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25 May 2026- As we mark Africa Day 2026, we, the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and Break Free From Plastic (BFFP) Africa, are reiterating our urgent call to strengthen the continent’s fight against waste colonialism. 

We call for an end to waste colonialism – the practice of exporting waste from high-income nations to lower-income countries that are often ill-equipped to manage it safely — a system that perpetuates environmental racism and places disproportionate harm on vulnerable communities. 

We are witnessing our environments, our communities, and our informal waste workers being forced to shoulder a burden that is not theirs. Although this waste is often shipped to us under the guise of “recycling,” we know the reality: only 9% of plastic produced since the 1950s has ever been recycled. Instead, countries including the United States, Italy, Germany, and Greece continue to export hazardous waste—including e-waste, plastic waste, and textile waste—to African nations.

We are deeply concerned about the situation in hotspots such as Accra, Nairobi, and Lagos. We see massive dumps filled with illegal imports—toxic electronics, hazardous plastics, second-hand clothing in the form of textile waste and even chemical waste. 

We are outraged that the relentless pursuit of cheap resource extraction by Global North countries is inflicting severe health and environmental harm across the African continent. Most tragically, children are working in toxic waste dumps, exposed to chemicals and pollution with devastating health impacts, because wealthy nations continue to benefit from global systemic inequality.

Gilbert Kuepouo, Executive Director of the Centre de Recherche et d’éducation pour le Développement (CREPD), said that amid the uncertainties and setbacks on many environmental issues, Africa is struggling with a silent handicap. 

‘’35 years after its adoption, the Bamako Convention counts only 30 ratifications (55.5% of the countries of the African Union) and only 3 COPs organized, i.e. about 01 COP every 12 years! A paradox for a region that deliberately designed this instrument to protect itself and its people against waste colonialism.” 

While the Bamako Convention provides stronger regional protections than the Basel Convention in prohibiting the import of hazardous waste into Africa, we recognise that enforcement and political will across the continent remain inadequate. It is therefore imperative that all African nations exercise their collective sovereign rights to ratify and fully implement the Bamako Convention, and to take a united stand against the continued dumping of waste from the Global North.  

Hellen Dena, project lead for the Pan-African Plastic project at Greenpeace Africa, expresses concerns about the devastating impact of waste colonialism. From toxic chemicals and massive carbon footprints to worker exploitation, the damage is widespread. 

To fix this, she said, ‘’we need stronger laws—like extended producer responsibility (EPR) and stricter supply chain regulations—to ensure brands are held accountable, from production to disposal.”

“New EU landmark rules on plastic waste shipments must be strongly enforced to ensure EU plastic waste exports to African countries are not only prohibited on paper, but stopped in reality, together with their harmful impacts,’’ explained Justine Maillot, EU plastics policy expert, with the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)

We call on African governments to strengthen the implementation of the Bamako Convention to end illegal imports. Western manufacturers must find sustainable solutions for their waste rather than externalising environmental costs to the Global South. 

Jim Puckett, Executive Director and Founder of Basel Action Network (BAN), also calls for stronger advocacy. According to Jim, “Africa has led the way in saying no to waste trade. It’s time to lead in saying no to plastic.”  This is why Sirine Rached, Global Policy Advisor at GAIA advised  ‘’plastic waste prevention – which begins with addressing plastic overproduction – is critical. It is a gap under the Basel Convention, and one which the future global plastic treaty must absolutely cover.” 

On this Africa Day, we call for a future underpinned by environmental justice and the absolute protection of our planet and people. Africa’s future generations must not be left to pay the price for the world’s waste – Africa is not a dumping ground!

ENDS

For more information, please contact:

GAIA Africa: Ibrahim Khalilulahi Usman – khalil@no-burn.org 

BFFP Africa: Masego Mokgwetsi – masego@breakfreefromplastic.org 

ABOUT GAIA & BFFP 

GAIA: GAIA is a global network of grassroots groups, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and individuals, in over 90 countries. The organisation envisions a just, zero-waste world built on respect for ecological limits and community rights, where people are free from the burden of toxic pollution, and resources are sustainably conserved, not burned or dumped. GAIA works to catalyse a global shift towards environmental justice by strengthening grassroots social movements that advance solutions to waste and pollution. www.no-burn.org 

BFFP: The #BreakFreeFromPlastic (BFFP) Movement is a global movement envisioning a future free from plastic pollution. Since its launch in 2016, more than 12,000 organisations and individual supporters from across the world have joined the #BreakFreeFromPlastic movement to demand massive reductions in single-use plastics and to push for lasting solutions to the plastic pollution crisis. www.breakfreefromplastic.org 

The post Media Release: Stop Dumping on Africa: GAIA/BFFP Calls for Urgent Action Against Waste Colonialism first appeared on GAIA.

A recent United Nations report declares the world is facing a state of water bankruptcy that will force food and agriculture systems to adapt.  

Across the globe, surface waters and glaciers are shrinking, wetlands have been liquidated, and groundwater has been depleted, the report states. As water insecurity grows, agricultural heartlands are running off a diminished supply, and water quality is decreasing. According to the U.N., current expectations around water governance are no longer relevant. 

The term water crisis has been used to refer to systemic issues in water systems, explains Kaveh Madani, Director of the U.N. University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) and author of the report. But he says it’s no longer appropriate for the current reality. “The term “water crisis” implies a temporary shock and deviation from the baseline,” he tells Food Tank. “But we are dealing with a new normal—a post-crisis state of failure.”

The report reveals that humanity’s use of freshwater has surpassed the Earth’s limits. Withdrawals from many aquifers and basins are greater than what the planet can afford. This requires terminology that reflects this new reality, Madani argues. 

“Water bankruptcy reminds us that some of the damages are irreversible and that we require investing in adaptation to a new normal,” he says.

The agriculture sector—responsible for nearly 70 percent of freshwater withdrawals globally, according to the report—is particularly vulnerable to water shortages. In countries where agriculture constitutes a large fraction of the workforce, the impacts of water bankruptcy are intensified. Yields decline, livestock systems become dysregulated, the income of farmers and farm workers suffers. In turn, food prices rise.

But Madani says there is still a sustainable path forward for humanity’s relationship with water, and it begins with telling the truth and using the right language. “Declaring water bankruptcy, just like financial bankruptcy, is a difficult admission for anyone to make,” Madani tells Food Tank. “The language of water bankruptcy, when used by decision-makers, is meant to liberate them of their past lack of transparency and overreliance on short-term, unsustainable measures.”

Farmers are trying to manage water shortages by reducing the size of irrigated land and ramping up the use of water-efficient technology and crops, Madani explains. But they need support from policymakers to help fund their efforts. “Governments must offer alternative economic modes of life to farmers…which entails diversifying national economies and offering compensation for stranded investments.”

A just transition framework is central to planning, Madani argues. Those with the least amount of economic and political power are most likely to bear the brunt of water bankruptcy’s harms, the report explains. That’s why it argues that the restructuring of water governance must ensure legal safeguards, compensation, livelihood diversification, and social protection for societally disenfranchised populations.

The report also calls on nations to prevent further irreparable harm. This means ensuring that remaining wetlands, aquifers, soils, glaciers, ecosystems, and species are protected through government policy.

But water bankruptcy offers an unexpected opportunity, the report states. If recognized as the crisis it is, it can be a “catalyst for renewed cooperation. 

“Water is not a resource like any other. It is the crux of human security, global food systems, biodiversity, public health, and peace,” Madani tells Food Tank.

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Photo courtesy of Elibet Valencia Munoz

The post The Path Forward from Global Water Bankruptcy appeared first on Food Tank.

