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Beloved eagle, a school mascot, electrocuted on power lines above Bay Area elementary school

A beloved eagle, a school mascot, was electrocuted on PG&E power lines near an elementary school in the Bay Area. Could anything have been done to prevent it? How often does this happen?

MILPITAS, Calif. — As scores of students swarmed out of their Milpitas elementary school on a recent afternoon, a lone bald eagle perched high above them in a redwood tree — only occasionally looking down on the after-school ruckus, training his eyes on the grassy hills along the western horizon.The week before, his mate was electrocuted on nearby power lines operated by PG&E.Kevin Slavin, principal of Curtner Elementary School, said the eagles in that nest are so well-known and beloved here that they were made the school’s mascots and the “whole ethos of the school has been tied around them” since they arrived in 2017. What exactly happened to send Hope the eagle off the pair’s nest in the dark of night and into the live wires on the night of Nov. 3 is not known (although there’s some scandalous speculation it involved a mysterious, “interloper” female). According to a spokesperson from PG&E, an outage occurred in the area at around 9 p.m. Line workers later discovered it was caused by the adult eagle.The death, sadly, is not atypical for large raptors, such as bald and golden eagles.According to a 2014 analysis of bird deaths across the U.S., electrocution on power lines is a significant cause of bird mortality. Every year, as many as 11.6 million birds are fried on the wires that juice our televisions, HVAC systems and blow driers, the authors estimated. The birds die when two body parts — a wing, foot or beak — come in contact with two wires, or when they touch a wire and ground source, sending a fatal current of electricity through the animal’s body.Because of their massive size, eagles and other raptors are at more risk. The wingspan of an adult bald eagle ranges from 5.5 to 8 feet across; it’s roughly the same for a golden eagle.According to a report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Forensics Laboratory, which analyzed 417 electrocuted raptors from 13 species between 2000 and 2015, nearly 80 percent were bald or golden eagles.Krysta Rogers, senior environmental scientist at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Investigations Laboratory, examined the dead eagle.She found small burns on Hope’s left foot pad and the back of her right leg. She also had singed feathers on both sides of her body, but especially on the right, where Rogers said the wing looked particularly damaged. She said most birds are electrocuted on utility poles, but Hope was electrocuted “mid-span,” where the wires dip between the poles. Melissa Subbotin, a spokesperson for PG&E, said the poles and wires near where the birds nested had been adapted with coverings and other safety features to make them safe for raptors. However, it appears the bird may have touched two wires mid-span. Subbotin said the utility company spaces lines at least 5 feet apart — a precaution it and other utility companies take to minimize raptor deaths. “Since 2002, PG&E has made about 42,990 existing power poles and towers bird-safe,” Subbotin said. The company has also retrofitted about 41,500 power poles in areas where bird have been injured or killed. In addition, she said, in 2024, the company replaced nearly 11,000 poles in designated “Raptor Concentration Zones” and built them to avian-safe construction guidelines.Doug Gillard, an amateur photographer and professor of anatomy and physiology at Life Chiropractic College West in Hayward, who has followed the Milpitas eagles for years, said while there is safety equipment near the school, it does not extend into the nearby neighborhood, where Hope was killed.Gillard said a photographer who lives in the neighborhood took a photo of the eagle hanging from the wires that Gillard has seen. The Times was unable to access the photo.Not far from the school is a marshy wetland, where ducks, geese and migrating birds come to rest and relax, a smorgasbord for a pair of eagles and their young. There are also fish in a nearby lake. Gillard said one of the nearby water bodies is stocked with trout, and that late fall is fishing season for the eagles. He said an army of photographers is currently hanging around the pond hoping to catch a snapshot of the father eagle catching a fish.Rogers said the bird was healthy. She had body fat, good muscle tone and two small feathers in her gut — presumably the remnants of a recent meal. She also had an enlarged ovary and visible oviduct — an avian fallopian tube — suggesting she was getting ready for breeding, which typically happens in January or February.Slavin, the principal, said that a day or two before the mother’s death, he saw the couple preparing their nest, and saw a young female show up. “It was a very tense situation among the eagles,” he said. Gillard, the photographer, said the “girlfriend” has black feathers on her head and in her tail, suggesting she isn’t quite five years old.Gillard and Slavin say they’ve heard from residents there may have been some altercation between the mom and the interloper that sent Hope off the nest and into the wires that night.The young female remains at the scene, and is not only being “tolerated” by the father, but occasionally accompanies him on his fishing trips, Gillard said. Eagles tend to mate for life, but if one dies, the other will look for a new mate, Gillard said. If the female eagle sticks around, it will be the dad’s third partner.Photographers can identify the father, who neighbors just call “Dad,” by the damaged flexor tendon on his right claw, which makes it appear as if he is “flipping the bird” when he flies by.

Animals
Health
Water

Violent conflict over water hit a record last year

Violence over water is on the rise worldwide. Researchers counted a record 420 incidents of conflict in 2024, many in Ukraine and the Middle East.

