News Feeds

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

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

June 16, 2026 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SUWA Statement on approval of Keg Knoll airstrip in the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness – 6.16.26  Action by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is unnecessary and unlawful 

Contacts:
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org

Salt Lake City, UT – Last Friday, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a decision authorizing private airplanes to take off and land in the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness by designating the previously unauthorized Keg Knoll backcountry airstrip as open for aircraft use. The airstrip is located on the west side of Labyrinth Canyon and north of Canyonlands National Park. Below is a statement from SUWA Wildlands Director Neal Clark and additional information.  

“Wilderness is a finite resource and should be managed in a way that protects the reasons it’s designated in the first place—the preservation of natural soundscapes, solitude, wildlife habitat, and non-motorized recreational opportunities,” said Neal Clark, Wildlands Director at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA). “Unfortunately, the Trump administration BLM seems unable to say no to activities that are fundamentally incompatible with wilderness, including motorized aircraft use. Degrading the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness so a handful of private pilots can land their planes at one more backcountry airstrip is a disservice to the landscape and public lands users seeking a wilderness experience. We’ll be exploring every possible way to right this decision and protect the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness from the impacts of private aircraft use.”

Additional information: 

The Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness was designated by Congress in 2019, as part of the Dingell Act. While the Wilderness Act gives the BLM some discretion to allow (or prohibit) continued use at airstrips that were legally established prior to wilderness designation, it does not allow the agency to authorize aircraft use when the airstrip was not legally open prior to the wilderness designation.   

The BLM Price Field Office’s 2008 management plan—the land use plan in effect when the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness was established—specifically lists five “existing and currently used backcountry airstrips” for continued noncommercial and limited commercial aviation use; Keg Knoll is not on the list. And for good reason, as it was unused and reclaiming at the time. The agency’s 1999 wilderness inventory of Labyrinth Canyon confirms as much, noting “abandoned airstrips” in the Keg Knoll area. 

SUWA’s members sent over 3,000 comments in opposition to the decision.  

### 
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a nonprofit organization with members and supporters from around the country dedicated to protecting America’s redrock wilderness. From offices in Moab, Salt Lake City, and Washington, DC, our team of professionals defends the redrock, organizes support for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, and stewards a world-renowned landscape. Learn more at www.suwa.org. 

 

 

The post SUWA Statement on approval of Keg Knoll airstrip in the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness – 6.16.26  appeared first on Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline.

Does solar energy need subsidies to compete with fossil fuels?

Unsubsidized utility-scale solar is now generally cheaper than building fossil fuel power plants.

Costs are often compared using “levelized cost of energy,” the average lifetime cost to build and run a power plant divided by the electricity it produces. A 2025 analysis estimates the mean LCOE of utility-scale solar at about $58 per megawatt-hour without subsidies, compared to $79 for new natural gas plants and $128 for new coal. The International Energy Agency reports solar energy is the cheapest source of new electricity generation in most parts of the world.

Solar costs have fallen sharply over the past decade as panel prices have dropped and the industry has grown. Subsidies can further lower costs, but solar is not dependent on them to compete with fossil fuels.

Go to full rebuttal on Skeptical Science or to the fact brief on Gigafact

This fact brief is responsive to quotes such as this one.

Sources

International Energy Agency World Energy Outlook 2020

Lazard Lazard Releases 2025 Levelized Cost of Energy+ Report

Reuters Around 90% of renewables cheaper than fossil fuels worldwide, IRENA says

Scientific American Wind and Solar Energy Are Cheaper Than Electricity from Fossil-Fuel Plants

Columbia Law School Sabin Center for Climate Change Law Rebutting 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind, and Electric Vehicles

Please use this form to provide feedback about this fact brief. This will help us to better gauge its impact and usability. Thank you!

About fact briefs published on Gigafact

Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer "yes/no" answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact — a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all of our published fact briefs here.

By: Restore the Delta

The explosion of Artificial Intelligent (AI) across the country isn’t happening in a vacuum but instead goes hand-in-hand with impacts to water resources and utility bills.  Despite the enormous strain on both our electrical grid and finite water resources, California has established little to no regulatory oversight. In fact, last year, Governor Newsom rejected legislation that would have provided some oversight, stating that the legislation would potentially curtail “the very innovation that fuels advancement in favor of the public good”. As Asm. Papan’s AI Bill package on AI water use – AB 2619 and AB 2469 – moves through the legislature, the question remains whether Governor Newsom will again reject efforts to establish oversight and transparency. 

These protective measures are more necessary than ever. According to a recent Fortune article,  49,000 Lake Tahoe residents are scrambling to find a new power source because their utility company is redirecting electricity capacity to data centers powering the AI boom. Technology over people is happening in real time, with little to slow the onslaught of impacts. 

The Delta, at the heart of California’s water system, is another prime target for the development of AI. To assess the impacts to our ecosystems and communities, Restore the Delta released our new white paper, The Environmental Justice Implications of Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta.

Even before the release of our White Paper, AI was making waves in the Delta. When we began this work, possible data center locations in Oakley were being discussed. In March 2026, the Bridgehead Industrial Project, a 164-acre site near the San Joaquin River, originally included data center use before the developer pulled it after significant public pushback. The following month, Oakley became the first Bay Area city to impose a temporary moratorium on new data centers, buying time to study the industry’s energy and water demands.

Just to the north, California Forever’s proposed Suisun City annexation plan has raised alarms that its zoning would allow data centers across nearly all land designations without meaningful public review, despite being marketed primarily as a housing and jobs project.

The Delta is already under extraordinary pressure. The watershed is severely overallocated, numerous native fish populations are in steep decline, and South Stockton and Kings Beach carry some of the highest pollution burdens in the state. AI is yet another existential threat, endangering the long-term viability of the Delta.

