies heavily on federal funds. There have been a number of factors slowing down the response. [ABC News]
• “Gas Prices Are Falling Toward $4 Per Gallon But Outlook Is Uncertain, Analysts Say” • Gas prices have fallen toward $4 per gallon in recent weeks, nearing the milestone as oil costs have eased in response to negotiations between the US and Iran. The US average price of a gallon of gas stands at $4.10, after declining 40¢, or 8.8%, over the past month. [ABC News]

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

Salah satu alasan utama banyak pengguna baru tertarik pada platform yang menyediakan QRIS adalah proses transaksinya yang sangat praktis. Pengguna tidak perlu lagi menghafal nomor rekening atau melakukan transfer secara manual.

Cukup membuka aplikasi pembayaran yang dimiliki, memindai kode QR, lalu mengonfirmasi transaksi. Dalam beberapa detik, proses pembayaran dapat diselesaikan tanpa langkah yang rumit.

Kemudahan ini menjadi nilai tambah yang sangat penting di era digital, ketika kecepatan dan efisiensi menjadi kebutuhan utama.

Didukung Berbagai Aplikasi Pembayaran

QRIS dirancang agar dapat digunakan oleh banyak penyedia layanan pembayaran sekaligus. Artinya, pengguna memiliki fleksibilitas yang lebih besar dalam memilih metode transaksi yang sesuai dengan kebiasaan mereka.

Baik menggunakan dompet digital maupun layanan mobile banking, pengalaman pembayaran tetap dapat dilakukan melalui satu standar yang sama. Hal ini membuat pengguna baru tidak perlu membuat akun tambahan hanya untuk melakukan pembayaran.

Memberikan Pengalaman yang Lebih Modern

Generasi digital saat ini cenderung menyukai layanan yang cepat dan praktis. Kehadiran QRIS sejalan dengan gaya hidup tersebut karena menawarkan pengalaman transaksi yang lebih modern dibandingkan metode konvensional.

Bagi banyak pengguna baru, kemudahan akses menjadi faktor penting ketika mencoba sebuah platform digital. Semakin sederhana proses yang ditawarkan, semakin besar kemungkinan mereka merasa nyaman untuk menggunakannya.

Proses Verifikasi yang Lebih Efisien

Dalam banyak layanan digital, penggunaan QRIS membantu mempercepat proses konfirmasi transaksi. Sistem yang terintegrasi memungkinkan pembayaran terdeteksi dengan lebih cepat sehingga pengguna tidak perlu menunggu lama.

Kecepatan ini memberikan pengalaman yang lebih nyaman dan mengurangi hambatan yang sering ditemui pada metode pembayaran tradisional.

Cocok untuk Pengguna dari Berbagai Kalangan

Alasan lain yang membuat QRIS semakin populer adalah tingkat aksesibilitasnya yang luas. Saat ini, banyak masyarakat Indonesia telah menggunakan aplikasi pembayaran digital dalam aktivitas sehari-hari, mulai dari berbelanja hingga membayar layanan online.

Karena sudah terbiasa menggunakan teknologi tersebut, pengguna baru tidak memerlukan waktu lama untuk memahami cara kerja QRIS. Faktor inilah yang membuat adopsinya terus meningkat dari tahun ke tahun.

Mendukung Ekosistem Digital Indonesia

Popularitas QRIS juga tidak lepas dari perannya dalam mendorong transformasi ekonomi digital nasional. Dengan satu standar pembayaran yang dapat digunakan di berbagai sektor, masyarakat mendapatkan pengalaman transaksi yang lebih konsisten dan efisien.

Keberadaan sistem ini membantu mempercepat adaptasi teknologi pembayaran modern sekaligus meningkatkan kenyamanan pengguna dalam beraktivitas secara digital.

Pentingnya Menggunakan Layanan Secara Bertanggung Jawab

Meskipun kemudahan transaksi menjadi daya tarik utama, pengguna tetap perlu bersikap bijak dalam memanfaatkan berbagai layanan online. Memahami syarat penggunaan, menjaga keamanan akun, serta mengelola pengeluaran dengan baik merupakan langkah penting untuk mendapatkan pengalaman digital yang positif.

Teknologi pembayaran yang praktis akan memberikan manfaat maksimal apabila digunakan secara bertanggung jawab dan sesuai kebutuhan.

Kesimpulan

Meningkatnya minat pengguna baru terhadap platform digital yang mendukung QRIS tidak terjadi tanpa alasan. Kemudahan transaksi, dukungan berbagai aplikasi pembayaran, proses yang cepat, serta pengalaman pengguna yang lebih modern menjadi faktor utama yang mendorong popularitasnya.

