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A Project 2025 advisor takes the reins at EPA Region 6

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Saturday, February 22, 2025

Scott Mason IV will lead the Environmental Protection Agency’s region covering some of the country’s hot spots for oil and gas production and industrial pollution, including Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, the Gulf Coast, and the Permian Basin.  Mason advised the author of the EPA chapter in Project 2025, the conservative Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for remaking the agency in sync with industry priorities.   “Regional Administrator Mason believes that every American should have access to clean air, land, and water,” said Region 6 spokesperson Jennah Durant. “And he will ensure that EPA Region 6 is fulfilling its mission to protect human health and the environment in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and 66 Tribal Nations.” But for environmentalists, his appointment raises alarm bells for environmental justice efforts in the region. Mason comes to the role after serving as the deputy secretary of energy of Oklahoma, his home state. Most of his career has been in Oklahoma politics and higher education. He is a member of the Cherokee Nation. Durant did not respond directly to whether Mason will work to implement Project 2025 recommendations. Read Next Trump’s push for ‘efficiency’ may destroy the EPA. What does that mean for you? Lylla Younes Regional office changes hands While much environmental regulation is delegated to the states, EPA regional offices administer programs under federal jurisdiction. The ten regional offices are also closely involved in monitoring new permitting programs that have been handed off to state regulators.  Under the Biden administration, the regional offices played an active role in deploying funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and other federal programs and made environmental justice a priority, targeting funding on low-income areas and communities of color disproportionately harmed by climate change and pollution.  Jen Duggan, executive director of the nonprofit watchdog Environmental Integrity Project, said that regional offices are “where the rubber meets the road.” “The Regional Administrator is responsible for implementing EPA programs and providing critical oversight of state environmental agencies,” she said. “Without strong leadership in these roles, people are more at risk of being exposed to dangerous air and water pollution.” At Region 6, Mason replaces Earthea Nance, a civil engineer and former Texas Southern University professor with decades of experience in disaster recovery. Nance used her role to shine a light on persistent pollution problems in the region and promote the Biden administration’s climate and environmental justice programs.  She criss-crossed the vast region, from Dallas to observe fracking emissions, to El Paso to promote electric school buses, to Tulsa to visit urban farms. Nance posted on LinkedIn in January expressing thanks to the regional staff.  Read Next Trump’s funding freeze is wreaking havoc on climate science Zoya Teirstein “Serving as Regional Administrator for EPA Region 6 has been the experience of a lifetime,” she wrote. “I want to express my deep gratitude to the 772 civil servants in Region 6 who work with integrity and professionalism to ensure clean air, land, and water.” Those civil servants may now be fearing for their jobs, as layoffs loom at the agency. The New York Times has reported that the Trump administration has notified more than 1,100 EPA employees that they could be fired immediately, and on February 7, the EPA press office said that 168 agency employees working in environmental justice programs had been placed on administrative leave.  Mason grew up in rural Cordell, Oklahoma, and studied political science at the University of Oklahoma, according to a local news report. He told News 9 in Oklahoma City in 2018 that meeting George H. W. Bush at a young age inspired him to enter politics. Mason served as EPA director for the American Indian Environmental Office during the first Trump administration. In his home state, he led federal programs for the University of Oklahoma and served on the staff of Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin.  “Regional Administrator Mason is committed to working hard each and every day to make a difference in the lives of the people we serve by implementing the President’s agenda and Administrator Zeldin’s ‘Powering the Great American Comeback’ Initiative,” Durant said. Mason tapped for Project 2025 Mason maintained a relatively low-profile throughout the first Trump administration and during his subsequent years in Oklahoma. But as the 2024 presidential race neared, Mandy M. Gunasekara, EPA chief of staff in the first Trump administration, tapped him to help with the EPA chapter of Project 2025. The Heritage Foundation and former Trump staffers authored the playbook for conservative governance, which Trump disavowed during the campaign but has seemingly embraced since taking office on Jan. 20. Gunasekara thanked Mason in the EPA chapter, though he has not spoken publicly about his role. The new Trump EPA, led by Lee Zeldin, has not wasted time instituting changes at the agency.  Read Next Another casualty of Trump’s funding freeze: New Orleans’ tree canopy Tristan Baurick The document recommends eliminating the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. The EPA chapter also advises limiting which sectors have to report their greenhouse gas emissions and eliminating the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance. The playbook also calls for a plan to relocate EPA regional offices “so that they are more accessible to the areas they serve and deliver cost savings to the American people.” Environmental justice imperiled The Natural Resources Defense Council’s Matthew Tejada, who was previously the EPA’s deputy assistant administrator for environmental justice, warned in a November 2024 blog post that if Project 2025 was implemented, environmental justice communities “are set to feel that loss far more deeply and immediately than anyone else.” Region 6 encompasses the heart of the U.S. petro-chemical industry, from the oilfields of the Permian Basin spanning New Mexico and Texas, to the Liquified Natural Gas buildout on the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. Black, Latino and Indigenous communities throughout the region have lived with the associated pollution.  While oil and gas production reached record highs during the Biden administration, the EPA sought to remedy these harms. The Biden administration invested in communities that have historically been over-burdened by pollution, stipulating through its so-called Justice40 initiative—now rescinded by Trump—that 40 percent of spending in numerous federal programs go to low-income communities and communities of color. Read Next ‘It’s demoralizing’: Trump’s climate funding freeze has left tribes and community groups in limbo Naveena Sadasivam The Biden EPA worked closely with the New Mexico Environment Department to track unauthorized methane emissions and penalize companies for polluting in the Permian Basin. The EPA and NMED Under Secretary James Kenney partnered on several investigations that resulted in multi-million dollar consent decrees with oil and gas companies. “New Mexico remains committed to addressing ozone emissions in the Permian Basin and across our state,” said NMED spokesperson Drew Goretzka. “We will exercise our permitting and enforcement authorities.” Goretzka said NMED Secretary Kenney has known Regional Administrator Mason for several years and looked forward to working with him. “To that end, the two have already spoken and are planning future discussions,” he said. Platforms like the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, an online application used to identify environmentally disadvantaged communities, have already been removed from the agency’s website. The end of such initiatives will directly impact communities throughout the region, environmental activists said. “These corporations have long profited at the expense of the people living in these neighborhoods, and an administration that does not believe in environmental justice could make an already dangerous situation worse by taking the environmental cop off the beat,” EIP’s Duggan said. “EPA is the backstop when states fail to do their job to protect clean air and clean water.” Read Next States want to clean up leaky oil wells. Well-intentioned laws are getting in the way. Naveena Sadasivam Bipartisan backing for orphan wells In other areas, regional administrator Mason may face pressure from industry representatives and Republican politicians to preserve Biden-era programs. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided unprecedented funds for plugging orphan oil and gas wells around the country. The EPA also provided funding to reduce methane emissions from marginal oil and gas wells. Republican-led states like Oklahoma and Texas have been some of the biggest beneficiaries. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which regulates oil and gas in the state, reported in January that the state had plugged 1,110 wells to date with federal funds from the infrastructure act at a total cost of $23.8 million. The report said at least 20,000 abandoned wells remain state-wide. The commission then warned on Jan. 28 that the well plugging program “faced an uncertain future” after the Office of Management and Budget issued a pause on federal grants and loans. The commission noted it was expecting a $102 million dollar grant for well plugging when the pause went into effect. “The agency is actively working to position itself to be in the best possible position to quickly move forward with implementation of its program to plug the thousands of identified orphaned wells in our state,” the statement read. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline A Project 2025 advisor takes the reins at EPA Region 6 on Feb 22, 2025.