A typical 100 megawatt data center consumes approximately 2 million liters of water per day, the equivalent use of about 6,500 households. Unlike residential water use, roughly 80% of that water is lost to evaporation rather than returned to local water systems. Data centers also require uninterrupted 24/7 power, making them unable to reduce usage during peak demand, the exact moments when our grid is most stressed.

The situation in Lake Tahoe illustrates what happens when planning lags behind development. The energy supplier for that region told the local utility it has less than a year to find another power source. The Delta faces a version of that same complexity, multiplied by competing demands from the Delta Conveyance tunnel, carbon storage projects, and new urban development. California is still in the early stages of creating policies specifically designed to address AI infrastructure’s water consumption, constant energy demand, and cumulative community health impacts. 

The window to shape these decisions is right now, before large scale AI development becomes entrenched in the region. We want policymakers, Tribal Nations, environmental justice advocates, and Delta communities to understand the implications of widescale AI development in order to ask the important questions before permits are approved. Oversight and transparency must catch up to development if we are to adequately protect ecosystems and communities. 

Read the full white paper at restorethedelta.org.

Dark clouds are gathering over adaptation finance. The US has all but stopped providing it and European countries are slashing their aid budgets to spend more on their militaries. Much of what is flowing comes in the form of loans and doesn’t reach the most vulnerable, as we’ve reported.

Over the years, one bright spark has been the Adaptation Fund and its grants to developing countries for pioneering work in communities. It has allocated $1.6 billion to 226 projects, benefiting 90 million people, its website says. And, while rich nations are failing to give the fund all the money it needs to finance its growing pipeline, new revenues are supposed to come in from the Paris Agreement’s new carbon market, known as Article 6.4.

Back at COP26 in Glasgow, governments agreed that the Adaptation Fund should get 5% of the proceeds from all Article 6.4 carbon credits – other than those based in small islands and least developed countries.

How much money that will amount to is uncertain. It depends on how many projects there are and the price of their credits. 

The fund got over $200 million from a similar share of proceeds under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), although the price of those credits collapsed. 

While $200 million was a disappointment as ten times that was expected, the Adaptation Fund head Mikko Ollikainen told Climate Home News in Bonn that the sum was “not insignificant”. By comparison, the fund has been seeking $300 million per year from donor governments in recent years.

Hopes are that the CDM’s successor will yield bigger sums for adaptation. But for the fund to get its hands on the share of cash it is expecting from Article 6.4 projects , governments need to agree to transition the fund to “exclusively” serve the Paris Agreement. They are hoping to wrap up those talks in Bonn this week, so that they can rubber-stamp the decision early at COP31.

• Jun 15, 2026 News Bonn Bulletin: Finance dominates discussions in every room Lack of progress on finance issues – including putting a number on the new goal to triple adaptation funding – is causing blockages across negotiating tracks at UN climate talks Read more
• Jun 12, 2026 Sponsored Climate adaptation helps African nations tackle rising conflict over resources The growing overlap between insecurity and climate vulnerability is forcing governments and development agencies to rethink adaptation efforts Read more

It has not been plain-sailing. As small islands’ lead negotiator Anne Rasmussen told a press conference on Tuesday, this transition “is being blocked, frustrating efforts to replenish the fund and ensure that the crucial adaptation finance can flow to those that need it the most”.

This issue, along with other finance complaints, leads small islands “to question whether the implementation of the NCQG [the 2035 finance goal agreed at COP29] is dead on arrival”, she added.

The problem is related to who is considered a developed country at UN climate talks, with the responsibilities for providing climate finance that designation implies.

Traditional donor countries, which have been pushing for years for some wealthier developing countries like Saudi Arabia and China to contribute to climate finance as well, want the Adaptation Fund’s board seats to be split between “developed” and “developing” countries. 

They argue that these are the categories referred to in the Paris Agreement and so are appropriate for a fund that exclusively serves that accord.

Developing countries – which have long opposed any of their members being considered developed – argue that the board seats should continue to be split between “Annex 1” and “non-Annex 1” countries. 

These categories, based on lists of nations drawn up in 1992, are more rigid than “developed” and “developing”. While development status can change over time, you’re either on the Annex 1 list or you’re not.

Ollikainen said a delay in agreement beyond COP31 – a risk if the issue is not resolved here in Bonn – would harm people in the real world where adaptation needs are rising sharply while the money to protect them from worsening climate impacts is not.

“If we don’t address adaptation,” the fund’s head told Climate Home News, “that will lead to loss and damage and that’s going to be even more costlier than adaptation – and the cost will be borne by people who have done least to cause this problem who typically don’t have social safety networks to support them.”

The post Bonn Bulletin: Adaptation Fund stalemate puts people at risk, says head appeared first on Climate Home News.

Headline News:

• “Trump Retreats from Lawsuit Challenging Illegal Wind Ban” • The Trump administration has voluntarily dismissed its own appeal in a lawsuit challenging Donald Trump’s executive order banning wind project development in the US. The judge had ruled the order was “capricious and arbitrary.” This effectively ends the unlawful windpower ban. [CleanTechnica]

CVOW (BOEM-OPA, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped)

