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Bee U NYC is using urban beekeeping to teach young people about food systems, biodiversity, and environmental careers, while fostering the next generation of pollinator stewards.

Bees, along with other pollinators, help reproduce 35 percent of the world’s food crops and nearly 75 percent of flowering plants, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that pollinators are under growing pressure from habitat loss, the climate crisis, pests, and pesticides. Bee U is raising awareness of these issues while supporting the broader ecosystem around pollinator research.

“Many young New Yorkers have limited opportunities to learn directly about pollination, biodiversity, urban agriculture, or where their food comes from,” André Ware, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Bee U NYC, tells Food Tank. “Through beekeeping, participants begin to see the connections among pollinators, plants, climate, food production, neighborhood green spaces, and environmental justice.”

The organization’s paid Urban Beekeeping Fellowship teaches young people between the ages of 16 and 24 how to manage hives, identify pollinators, understand bee biology, and explore careers in sustainability and agriculture. This year, Bee U NYC accepted 46 Fellows, its largest class to date. Since 2021, nearly 100 young people have completed the program.

“We believe that a more sustainable food system requires a more inclusive workforce,” Ware says. “It is not enough to teach young people about environmental challenges. They need paid opportunities to build skills, develop professional networks, and imagine themselves as future environmental leaders and scientists.”

The program also builds community partnerships. Fellows learn in local community gardens, urban farms, cultural institutions, and neighborhood organizations instead of traditional classrooms. These experiences connect pollinator health with food production, environmental justice, and local history.

The organization’s work comes at a time when public investment in agricultural research faces growing uncertainty. Following the closure of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s century-old Beltsville Bee Lab, food systems researchers like Dr. Jennie Durant, a food systems researcher at UC Davis and former USDA fellow, warned that the loss of research capacity and technical expertise could weaken support for farmers and reduce crop yields over time.

Programs like Bee U NYC can translate science into action by educating future beekeepers, supporting pollinator stewardship, and building stronger connections between communities, the environment, and local food systems. Their work helps ensure that research does not stay in laboratories but reaches the people who will shape the future of agriculture.

Ware says pollinator education must extend beyond honeybees. “Supporting pollinator health also means understanding the science behind native pollinators, planting diverse forage, harmful pesticide practices, and managing urban hives responsibly,” he tells Food Tank.

As bee populations continue to face new challenges like rising temperatures and loss of habitat, Bee U believes that education may become one of the most valuable conservation tools.

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 Bee U

The post Bee U: Urban Beekeeping Protecting Our Food Supply appeared first on Food Tank.

August and September passed without a single Atlantic hurricane, thanks in part to a powerful El Niño. Forecasters are now raising the prospect that the season could conclude with zero Atlantic hurricanes.

Read more on E360 →

In Brazil, the plastic crisis isn’t limited to the streets, landfills, or recycling cooperatives. It also extends to the courts, legislative assemblies, and decision-making forums that determine who bears the costs of pollution and who participates in the solutions.

Since 2017, the Institute of Collective Law (IDC) has been working to ensure that the rights recognized in Brazilian law do not remain merely on paper. Its strategy combines legal counsel, strategic litigation, research, and institutional advocacy, based on one premise: the problems affecting communities require collective responses.

“The IDC was founded at a time when Brazil was undergoing a profound political and administrative crisis. There was a great deal of important legislation that remained on paper and was not implemented,” explains Tatiana Bastos, president of the organization. In that context, a group of legal experts and allies decided that defending constitutional rights required coordinated action.

Nearly a decade later, the Institute has established itself as a national, multidisciplinary, nonprofit organization based in Rio de Janeiro. Its network brings together more than 150 partner organizations in nine Brazilian states and the Federal District, including waste picker cooperatives, rights advocacy groups, communities, and social collectives.

Its work is structured around three pillars—democracy, inclusion, and the environment—and, within the latter, plastic pollution is taking on an increasingly prominent role.

Plastic Is Also a Matter of Social Justice

For Direito Coletivo, the plastic crisis cannot be addressed solely as a pollution problem. Its consequences are distributed unevenly and particularly affect those working at the bottom of the waste management chain.

Waste picker cooperatives face the consequences of a system that puts large quantities of packaging on the market without ensuring that it can be recovered or sold. Materials that fail to find buyers end up becoming waste, imposing economic and labor costs on those who sort them.

“For us, the fight against plastic isn’t just an environmental cause—it’s also a social justice cause,” says Bastos. “Much of the burden of poor plastic management falls on those who work directly with recycling: the recycling cooperatives.”

This perspective guides the “Less Plastic, More Justice” project, which seeks to hold manufacturers accountable and defend the rights of recycling workers. One of the pillars of the project was the study “Recyclers for Less Plastic,” conducted in partnership with Fluminense Federal University (UFF), GAIA, and Break Free From Plastic (BFFP). The study found that plastics with low recyclability could account for between 45% and 64% of the rejected waste analyzed at the participating cooperatives.

Although some of these containers are marketed as recyclable, in practice there is no market or economic viability for their recovery. The study estimated monthly losses of between 1,200 and 3,700 reais (approximately 235 and 725 USD) per cooperative, in addition to up to 15 hours of work per month spent sorting materials that are ultimately discarded.

The data made it possible to move from research to action. The IDC used the evidence to support a public civil action aimed at holding the companies that produce this packaging accountable and brought the debate to the Rio de Janeiro Legislative Assembly. “It was a rare case in which we managed to close the loop: technical research, institutional advocacy, and legal action, with waste pickers at the center of the strategy,” notes Bastos.

This experience encapsulates one of the organization’s core commitments: generating knowledge that can be transformed into legal and policy tools while ensuring the participation of those most affected by the crisis.

Incineration: Another Battleground

Waste management has opened up another area of work for the Institute: the expansion of incineration projects, including those presented under concepts such as waste-to-energy or energy recovery.

Bastos explains that these projects are moving forward in various Brazilian states despite the socio-environmental impacts highlighted by organizations, including emissions of toxic pollutants and the potential disincentive to material recovery.

Among the cases he mentions are the Barueri plant in São Paulo, touted as Latin America’s first waste-to-energy facility, and a similar project in Rio de Janeiro that, as she explained, was in the licensing phase.

In light of these processes, the IDC identified a problem that transcends the specific characteristics of each project: the lack of coordination between lawyers and the organizations working on the ground. “Legal action against these projects was highly fragmented: lawyers, social movements, and local organizations were working in isolation, without access to legal precedents, court documents, or shared strategies,” explains Bastos.

To address this challenge, the organization created a working group for legal advice and coordination that connects lawyers from different regions of Brazil. The initiative includes regular meetings, the exchange of experiences, a shared database of case law and technical documents, as well as templates for legal instruments that can be adapted to the needs of each region. The goal is to strengthen local capacities and prevent each community from having to start from scratch when facing an incineration project.

A Network to Expand Local Struggles

The IDC’s growth is also reflected in its network. According to data shared by Bastos, the organization went from 100 partner organizations in 2023 to 124 in 2024 and 151 in 2025.

For an organization dedicated to strategic litigation and the defense of collective rights, expanding the network allows it to conduct assessments and provide legal support to cooperatives, Quilombola communities, and collectives in different regions of the country. “None of these cases moves forward in isolation; they all rely on networking,” says Bastos.

This logic also explains the Institute’s participation in BFFP. For the IDC, being part of an international movement provides access to research, facilitates the exchange of strategies, and connects the experiences of local organizations with a global agenda.

The collaboration with GAIA and BFFP, in particular, has helped advance research on recyclability and corporate responsibility, as well as broaden the dissemination of its findings. “Participating in BFFP is very important for the IDC because of the access to technical expertise that this network provides,” says Bastos. “Organizations from different countries produce top-tier research and evidence on the plastic crisis, which directly strengthens our own legal and advocacy work in Brazil.”

International coordination also makes it possible to connect local problems with dynamics that transcend borders. Cooperatives and communities facing specific problems in a municipality can link their demands to movements in other countries and to companies operating on a global scale.