Scott Mason IV is the new administrator for the EPA region covering Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and 66 Tribal Nations.

Scott Mason IV will lead the Environmental Protection Agency’s region covering some of the country’s hot spots for oil and gas production and industrial pollution, including Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, the Gulf Coast, and the Permian Basin. 

Mason advised the author of the EPA chapter in Project 2025, the conservative Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for remaking the agency in sync with industry priorities.  

“Regional Administrator Mason believes that every American should have access to clean air, land, and water,” said Region 6 spokesperson Jennah Durant. “And he will ensure that EPA Region 6 is fulfilling its mission to protect human health and the environment in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and 66 Tribal Nations.”

But for environmentalists, his appointment raises alarm bells for environmental justice efforts in the region. Mason comes to the role after serving as the deputy secretary of energy of Oklahoma, his home state. Most of his career has been in Oklahoma politics and higher education. He is a member of the Cherokee Nation.

Durant did not respond directly to whether Mason will work to implement Project 2025 recommendations.

Regional office changes hands

While much environmental regulation is delegated to the states, EPA regional offices administer programs under federal jurisdiction. The ten regional offices are also closely involved in monitoring new permitting programs that have been handed off to state regulators. 

Under the Biden administration, the regional offices played an active role in deploying funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and other federal programs and made environmental justice a priority, targeting funding on low-income areas and communities of color disproportionately harmed by climate change and pollution. 

Jen Duggan, executive director of the nonprofit watchdog Environmental Integrity Project, said that regional offices are “where the rubber meets the road.”

“The Regional Administrator is responsible for implementing EPA programs and providing critical oversight of state environmental agencies,” she said. “Without strong leadership in these roles, people are more at risk of being exposed to dangerous air and water pollution.”

At Region 6, Mason replaces Earthea Nance, a civil engineer and former Texas Southern University professor with decades of experience in disaster recovery. Nance used her role to shine a light on persistent pollution problems in the region and promote the Biden administration’s climate and environmental justice programs. 

She criss-crossed the vast region, from Dallas to observe fracking emissions, to El Paso to promote electric school buses, to Tulsa to visit urban farms. Nance posted on LinkedIn in January expressing thanks to the regional staff. 

“Serving as Regional Administrator for EPA Region 6 has been the experience of a lifetime,” she wrote. “I want to express my deep gratitude to the 772 civil servants in Region 6 who work with integrity and professionalism to ensure clean air, land, and water.”

Those civil servants may now be fearing for their jobs, as layoffs loom at the agency. The New York Times has reported that the Trump administration has notified more than 1,100 EPA employees that they could be fired immediately, and on February 7, the EPA press office said that 168 agency employees working in environmental justice programs had been placed on administrative leave. 

Mason grew up in rural Cordell, Oklahoma, and studied political science at the University of Oklahoma, according to a local news report. He told News 9 in Oklahoma City in 2018 that meeting George H. W. Bush at a young age inspired him to enter politics.

Mason served as EPA director for the American Indian Environmental Office during the first Trump administration. In his home state, he led federal programs for the University of Oklahoma and served on the staff of Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin. 

“Regional Administrator Mason is committed to working hard each and every day to make a difference in the lives of the people we serve by implementing the President’s agenda and Administrator Zeldin’s ‘Powering the Great American Comeback’ Initiative,” Durant said.

Mason tapped for Project 2025

Mason maintained a relatively low-profile throughout the first Trump administration and during his subsequent years in Oklahoma. But as the 2024 presidential race neared, Mandy M. Gunasekara, EPA chief of staff in the first Trump administration, tapped him to help with the EPA chapter of Project 2025. The Heritage Foundation and former Trump staffers authored the playbook for conservative governance, which Trump disavowed during the campaign but has seemingly embraced since taking office on Jan. 20.

Gunasekara thanked Mason in the EPA chapter, though he has not spoken publicly about his role. The new Trump EPA, led by Lee Zeldin, has not wasted time instituting changes at the agency. 

The document recommends eliminating the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. The EPA chapter also advises limiting which sectors have to report their greenhouse gas emissions and eliminating the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance. The playbook also calls for a plan to relocate EPA regional offices “so that they are more accessible to the areas they serve and deliver cost savings to the American people.”

Environmental justice imperiled

The Natural Resources Defense Council’s Matthew Tejada, who was previously the EPA’s deputy assistant administrator for environmental justice, warned in a November 2024 blog post that if Project 2025 was implemented, environmental justice communities “are set to feel that loss far more deeply and immediately than anyone else.”

Region 6 encompasses the heart of the U.S. petro-chemical industry, from the oilfields of the Permian Basin spanning New Mexico and Texas, to the Liquified Natural Gas buildout on the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. Black, Latino and Indigenous communities throughout the region have lived with the associated pollution. 

While oil and gas production reached record highs during the Biden administration, the EPA sought to remedy these harms. The Biden administration invested in communities that have historically been over-burdened by pollution, stipulating through its so-called Justice40 initiative—now rescinded by Trump—that 40 percent of spending in numerous federal programs go to low-income communities and communities of color.

The Biden EPA worked closely with the New Mexico Environment Department to track unauthorized methane emissions and penalize companies for polluting in the Permian Basin. The EPA and NMED Under Secretary James Kenney partnered on several investigations that resulted in multi-million dollar consent decrees with oil and gas companies.

“New Mexico remains committed to addressing ozone emissions in the Permian Basin and across our state,” said NMED spokesperson Drew Goretzka. “We will exercise our permitting and enforcement authorities.”

Goretzka said NMED Secretary Kenney has known Regional Administrator Mason for several years and looked forward to working with him. “To that end, the two have already spoken and are planning future discussions,” he said.

Platforms like the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, an online application used to identify environmentally disadvantaged communities, have already been removed from the agency’s website. The end of such initiatives will directly impact communities throughout the region, environmental activists said.