• “Spain’s Renewables Revolution Is Paying Off” • New analysis shows that Spanish households have each saved €10 per month on their electricity bills since the Hormuz strait was effectively closed in March. In the Spanish’s transition to renewable energy, the influence fossil fuels have on the electricity price has been reduced by 75% since 2019. [Euronews]
• “Cuba Quantifies Impact Of US Oil Blockade On Children’s Health And Daily Life” • The survival rate for Cuban children with cancer has fallen from 85% before the US energy blockade began in January to 65%, according to a report from Cubadebate. The report said 100,000 children younger than seven can’t even get a daily liter of milk from the state. [ABC News]
• “Gas Prices Fall Below $4 A Gallon, GasBuddy Says” • After an agreement between the US and Iran, the national average price of a gallon of gas stands at $3.99, marking a decline of more than 9¢ over the past week, according to a GasBuddy post. Gas prices, however, continue to register well above where they stood before the Iran war. [ABC News]
• “Circularity Cuts Cost Of Making Sustainable Aviation Fuel From Bio-Methane” • In recent six-month trial, Circularity Fuels showed that biogas from a California dairy farm manure digester was successfully converted to a drop-in aviation fuel. It meets the ASTM D7566 Annex A1 specifications in use for the jet engines of commercial aircraft. [CleanTechnica]

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

More energy-efficient air-conditioning units could, together, save Indian households ₹69bn ($724m) a year, according to new analysis by Carbon Brief. 

Climate change-induced extreme heat is driving up the use of air conditioning across the country, as people try to cope with record-breaking temperatures. 

This demand, however, is straining the country’s power grid and raising emissions. 

On 21 May 2026, India’s power demand reached a record 270 gigawatts (GW), fuelled by a heatwave sweeping across the country and a surge in air-conditioning demand.

Carbon Brief’s analysis shows that, if the roughly 15m households expected to buy a new air conditioning (AC) unit this year bought a “five-star” rated one instead of a “two-star”, it would cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by nearly 5m tonne (Mt). 

The installation of AC units in India is currently uneven and ongoing challenges remain, predominantly around the cost of the technology. 

Below, Carbon Brief looks at what more energy-efficient models would mean for India’s emissions and household electricity savings, as well as opportunities and barriers to cooling access. 

Record heat

Historically, India has had one of the lowest levels of access to cooling in the world. As the nation continues to see an increasing number of heatwave days, this is shifting.

For example, India saw record-breaking heat in 2024 and nearly 14m air conditioners sold – up from 10m in 2023.

Between 2021 and 2023, AC sales volumes increased by more than 25% year-on-year in India.

While solar power is playing an increasing role in meeting the daytime electricity demand from these units, coal power plays a significant role in powering air conditioners on warm nights.

By 2037, India’s space-cooling demand was expected to grow nearly 11-fold in a business-as-usual scenario compared to 2017, according to the government’s 2019 India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP). 

According to a World Bank study, this would mean a new air-conditioning unit is bought every 15 seconds in India. There would also be a 435% increase in annual greenhouse gas emissions related to air conditioning in the country over the next two decades. 

The chart below shows the ICAP’s estimated rise in air conditioner units in India from 2021 to 2037. The blue line represents a high-growth scenario, while the green line corresponds to a low-growth scenario. 

Residential air-conditioner ownership projections under low (green line) and high (blue line) growth scenarios, according to the India Cooling Action Plan’s projections. Source: ICAP (2019). Growing demand

Despite the upswing in installations over recent years, it remains rare for households to have access to air conditioning in India. 

According to India’s national sample survey in 2020-21, only 4.9% of Indian households owned air conditioning, with ownership concentrated among the urban rich. As of 2024, this had increased to around 8%. 

(Ownership of evaporative air coolers is significantly higher than it is for air conditioning, particularly in the arid north and central Indian states, where humidity is low.)

Dr Nikit Abhyankar, an associate adjunct professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California Berkeley, tells Carbon Brief that India is set to add between 100-150m new air conditioners in the next 10 years, which could go up to 200m “if you factor in the crazy heatwaves”. 

According to his research, the two factors that drive “dramatic” sales of ACs are income and extreme temperatures. 

He tells Carbon Brief:

“The moment you cross a specific income threshold, the first appliance you buy is an air conditioner, no matter whether it’s hot or not. And the moment there are extreme temperatures, the next summer, you see a huge wave of new ACs being purchased.”

With that in mind, he says India offers a “classic lock-in opportunity”, since 90% of the air conditioners that will exist in 2040 have yet to be purchased, particularly given the tendency among Indian users to repair and reuse units. Abhyankar continues:

“That’s why making sure that first AC purchase is the most efficient one is very important in India, because that AC is not going out of the market in seven years.”

Energy-efficient units

With the number of air-conditioning units in India on the rise, ensuring they are as energy-efficient as possible could save households money, while cutting emissions and electricity demand. 

India’s Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) mandates star ratings for air conditioners to indicate their efficiency. It uses a metric called the Indian seasonal energy efficiency ratio (ISEER), which is based on an India-specific temperature distribution. 

Ratings range from one to five stars, with the latter being the most energy-efficient. 

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), three-star units “dominate” India’s air-conditioning market, “possibly due to [up-front] cost considerations”, while four- and five-star units account for a minority of sales. 

The chart below shows AC production volumes in India between 2019 and 2023 by energy-efficiency star rating, according to the IEA.  

Annual air conditioner production volumes in India by efficiency rating and fiscal year, 2019-2023. Source: International Energy Agency (2024).

Carbon Brief analysis finds that buying a five-star air conditioner could cut the emissions associated with generating electricity to run the unit by around 300 kilograms (kg) of CO2 per year, when compared to a two-star unit. 

As such, if all 15m air-conditioning units expected to be sold in 2026 were five-star, it could save 5MtCO2 annually. 

This is roughly equivalent to the emissions from an average-sized coal-fired power plant, the analysis shows. 

In a year, the lower electricity demand from more efficient units could mean ₹69bn ($724m) in cost savings for consumers, as shown in the chart below. Each affected household could save ₹4,600 ($48) annually on their bills. 

Running cost (blue) and potential savings (red) of 15m two-star and five-star rated air-conditioning in a year, ₹bn. Source: Carbon Brief analysis.