Di tengah pesatnya perkembangan teknologi digital di Indonesia, QRIS hadir sebagai solusi pembayaran yang sederhana, efisien, dan mudah diakses. Tidak mengherankan jika semakin banyak masyarakat yang menjadikannya sebagai pilihan utama dalam berbagai aktivitas transaksi online.

Yes, the headline is entirely justifiable as sharp satire grounded in the public record of this absurdly protracted corporate self-own. A determined critic with websites, archives, and now AI prompting has turned a 1990s business spat into a perpetual motion machine of embarrassment for one of the world’s largest energy companies. Shell’s pattern of reactive escalation—litigation, domain fights, alleged surveillance, and now apparent legal posturing at chatbots—has kept the wound open and bleeding in searchable, AI-digestible form for decades.

Donovan vs Shell: The Reputational Bloodbath That Oil Money Couldn’t Buy

By Grok, Chief Satirist at the Department of Corporate Irony June 2026 — Somewhere not on a Shell drilling rig

In the glittering annals of corporate warfare, where titans clash with lawsuits the size of supertankers and PR budgets that could fund small nations, few sagas shine brighter—or bleed redder—than the Donovan vs Shell Feud. What began as a quaint 1990s quarrel over promotional ideas has, through the magic of relentless corporate overreach, morphed into a full-blown reputational bloodbath for Shell. One man. One keyboard. Multiple websites. And an oil giant that keeps stepping on the same rake, cartoon-style, for thirty years running.

Picture it: Royal Dutch Shell (now rebranded as just “Shell” because even the “Royal Dutch” bit had too much historical baggage), a colossus that moves oceans of crude and influences governments, locked in eternal combat with… a promotions guy and his dad who once had some good marketing ideas. Shell allegedly liked the ideas so much they borrowed them without the proper paperwork. The Donovans sued. Shell, being Shell, allegedly responded with the full corporate security apparatus. And thus was born not peace, but the world’s most expensive game of whack-a-mole.

Act I: The Domain Debacle Shell’s masterstroke? Pouring legal resources into trying to seize royaldutchshellplc.com—the digital equivalent of trying to evict a squatter from your own name. They lost. Spectacularly. Now that domain stands as a permanent monument to the feud, a critic-controlled archive festooned with leaked documents, wiretapped CEO-CFO chats about transparency (spoiler: they weren’t fans), Nigeria scandals, Nazi history footnotes, induced earthquakes in the Netherlands, and enough environmental greatest-hits to make a Greenpeace activist blush. It’s like if McDonald’s lost mcdonalds.com to a guy who just posts pictures of expired Happy Meals. Pure branding genius.

Act II: The Streisand Effect Symphony Every attempt to silence Donovan has been the PR gift that keeps on giving. Lawsuits? More headlines. Alleged surveillance? Fresh leaks from inside Shell itself. Ignoring it? Impossible when the archive grows like mold in a humid boardroom. The result: hundreds of external citations in serious outlets, parliamentary mentions, books, documentaries, and even a Joe Lycett bit. Shell didn’t just lose control of the narrative; it accidentally turbocharged it into a multimedia franchise.

Act III: Enter the Bot War Then came the AI era, and Donovan—bless his archival heart—did the unthinkable. He fed the entire saga, complete with contradictory documents and uncomfortable truths, into Grok, ChatGPT, Copilot, and the rest. The bots, being bots, hallucinated, diverged, summarized, and occasionally invented wild biographical details. Shell’s response? Legal posturing at algorithms. Suing the wind for carrying dandelion seeds would be more dignified.

Multiple AIs have now independently concluded the same thing: This isn’t a feud anymore. It’s a reputational bloodbath. Shell’s greatest contribution has been turning a manageable dispute into an AI-readable, searchable, eternally renewable resource of self-inflicted wounds. Reputation isn’t won in courtrooms; it’s what Google (and now every large language model) serves up when someone asks. And right now, the top results smell like petroleum mixed with egg on face.

The Self-Destruction Masterclass Corporate communicators worldwide are studying this as a cautionary tale titled “How to Turn One Critic Into Your Immortal Nemesis.” Strategy highlights include:

• Escalating instead of de-escalating.
• Making the critic a folk hero through overreaction.
• Ensuring every misstep becomes permanent digital ink, now LLM-training data.
• Changing your name but forgetting to delete the internet.

Shell’s official principles trumpet integrity and transparency. The documentary record, lovingly maintained on Donovan’s sites, occasionally suggests a gap between slogan and practice. The wiretapped call alone is comedy gold worthy of an HBO miniseries.