A Global Treaty That Goes Beyond Paper

For Direito Coletivo, the need for a legally binding global plastics treaty stems from the limitations of current responses. “We need a robust, fair, and legally binding treaty capable of reducing plastic production at its source, rather than merely addressing the problem once it has already become waste,” argues Bastos.

His concern extends beyond the content of international commitments to their implementation. From his perspective, an ambitious treaty requires binding targets, clear timelines, and monitoring mechanisms to ensure compliance.

IDC’s experience in Brazil informs this position. Its work stems precisely from the need to translate rights and commitments into concrete actions, with mechanisms for enforcement and participation.

“The Global Plastics Treaty must move from paper to practice,” says Bastos. “For those of us who work directly with the people suffering the concrete effects of this crisis—such as grassroots recyclers—the urgency lies not only in negotiating a good treaty but also in ensuring that it translates into effective public policies and real accountability on the part of manufacturing companies.”

The Institute’s position thus links international negotiations to the day-to-day challenges faced by cooperatives, communities, and local organizations. A treaty would not be an end in itself, but rather a tool whose effectiveness would depend on its implementation on the ground.

In 2025, the Amazon rainforest shrank by exactly 1.63 million hectares. But nobody can say how much wildlife vanished with it.

This illustrates one of the biggest challenges confronting scientists and others working to stem the loss of biodiversity. While satellites offer a sweeping birds-eye view of the planet, it can seem like ecologists tracking the ebb and flow of species in a place like the Amazon are studying a distant galaxy through a pinhole.

“If a tree has fallen almost anywhere in the world we know it almost in a matter of days. But I can tell you almost nothing about how biodiversity is faring below the canopy,” said Amy Rosenthal, who heads conservation initiatives at Planet Labs, a U.S. company that specializes in producing satellite imagery for various purposes.

But technology has reached the point where scientists and more than two dozen organizations including Planet are betting that they can pierce the forest canopy and create a near real-time view of trends in wildlife across the vast Amazon.

Last week, they announced the project Amazon.ia (the “i.a.” is an acronym for “inteligencia ambiental” or “environmental intelligence”). The plan calls for a network of between 10 and 30 sites across the Amazon, equipped with wildlife-tracking instruments. Their output can then be fed into computer models. Other sites could be added on a temporary basis. The end goal is a high-resolution picture of the state of biodiversity across the region, updated continuously as new data flows in.

While the project is still in its infancy, and observers caution that it may not be able to make good on all of the grand promises, there is also a sense that tools developed in the last decade are now at the point where it’s reasonable to launch such an effort.

“We’ve been talking like ‘Oh, we need to take an ecosystem and just do it,’” said Tanya Berger-Wolf, an Ohio State University computational ecologist who isn’t part of the initiative. “We need to monitor everything everywhere all at once and make sense of it all, often in real time. … This is the holy grail.”

In recent years, scientists have been working to devise ways to improve wildlife monitoring by marrying new tech with powerful artificial intelligence. Data from cheap, durable audio recorders and motion-activated cameras is crunched by computer programs capable of identifying individual species and discerning patterns. Increasingly, automated field labs can collect and sequence wildlife DNA from insect traps. Satellites equipped with hyperspectral imaging can see a broader light spectrum than visible light, enabling researchers to detect things like tree stress brought on by drought. Computer models can combine such data streams with a detailed map of a region’s geography to estimate what’s happening in places well beyond a specific research station.

Some of these new approaches were highlighted in a recent XPrize competition in which competing teams used drones, rapid DNA analysis, audio recorders and other technology to document hundreds of species in a patch of Amazon rainforest in 24 hours.

The new initiative would equip core sites with camera and audio recorders as well as insect traps and links to computers capable of making sense of the data. The organizers include several South American research groups already running field stations that will be among the first to feed into this network, including ones in Peru, Ecuador and Brazil.

The new initiative should help in part by enabling scientists to discern patterns across the entire region, rather than noticing them in one place and wondering what’s happening elsewhere, says Corine Vriesendorp, an ecologist and head of science for the Peruvian organization Conservación Amazónica, which operates a station on the Los Amigos River that’s in the new program.

One example of such blindspots is recent research showing that populations of birds in intact forests at a field station in Ecuador and another in Brazil have decreased. Based on scattered existing data, it’s not clear if it’s part of a broader trend. Nor do scientists know if insect populations – a food source for many of the birds – have also fallen.

Such region-wide insights could also help galvanize political action, she said. “Being able to say something about what’s going on in all of these places will be super important politically and also from a science research perspective.”

It remains to be seen whether Amazon.ia can live up to that hope. The organizers say they need $100 million to run the program for 10 years, with much of the expense in equipment, computers, staffing and training people in the various countries. So far, the group has raised around $20 million, said Rosenthal, with some $14 million of it from the philanthropic Bezos Earth Fund. They have recruited five locations to act as data-collecting points, including the Los Amigos site, leaving between five and 25 to be brought on board.

There are technical limitations that will almost certainly emerge. For instance, acoustic data can currently help scientists know whether a particular bird species has passed nearby. But it’s not very good at telling you how big that bird population is, says Justin Kitzes, a quantitative ecologist at the University of Pittsburgh who specializes in bioacoustics.

Then there is the challenge of producing a reliable, detailed view of things happening across a river basin spanning 7 million square kilometers, roughly the same size as the lower 48 U.S. states combined.

Even with advanced computer models and dozens of observation posts, Kitzes expects efforts to understand how biodiversity is changing across the Amazon will run up against a lack of data. “With 30 stations spread across the Amazon with that type of technology, will you know everything going on in the Amazon? Of course not,” said Kitzes. “Will you know a lot more than you used to? Probably.”

This is the first in a series of monthly columns from Climate Home News Editor Megan Rowling. They are exclusively available to Pro subscribers.

The deadly flash flood that thundered down Nepal’s Bhote Koshi valley a month ago may have been hard to predict given the complexity of monitoring glacial slopes in the high mountains. But it should come as a surprise to no one that such a disaster could happen in a world set to barrel past the 1.5C warming limit governments agreed to in 2015.

I say this with confidence because even before the ink was dry on the Paris Agreement, former colleagues and I were writing extensively about the dangers posed by accelerating glacier melt in the Himalayas. I went back to look at what we covered, often working with local journalists in Pakistan, India and Nepal. It was substantial.

Comment: The response to Nepal’s disaster is a test for global climate institutions

In one story from a conference on climate change and geology, Bill McGuire, a professor who then led the Benfield Hazard Research Centre at University College London, was quoted as saying: “The most likely thing we are going to see soon is an increased level in giant landslides in mountainous terrains, huge collapses, millions of cubic metres of rock.” 

That is precisely what unleashed Nepal’s most recent disaster, some 13 years later.

Other articles zoomed in on internationally funded programmes to prevent glacial lake outburst floods; studies warning of the rising risks to downstream communities; and cross-border efforts (or lack of them) to set up monitoring systems. But information has not led to sufficient action.

Falling behind intensifying impacts

Reporting on climate-related disasters over the past 20 years (it was way back then that UN aid chief John Holmes started referring to extreme weather as the “new normal”) has been a pretty frustrating beat, as things have gotten dramatically worse.

There’s no question that our understanding of the risks has grown hugely – alongside our knowledge of how to protect people and infrastructure in the face of fast-growing threats. 

Yet governments and businesses have dragged their feet on adaptation policies and practical measures, even when confronted with the numbers showing it’s far cheaper to prevent and prepare than to clean up and rebuild after a flood or a storm. This intransigence has left a yawning chasm in the world’s ability to deal with climate change-driven impacts. 

Let’s call it the adaptation accountability gap.