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Headline News:

• “Vertical Gardens Are A Practical, Beautiful Way To Cool Down Cities” • French botanist Patrick Blanc pioneered vertical gardens in the 1980s, and Europe has some striking examples. They are becomming common in South America. Botanist Ignacio Solano is breaking down misconceptions about the technology while he teaches people to turn cities green. [Euronews]

Ignacio Solano in Colombia (AlejandroOrmad, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped)

• “As Wars Hit Power Plants And Fuel Supplies, Rooftop Solar Can Be A Lifeline” • In a recent Guardian opinion essay, US Rep Lloyd Doggett and Michael Shank argue that attacks on Ukraine’s energy system and unstable fuel markets sparked by America’s war with Iran highlight just how vulnerable the infrastructure of fossil fuels can be. [The Cool Down]
• “Dajin Taps Jumbo To Deliver Heavy-Lift Ships” • Dajin Heavy Industry signed a contract with Jumbo Marine, a Dutch offshore shipping company, to build two high-end heavy-lift vessels. The Chinese foundations maker said that the vessels will be equipped with two 1200-tonne heavy-duty cranes with a combined lifting capacity of 2400 tonnes. [reNews]
• “RWE Lands Power Deal For 1.1-GW Oz Giant” • RWE has secured a Capacity Investment Scheme contract for its 1100-MW Theodore onshore wind project in Central Queensland. The company said that the Theodore project could feature up to 170 turbines and a battery storage facility capable of powering about 500,000 Queensland homes. [reNews]
• “US Adds Nearly 10 GWh Of Energy Storage Capacity In First Quarter, Best Q1 On Record” • The US energy storage industry installed 9.7 GWh of capacity in Q1 of 2026, the strongest first quarter in the sector’s history. Energy storage installations in Q1 were up 32% year-over-year despite actions in Washington that target clean energy. [CleanTechnica]

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

For a long time, class sizes (the ratio of students to teachers) have been a key indicator of the state of public education. However, in...

The post Ontario classrooms are being stripped down to the bare minimum first appeared on Spring.

Adeline Rochet is a programme manager for the Corporate Leaders Group Europe, a business coalition driving the transition to a sustainable, competitive, and resilient economy convened by the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL).

Europe’s economy depends on the natural world functioning as it should, but the effects of climate change risk undermining increasingly delicate ecosystems. Talks about the European Union’s next long-term budget miss this fact.

Climate-related losses in the EU have already reached €822 billion since 1980, with a quarter of that damage concentrated in just the past four years. Ecosystems are under increasing pressure: more than 80% of protected habitats are in poor condition, soils are degrading and water stress is rising across the continent.

The latest state of the climate report by the EU’s Earth monitoring service Copernicus confirms this worrying state of affairs: 95% of Europe experienced above-average temperatures in 2025.

Economic exposure to nature-related risk is also growing. Businesses, banks and insurers are beginning to reflect this in their risk assessments.

So, will the policymakers in charge of developing the European Union’s next big budget integrate this vision? We are in the midst of finding out.

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Every seven years, the EU must negotiate a new budget that will help fund priorities over a seven-year-long period. The current one, which runs out next year, is worth more than a trillion euros.

Talks about the next multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2028-2034 are now getting serious and the initial outline of this new budget shows it will focus on competitiveness, resilience and prosperity.

But, as the European Parliament adopted its negotiating position for the crunch budget talks and EU member states shape their approach ahead of a Council meeting on May 26, it is clear that the positioning of nature within this framework is strategically underestimated.

Why nature impacts economic growth 

Back in 2022, France’s nuclear power output was severely affected when heatwaves drove up the temperature of the rivers used to cool atomic reactors, impacting other European countries too. This was particularly poor timing given the energy price crisis triggered earlier that year by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Low river levels caused by drought have also heavily impacted economic activity and growth in countries like Germany, due to the negative effect on inland trade, while degraded fields in the Netherlands combined with heavy rainfall have ruined potato harvests.

These examples show that we cannot detach the health of the European economy from the good functioning of nature.

UN General Assembly backs “climate obligations” set by world’s top court

Nearly three-quarters of businesses in the eurozone rely directly on ecosystem services such as clean water, fertile soils and pollination. That dependency extends into the financial system, where around 75% of bank lending is exposed to companies dependent on these natural assets.

They entirely underpin supply chains and financial stability across the European economy. If load-bearing ecosystems collapse, businesses not only face disruption in their own operations, but they will also be exposed to failures from suppliers and customers.

This is not just a risk for individual companies, it is a threat for the whole system.

A budget that looks greener than it is

According to the latest proposals for the next MFF, a single 35% climate and environmental target will replace priorities that used to have distinct funding. As it stands, biodiversity has a 10% target, yet spending has struggled to reach even 8%, already showing how easily it is put to one side in practice.

In the new framework, biodiversity is absorbed into a broader category with no separate tracking or visibility. Dedicated instruments are folded into larger funding envelopes, and nature-based investments are placed in direct and distorted competition with industrial projects.

These are often faster to deploy and easier to measure, making them more attractive. 

Headline figures reinforce some appearance of ambition, with €587–635 billion allocated to climate and environmental objectives. But since these are aggregated numbers, they do not show how much will reach ecosystem conservation or restoration.

Less visibility, weaker accountability

Biodiversity funding also remains structurally fragile, with around 80% concentrated in agriculture policy rather than supported by a diversified investment strategy.

This shift is structural: nature has been relegated from a defined priority to a mere discretionary allocation, and the governance model reinforces this dynamic.

Webinar: From Santa Marta to Bonn – where next for the fossil fuel transition?

Greater reliance on National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPPs) moves decision-making into national spending choices, where fiscal and domestic political pressure will likely mean long-term ecosystem investments struggle to compete with short-term economic demands.

The current MFF paints a worrying picture of structural triple risk for nature: reduced visibility, increased competition for funding and weaker accountability.

Nature is critical infrastructure

It is a point worth reiterating: investment in nature offers clear economic returns. Healthy ecosystems drive resilience by reducing exposure to climate damage and supporting local economic activity.

Public finance plays a decisive role in enabling these investments at scale, making budget design a question of risk management and capital allocation.

Nature-based solutions already perform essential economic functions. They regulate water systems, restore carbon sinks, provide a buffer against extreme weather events and support agricultural productivity.

These are characteristics of infrastructure. Energy systems, transport networks and digital capacity are treated as strategic investments because they underpin competitiveness.

Natural systems play the exact same role, so why does the current budget plan not reflect this?

The next EU budget will shape investment for the decade ahead. Its structure will determine how risks are managed and where capital flows. Nature cannot be erased in favour of competing short-term priorities.

In the upcoming negotiations, European leaders still have the option to treat nature as a structural objective and a core asset, supporting Europe’s resilience and long-term competitiveness. But they must act now, before it’s too late. 

The post Nature cannot be ignored by Europe’s next big budget appeared first on Climate Home News.

The Land Use Framework for England, published by its government in March 2026, sets out a plan for how England can use its land more effectively to meet the intersecting needs of housing, infrastructure and farming, while also protecting biodiversity, habitats and nature’s living systems.

The post The Land Workers’ Alliance Responds to the Land Use Framework for England appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

A century ago, businessmen, automobile clubs, and politicians came together to form the U.S. 66 Highway Association. Unlike the congestion-obsessed highway-builders of today, they wanted traffic, which they saw as synonymous with a burgeoning, mass-motoring public who would spend money in their towns. They even advertised Route 66 as “Main Street of America.”

Known as an “all-year-all-weather-road” and the “Mother Road,” Route 66 was 200 miles shorter than any other transcontinental railway or highway at the time, making it the speediest route between Chicago and Los Angeles, the Association bragged. It was also touted as an economic engine, generating new jobs for men to lay asphalt across the country. More importantly, though, it was an opportunity to mythologize an enduring new idea: America’s “open road.”

But as with all myths, many people are left out of frame.

“It wasn’t really the fun, happy place we think of when we look back at the ‘good ole days,'” wrote Barry Duncan in his pictorial book Route 66: A Trail of Tears, which compiles the work of car crash photographer and Carthage, Mo. mayor William Carl Taylor. “Many were maimed or killed during the existence of Route 66.”

Photo: William Carl Taylor via Route 66 A Trail of Tears

The title of Duncan’s book may be an insensitive reference to the forced displacement of American Indian tribes from the South and Southeast, but there’s no doubt that Route 66 has a long and violent history of its own. The author served in the Carthage, MO police force between 1977 and 2009, and claims to have witnessed over 2,000 wrecks personally, in addition to curating Taylor’s grisly collection in his book.

