News Feeds

The Legislature’s decision not to shield utilities from wildfire liability caused stock prices for Pacific Gas and Electric and Edison International to tumble by 20% and 23%. Bills that passed included proposals on balcony solar and data center rate structures.

“On the Ground with Dani Nierenberg” is an ongoing series documenting Food Tank President Danielle Nierenberg’s ground-truthing work. Read more by clicking here. 

I talk about the Green Revolution a lot in my work, but I had never been to the place where so much of it began until early this August. I visited Texcoco, Mexico, where the Rockefeller Foundation-funded Mexican Agricultural Program eventually led to CIMMYT, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.

CIMMYT is dedicated to building food security, resilient agriculture, and scientific collaboration across the Global South. And its history is complex and complicated.

It was here that Norman Borlaug and his colleagues researched and promoted high-yielding cereal varieties and the use of artificial fertilizers to increase food production. The Green Revolution helped avert famine in Mexico, India, and elsewhere. But we also know that these practices often displaced traditional, biodiverse, locally rooted systems of cultivation and increased farmers’ dependence on expensive inputs.

What struck me during my time with CIMMYT is how much the organization is trying to learn from that history.

Today, CIMMYT talks about a green evolution, instead of a revolution—one that is less about delivering a package of technologies to farmers and more about co-creating and sharing knowledge with them.

There is “no universal recipe” for sustainable and resilient food systems, says Jelle Van Loon. What works for a farmer in one community may not work for a farmer somewhere else. The science has to meet farmers where they are, Van Loon adds.

In addition to investing in breeding programs for new varieties of wheat, maize, and other crops, CIMMYT is also recognizing that farmers are safeguarding biodiversity on their farms every day. And they are holding the future of food on their shoulders.

I’ll give you an example. In Oaxaca, I got to see the milpa system in action.

Milpa is often described as the three sisters—maize, beans, and squash grown together so they strengthen one another and the soil. Farmers growing food this way can have as many as 27 different crops on just a few hectares, without pesticides and with very little or no artificial fertilizer. Sunflowers attract beneficial insects and give farmers extra income. Cowpeas and other legumes help farmers cope with drought.

This isn’t diversity for diversity’s sake. It’s resilience.

Oaxaca’s farmers are dealing with increasingly difficult drought conditions. One farmer-technician told me that when those challenges become overwhelming, “families start losing hope.”

But diversified farming systems like milpa give farmers more ways to survive a bad season. If one crop fails, another may succeed. They can provide food, animal feed, healthier soils, protection from pests, and income—all while allowing farmers to maintain cultural traditions and identities that have existed for generations.

And farmers using milpa are usually growing native maize varieties. Mexico is the birthplace of maize and home to extraordinary genetic diversity. CIMMYT’s gene bank houses the world’s largest collection of maize germplasm—and that seed bank is very cool, no pun intended. It’s kept at -15°C (5°F) and holds hundreds and hundreds of varieties of wheat and maize. The corn seeds are like small jewels—purple, blue, red, black, yellow, white. That seed bank, like thousands of others around the world, is protecting the future of humanity.

While not as fancy, the small seed banks I saw in farmers’ houses in Oaxaca are just as—if not more—important. Because preserving a seed is not only about putting it in a vault. It is about planting it. Eating it. Sharing it. Selecting it. Passing it to your children and your neighbors.

When communities lose their seeds, they risk losing part of their identity along with them.

In Oaxaca, I met farmers like Francisca Canton and her husband, Jacoba Benitez, who are still farming in their late 60s. They described seed saving as “un trabajo duro”—hard work. And it is a year-long process, from planting to harvest to measuring and storage.

They use oil or soda bottles to store roughly 50 varieties of maize, legumes, and squash. They are using traditional seed-saving methods, they explained, while also learning from CIMMYT technicians about seed selection and more efficient ways to dry seeds.

CIMMYT staff talked repeatedly about consistency and presence—about showing up, listening, learning from farmer networks, and building trust over years. Their recommendations, they say, increasingly depend on context: What works best, where, for whom, and under what conditions?

That is a very different philosophy from assuming there is one technological package—or silver bullet—that can transform agriculture everywhere.

And perhaps that’s one of the lessons we can take from the Green Revolution itself. Science matters enormously. Innovation matters. Technology matters.

But so do culture, biodiversity, economics, relationships, and the knowledge farmers have accumulated over generations.

Farmers are the stewards of biodiversity that is—literally—the future of humanity. Every time farmers share knowledge that strengthens their resilience, a community becomes stronger.

During my time in Oaxaca, I met Víctor López Leyva, the state’s agriculture minister. His message has stayed with me:

“Creer en el campo, creer en las campesinas y los campesinos.”

Believe in the countryside. Believe in farmers.

I could not agree more.

It’s why I am always so excited—and not surprised—to see agricultural innovation being led by farmers, for farmers.

And I also know that a better food system depends on collaboration among farmers, researchers, scientists, policymakers, advocates, cultural experts, and so many others. But collaboration also requires us to recognize who knows the land best.

The Green Revolution taught the world that agricultural science can accomplish extraordinary things. Maybe the green evolution can teach us something equally important—innovation doesn’t begin with a technology or a scientist. It begins by listening to farmers.

Learn more about Food Tank’s ground-truthing work and recent visit with CIMMYT in this video by filmmaker Haven Worley:

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 Haven Worley

The post On the Ground with Dani Nierenberg: Believe in Farmers appeared first on Food Tank.

The sound of rubber sandals crunching on dry bamboo leaves echoes in the fading light of Sumur Bendung. Maia Ruda, a 58-year-old mother, walks down a steep, tricky path toward a narrow riverbed in Gunung Batur village, Cilegon, carrying an empty 15-liter (4-gallon) plastic jug on her back. The path gets slipperier and more dangerous as it winds down the valley, where it cuts through mossy stone and damp earth.

Photo: Garry Lotulung

As the sun sets, other women with their own 15-liter jugs are already waiting, talking in Javanese as they gather around small drips of water coming from the rocks. The villagers use hollow bamboo stalks and large antap (Sterculia oblongata) leaves to guide the trickle into their containers. Filling a 15-liter jug takes a difficult 30 minutes.

Photo: Garry Lotulung

For Maia and her neighbors, waiting for water at dusk is now part of daily life. Since there are no wells nearby, they rely completely on this underground water and spend hours in the gorge to collect enough water for their families.

“We’ve been living like this for the past four months,” Maia tells me in early August, resting briefly while her container fills. “We have to walk a kilometer from our village down a steep, slippery path to reach this riverbed source. And as we enter August, the water is dripping slower and slower.”

She explains that they use old mineral water containers because they’re light, strong, and can be carried home in cloth without breaking on the sharp rocks. By nightfall she will carry eight heavy jugs back up the cliff, enough to last her family almost a week.