• Sep 23, 2026 News UN Climate Summit: UN chief says world has tools to end fossil fuel age At the UN Secretary-General’s climate summit in New York, countries shared their energy transition plans while Nepal and island nations advocated for more international support Read more
• Sep 24, 2026 News Threatened by rising seas, small islands secure right to keep their statehood Efforts to protect marine ecosystems and coastal communities have risen up the political agenda at the UN General Assembly in New York Read more

These days we see the effects all around us – in hospital emergency rooms where workers and older people struggle with heat exhaustion; in campsites and hotels abandoned by holidaymakers fleeing forest fires; in flooded streets piled high with mud, broken furniture and twisted cars.

The only bright side to the growing climate chaos we’re experiencing is that it’s become practically impossible for politicians and corporate bosses to ignore the evidence – and the rising cost to their balance sheets. Voters who can no longer afford to shoulder the economic and social burden of this damage need to let their leaders know time’s up.   

1.5C overshoot means adapting differently

Last week, during Climate Week NYC, I moderated an event packed with experts who work on adapting to climate change – from Nepal to Brazil, from Sierra Leone to the Marshall Islands, and from communities to the top of governments and UN agencies. They spoke of tree-planting to stabilise slopes, heat insurance for informal workers, a climate risk guide for midwives, drought-resistant seeds and solar panels to irrigate farmland along the Nile.

Amid the diversity of experiences and approaches, there were two common threads: first, as underlined by the UN Environment Programme’s new report on overshooting 1.5C, we may have missed the boat to catch up on adaptation as we know it. 

With global warming continuing apace, we’ll need to come up with new “transformational” strategies if the coral reefs, ice sheets, oceans and other natural systems on which we rely cross tipping points and unleash cascading consequences. Nepal’s flash flood is being flagged as an example of the kind of disaster that requires a major change in how we think about adaptation.

Second, the investment required to adapt to intensifying climate shocks and stresses can no longer be seen as something to be squeezed out of shrinking foreign aid budgets. There are a growing number of tried-and-tested funds and mechanisms for channelling finance at the local, national and global levels – these must be filled, replenished and used without delay. 

Businesses need to get stuck in too, not least to safeguard their assets, operations and profits – but also because in some sectors like agriculture or water there are opportunities for a return. Despite this, there are many activities governments will have no choice but to pay for, such as moving people out of the path of rising seas.

Finance not flowing where needed

Mikko Ollikainen, who heads up the UN’s pioneering Adaptation Fund for developing countries, told the event the fund has a portfolio of projects worth $1.6 billion but a pipeline waiting to be financed to the tune of $1.8 billion. Yet, in recent years, as needs balloon, donor nations have failed to meet its annual fundraising target of $300 million at COP climate summits. 

The chair of the UN climate body for implementation, Julia Gardiner, said she expects to see more pressure on governments at November’s COP31 summit in Türkiye to show how they will meet a goal to triple adaptation finance by 2035 and fill the under-resourced coffers of the fledgling Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD).

Prakriti Dhakal, personal under-secretary to Nepal’s prime minister, speaks at an event on adaptation held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and moderated by Climate Home News, on September 24, 2026 in New York. (Photo@ Photo: Corinna Schutte / United Nations Foundation) Prakriti Dhakal, personal under-secretary to Nepal’s prime minister, speaks at an event on adaptation held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and moderated by Climate Home News, on September 24, 2026 in New York. (Photo@ Photo: Corinna Schutte / United Nations Foundation)

Nepal, meanwhile, is still waiting for a formal response to its request to the FRLD for urgent support to tackle the aftermath of the flood. Manjeet Dhakal, a Nepali scientist who advises least-developed countries in the UN climate process, said the disaster – which killed over 1,450 people and left nearly 6,000 missing – cannot be treated as just the latest climate crisis that grabs the headlines before it’s replaced by another.

That was backed up by Prakriti Dhakal, personal under-secretary to Nepal’s prime minister, who has been working closely on the emergency response. She said she had received many condolences and warm words of support during her meetings in New York. 

But, she asked, “when you go home, will you continue having that sympathy for us that translates into something rational, something long-term, to strengthen the communities in Nepal?” A fitting response would be for governments to get behind a new Himalayan Climate Resilience Mechanism, proposed by Nepal’s leader at the UN last week, as one way to start closing the adaptation accountability gap.

The post Nepal’s disaster has laid bare the world’s adaptation accountability gap appeared first on Climate Home News.

The upcoming French presidential election next May carries weight far beyond France’s borders. A victory for fascist candidate Marine Le Pen—in a major world economy—would...

The post Will France have a fascist president next May? first appeared on Spring.

Headline News:

• “GM Really Wasn’t Kidding About Those New LMR EV Batteries” • GM was among the US automakers that pulled back on their EV lineups when the federal EV tax credit was killed. But the company still kept its LMR batteries going through Ultium Cells, a joint venture with leading firm LG Energy Solution. Now that could pay off. [CleanTechnica]

LMR battery (Courtesy of GM)

• “Global Economic Impact Of Iran War ‘Unbearable,’ Qatar Warns” • The Iran war has put an “unbearable” strain on the global economy, Qatar warned. It said meetings aimed to reach a deal are continuing and Doha has resumed its role as a mediator between Washington and Tehran. However, it warned its role could come to an end. [Euronews]
• “Connecticut’s Reckless Drive For More Nuclear Power” • New England governors are meeting to push for more nuclear power. Supposedly there’s a crisis, a need for lots more electricity for AI. There’s a crisis, all right, but it’s not some desperate need for AI. Instead, it’s the fires, droughts, glacier breakdowns and extreme weather due to collapsing climates. [CT Mirror]
• “UK’s biggest AI supercomputer may have to wait until 2030s for enough power” • The launch of the UK’s largest planned AI supercomputer, due to open next year, could be delayed until the 2030s because of problems securing enough electric energy. The site is being developed in Loughton, east of London, by the UK-based start-up Nscale. [Euronews]
• “Italy’s Battery ‘Gold Rush’: Energy Storage Creates A New Market” • Huge battery storage systems are needed to support a grid dominated by renewable energy, able to absorb surplus energy and feed it back later. Their role is so important that it started a “gold rush,” with Italy in a leading position. Italy will need about 72 GWh of storage by 2030. [Euronews]

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

Last week, another federal judge blocked New York’s so-called “climate superfund law,” the state’s attempt to make fossil fuel companies pay for climate-related damages linked to their activities. Signed in 2024, the legislation inspired other states to start drumming up their own ways to hold Big Oil financially accountable for the costs of a warming planet.

The two rulings are certainly a blow to the law’s advocates. But they’re not a death knell for this approach. That’s according to seven lawmakers from Connecticut, Hawaiʻi, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and New Hampshire, who told Grist the decisions have limited relevance to their states. Most expressed continued interest in advancing their own superfund legislation.

What may be more threatening to these kinds of pollution-accountability laws is Suncor v. Boulder County, a case the Supreme Court will hear beginning next week. Though a decision may not come until next spring, the outcome could nullify all state-level attempts to make fossil fuel companies pay for climate costs. 

“Worst case, they rule that federal law — both statutory and constitutional federal law — preempts all of these cases, throws them all out,” said Pat Parenteau, an emeritus professor at the Vermont Law School. This could quash not only superfund proposals, he added, but also consumer rights cases, racketeering cases, and antitrust claims, leaving every state in the country with “billions and billions of dollars piling up with no recourse.”

New York’s climate superfund law sought $75 billion from fossil fuel companies to help pay for costs associated with climate change, including recovery from extreme weather and adaptive infrastructure projects like upgraded stormwater drainage systems and new cooling systems in public buildings. The law was inspired by the federal Superfund Act of 1980, which made chemical and petroleum companies financially responsible for cleaning up heavily polluted sites across the country. 

The two court decisions found that the New York law was preempted by federal law, specifically the Clean Air Act. In the first ruling, Judge Brenda Sannes of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York wrote that the measure was “simply beyond the limits of state law,” siding with the fossil fuel companies and 22 red-state attorneys general that had sued. New York is expected to appeal both cases.