And that collection speaks to those tragedies stark terms. Fender benders stand next to piles of unrecognizable rubble. Cabs are literally flattened. Dozens stand around overturned vehicles. A service station entrance is smashed. Civilians help carry stretchers to ambulances. Police officers stare at cars from a distance and write on notepads. A girl cries.

One crash that particularly haunted Duncan involved a family called the Ruminers. In 1957, they were traveling Route 66 from Washington State to their relatives’ home in Mississippi for Christmas. On their way, they were crushed in a Ford sedan by an oncoming truck. The 28-year-old parents and their six-year-old twins were killed, leaving one child to survive with a fractured pelvis and foot. 

In the media circus for Route 66’s centennial celebration this year, though, these kinds of stories remain mostly hidden – and the road’s once well-known nickname, “Bloody 66,” is almost nowhere to be found.

Photo: Christian Frommelt. On display at the National Museum of Transportation

At the Missouri History Museum’s Route 66 festival, for instance, ten pristine vintage cars line the front drive. A rockabilly tune fills the main lobby. Neon signs make a dark room glow. Placards trace the origins of “the concrete ribbon to adventure,” its local landmarks, and the challenges it posed to Black, queer, and Jewish travelers. You learn about the first McDonald’s west of the Mississippi, the birth of the Phillips 66 gasoline brand, and motor cottages.

But you don’t learn nearly as much about Route 66’s bodycount. In 1941, for instance, a single short stretch of the Mother Road near the Army training installation of Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri claimed the lives of 54 people in just nine months, including 19 American soldiers.

The National Museum of Transportation in suburban St. Louis, too, highlights local landmarks associated with the highway while largely ignoring its bloodshed. On display is a replica of the silver steamer S.S. Admiral, which travelers may have seen bridging the Mississippi. Drive-in theaters are featured, as “they symbolized freedom of the open highway, mid-century American design, community gathering spaces, and the romance of the open road.”

In another building, an exterior wall of the Coral Court Motel, impressively reconstructed, stands in a corner. Ten cars, one for each decade, face viewers as they might have once in a dealer’s window.

Photo: William Carl Taylor via Route 66 A Trail of Tears

To some, the story of Highway 66 is the story of a lost America. Route 66 represents a simpler, slower time before the Interstate, nostalgia for cross-country motoring in proximity with tree canopy, town squares, rivers, and diners. It represents postwar prosperity and adventure too; as Missouri History Museum Curator Sharon Smith says, “It is about finding hope in the west for the early years and excitement of Midwesterners traveling to the coast of California.”

The images Duncan published, though, present a shadow narrative. Greyhound buses and youngsters with bikes, generally left out of Route 66’s frame, enter it. The Studebaker is dented. The ambulance looms underneath the Phillips 66 sign. The girl is crying.

Americans aren’t supposed to die on Main Street. But many did – and still do.

The year Highway 66 opened 23,400 US residents died in motor vehicle crashes, more than 20 deaths per 100,000 residents, according to the National Safety Council. In 1953, fatalities ballooned to 37,956, or 24 deaths per 100,000 in the U.S.

Photo: Christian Frommelt. On display at the National Museum of Transportation

So what responsibility do the stewards of public memory have to account for the scale of automobile violence on America’s most iconic highway? And how does that responsibility shift when motorists are still killing nearly 37,000 people per year on US roads today — and when the automakers and oil companies who continue to fuel that killing still have their advertisements reproduced in centennial retrospectives?

It’s true that the Missouri History Museum’s exhibit offers at least one anecdote of an “accident,” and Smith assures that the perils of the road were addressed in a fuller exhibit in 2016. But overall, these stories are footnotes amidst what otherwise seems like a glowing tribute to automobility.

But you don’t have to look far to find evidence of Route 66’s dark side — or the many human lives it’s claimed. One Sedalia news article reports that First Lieutenant George Orchard of Richmond, VA died in a head-on collision on Highway 66 in 1941; he was the 21st soldier to be killed by cars within a year in the vicinity of Fort Leonard Wood, which the highway serves. 

Photo: William Carl Taylor via Route 66 A Trail of Tears

Widening the frame of Route 66 matters, too, because of how deadly legacy highways remain to this day.

For instance, on Gravois Avenue in St. Louis — which includes a portion of Historic 66 — 22 people were killed and 1,000 injured in car crashes between 2020 and 2024 alone. Meanwhile, the US Department of Transportation has rescinded a memorandum outlining how to improve legacy highways through Complete Streets, a toolkit that can keep humans safe in and outside of cars.

As DOT Secretary Sean Duffy calls for a “Golden Era” of transportation that coalesces around the “Freedom to Drive,” public memory plays an even greater role in confronting the deadly costs of “freedom” on the open road. We owe it to the dead not to forget.

Photo: William Carl Taylor via Route 66 A Trail of Tears Photo: William Carl Taylor via Route 66 A Trail of Tears

 by David Spratt, first published at Pearls&Irritations

Acknowledgment rather than denial of a crisis’s reality is the key to coping with it, but the 2026 Australian Government budget is a continuation of the Labor Government’s denial of the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions before the climate reaches a tipping point.

The 2026 budget speech was titled ‘Resilience and reform’. ‘Resilience’ – a very fluid term favoured by political communicators these days – was deployed 13 times, but the word ‘climate’ failed to appear even once.

This glaring omission reaffirms the government’s reluctance – seemingly intentional – to discuss climate change risks, as I have previously discussed in P&I.

The budget continued the tax-friendly treatment of the fossil fuel industry and failed to reform tax loopholes and subsidies. The diesel Fuel Tax Credit scheme at a cost of $13 billion a year in 2026–27 was left untouched, and the broadly-supported proposal for a 25 per cent gas exports levy that would have delivered $17 billion annually was ignored. $2.2 billion over the next 14 years of the climate department funding was redirected.

How can we understand the government’s energy – and what’s left of its climate – policy? There are clear actions to support the transition from expensive gas and ageing coal plants to now cheaper and more reliable renewables and storage. But this has not so far significantly dented Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions because other sectors’ emissions continue to rise.

And the government is still giving licenses and tax advantages to new coal and gas exports, keeping Australia ranked in the top three in the world for gas and coal exports. Wherever possible, it promotes its ‘good-news’ domestic renewable energy policy, while avoiding discussion of future climate impacts.

Thus, Australia’s first climate and security risk assessment delivered in December 2022 by the Office of National Intelligence remains under lock and key. Even the Parliament, charged with making policy on the subject, is left in the dark. And the domestically focused National Climate Risk Assessment was proscribed from considering climate mitigation. It ended up low-balling on crucial issues.

This leaves Australians ill-prepared for what is to come. In his book, Upheaval, geographer and anthropologist Jarod Diamond concluded that the key predictors of success in responding to crisis and change are “acknowledgment rather than denial of a crisis’s reality; acceptance of responsibility to take action; and honest self-appraisal”, plus the “presence or absence of a shared national identity”, which can help a nation’s people recognise shared self-interest and unite in overcoming a crisis.

Four brief examples demonstrate that Australia is more at the denial than the acknowledgement end of the spectrum.

The first is the fate of the Office of National Intelligence report.

The second is the issue keeping climate scientists awake at night: the coming collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which transports tropical ocean heat to the northeast of North America and western Europe. AMOC is slowing down and now rapidly approaching a tipping point for its collapse over a hundred years.

This would be a going-out-of-business scenario for northwest European agriculture. Monsoons that typically deliver rain to West Africa and South Asia would become unreliable. Huge swathes of Europe and Russia would be devastated by drought. As much as half of the world’s viable area for growing corn and wheat could dry out. The southern hemisphere, including Australia, would become warmer and more prone to flooding. A regional food crisis could lead to large-scale people displacement and contribute to state breakdown and regional conflict.

Does that sound relevant to future food security for Australians – and regional security, too?

Yet there is barely a flicker of recognition about this from Australia’s political parties. A search of Hansard for the current parliamentary term (since May 2025) finds no reference to AMOC in either house.