“These corporations have long profited at the expense of the people living in these neighborhoods, and an administration that does not believe in environmental justice could make an already dangerous situation worse by taking the environmental cop off the beat,” EIP’s Duggan said. “EPA is the backstop when states fail to do their job to protect clean air and clean water.”

Bipartisan backing for orphan wells

In other areas, regional administrator Mason may face pressure from industry representatives and Republican politicians to preserve Biden-era programs. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided unprecedented funds for plugging orphan oil and gas wells around the country. The EPA also provided funding to reduce methane emissions from marginal oil and gas wells. Republican-led states like Oklahoma and Texas have been some of the biggest beneficiaries.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which regulates oil and gas in the state, reported in January that the state had plugged 1,110 wells to date with federal funds from the infrastructure act at a total cost of $23.8 million. The report said at least 20,000 abandoned wells remain state-wide.

The commission then warned on Jan. 28 that the well plugging program “faced an uncertain future” after the Office of Management and Budget issued a pause on federal grants and loans. The commission noted it was expecting a $102 million dollar grant for well plugging when the pause went into effect.

“The agency is actively working to position itself to be in the best possible position to quickly move forward with implementation of its program to plug the thousands of identified orphaned wells in our state,” the statement read.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline A Project 2025 advisor takes the reins at EPA Region 6 on Feb 22, 2025.

Read the full story here.
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Robert Redford Embodied an American Ideal, and Often Lived the Part, Too

Born during the Great Depression with sun-kissed California looks, Robert Redford never failed to epitomize something quintessential and hopeful about the American character

NEW YORK (AP) — Born during the Great Depression with sun-kissed California looks, Robert Redford never failed to epitomize something quintessential and hopeful about the American character.Redford, who died Tuesday at the age of 89, left a movie trail etched into land. He seemed to reside as much across the American landscape as he did on movie screens. He was in the Rocky Mountains of “Jeremiah Johnson,” the Wyoming grasslands of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” the Washington, D.C., alleyways of “All the President’s Men” and the Montana streams of “A River Runs Through It.”Redford, a movie-star paragon, was surely savvy with how he played with and used his all-American image. No one who starred in the baseball drama “The Natural” (1984) and gave Bernard Malamud’s novel a storybook ending couldn't have some sense of self-mythology. But it was one of Redford’s greatest feats that, despite his fame, he remained innately connected to some aspirational American ideal. Redford, an open-air actor of easy, rugged charm, evoked the kind of regular guy decency that stars like Jimmy Stewart did before him — only Redford did it through an era of distrust and disillusionment. “He was to me a throwback to the actors that I was nuts about when I was growing up and going to movies: real, classical, traditional, old-fashioned movie stars who were very, very redolent of some kind of American essence,” said Sydney Pollack, who directed Redford in “Jeremiah Johnson,” “The Way We Were” and “Three Days of the Condor,” in 1993. “They were very much a part of the American landscape and they were heroic in a kind of understated way.” Underscoring ‘independence’ That was most true, perhaps, in Utah. Wanting to escape paved-over Los Angeles, Redford first began buying land there early in his career. In Utah, he would fight to protect both untrampled wilderness and a spirit of moviemaking that had grown increasingly difficult in Hollywood. As a longtime trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, Redford was an outspoken environmentalist. In the 1970s, he successfully opposed a pair of rural Utah proposals: a six-lane highway and coal-fired power plant.In the Utah mountains, Redford also launched the Sundance Institute. Beyond Sundance's annual festival for independent film, the institute has been a lifeblood young filmmakers. Its year-round laboratory — the part of Sundance that Redford was most proud of — has helped nurture some of the most vital voices in American cinema for decades.“For me, the word to be underscored is ‘independence,’” Redford once said of his legacy. “I’ve always believed in that word. That’s what led to me eventually wanting to create a category that supported independent artists who weren’t given a chance to be heard. The industry was pretty well controlled by the mainstream, which I was a part of. But I saw other stories out there that weren’t having a chance to be told.”That spirit of independence often infused his films, too. When Redford wanted to make “All the President’s Men,” the seminal 1976 film directed by Alan Pakula about Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s Watergate investigation, few in the film industry thought there was much drama to be found in a story that was then several years old.“Nixon had already resigned, and the held opinion (in Hollywood) was ‘No one cares. No one wants to hear about this,’” Redford, who also co-produced the film, said in 2006. “And I said, ‘No, it’s not about Nixon. It’s about something else. It’s about investigative journalism and hard work.’”If “All the President’s Men,” one of the greatest newspaper movies, detailed the hard-earned revelations of Watergate, “Three Days of the Condor” — one of the greatest political thrillers — captured the paranoia and disillusionment that followed. If anyone was completely unfamiliar with why Redford was so good, “Three Days of the Condor” would be a good place to start.As a bookish CIA employee code-named Condor, he returns from lunch to his office to find, as he soon reports, “Everybody is dead.” Condor, untrained for such lethal spy activities, is left dangling in the wind.“Will you bring me in, please?” he pleads by phone to his superiors. “I’m not a field agent. I just read books.”Not so different from his Woodward of “All the President’s Men,” Redford is a fresh-faced novice thrown into a high-stakes scheme where few, including those in the government, can be trusted. No one has ever been better at playing the regular guy trying to think fast on his feet, and make sense of an ever-darker world. A politician only on screen Though some called for him to, Redford never entered politics, himself. He remained outspoken — he's in some way the model for the modern Hollywood activist — on a wide range of issues, including Indigenous and LGBTQ+ rights. The closest he came to running for office was Michael s 1972 satire “The Candidate,” in which Redford played an idealistic lawyer enlisted to challenge a highly favored incumbent Republican senator. Redford’s candidate ultimately wins, but not without sacrificing his principles and seeing much of what he stands for diluted.Redford’s place, instead, was outside politics. The perfect bookend to his ’70s movies is “Sneakers,” Phil Alden Robinson’s absurdly underrated 1992 caper starring Redford as a former ’60s radical now living under a false moniker and leading a band of security specialists. They stumble into possession of a computer device that brings the attention of the NSA, CIA, FBI and many others, forcing Redford to, yet again, try to figure out what’s moral in a dangerous (and now newly digital) America.The world that Redford’s films often presciently depicted seemed to push him further into the wilderness, on screen and off. He largely retreated into retirement over the last decade. When Redford died, he was at his home in the Utah mountains, outside Provo. One of his last films was 2015's “A Walk in the Woods,” playing Bill Bryson ambling along the Appalachian Trail. The most fitting and elegiac swan song, though was J.C. Chandor’s “All Is Lost,” a near-wordless 2013 drama about an old man at sea. Redford plays a solo mariner whose sailboat collides with a shipping container. Though terse, the movie reverberates with economic and ecological metaphor. A visibly older and weathered Redford — no longer the golden, freckled face of his youth — suffers through increasingly rough and stormy seas, improvising his survival. For an actor who had covered so much ground, “All Is Lost” was one last frontier. Redford's unnamed character was credited only as “Our Man.” Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

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Robert Redford, 1970s sex symbol and Oscar-winning director, dies at 89

After rising to stardom in the 1960s, Redford was one of the biggest stars of the ’70s.