As things get harder, the community has had to ration water strictly. At the local Al-Ma’ruf prayer house, a schedule called the sif system controls water collection. Groups of 15 households take turns in 12-hour shifts, from dawn to dusk and dusk to dawn. Each week a family might get just two turns, one in the morning and one at night, approved by the neighborhood chief.

But the situation is getting worse every day. Four months ago a family could collect 20 gallons each turn. Now the water flow is so low that they get barely eight. “By September we don’t know what we’ll do if the water stops dripping altogether,” says Ali Asmudin, another resident.

Villagers get a small government relief package of two gallons per week, but this is far from enough for their daily needs. A permanent pipeline is still just a dream for a community that has faced droughts for many years.

The Rings of Fire and a Looming Super El Niño

While places like Gunung Batur are rationing every drop, meteorologists warn that this local hardship is just a sign of a much bigger climate problem.

Across Indonesia worsening water shortages are expected to deepen significantly in the coming months. The stakes this year extend far beyond crippled agricultural yields. As the drought intensifies, it threatens water supplies, compromises hydropower generation, and drastically increases the risk of widespread forest and land fires.

According to the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency, the country is bracing for a drier-than-normal season, with 437 seasonal zones — nearly half of Indonesia’s total land area — predicted to endure an unusually long and severe drought.

In June the World Meteorological Organization officially announced the start of El Niño, a major climate phenomenon where tropical Pacific waters warm significantly, disrupting weather worldwide. Current measurements show ocean temperatures are running far above average, officially placing this El Niño in the “strong” category with the potential to trigger severe droughts, heat, and extreme weather in the coming months. The announcement warned countries everywhere to prepare for record heatwaves, severe droughts, and more extreme weather.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Columbia Climate School (@columbiaclimate)

Teuku Faisal Fathani, head of Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency, points to alarming macro-indicators. “Based on our monitoring, current El Niño conditions have reached a strong category, driven by sea surface temperature anomalies.”

Adding to these worries, climate researchers from China’s State Key Laboratory of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics and Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency have found a new weather pattern. Warming is happening at the same time in three Pacific regions — near Indonesia, Central America, and South America — creating a large “warm ring” that covers areas usually kept cool by ocean currents.

“We have not observed a pattern this intense in the past 40 years,” says Dr. Widodo Setiyo Nugroho, a senior climate researcher at BRIN.

Ghosts of the Past Re-emerge From the Depths

About 99 kilometers (61 miles) from the capital of Jakarta, the disappearing water reveals strange reminders of past projects. As reservoirs shrink across Banten Province, pieces of human history are reemerging from the bottom of the lakes.

At the Somang pier in Lebak Regency, boatman Hussein waits for passengers who want to see what remains of the past. Since June falling water levels at the large Karian Dam have uncovered the remains of villages.

Photo: Garry Lotulung

Built between 2015 and 2024, the Karian Dam project flooded 11 villages in four sub-districts: Sajira, Cimarga, Maja, and Rangkasbitung. People were moved to make way for a 1,773-hectare (7-square-mile) artificial lake meant to supply water to Jakarta and its suburbs. Now, as water levels drop by one to three meters (up to 10 feet), the roofs and yards of these submerged villages are starting to appear again.

Hussein steers his small wooden boat past brick foundations that stick out of the water. “I’ve lived here since I was a child,” he says quietly, watching a motorboat take visitors to see what remains of Somang. “Four years ago, we had to leave when our homes were flooded. For the past two years, I’ve worked as a ferryman, charging people five to ten thousand rupiahs to see what’s left of our old lives.”

Photo: Garry Lotulung

Where families once farmed and children played, people now use the shrinking edges of the reservoir to wash clothes because their wells have dried up. Below the water, only brick foundations are left. Wooden doors, windows, and roof tiles were removed before the valley was flooded.

A Bleak Horizon

The problems seen in Cilegon and Lebak are expected to get much worse. Erma Yulihastin, a climate researcher from the National Research and Innovation Agency, says that models predict a Super El Niño from late 2026 to early 2027, which will supercharge global weather systems and trigger severe storms, droughts, and wildfires. Forecasts from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts show the peak will come in December 2026, with sea surface temperatures rising more than 4 degrees Celsius.

“Even February 2027 will still classify as super,” Yulihastin warns. If these predictions come true, Indonesia could face a long seven-month struggle with poor crop yields, serious food shortages, and high wildfire risks.

For people like Maia Ruda in Gunung Batur and Hussein, who watches his old village reappear in Somang, that future is already here, seen in every drop of water that grows scarcer.

Republish this article for free! Read our reprint policy. Previously in The Revelator:

Photo Essay: Climate Change and Deforestation Collide in Indonesia’s Deadly Floods

The post Photo Essay: As a Super El Niño Looms, Indonesia’s Crippling Drought Deepens appeared first on The Revelator.

Key risks remain, however, including “first-of-a-kind execution,” interconnection bottlenecks, capital intensity and competing technology paths, according to a research note from financial services company William Blair.

Across the U.S., tech companies have courted backlash for using polluting gas generators to power massive new data centers. But energy industry data shows that in addition to building out natural gas, firms are adding huge amounts of battery storage.

Read more on E360 →

On August 26, 2026, a catastrophic flash flood swept down from the Bhote Koshi River near the Nepal-Tibet border, tearing through Rasuwa, Nuwakot, and Dhading districts in Nepal and destroying entire villages within minutes, leaving thousands missing and hundreds dead. This account is by Dikshya Subedi, a local in Kathmandu who has spent the past seven years working in climate advocacy across the Himalayan region. She is the country lead at SHE Changes Climate and founder of the youth-led organization Youth Action For Sustainable and Eco Nepal (YASEN), and writes here as someone whose own family was directly affected by the disaster.

That Wednesday morning started like any other. At around 9:30 AM, I saw the first news of a massive flood in Rasuwa, the beautiful mountainous district on the Tibet border. Lined with brightly coloured houses and where the Bhote Koshi River enters Nepal, Rasuwa is located a few hours from Kathmandu. Feeling confused and unsettled, I scrolled on, the way we sometimes do when something feels too big to look at directly. A few minutes later, my eyes landed on Facebook again, and this time the news was impossible to scroll past. The flash flood had hit  Devighat, Nuwakot, a quiet riverside town further downstream where my husband was born and grew up in, the place that held his entire childhood.

I called my aunt, who lives in Nuwakot. Her voice on the phone was shaking, terrified. “Nothing is left,” she told me. “Everything is destroyed.” Somehow, my uncle, aunt, and brother Manzil Rimal managed to evacuate from that flooded area just before the massive flood.  But that phone call broke something in me. The place where we used to visit my husband’s hometown for festivals, where we gathered as a family, where his memories live, turned into mud in ten minutes.