The third example is the coming El Niño. Scientists are increasingly concerned that  conditions now developing in the eastern Pacific will result in a ‘super’ El Niño later this year, perhaps the strongest ever recorded. In T_he_ New York Times, David Wallace-Wells writes it will:

… almost certainly [be] stronger than the ‘Super’ El Niño of 2015–16, and perhaps the most intense since the epochal El Niño of 1877… It’s almost certain that this El Niño will make 2027 the hottest year on record by some margin…A monster El Niño will give us at least a brief preview of a hotter and more chaotic world — a 2027 like we might’ve expected to see in 2035, and which not that long ago didn’t seem likely before 2050. ‘Prepare for bedlam’, the environmental writer Bill McKibben wrote earlier this year in anticipation.

For Australia, an El Niño means less rainfall and higher temperatures (drought) and less cooling cloud cover, including over the Great Barrier Reef. If this super El Niño eventuates, it will likely destroy swathes of the Great Barrier Reef, and produce record-breaking heat waves and severe fire risk, drought and lower crop yields and adverse health impacts on vulnerable Australians.

A check of Hansard for the current Parliament shows that no minister, or indeed Labor backbencher, in either house in the last year uttered a single sentence about the El Niño threat. Not a word! There are four mentions only by other parties: one by shadow minister Chester criticising the budget cuts to the Future Drought Fund; one by Greens Senator Whish-Wilson highlighting the issue in a short speech; and twice by Barnaby Joyce in what can only be described as wide-ranging rants.

The fourth example are the climate derailment and transition risks the government should have centre of mind. Transition risks are those associated with the move to a post-carbon economy. A recent study concluded the scale of the net-zero transformation means that reaching net zero will fundamentally overhaul vast parts of the global economy:

The transition is not simply a matter of swapping one energy source for another; it requires rebuilding infrastructure, retraining workers and redirecting trillions of dollars in investment…This uneven distribution of winners and losers will create difficult economic and political challenges, particularly during the transition period.

Even more pressing and most pertinent is derailment risk, where society becomes too distracted by escalating immediate crises to address the root causes of climate change by reducing emissions. A recent report by the UK Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, Parasol Lost, says an immediate step up in pace and preparedness can significantly reduce the impact of accelerated climate hazards, but warns that “global catastrophic risks, including economic shocks, are proximate”. And above 1.5°C:

We enter the danger zone where multiple climate tipping points may be triggered, such as the collapse of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, permafrost melt, Amazon dieback and changes in ocean circulation. Some tipping points accelerate climate change…meaning there is a point of no return, after which it may be impossible to stabilise the climate close to conditions that we are able to adapt to.

The world reached 1.5°C in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and likely will again in 2026 and 2027.

Is our parliament capable of coming to grips with climate risks of these magnitudes? Or is it easier to abide by a new maxim, “Don’t mention the climate!”

 

New analysis has raised fresh doubts over the viability of Santos' controversial Narrabri gas project, amid speculation that a project sale announcement will be made at the company’s Investor Briefing Day on Tuesday 26 May. 

25 May 2026 —  Waste pickers play a far greater role in climate action and waste management than is widely recognized, according to a report released on Africa Day by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), which urges governments to formally recognize and contract waste pickers as service providers within public waste management systems.

The report, “Managing Organics with Waste Pickers: A Briefing for Policymakers,” co-released by GAIA and the International Alliance of Waste Pickers, examines how waste pickers—estimated at 15 to 20 million workers globally—are increasingly managing organic waste, one of the largest sources of methane emissions when sent to landfills .

Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is a major contributor to climate change, and waste systems are the third largest source from human activity. According to the report, separating and treating organic waste at the source could reduce these emissions by as much as 62% .

The findings come at a time of heightened global concern over energy security and rising fuel costs, with ongoing geopolitical tensions exposing the risks of reliance on fossil fuels. The report argues that decentralized, low-energy waste systems—such as composting and community-based collection—can help reduce both emissions and dependence on energy-intensive infrastructure, while also generating renewable energy through anaerobic digestion. 

Waste pickers, who have long been involved in collecting and sorting recyclable materials, are shown to be well positioned to expand into organic waste management due to their existing knowledge of local waste systems, established community relationships, and presence in underserved areas.

In several documented cases across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, waste picker-led initiatives have successfully diverted organic waste from landfills, improved recycling rates, and created more stable income streams. Some programs have also supported a transition away from dumpsite-based work, which is increasingly threatened by closures and privatization. In Pune, India, waste pickers from the SWaCH cooperative provide door-to-door collection services to tens of thousands of households, integrating organic waste separation and composting into municipal systems. In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, groups such as Nipe Fagio and the Wakusanya Taka Bonyokwa Cooperative have established community-based collection and composting systems, achieving 95% rate of waste separation at source and diverting significant volumes of organic waste from disposal. In Buenos Aires, Argentina, RUO Cooperative is working with large commercial generators to recover food waste, expanding the role of waste pickers in organic waste management.

“Waste pickers have been providing essential environmental services for decades, often without formal recognition or compensation,” said Soledad Mella of the International Alliance of Waste Pickers. “Integrating them into formal systems is critical not only for their livelihoods, but for the effectiveness of waste and climate policies.”

The report, supported by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition,  also highlights the economic and social implications of such integration. Contracting waste pickers as service providers, rather than relying solely on private companies, can help retain public funds within local economies while expanding access to waste services.

At the same time, barriers remain. In many cities, waste pickers face restrictions on access to waste, unsafe working conditions, and exclusion from decision-making processes. These challenges are often compounded for women, who make up a significant portion of the workforce but experience additional inequalities, including lower pay and limited access to resources.

“Women are central to waste management systems, yet they face multiple and overlapping forms of inequality—as workers, as women, and often as members of marginalized communities,” said Cecilia Allen, GAIA Zero Waste Program Director and co-author of the report. “Recognizing waste pickers must go hand in hand with addressing the gender disparities through targeted policies, funding, and access to decision-making spaces.”

“Across Africa, there are already strong examples of waste picker-led systems that are delivering environmental and economic benefits,” said Desmond Alugno, GAIA Africa Zero Waste and Climate Program Manager. “Scaling these models will require policy support, financing, and recognition of waste pickers as essential workers.”

The report outlines a series of recommendations for governments, including recognizing waste pickers as formal service providers, ensuring fair compensation, investing in decentralized waste infrastructure, and incorporating gender-responsive policies.

It also emphasizes the importance of sustained public funding, noting that while composting and other organic waste outputs can generate some income, they are not sufficient on their own to support livelihoods at scale .

As countries work to meet climate targets and reduce emissions, the report suggests that integrating waste pickers into zero waste systems could offer a practical and immediate pathway—one that addresses environmental goals while supporting workers who have long sustained waste and recycling systems despite systemic exclusion. 

ENDS.

About GAIA:

GAIA is a network of grassroots groups as well as national and regional alliances representing more than 1000 organizations from over 100 countries. With our work we aim to catalyze a global shift towards environmental justice by strengthening grassroots social movements that advance solutions to waste and pollution. We envision a just, Zero Waste world built on respect for ecological limits and community rights, where people are free from the burden of toxic pollution, and resources are sustainably conserved, not burned or dumped. www.no-burn.org

The post Waste pickers key to climate and energy solutions, new report finds first appeared on GAIA.

A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 17, 2026 thru Sat, May 23, 2026. Stories we promoted this week, by category:

Climate Policy and Politics (6 articles)

• What the US Would Lose If It Eliminates the National Center for Atmospheric Research 'I think there's a great loss for the wrong reasons. There's no good reason for dismantling this or tearing it down,'' a former NASA chief scientist says. Inside Climate News, Interview by Steve Curwood, Living on Earth, May 16, 2026.
• `Green card for the planet`? Fifa`s World Cup is on pace to be a climate catastrophe The 2022 World Cup failed to deliver on its environmental promises. From air travel emissions to heat-related dangers, the 2026 edition will be even worse The Guardian, Jules Boykoff, May 17, 2026.
• EPA claims `overwhelming rejection` of EVs as it moves to loosen air pollution rules Administration creates conditions to slow EV adoption and then uses the results to promote fossil fuel consumption. Inside Climate News, Anika Jane Beamer, May 19, 2026.
• Trump Officials, Billionaires and the Quiet Reshaping of America`s Public Lands A controversial land swap orchestrated by the megarich could be “a harbinger of what’s to come” for public lands under Trump. Inside Climate News, Evan Simon and Ames Alexander, May 21, 2026.
• Colombia`s climate crossroads: Trumpism casts shadow over presidential battle Colombia is a global leader in climate activism. Could US influence drag country to a future of mining and fracking? The Guardian, Jonathan Watts, May 21, 2026.
• The network watching the world`s oceans is under pressure - just when it`s needed most The Conversation, Kevin Trenberth, May 22, 2026.