Robert Redford, the Hollywood golden boy who became an Oscar-winning director, liberal activist and godfather for independent cinema under the name of one of his best-loved characters, died Tuesday at 89.Redford died “at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah — the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved,” publicist Cindi Berger said in a statement. No cause of death was provided.After rising to stardom in the 1960s, Redford was one of the biggest stars of the ’70s with such films as “The Candidate,” “All the President’s Men” and “The Way We Were,” capping that decade with the best director Oscar for 1980’s “Ordinary People,” which also won best picture in 1980. His wavy blond hair and boyish grin made him the most desired of leading men, but he worked hard to transcend his looks — whether through his political advocacy, his willingness to take on unglamorous roles or his dedication to providing a platform for low-budget movies.His roles ranged from Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward to a mountain man in “Jeremiah Johnson” to a double agent in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and his co-stars included Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise. But his most famous screen partner was Paul Newman. Redford played the wily outlaw opposite Newman in 1969’s “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” a box-office smash from which Redford’s Sundance Institute and festival got their names. He also teamed with Newman on 1973’s best-picture Oscar-winner, “The Sting,” which earned Redford his only acting Academy Award nomination.Film roles after the ’70s became more sporadic as Redford concentrated on directing and producing, and his new role as patriarch of the independent-film movement in the 1980s and ’90s through his Sundance Institute. But he starred in 1985’s best picture champion “Out of Africa” and in 2013 received some of the best reviews of his career as a shipwrecked sailor in “All is Lost,” in which he was the film’s only performer. In 2018, he was praised again in what he called his farewell movie, “The Old Man and the Gun.”“I just figure that I’ve had a long career that I’m very pleased with. It’s been so long, ever since I was 21,” he told The Associated Press shortly before the film came out. “I figure now as I’m getting into my 80s, it’s maybe time to move toward retirement and spend more time with my wife and family.”Sundance is bornRedford had watched Hollywood grow more cautious and controlling during the 1970s and wanted to recapture the creative spirit of the early part of the decade. Sundance was created to nurture new talent away from the pressures of Hollywood, the institute providing a training ground and the festival, based in Park City, Utah, where Redford had purchased land with the initial hope of opening a ski resort. Instead, Park City became a place of discovery for such previously unknown filmmakers as Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Paul Thomas Anderson and Darren Aronofsky.Actor-director and environmentalist Robert Redford speaks at an environmental news conference at Baltimore's Middle Branch Park Rowing Facility, Md., Oct. 7, 1988. Redford is supporting Gov. Michael Dukakis' stand on environmental issues. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)ASSOCIATED PRESS“For me, the word to be underscored is ‘independence,’” Redford told the AP in 2018. “I’ve always believed in that word. That’s what led to me eventually wanting to create a category that supported independent artists who weren’t given a chance to be heard.“The industry was pretty well controlled by the mainstream, which I was a part of. But I saw other stories out there that weren’t having a chance to be told and I thought, ‘Well, maybe I can commit my energies to giving those people a chance.’ As I look back on it, I feel very good about that.”Sundance was even criticized as buyers swarmed in looking for potential hits and celebrities overran the town each winter.“We have never, ever changed our policies for how we program our festival. It’s always been built on diversity,” Redford told the AP in 2004. “The fact is that the diversity has become commercial. Because independent films have achieved their own success, Hollywood, being just a business, is going to grab them. So when Hollywood grabs your films, they go, ‘Oh, it’s gone Hollywood.’”By 2025, the festival had become so prominent that organizers decided they had outgrown Park City and approved relocating to Boulder, Colorado, starting in 2027. Redford, who had attended the University of Colorado in Boulder, issued a statement saying that “change is inevitable, we must always evolve and grow, which has been at the core of our survival.”Redford was married twice, most recently to Sibylle Szaggars. He had four children, two of whom have died — Scott Anthony, who died in infancy, in 1959, and James Redford, an activist and filmmaker who died in 2020.Redford’s early lifeRobert Redford was born Charles Robert Redford Jr. on Aug. 18, 1937, in Santa Monica, a California boy whose blond good looks eased his way over an apprenticeship in television and live theater that eventually led to the big screen.Redford attended college on a baseball scholarship and would later star as a middle-aged slugger in 1984’s “The Natural,” the adaptation of Bernard Malamud’s baseball novel. He had an early interest in drawing and painting, then went on to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, debuting on Broadway in the late 1950s and moving into television on such shows as “The Twilight Zone,” “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and “The Untouchables.”Actor Robert Redford in 1988. (AP Photo)APAfter scoring a Broadway lead in “Sunday in New York,” Redford was cast by director Mike Nichols in a production of Neil Simon’s “Barefoot in the Park,” later starring with Fonda in the film version. Redford did miss out on one of Nichols’ greatest successes, “The Graduate,” released in 1967. Nichols had considered casting Redford in the part eventually played by Dustin Hoffman, but Redford seemed unable to relate to the socially awkward young man who ends up having an affair with one of his parents’ friends.“I said, ‘You can’t play it. You can never play a loser,’” Nichols said during a 2003 screening of the film in New York. “And Redford said, ‘What do you mean? Of course I can play a loser.’ And I said, ‘OK, have you ever struck out with a girl?’ and he said, ‘What do you mean?’ And he wasn’t joking.”Indie champion, mainstream starEven as Redford championed low-budget independent filmmaking, he continued to star in mainstream Hollywood productions himself, scoring the occasional hit such as 2001’s “Spy Game,” which co-starred Brad Pitt, an heir apparent to Redford’s handsome legacy whom he had directed in “A River Runs Through It.”Ironically, “The Blair Witch Project,” “Garden State,” “Napoleon Dynamite” and other scrappy films that came out of Sundance sometimes made bigger waves — and more money — than some Redford-starring box-office duds like “Havana,” “The Last Castle” and “An Unfinished Life.”Redford also appeared in several political narratives. He satirized campaigning as an idealist running for U.S. senator in 1972’s “The Candidate” and uttered one of the more memorable closing lines, “What do we do now?” after his character manages to win. He starred as Woodward to Hoffman’s Carl Bernstein in 1976’s “All the President’s Men,” the story of the Washington Post reporters whose Watergate investigation helped bring down President Richard Nixon.With 2007’s “Lions for Lambs,” Redford returned to directing in a saga of a congressman (Tom Cruise), a journalist (Meryl Streep) and an academic (Redford) whose lives intersect over the war on terrorism in Afghanistan.His biggest filmmaking triumph came with his directing debut on “Ordinary People,” which beat Martin Scorsese’s classic “Raging Bull” at the Oscars. The film starred Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore as the repressed parents of a troubled young man, played by Timothy Hutton, in his big screen debut. Redford was praised for casting Moore in an unexpectedly serious role and for his even-handed treatment of the characters, a quality that Roger Ebert believed set “the film apart from the sophisticated suburban soap opera it could easily have become.”Robert Redford died Tuesday at his home, according to his publicist. Here he is seen attending the premiere of "The Old Man and the Gun" at the Paris Theater on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)Charles Sykes/Invision/APRedford’s other directing efforts included “The Horse Whisperer,” “The Milagro Beanfield War” and 1994’s “Quiz Show,” the last of which also earned best picture and director Oscar nominations. In 2002, Redford received an honorary Oscar, with academy organizers citing him as “actor, director, producer, creator of Sundance, inspiration to independent and innovative filmmakers everywhere.”“The idea of the outlaw has always been very appealing to me. If you look at some of the films, it’s usually having to do with the outlaw sensibility, which I think has probably been my sensibility. I think I was just born with it,” Redford said in 2018. “From the time I was just a kid, I was always trying to break free of the bounds that I was stuck with, and always wanted to go outside.”-- The Associated PressIf you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