In Algeria, water shortages left faucets dry, prompting protesters to riot and set tires ablaze.In Gaza, as people waited for water at a community tap, an Israeli drone fired on them, killing eight. In Ukraine, Russian rockets slammed into the country’s largest dam, unleashing a plume of fire over the hydroelectric plant and causing widespread blackouts.These are some of the 420 water-related conflicts researchers documented for 2024 in the latest update of the Pacific Institute’s Water Conflict Chronology, a global database of water-related violence.The year featured a record number of violent incidents over water around the world, far surpassing the 355 in 2023, continuing a steeply rising trend. The violence more than quadrupled in the last five years. In 2024, there were 420 water-related conflicts globally The majority of incidents were in the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe. Russia and Ukraine 51 conflicts Russia and Ukraine 51 conflicts Pacific Institute Sean Greene LOS ANGELES TIMES The new data from the Oakland-based water think tank show also that drinking water wells, pipes and dams are increasingly coming under attack.“In almost every region of the world, there is more and more violence being reported over water,” said Peter Gleick, the Pacific Institute’s co-founder and senior fellow, and it “underscores the urgent need for international attention.”The researchers collect information from news reports and other sources and accounts. They classify it into three categories: instances in which water was a trigger of violence, water systems were targeted and water was a “casualty” of violence, for example when shell fragments hit a water tank.Not every case involves injuries or deaths but many do.The region with the most violent incidents was the Middle East, with 138 reported. That included 66 in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, both in Gaza and the West Bank.In the West Bank there were numerous reports of Israeli settlers destroying water pipelines and tanks and attacking Palestinian farmers.In Gaza the Israeli military destroyed more than 30 wells in the southern towns of Rafah and Khan Younis.Gleick noted that when the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders last year, accusing them of crimes against humanity, the charges mentioned Israeli military attacks on Gaza water systems.“It is an acknowledgment that these attacks are violations of international law,” he said. “There ought to be more enforcement of international laws protecting water systems from attacks.”Water systems also were targeted frequently in the Russia-Ukraine war, in which the researchers tallied 51 violent incidents. Residents collect water in bottles in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, where repeated Russian shelling has left civilians without functioning infrastructure. (George Ivanchenko / Associated Press) Russian strikes disrupted water service in Ukrainian cities, and oil spilled into a river after Russian forces attacked an oil depot.“These aren’t water wars. These are wars in which water is being used as a weapon or is a casualty of the conflict,” Gleick said.The researchers also found water scarcity and drought are prompting a growing number of violent conflicts. “Climate change is making those problems worse,” Gleick said.Many conflicts were in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.In India, residents angry about water shortages assaulted a city worker. In Jammu, India, a woman carries a container of drinking water filled from leaking water pipes in March. (Channi Anand / Associated Press) In Cameroon, rice farmers clashed with fishers, leaving one dead and three injured.At a refugee camp in Kenya, three people died in a fight over drinking water.There’s an increase in conflicts over irrigation, disputes pitting farmers against cities, and violence arising in places where only some water is safe to drink. A man carries jugs to fetch water from a hole in the sandy riverbed in Makueni County, Kenya in February 2024. (Brian Inganga / Associated Press) Gleick, who has been studying water-related violence for more than three decades, said the purpose of the list is to raise awareness and encourage policymakers to act to reduce fighting, bloodshed and turmoil.The United Nations, in its Sustainable Development Goals, says every person should have access to water and sanitation. “The failure to do that is inexcusable and it contributes to a lot of misery,” Gleick said. “It contributes to ill health, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, water-related diseases, and it contributes to conflicts over water.”In Latin America, there were dozens of violent incidents involving water last year.In the Mexican state of Veracruz, protesters were blocking a road to denounce a pork processing plant, which they accused of using too much water and spewing pollution, when police opened fire, killing two men.In Honduras, environmental activist Juan López, who had spoken up to protect rivers from mining, was gunned down as he left church. He was the fourth member of his group to be murdered. A man fills containers with water because of a shortage caused by high temperatures and drought in Veracruz, Mexico in June 2024. (Felix Marquez / Associated Press) “There needs to be more attention on this issue, especially at the international level, but at the national level as well,” said Morgan Shimabuku, a senior researcher with the Pacific Institute. “It is getting worse, and we need to turn that tide.”For 2024, there were few events in the U.S., but among them were cyberattacks on water utilities in Texas and Indiana.In one, Russian hackers claimed responsibility for tampering with an Indiana wastewater treatment plant. Authorities said the attack caused minimal disruption. In another, a pro-Russian hacktivist group manipulated systems at water facilities in small Texas towns, causing water to overflow.The Pacific Institute’s database now lists more than 2,750 conflicts. Most have occurred since 2000. The researchers are adding incidents from 2025 as well as previous years.During extreme drought in Iran worsened by climate change, farmers were desperate enough to go up against security forces, demanding access to river water. Iran’s water crisis, compounded by decades of excessive groundwater pumping, has grown so severe that the president said Tehran no longer can remain the capital and the government will have to move it to another city.Tensions also have been growing between Iran and Afghanistan over the Helmand River, with Iranian leaders accusing their upstream neighbor of not letting enough water flow into the country.Gleick said if the drought persists and the Iranian government doesn’t improve how it manages water, “I would expect to see more violence.”

Water
Activism
Crisis

Analysis-Brazil Environment Minister, Climate Summit Star, Faces Political Struggle at Home

By Manuela AndreoniBELEM, Brazil (Reuters) -Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva fought back tears as global diplomats applauded her for...