An aerial view shows houses covered in mud after flash floods at Devighat, Nepal’s Nuwakot district. Photo: Dikshya Subedi

I’ve worked in climate advocacy for several years. I’ve explained flood risks to government officials, helped authorities understand the danger maps for glacial lakes, and used the phrase “climate crisis” more times than I can count. But watching the impacts of the climate crisis arrive at your own doorstep, was beyond anything I could have imagined. I have spent years telling other people this could happen to them. I never imagined I would be the one making the phone call, listening to my aunt’s voice break on the other end.

There is a saying in Nepal: disaster won’t come by making noise. On that Wednesday, the people of Rasuwa, Nuwakot, and Dhading learned exactly how true that is. And so did I, not as an advocate this time, but as a daughter-in-law of that soil.

What happened

A sudden, catastrophic flash flood surged in from the Bhote Koshi River near the Nepal-China border on the morning of August 26. It tore downstream through Timure, Syaphrubeshi, and Betrawati in Rasuwa district, sweeping away entire villages within an hour. The floodwaters continued down the Trishuli River corridor, devastating communities further downstream in the districts of Nuwakot and Dhading. Devighat, my husband’s village, was severely affected.

Floodwaters caused severe devastation in Devighat. Photo: Dikshya Subedi

While the exact cause is still being investigated, scientists have traced the flood back to an over 2,000-foot-wide (approx. 600 meters) chunk of glacier that sheared off high in the Himalayas and plunged 7,000 feet (over 2 kms) into the Lhende Khola a tributary of the Bhote Koshi River, sending a flood wave downstream at speeds of up to 193 km/h. This is exactly the kind of event climate change triggers. Warming shrinks glaciers and makes them more likely to break apart. 

The death toll from the devastating Bhote Koshi flood in Rasuwa has reached 939, while 3,925 people remain out of contact, according to the latest update from National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA). The highest number of bodies, 279, was recovered in Chitwan, followed by 216 in Nawalparasi Purba, 169 in Nawalparasi Paschim, 95 in Nuwakot, 65 in Gorkha, 55 in Dhading, 38 in Tanahun, and 23 in Rasuwa. Search and rescue teams, along with relief and medical response units, are still working around the clock. The government has set up dedicated teams for rescue, relief, health, communications, and infrastructure restoration, but the scale of destruction will take a long time to fully understand, let alone recover from.

The floodwaters along with mud and debris completely destroy homes, reaching levels above the rooftops. Photo: Dikshya Subedi

This is personal

For me, this is not something I am following from a distance through headlines. My husband’s home is in Devighat, Nuwakot, one of the places hit hardest. My uncle, aunt, and brother were there and saw the destruction with their own eyes: houses swept away, communities losing almost everything in a matter of minutes. Thankfully, my close relatives are safe. We have not lost anyone in our own family. But we have lost our house and factory, which is the main source of income that my parents and Uncle Aunt took many years to built on is swept away in  seconds. The place where we held countless family gatherings, where all of my husband’s childhood memories live, no longer exists.

Caption: Dikshya’s husband’s family home, buried under mud and debris from the flood. Photo: Dikshya Subedi

The reports coming out of Devighat now are hard to read. A village once known for its bustling market and Jalpa Devi temple one of the very popular temple is buried under mud so complete that only the upper floors of houses still break the surface – uprooted trees flung onto rooftops, electric pylons snapped like twigs. Search teams there are still pulling bodies from collapsed homes, working through mud so thick that sometimes all that’s visible of a victim is a foot. Survivors who’ve come back describe standing in the wreckage of houses they spent their whole lives building, with nothing left to salvage but the clothes on their backs, unsure whether the land is even safe to rebuild on. Watching what has happened to our neighbors, to the village that shaped my husband’s childhood, is heartbreaking in a way I don’t fully have words for.

The destruction left in Devighat in the aftermath of the flood. Photo: Dikshya Subedi

This is the part that people rarely talk about when they discuss climate advocacy: the work is never as abstract as it looks from the outside. I have spent years building the language – resilience, adaptation, loss and damage – that is supposed to help policymakers understand disasters like this one. Advocacy taught me the facts. This flood taught me what the facts actually cost.

Houses in Devighat left destroyed as mud and debris reach rooftops. Photo: Dikshya Subedi

It’s not climate change anymore; it’s a climate emergency

This disaster is a brutal reminder that climate change is not something we can keep filing away as a threat for later. We are already living its consequences here in the Himalayas. 

Global heating is melting the permafrost, the “glue” that holds our mountains together, and that’s raising the risk of glacier collapse more and more likely. A survey published within a day of this flood has now mapped over 3,600 glacial lakes across our river basins, 47 of them classified as potentially dangerous, and this one wasn’t even on the list, because the lake that burst didn’t exist the morning before. That’s how fast this hazard is moving.

Climate change makes flashfloods like the one above in Nuwakot more likely due to glacier collapse triggered by global heating. Photo: Dikshya Subedi

What makes this especially unjust is the imbalanced cruelty of who pays: Nepal is responsible for roughly 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet it ranks among the 10 countries most affected by climate change on the Global Climate Risk Index. Nepal’s finance minister, Swarnim Wagle, has put the initial rebuilding cost at US$4–5 billion, nearly a tenth of the country’s entire economy. But that estimate assumes this is a one-time cost. It isn’t. With the region’s glaciers and permafrost continuing to destabilize, a disaster like this one is not a low-probability outlier, it is the shape of what is coming again.

There is still room for hope

In the middle of all this grief, something has genuinely moved me: the response of young people.Within a day, young volunteers across Nepal had organized themselves into the Rasuwa Relief Group, tracking who was missing, making sure support reached those who needed it, even volunteering for risky ground operations. 

Locals and volunteers provide support and rescue in Devighat after the flood. Photo: Dikshya Subedi

I’ve sat in plenty of meetings where “youth engagement” was just a line on someone’s agenda, a box to check before the real decisions happened elsewhere. Watching this unfold in real time, I don’t need convincing anymore. No one assigned these young people this responsibility: they simply took it on, faster than any ministry could move, because these were their families too.

It doesn’t erase my grief. But it has given me hope.It’s proof that the years I spent showing up to advocate for the climate as it affects young people,did build something – a generation that doesn’t wait to be asked.

Things need to change now

The flood that took my husband’s hometown moved at 193 kilometers an hour. We need to move faster. And for that, we need three things:

1. Disaster preparedness and management: Climate response and preparedness cannot be the thing we get to eventually. It has to come first, before the next village disappears. We need early-warning systems, climate-resilient infrastructure, and locally led preparedness for the mountain communities already living with this risk.
2. Locally led adaptation: Youth and affected communities must be given real, resourced roles in local adaptation and early-warning planning, not token invitations after the mourning has begun. 
3. Real climate finance: Wealthy nations, most responsible for the climate crisis, need to stop treating funding as a favor delivered on their own timeline. Nepal needs that money now, not at the next summit. It needs to come as genuine compensation, not charity, and paid out as grants rather than loans that burden our country. It must reach impacted families directly and fast.