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Scientists race to understand why tufted puffins are disappearing from the Pacific Northwest

Scientists think fewer than 2,000 tufted puffins remain on the West Coast.

THE STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA — The R/V Puffin sliced through uncharacteristically calm waters near Smith Island, a lopsided pancake of land often buffeted by wind and waves at the end of the strait.Just after a July sunrise, four researchers on the boat eyed a cracked and collapsing bluff, the home to about 25 breeding pairs of the tufted puffin, a bird in mysterious decline here.“You are looking at the largest remaining colony of tufted puffins in the Salish Sea,” said Peter Hodum, a professor with the University of Puget Sound.In Washington, the tufted puffin has seen a 90% reduction in population in recent decades with fewer than 2,000 of the birds remaining on the West Coast. The bird isn’t at risk for extinction (over a million still live in Alaska), but when Washington listed the species as endangered in 2015, the agency wrote that with the current rate of decline, the state’s population could be gone by 2055.The reasons for the tufted puffins’ decline in the Northwest isn’t fully understood. Researchers here are seeking answers before it might be too late to bring these populations back from the brink.Surprisingly, another species of Salish Sea puffin, one known for its austere and stocky appearance, might hold some clues. Around 14 miles away from this cliffside, the rhinoceros auklet breeds on a larger island — and is flourishing. Tens of thousands of burrows dot the seaside cliffs, and each summer fierce-eyed rhinoceros auklets — which are a puffin despite the name — flock to them, said Scott Pearson, a senior research scientist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.The divergent paths of the rhinoceros auklet and the tufted puffin are part of the mystery that scientists Pearson and Hodum have tried to prod in their research and talks.Combinations of factors related to the birds’ well-being are likely at play. Both are in a subgroup of the alcid or auk family of seabirds. Both birds raise a single egg each year. They dive deep into the ocean to forage for fish, but the tufted puffin has a more limited diet, locally, and is much more skittish and sensitive to human interference.For Hodum and Pearson, their comparative study of the two species could shed light on what exactly is driving the tufted puffins’ decline.They also fear that one day the rhinoceros auklet will follow the path of the tufted puffin. Warming seas and ocean acidification threaten fish and the diet of both birds. The marine environment is changing, perhaps too fast for either bird to adapt, Hodum said.“They’re telling us and showing us what’s going on. Are we really paying attention?” he said.The tufted puffinEach spring, tufted puffins journey from the vast Pacific Ocean to breed at colonies along the West Coast, Alaska, Siberia and Japan.Ahead of the journey, the otherwise drab gray seabirds transform. Their faces whiten, highlighting giant, ridged, bright orange bills. Blond plumes erupt from their heads, giving the species its clownlike appearance.Once returned to their colonies, the birds stretch and yawn at each other. Thought to bond with the same mate year after year around the same burrow, the tufted puffins’ courtship rituals include clapping bills against each other and showing each other nesting material.In Washington, 44 tufted puffin colonies were once found throughout the San Juan Islands, the outer coast of the Olympic Peninsula and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. In the late 1970s, researchers estimated around 23,000 birds lived among these sites. Today, the colonies on the San Juan Islands are empty, and just 19 breeding sites remain in the state.According to recent research, the tufted puffin population is in decline across California, the Pacific Northwest and the Gulf of Alaska, around three-quarters of the bird’s North American range. The species is also declining in Japan, though over a million birds are estimated to be holding steady or growing in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.In 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declined to list the tufted puffin as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act, citing that while the bird’s range is contracting, the species is still “widely distributed” and “maintains high overall abundance.”Race for answersFor the scientists surveying puffins along Smith Island, the race is on. Hodum and Pearson have theories as to what is driving the tufted puffins’ decline locally — fewer fish, more bald eagles, contaminants in the water, humans leading them to abandon their burrows. But until the scientists pin down what’s driving the decline, most conservation efforts are an experiment, Hodum said.At the top of the cliff at Smith Island, the scientists have placed a handful of tufted puffin decoys, which they hope will attract more birds into mating. It’s a conservation technique that helped recover the widely recognized Atlantic puffin on the East Coast.Recently, the scientists have been thinking about which islands in Washington might be the best place to reintroduce tufted puffins to boost their survival, Pearson said. One possibility could include the scientists placing tufted puffin chicks that were born in captivity in burrows when they are just ready to leave and venture into the world for the first time. After living on sea for three or four years, the scientists would hope they would return to breed.The cliffs are eroding at Smith Island, and over 20 years ago, the last of its lighthouse fell into the water. Today, rusted electricity cables that jut out and dangle from the cliff face and a weathered white home and two radio towers with eagle nests serve as landmarks for the scientists when identifying burrows. (Strangely, one or possibly two errant horned puffins also visit Smith each summer.)Although Smith Island is the largest tufted puffin colony in the Salish Sea, it’s not the only one. At least one active burrow remains on another nearby island, where the rhinoceros auklets live in abundance.A seabird sanctuaryKneeling in a bed of cheatgrass, Hodum snaked a black cable attached to an infrared camera several feet into a dark hole in the ground deeper than his shoulders.On Hodum’s headset screen, a barely recognizable gray blob came into view. To an untrained eye, it almost looked like a rock until it started to move, a beady black eye and beak coming into relief. Suddenly, the gray blob morphed into a fuzzy baby bird — a rhinoceros auklet chick the size of a small grapefruit.The chick is oblivious to the camera. Its parents are likely out on the open water, foraging or bobbing on the surface. Long after the late summer sun has set, the parents, alongside thousands of other rhinoceros auklets, will descend upon this island in the dark with neat rows of sand lance and other fish stacked in their beaks.Just a few miles off Sequim, and 14 miles south of the tufted puffins of Smith Island, lies Protection Island. It’s a wildlife refuge over seven times the size of Smith Island and largely untouched by people. On top of the island, deer hop through nonnative pasture grasses. Lazy seals and their pups lounge and mottled seagull chicks waddle along the shore at the primitive marina.Like Smith Island, Protection Island is closed to the public, but it almost wasn’t that way. In the 1970s the island was narrowly saved from the jaws of development when The Nature Conservancy and environmental activists, citing the island’s importance to nesting seabirds, successfully fought off the development of 800 vacation homes.Now scientists travel up the island’s steep slopes in a white Jeep on dirt roads, which were originally bulldozed when the island was first being prospected. A land frozen in time, water pipes stick up in the middle of fields, connected to nowhere, a reminder of what the island almost became.The few structures on the island include one private residence and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife caretaker’s cabin. The night before, the scientists stayed up past midnight on the island to study the diets of the rhinoceros auklets, who (unlike the tufted puffins) return to their pufflings at night.Thanks to this conservation, the island’s greatest real estate asset is perhaps its habitat, which includes nearly 55,000 burrows on steep grassy slopes. The burrowing birds (which include pigeon guillemots) have dug them with their beaks and feet — sometimes with branches — to be several feet deep. Research estimates that the island hosts around 35,000 breeding pairs of rhinoceros auklets each summer, making it the third largest colony for its species in North America.Pearson and Hodum have a few ideas on why the rhinoceros auklet, which is evolutionarily the oldest puffin species, might have fared well in recent decades. They deliver food to their chicks under the cover of night, away from bald eagles. Their chicks need less food less frequently compared with the tufted puffin, and they eat a wider range of fish.The rhinoceros auklet is also just a hardier bird. Researchers have netted rhinoceros auklets, held them in hand, clawing and biting, and stuck GPS and satellite trackers on them with little issue, Hodum said. Some research indicates tufted puffins will abandon their burrows after they are caught and tagged. Human disturbance is likely part of the reason tufted puffins fled the San Juan Islands, Pearson said.An uneasy futureOn Protection Island, just two tufted puffin burrows remain and at least one of them has been active recently, and the researchers keep their distance. It’s a far cry from the dozens of tufted puffins that were observed in the 1970s and 1980s, and it’s quite possible that this colony could be lost too in the “next few years,” Hodum said.Pearson said the privilege of visiting Protection and Smith islands up close as a researcher isn’t lost on him, and there’s a reason the islands are closed. Rhinoceros auklet burrows are fragile and prone to collapsing if stepped on. There are also black oystercatcher eggs on the beach and other species that rely on the absence of people to thrive.The scientists are careful to modify their methods for each puffin species, and to date, a burrow has never failed because of their work, Pearson said.“If there were a lot of people on this island, people bringing their dogs or whatever, we would lose the (puffins). Birds can’t handle that level of human activity,” he said.If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Activism
Conservation
Extinction