To date, Vermont is the only other state to have enacted a climate superfund law. It’s facing a legal challenge from some of the same plaintiffs as New York, and in the past month alone Parenteau said there’s been a “flurry” of briefings and press statements calling for its repeal. Republican attorneys general and industry interests have also used the legal strike against New York to oppose climate accountability in other states. In New Jersey, Republican state Senator Michael Testa said in a statement that pursuing a climate superfund measure in his state would be “a waste of time and resources.” West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey told Bloomberg Law that if any other state passes this type of policy he will sue them “almost instantaneously.”

Read Next How a Koch-funded campaign is trying to reverse climate action in Vermont Austyn Gaffney

But Grist spoke with several Democratic lawmakers who remained interested in advancing climate superfund legislation despite the losses in New York.

“I don’t think it’ll make any difference,” said Karl Rhoads, an outgoing senator in Hawaiʻi who sponsored a superfund bill last year. “There’s no reason for the rest of us not to continue.”

Rhode Island Representative Jennifer Boylan and Connecticut Representative Josh Elliott both said they’re planning to reintroduce climate superfund bills during their next legislative sessions. “I’m full speed ahead,” Boylan said. She dismissed the idea that the New York case would doom similar legislation elsewhere as “a convenient strategy to try to scare us all.”

Legislators from California, Illinois, and Massachusetts told Bloomberg Law last week that they were interested in putting forward new superfund bills, too.

In New Jersey, a climate superfund bill sponsored by Democratic Senator John McKeon stalled before the Legislature’s summer break but may still be considered during the year and a half that remains in the state’s legislative session. McKeon said he’s unconcerned by the New York ruling, as New Jersey is in a different court circuit and is governed by different laws.

Tony Caplan, a Democratic representative from New Hampshire, last year sponsored an unsuccessful bill to “determine the monetary costs of climate damage to the state of New Hampshire and the best means of recouping such costs.” He said he’s now focusing on decarbonization legislation and doesn’t plan to introduce another superfund bill — but that’s because of long-standing opposition to climate accountability measures from his state’s Republican-controlled Legislature, rather than anything new from the New York decisions. 

“The lawfare goes on,” Caplan said. “The [New York] decision can be appealed, obviously, and there are blue states … that will continue to push forward with these kinds of bills.”

Climate activists held a rally outside Governor Kathy Hochul’s Manhattan office in 2024 to deliver thousands of petitions asking her to sign the Climate Change Superfund Act.
Erik McGregor / LightRocket via Getty Images

Rachel Rothschild, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan Law School, said states “can and should push ahead” with their various climate liability initiatives, as they don’t have to abide by anything the New York District Courts have said — or even anything that the higher-level Second Circuit Court might decide, if the New York superfund lawsuits are appealed. A bad outcome in Suncor v. Boulder County, however, is a much more significant threat. 

Narrowly, the Supreme Court case considers whether a 2018 lawsuit brought by Boulder County and the City of Boulder against Suncor and Exxon Mobil can be heard in state court. Fossil fuel interests have argued that it shouldn’t, because it represents an attempt to dictate federal climate policy. 

If just 5 of 8 justices rule that the case is superseded by the federal Clean Air Act or the Constitution, that precedent will be binding across the country (Justice Samuel Alito has recused himself from the case). States could be severely limited, if not outright barred, from seeking any kind of recompense from fossil fuel companies, whether via tort lawsuits or via climate superfund-style legislation.

“My fear,” said Rothschild, “is that this is going to be another notch in a long list of decisions that are threatening to our broader country and democracy, leaving states without the ability to do much on very flimsy and poorly reasoned legal grounds.” 

Another, less consequential possibility is that justices will punt on the case, since it hasn’t yet traveled all the way up the Colorado court system. Rothschild described this as a “wait-and-see” approach that would be preferable to a total victory for fossil fuel interests. But she worried this outcome would leave “bad law” on the books, referring specifically to the New York state superfund decisions and two others that favor federal preemption for issues of transboundary pollution.

If Boulder prevails, then its lawsuit and other state-level accountability measures will be able to proceed. States waiting to see if this happens might get some insight into what kinds of climate claims are permissible and consistent with the limits of state authority. For example, the justices might suggest in their written decision that states can only claim damages for climate pollution released within their borders, or that they can only collect penalties for demonstrated climate harms.

“That might give us something of a yardstick with which we could evaluate what could be done under the climate superfund statutes,” said Jonathan Adler, a professor at William and Mary Law School. “We’ll have to pay a lot of attention.”

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This story was originally published by Grist with the headline States want to make Big Oil pay for climate harm. Now, courts are weighing in. on Sep 30, 2026.

Vestas has landed a contract to supply turbines to the biggest wind project to begin construction in Australia in more than two years.

The post Turbine giant lands contract for Australia’s biggest wind project in two years, its second deal in two days appeared first on Renew Economy.

In Omaha, Nebraska, during the recent early September heat wave when temps hit the mid-90s Fahrenheit and lows stayed in the 70s, Pat Wilson-Johnson came to the Salvation Army’s North Corps Community Center for lunch.

The location functions as a cooling center during high heat days. From growing up in Omaha, Wilson-Johnson remembers cool summer nights when she could let the breeze in through an open window. Now, she said, that just lets in the humidity.

“Nine o’clock at night, it’s still 90, 91 degrees. That’s not right,” Wilson-Johnson said.

Scott Harris, who works at the center, said many people will have lunch and then sit in the lobby to cool off and drink water. The location also gives out bags of ice for people to stay cool when they leave.

The Siena Francis House, a nonprofit that serves people experiencing homelessness, operates another cooling center during heat advisories. While they’re typically open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Kristy McKern, director of case management and permanent supportive housing, said the organization has staff and protocols in case people need resources outside of these times.

In Lincoln, the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department created an extreme heat response plan over a year ago. While the department has focused on high daytime temperatures, they are beginning to look at nighttime temperature data, a department spokesperson said.

Right now, the Lincoln area has one cooling center that operates overnight.

As in many other places, Nebraska’s minimum temperatures have shot up, presenting an often overlooked, overnight threat to people, livestock, and crops. In the coming decades, the minimum temperatures in Nebraska could be in the low 70s – more like what you’d expect in southeast Kansas and southern Missouri, said Eric Hunt, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln agriculture meteorology and climate resilience extension educator.

For people, heat can stress the cardiovascular system, kidneys, respiratory system, and mental health, said Jesse Bell, director of the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s water, climate, and health program. But these high minimum temperatures don’t affect everyone equally. People at higher risk include the elderly and those with certain health conditions and on certain medications. It’s also more dangerous for people without working air conditioning, people who are houseless, student athletes, and people who work outside.

Siena Francis and its partners travel throughout Omaha during high heat days, providing water, snacks, and sunscreen to folks who are outside. The organization works with some people who have mental illnesses and substance abuse problems.

“A lot of these people don’t have access to just the essentials like you and I would have,” McKern said. “So again, for us to be able to provide those things to them, so they don’t end up in the hospital, or they don’t end up dehydrated or passing out or fainting.”

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On average in the United States, more people die from heat-related deaths than any other weather event.

And it matters even when it’s not deadly. High heat at night also makes it difficult to sleep. According to a report organized by Climate Central, residents in Omaha and Lincoln are estimated to have lost about 30 hours of sleep annually between 2020 and 2025 due to heat, and three of those hours are attributed to climate change.

For those with air conditioning, the heat continuing into the night can mean higher energy bills. Residents living in low-income housing or older homes and buildings that haven’t been weatherized could face more hardship during heat waves.

Air conditioning accounts for a large chunk of electricity use from residential and commercial customers, according to the Energy Information Administration. Energy use increases in the summer throughout the day as temperature also rises. The usage maxes out at around 5 or 6 p.m. But as nighttime temperatures rise and air conditioning units work harder longer, the demand on utility companies grows. At the same time, these companies are currently experiencing multiple pressures to increase energy generation from customers like data centers. To meet demand on the grid, some utilities are deciding to keep fossil fuel generation online.