BELEM, Brazil (Reuters) -Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva fought back tears as global diplomats applauded her for several minutes on Saturday in the closing plenary of the COP30 global climate summit."We've made progress, albeit modestly," she told delegates gathered in the Amazon rainforest city of Belem, before raising a fist over her head defiantly. "The courage to confront the climate crisis comes from persistence and collective effort."It was a moment of catharsis for the Brazilian hosts in a tense hall where several nations vented frustration with a deal that failed to mention fossil fuels - even as they cheered more funds for developing nations adapting to climate change.Despite the bittersweet outcome, COP30 capped years of work by the environment minister and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to restore Brazil's leadership on global climate policy, dented by a far-right predecessor who denied climate science.Back in Brasilia, a harsher political reality looms. Congress has been pushing to dismantle much of the country's environmental permitting system. Organized crime in the Amazon is also a problem, and people seeking to clear forest acres have found new ways to infiltrate and thwart groups touting sustainable development.All this poses new threats to Brazil's vast ecosystems, forcing Lula and his minister to wage a rearguard battle to defend the world's largest rainforest. Scientists and policy experts warn that action is needed to discourage deforestation before a changing climate turns the Amazon into a tinderbox. Tensions have been mounting between a conservative Congress and the leftist Lula ahead of next year's general election. Forest land is often at heightened risk during election years.Still, Silva insists Brazil can deliver on its promise to reduce deforestation to zero by 2030.  "If I'm in the eye of the storm," she told Reuters, "I have to survive."Silva, born in 1958 in the Amazonian state of Acre to an impoverished family of rubber tappers, was more rock star than policymaker for many at COP30. Like Lula, she overcame hunger and scant early schooling to achieve global recognition. As his environment minister from 2003 to 2008, she sharply slowed the destruction of her native rainforest.After more than a decade of estrangement from Lula's Workers Party, Silva reunited with him in 2022. Many environmentalists consider her return the most important move on climate policy in Lula's current mandate, which he has cast his agenda as an "ecological transformation" of Brazil's economy.It is a stark contrast from surging deforestation under Lula's right-wing predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, who cheered on mining and ranching in the rainforest.Still, Lula's actual environmental record has been ambiguous, said Juliano Assuncao, executive director of the Climate Policy Institute think tank in Brazil. "What we have at times is an Environment Ministry deeply committed to these issues, but at critical moments it hasn't been able to count on the support of the federal government in the way it should," he said.Lula's government has halved deforestation in the Amazon, making it easier to fine deforesters and choke their access to public credit. New policies have encouraged reforestation and sustainable farming practices, such as cattle tracing.Still, critics say Lula's government has not done enough to stop Congress as it undercut environmental protections and blocked recognition of Indigenous lands. Lawmakers have also attacked a private-sector agreement protecting the Amazon from the advance of soy farming.Lula's environmental critics concede he has limited leverage.When a government agency was slow to license oil exploration off the Amazon coast, the Senate pushed legislation to overhaul environmental permitting. Lula vetoed much of the bill, but lawmakers vowed to restore at least part of it this week. Similar tensions in Lula's last mandate prompted Silva to quit over differences with other cabinet ministers. This time around, Lula has been quick to defend her and vice-versa. During a recent interview in her Brasilia office, Silva suggested that Lula had not changed, but rather that a warming planet has ratcheted up the urgency of climate policy."Reality has changed," she said. "People who are guided by scientific criteria, by common sense, by ethics, have followed that gradual change." HIGHER TEMPERATURES, MORE GUNSEarth's hottest year on record was 2024, fueling massive fires in the Amazon rainforest that for the first time erased more tree cover than chainsaws and bulldozers.Brazilians hoping to preserve the Amazon must struggle against more than just a warmer climate and a skeptical Congress. Organized crime has grown in the region after years of tight funding left fewer federal personnel to fight back, said Jair Schmitt, who oversees enforcement at Brazil's environmental protection agency Ibama. Ibama agents have been caught more often in shootouts with gangs, he added, suggesting more guns than ever in the region. "Rifles weren't this easy to find before," he said.Another challenge: Illegal deforesters have also infiltrated Amazon supply chains touting their sustainability, from biofuels to carbon credits, Reuters has reported. To overcome them, Brazil will need to steel its political will, said Marcio Astrini, the head of Climate Observatory, an advocacy group. Other than that, he added, "we have everything it takes to succeed."(Reporting by Manuela AndreoniEditing by Brad Haynes and David Gregorio)Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

Climate
Crisis
Government

Small but mighty grid batteries take root in Virginia amid energy crunch

Two new battery projects on Virginia’s remote eastern peninsula could signal a growing trend in the clean-energy transition: midsize energy-storage units that are bigger than the home batteries typically paired with rooftop solar, but cheaper and quicker to build than massive utility-scale projects. The 10-megawatt,…