This isn’t a wish list; it’s the difference between a village saved in time and one that isn’t. My husband’s hometown is already gone. What we do next decides how many more we can save.

Dikshya in Devighat. Photo: Dikshya Subedi

 

“Yesterday, this was a climate and disaster story in the news; today, it is a story happening at my family’s doorstep. But the people of Rasuwa, Nuwakot, and Dhading are still here, still fighting, still helping each other. Let’s unite to rebuild together. 

The post Climate change suddenly became real when the flood buried my husband’s village in minutes appeared first on 350.

Did you peruse the winning images and videos for the 2026 Audubon Photography Awards and wish you could keep on scrolling?  Well, we’ve got more stunning and surprising avian moments. Below...

After reviewing this year’s winners of the Audubon Photography Awards, we were struck by how many of the awardees made their own luck. Hours, days, or sometimes even years of patience and effort go...

This article is part of Food Tank’s primer series, “Food Tank Explains.” Each installment unpacks the ideas, innovations, and challenges shaping today’s food and agriculture systems, offering clear insights into complex topics. To explore more articles in the series, click here.

Dryland farming is a practice used to cultivate crops in regions where water supply is limited, seasonal, or unpredictable. Dryland systems use no irrigation and depend entirely on rain. They work by capturing and storing as much rainfall as possible and ensuring that crop water demand does not exceed what’s available.

According to the Dry Farming Institute, success depends less on total rainfall and more on how much is captured in the soil. To prevent loss to runoff, dryland farmers apply techniques including contour farming, where crops are planted across slopes in terraces, and land shaping, which involves changing the topography of the land.

Captured rainfall can evaporate from the soil surface before it reaches crop roots, particularly in hot, dry, and windy regions. To keep water in the root zone, dryland systems prioritize practices that reduce evaporation and increase soil water-holding capacity.

Often, part of dryland farms will lie fallow in alternate seasons or years, to accumulate water for subsequent crop cycles. Increasing soil organic matter can also improve water retention. Practices such as crop rotation, cover cropping, and mulching build and maintain organic matter while reducing erosion and evaporation.

To ensure crop water demand does not exceed supply, dryland farmers align planting and harvesting dates with local rainfall patterns, rather than a fixed calendar date. And they select crops based on seasonal conditions and characteristics such as drought tolerance, adaptability, and the timing of a crop’s water needs.

Common dryland crops include pigeonpea, which both tolerates drought and improves soil fertility, and tepary beans, which are protein-rich and can withstand varying levels of water stress.

Sorghum—which the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) calls an underutilized crop that has significant potential for nutrition, climate resilience, and economic stability—can conserve water during dry periods by temporarily suspending growth.

“Wild desert plants have a remarkable number of adaptations to cope with heat, drought, unpredictable rainfall, and poor soils,” Erin Riordan of the University of Arizona tells Food Tank.

Drylands are a vital but overlooked resource with untapped economic potential and environmental value, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

They make up 46 percent of the planet’s land area and support 44 percent of global food systems, including half of the world’s livestock. They are home to more than 2 billion people and support the livelihood of 1 billion people in 100 countries.

Drylands are “strategic landscapes rich with the potential to drive resilience, economic vitality, and sustainable prosperity for millions,” Éliane Ubalijoro, CEO of the Landscape Alliance and Director General of World Agroforestry (ICRAF), tells Food Tank.

But these regions, which already face some of the world’s harshest conditions, are under threat. Increasing water scarcity, land-use change, and extreme weather events are transforming drylands into barren landscapes, according to Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director of CGIAR. Research published in Nature Ecology & Evolution estimates that up to 20 percent of drylands are already degraded or at risk.

And, according to the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification and research published in Communications Earth & Environment, these pressures will intensify in the coming decades.

Heat, drought, and unpredictable rainfall are all stressful growing conditions likely to become more common, Riordan tells Food Tank. The U.N. Environment Programme estimates that land degradation in drylands could cut global food production by 12 percent over the next 25 years.

Impacts fall disproportionately on the 2 billion people who live in drylands, which include some of the world’s poorest and most climate-vulnerable communities, according to CGIAR.

ML Jat, the Director of Resilient Farm and Food Systems at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), tells Food Tank these communities are often “the first to face hunger, thirst, and the devastating effects” of declining soil and environmental conditions.

Despite these pressures, researchers and organizations highlight the potential of restoration. Investments in drylands can return as much as US$30 for every dollar spent, Ubalijoro tells Food Tank, describing drylands as “places of deep opportunity.”

But drylands need greater recognition in policy. FAO Assistant Director-General Abdulhakim Elwaer calls for integrating dryland agriculture into national development plans, climate action strategies, and food security policies. Researchers in Nature Ecology & Evolution call for stronger safeguards, finding that only 12 percent of drylands are protected.

Other recommendations focus on how solutions are developed and scaled. CGIAR’s Global Strategy for Resilient Drylands emphasizes partnerships among researchers, governments, businesses, and local communities to adapt agricultural innovations to dryland conditions. FAO recommends combining traditional knowledge with modern technologies.

Ubalijoro argues that these efforts can help redefine what drylands represent. “This is an opportunity for all of us,” she says, “to make these thrivelands not only a source of prosperity but also a source of peace.”

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 Brett Meliti

The post Food Tank Explains: Dryland Farming appeared first on Food Tank.

Every fall, flocks of tiny bat-like birds exhibit one of the greatest migration spectacles: hundreds and thousands of swifts gather into a swirling bird tornado above their chimney roost site. As...

Global web services giant signs its first ever standalone battery "tolling" agreement, globally, in a deal with a battery project in East Gippsland, Victoria.

The post Amazon inks its first ever standalone battery tolling agreement – with a project in East Gippsland appeared first on Renew Economy.

Could a new mechanism to help countries transition to a cleaner, safer and fairer world be one of the main deliverables from the COP31 climate summit in Türkiye this November? Civil society groups – which played a key role in winning last year’s agreement in Brazil to set up a mechanism – want to see it come to life in Antalya and take shape in 2027.

The concept of a “just transition” has gained momentum and widespread support in recent years. It recognises that countries have varying levels of responsibility for planet-heating emissions and unequal resources to adapt to the impacts of global warming and move away from fossil fuels.

In July, UN Secretary General António Guterres told the High-Level Political Forum in New York: “We need to support the countries, communities and workers that depend on fossil fuels throughout the transition.” While few would dispute that need, governments at the UN climate talks are still working out how to respond to it with concrete action.

With discussions set to produce a decision making the mechanism a reality at COP31, observers want to ensure the new mechanism is more than just a talking shop. 

Here’s what’s at stake in the just transition negotiations before and at COP31:

What has been agreed on the mechanism so far?