Beyond Nebraska’s urban centers, the rising nighttime temperatures also pose a concern for agriculture, the state’s biggest industry. 

Higher nighttime temperatures mean that corn and soybeans — Nebraska’s two leading crops — use more energy instead of storing it, which can impact growth. Depending on the timing, duration, and intensity, the higher nighttime temps could result in smaller and fewer seeds and biomass for soybeans, said George Graef, a UNL agronomy and horticulture professor focused on soybean breeding and genetics. And if there are multiple warm days and nights, corn crops begin “shutting down and losing a week or more of filling time in late summer and early fall that we would normally get, which pretty significantly impacts yield,” said Tom Hoegemeyer, a retired UNL professor specializing in agronomy and horticulture. 

In the short term, there is concern that these higher nighttime temps combined with drought could mean increased usage of groundwater in irrigated production, Hoegemeyer said. Fungi and bacteria could also hurt corn crops when it’s hot and humid at night, which means farmers may be driven to spray more chemicals on crops to protect them, Hoegemeyer said. 

Given these nighttime temperatures, Graef said the soybean industry is employing new technology and capabilities to evaluate and adapt the crop to the changing conditions. He’s confident new variants will be identified.

While the corn industry has been aware of this issue for the last 30 years and has been able to adapt corn crops to better tolerate these conditions, Hoegemeyer is worried about how effective this will be long term.

“If you believe the projections as to what temperatures will be like, say, by 2100, we may not be able to do that,” Hoegemeyer said. “There are limits to what we can do with genetics and technology.”

Livestock, including cattle, pigs, and chickens, make up a number of Nebraska’s leading commodities. The rising nighttime temperatures pose a concern for livestock in eastern and central Nebraska, where humidity is also rising.

“The effects of heat stress overall tend to affect larger, more productive animals the most,” said Rick Stowell, a UNL professor and animal environment extension specialist. “So, if you think about heavy animals, mature animals, fat cattle and a sow, for example, or a high-producing dairy cow, they are generating a lot more body heat, and so they have a lot more heat to get rid of.”

To adapt, producers are building more shade structures in feedlots, something Stowell has seen more of over the last 20 years. Other strategies: increased ventilation in buildings, altered feeding schedules, and sprinkling water on the ground and in feedlots for cooling. 

“Most livestock producers and poultry producers (in eastern Nebraska) are well aware that the situation is getting more challenging,” Stowell said.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Nebraskans couldn’t escape the heat this summer — not even at night on Sep 30, 2026.

A few years ago, I watched a bouquet of peonies leave a florist in Oregon for a wedding in Florida. They were tight, blush-pink buds, and they arrived four days later fully open, fragrant and flawless. The same week, a batch of delicate sweet peas made a much shorter trip and showed up limp. Why the difference? Some flowers handle travel well, and some simply don’t.

If you’re picking blooms for a long trip, whether across the country or across an ocean, the variety matters as much as the packing. Here is what I’ve learned about which flowers hold up, which ones struggle, and why.

What makes a flower a good traveler?

Travel stress comes down to three things: dehydration, temperature swings, and ethylene gas. Ethylene is a natural plant hormone that speeds up aging, and some flowers are far more sensitive to it than others. Sturdy flowers share a few traits:

• Thick, waxy petals that lose moisture slowly.
• Woody or firm stems that can take up water even after hours in a box.
• Low ethylene sensitivity, so they don’t drop petals in a closed, warm space.
• Tight buds that open gradually, which means they finish blooming at the destination, not in transit.

That last point is a big one. A flower shipped at the right stage of development can actually look better on day four than on day one.

The flowers that handle long trips best Reliable all-rounders

Chrysanthemums are the workhorses of the flower world. They can last two to three weeks in a vase and tolerate rough handling. Alstroemeria (Peruvian lily) is another favorite of mine, since it drinks well, ships well, and keeps producing new blooms from each stem. Carnations get an unfair reputation as filler, but they are among the most durable cut flowers available, often lasting over two weeks.

Roses deserve a nuance. Long-stemmed roses from Ecuador and Colombia are grown specifically for shipping, and many varieties travel for days without trouble. Look for varieties with dense, high-petal-count heads, which tend to be more resilient than thin-petaled garden types.

Elegant and surprisingly tough

Orchids, especially cymbidium and dendrobium sprays, are excellent for long hauls thanks to their waxy petals. Proteas and other structural blooms are nearly indestructible and dry beautifully afterward. Lisianthus looks like a fragile rose but ships quite well, and snapdragons do fine as long as they stay upright in transit, because they bend toward light if laid wrong.

The divas to avoid

Some blooms just don’t enjoy the journey. Sweet peas, poppies, gardenias, and delphiniums shed or wilt quickly, and delphiniums and snapdragons are highly ethylene-sensitive. Hydrangeas look sturdy but wilt dramatically if their stems dry out, though they can be revived with a warm-water soak. If your trip is longer than two days, I’d pick something else.

Quick comparison by travel time Journey length Good choices Riskier choices 1–2 days (domestic) Roses, tulips, lilies, lisianthus Sweet peas, poppies 3–5 days (cross-country or overseas) Alstroemeria, carnations, chrysanthemums, orchids Delphinium, hydrangea, gardenia 5+ days Proteas, carnations, hardy foliage like eucalyptus Most soft-stemmed spring flowers Borders, paperwork, and timing

When you’re sending flowers internationally, the flowers themselves are only half the story. Many countries require phytosanitary inspection, and some restrict certain species or any soil-grown material. Customs delays of even 24 hours can shorten vase life noticeably, so it helps to avoid shipping right before a weekend or holiday. Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day create bottlenecks that stress both cargo and cold-chain systems.

A few habits make a real difference:

1. Choose flowers cut at the “tight bud” or “show color” stage, not fully open.
2. Make sure stems are hydrated, either with water tubes or gel packs.
3. Keep the box cool, ideally between 34 and 41°F, and out of direct sun.
4. Recut stems at an angle on arrival and place them in clean water with flower food.
5. Let them rest in a cool room for an hour or two before arranging.

Fresh-keeping tips for the receiving end

Here’s a small habit I swear by: strip any leaves that would sit below the waterline. Bacteria grows fast on submerged foliage and clogs stems, which is the number one reason flowers die early. Keep the vase away from ripening fruit, since apples and bananas give off ethylene. And change the water every two days.

Choosing with confidence

The short version: sturdy, waxy, tight-budded flowers like alstroemeria, carnations, chrysanthemums, orchids, and proteas are your safest bets for long journeys. Save the delicate beauties for local delivery. If you want to go deeper, look into cold-chain logistics and country-specific import rules before your next shipment. A little planning up front means the bouquet that arrives looks just as good as the one you imagined.

I spent all my working life in coal mines before retiring in 2020. Since then I have become a passionate advocate for establishing renewable industries in areas where coal mines will close.

The post We must plan for coal mine closures, not approve them because we lack a plan  appeared first on Renew Economy.

'A brutal reminder' Channel News brendan 30th September 2026 Teaser Media

As Russia escalates its attacks, Ukraine’s resistance holds, and peace negotiations are at an impasse, the people of Ukraine need international solidarity from anti-war people as much as ever. The military and civil resistance of Ukraine is anchored by its working-class majority who are on the frontlines and the production lines fighting for Ukraine’s national existence, for democracy, for social and economic policies in the interests of the majority, and for a just peace.

Global solidarity with Ukraine’s struggle for survival is as important as solidarity with Palestine in the face of Israel’s genocide, ethnic cleansing, and annexation.

Much responsibility for the bloody military stalemate in Ukraine lies with the United States’ cutback of support for Ukraine’s defense, especially the failure to provide desperately needed defense against Russia’s ballistic missile attacks.