Two new battery projects on Virginia’s remote eastern peninsula could signal a growing trend in the clean-energy transition: midsize energy-storage units that are bigger than the home batteries typically paired with rooftop solar, but cheaper and quicker to build than massive utility-scale projects. The 10-megawatt, four-hour batteries, one each in the tiny towns of Exmore and Tasley, represent this ​“missing middle,” said Chris Cucci, chief strategy officer for Climate First Bank, which provided $32 million in financing for the two units. Batteries are a critical technology in the shift to renewable energy because they can store wind and solar electrons and discharge them when the sun isn’t shining or breezes die down. When it comes to energy storage, ​“we need volume, but we also need speed to market,” Cucci said. ​“The big projects do move the needle, but they can take a few years to come online.” And in rural Virginia, batteries paired with enormous solar arrays — which can span 100-plus acres — face increasing headwinds, in part over the concern that they’re displacing farmland. The Exmore and Tasley systems, by contrast, took about a year to permit, broke ground in April, and came online this fall, Cucci said. Sited at two substations 10 miles apart, the batteries occupy about 1 acre each. Beyond being relatively simple to get up and running, the systems could help ease energy burdens on customers of A&N Electric Cooperative, the nonprofit utility that owns the substations where the batteries are sited, said Harold Patterson, CEO of project developer Patterson Enterprises. Wait times to link to the larger regional grid, operated by PJM Interconnection, are up to two years. So for now, the batteries will draw power only from the electric co-op, Patterson said. Once they connect to PJM, the batteries will charge when system-wide electricity consumption is down and spot prices are low. Then, the batteries’ owner, Doxa Development, will sell power back when demand is at its peak, creating revenue that will help lower bills for co-op consumers. “That’s the final step to try to drive down power prices” for residents of Virginia’s Eastern Shore, Patterson said. ​“Get it online and increase supply in the wholesale marketplace.” Moving away from gas Though the batteries aren’t paired with a specific solar project, they are likely to lap up excess solar electrons on the PJM grid. And since they’ll be discharged during hours of heavy demand, they could help avert the revving up of gas-fired ​“peaker plants.” “Peaker plants are smaller power plants that are in closer proximity to the populations they serve, and [they] are traditionally very dirty,” Cucci said. ​“They’re also economically inefficient to run. Battery storage is cleaner, more efficient, and easier to deploy.” Gas peaker plants are wasteful partly because of all the energy required to drill and transport the fuel that fires them, said Nate Benforado, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, a nonprofit legal advocacy group. “Then you get [the fuel] to your power plant, and you have to burn it,” Benforado said. ​“And guess what? You only capture a relatively small portion of the potential energy in those carbon molecules.” Single-cycle peaker plants, the most common type, can go from zero to full power in minutes, much like a jet engine. Their efficiency ranges between 33% and 43%.  “Burning fossil fuels is not an efficient way to generate energy,” Benforado said.  “Leaning into batteries is the way we have to go. They’re efficient on the power side but also on the price side.”

Energy
Climate
Waste

Labor’s nature laws risk collapse with deal yet to be struck on eve of parliament’s final sitting day

Greens expected to sign on to 11th-hour compromise after Labor offers new concessionsAnthony Albanese is yet to land a deal to rewrite federal nature laws ahead of parliament’s final sitting day of the year, leaving the long-promised reforms at risk of collapse for the second time in 12 months.But political, industry and environment movement sources expect the Greens will eventually accept an 11th-hour compromise after Labor offered new concessions to secure the minor party’s support. Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese is yet to land a deal to rewrite federal nature laws ahead of parliament’s final sitting day of the year, leaving the long-promised reforms at risk of collapse for the second time in 12 months.But political, industry and environment movement sources expect the Greens will eventually accept an 11th-hour compromise after Labor offered new concessions to secure the minor party’s support.The government was locked in tense negotiations with the Greens and the Coalition on Wednesday as it races to meet a self-imposed deadline of overhauling the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act before parliament breaks for summer.The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has become involved in negotiations, speaking directly with his Greens counterpart Larissa Waters in a bid to resolve the standoff.Albanese’s active role in party-to-party talks on legislation is typically a sign that negotiations have reached the pointy end.Government sources confirmed there was no deal as of Wednesday night.The prime minister was yet to hold leader-to-leader talks with Sussan Ley as of Wednesday night, although the environment minister, Murray Watt, did speak again with his Liberal counterpart, Angie Bell.Watt’s meeting with Bell showed the government remained open to a potential deal with the Coalition, although that option was considered less likely after Ley criticised Labor’s offer to them as “totally insufficient”.Guardian Australia understands the opposition requested additional business-friendly changes on Wednesday, further complicating the prospects of a last-minute deal between the major parties.After an initial package of concessions, including measures to effectively prevent the fast-tracking of coal and gas projects, failed to sway the Greens, the government offered further changes to the minor party on Wednesday.Guardian Australia has not seen the revised offer and neither the Greens or the government would confirm details of the updated proposal.The Greens party room met on Wednesday to consider a position.Inspired by Graeme Samuel’s 2020 review of the EPBC Act, the bill promises to better protect nature through new environmental standards while also speeding up project assessments.It will also establish a new environmental protection agency – a Labor election promise at the past two federal ballots.The bill has faced intense criticism from all sides. Environmentalists warn it won’t properly tackle the extinction crisis while industry fears that certain features, in particular a proposed new “unacceptable impact”, could knock out projects.If Labor can’t secure a deal on Thursday, it would mark the second time in 12 months that planned reforms to the EPBC Act have been pushed off the agenda.In the last term of parliament, the former environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, proposed a staged approach to reforms and introduced legislation to establish an environment protection agency.But when Plibersek was on the cusp of a deal with the Greens and independent senator David Pocock, the bill was vetoed by the prime minister after pressure from the Western Australian government and mining sector.Albanese decided against resurrecting the bill ahead of the federal election in May, delaying the reform task until after he was returned to power.In an email to supporters on Wednesday, the Labor Environment Action Network (LEAN) – which has campaigned for years to fix the EPBC Act – said it preferred the government teamed up with the Greens.“The Greens offer includes most of LEAN’s key asks, and we are hopeful this will be the path forward. The Coalition offer, while clearly inferior, does not catastrophically weaken the Labor bills,” the email, seen by Guardian Australia, said.“We remain positive, though understandably nervous, and we know many of you feel the same.”