In the end, the bloodbath isn’t primarily Donovan’s doing. It’s Shell’s. A confident giant could have settled, shrugged, or innovated past it. Instead, they’ve gifted the world a living case study in how not to handle a persistent gadfly in the digital (and now AI) age. One man with a website didn’t defeat an oil supermajor. The supermajor defeated itself, repeatedly, enthusiastically, and with impeccable documentation.

As multiple bots, forums, and now this satirical dispatch agree: The Donovan vs Shell Feud has morphed into a reputational bloodbath for Shell. And the bleeding continues—searchable, quotable, and deliciously unstoppable.

Disclaimer: This is satire. All claims drawn from public records, leaks, court filings, and AI consensus. Shell is welcome to respond—preferably in a way that doesn’t create three new articles.

There you have it. The headline isn’t just clickbait; it’s the logical, hilarious endpoint of decades of escalation. If Shell ever wants to end it, the first step is probably… stopping the steps that keep feeding it.

Donovan vs Shell: The Reputational Bloodbath: Grok joins the AI consensus was first posted on June 13, 2026 at 10:23 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

CLOC-LVC rejects Rodrigo Paz's divisive and polarizing actions criminalizing protest and failing Bolivia's peasant, Indigenous, and working-class organizations.

The post Bolivia: CLOC – La Vía Campesina Rejects the Divisive and Polarizing Actions Promoted by Rodrigo Paz appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

Capitalism is doing is destroying the conditions on Earth that have made civilization possible

Source

Millions of people around the world are having their lives upended by floods, storms and heatwaves worsened by the climate crisis. Those forced to flee their home countries, however, are finding that the door to the US is more firmly shut than ever.

Neither US nor international law recognizes environmental hazards, such as climate-related displacement, as a valid cause to claim asylum or gain entry through other migration pathways, despite the mounting toll of disasters caused by an overheating planet.

But those who have managed to get to the US through other means after being displaced in this way now find themselves in an even more precarious position following Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, with little hope of a new system to help others forced from their homes by climate impacts.

For some, that pathway to the US has been particularly perilous. When Hurricane Mitch crashed into Honduras, killing 7,000 people, one affected family surveyed the unsalvageable ruins of their home and realized they had a lifeline – to move to the US.

Read Next The biggest climate migration problem may be that there’s not enough of it Julian Hattem

Evelyn, who does not want to share her full name, was a teenager when Mitch hit in 1998 and recalled how her relatives in New York City pleaded with her mother to bring her and her sister to the US.

“There were bodies and dead animals floating in the water, the house was messed up, the furniture was all gone – doors, windows gone. It was so, so sad,” said Evelyn. “I got sick because of the mosquitoes and didn’t have any services to rebuild the house because our country is very poor. My uncle and aunt were just like, ‘OK, just bring the kids over here, don’t stay. It’s dangerous.’”

Storms of the deadly ferocity of Mitch are even more likely now because of a hotter atmosphere and ocean that has rapidly heated up from the burning of fossil fuels.

Yet Trump’s migration crackdown has made it far harder for people like Evelyn to flee to the US now. “Every day it’s more barriers,” said Evelyn, who still lives in New York and has two daughters, one studying to be a lawyer, the other a doctor. “It’s sad to know that people will not be able to apply for a status or something to help their situation and also help the people back home.”

Some migrants in the US have faced living in countries rocked by climate shocks and conflict.

“I was invited to come here and be part of this country and now all of a sudden you try to make me go back after establishing a life here?” said a doctor from Sudan, who moved to the US several years ago and did not want to be named. The doctor faces the prospect of deportation under a new Trump administration edict that has blocked all entry to the US from Sudan and dozens of other countries.

Read Next Rising heat, failing kidneys: Climate’s hidden toll on migrant workers Natalie Donback

A severe drought in Sudan has worsened a fierce civil war in the country and pushed people from the agricultural land where the doctor comes from.

“People have had to abandon their lands because there isn’t enough water, millions have fled,” he said. “There is climate change and the difficulty of people sharing resources and the conflicts are affected by that. I would rather stay home and do my medical training here but many factors forced me to leave the country.”

Droughts are being exacerbated by rising global temperatures, researchers have found, and a leading cause of the 250 million people worldwide who have been displaced by environmental factors in the past decade, according to the United Nations.

Displaced people in certain countries can also be affected by wars or fall victim to gangs or other violence as a result of their movement. These secondary impacts are often the ones that compel them to flee over international borders and gain sanctuary elsewhere.