There are also significant savings from five-star units compared with three-stars, amounting to around 150kgCO2 and ₹2,300 ($24) per household per year.

Carbon Brief’s illustrative analysis is supported by a new working paper from the India Energy and Climate Center (IECC) at UC Berkeley, which looks at the longer-term impact of AC demand on electricity demand and emissions, as well as grid investment costs and consumer savings. 

Released in May 2026, it says that room air conditioners already account for nearly a quarter of India’s peak electricity demand (60-70GW). 

The authors estimate that AC-driven peak power demand could reach 120GW by 2030 and 180GW by 2035, pushing India’s power grid beyond its capacity. They warn:

“Even with all under-construction generation and storage projects online, power shortages are expected as early as 2028.”

Sustained energy-efficiency improvements, however, could reduce this cooling-driven peak power demand by 10GW by 2030 and 47GW by 2035. 

They estimate that these improvements could help avoid nearly $80bn in power infrastructure investments and deliver $9-25bn in consumer savings between 2028 and 2035, while reducing emissions by 12MtCO2 per year by 2030. 

Rolling out five-star units

While there are emissions and cost benefits to five-star air-conditioning units compared to the alternatives, the higher upfront costs can still present a barrier. 

These more energy-efficient units can pay for their higher purchase price over a three-year period, but on average cost ₹5,000 to ₹8,000 ($52-84) more upfront than a three-star unit. 

Researchers at the Indian climate thinktank Sustainable Futures Collaborative (SFC) called on Indian state and national governments to create a “highly-targeted active cooling” programme last year.

They recommended deploying a subsidy or a large-scale purchase programme that allows families to buy energy-efficient air conditioners. This, they said, must be targeted at portions of Indian cities with the highest heat risk, determined by the vulnerability assessments of their heat action plans. 

Climate adaptation researcher at King’s College London and SFC author Aditya Valiathan Pillai tells Carbon Brief: 

“Commit money to air conditioning for the poorest-of-the-poor: subsidise ultra-efficient ACs and electricity, but give them cool air at the cheapest possible, most efficient rate. 

“Because these are the people running the economy, which is not going to function in a heatwave if these people are dying or unable to work.”

Methodology 

Carbon Brief’s analysis is based on official energy consumption, power pricing and emissions data from different ministries and government institutions. 

It uses BEE’s “search and compare” tool to list all five-star and three-star “variable speed” or “inverter” air conditioners, given their enhanced efficiency and ability to regulate humidity.

This was then filtered to air conditioners with a capacity of 1.5t, which studies say are most preferred by Indian households. 

Using the same tool, Carbon Brief then listed all “fixed speed” two-star ACs of a similar capacity (1.45t to 1.55t), given that these account for the majority of two-star ACs available on the market and favoured by renters.

Based on expert estimates, the analysis lists the energy consumption of each of these key categories in kilowatt-hours (kWh) and added 15% to account for losses in power transmission and distribution. 

The carbon intensity of Indian electricity is specified by the CO2 baseline database published by India’s Central Electricity Authority in November 2025.

The number of hours per year a household’s air conditioning runs is estimated at 1,600 hours by the BEE. 

Carbon Brief uses a marginal electricity tariff of ₹10 per kWh to calculate annual electricity consumption costs. 

This is because average electricity tariffs vary significantly from state to state, but especially by energy consumption “slabs”, with AC use pushing bills into higher-tariff rates. 

For instance, in Maharashtra, electricity tariffs for domestic households range from ₹1.52 per unit for below-poverty-line households to ₹16.64 per unit for homes using more than 500 units of electricity. 

Savings from higher energy efficiency, therefore, reduce electricity consumption in the highest electricity tariff block, where rates are the most expensive.

Cooling hours

Air-conditioner usage varies across India’s climatic zones. The ISEER metric that underpins star ratings estimates that, on average, a household air conditioner runs for 1, 600 hours a year. 

This estimate is based on 2014 weather data for 54 cities across India, to see how many hours in a year temperatures exceed 24C. 

Refrigerant emissions

The analysis only accounts for emissions from electricity generation and does not factor in “fugitive” emissions from refrigerant leaks. 

These are significant, given that refrigerants are greenhouse gases that can have hundreds of times more warming potential than CO2. 

According to a study published by climate thinktank iForest last year, Indian households with air conditioning are refilling their refrigerants more frequently than the global average. 

It estimates that greenhouse gas emissions from refrigerant release from India’s air conditioners were 52Mt of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) in 2024, likely to increase to 84MtCO2e by 2035.

Cooling access and population data

Government estimates vary on how many Indian households do not own a single air conditioner, with little publicly available data differentiating between cooling devices and a delayed national census. 

India’s national sample survey, published in 2020-21, is the only one of its kind in recent years to separate air-conditioner ownership from air cooler ownership, estimating that only 4.9% of all Indian households owned an air conditioner. 

EM-DAT: Trump aid cuts could close database storing ‘world’s memory of disasters’

Extreme weather

|

29.05.26

New coal plants hit ‘10-year’ global high in 2025 – but power output still fell

Coal

|

21.05.26

Factcheck: US and Iran are world’s only major emitters without net-zero targets

Factchecks

|

18.05.26

Q&A: How countries got the global ‘net-zero’ shipping deal ‘back on track’

International policy

|

05.05.26

jQuery(document).ready(function() { jQuery('.block-related-articles-slider-block_8f1bba07da04385f97f4b8170f9ebb35 .mh').matchHeight({ byRow: false }); });

The post Analysis: Energy-efficient air conditioning could save Indian homes 69bn rupees a year appeared first on Carbon Brief.