Freedom of Voice: A Newcomer’s Guide to Safe and Effective Protesting

How to participate in causes you believe in — in a manner that will be noticed, respected, and heard. The post Freedom of Voice: A Newcomer’s Guide to Safe and Effective Protesting appeared first on The Revelator.

The “No Kings” protests in June drew an estimated 4-6 million people to more than 2,000 events around the country — making it one of the largest protest turnouts in history. Many attendees interviewed during “No Kings” revealed that they had never attended a protest before. This continues two trends we’ve seen since the Women’s March in 2017: More and more people are protesting, and every event is someone’s first protest. Environmental causes have been a big part of this. The 2019 Global Climate Strike was the largest climate protest to date. And a recent survey found that 1 in 10 people in the United States attended environmental protests between June 2022 and June 2023. But protesting for the planet (or against oppressive government actions) poses risks that newcomers should understand. Protesting itself can be physically demanding. Meanwhile, legislatures around the country (and the world) have taken steps to criminalize protest, and right-wing agitators have increasingly used violence to harm or intimidate protestors. With all of that in mind, The Revelator has launched a multipart series on protest safety, especially geared toward first-timers. After all, it’s going to be a long, hot summer for environmental advocates seeking to make their voices heard in public across America and the globe. Before the Protest Are there meetings, including virtual meetings, from the organizing entity? Attend if you can; they’ll help you to understand the specific protest messaging so everyone is on the same page before the protest. Learn if there’s a check-in process: Will there be signs, T-shirts, hats, or other identifying items to receive while registering or when you show up for this protest? Make sure you sign up for text lists and other communications in case of inclement weather, parking issues, and other last-minute changes for the location and presentation of the protest. Know who to contact and what to do if you run into trouble while protesting. Decide how you’re getting there (in an eco-friendly way, if possible): Find out if public transportation or carpools are available, or organize your own rideshares. What to Bring to a Protest — and What NOT to Bring Plan ahead: Bring the right supplies for a day of protesting. What to Bring: A backpack and belt bag that are durable and not bulky. The belt pack keeps your hands free. Comfortable, quality walking shoes. This is non-negotiable. Wear closed-toe shoes that are broken-in and for walking long distances. Protest signs that clearly display your message in big, bold letters and can be easily read from far away. Make sure your signs are made with sturdy, bright, durable boards, with a comfortable handle. Short messages are better than a block of text. Stay hydrated. Bring a lot of water — which may also prove useful for clearing eyes and face of tear gas and pepper spray. (Milk has been disproven as tear-gas relief.) Lightweight, nutritious, protein-rich snacks: energy bars, nuts, etc. A face mask and safety goggles for smoke and tear gas. These can also hide your identity from cameras and police surveillance. A hat, sunglasses, jacket, umbrella…Clothing should be appropriate for changing weather conditions and can perform double duty as cover for any identifying skin markings. These items can also obscure your face from facial recognition technology. A change of clothes (just in case). Hand sanitizer and wipes. A first-aid kit if the organization does not provide a medical station or personnel that can be easily identified as first aid providers in the crowd. Your ID in case you’re detained. Your phone. (Essential for staying connected, but digital privacy may be a concern. See our resources section below for some guidance.) A power bank to charge devices. Other items might include a cooling towel; flashlight or headlamp; and a lanyard with a list of emergency contacts, medical conditions and medications. Things Not to Bring for a Demonstration: Alcohol or drugs. Spray paint. Firearms, knives, mace, pepper spray, tasers or weapons of any sort, even items that might be construed as weapons (such as a small Swiss army knife, metal eating utensils, etc.). Firecrackers or fireworks or anything explosive. Flammable liquids. Flares and smoke bombs. Torches (flashlights are okay). While You’re at the Protest The late civil rights icon John Lewis said, “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble,” encouraging people to challenge the status quo. Do: engage in group activities, meet and greet people. This is a great opportunity to forge friendships behind a greater cause, and for future protests or community organizing. Help those around you. Study your surroundings and people around you. Stay alert and be aware of the people in your group: Is there someone who has joined the demonstration who seems too aggressive and appears to be carrying firearms, weapons, and other tools of violence? If you get triggered and feel overly emotional with what’s happening, take that as your cue to head home. Empirical research shows that the most effective protests are non-violent. Political scientist Omar Wasow saw this in a study of the 1960s U.S. Civil Rights movement, finding that when protesters were violent, it prompted news stories focused on crime and disorder, and lent more sympathy to the opposition, who then become viewed as promoting law and order. In contrast, peaceful demonstrations that are violently repressed by the state make media coverage sympathetic to the protesters and strengthen peaceful movements. Remember that you’re not protesting in a vacuum. Don’t take actions that feed the opposition news media. Your behavior, attire, and reactions to provocative actions by the opposition and the police, National Guard, or military could be recorded by smart phones or the media, especially social media. Assume you’re being watched and that your words are being listened to. Don’t taunt or antagonize the opposition and de-escalate any confrontations that are becoming heated or aggressive. Stay calm and focused. Don’t rise to the bait of police or military force. Don’t throw things at them. Be passive but firm in your presentation. If you are arrested, don’t struggle or fight. Be polite and compliant — and the only word coming from your mouth should be, “lawyer.” Staying calm and respectful can be challenging when participating in a protest demonstration. Emotions run high, especially in the hot summer months. However, being a “peaceful protester” with resolute calm and dignity makes a greater impression on the public, many of whom sit on the fence about current issues and events. These are people who may be getting inaccurate information and have become dismissive of our endeavors as “unserious” activism. Screaming, yelling, and deriding don’t win them over but reinforce their opinion of us as obnoxious troublemakers. Opposition media outlets will cherry-pick video footage of “bad actors” and edit these bits of footage in loops that will play constantly in the media. As a result, your protest message will be ignored over the more inflammatory messaging about your cause. Coming Up: This series will continue with a look at the history of peaceful protesting and tips on how to organize a protest. And we want to hear from you. What questions do you have about protesting? What advice would you share? Send your comments, suggestions, questions, or even brief essays to comments@therevelator.org. Sources and Resources: Summer of Change: New Books to Inspire Environmental Action The Activist Handbook and other sources below provide practical guides and resources so you can plan your demonstration successfully. Indivisible  and No Kings offer training and education on protesting safely and effectively, as well as new and upcoming protest events. The Human Rights Campaign: Tips for Preparedness, Peaceful Protesting, and Safety ACLU Guide: How to Protest Safely and Responsibly Amnesty International Protest Guide Wired: How to Protest Safely: What to Bring, What to Do, and What to Avoid Infosec 101 for Activists “The New Science of Social Change: A Modern Handbook for Activists”  by Lisa Mueller “Agenda Seeding: How 1960s Black Protests Moved Elites, Public Opinion and Voting”  by Omar Wasow “Non-Violent Resistance (Satyagraha)”  by M. K. Gandhi Republish this article for free! Read our reprint policy. Previously in The Revelator: Saving America’s National Parks and Forests Means Shaking Off the Rust of Inaction The post Freedom of Voice: A Newcomer’s Guide to Safe and Effective Protesting appeared first on The Revelator.