At the mid-year climate negotiations in Bonn, just transition was one of the few key issues on which governments reached a consensus, including on how to review the progress of the Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP) – a process that led to agreement on a mechanism last year at COP30 in Belém, Brazil.

Set up in 2022 and launched a year later, the aim of the JTWP is to discuss how to achieve a green economic and social shift that is fair, from the global down to the local level. Its accompanying mechanism will be tasked with strengthening international cooperation, technical support, capacity-building and knowledge-sharing to enable societies to become low-carbon and climate-resilient in a way that does not harm people and shares the benefits.

To phase out fossil fuels, developing countries need exit route from “debt trap”

Anabella Rosemberg, senior advisor on just transition with Climate Action Network (CAN) International, told Climate Home News that the most important outcome in Bonn was an informal document laying out various options for establishing the new mechanism. 

However, this leaves a lot still to be worked out and the preliminary discussions at Bonn were not enough on their own to ensure the operationalisation of the mechanism at COP31, as planned. 

“In the months ahead of COP31, this issue should be a priority for the COP31 presidencies – both Türkiye and Australia,” said Camila Mercure, climate policy coordinator at the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (FARN), an Argentinian NGO, adding this would help secure more space for debate in the lead-up to and during the annual summit.

So far, an informal workshop for governments and NGOs to exchange views on the JTWP and the mechanism, and to push things forward has been organised from September 30 to October 2 in Sydney. 

How will the review of the Just Transition Work Programme affect the mechanism?  

One task for COP31 is to review the efficiency and effectiveness of the JTWP so far and to decide whether and how it will continue. 

For Laura Restrepo Alameda, advocacy officer at Climate Action Network Latin America (CANLA), the main positive aspect is that it will include a mapping of instruments, initiatives and processes relevant to just transitions under the UN climate convention, the Paris Agreement and among other UN entities. “It’s a resource that will enable us to assess the complementarity and coherence of the various tools available to support the implementation of a [just transition] mechanism,” she told Climate Home News. 

Not everyone wants the JTWP review and the work to launch a mechanism to feed into one another. Russia, Arab nations and a group of large emerging nations pushed for them to be separate – which they believe would make it easier to limit the scope of the mechanism – while the African Group defended joint work between the two processes.

According to Anthony Dane of Southern Transitions, a South Africa-based “think and do-tank”, governments also have varying concerns around the mapping exercise, which is being carried out by the UN climate change secretariat.

He noted in a recent webinar that some want to use it as a basis to argue that a lot is already being done on just transition and so the new mechanism does not need to offer much more, while others are preparing to argue the opposite, highlighting a lack of international cooperation and support. 

How Belém launched the Just Transition mechanism

For Dane, the mapping exercise also raises the bigger question of how to define the scope of “just transition” within the UN climate talks. 

So far, richer countries have favoured a narrower view that focuses on phasing out fossil fuels, while developing countries have pushed for a broader “whole of economy, whole of society” approach that encompasses issues like green industrialisation and sustainable development.

Russia and some other high-emitting nations do not want the JTWP or its mechanism to become a tool for imposing new green trade restrictions, while the European Union has rejected attempts to use it as a forum to dispute its new carbon levy on imports. These debates are set to rumble on.

What will the mechanism do and when will it start?

In Bonn, countries discussed the design features of the mechanism – that is, the elements, governance arrangements, structures and functions it should have. The outcome was an informal preliminary note compiling a range of views and possible options. 

While most country negotiating groups welcomed the document as a basis for further talks, Arab countries said it did not reflect their priorities, with Saudi Arabia insisting it had no formal status. 

“The mechanism must contribute to international cooperation between countries, serve as a guide, support countries so that they can develop just transition strategies, and act as a channel for accessing funding to implement projects within their territories,” said Mercure of FARN. 

But exactly what the mechanism should cover, and what it should not, remain a contentious subject for governments.

A just agricultural transition takes root in Brazil

For example, the Like-Minded Developing Countries – a bloc of more than 20 low- and middle-income nations including China and India – and the Arab Group appear keen to avoid any targets, requirements or conditionalities being imposed on them with regard to transitioning away from fossil fuels (TAFF). 

That contrasts with some Latin American and small island states that would like to see the mechanism used as a way of furthering global commitments already made in 2023 on TAFF and tripling renewable energy by 2030.   

Developed countries, for their part, do not want the mechanism to put too much responsibility on them to provide finance and other forms of cooperation. 

Some experts Climate Home News spoke to, meanwhile, called for the mechanism to lay out actions for different sectors – not just energy but also others like agriculture and heavy industries.

Sandeep Pai, senior lead for international energy transitions at Duke University, said the mechanism should focus on at least eight to ten high-emitting sectors, addressing how to support workers through the transition to cleaner ways of operating. But, he noted “talking about sectors was always an issue at the negotiations”.

Another issue important to civil society groups is that justice should be embedded in the process to operationalise what they have informally dubbed the BAM (short for the Belém Action Mechanism or, more recently, the Belém Antalya Mechanism). 

A banner calling for the establishment of a Belem-Antalya Just Transition Mechanism at the Bonn climate talks, on June 15, 2026 (Photo: IISD/ENB – Kiara Worth) A banner calling for the establishment of a Belem-Antalya Just Transition Mechanism at the Bonn climate talks, on June 15, 2026 (Photo: IISD/ENB – Kiara Worth)

“The key milestone between now and COP31 must be to define a structure for the BAM with clear governance, coordination and the inclusion of civil society,” said CANLA’s Restrepo Alameda. The network, which represents hundreds of NGOs, is calling for groups that are likely to be hit hard by the transition, such as workers and Indigenous peoples, to have a seat at the table.

Given the short time-frame until a decision to operationalise the mechanism is due to be agreed and adopted at COP31, experts say all these thorny issues are unlikely to be ironed out by then and further discussions may be needed to refine the form and functions of the new body.

CAN’s Rosemberg told Climate Home News that “an ambitious outcome” at COP31 would be to establish the mechanism with its key functions and modalities in Antalya, while setting up a transitional committee to speed up technical work and ensure the BAM is fully operational by COP32 in Ethiopia in 2027.

What is needed on the ground for a just transition?

The top-down nature of decisions taken at COPs generally do not reflect the specific situations of individual countries and communities on the ground – and this is particularly so when it comes to just transition.

Pai of Duke University contrasted India – where much of the transition will be about moving away from coal mining and coal-fired power stations – with countries that use relatively few fossil fuels like Costa Rica and will need to implement a very different set of changes.

He added that each country must define what a “just transition” means to them, according to their contexts and needs: is it about using less oil and gas, promoting green steel-making and lower-emitting buildings, or transforming some other high-carbon activity? The next step is to establish government bodies and policies to plan and drive the transition. 