In montane regenerative agroforests of southwestern Yunnan, tea trees grow not in rows, but in relationship. Their trunks and branches are covered in fungi, moss, and orchids as they spread through a layered ecosystem of fruit trees and understory. Birdsong and harvest songs fill the air. Volatile aromatics deepen around us as we gather tender tea buds and glistening leaves, nibbling fruit along the way.

Later, steeping the tea, its bitterness softens into lingering notes of honey at the back of the throat. Twenty years ago, first drinking tea from an agroforest, I realized I was tasting the landscape itself. In that cup was the high elevation, the dance of sun and shade through tree canopy, the mist, the dark living soil, the mulch, the weeds, the pollinators, and the microbes that cover the leaves, all translated into flavor. It also carried the knowledge of the communities who had long stewarded these landscapes through generations of observation, experimentation, harvesting, selection, and care.

Montane Indigenous Akha communities shaped these landscapes within a mosaic of home gardens rich with herbs and vegetables, rice paddies with local landraces, forests filled with wild foods and medicines, orchards, grazing lands, and cultivated fields. These landscapes reflect an understanding of food through relationships across species, seasons, ecosystems, and communities.

What I learned in these communities became a wake-up call for how I understand food and the entire global food and agriculture system. Food revealed itself as ecological and biological exposure, a living translation of biodiversity, climate, soil, microbes, and culture into the molecules that shape flavor, nourishment, memory, and human health.

We experience food as biological exposure through tens of thousands of interacting molecules. Molecules in whole foods carry the memory of ecosystems, farming practices, and cultural histories. Sunlight is remembered in sugars, grasses in the tissues of grazing animals, and microbial communities in the transformation of milk and grain into new flavors and nutrients.

Many of the molecules we cherish for flavor and nourishment evolved first as protection. Bitterness and heat discourage grazing or being fully consumed. Phenolics shield against ultraviolet light. Terpenes summon allies when leaves are under attack. What we experience as aroma, heat, or astringency are the survival strategies of living systems, biochemistry shaped over millions of years to endure stress and change.

Tea plants produce catechins to defend themselves and terpenes to communicate in dynamic environments. These molecules vary with climate, elevation, and agricultural management such as regenerative agroforestry. Humans experience these ecological shifts through flavor, nourishment, memory, culture, and wellbeing. Food is landscape metabolized.

This translation is not limited to plants. High on the Tibetan Plateau in northwestern Yunnan, yaks translate the chemistry of alpine grasses and wildflowers into milk rich with protein and lipid molecules that carry the signature of place and season. Tibetan communities note the shift in milk and butter quality as they herd at higher elevations, with plants getting more bitter and medicinal. Along ancient trade routes, yak butter from alpine pastures was blended with fermented pu-erh tea, bringing together the chemistry of mountain grasslands and tea agroforests in a shared cup.

Along the Pacific coast where I look out today, halibut and rockfish carry the chemistry of kelp forests, smaller fish, and cold ocean upwelling in their tissues, with fats and proteins shaped through phytoplankton blooms and marine food webs.

Through fermentation, bacteria and fungi transform molecules, breaking apart proteins, fibers, and other compounds into forms that are often more digestible, bioavailable, flavorful, and biologically active. These preservation techniques are collaborations across species, with microbes reshaping foods into new flavors, nutrients, and therapeutic attributes.

Science now offers high-resolution tools to see the chemistry behind this ecological exchange and knowledge, but it has always been present, rooted in reciprocity and sensed experience.

Long before laboratories could name the molecules in food, our mouths could taste them.

The molecules of different foods meet within us, shaping our senses, our cells, and our connection to the living world. Molecules that help tea plants survive in agroforests can also help buffer inflammation in our bodies. Our microbiome, the unseen ecological community within, responds to these molecules and sends its own signals through the gut–brain axis, influencing mood, energy, and resilience.

Within our cells, mitochondria translate biomolecules into the energy of life. What began as the plant’s way of surviving, the animal’s way of metabolizing landscapes, and the microbe’s way of transforming matter has co-evolved with human knowledge and culture. Through cultivation, cooking, and fermentation, we learned to partner with these living processes, shaping food even as it shapes us.

We feel this most vividly in intact ecosystems. In regenerative orchards, the air carries the volatile molecules of ripening fruit. On the Tibetan Plateau, yak butter holds the chemistry of alpine herbs. In Montana meadows, wild huckleberries glisten with pigments that shield the fruit from ultraviolet light. Through aroma, texture, and taste, we trace rainfall, altitude, soil health, and stewardship.

To eat is to be in relationship with sun and soil, with farmers and foragers, with microbes and animals, with those before us and those yet to be. The molecules that become our cells once belonged to forests, fields, pastures, and oceans. For a time, we carry those living worlds within us.

We do not exist apart from the living world. Through food, through biology, and through care, we participate in the great reciprocity of life and remember that we belong.

This is the first in a monthly series of essays.

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

Photo courtesy of Selena Ahmed

The post Op-Ed | Tasting the Landscape: A Love Letter to the Biology of Food and Being appeared first on Food Tank.

satu alasan utama meningkatnya popularitas Slot QRIS Indonesia adalah kemudahan dalam penggunaannya. Pengguna tidak perlu lagi menghafal nomor rekening atau melakukan proses transfer yang panjang. Cukup dengan memindai kode QR melalui aplikasi perbankan maupun dompet digital, transaksi dapat diselesaikan dalam hitungan detik.

Kemudahan tersebut memberikan pengalaman yang lebih nyaman, terutama bagi generasi muda yang telah terbiasa dengan layanan serba digital. Di tengah mobilitas yang semakin tinggi, metode pembayaran yang cepat menjadi kebutuhan yang sulit dipisahkan dari aktivitas sehari-hari.