Climate Change Impacts (5 articles)

• Wild Blueberry Farms Across Maine Suffer as Climate Change Upends Growing Seasons Like lobster rolls, wild blueberries are iconic in Maine. But heat and drought have set the plants back to a point where many small farmers are struggling against reduced yields and increased costs for mulch and irrigation. Inside Climate News, Sydney Cromwell, May 11, 2026.
• Scientists warn that the world`s rivers are running out of oxygen Rivers around the world are quietly running out of oxygen — and climate change is emerging as the main culprit. ScienceDaily, CAS press release, May 17, 2026.
• `It`s no longer exceptional`: Karachi struggles under brutal new reality of extreme heat Experts say the unseasonably hot weather across south Asia shows the impact of the climate crisis. The Guardian, Asad Mumtaz Rid, May 17, 2026.
• Global warming is accelerating 5,000 times faster than rice can evolve Climate change is pushing rice-growing regions into temperatures beyond those at which rice has been cultivated in the past 9,000 years of human history. Live Science, Stephani Pappas, May 19, 2026.
• The outlook for a climate-regulating ocean current is…not good A key ocean current that warms Europe is weakening, spurring a controversial megadam proposal Science News, Carolyn Gramling, May 20, 2026.

Public Misunderstandings about Climate Science (4 articles)

• Factcheck: Trump`s false claims about the IPCC and `RCP8.5` climate scenario Among a flurry of posts on social media last weekend, US president Donald Trump declared “good riddance” to a specific emissions scenario used in global climate projections. Carbon Brief, Carbon Brief Staff, May 19, 2026.
• Climate Denier Group Pushes States to Embrace Coal Power for Data Centers The Heartland Institute used the American Legislative Exchange Council’s 2025 annual meeting to spread climate disinformation and tout coal to power AI. Desmog, Sharon Kelly, May 20, 2026.
• Scenarios, schmenarios… The fantasy version of the normal updating of scenarios for a new round of CMIP simulations doing the rounds is bad faith BS. RealClimate, Gavin Schmidt, May 20, 2026.
• Climate Scientists Were Wrong... That's a good thing Climate Adam on Youtube, Adam Levy, May 21, 2026.

Climate Law and Justice (3 articles)

• New Zealand Moves to Ban Tort Liability for Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Damage New Zealand’s government has announced that it plans to amend the country’s signature climate law to prohibit liability arising from climate change damages, a controversial move that critics say would shield polluters from climate lawsuits and undermine the rule of law. Inside Climate News, Dana Drugmand, May 19, 2026.
• A Youth-Led Campaign Claims a Win For Climate Justice A new U.N. resolution reinforces a landmark court opinion tying fossil fuel use to human rights abuses and legal responsibility for climate change. Inside Climate News, Bob Berwyn, May 22, 2026.
• As Communities Warn of Health Risks, New York Will Weaken Its Landmark Climate Law As part of ongoing budget negotiations, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is pushing to delay emissions-reduction targets established in the state’s climate law. Inside Climate News, Lauren Dalban, May 23, 2026.

Climate Science and Research (3 articles)

• The Mediterranean sea is capable of generating hurricanes and climate change will make them worse Unsurprisingly and in keeping with hurricanes occurring in other larger oceanic basins, cyclonic storms in the Mediterranean known as ''medicanes'' present increasing threats as sea surface temperature rises. English, Emmanouil Flaounas & Davide Feranda, May 16, 2026.
• On the death of RCP8.5 We should celebrate progress, but not overstate it The Climate Brink, Zeke Hausfather, Glen Peters, and Piers Forster, May 18, 2026.
• Sea Level Rise is Accelerating, Scientists Confirm New research has helped close the ''sea level rise budget gap''' by including more recent sea level observations, reconciling measurements by different instruments, and integrating recent estimates of sea level rise and its components. Eos, Kimberly M. S. Cartier, May 20, 2026.

Health Aspects of Climate Change (2 articles)

• Declare Climate Change a Public Health Emergency, EU Experts The World Health Organization (WHO) should declare climate change a “public health emergency of international concern” to recognize the “catastrophic threat” it poses to human health, experts from the Pan-European Commission on Climate and Health (PECCH) have said. Medscape Medical News Headlines, Sophie Cousins, May 20, 2026.
• Climate change could make picking tobacco even more dangerous Farmworkers, including kids, can suffer from nicotine poisoning when they handle tobacco leaves – a threat that’s growing in a warming climate. Yale Climate Connections, YCC Team, May 21, 2026.

Miscellaneous (2 articles)

• A detailed look at offshore wind in the US and globally AP News, Jennifer McDermott, May 17, 2026.
• 2026 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #20 A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 10, 2026 thru Sat, May 16, 2026. Skeptical Science, Bärbel Winkler & Doug Bostrom, May 17, 2026.

Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation (1 article)

• The Pennine hills are full of holes - here`s how they`re helping fight climate change Thousands of holes are appearing in the Pennine hills, as part of efforts to improve carbon storage by restoring damaged peatland. The Conversation, Adam Johnston, May 18, 2026.

International Climate Conferences and Agreements (1 article)

• DeBriefed 22 May 2026: UN adopts landmark resolution | Trump takes on `RCP8.5` | Climate migration UN vote produces a peculiar and seemingly transactional result on legal obligation to address climate change, with the US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Belarus, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Liberia voting ''no.'' Carbon Brief, Ayesha Tandon, May 22, 2026.

Public Misunderstandings about Climate Solutions (1 article)

• Does electromagnetic radiation from wind turbines pose a threat to human health? No - Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) from wind turbines are well below international exposure safety limits. Skeptical Science, Sue Bin Park, May 19, 2026.

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

Community Living London workers are preparing to walk off the job on Monday, joining thousands of workers across Ontario in a growing labour dispute driven...

The post Worth fighting for: Community Living London workers ready to strike first appeared on Spring.

Hawaiʻi has some of the freshest air in the nation, but in some parts of the state hazy skies can impact tourism and public health. 

Now, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has pumped the brakes on a multi-decade effort to improve visibility and reduce fine particulates and other man-made pollutants.

On May 15, the agency announced it had partially denied Hawaiʻi’s 2024 Regional Haze State Implementation Plan, a detailed proposal that lays out the state’s intention to comply with the federal Clean Air Act. The plan was designed specifically to reduce haze in two iconic places: Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island and Haleakalā National Park on Maui.

Because the two parks are designated as Class I under the Clean Air Act, their air quality is legally entitled to the highest level of protection. 

Although the EPA is leaving some aspects of the haze plan intact, it is jettisoning its main thrust: the state’s long-term strategy, which included shutting down at least two of Hawaiian Electric Co.’s oil-fired electricity generating units in the Kanoelehua-Hill and Kahului power plants by 2028. The units are the dinosaurs of the industry; the Kahului unit was commissioned in 1948. 

The agency referred to the closures as “unconsented” and said in a press release that they could make Hawaiʻi’s grid less reliable and “violate the Takings Clause of the U.S. Constitution for the taking of private property without just compensation.” 

Determining to what degree natural and man-made emissions contribute to the overall air quality in the region requires a series of complex, evolving math equations. Erin Nolan / Civil Beat

The decision isn’t the first of its kind for the agency; in Colorado, it rejected a similar plan that involved closing a coal plant. But it is one of the first from the current EPA to impact Hawaiʻi, and part of a larger plan by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to execute on President Donald Trump’s executive orders to promote what he calls “energy dominance.” 

“This is one of the biggest bombs to drop in Hawaiʻi so far from the EPA,” Isaac Moriwake, managing attorney of Earthjustice’s mid-Pacific office, told Civil Beat. 

Earthjustice is part of a group of 10 national environmental advocacy groups, which also includes the National Parks Conservation Association, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Center for Biological Diversity, to respond to the decision, saying it will harm Hawaiʻi communities and result in dirtier air in the parks. 