While Russian ground offensives on the frontlines have largely stalled since the fall of 2022, Russia has progressively accelerated the scale of its bombardment of civilians and civilian infrastructure far behind the frontlines, with civilian casualties growing with the increasing strikes on schools, hospitals, and residential buildings; power, heat, water, and sewage infrastructure; and port, railway, and logistics centers. Russian soldiers are hunting and killing civilians in “human safaris” using FPV (First Person View) drones in Kherson and other frontline communities. With the U.S. diversion of Patriot missile interceptors to the wars in the Middle East and the resulting depletion of supplies, Ukraine has been left with no effective defense against Russia’s terrorist missile strikes.

Russia is expected to mobilize an additional 500,000 new troops for a coming offensive after the ritualized parliamentary elections on September 18-20 from which the only anti-war party has been banned. North Korea is deploying 50,000 troops, 120 ballistic missiles, and six missile launchers to join Russia’s ground and air offensives. In addition to continuing to sell Russia components for weapons systems, this year China has doubled its purchases of Russian oil. Revenues from oil and gas are crucial to funding the Russian war machine, accounting for 25% to 30% Russia’s federal budget of which the military has consumed 40% to 50% annually since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

Russia and its echo chambers accused Ukraine in late July of “escalation” intended to merge the wars in Ukraine and Iran after Ukrainian drones bombed Iranian cargo ships transporting military supplies from Iran to Russia in the Caspian Sea. These Ukrainian airstrikes were self-defense. Iran entered the war on Russia’s side four years ago in the summer of 2022 when it began training Russian drone operators in Crimea and Iran itself in the use of the attack drones it was supplying to Russia.

Even though the U.S. has cut military and economic aid to Ukraine since the beginning of 2025 when Trump came into office, and European aid falls well short of what Ukraine asks for and needs, Ukraine has developed its own considerable military industrial capacities. It now produces most of its ammunition and has built an innovative and effective drone force. Surveillance and attack drones have made the frontlines impassible for the unrelenting Russian ground offensives, while constant improvements in Ukraine’s mid-range and long-range drones have imposed “kinetic sanctions” inside Russia that have severely degraded Russia’s oil and gas refining, export capacities, military production, weapons depots, and supply lines.

Stalemate, Escalation, and Deprivation

Despite the war’s stalemate, escalating air strikes by both sides are increasing destruction and casualties in both countries. The most credible estimates find that total military and civilian casualties have surpassed two million. Russia’s battlefield casualties are close to 1.5 million, including 500,000 killed. Ukraine’s military casualties are as many as 600,000, including up to 140,000 killed. The verified UN total for Ukrainian civilian casualties is over 68,000, including nearly 17,000 killed, with 2026 having the highest civilian casualties since the first month of Russia’s full-scale invasion. The verified totals do not account for probably tens of thousands more Ukrainian civilians who died in the bloody siege of Mariupol in 2022 and in the Russian-occupied territories where an accurate count remains impossible until those territories are liberated.

Any expression of Ukrainian or Crimean Tatar identity is severely punished by heavy prison sentences, torture, and widespread property confiscation. Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar books are burned and their cultural artifacts are destroyed.

Life for people in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine is desperate. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian children have been abducted/kidnapped to Russia into a vast network of camps for ideologized Russian historical indoctrination, cultural erasure, and military training. Any expression of Ukrainian or Crimean Tatar identity is severely punished by heavy prison sentences, torture, and widespread property confiscation. Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar books are burned and their cultural artifacts are destroyed. Human rights groups regard these policies as genocidal and among the most repressive in the world due to the total suppression of political and civil rights and the demographic engineering of ethnically cleansing Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars and recruiting Russian settlers.

For the living, life is becoming more difficult. Ukrainians are finding empty shelves at grocery stores due to Russian bombing of warehouses. They face a fifth deadly winter with even deeper cuts to power, heat, and water. Poverty rates are up from 5% before the war to 25% to 30% today. Russian families and communities are feeling the costs of the war in fallen soldiers, high interest rates, inflation, cuts to social services due to military priorities and growing fiscal constraints, and consumer goods shortages, including long lines for gasoline.

People in the Global South are also feeling the consequences of this war as Russia and Ukraine bomb each others’ ports and vessels on the Black Sea.

People in the Global South are also feeling the consequences of this war as Russia and Ukraine bomb each others’ ports and vessels on the Black Sea, choking off grain exports and raising world food insecurity that has already been hit by “super” El Niño weather patterns that are bringing drought or destructive flooding to many agricultural regions of the world. Russia recently rejected Ukraine’s proposed “grain truce” in the Black Sea.

Negotiations Impasse

The stalemated war calls for a ceasefire and negotiations toward a permanent peace settlement. Ukraine is willing, but Russia is not. The Ukrainian government and a majority of its people according to credible polling are willing to compromise for a ceasefire at the current contact line, with the national status of the Russian-occupied territories to be determined diplomatically, not militarily, over time. Ukraine is willing to forgo NATO membership if comparable security guarantees against further Russian aggression are provided in another form.

Russia, on the other hand, has shown no willingness to compromise. It insists that Ukraine withdraw from the rest of the territories that Russia has claimed to have annexed before negotiations can begin. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov have repeatedly said Russia will take those territories by military force if Ukraine does not surrender them.

Citing sources within the Kremlin, journalists report that Putin ordered his security services to undertake covert actions to “implode NATO and the EU from within” in 2026. Putin hopes that “hybrid warfare” against Europe along with the ascension of far-right pro-Russian political parties will undermine European support for Ukraine.

Russian “hybrid warfare” against European countries is many faceted. It has included cyber attacks, a drone attack on a Ukrainian cargo plane at the Leipzig airport in Germany, Russian air strikes on a hydropower dam and a high-voltage power line in southern Ukraine that caused major power and clean water shortages in downstream Moldova. There have been thwarted assassination attempts in Poland including of a dual citizen of Ukraine and the United States. Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers has dragged anchors to damage underwater power lines, data cables, and gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. Russia has instigated anti-Ukrainian demonstrations and violent assaults in Poland, conducted influence operations and provided material support for far-right pro-Russia political parties and candidates in Moldova, Romania, Germany, Poland, France, Italy, Britain, and other countries, and there have been numerous drone intrusions around military bases, airports, and power and water infrastructure in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Moldova, Romania, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, The Netherlands, Britain, and Ireland.

Russian Tanks, Western Banks, and Domestic Oligarchs

Europe’s response has been equivocal. While it has partially filled the gaps left by the withdrawal of U.S. aid, it still cannot agree to a plan to use Russia’s nearly $250 billion in frozen assets to aid Ukraine, limiting itself to small payments of “windfall” interest earnings from these assets. Meanwhile, the U.S. administration is not only withholding military and economic aid, it has pressured Ukraine to surrender land to Russia for a “peace” settlement that would carve up Ukraine between the U.S. and Russia for mutual exploitation and a resumption of American corporate participation in the Russian oil and gas industry.

This U.S. imperialist approach to Ukraine was exemplified in early August when Trump said no to Zelensky’s requests for military aid – No to Patriot missile interceptors, No to licenses so Ukraine could build its own Patriots, and No to extending Starlink functionality for Ukraine to Russian territory to help it strike Russian missile manufacturers. Trump added that under the minerals deal he forced on Ukraine last year, “We can go in there at any time we want to take pretty much whatever we want.”

We should not have any illusions about the self-proclaimed “conversion” of Laura Loomer, the far-right influencer and Trump whisperer. Loomer has her own agendas that are not Ukraine’s. In Ukraine she promoted her anti-Muslim, white nationalist agenda by saying it was “refreshing” that she had seen no Muslims in Ukraine. In fact, the percentage of Muslims in Ukraine is double that in the United States. She proclaimed that Ukraine is a willing American ally in its war on Iran even though Zelensky has said the Iran war benefits Russia and hurts Ukraine. Far-right ideologues like Loomer have nothing positive to offer Ukraine.

The Ukrainian working class buttressing Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s invasion and occupation needs solidarity from their counterparts in trade unions and progressive social movements around the world. They face not only Russian tanks and Western banks, but also domestic oligarchs whose profiteering and corruption schemes continue to be little taxed, investigated, or regulated under the neoliberal policies of the Zelensky government.