Didukung Ekosistem Digital yang Terus Berkembang

Pertumbuhan penggunaan QRIS juga tidak lepas dari dukungan ekosistem digital nasional yang semakin matang. Berbagai bank dan penyedia layanan keuangan telah mengintegrasikan QRIS ke dalam aplikasi mereka, sehingga pengguna memiliki banyak pilihan untuk melakukan transaksi.

Kondisi ini menciptakan lingkungan yang mendukung adopsi teknologi secara luas. Semakin banyak masyarakat yang mengenal dan menggunakan QRIS, semakin tinggi pula tingkat kepercayaan terhadap sistem pembayaran tersebut. Efeknya terlihat pada meningkatnya jumlah transaksi digital yang memanfaatkan metode QR setiap tahunnya.

Keamanan Menjadi Nilai Tambah

Selain praktis, faktor keamanan turut berperan dalam mendorong popularitas Slot QRIS Indonesia. Sistem ini dirancang dengan standar yang telah ditetapkan untuk memastikan proses transaksi berlangsung dengan lebih aman dan terverifikasi.

Pengguna tidak perlu membagikan informasi rekening kepada pihak lain saat melakukan pembayaran. Seluruh proses dilakukan melalui aplikasi resmi yang telah dilengkapi berbagai lapisan keamanan, sehingga risiko kesalahan transaksi dapat diminimalkan.

Menjangkau Berbagai Kalangan Pengguna

Popularitas Slot QRIS Indonesia juga didorong oleh kemampuannya menjangkau berbagai lapisan masyarakat. Tidak hanya pengguna perbankan konvensional, pemilik dompet digital pun dapat memanfaatkan metode pembayaran ini dengan mudah.

Fleksibilitas tersebut membuat QRIS menjadi solusi yang relevan bagi masyarakat urban maupun daerah yang mulai beralih ke layanan keuangan digital. Dengan satu standar pembayaran yang dapat digunakan di berbagai platform, pengalaman transaksi menjadi lebih sederhana dan konsisten.

Perubahan Gaya Hidup Digital Masyarakat

Meningkatnya penggunaan QRIS mencerminkan perubahan gaya hidup masyarakat Indonesia yang semakin mengandalkan teknologi dalam berbagai aktivitas. Mulai dari pembayaran makanan, transportasi, hingga layanan digital, semuanya kini dapat dilakukan melalui satu perangkat yang selalu berada di tangan pengguna, yaitu smartphone.

Perubahan ini menunjukkan bahwa masyarakat semakin menghargai kecepatan, efisiensi, dan kemudahan akses. QRIS hadir sebagai jawaban atas kebutuhan tersebut, sehingga tidak mengherankan jika popularitasnya terus meningkat dari waktu ke waktu.

Prospek yang Masih Terbuka Lebar

Melihat tren yang berkembang saat ini, popularitas Slot QRIS Indonesia diperkirakan masih memiliki ruang pertumbuhan yang besar. Dukungan pemerintah, sektor perbankan, serta meningkatnya literasi digital masyarakat menjadi fondasi kuat bagi perluasan penggunaan QRIS di masa mendatang.

Di tengah percepatan transformasi digital nasional, QRIS telah berkembang menjadi lebih dari sekadar metode pembayaran. Sistem ini menjadi simbol perubahan menuju transaksi yang lebih modern, praktis, dan terintegrasi. Dengan berbagai keunggulan yang ditawarkan, tidak mengherankan jika semakin banyak masyarakat yang memilih QRIS sebagai bagian dari aktivitas digital mereka setiap hari.

Dr. Stacy Jupiter is the Executive Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Global Marine Program. Melissa Wright is Bloomberg Ocean Initiative Lead at Bloomberg Philanthropies. 

For years, the dominant story on coral reefs has been one of inevitable loss, with news headlines focusing on mass bleaching, ecosystem collapse, and catastrophic tipping points. As ocean temperatures continue to rise, many people have come to see the decline of the world’s reefs as unavoidable. 

The threats are real and urgent, but new evidence points to a more complicated and useful conclusion: some reefs still have a meaningful chance to survive and recover, provided they are protected. 

A major new analysis, published today with the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies, identifies more than 165,000 square kilometers of coral reefs, across 71 countries and 100 territories and jurisdictions, with the strongest potential to withstand and recover from climate impacts. 

Drawing on more than 45,000 coral surveys, along with decades of climate and ocean data, the research finds that three times more reefs may be capable of surviving the climate crisis than previously understood. That has major implications for reef-dependent communities, food security, coastal protection, fisheries, tourism, and national economies. 

• Jun 5, 2026 Nature Offshore oil and gas expansion threatens key marine ecosystems, report warns Sea life in countries like Kenya is under threat from planned new oil and gas production, analysis by environmental groups has found Read more
• Jun 11, 2026 Comment The Pacific made history in the courts – now we must do it in the negotiations Legal clarity alone will not lead to reduced emissions, more finance or stronger national climate plans – political will is key to meeting states’ obligations Read more

Essential natural infrastructure for communities

The findings make clear that reefs will not all respond to climate impacts in the same way. Some are located in rare underwater cool spots that can help shield them from extreme heat. Some show greater resistance to bleaching and other climate-related stress. Others recover more quickly after severe disturbances. These differences matter because they show where protection can have the greatest long-term impact. 

More than 500 million people depend on reefs for food, livelihoods, and coastal protection. For those communities, climate-resilient reefs are not an abstract conservation priority. They are essential natural infrastructure. They help protect coastlines, sustain fisheries, support local economies, and reduce climate risk. Because ocean currents move coral larvae and marine life between reef systems, some of these reefs may also help regenerate wider reef ecosystems after climate shocks. 

This should change how governments, funders, and conservation partners prioritize action. 