Activism
Climate
Education

Summer of Change: New Books to Inspire Environmental Action

America’s summer celebrations are upon us, and these eight books will inspire environmentalists to act for our country and our planet. The post Summer of Change: New Books to Inspire Environmental Action appeared first on The Revelator.

“A patriot…wants the nation to live up to its ideals, which means asking us to be our best selves. A patriot must be concerned with the real world, which is the only place where their country can be loved and sustained. The patriot has universal values, standards by which they judge their nation, always wishing it well — and wishing that it would do better.” — Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny It’s the summer season: Barbeques are firing up, the stars and stripes are in view, and people are preparing to make a difference in the second half of the year. As we look to the “patriotic threesome” of holidays celebrated across the United States — Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day — it’s a good time to ask how you’ll show your patriotism for the planet. It’s especially important this year, given the current wave of misappropriation and compromises facing our natural lands and resources. Eight new environmental books might offer you some ideas on how to accomplish that. They offer ideas for getting involved in politics, improving your activism, and making important changes in your homes and communities. We’ve excerpted the books’ official descriptions below and provided links to the publishers’ sites, but you should also be able to find these books in a variety of formats through your local bookstore or library. Tools to Save Our Home Planet: A Changemaker’s Guidebook edited by Nick Mucha, Jessica Flint, and Patrick Thomas The need for activism is more urgent than ever before and the risks are greater, too. Safe and effective activism has always required smart strategic planning, clear goals and creative tactics, and careful and detailed preparation. Without these, activists can end up injured, penalized, or jailed. If anything, these risks are greater today as powerful forces in government and industry resist the big changes needed to slow the climate crisis and keep Earth livable for generations to come. Tools to Save Our Home Planet: A Changemaker’s Guidebook reflects the wisdom and best advice from activists working in today’s volatile world. A go-to resource for driving change, it offers timely and relevant insights for purpose-aligned work. It is intended as a primer for those new to activism and a refresher for seasoned activists wanting to learn from their peers, a reassuring and inspirational companion to the environmental and justice movements that we desperately need as a society. When We’re in Charge: The Next Generation’s Guide to Leadership by Amanda Litman Most leadership books treat millennials and Gen Z like nuisances, focusing on older leadership constructs. Not this one. When We’re in Charge is a no-bullshit guide for the next generation of leaders on how to show up differently, break the cycle of the existing workplace. This book is a vital resource for new leaders trying to figure out how to get stuff done without drama. Offering solutions for today’s challenges, Litman offers arguments for the four-day workweek, why transparency is a powerful tool, and why it matters for you to both provide and take family leave. A necessary read for all who occupy or aspire to leadership roles, this book is a vision for a future where leaders at work are compassionate, genuine, and effective. Scientists on Survival: Personal Stories of Climate Action by Scientists for XR In this important and timely book, scientists from a broad range of disciplines detail their personal responses to climate change and the ecological crises that led them to form Scientists for XR [Extinction Rebellion] and work tirelessly within it. Whether their inspiration comes from education or activism, family ties or the work environment, the scientists writing here record what drives them, what non-violent direct action looks like to them, what led them to become interested in the environmental crisis that threatens us all, and what they see as the future of life on Earth. Public Land and Democracy in America: Understanding Conflict over Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by Julie Brugger Public Land and Democracy in America brings into focus the perspectives of a variety of groups affected by conflict over the monument, including residents of adjacent communities, ranchers, federal land management agency employees, and environmentalists. In the process of following management disputes at the monument over the years, Brugger considers how conceptions of democracy have shaped and been shaped by the regional landscape and by these disputes. Through this ethnographic evidence, Brugger proposes a concept of democracy that encompasses disparate meanings and experiences, embraces conflict, and suggests a crucial role for public lands in transforming antagonism into agonism. The State of Conservation: Rural America and the Conservation-Industrial Complex since 1920 by Joshua Nygren In the twentieth century, natural resource conservation emerged as a vital force in U.S. politics, laying the groundwork for present-day sustainability. Merging environmental, agricultural, and political history, Nygren examines the political economy and ecology of agricultural conservation through the lens of the “conservation-industrial complex.” This evolving public-private network — which united the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Congress, local and national organizations, and the agricultural industry — guided soil and water conservation in rural America for much of the century. Contrary to the classic tales of U.S. environmental politics and the rise and fall of the New Deal Order, this book emphasizes continuity. Nygren demonstrates how the conservation policies, programs, and partnerships of the 1930s and 1940s persisted through the age of environmentalism, and how their defining traits anticipated those typically associated with late twentieth-century political culture. Too Late to Awaken: What Lies Ahead When There Is No Future by Slavoj Žižek We hear all the time that we’re moments from doomsday. Around us, crises interlock and escalate, threatening our collective survival: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with its rising risk of nuclear warfare, is taking place against a backdrop of global warming, ecological breakdown, and widespread social and economic unrest. Protestors and politicians repeatedly call for action, but still we continue to drift towards disaster. We need to do something. But what if the only way for us to prevent