It is a good sign for Ukrainian democracy that street protests have influenced government actions, from last year’s successful defense of the state’s anti-corruption agencies to this year’s ongoing demonstrations concerning military leadership, soldiers’ terms of service, transit fare hikes, and proposed regressive revisions to the labor and civil codes that threaten the rights of workers, women, LGBTIQ+ people, people with disabilities, and independent journalists.

Our international solidarity should include demanding that Western banks and governments stop conditioning loans and grants to Ukraine on neoliberal policies that undermine the social and economic security of the Ukrainian people.

The remarkable volunteer self-organization and mutual aid of the Ukrainian people during the war cannot be expected to substitute for sustainable government programs for housing, income, health, and education. Our international solidarity should include demanding that Western banks and governments stop conditioning loans and grants to Ukraine on neoliberal policies that undermine the social and economic security of the Ukrainian people. We should be demanding the cancellation of Ukraine’s unjust foreign debts as well as an increase in grants instead of loans to maintain and improve Ukrainian social services. We should demand that Western governments provide the weapons systems that Ukraine needs to defeat Russia’s aggression.

People-to-People Solidarity

As we demand changes in our own governments’ policies, we should also be working directly with Ukrainian trade unions, socialists, and progressives in educational and material aid projects. International debates on the left about the war in Ukraine too often do not include the voices of Ukrainian leftists. We should be providing more venues where they can present their analyses of the war and what they need to sustain their movements against foreign imperialisms and domestic reaction.

[W]e should also be working directly with Ukrainian trade unions, socialists, and progressives in educational and material aid projects. International debates on the left about the war in Ukraine too often do not include the voices of Ukrainian leftists.

Progressive anti-imperialists are also working with Ukrainian leftists to raise and distribute material aid to Ukrainian trade unions and social movements to help them meet basic needs for Ukrainians, such as medical supplies and diesel generators, solar panels, and heat pumps for power and heating.

This November and December an International Solidarity Convoy to Ukraine is a major civil society and labor union initiative organized by the International Network of Solidarity with Ukraine (INSU), with which the Ukraine Solidarity Network (US) is affiliated. The convoy aims to deliver critical material aid and strengthen global working-class solidarity with the Ukrainian working class.

Operating as an international “ground flotilla,” the convoy will have southern columns departing from Barcelona and Italy, a central column coming from Ireland and Britain, and a northern column starting in Norway. The columns will be hosting events along the transit routes to mobilize international trade unions, feminist networks, environmental organizations, and LGBTIQ+ groups in a unified stance of anti-imperialist solidarity. The columns will converge in Poland before crossing the border into Ukraine for major distribution stops in Lviv, Kyiv, and hard-hit regions in the war-torn East.

We urge everyone to contribute to this effort. To donate and get involved, please visit the International Solidarity Convoy to Ukraine at https://solidarityconvoyukraine.com/.

Opinions expressed in signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or the Tempest Collective. For more information, see “About Tempest Collective.”
Featured Image credit: Leonhard Lenz; modified by Tempest.

The post Ukraine Needs International Solidarity as Russia Escalates Its Aggression appeared first on Tempest.

BoM chart shows giant El Niño climate pattern in the Pacific is nearing record weekly levels.

The post El Niño nears record levels as ocean conditions tilt in unfavourable direction for eastern Australia appeared first on Renew Economy.

Centre for Future Work Economist and Director Jim Stanford was recently invited to give testimony to the Senate’s National Finance committee, regarding the state of Canada’s macroeconomy in the wake of Donald Trump’s trade war and other geopolitical uncertainty. Stanford emphasized the continuing resilience of the national economy, which has avoided recession and recently chalked up decent growth and job-creation numbers – despite the damage done by U.S. tariffs to our exports and business investment. He warned Senators that diversifying the destination for Canadian exports is not an adequate response to current risks: Canada must also focus on diversifying the composition of exports, using pro-active measures to add value to Canadian resources through processing and manufacturing (rather than depending mostly on exports of unprocessed resources, which now account for over 50% of total Canadian merchandise exports). He also stressed that the challenge of the trade war does not justify jettisoning core labour, social, and environmental criteria in economic development policies. Stanford specifically criticized the federal government’s intention (in its Bill C-39) to codify ministerial powers to ban strikes in the federal sector of the economy, on vague and subjective grounds of ‘national interest’.

Stanford’s opening remarks to the Senate committee are posted below. They draw on more extensive analysis contained in several recent public presentations; see Stanford’s presentation slides here for more detail.

Opening Remarks Senate Standing Committee on National Finance Hearings on Canadian Economic Outlook, Sep. 29, 2026 By Jim Stanford, Economist and Director Centre for Future Work

Thank you very much, Senators, for the opportunity to meet and share my views on Canada’s economic and fiscal situation as you prepare for the upcoming federal budget.

The Centre for Future Work is a labour economics research institute, founded in Canada in 2020. We conduct research on the full range of economic issues facing working people: including the future of jobs, wages and income distribution, skills and training, sector and industry policies, globalization, the role of government, public services, and more. The Centre also develops timely and practical policy proposals to help make the world of work better for working people and their families.  The Centre is independent and non-partisan.

Today I will provide some short comments on the current state of Canada’s economy, how it is withstanding the uncertainty caused by the erratic changes in U.S. trade policy, and themes that the federal government should emphasize in its future actions. Then I will welcome your questions and comments.

Recent economic indicators confirm that Canada’s economy is maintaining its stability and momentum despite the disruptions arising from U.S. tariffs and other uncertainty on the international front. Second-quarter growth was both strong and well-balanced. All major cylinders in Canada’s economic engine were firing: with significant growth in consumer spending, government expenditure (on both current services and capital investment), business non-residential investment, residential investment, and exports. Even our exports to the U.S. grew, as well as our exports to other countries. The overall rate of growth (2.3% annualized) would have been much stronger but for a major inventory drawdown during the quarter, as businesses worked down excess inventory accumulated in previous less vibrant quarters. That portends continued strength in future quarters, as firms adjust to renewed growth and readjust their inventories accordingly.

In the labour market, job-creation has been decent if not spectacular, with over 200,000 jobs created in the last 12 months, most of them full-time. Even manufacturing (which has borne the brunt of U.S. trade actions) has seen year-over-year job growth of over 20,000 new positions, which attests to the diversity and resilience of this vital sector. Ironically, the weakest employment numbers are presently arising from the public sector, including education (mostly due to job reductions in colleges, adjusting to the whiplash effects of erratic immigration policies for international students) and public administration (mostly due to headcount reductions in the federal civil service). This public sector downsizing is unnecessary. The public sector is relatively insulated from President Trump’s trade actions, and should be a source of stability as the economy adjusts to the new global environment. The federal government in particular should rethink this downsizing, which will also affect the quality of federal service delivery to Canadians.

One warning sign from the labour market is a noted deceleration of wage growth, which had been quite robust over the previous four years. The initial inflation shock following the COVID pandemic required a pickup in wage growth in Canada, to try to restore real purchasing power for Canadian workers damaged by the temporarily high inflation of 2022 and 2023. That repair job worked: wage growth exceeded inflation significantly from late 2023 until the present, allowing real wages to recover and then some. Real wages are now higher than they were before the pandemic, and this has been essential in helping Canadian address affordability challenges. It is testament to Canada’s labour relations system that real wages, on average, have been more than fully repaired. Strong improvements in minimum wages in most provinces (and the federal jurisdiction), and Canada’s strong collective bargaining system, explain why real wages have performed better here than in many other countries – including the U.S., where real wages are falling.