Mike DeCaprio, vice president of power supply at HECO, describes the situation as a trade-off. He said the company still plans to retire the aging plants. But to do so by the end of 2028, DiCaprio said more biofuel plants and more solar farms and battery storage have to first come online.

“We felt that having a contingency to run these units longer if needed was in our interest, and in our customers’ interest, so that we don’t end up in a grid reliability issue,” he said. 

“Reliability on an island grid is a really tough issue, right? They’re very small grids. With size comes stability, and they don’t have size,” DeCaprio said. “Making sure that the lights stay on is the most important part.”

Regulation or ‘total regulatory taking’?

In a detailed 67-page comment on an earlier draft of the EPA’s decision, the environmental advocates accused HECO of exploiting the Trump administration’s fossil fuel agenda. 

The advocates asserted that the Clean Air Act was written in such a way that it already allowed for contingency plans if renewable energy wasn’t available. They also said that HECO had previously agreed to retire three of its oldest oil-fired generating units in the Hill, Kahului, and Māʻalaea plants after it was asked by the health department to submit a plan to upgrade the technology to improve air quality.  

“HECO was the one coming to Department of Health and saying, ‘Hey, we will commit to shutting down these plants in lieu of having to spend all kinds of money, which the ratepayers are going to pay for at the end of the day, to upgrade these plants to try to clean them up. It’s cheaper, it’s more reliable, it’s more affordable for our ratepayers to just shut them down,’” Moriwake said. 

Then, last August, Karin Kimura, director of the environmental division at HECO, sent a letter to the EPA’s regional administrator saying the company had been “forced under the SIP to accept enforceable retirement deadlines.” 

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

Kimura said the retirement deadlines were no longer viable because of “actual or potential cancellations and delays” in renewable energy sources coming online to replace the power plants. Those projects had slowed down due to permitting challenges, changes in tax incentives and supply chain changes, she added. 

“Following this notification, Hawaii … needed to provide assurances that EPA’s approval of the unconsented source closure would not amount to a taking without just compensation under the Takings Clause of the U.S. Constitution,” the EPA press office told Civil Beat in an emailed statement. “Hawaii did not provide such assurances, and EPA was therefore required to partially disapprove the state’s long-term strategy.” 

The haze plan process had been overseen by the Department of Health, but HECO sent the letter without the Department of Health’s involvement.  

The health department did not respond to a request for comment from Civil Beat but it noted this omission in its own letter to the EPA in April — once it was clear that the EPA was responding to HECOs request by shutting down the plan. In it, the state’s director of health, Kenneth Fink, said the EPA’s response was “not consistent with the purpose of Clean Air Act Section 169A which was enacted to protect visibility in national parks and wilderness areas” and “directly conflicts with EPA’s previous guidance” for developing such plans. 

The company also has already signaled it is raising its customers’ rates, in part to compensate for the plant closures, Moriwake noted. 

“HECO has a pending request right now,” he said. “It’s sitting in front of the PUC to increase customer rates by $45 million a year for this purpose.” 

Read Next Trump’s EPA vows to fight ‘forever chemicals’ by loosening regulations Zoya Teirstein

Jeff Mikulina, executive director of Climate Hawai‘i, acknowledged that renewable energy in Hawaiʻi is facing headwinds, thanks in large part to the Trump administration’s tariffs and choice to cut tax credits and other federal support. But he believes Hawaiʻi will continue to lead on renewables. And he’s particularly optimistic about what’s happening on Kauaʻi, where local lawmakers just approved two new solar-and-storage projects that could get them to 90 percent renewable energy by 2030.

“It’s important to look at the long-term signal as opposed to the near-term noise, and that long-term signal tells us that this technology is getting cheaper by the day, particularly energy storage, which is really that secret sauce that’s going to allow us to achieve our 100 percent renewable energy future.”

In its email, the EPA press office said it is “committed to working with the state of Hawaii to revise the SIP, in order to both follow the law and achieve clean air for all in the state.”

And yet the legal argument that the agency is using to justify its move away from a haze rule with teeth concerns the environmental advocates as much, if not more, than this one decision. In its legal rationale, the federal agency argued that the haze plan would unfairly restrict HECO’s use of its private property, in what it called “a total regulatory taking.”

“By asserting that the retirement deadlines in the 2024 SIP are now ‘forced,’ EPA opens a massive loophole in the Act’s requirements, allowing facilities to entirely evade compliance with the Regional Haze Program,” they wrote in their comments in April. They say they are concerned  that the agency could dismantle other parts of the Clean Air Act, such as the National Ambient Air Quality Standards Program.

“They are signaling that they want to overhaul this entire regulatory scheme,” Moriwake said.

Not to be confused with vog

When the Kīlauea volcano is erupting, vog — volcanic smog — adds sulfur dioxide and fine particulate matter to the air, particularly on the southern side of Hawaiʻi island. The Hawaiʻi Department of Health warns that even brief exposure can cause shortness of breath, chest tightness, and other respiratory problems.

Power plants and other industrial facilities — such as the Mauna Loa processing facility named in the state’s 2024 SIP — also emit sulfur dioxide as well as nitrogen oxides, which has been shown to aggravate lung and heart conditions. 

Determining to what degree these natural and man-made emissions contribute to the overall air quality in the region requires a series of complex, evolving math equations. EPAs under previous administrations have used specific tools to calculate the region’s “natural visibility conditions” while accounting for episodic volcanic events. 

But when the current EPA proposed its disapproval of the haze rule in February, it asserted that no methodology “has been developed that is able to fully screen out the volcanic impacts and thus isolate the visibility impairment caused by anthropogenic air pollution.”

The environmental groups disagree. In their comments they called the agency’s assertions “arbitrary and capricious.”

Civil Beat’s coverage of climate change and the environment is supported by The Healy Foundation, the Marisla Fund of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation, and the Frost Family Foundation.

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This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The EPA just walked back Hawai‘i’s plan to retire its dinosaur power plants on May 24, 2026.

Iroquois Valley Farmland Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) recently launched a new program that grants equity shares to organic farmer partners. The approach, called the Farmer Success Sharing Plan, aims to support producers’ livelihoods and protect the land.

Farmland investors have long profited from rising real estate values but the farmers stewarding the land have not typically seen those capital gains, according to Iroquois Valley Farmland REIT. The organization’s new program is working to change this by treating farmers as true partners, leading the evolution of the farmland investment sector.

“As stewards of the organic farmland within Iroquois Valley’s portfolio, farmers play a central role in creating long-term value for the company and its shareholders,” says Drew Blankenbaker, Vice President of Farmer Relations at Iroquois Valley. 

The plan gives farmers a way to own a piece of the company they work with. To qualify, farmers must lease land from Iroquois Valley and maintain organic standards to prove they are improving the soil. When the company is profitable, it issues equity shares to farmer partners, which allows producers to become legal shareholders. They earn the opportunity to own a piece of the rising land value that they co-created through years of hard work.

Adam Roberts, a farmer partner with Iroquois Valley, tells Food Tank that the program allows him to build long-term wealth without needing a huge upfront investment. He is already investing his time and paying for the land, which means the plan is rewarding that commitment by giving him a share of the company’s value. This is an opportunity that farmers don’t often receive, Roberts says. “The REIT shares are a great way to indirectly invest in the land you farm and directly invest in a company that has invested in you.”

While Iroquois Valley stewards a portfolio of organic farmland in 20 U.S. states, a group of 18 farmers in six states—Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, and West Virginia—received the first equity awards. Collectively, they represent more than 170 years of partnership and steward over 9,600 acres of organic farmland.

Blankenbaker comes from an agricultural background and knows what it takes to regenerate the land through organic farming. He has also had to confront the long-standing challenges of land access and ownership. “Land access isn’t really a grit or an effort problem, it’s a system problem,” he tells Food Tank.

A lot of time went into designing this program because it relies on long-term relationships, Blankenbaker says. He takes time finding and connecting with farmer partners who align with Iroquois Valley values—those that are ready for long-term commitment.

Farmers earn equity gradually, and their gains are based on specific criteria around tenure, certified organic stewardship, and long-term partnership. The REIT grants awards in profitable years when the company can reward both investors and farmers, and this ensures financial strength into the future.