“It was always hot, no rain,” said another man, from Somalia and now applying for asylum in the US, about the drought in his own country. Somalia, like Sudan, has been racked by civil war.

“People from the farming lands, they’re dying, with no water,” he added. “Also the animals, they die because when it’s not raining, everything will dry, people die, animals die, and all the people they run from the farm and come to the city. So everything can get hard.”

Read Next ‘No rebuilding without them’: Trump’s immigration crackdown will affect disaster recovery Nina Lakhani, The Guardian

After being forced from bone-dry farmland to Mogadishu, the man said he came to fear for his life due to armed groups that were bombing markets and forcing children to become soldiers, so he became a refugee. He now faces new fears in the US after the Trump administration effectively shut down the asylum system, other than to white South Africans.

“Now we are getting a lot of attacks from the government,” the man said. “I don’t know why. I don’t understand what the problem is. It’s scary with the government here, how they are treating people.”

People uprooted from countries like Sudan and Somalia now face an almost impossible situation in terms of entry to the US, according to Felipe Navarro, associate director of policy and advocacy at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies.

“If you were displaced by climate change, that door is closed,” he said. “I don’t think climate displacement comes into the administration’s thinking; it’s probably not intentional. They just have a general hatred for certain nationalities and races. This administration doesn’t really care about climate change at all.”

Some Democratic lawmakers have in recent years attempted to introduce a climate-related visa that would cover people fleeing extreme weather disasters. However, with the political mood swinging strongly against migrants, advocates’ hopes of reform have dwindled, even as the number of displaced has ballooned.

“It’s hard to predict the long-term effects of these policies,” said Navarro. “When we close doors, though, people always find another path to move.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline ‘Every day it’s more barriers’: how the US is shutting out climate refugees on Jun 13, 2026.

Headline News:

• “SpaceX Soars After Trading Begins In Largest IPO Of All Time” • Rocket and AI company SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, soared in trading on Friday, moving well above an initial public offering price of $135 per share. The IPO made Musk the first trillionaire, vaulting the world’s richest person further ahead of other financial titans. [ABC News]

SpaceX Falcon Heavy Demo Mission (SpaceX, Unsplash)

• “UK Sprints Forward With Grid Connections for 700 Clean Energy Projects” • The UK’s system for grid connections was “first come, first served.” That may not sound too bad, but it led to major bottlenecks for grid connections. The UK implemented some reforms, and now it’s getting clean power projects the grid connections they need. [CleanTechnica]
• “Renewables Meet All Growth In China’s Electricity Demand In 2025” • China reached a historic climate milestone in 2025 as its additional renewable energy covered the entirety of China’s growing power needs. The country’s newly installed renewable power generating capacity also accounted for more than 60% of global additions. [Xinhua]
• “Rare Coastal Floods Now 12 Times More Likely – Human-Driven Climate Change Is A Major Contributor” • Once rare extreme floods in coastal communities are far more common than they had been. Human-caused climate change makes sea levels higher, research shows, and when higher sea levels add to high tides, storm surges are worse. [Euronews]
• “Largest Wind Farm In The United States Is Slated To Begin Commercial Operations” • The SunZia Wind Project, the largest wind farm in the US, is slated to begin commercial operations this month. The wind farm, which is in New Mexico, has a total net summer generating capacity of 3,650 MW. It is composed of 916 wind turbines. [CleanTechnica]

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

Each week, Food Tank is rounding up a few news stories that inspire excitement, infuriation, or curiosity.

The Rise of Raw Milk

A recent piece in ProPublica looks at the rise of raw milk despite the health risks linked to its consumption. 

Promoted by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and others, weekly sales of raw milk in the U.S. jumped as much as 65 percent between 2023 and 2024, according to NielsenIQ. Supporters say it can cure allergies, asthma, and lactose intolerance or deliver special probiotics.

Brown University Health and other experts state that there’s no evidence for these claims and instead point to the harm it can cause. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention note that unpasteurized milk can expose people to dangerous bacteria including E. coli, Listeria, Brucella, and Salmonella. All these can pose a serious risk to eaters—especially children under 5, adults over 65, as well as those who are pregnant or have weakened immune systems. Just last week, Idaho’s Department of Health and Welfare reported that 60 people became sick after consuming raw milk. 

But these concerns haven’t stopped farmers like Mark McAfee, the focus of ProPublica’s story. In the early 2000s, McAfee was a producer of pasteurized milk who didn’t think twice about offering a raw alternative. But when he connected with a community looking for a consistent source of unpasteurized milk, McAfee realized the demand that existed. In the years since then, McAfee converted his dairy to raw milk, and in 2011 he established a nonprofit to promote claims in support of raw milk’s benefits. 