Nature
Business
Crisis

Ambitious Plan to Store CO2 Beneath the North Sea Set to Start Operations

INEOS plans to transform the Nini oil field in the North Sea into a carbon storage site

NORTH SEA, Denmark (AP) — Appearing first as a dot on the horizon, the remote Nini oil field on Europe’s rugged North Sea slowly comes into view from a helicopter.Used to extract fossil fuels, the field is now getting a second lease on life as a means of permanently storing planet-warming carbon dioxide beneath the seabed.In a process that almost reverses oil extraction, chemical giant INEOS plans to inject liquefied CO2 deep down into depleted oil reservoirs, 1,800 meters (5,900 feet) beneath the seabed.The Associated Press made a rare visit to the Siri platform, close to the unmanned Nini field, the final stage in INEOS’ carbon capture and storage efforts, named Greensand Future.When the project begins commercial operations next year, Greensand is expected to become the European Union’s first fully-operational offshore CO2 storage site. Environmentalists say carbon capture and storage, also known as CCS, has a role to play in dealing with climate change but should not be used as an excuse by industries to avoid cutting emissions. Mads Gade, chief executive of INEOS Energy Europe, says it will initially begin storing 400,000 tons (363,000 metric tons) of CO2 per year, scaling up to as much as 8 million tons (7.3 million metric tons) annually by 2030.“Denmark has the potential to actually store more than several hundred years of our own emissions,” says Gade. “We are able to create an industry where we can support Europe in actually storing a lot of the CO2 here.”Greensand has struck deals with Danish biogas facilities to bury their captured carbon emissions into the Nini field’s depleted reservoirs.A “CO2 terminal” that temporarily stores the liquefied gas is being built at the Port of Esbjerg, on the western coast of the Danish Jutland peninsula. A purpose-built carrier vessel, dubbed “Carbon Destroyer 1,” is under construction in the Netherlands.Proponents of carbon capture technology say it is a climate solution because it can remove the greenhouse gas that is the biggest driver of climate change and bury it deep underground.The EU has proposed developing at least 250 million tons (227 million metric tons) of CO2 storage per year by 2040, as part of plans to reach “net zero” emissions by 2050.Gade says carbon capture and storage is one of the best means of cutting emissions."We don’t want to deindustrialize Europe,” he said. “We want to have actually a few instruments to decarbonize instead.”Experts at Denmark’s geological survey say Greensand sandstone rock is well-suited for storing the liquefied CO2. Almost a third of the rock volume is made up of tiny cavities, said Niels Schovsbo, senior researcher at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland.“We found that there (are) no reactions between the reservoir and the injected CO2. And we find that the seal rock on top of that has sufficient capacity to withhold the pressure that is induced when we are storing CO2 in the subsurface,” added Schovsbo. “These two methods makes it a perfect site for storage right there.” Limitations and criticism But while there are many carbon capture facilities around the world, the technology is far from scale, sometimes uses fossil fuel energy in its operations and captures just a tiny fraction of worldwide emissions.The Greensand project aims to bury up to 8 million tons (7.3 million metric tons) of CO2 a year by 2030. The International Energy Agency says nearly 38 billion tons (34.5 billion metric tons) of CO2 were emitted globally last year.Environmental campaigners say CCS has been used as an excuse by industries to delay cutting emissions.“We could have CCS on those very few sectors where emissions are truly difficult or impossible to abate,” said Helene Hagel, head of climate and environmental policy at Greenpeace Denmark.“But when you have all sectors in society almost saying, we need to just catch the emissions and store them instead of reducing emissions — that is the problem.”While the chemical giant ramps up carbon storage efforts, it is also hoping to begin development at another previously unopened North Sea oil field."The footprint we deliver from importing energy against producing domestic or regional oil and gas is a lot more important for the transition instead of importing with a higher footprint,” said Gade, defending the company’s plans.“We see a purpose in doing this for a period while we create a transition for Europe.”The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – Nov. 2025

Chemicals
Climate
CO2

COP30: Conference Of Profiteers?

COP30: Conference Of Profiteers? Belem, Brazil – Nov 22, 2025: The 30th meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate, Conference of the Parties (COP) wrapped up the proceedings early with a hastily written [“unedited”]  Outcomes Report that includes little of substance, along with tertiary mentions of protecting Indigenous Peoples.  Clearly, the lukewarm and […] The post COP30: Conference Of Profiteers? first appeared on Indigenous Environmental Network.

COP30: Conference Of Profiteers? Belem, Brazil – Nov 22, 2025: The 30th meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate, Conference of the Parties (COP) wrapped up the proceedings early with a hastily written [“unedited”]  Outcomes Report that includes little of substance, along with tertiary mentions of protecting Indigenous Peoples.  Clearly, the lukewarm and […] The post COP30: Conference Of Profiteers? first appeared on Indigenous Environmental Network.

Climate
Indigenous

Celebrating the advancement of technology leadership through policy analysis and guidance

The MIT Technology and Policy Program marked 50 years with a symposium exploring its history of education, research, and impact — while looking ahead to technology policy issues of the future.