However, a combination of slower wage growth and a rebound in inflation (resulting from the U.S. war against Iran) are now threatening that success. Hourly nominal wages were up only 2.0% year-over-year in August, the slowest in 5 years – and not enough to keep up with current inflation. Placing continued priority on strong wage gains for Canadian workers will be essential for protecting purchasing power and sustaining consumer spending, which after all accounts for half of total GDP. In this context, I must express alarm regarding the federal government’s intention to codify restrictions on normal collective bargaining rights in its proposed changes to the Canada Labour Code, as part of its current Bill C-39. Codifying the government’s right to interfere arbitrarily in bargaining and suppress constitutional rights (including the right to withhold labour) on the basis of vague and subjective measures of ‘national interest’, is a step in the wrong direction, that would heighten the risk of future deterioration in real wages in Canada.

Canada’s trade performance has also been surprisingly robust despite the impact of swings in U.S. policy. Exports of goods and services in nominal terms have increased to both the U.S. and other countries, partly due to higher prices (especially for oil) and partly increased volumes. Since the end of 2024 (when President Trump won election), Canada’s exports to countries other than the U.S. have grown by 18% (to the second quarter of 2026). Even our exports to the U.S. are up 9%. The share of our total exports going to the U.S. has fallen to 67%. There is a lot going on behind these numbers (including the rise in world petroleum prices following the U.S. war on Iran), but it seems clear that efforts to diversify Canadian trade ties are paying off.

Let me conclude with some high-level thoughts about the broad task facing Canada’s economy in the coming years. The attacks on our economy, and indeed our sovereignty, from south of the border are forcing us to redefine how we orient Canada’s economic and social development. Instead of relying on access to the huge U.S. market as our key advantage in investment location, we must develop a more self-reliant and diversified vision for future investment, innovation, trade, and growth. This means attracting more investment here (from both foreign investors, but also more investment of our own capital, such as the trillions held by Canadian entities, including our pension funds, in the U.S. and other foreign markets). It means strengthening our trade ties with the rest of the world. But it’s not just the quantity of investment and exports that matters: it’s also the composition of those flows, and the quality of the economy – and society – that we build. There is a current temptation, as we gird our national loins to withstand the irrationality of the Trump administration, to double down on anything we can do, and do quickly. This has contributed to a great rush to expand resource extraction and exports.

However, reinforcing Canada’s dependence on extraction and export of unprocessed primary products has its own risks to our economic capability and sovereignty – including well-known vulnerability to global demand and geopolitical swings, as well as (in the case of fossil fuels) environmental risks that are more urgent every year (and which continue to accumulate regardless of the climate denialism of the U.S. government and some others). Our vision should be to build an economy that is not just viable in the face of Trump’s attacks, but retains the core values which motivate Canadians to defend our country as an entity distinct from that south of the border. That means preserving a balance in our economic strategy between getting big things done quickly, and making sure we are doing the right kinds of big things, and doing them properly – including with due attention to sustainability, Indigenous consultation and consent, and basic social and labour values and rights. In that regard, it is more important than ever for Senators to play their full oversight role, to ensure that the federal government’s response to this dangerous moment does not dismiss those values and priorities in a rush to sign deals and accelerate projects.

Thank you again for your attention, and I look forward to your questions or discussion.

The post How Canada is Surviving Trump’s Trade War appeared first on Centre for Future Work.

Report suggests focus has shifted from how we can leverage rapidly improving emissions measurement technologies, to whether or not they will fit into a clunky, regulatory box.

The post The revolutionary methane detection technology that probably won’t fit into our regulatory box appeared first on Renew Economy.

The Australian Greens has named its new leaders, in a move the party says will offer "fresh leadership" and an answer to the rise of One Nation and the far right.

The post “Staring down the climate crisis:” New Greens leaders promise to take fight to One Nation – and to Labor appeared first on Renew Economy.

This September, as part of the Global Day of Action Against WTO and Free Trade Agreements, La Via Campesina hosted a global webinar featuring a lecture by renowned author, academic, and activist Raj Patel.

The post Trade, Capitalism and the Food System – Study Session with Raj Patel appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

Same-day delivery? More like Hell on Wheels.

Amazon delivery drivers have spent the last five years racking up thousands of serious traffic violations, including speeding through school zones, blocking bus and bike lanes and parking next to fire hydrants, according city data collected by an organization looking to reform the logistics giant’s hiring practices.

A new interactive tool from the labor-aligned Alliance for a Greater New York details the many thousands of traffic infractions drivers for Amazon collected between July 2021 and June 2025. The interactive map, called Amazon Delivers Dangers, shows that Amazon-associated delivery vans drew 14,290 tickets from cameras and traffic enforcement agents over the five-year period.

The map sorts the tickets into the following categories:

• 3,602 citations for blocking bus lanes, bus stops, or other public-transit access
• 2,689 citations for obstructing curb access
• 2,366 citations involving traffic and intersection safety
• 2,162 citations for speeding in school zones
• 2,051 citations for obstructing emergency-response access
• 1,340 citations for blocking pedestrian or cyclist space.

Between 2019 and 2024, the number of packages delivered in New York City jumped by nearly 40 percent, from 1.8 million per day to 2.5 million per day. That trend has driven many more delivery vans onto city streets.

An illegally parked van in the Grand Street bike lane.

The map shows that Amazon delivery drivers’ dangerous habits are not limited to a single corner of the city or a few bad-apple drivers. The company’s drivers have received tickets in every last one of the city’s 51 City Council districts, and the 10 plates with the most combined citations accounted for only 904 of the 14,920 tickets.

The map is the latest lob in the fight between labor organizers and Amazon over the Delivery Protection Act, a bill proposed by Council Member Tiffany Caban (D-Queens). That bill requires the operators of “last-mile” warehouses to directly hire anyone doing deliveries out of that warehouse, which would effectively require Amazon to directly hire the delivery drivers who work for the company dropping off packages around the city.

Currently, Amazon relies on subcontracting its deliveries out to companies known as Delivery Service Partners, which are local independent logistics companies that lease Amazon trucks and uniforms from the online retail giant. By hiring DSPs as subcontractors that pick up deliveries from its warehouses around the city, critics say Amazon is able to skirt any regulations or responsibility for how those drivers behave on the road, despite the fact that Amazon is the company that tracks delivery times and sets routes for drivers.

Every dot is a traffic ticket collected by an Amazon-linked delivery van.

Caban’s bill would also mandate safety training for drivers and ensure that Amazon proper — and not an ever-changing roster of DSPs — is liable for the traffic violations by delivery drivers.

“Amazon’s business model is built on the routine violation of traffic laws,” Matt Multari, a former Amazon delivery driver, said in a press release announcing the new mapping tool. “Amazon surveils you and tracks you to the minute, forcing you to go faster. You don’t have time to look for parking. If Amazon’s AI notices that you are going slower than what they expect, you can get penalized, or eventually terminated.”

A majority of the City Council supports Caban’s bill. Amazon has spent $5 million lobbying against the legislation, and warned supportive Council Members that the company would stop using electric cargo bikes to deliver packages if it becomes law. It is unclear why Amazon would abandon its micromobility practices if the city required it to directly hire the people who ride company-branded cargo bikes.

“Companies like Amazon are using subcontractors to shield themselves from their responsibility to keep workers and New Yorkers writ large safe,” Caban said in a press release. “That’s why I’m proud to be the lead sponsor of the Delivery Protection Act, which would create a licensing system for last-mile deliveries, force companies to take responsibility for their drivers, protect against unfair retaliation and firing of workers, and require real training for workers.”

A spokesperson for Amazon claimed the company’s violations are a “tiny fraction” of its total deliveries, which “does not suggest a systemic issue” — and pointed to the company’s e-cargo bikes as evidence of Amazon trying to address the issue.

“Safe and responsible delivery practices are always a top priority. Delivery Service Partners are local, independent businesses, responsible for their own operations and for following the traffic and parking laws in the communities where they operate, including addressing any citations,” the rep, Leigh Ann Gullett, said in a statement.

“We work closely with them to promote safe delivery practices, from hands-on driver training to in-vehicle safety technology, and we continue to invest in solutions like our e-cargo bike and on-foot delivery programs that reduce the need for vehicles on city streets and help us be a good neighbor in the communities we serve.”