catastrophe is to assume that it has already happened — to accept that we’re already five minutes past zero hour? Too Late to Awaken sees Slavoj Žižek forge a vital new space for a radical emancipatory politics that could avert our course to self-destruction. He illuminates why the liberal Left has so far failed to offer this alternative, and exposes the insidious propagandism of the fascist Right, which has appropriated and manipulated once-progressive ideas. Pithy, urgent, gutting and witty Žižek’s diagnosis reveals our current geopolitical nightmare in a startling new light, and shows how, in order to change our future, we must first focus on changing the past. How We Sold Our Future: The Failure to Fight Climate Change by Jens Beckert For decades we have known about the dangers of global warming. Nevertheless, greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase. How can we explain our failure to take the necessary measures to stop climate change? Why are we so reluctant to act? Beckert provides an answer to these questions. Our apparent inability to implement basic measures to combat climate change is due to the nature of power and incentive structures affecting companies, politicians, voters, and consumers. Drawing on social science research, he argues that climate change is an inevitable product of the structures of capitalist modernity which have been developing for the past 500 years. Our institutional and cultural arrangements are operating at the cost of destroying the natural environment and attempts to address global warming are almost inevitably bound to fail. Temperatures will continue to rise, and social and political conflicts will intensify. We are selling our future for the next quarterly figures, the upcoming election results, and today’s pleasure. Any realistic climate policy needs to focus on preparing societies for the consequences of escalating climate change and aim at strengthening social resilience to cope with the increasingly unstable natural world. Parenting in a Climate Crisis: A Handbook for Turning Fear into Action by Bridget Shirvell In this urgent parenting guide, learn how to navigate the uncertainty of the climate crisis and keep your kids informed, accountable, and hopeful — with simple actions you can take as a family to help the earth. Kids today are experiencing the climate crisis firsthand. Camp canceled because of wildfire smoke. Favorite beaches closed due to erosion. Recess held indoors due to extreme heat. How do parents help their children make sense of it all? And how can we keep our kids (and ourselves) from despair? Environmental journalist and parent Bridget Shirvell has created a handbook for parents to help them navigate these questions and more, weaving together expert advice from climate scientists, environmental activists, child psychologists, and parents across the country. She helps parents answer tough questions (how did we get here?) and raise kids who feel connected to and responsible for the natural world, feel motivated to make ecologically sound choices, and feel empowered to meet the challenges of the climate crisis—and to ultimately fight for change. Enjoy these summer reads throughout the holidays and get involved with activities and protests that support our environment and wildlife. Whether it’s changing the way you celebrate to more sustainable fun or joining environmental summer pursuits, we hope you’ll make good trouble this holiday season. For hundreds of additional environmental books — including several on staying calm in challenging times — visit the Revelator Reads archives. Republish this article for free! The post Summer of Change: New Books to Inspire Environmental Action appeared first on The Revelator.

Activism
Agriculture
Climate

Suggested Viewing

Between Clouds and Glass

A look at the monumental problem of bird collisions in Chicago, the deadliest city for birds, just ahead of Houston and Dallas. According to scientists, what happens in Chicago can affect bird populations across North America. As many as one billion birds die each year in the United States due to building collisions, but there are people who care and work hard to change this.

Family
Conservation
Activism

In the Land of Palm Oil

IN THE LAND OF PALM OIL focuses on the casualties, both human and environmental, of palm oil exploitation in Indonesia. The film fuses first hand accounts of villagers -- victims of land-grabbing by large global corporations who pay off local and national officials -- and vérité observations of young Dayak activists who are trying to expose the brutal human rights violations. The narrative thread of the film centers on Emmanuela Shinta, a rising Dayak activist who sees video and social media exposure as the key to holding her government to account. Acting as an eyewitness to both the civil rights abuses and the environmental degradation, Shinta and her team visit Dayak villagers to record their experiences and ride along with firefighting teams during the dry seasons to expose the tragic consequences of the modern day palm oil empire in her home province of Central Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). Through a close collaboration with local people, the film develops and threads this narrative into the reality of the situation there. The film weaves together the many personal narratives of loss with broader observations on current political and social conditions within the Dayak community. In tandem with a quest for answers and accountability, the film constructs a stark portrait of the lasting effects of crony capitalism, now over two decades into the Post-Suharto Reformation.

Land Use
Indigenous
Activism

The Z-Nail Gang

When a corporate mining giant moves into a small coastal town looking for gold and talking about trickle down wealth some folks just aren't convinced.

Activism
Resources
Fiction

Wake Up People!

Environmental activists have been camping in Sodros for more than four months with the purpose of stopping the trees from being cut down. In the past few days Chinese company CRBC workers have been showing up at the site accompanied by the police and gendarmerie forces. The activists have been requesting to see the permits and the documentation for the work they are planning to conduct from the CRBC workers. The CRBC workers haven’t shown any of the permits. Also, the work has begun without a construction board being clearly visible, which is mandatory by law.

Sustainable
Social Justice
Nature

Alguita - The Boat That Changed The World

A retrospective celebratory documentary highlighting the plastic pollution movement that was spurred by Captain Charles Moore and his research vessel - the ORV Alguita.

Activism
Pollution
Documentary

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