In 1965, after completing his PhD in civil engineering at MIT, Professor Richard de Neufville joined the first class of White House Fellows, one of the nation’s most prestigious programs for leadership and public service, through which he spent an intensive year working full-time at the highest levels of government. Soon after, de Neufville joined the MIT faculty and led a steering committee that developed what would become the MIT Technology and Policy Program (TPP). TPP was approved in 1975 and launched in 1976 as an Institute-wide hub of education and research, and included a two-year, research-based master’s degree, with de Neufville serving as its founding chair.This October, TPP held a symposium and celebration at MIT, marking TPP’s 50th year as an interdisciplinary effort focused on advancing the responsible leadership of technology through the integration of technical expertise and rigorous policy analysis in critical areas such as energy, the environment, security, innovation, and beyond.As the 1988 “TPP Fact Book” stated: “The Technology and Policy Program educates men and women for leadership on the important technological issues confronting society. We prepare our graduates to excel in their technical fields, and to develop and implement effective strategies for dealing with the risks and opportunities associated with those technologies. This kind of education is vital to the future of our society.”Now in its 50th year, TPP’s legacy of education, research, and impact has shaped more than 1,500 alumni who are among the most distinguished technology policy leaders across the world. TPP alumni often describe the program as life-changing and transformative — an educational experience that shaped their understanding of purpose, systems, and leadership in ways that continue to guide their careers throughout their lives. Today, over 50 TPP graduate students conduct research across the Institute on topics such as energy grid modeling, environmental protection, nuclear safety, industrial decarbonization, space system engineering and public policy, technoeconomic modeling of materials value chains, and governance of global digital systems and artificial intelligence.Working to bring technically-informed and scientifically robust insights to technology policy is as urgent today as it was 50 years ago, says Christine Ortiz, Morris Cohen Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and the current director of TPP. “The role of technology policy is more essential than ever, helping to shape national and international priorities and underpinning societal and planetary well-being,” said Ortiz in her opening remarks. “Today’s symposium is convened with urgency amid a rapidly shifting landscape. We are situated here today at the epicenter of profound technological advancement, reaffirming our collective responsibility to ensure that innovation advances the well-being of humanity and the health of our planet.”North stars and new routesThe TPP 50th Anniversary Symposium — North Stars and New Routes — held on Oct. 11, convened more than 630 participants from 30 countries, both in-person and virtually. The gathering brought together alumni, faculty, students, and global leaders to celebrate five decades of impact while exploring bold new directions for the future of technology and policy.Over the course of seven thematic sessions and 45 speakers, the symposium offered a sweeping view of the current issues shaping the next era of technology policy. Discussions spanned a wide range of topics, including energy systems modeling, global environmental governance, ecologically neutral manufacturing, design of global digital systems, trust as national security infrastructure, the future of technology policy as a domain of scholarship, and the role of technology policy in the future of the research university.The day opened with a dynamic panel examining the technical frontiers and possibilities of interactive energy systems modeling. Speakers highlighted the dual role of simulation tools as both advanced instruments for understanding decision outcomes and uncertainties, as well participatory platforms for engaging policymakers and stakeholders.The next session, focused on global environmental governance, explored new approaches to planetary cooperation and emphasized how data-driven policy, equitable technology transfer, and accountability mechanisms can strengthen international climate action. Panelists called for adaptive and integrated governance frameworks that mirror the interconnectedness and complexity of the environmental systems they aim to protect.In a session on ecologically neutral manufacturing, participants discussed advances in circular materials design and life-cycle modeling that reduce industrial emissions and resource intensity. Speakers underscored the importance of policies promoting reuse, recycling, and cleaner production — linking manufacturing innovation with both economic competitiveness and ecological resilience.Turning to the design and governance of global digital systems, keynote speaker David Clark, senior research scientist at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and a pioneering architect of the internet, examined how the architecture of digital networks both reflects and shapes societal values, power, and accountability. He noted that the internet’s original open design — built for innovation and resilience — now faces pressing challenges of trust, privacy, and control. The next generation of digital infrastructure, he argued, must embed trust and accountability into its very foundations. The subsequent panel expanded on these themes, exploring how global digital ecosystems are influenced by the competing incentives of governments, corporations, and users. Speakers called for governance models that integrate technical, economic, and ethical considerations — emphasizing that true accountability depends not only on external regulation, but on embedding human values directly into the design of technology.The theme of trust carried into the next discussion, with the focus on trust as infrastructure for security policy, where experts emphasized that national and global security must evolve to encompass cyber-trust, space governance, and technological resilience as essential infrastructures for stability in an era defined by AI and geopolitical complexity and uncertainty.In the final session, which explored the role of technology policy in the future of the research university, panelists discussed how research institutions can strengthen their societal role by embedding technology policy and interdisciplinary scholarship into the institutional structure. Speakers emphasized the need for universities to evolve into more cohesive, outward-looking engines of policy innovation — coordinating existing centers of excellence, improving communication between research and government, and expanding educational pathways that integrate engineering, social science, and civic engagement.Technology, policy, and powerIn a keynote address, Senator Edward J. Markey, U.S. senator for Massachusetts, delivered a compelling call for moral and democratic leadership in governing the technologies shaping modern life. He warned that the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and digital systems has outpaced the ethical and policy frameworks needed to protect society, declaring that “the privacy protections of all preceding generations have broken down.” Markey called for a renewed commitment to AI civil rights and accountability in the digital age, urging that technology must be harnessed as “a tool for connection, not addiction,” and developed to advance human dignity, fairness, and shared prosperity.Framing technology as both a source of immense potential and a concentration of power, Markey argued that the defining question of our era is who controls that power, and to what end. He urged policymakers, researchers, and citizens alike to ensure that innovation strengthens democracy rather than undermines it. Closing on a note of determination and hope, Markey reminded the audience that technology policy is inseparable from human and planetary well-being: “Technology is power … the question is, who wields it and for what purpose. We must ensure it serves democracy, equality, and the future of our planet.”New Institute-wide policy initiative announcedThe symposium concluded with the announcement of an exciting new Institute-wide initiative, Policy@MIT, introduced by Maria Zuber, E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics and Presidential Advisor for Science and Technology Policy. Zuber described the effort as a bold and unifying step to synergize and amplify policy initiatives across MIT, strengthening the Institute’s capacity to inform evidence-based policymaking. Building upon the foundational work of TPP — within which the program will serve as a core pillar — Policy@MIT aims to connect MIT’s deep technical expertise with real-world policy challenges, foster collaboration across schools and disciplines, and train the next generation of leaders to ensure that science and technology continue to serve humanity and the planet.Extending MIT TPP’s legacy of technology and policy leadership As MIT charts the next half-century of leadership at the intersection of technology, policy, and society, TPP continues to serve as a cornerstone of this mission. Operating within the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS), the MIT School of Engineering, and the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, TPP distinctively engages and integrates state-of-the-art modeling, simulation, and analytical methods in information and decision systems, statistics and data science, and the computational social sciences, with a diverse range of foundational, emerging, and cross-disciplinary policy analysis methods. Sitting at the confluence of engineering, computer science, and the social sciences, TPP equips students and researchers to study some of the most important and complex emerging issues related to technology through systems thinking, technical rigor, and policy analysis.Founding IDSS director Munther Dahleh, the William A. Coolidge Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, described this integration as cultivating the “trilingual student” — someone fluent in data and information, social reasoning, and a technical domain. “What we’re trying to produce in the TPP program,” he explained, “is the person who can navigate all three dimensions of a problem.”Reflecting on TPP’s enduring mission, Ortiz concluded the symposium, “As we look ahead to the next 50 years, this is a pivotal moment for the Technology and Policy Program — both at MIT and globally. TPP holds tremendous potential for growth, translation, and impact as a leader in technology policy for the nation and the world.”