Comment: The ocean, our planet’s forgotten hero, deserves a formal place in UN climate talks

Climate change remains the greatest long-term threat to coral reefs. At the same time, many of the pressures pushing reefs closer to collapse are immediate and local. Sewage pollution, deforestation, agricultural runoff, destructive fishing practices, and poorly managed coastal development continue to damage reefs that are already under stress. Recent research shows that water pollution and fishing pressure are now among the leading local threats affecting nearly two-thirds of the world’s coral reefs. 

These pressures can be reduced. Governments and local partners are already working to improve reef management, cut pollution, strengthen enforcement, and protect critical ecosystems. Those efforts need to move faster, alongside much stronger action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

Prioritising climate-resilient reefs

The new maps of climate-resilient reefs give governments, communities, and reef managers a clearer basis for action. They show where reefs have the strongest potential to persist over time, and where protection can deliver the greatest benefits for people, coastlines, and economies. 

Right now, only around 28 percent of the identified climate-resilient reefs fall within protected or conserved areas. If these reefs are among the most capable of surviving climate impacts and helping regenerate broader reef systems, they should be prioritized for protection, management, and investment. 

The case for action is practical as well as ecological. Healthy reefs can reduce wave energy by up to 97 percent, helping protect coastlines from storms, flooding, and erosion. They support fisheries that feed millions of people, sustain tourism jobs and local economies, and help reduce climate risk for vulnerable coastal communities. 

For many families, a healthy reef means food, income, and protection when storms hit. For Indigenous Peoples and coastal communities, reefs are also tied to culture, heritage, identity, and traditional knowledge systems. 

Ocean conservation must catch up

Governments are beginning to recognize the urgency of protecting climate-resilient reefs. At last year’s UN Ocean Conference in Nice, 11 countries signed a declaration committing to stronger protection of these reefs, including action to address destructive fishing, pollution, and unsustainable coastal development.

As leaders meet in Kenya this week to discuss the challenges facing the world’s ocean, more governments should join the declaration and help build a broader coalition committed to safeguarding these critical ecosystems. 

As coral reefs pass tipping point, ocean protection rises up political agenda

Some countries are already showing what this leadership can look like. Brazil has included corals in its national climate plans. The Bahamas is embedding reef protection into national policy and local stewardship systems. The declaration offers a way to build on these efforts and scale them globally. 

But commitments will not be enough. Success will depend on implementation. That means stronger protection and management, reduced local pressures, increased investment, and meaningful support for the Indigenous Peoples and local communities stewarding these ecosystems. 

The science is clear. Many reefs still have the capacity to persist and recover. The question is whether policy and investment will move quickly enough to protect them, so they can continue sustaining communities, economies, and coastlines for generations to come. 

The post Coral reefs are not doomed – but policy must catch up with the science  appeared first on Climate Home News.

In capacity-addition terms, fossil fuels are now just a thin orange strip at the bottom of a very tall green wall.

The post Chart of the Day: Farewell King Coal, long live King Solar (and wind and batteries) appeared first on Renew Economy.

The oceanic phenomenon known as El Niño, which increases temperatures worldwide, has officially begun, according to U.S. weather forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. 

Meteorologists have warned that this could be the strongest El Niño this century. It is expected to drive extreme weather events around the world, including both severe droughts and heavy rainfall, likely leading to major disruptions in agricultural production and food security. 

El Niño is part of a cyclical, naturally-occurring weather pattern that redistributes warm air, surface water temperatures, and moisture across the tropical Pacific Ocean. During El Niño, trade winds that typically blow east-to-west from the Americas to southeast Asia slow down or sometimes reverse. Normally, these winds push warm water along the Equator — but during El Niño conditions, that warm water shifts back east. Although El Niño does not follow a specific timeline, it typically occurs every two to seven years. 

Beginning in the summer, El Niño typically peaks around December or the following January. (The pattern was named El Niño — Spanish for little boy — by fishermen in South America who noticed warmer waters around Christmas time, and associated it with the birth of Jesus Christ.) That means the most significant impacts of the cyclical weather phenomenon may not be felt until months from now. NOAA’s most recent calculations show a high likelihood of a “very strong” El Niño, meaning average surface temperatures in the Pacific jump by more than 2 degrees Celsius. (Some experts are calling this year’s a “super” El Niño, although some agencies, like the World Meteorological Organization, reject this language.)  

Because it impacts a “diverse set of geographies,” said Weston Anderson, a climate scientist at the University of Maryland, so “there is no one set of impacts.” El Niño can contribute to severe droughts in one part of the world and heavy rainfall in others — both of which can disrupt growing seasons in key breadbaskets of the world. 

But the ways in which this year’s El Niño will interact the effects of global warming — and what that means for food security — is something scientists are still actively observing and untangling. 

The typical impacts of El Niño to the continental U.S. and Canada during Northern Hemisphere winter. NOAA

“That question is still really important open science,” said Jennifer Burney, a professor at Stanford’s Doerr School of Sustainability whose work focuses on climate and food security. 

History can give us some examples. In 1877, one of the strongest El Niños ever recorded was associated with historic droughts across Asia, as well as in parts of Brazil and northern Africa. These droughts, “along with colonial policies contributed to famines in many regions which were really devastating,” said Deepti Singh, an associate professor at Washington State University who co-authored a study on this period of global famine. 

The fatalities associated with these famines, upwards of 50 million people, said Singh, “are humbling to think about.”

The last El Niño occurred in 2023 and 2024. It was one of the five strongest El Niños ever recorded, according to the World Meteorological Organization, or WMO, and is considered to have contributed to the historic temperatures in 2024, making it the hottest year on record. 