COP30: Spain’s unions say just transition means renewing communities beyond jobs

“Global and broad declarations on a [just transition] mechanism are a good signal,” said Pai. “But we would be fooling ourselves if we think that just because something is getting declared, it will be implemented.”

When it comes to tackling dependence on coal, for example, Pai noted the difficulty of shutting down coal mines and replacing their role in local economies that tend to be heavily reliant on the industry for both jobs and revenues. According to the International Energy Agency, 3.1 million of the 7.8 million people working in coal-related activities in 2022 were employed in coal mining.

Workers load coal on a truck near an open-cast mine, on the outskirts of Dhanbad. (Amarjeet Kumar Singh / SOPA Image via Reuters Connect) Workers load coal on a truck near an open-cast mine, on the outskirts of Dhanbad. (Amarjeet Kumar Singh / SOPA Image via Reuters Connect) Why is finance the elephant in the room?

Finance – and finding more of it for climate action – has always been a bone of contention between developed and developing countries in the UN climate process, cropping up time and time again across negotiating streams, whether it’s the new goal for tripling resources for adaptation or filling the loss and damage fund.

In the corridors at Bonn, observers told Climate Home News that, for just transition, the discussions on the topic did not centre on setting up a new dedicated fund, but rather touched on how the mechanism could better connect available financial resources with just transition initiatives in countries.

The informal note on the new mechanism includes mobilising and facilitating “grant-based and non-debt-inducing finance” and channelling finance through North-South and other multilateral partnerships. It is unclear whether finance will be included in the final COP31 decision on the BAM. CAN’s Rosemberg has suggested a resource mobilisation taskforce could be set up to start identifying sources of funding.

An analysis by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows that, during the first year after mass layoffs, workers losing their jobs in energy-intensive industries – such as power supply, heavy manufacturing and transport – lose an average of 58% of their income, compared with 52% experienced in other sectors.

Pai flagged two challenges when it comes to funding just transitions: many large financial institutions don’t want to invest in low and middle-income countries because of their high-risk profile; and developing countries often lack a well-prepared pipeline of investable projects.

The Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) launched earlier this decade were an effort to overcome these barriers. The donor-backed initiatives, outside the UN climate process, mobilised billions of dollars from the public and private sectors to help several emerging economies, including South Africa and Indonesia, finance the transition to clean energy in an economically and socially fair manner. 

But the JETPs have run up against some difficulties, such as Jakarta abandoning its plan to shut down a major coal plant early, which was a key part of the original deal. 

Indonesia’s failing Just Energy Transition Partnership is a cautionary tale

With UN climate negotiations on finance seeing positions harden between developed and developing nations as donor governments struggle to meet existing targets, some observers believe talks on funding for just transition are unlikely to produce quick results in the form of hard dollars any time soon.

“Many of those who are asking for money don’t know what they’re asking for, and those who have the money don’t want to give. You can write a paragraph about finance [in the negotiations] but this fundamental reality will not change,” said Pai.

The post From Belém to Antalya – gains, gaps and challenges for a new Just Transition Mechanism  appeared first on Climate Home News.

The power of birdsong to lift the human spirit has long been appreciated.

In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29, a suffering person is revived when “Haply I think on thee, and then my state,/Like to the lark at break of day arising/From sullen earth sings hymns at heaven’s gate ….”

Today, the effect is evident in apps designed to soothe people with birdsong, and in a growing body of research showing that when people hear recordings of birds singing they cope better with stress and feel more restored.

But what happens when we hear those birds amid the clamor of urban life? After all, most of us can’t easily get away to a peaceful forest far from the nearest road.

Even relatively quiet traffic sounds well below thresholds recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) take a toll, leaching away the bird-born calm, according to a new paper in the journal People and Nature.

Although we are creatures of the Anthropocene, apparently a part of our ancient brains that reacts to sounds didn’t get the memo.

“Traffic noise undoubtedly affects the psychological benefits of natural soundscapes. With urban planning now including more green spaces, it is important that steps are taken so that people enjoy such areas to their fullest,” said Eleanor Ratcliffe, a University of Surrey researcher who studies interactions between psychology and the environment.

Ratcliffe and colleagues at several United Kingdom universities conducted experiments to understand how urban noise affected the benefits of hearing birds singing. First, they conducted on online experiment in which more than 1,500 people listened to a series of 9 audio recordings. Each contained songs from three different species totaling five birds, many of them mixed with sounds of a city, such as traffic noise. The recordings varied by the loudness of the human sounds and the complexity and loudness of the bird recordings.

Afterwards, people answered questions about their responses, such as, “The variety of sounds in this recording make me feel ….”

 

.IRPP_ruby , .IRPP_ruby .postImageUrl , .IRPP_ruby .centered-text-area {height: auto;position: relative;}.IRPP_ruby , .IRPP_ruby:hover , .IRPP_ruby:visited , .IRPP_ruby:active {border:0!important;}.IRPP_ruby .clearfix:after {content: "";display: table;clear: both;}.IRPP_ruby {display: block;transition: background-color 250ms;webkit-transition: background-color 250ms;width: 100%;opacity: 1;transition: opacity 250ms;webkit-transition: opacity 250ms;background-color: #eaeaea;}.IRPP_ruby:active , .IRPP_ruby:hover {opacity: 1;transition: opacity 250ms;webkit-transition: opacity 250ms;background-color: inherit;}.IRPP_ruby .postImageUrl {background-position: center;background-size: cover;float: left;margin: 0;padding: 0;width: 31.59%;position: absolute;top: 0;bottom: 0;}.IRPP_ruby .centered-text-area {float: right;width: 65.65%;padding:0;margin:0;}.IRPP_ruby .centered-text {display: table;height: 130px;left: 0;top: 0;padding:0;margin:0;padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 20px;}.IRPP_ruby .IRPP_ruby-content {display: table-cell;margin: 0;padding: 0 74px 0 0px;position: relative;vertical-align: middle;width: 100%;}.IRPP_ruby .ctaText {border-bottom: 0 solid #fff;color: #0099cc;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;letter-spacing: normal;margin: 0;padding: 0;font-family:'Arial';}.IRPP_ruby .postTitle {color: #000000;font-size: 16px;font-weight: 600;letter-spacing: normal;margin: 0;padding: 0;font-family:'Arial';}.IRPP_ruby .ctaButton {background: url(https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts-pro/assets/images/next-arrow.png)no-repeat;background-color: #afb4b6;background-position: center;display: inline-block;height: 100%;width: 54px;margin-left: 10px;position: absolute;bottom:0;right: 0;top: 0;}.IRPP_ruby:after {content: "";display: block;clear: both;}Recommended Reading:Can you hear it? That’s the sound of a successful rainforest recovery program.

 

For a deeper dive in more controlled conditions, the researchers conducted similar experiments with 62 university students in a lab. There they also hooked the subjects up to a device that measured the variability in their heart rate from beat to beat. A more variable rate is associated with lower stress.