Technology
Education
Energy

EPA to Provide $3 Billion to US States to Reduce Lead in Drinking Water

(Reuters) -The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday it would provide states with $3 billion in funding to reduce lead in drinking...

(Reuters) -The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday it would provide states with $3 billion in funding to reduce lead in drinking water.The money will go toward finding and removing lead pipes that deliver water to homes, schools, and businesses, the agency said in a statement.(Reporting by Christian Martinez in Los Angeles and Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto; Editing by Doina Chiacu)Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

Water
Business

Mind, hand, and harvest

A volunteer-driven pilot program brings low-cost organic produce to the MIT community.

On a sunny, warm Sunday MIT students, staff, and faculty spread out across the fields of Hannan Healthy Foods in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Some of these volunteers pluck tomatoes from their vines in a patch a few hundred feet from the cars whizzing by on Route 117. Others squat in the shade cast by the greenhouse to snip chives. Still others slice heads of Napa cabbage from their roots in a bed nearer the woods. Everything being harvested today will wind up in Harvest Boxes, which will be sold at a pop-up farm stand the next day in the lobby of the Stata Center back on the MIT campus.This initiative — a pilot collaboration between MIT’s Office of Sustainability (MITOS), the MIT Anthropology Section, Hannan Healthy Foods, and the nascent MIT Farm student organization — sold six-pound boxes of fresh, organic produce to the MIT community for $10 per box — half off the typical wholesale price. The weekly farm stands ran from Sept. 15 through Oct. 27.“There is a documented need for accessible, affordable, fresh food on college campuses,” says Heather Paxson, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Anthropology and one of the organizers of the program. “The problems for a small farmer in finding a sufficient market … are connected to the challenges of food insecurity in even wealthy areas. And so, it really is about connecting those dots.”Through the six weeks of the project, farm stand shoppers purchased more than 2,000 pounds of fresh produce that they wouldn’t otherwise have had access to. Hannan, Paxson, and the team hope that this year’s pilot was successful enough to continue into future growing seasons, either in this farm stand form or as something else that can equally serve the campus community.“This year we decided to pour our heart, soul, and resources into this vision and prove what’s possible,” says Susy Jones, senior sustainability project manager at MITOS. “How can we do it in a way that is robust and goes through the official MIT channels, and yet pushes the boundaries of what’s possible at MIT?”A growing ideaMohammed Hannan, founder of Hannan Healthy Foods, first met Paxson and Jones in 2022. Jones was looking for someone local who grew vegetables common in Asian cuisine in response to a student request. Paxson wanted a small farm to host a field trip for her subject 21A.155 (Food, Culture and Politics). In July, Paxson and Jones learned about an article in the Boston Globe featuring Hannan as an example of a small farmer hit hard by federal budget cuts.They knew right away they wanted to help. They pulled in Zachary Rapaport and Aleks Banas, architecture master’s students and the co-founders of MIT Farm, an organization dedicated to getting the MIT community off campus and onto local farms. This MIT contingent connected with Hannan to come up with a plan.“These projects — when they flow, they flow,” says Jones. “There was so much common ground and excitement that we were all willing to jump on calls at 7 p.m. many nights to figure it out.”After a series of rapid-fire brainstorming sessions, the group decided to host weekly volunteer sessions at Hannan’s farm during the autumn growing season and sell the harvest at a farm stand on campus.“It fits in seamlessly with the MIT motto, ‘mind and hand,’ ‘mens et manus,’ learning by doing, as well as the heart, which has been added unofficially — mind, hand, heart,” says Paxson.Jones tapped into the MITOS network for financial, operational, student, and city partners. Rapaport and Banas put out calls for volunteers. Paxson incorporated a volunteer trip into her syllabus and allocated discretionary project funding to subsidize the cost of the produce, allowing the food to be sold at 50 percent of the wholesale price that Hannan was paid for it.“The fact that MIT students, faculty, and staff could come out to the farm, and that our harvest would circulate back to campus and into the broader community — there’s an energy around it that’s very different from academics. It feels essential to be part of something so tangible,” says Rapaport.The volunteer sessions proved to be popular. Throughout the pilot, about 75 students and half a dozen faculty and staff trekked out to Lincoln from MIT’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus at least once to clear fields and harvest vegetables. Hannan hopes the experience will change the way they think about their food.