That year came with devastating consequences for growers, especially in arid regions where agricultural producers primarily rely on rainfall to irrigate their crops. Droughts driven by El Niño across southern Africa contributed to increased food insecurity and malnutrition in several countries. 

Burney noted that in some vulnerable regions, local governments may have adaptive strategies in place to grow key crops earlier in the growing season or to increase imports during El Niño years, which can help offset food insecurity. But even in those cases, local farmers who depend on growing and selling crops to support themselves and their families may still experience economic setbacks. In other words, certain policies may ensure there’s “enough food,” but “that’s not going to take care of the people whose livelihoods depend on” agriculture, Burney said. 

This year, El Niño conditions are expected to impact a number of growing areas — another setback for agricultural producers who have faced higher input costs stemming from the Iran War. Although the United States and Iran are potentially set to unveil an agreement to reopen the all-important Strait of Hormuz, through which much of the world’s oil flows, farmers worldwide have already been impacted by fertilizer shortages and price hikes since the passage closed this spring. 

Weather variability fueled by El Niño will add to growers’ woes. India, where the majority of the world’s rice comes from, is projected to have a weaker monsoon season, which could reduce yields. Drier, hotter conditions could lead to diminished maize production in southern Africa. The southern U.S. states, from California all the way to the eastern seaboard, will experience a wetter year than normal, which could lead to flooding and upend crop production. 

But the exact way that this El Niño will unfurl is yet unknown. As El Niño interacts with the additional warming and moisture currently in our atmosphere caused by climate change, “there is likely to be a change in which regions are likely to be affected” by extreme weather, said Singh. Still, she added, we can expect “the severity, extent, and likelihood” of extreme weather events like droughts “to be higher” in today’s warmer climate.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The ‘super El Niño’ is here. What happens next could upend food systems worldwide. on Jun 16, 2026.

First Past the Post is no longer fit for purpose, writes Livvy Gibbs

The post Elections 2026: Britain’s electorate has changed – our voting system needs to keep up appeared first on Red Pepper.

Every year on 16 June, South Africa commemorates Youth Day and honours the courage of the young people who stood up for dignity, equality, and a better future in 1976.

Fifty years later, young people continue to face barriers that limit their opportunities and undermine that vision. While democracy opened many doors, millions of young South Africans are still locked out of opportunities by poverty, unemployment, and the rising cost of living.

One of the most overlooked barriers is access to affordable electricity.

As South Africa prepares for the 2026 Local Government Elections, we must ask: How can young people build their futures without reliable, affordable, and clean energy?

For many households, the promise of opportunity is interrupted by rising electricity costs, disconnections, and an energy system that prioritises profit over people’s needs. For young people in particular, access to affordable electricity can shape the course of their futures. It means being able to study after dark, charge devices needed for learning and job-seeking, access information, and participate in an increasingly digital world. Affordable electricity is therefore about far more than keeping the lights on. It powers opportunity, helping to unlock the rights to education, health, and dignity that every young person deserves. 

Yet South Africa’s energy system continues to fail those who need it most. Around 80% of the country’s electricity still comes from ageing coal-fired power stations, locking communities into a system that is polluting, expensive, and increasingly unreliable. Air pollution linked to coal-fired power generation contributes to thousands of premature deaths every year, while rising electricity costs leave millions in the dark.

Young people are among those hardest hit. With youth unemployment at around 60% and the cost of living continuing to rise, many households are forced to ration electricity or go without it. What should be a basic service has become another source of hardship and inequality.

The Free Basic Electricity (FBE) programme was introduced to support vulnerable households for these kinds of hardships. However, despite its intention, millions of eligible families remain excluded due to administrative barriers and outdated systems. 

It’s not like there is no solution. South Africa has abundant renewable energy resources and the potential to build an energy system that delivers clean, affordable, reliable power to communities. With the right investments, municipalities can play a leading role in generating and distributing publicly owned renewable energy that strengthens local economies and expands access to electricity.

Expanding FBE from 50 kWh to 350 kWh through municipally owned renewable energy would help ensure households can meet their basic energy needs while reducing dependence on expensive, polluting fossil fuels. More than a social support measure, an expanded FBE programme is an investment in education, employment, public health, and economic opportunity. It is an investment in the future of South Africa’s young people.

 

28 July 2023: Portrait of Letta Kedebone. Photograph by Daylin Paul

The generation of 1976 fought to transform the South Africa they inherited. Today’s generation must do the same. Ours is to ensure that future generations inherit a country where access to affordable energy, economic opportunity, and a healthy environment is not a privilege but a right enjoyed by all. A better future requires more than promises. It requires power.

—

Author: Boitumelo Masipa

The post Powering the Future: Why Energy Justice is a Youth Issue appeared first on 350.

Ende Gelände's new beginning Channel News brendan 16th June 2026 Teaser Media

Report says data centres could fix the demand shortage and tenor gap needed to get renewables projects across the line – as long as they avoid troubles of their own.

The post Data centres could unblock renewables bottlenecks – if they don’t hit barriers of their own appeared first on Renew Economy.

Greater transparency between neighbours and better coordination across industry sectors are among a new set of "best practice" standards renewables developers are expected to meet in this state.

The post Farmers welcome “nation-leading” guidelines for wind, solar and batteries – but warn they are not binding appeared first on Renew Economy.

If the AEMC really thinks that we should pay for networks just like we pay for milk, then I’m hopeful that they’ve come to their senses on this fraught issue.

The post Network tariffs: Imagine if the AEMC was in charge of selling milk appeared first on Renew Economy.

In China, they deliver wind turbine blades in convoy to project sites. It must be much lower cost than in Australia, where blades are moved piece by piece, with police escorts.

The post Photo of the Day: Australia should allow wind turbine blades to be trucked in convoy appeared first on Renew Economy.