The results showed that traffic noises consistently eroded the benefits of the birds. Louder traffic, not surprisingly, had a bigger effect. But even traffic perceived at 43 decibels – roughly equivalent to a refrigerator’s hum or a quiet office – diminished the benefits. The rankings by the study participants were mirrored in their heart rate variability. When traffic mixed with the birds, the variability was lower.

There’s evidence that at least part of what’s going on is that the overall intensity of sounds can overload people. The negative effects of loud traffic were amplified when the nature sounds were also dialed up to greater intensity.

In some ways, it appears that humans prefer a sort of acoustic middle ground. When the natural sounds were at a mid-level of loudness and complexity, people generally reported feeling better than when natural sounds were high end or low end and mixed with city noise. Likewise, people perceived more bird diversity in that mid-range, even though the number and species of birds were the same in each recording.

The findings suggest that when organizations are designing urban refuges such as parks, they shouldn’t forget to shut their eyes and listen. Measures such as lower speed limits on nearby roads or thicker perimeter vegetation could help preserve the acoustic benefits of the sweet sounds of Shakespeare’s lark.

“It is important that people get to spend time in nature and are able to appreciate its benefits without being distracted by noise,” said Ratcliffe.

Uebel, et. al. “The influence of acoustic characteristics and anthropogenic noise on restorative perceptions of natural soundscapes.” People and Nature. Aug. 25, 2026.

Photo by Mateusz Walendzik/Pexels

Perubahan slot game kini terasa pada cara sebuah permainan memperkenalkan dirinya sejak layar pertama terbuka. Tema tidak lagi berdiri sendiri. Susunan reel, transisi visual, karakter, simbol khusus, tempo permainan, sampai penyajian bonus mulai dirangkai sebagai satu identitas. Pendekatan tersebut membawa pengalaman digital menuju fase lebih modern, termasuk saat nama Pragmatic Play POP masuk dalam percakapan seputar perkembangan format permainan.

Babak baru ini bukan sekadar perkara grafis lebih tajam. Pemain semakin mudah membedakan game melalui mekanisme, navigasi, serta karakter fiturnya. Akibatnya, provider perlu membuat permainan dengan ciri kuat tanpa menjadikan layar terlalu rumit.

Slot Game Mulai Bergerak dari Format Konvensional

Format klasik memiliki struktur relatif sederhana. Reel berputar, simbol berhenti, lalu payline menentukan kombinasi sesuai paytable. Model tersebut masih digunakan, tetapi perkembangan teknologi membuka ruang untuk variasi lebih luas.

Slot game modern dapat memakai cascading reel, cluster pays, sistem Ways, expanding reel, atau mekanisme bonus bertingkat. Setiap struktur menawarkan cara berbeda dalam membaca layar.

Perubahan ini penting karena pengalaman tidak lagi hanya bergantung pada tema. Dua permainan bertema serupa dapat terasa sangat berbeda ketika mekanismenya memakai sistem berbeda.

Struktur Reel Menjadi Bagian dari Identitas

Reel kini dapat berfungsi sebagai elemen desain utama.

Pada sistem konvensional, jumlah kolom dan baris biasanya tetap. Format lebih baru memungkinkan area permainan berkembang saat fitur tertentu aktif. Ada pula mekanisme dengan simbol jatuh setelah kombinasi terbentuk.

Perubahan tersebut membuat struktur reel memiliki fungsi lebih besar. Ia menentukan bagaimana informasi ditampilkan sekaligus membentuk tempo permainan.

Identitas sebuah game akhirnya bisa dikenali dari cara reel bereaksi, bukan hanya ilustrasi pada simbol.

Pragmatic Play POP Membawa Pembahasan ke Arah Visual Lebih Segar

Konsep “POP” dapat dibaca melalui pendekatan presentasi lebih ekspresif: warna kontras, karakter mudah dikenali, animasi cepat, serta informasi fitur dengan hierarki jelas. Dalam konteks artikel ini, Pragmatic Play POP ditempatkan sebagai tema untuk melihat bagaimana slot game dapat bergerak menuju pengalaman lebih ringkas sekaligus atraktif.

Pendekatan visual semacam itu penting karena pemain berhadapan dengan banyak informasi dalam satu layar.

Nominal taruhan, tombol putaran, jumlah kemenangan, fitur, paytable, serta indikator bonus harus tetap mudah ditemukan. Visual menarik kehilangan manfaat apabila antarmuka justru membingungkan.

Fitur Tidak Harus Banyak untuk Terasa Modern

Game modern terkadang dianggap harus memiliki sebanyak mungkin mekanisme. Anggapan tersebut kurang tepat.

Satu fitur dengan fungsi jelas dapat memberikan identitas lebih kuat dibanding lima mekanisme tanpa hubungan. Wild, misalnya, dapat dikembangkan menjadi expanding wild atau multiplier wild. Cascade dapat dikombinasikan dengan peningkatan multiplier selama rangkaian tertentu.

Kuncinya berada pada hubungan antarfitur.

Saat setiap mekanisme memiliki peran jelas, permainan terasa memiliki alur. Putaran dasar menjadi pengenalan, simbol khusus memberikan variasi, sementara bonus berfungsi sebagai fase lanjutan.

Tabel Perubahan Karakter Slot Game Modern

Berikut gambaran mengenai perubahan elemen permainan dari pendekatan konvensional menuju format lebih dinamis.

ElemenFormat KonvensionalPendekatan ModernDampak pada PengalamanReelUkuran relatif tetapBisa dinamis atau berkembangTampilan lebih variatifPaylineGaris pembayaran tetapWays atau clusterCara membaca kombinasi berubahWildPengganti simbolSticky, expanding, multiplierFungsi semakin beragamBonusSatu tahapBisa memiliki beberapa faseAlur terasa berlapisAnimasiFokus pada putaranTerhubung dengan fiturTransisi lebih informatifAntarmukaTombol dasarNavigasi adaptifInformasi lebih mudah dipetakanAudioMusik latarResponsif terhadap fiturPerubahan fase lebih mudah dikenali

Tabel tersebut menunjukkan bahwa pembaruan tidak selalu berarti mengubah seluruh konsep slot. Perubahan kecil pada reel, navigasi, atau perilaku simbol sudah dapat menciptakan karakter baru.

Bonus Mulai Dibangun sebagai Sebuah Perjalanan

Salah satu perubahan menarik terlihat pada struktur bonus. Mode tambahan tidak harus langsung memberikan seluruh fiturnya sejak awal.

Beberapa desain menggunakan progres bertahap. Fase pertama memperkenalkan mekanisme dasar, kemudian level berikutnya menambahkan multiplier, wild, atau perubahan reel sesuai aturan permainan.

Model tersebut membuat bonus memiliki perkembangan.