“Harvesting the produce, knowing the operation, knowing how hard it is, it’ll stick in their brain,” he says.On that September Sunday, second-year electrical engineering and computer science major Abrianna Zhang had come out with a friend after seeing a notification on the dormspam email lists. Zhang grew up in a California suburb big on supporting local farmers, but volunteering showed her a different side of the job.“There’s a lot of work that goes into raising all these crops and then getting all this manual labor,” says Zhang. “It makes me think about the economy of things. How is this even possible … for us to gain access to organic fruits or produce at a reasonable price?”Setting up shopSince mid-September, Monday has been Farm Stand day at MIT. Tables covered in green gingham tablecloths strike through the Stata Center lobby, holding stacks of cardboard boxes filled with produce. Customers wait in line to claim their piece of the fresh harvest — carrots, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, herbs, and various greens.Many of these students typically head to off-campus grocery stores to get their fresh produce. Katie Stabb, a sophomore civil and environmental engineering major and self-proclaimed “crazy plant lady,” grows her own food in the summer, but travels far from campus to shop for her vegetables during the school year. Having this stand right at MIT gives her time back, and she’s been spreading the news to her East Campus dorm mates — even picking boxes up for them when they can’t make it themselves and helping them figure out what to do with their excess ingredients.“I have encountered having way too many chives before, but that’s new for some folks,” she says. “Last week we pooled all of our chives and I made chive pancakes, kind of like scallion pancakes.”Stabb is not alone. In a multi-question customer survey conducted at the close of the Farm Stand season, 62 percent of respondents said the Harvest Box gave them the chance to try new foods and 49 percent experimented with new recipes. Seventy percent said this project helped them increase their vegetable intake.Nearly 60 percent of the survey respondents were graduate students living off campus. Banas, one of the MIT Farm co-leads, is one of those grad students enjoying the benefits.“I was cooking and making food that I bought from the farm stand and thought, ‘Oh, this is very literally influencing my life in a positive way.’ And I’m hoping that this has a similar impact for other people,” she says.The impact goes beyond the ability of students to nourish themselves with fresh vegetables. New communities have grown from this collaboration. Jones, for example, expanded her network at MITOS by tapping into expertise and resources from MIT Dining, the Vice President for Finance Merchant Services, and the MIT Federal Credit Union.“There were just these pockets of people in every corner of MIT who know how to do these very specific things that might seem not very glamorous, but make something like this possible,” says Jones. “It’s such a positive, affirming moment when you’re starting from scratch and someone’s like, ‘This is such a cool idea, how can I help?’”Strengthening communityInviting people from MIT to connect across campus and explore beyond Cambridge has helped students and employees alike feel like they’re part of something bigger.“The community that’s grown around this work is what keeps me so engaged,” says Rapaport. “MIT can have a bit of a siloing effect. It’s easy to become so focused on your classes and academics that your world revolves around them. Farm club grew out of wanting to build connections across the student body and to see ourselves and MIT as part of a larger network of people, communities, and relationships.”This particular connection will continue to grow, as Rapaport and Banas will use their architectural expertise to lead a design-build team in developing a climate-adaptive and bio-based root cellar at Hannan Healthy Foods, to improve the farm’s winter vegetable storage conditions. Community engagement is an ethos Hannan has embraced since the start of his farming journey in 2018, motivated by a desire to provision first his family and then others with healthy food.“One thing I have done over the years, I was not trying to do farming by myself,” he says. “I always reached out to as many people as I could. The idea is, if community is not involved, they just see it as an individual business.”It’s why he gifts his volunteers huge bags of tomatoes at the end of a shift, or donates some of his harvest to food banks, or engages an advisory committee of local residents to ensure he’s filling the right needs.“There’s a reciprocal dimension to gifting that needs to continue,” says Paxson. “That is what builds and maintains community — it’s classic anthropology."And much of what’s exchanged in this type of reciprocity can’t be charted or graded or marked on a spreadsheet. It’s cooking pancakes with dorm mates. It’s meeting and appreciating new colleagues. It’s grabbing a friend to harvest cabbage on a beautiful autumn Sunday.“Seeing a student who volunteered over the weekend harvesting chives come to the market on Monday and then want to take a selfie with those chives,” says Jones. “To me, that’s a cool moment.”

Business
Climate
Culture

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