Farmer partners care about protecting soil health, water quality, biodiversity, and ecosystem resilience. And Iroquois Valley looks to support organic stewardship as well as farmer viability, long-term relationships, and financial structures that all support rather than undermine farmers. Farmers are not asked to take on any governance responsibility. This, Blankenbaker says, creates a real economic alignment.

In his commitment to farmers’ long-term wellness, Blankenbaker explains that he is responsible for staying farmer-focused. He collects feedback and works on farmer improvement systems. He has realized that even though farmers invest their lives into improving the earth, they usually have no financial tie to the land’s long-term success. He hopes the program will change that narrative as it grows.

“We absolutely see this as scalable. But this is not a one-size-fits all-way,” Blankenbaker tells Food Tank. “The challenge is that most farmland finance systems aren’t built around relationships and long-term horizons. We feel there is a mindset shift required—that farmers are recognized as co-creators of value and not just operators on the land.”

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 Nikola Tomasic, Unsplash

The post Organic Farmland Investment: Turning Farmers into Owners appeared first on Food Tank.

Headline News:

• “Earth.org Debunks Clean Energy Myths” • Mark Twain liked to say, “What you don’t know won’t hurt you near as much as what you do know that ain’t true.” Sadly, large corporations take advantage of our innate ability to believe false information for their private gain. Here is some myth busting that shows how wrong they are. [CleanTechnica]

Wind farm in China (Hahaheditor12667, CC BY-SA 4.0)

• “Due To Rising Gas Prices, Some Americans Are Staying Home On Memorial Day” • Despite a spike in gas prices in the country, more than 45 million Americans are projected to travel over fifty miles during Memorial Day weekend, according to AAA. But for those Americans who struggle financially, even short-distance travel is out of reach. [ABC News]
• “How Football Fans Are Tackling Sweden’s Fertilizer Problem Using Urine” • Eleda Stadion will open its toilets to an initiative aiming to gather 1,000 liters of human urine to defeat Sweden’s dependence on imported fossil fuel-based synthetic fertilizer. Researchers estimate that urine could replace up to 30% of the country’s synthetic fertilizer. [Euronews]
• “Four Western States Combine Forces To Kickstart A Geothermal Energy Revolution ” • After the Trump regime introduced its energy policy attacking solar and wind, four Western US states with copious geothermal potential (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah) formed the Mountain West Geothermal Consortium. [CleanTechnica]
• “Ukrainian Drone Attack Triggers Fire A At A Russian Oil Terminal” • A Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at another Russian oil terminal overnight, officials in Russia’s Krasnodar region said, in what appeared to be the latest attack on Moscow’s vital oil industry. Authorities said falling drone debris sparked a fire at an oil terminal. [ABC News]

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

What happens when a geopolitical crisis strikes? When wars start over oil reserves, prices spike at the pump and on household bills, and the fragility of a fossil fuel-dependent world becomes impossible to ignore? And you ask ordinary people — not politicians, not lobbyists, not oil executives — what they think should happen next?

Well, the general public already has the answers. They understand why these crises keep happening. They understand who profits from them. And they understand what needs to change. Two major crises of 2026, the US seizure of Venezuelan President and the US-Israeli war in Iran, have etched into the public consciousness how fossil fuels drive conflict, inflate bills, and strip communities of stability over their own futures.

Crisis one: Venezuela. The moment people connected oil to instability and conflict.

The United States’ capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and threats to seize its natural resources in early 2026, and its threats to annex Greenland, uncovered a clear link: fossil fuels make countries and people more vulnerable to military aggression and conflict. Where there is oil and gas, there is instability — wars fought over reserves, and ordinary people left to pay the price in rising bills, broken communities, and lives lost to conflicts they never chose. None of this, it turns out, has been lost on the public.

In the immediate aftermath, Secure Energy Project commissioned market research agency Opinium to poll six countries — Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Canada, Germany, and India – on whether the public was drawing the same conclusions. They were:

• In India, the world’s most populous nation and third largest energy consumer, spending hundreds of billions on fossil fuel imports every year — 72% said India would be safer with more renewable energy, 67% said the transition is more important than ever, and 66% said India should prioritize clean energy over fossil fuel expansion
• In Brazil, 76% said the transition is more important than ever and 79% said Brazil should prioritise clean energy. 
• In Mexico, where approximately 70% of gas consumption came from US imports in 2025, 72% said oil and gas dependence increases the risk of international conflict, 70% said Mexico would be safer with more renewables.
• In Colombia, 69% said oil and gas dependence increases the risk of international conflict, 69% said Colombia would be safer with more renewables, and 61% said transitioning to domestic solar and wind would strengthen national security — with majorities holding across every political tradition.
• In Canada, 67% said oil and gas reliance increases the risk of international conflict, 59% said Canada would be safer with more renewables.
• In Germany, 72% said fossil fuel dependence increases the risk of international conflict, 57% said it weakens national security, and 58% said Germany should prioritize the energy transition.

Across all six countries, across every point on the political spectrum, the same recognition emerged: fossil fuel dependence doesn’t just damage the climate. It fuels aggression, enables coercion, and makes entire nations vulnerable to the whims of the powerful few. Domestic solar and wind, in contrast, don’t come with geopolitical strings attached. They don’t spike when a president gets arrested or a strait gets blockaded. For the first time at this scale, energy security, international political stability and climate action were understood as the same thing.

Crisis two: Iran. When people demanded the polluters pay.

A few short weeks after, came the war in Iran. Oil and gas prices surged. Bills rose. 350.org’s analysis showed the price spikes could cost ordinary households and businesses up to US$1 trillion by year’s end. While BP posted US$3.2 billion in quarterly profits and TotalEnergies banked US$5.4 billion in the first three months of 2026 alone, families across the world suffered from the costs of a crisis they did not cause.

Oxfam’s polling, conducted in April across seven countries, cut straight to the accountability question: while families absorbed war-driven energy price spikes and oil and gas corporations banked record profits, what did people think governments should do about it? The answers, across every country surveyed, were unambiguous.

1. On government investment priorities, the verdict was overwhelming. Brazil and Turkey led the way, with 77% in each country saying their government should invest more in renewable energy rather than expanding fossil fuel extraction. Colombia followed at 72%. France at 64%, the UK at 62%, and the Netherlands at 61%. Even Australia — the country most resistant to the energy transition in the survey — still had 59% favouring renewables over fossil fuels, against only 29% who favoured expansion
2. On corporate accountability, majorities were clear too. The Netherlands led at 75% saying it is wrong for oil and gas corporations to make huge profits without taking responsibility for their climate pollution. France came in at 71%, the UK and Brazil both at 70%, Turkey at 67%, Colombia at 63%. Australia, again, showed the lowest — but still majority support at 57%.
3. On taxing fossil fuel profits, the findings were perhaps the most politically significant — and the most hopeful. France showed the strongest support, with 75% backing increased taxes on oil and gas profits to fund the transition, including 43% who strongly support it. The UK came in at 72%. Turkey at 70%. Colombia and Brazil both at 69%. The Netherlands at 63%. Australia at 60% — the lowest of all seven countries, yet still a clear majority.

And here is the detail that should make every government take notice: in six out of seven countries surveyed, there were more far-right respondents who supported taxing oil and gas profits than those who opposed it. This is not a left-wing policy position being imposed on a reluctant public. It is a majority position across the entire political spectrum – in every country, in every tradition, among voters that governments across the world claim to represent.

The public has connected the dots: fossil fuels mean conflict. Renewables mean security, stability and lower bills.

Together, these findings paint a picture of a public that has worked out what its governments have apparently not. The energy crisis, the geopolitical crisis, and the climate crisis are not three separate problems requiring three separate committees and three separate summits. They are one system – built on fossil fuel dependence, sustained by lobbying and political capture, and extracting its costs from the communities least responsible for any of it.

Whether the question was asked in the shadow of Venezuela or Iran, whether framed around national security or corporate accountability, whether put to voters in the Global South or the Global North – the answer is the same. Renewables mean stability. Fossil fuels mean vulnerability. And the corporations that profit from that vulnerability should fund the way out.