Pemain dapat memahami fungsi baru secara bertahap tanpa menerima terlalu banyak informasi pada satu waktu. Dari sisi UX, pendekatan ini juga membantu menjaga layar tetap terbaca.

Audio dan Animasi Memberi Petunjuk Tanpa Banyak Teks

Slot game modern semakin mengandalkan komunikasi visual.

Scatter dapat memiliki animasi tersendiri. Wild menggunakan efek berbeda. Aktivasi bonus memperoleh perubahan latar, sedangkan peningkatan multiplier disertai respons audio khusus.

Detail tersebut bukan indikator hasil berikutnya. Fungsinya lebih dekat pada navigasi visual dan pemberitahuan status.

Pemain akhirnya dapat mengetahui perubahan fase tanpa harus terus membaca teks kecil pada layar.

Babak Baru Slot Game Berada pada Integrasi

Perkembangan slot game tidak harus diukur dari jumlah fitur atau seberapa besar animasinya. Perubahan paling menarik justru muncul ketika reel, simbol, audio, visual, navigasi, serta bonus bekerja sebagai satu sistem.

Tema Pragmatic Play POP dapat ditempatkan dalam arah tersebut: pengalaman lebih ekspresif tanpa meninggalkan struktur permainan agar tetap mudah dipahami.

Inilah babak baru slot game. Bukan sekadar memindahkan format klasik ke layar lebih modern, tetapi membangun identitas melalui hubungan antarelemen. Ketika visual membantu navigasi, fitur mempunyai fungsi jelas, dan mekanisme memiliki kesinambungan, sebuah permainan dapat terasa baru tanpa harus memenuhi layar dengan fitur secara berlebihan.

Earth is on track to exceed 1.5 degrees of warming within years, the United Nations has warned, exposing communities to more extreme weather.

The post “Bloody dangerous territory:” World on track to exceed 1.5°C warming appeared first on Renew Economy.

VANCOUVER — MEGAN GORDON, Manager of the Pembina Institute’s Sustainable Workforce program, made the following statement in response to the federal government’s launch of the Energy and Electricity Workforce Alliance.“We are pleased to see the...

Headline News:

• “The Moonrider Battery-Electric Tractor From GoSun Costing $19,995” • The Moonrider tractor makes it possible for farmers, homesteaders, and landscapers to work in a quieter environment without polluting emissions. It is priced at $19,995, thousands of dollars less than similar tractors powered by internal combustion engines burning gasoline or diesel oil. [CleanTechnica]

Moonrider electric tractor (GoSun image)

• “What It Will Take To Turn Renewables Boom Into A Real Drop In Emissions” • It’s no longer possible to keep global warming below 1.5°C, a UN Environment Programme report says. It projects a best-case 1.8°C of warming and says we will “overshoot, peak and decline.” But we are also challenged by demands for AI and data centers. [Euronews]
• “Air Conditioners Save Thousands Of Lives Every Year In The US” • Home air conditioning prevents over 5,000 heat-related deaths per year in the US, a study found. As rising temperatures take a toll on human health, household air conditioning is about more than comfort, a study in Nature Health found, because it also saves thousands of lives. [Euronews]
• “US Adds 20 GWh Of Energy Storage Capacity In Q2, Largest Quarter On Record” • The US energy storage industry installed a record 20.2 GWh of capacity in Q2, bringing total installations in the first half of 2026 to 30.8 GWh. This is according to a report from the Solar Energy Industries Association and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. [CleanTechnica]
• “AOC Proposes Data Center At Mar-A-Lago” • After President Trump said every community should want a data center, US Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took a shot at his enthusiastic support for them. She suggested that he put one at Mar-a-Lago after he said the communities that oppose the facilities are “backwards and poor.” [AOL.com]

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

At first blush, The Odyssey and Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s back-to-back smash hits, could not seem more different. The former stands on the cusp of history...

The post Christopher Nolan highlights the power and limits of Enlightenment first appeared on Spring.

The world is on track to cross the 1.5°C global warming threshold, likely within the next few years, according to a major new UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report released today. Limiting Overshoot finds that even the most optimistic scenario now points to a peak temperature rise of 1.8°C, with most other projections higher still, but concludes that an "overshoot, peak and decline" pathway can still bring the world back below 1.5°C if governments act immediately on emissions, methane and the fossil fuel phase-out.

350.org says the report is both a warning and a call to action. Overshoot may now be unavoidable, but its depth and duration are not fixed – these will be decided by political choices being made right now.

Fenton Lutunatabua, 350.org Pacific

"We absolutely have to claw back every fraction of a degree possible. Just because overshoot is deemed inevitable, that doesn't mean we stop fighting to limit it to as short an overshoot as possible. It is still within our grasp to limit how high temperatures rise and how long they stay above 1.5°C. Every day above 1.5°C is another coastline swallowed, another plantation flooded, another coral reef lost.

"We have the stark science outlining our situation, and we have the solutions, what we need is the political will to see them through. As our leaders gather in Palau for the Forum Leaders meeting, all eyes are on one of the world's largest fossil fuel exporters, Australia, and how they act on this urgent warning. The climate crisis is here and any delay in mitigation, in phasing out coal, oil and gas, will only make our adaptation pressures harder and more expensive to bear."

Savio Carvalho, 350.org Head of Campaigns and Networks, said the report's findings echo what frontline communities are already living through:

"This report confirms what communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis have been telling us for years: that delay is not a neutral act, it is a decision. We've just watched a glacier collapse bury Himalayan communities under mud and water, and we're watching Pacific nations lose land to the sea in real time. UNEP is right that overshoot doesn't have to mean surrender: the size and length of that overshoot is still being written by the decisions governments make this year, on fossil fuel phase-out, technology transfer and on finance for the countries least responsible and most exposed. There is no version of 'limiting overshoot' that doesn't start with ending new coal, oil and gas expansion today."

UNEP's report warns that above 1.5°C, climate risks and the likelihood of triggering irreversible tipping points, including destabilisation of major ice sheets, degradation of the Amazon rainforest, and disruption of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, intensify with every additional fraction of a degree and every year spent above the threshold. It stresses that carbon dioxide removal can only credibly contribute to a return below 1.5°C if it comes in addition to, not instead of, sustained and immediate cuts to fossil fuel emissions, and that countries with the greatest historical responsibility for the crisis must act fastest and with the greatest ambition.

350.org is calling on governments, and major fossil fuel exporters gathering this week with Pacific leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum in Palau, to treat the report as a mandate for accelerated coal, oil and gas phase-out, not a reason to delay further.

Newly elected to La Via Campesina’s Coordination Committee, Goo Jeom Sook enthusiastically explains to us what Korean agriculture is like, her farm, her commitments and the recent mobilisations that have shaken the country.

The post In South Korea, Peasant Women Cultivate the Land and the Struggle appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.