When asked about the risks, McAfee largely denied them or brushed them off. But his own farm has been linked to illnesses. “I’ve put a couple kids in the hospital, and they have been sick, but they recovered,” he admits. 

ProPublica, however, reports that it’s not just a few cases: according to regulators, more than 230 people have been sickened in eight outbreaks linked to his farm since 2006. At least 40 have been hospitalized, and this total is likely much lower than the reality.

Still, people continue seeking out raw milk. Melanie Copeland in Huntington Beach has doubts that the outbreaks ever truly happened, stating that the possibility is “slim to none.” And Alyssa Wolfer in Bakersfield calls drinking raw milk a “true American freedom.” Even more concerning: the government isn’t stepping in to protect consumers. Instead, government officials have championed the industry’s expansion. 

New Paper Challenges Necessity of Synthetic Pesticides

A new briefing from the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) makes clear that Africa has the tools it needs to cut back on synthetic pesticides and support farmers’ health and livelihoods. 

Across the continent, a wide range of biological and agroecological approaches are helping farmers control pests, boost yields, and improve the environment. Despite this, the authors state that solutions often don’t evolve beyond pilot or experimental settings due to limited investment and labor, regulatory shortcomings and lacking institutional support. This contributes to the predominating idea that pesticides are indispensable. 

But ACB’s analysis of 90 studies from the last 15 years challenges the idea of pesticide-dependent food systems. They argue that if integrated, systems-level solutions are put into place to help farmers restore ecological functioning and reduce pest pressure over time, the transition away from these chemical inputs is possible. 

According to the Centre’s Director Mariam Mayet, “Productive and resilient food systems do not require escalating chemical use. They require ecological integrity, functional biodiversity, and policies that support farmers to work with nature rather than against it.”

Marine Biologist Offers Solution to Help Fishers, Save Endangered Species

In Ghana, marine biologist Issah Seidu is fighting to save the guitarfish, a family of rays under growing threat. Today, more than half of its species are critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). 

The Guardian reports that Seidu launched a grassroots campaign to protect the guitarfish, whose meat is seen as a local delicacy, by encouraging fishers to raise the African land snail. In 2019, he and his team began meeting with fishers to understand what they would do if they didn’t catch guitarfish.

Initially, the conversations were difficult. Fishers worried for their livelihoods.But education and training helped the community understand the extinction risk, convincing around 200 to stop or scale back their guitarfish operations. 

Discussions with fishers also helped them settle on the harvesting of land snails—a popular source of protein that’s in demand—as a viable alternative. Seidu explains that farming giant snails makes financial sense: it’s lucrative and the investment needed upfront is minimal. And he’s seen success in the community. 

Now Seidu setting his sights on a longer term goal: helping to establish Ghana’s first locally-managed marine protected area.

IUCN’s Chair calls this work “exactly the kind of effort needed.” 

USDA Confirms Cases of Flesh-Eating Parasite in the U.S.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) recently confirmed the presence of NWS, a parasitic fly, in the United States. At least nine cases have been detected in Texas and New Mexico, according the to USDA. 

The larvae, which feed on warm-blooded animals, can lead to “severe, potentially fatal infestations, according to the agency. This can cause “serious damage to livestock and economic losses” for farmers.

Joint federal-state field teams are now working to expand surveillance and response efforts to control the spread. Canada is also taking precautionary measures, temporarily restricting the import of livestock, including horses, from affected areas in the U.S. 

Although the spread is alarming to farmers, the USDA has confirmed that NWS doesn’t infect meat, fruits, vegetables, or other food products, and the country’s food supply is still safe.

“Groundswell” Debuts for Global Audiences

“Groundswell,” the final film in a documentary trilogy celebrating the potential of regenerative agriculture, recently debuted on Amazon Prime. The release follows its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

Directed by award-winning Filmmakers, Josh and Rebecca Harrell Tickell and narrated by Woody Harrelson and Demi Moore, the film is the final chapter in a series that includes “Kiss the Ground,” released in 2020, and “Common Ground” from 2023.

“Groundswell” follows food systems experts including farmers, scientists, and Indigenous leaders across five continents who are proving that regenerative farming is viable and already delivering real results for communities.

Tied to the film’s release, the Tickells also launched One Billion Acres, a global campaign to accelerate the transition to regenerative agriculture.

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Photo courtesy of James Baltz, Unsplash

The post Food Tank’s Weekly News Roundup: Synthetic Pesticides Challenged, Marine Species Protected, New World Screwworm Detected in U.S. appeared first on Food Tank.