This is exactly what The Great Power Shift is fighting for. From activists urging taxes on Big Oil’s excess profits in Canada, to communities in Japan pushing back against fossil fuel subsidies, to families in South Africa organizing for free basic electricity, and more – people everywhere are calling for the future their governments have been too slow to deliver. The public mandate documented in these two polls isn’t a starting point. It is confirmation of something already underway.

No family should be priced out of heating their home because a war broke out over oil reserves. No government should feel compelled to wage one. Clean, affordable renewable energy ends both problems at once – and the public, across thirteen countries, already understands that. 

Energy is not a market commodity to be traded and speculated on, nor is it a geopolitical weapon. It is a right. And frankly, it’s time governments caught up with the people they claim to represent. It’s time for the Great Power Shift!

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The post People are ready for the energy transition. Governments need to catch up. appeared first on 350.

Millions of Canadians continue to struggle to pay the bills for the necessities of life, and with Donald Trump’s trade war and his new conflict in the Middle East, things are getting worse. Meanwhile, the stock market sets record highs and financial wealth become increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small minority. Based on income tax data, the richest 1.5% of Canadians own over half of all net financial wealth (based on distribution of capital gains).

The striking gap in economic trajectory between a lucky elite at the top, and the challenges faced by the majority of society, has given rise to the term ‘K-shaped economy.’ The term first became popular in describing the growing gap in U.S. society, but it is increasingly applicable in Canada, as well.

In this 25 minute podcast for CityNews’ In This Economy program, Centre for Future Work Director Jim Stanford spoke with host Kris McCusker about the K-shaped economy, its causes and consequences.

Narrowing the gap between the two parts of the ‘K’ requires addressing both the ‘predistribution’ of income (empowering workers to capture a larger share of value-added in the first place) and the ‘redistribution’ of income (using government taxes and transfer programs to achieve greater equality in after-tax incomes).

The post The K-Shaped Economy appeared first on Centre for Future Work.

The Green Economy Networks podcast Class & Climate is back, with new host Em Thompson.

On this eighth episode of Class & Climate: Perspectives on a Green Economy,  Em Thompson sits down with Martin Empson to reveal how COPs (Conferences of Parties) have bureaucratized climate organizing.

Martin Empson is a climate activist from the UK and the editor and a contributor to System Change not Climate Change, a book of essays from socialists around the world on the nature of capitalism’s ecological crisis and the radical response that is needed.

Class & Climate is a podcast series from Perspectives Journal and the Green Economy Network that maps how climate action can deliver jobs and long-term affordability for workers — while debunking myths that these goals are a zero-sum trade-off with a clean environment.

A version of this piece was featured in Food Tank’s newsletter, released weekly on Thursdays. To make sure it lands straight in your inbox and to be among the first to receive it, subscribe now by clicking here.

Let me dispel a common myth about biodiversity. When we think about biodiversity, we often picture lush rainforests, colorful birds, or pollinators buzzing from flower to flower, not the world’s drylands. But these water-scarce, desert-like regions are actually home to more than one-third of the planet’s biodiversity hotspots.

The health of plant life in the world’s dryland regions—and the ability of farmers who cultivate these lands to feed the world—is particularly misunderstood. A recent study in the journal Science notes that, when it comes to protecting biodiversity, people tend to focus first on animals and overlook plants. But drylands encompass 45 percent of the Earth’s surface and 44 percent of global food systems, per CGIAR data. Drylands are where the nourishing crops of the future are taking root!

“Drylands are not marginal or forgotten spaces, but strategic landscapes—rich with opportunity, ecological intelligence, and the potential to drive resilience, economic vitality, and sustainable prosperity for millions,” says Éliane Ubalijoro, the CEO of CIFOR-ICRAF, a global agroforestry research collaborative.

Here at Food Tank, we place emphasis on researching and highlighting solutions, rather than letting ourselves marinate in hopelessness and despair. And rather than maligning or lamenting drylands, I want to argue that we currently find ourselves facing an opportunity—and a responsibility!—to build on the actual biodiversity of dryland ecosystems as a path forward toward a climate-resilient food system.

Tomorrow, May 22, is the International Day for Biological Diversity, and there’s no sugar-coating the fact that we’re facing a biodiversity crisis. Three-quarters of land-based environments and about two-thirds of marine environments have been significantly altered by human actions, per United Nations analysis, and this diminishing ecological vibrancy is an inextricable driver of the broader climate crisis.

This is why it’s so critical to see work being done to support dryland communities by organizations like CIFOR-ICRAF, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), and CGIAR’s Global Strategy for Resilient Drylands. In December, for example, CIFOR-ICRAF signed a major partnership agreement with the European Union to accelerate sustainable dryland management practices and elevate the position of dryland issues on broader food security and economic agendas.

When the future of plants is unstable, “it can also affect human food security and access to basic materials,” according to Rosa Scherson and Federico Luebert, biologists at the University of Chile. “Maintaining the current conditions that support human life requires urgent action.”

Food systems are a particularly influential tool for building climate resilience in drylands—and a delicious one, too. This week, Food Tank’s research team is helping us highlight 10 of the many dryland- and arid-adapted crops we should know about!

Durum Wheat is called the 10th most important crop produced on the planet by CGIAR, which makes sense: The heat-tolerant grain is rich in protein fibers, carbohydrates, and key minerals and is used to make couscous, bread, and pasta. Researchers led by ICARDA Morocco are introducing several new varieties of the crop that are tolerant to increasingly severe droughts, to boost dryland livelihoods.

Faba Beans excel under most climatic conditions and have a wide adaptability to a range of soil environments, according to the African Journal of Agricultural Research. They are rich in protein and essential micronutrients and serve as a break crop in continuous cereal rotations, which helps improve the productivity of soils, strengthen land structure, and contribute to wild pollinator maintenance.

Groundnuts/Peanuts are central to the financial and nutritional well-being of hundreds of millions of farmers and consumers across the semi-arid tropics. The crop is a major source of edible oil and vegetable protein, plus they provide over 30 essential nutrients including excellent quantities of niacin, fiber and vitamin E.

Jujubes—fruits that can be consumed fresh, processed into beverages, or preserved by drying or candying—are important components of dryland agroforestry systems not just for food but also soil health and live fencing. They’re native to Central and South Asia but widely distributed across arid and semi-arid regions of the world, and are a good source of vitamin C, key sugars, and minerals like iron.

Mesquite Pods are quite adaptable to different soils and terrains, making them particularly prominent among agroforestry research into drought-resistant desert legumes. In fact, they’re recognized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as one of the most important species for the afforestation of arid and semi-arid regions. The pods are traditionally ground into a nutritious, gluten-free flour that’s rich in protein, fiber, and minerals including calcium and magnesium.

Millet is a collective term referring to small-seeded annual grasses that are cultivated as subsistence grain crops for local consumption. Certain species of millets are particularly well-adapted to dry soils compared to other crops, so they’re more able to be cultivated in high temperatures, with low or erratic precipitation, during short growing seasons, or in otherwise too acidic or water-poor soils.

Nopales are prickly pear cacti whose fruits are eaten fresh and pads are consumed as an antioxidant-rich vegetable. ICARDA calls them one of the most promising ‘under-utilized species’ of the dry regions, especially to help sustain livelihoods of potentially vulnerable smallholder farmers.

Pigeonpea is commonly used as a green vegetable and food grain, and is widely adapted to drought conditions. The legume is high in protein, dietary fiber, iron, and folate. According to research conducted by the FAO in Malawi, the crop supports nitrogen fixing and enhances soil fertility. It requires low inputs and can be intercropped with traditional crops such as maize.

Sorghum appears to have been domesticated in Ethiopia about 5,000 years ago and has a number of factors that make it drought- and heat-resistant. ICARDA has identified sorghum as an important underutilized crop that has significant potential for nutrition, climate resilience, and economic stability.

Tepary Beans are an important source of protein native to arid regions of North and Central America. Particular varieties of these beans perform especially well across a variety of moisture stress levels, making them adaptive and resilient to dry conditions.

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 Dileesh Kumar

The post The 10 Crops That Can Turn Arid Lands Into Biodiversity And Food Security Hotspots appeared first on Food Tank.