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Tag: Environment

  • USF Crescendo Lab presents jazz song inspired by scientific data on oysters

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    ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A USF St. Petersburg anthropologist is using music and song to share scientific data. It’s a way to educate those who may not understand the science. It’s called the CRESCENDO Lab.

    What You Need To Know

    •  A USF St. Petersburg anthropologist has come up with a musical way to get non-scientists interested in complex scientific data

    •  It’s called the CRESCENDO Lab. CRESCENDO stands for “Communicating Research Expansively through Sonification and Community-Engaged Neuroaesthetic Data-literacy Opportunities”
    •  The latest research focuses on a declining oyster population. USF student musicians will perform “Oyster’s Ain’t Safe” on Tuesday, Nov. 4 at the IPAC Theater at Pasco-Hernando State College in Wesley Chapel

    • The concert will be part of a series called “Water Works” that begins at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free


    CRESCENDO stands for “Communicating Research Expansively through Sonification and Community-Engaged Neuroaesthetic Data-literacy Opportunities.”

    “If I were to invite you over here on a weekend night saying, ‘Let’s look at this data together,’ I’m probably going to get, ‘No way, I got other plans,’” said USF St. Petersburg anthropology professor Heather O’Leary. “But if we look at this — not like an economist and not like a social scientist — and like a musician, now we’re talking.”

    O’Leary said she got the idea for the CRESCENDO Lab after going to the orchestra with her toddler. She saw how engaged her child was with the music and thought it would be a great way to get more people interested in science. 

    Over the last couple of years, O’Leary has worked with student researchers on musical projects regarding Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease and Red Tide. Her latest project features jazz and oysters.

    “Florida used to be one of the biggest hotspots for the most delicious oysters on America’s coasts,” O’Leary said.

    She was fascinated by how polarizing the delicacies have become over the years. Some people like them. Others don’t. O’Leary wanted to know the financial impact.

    “People are suspicious of them because of their hard work, they are powerhouses that clean our waters. So they are afraid or grossed out about eating them. It seems like it ‘ain’t safe,’” O’Leary said.

    After conducting research, some students made a jazz song about what they discovered. The song is called, “Oysters Ain’t Safe.” The title was taken from a response on one of the surveys conducted during the research.

    “I think what’s really interesting is that it comes with two sides,” O’Leary said. “On one side, oysters aren’t safe. There are a lot of people suspicious about eating oysters, but on the other side, oysters have so many different shocks right now, that they themselves might be safe.”

    O’Leary said the issues oysters face include over harvesting, oyster acidification and the changing amount of freshwater available. The song focuses on some of the challenges.

    “It’s a really interesting way to interpret data,” said AJ Gross, a graduate student with the College of Marine Science.

    Currently, there is a five-year ban on wild oyster harvesting in Apalachicola Bay, Florida. The goal is to allow the oyster population time to recover. That ban ends at the end of 2025. Reopening is expected to be limited in the beginning of 2026, and O’Leary said it all has a financial impact.

    “I don’t think we think about how economics plays into marine science and marine biology,” said USF music student Emma Urbanski, one of the students singing the new scientific melody.

    Student musicians will perform “Oysters Ain’t Safe” in a concert at the IPAC Theater at Pasco-Hernando State College in Wesley Chapel on Tuesday, Nov. 4. It will be part of a series called “Water Works,” which begins at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free.   

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    Dalia Dangerfield

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  • Australia PM Writes to Turkey’s Erdogan About COP31 Hosting Standoff

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    SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday that he wrote to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to resolve a long-running tussle over who will host next year’s COP31 summit.

    Australia and Turkey submitted bids in 2022 to host the United Nations climate conference and both countries have refused to concede to the other ever since.

    Asked on Sunday if he thought Australia would end up as host, Albanese said: “There’s no real process for finalising the matter. I’ve written to President Erdogan of Türkiye, we’re continuing to engage.”

    “It’s hard when there’s no consensus, when you’ve got two bids. Our bid, of course, is in partnership with the Pacific,” Albanese added, according to an official transcript of remarks on Sky News television.

    A regional diplomatic bloc of 18 countries, the Pacific Islands Forum, is backing Australia’s bid. Several Pacific island nations are at risk from rising seas.

    Albanese said Australia wanted to ensure Pacific island nations’ interests are protected.

    “They’re particularly vulnerable to climate change. For them, countries like Tuvalu and Kiribati, this is an existential threat to their very existence, which is why this is such a strong issue in our region,” he said.

    Turkey has previously argued its Mediterranean location would help reduce emissions from flights bringing delegates to the conference, and has pointed out its smaller oil and gas industry compared to Australia.

    In July, the UN urged Australia and Turkey to resolve the hosting standoff, calling the delay unhelpful and unnecessary. It had set a deadline of June for the group to reach consensus.

    The annual talks rotate through five regional groups, with COP31’s host needing to be unanimously agreed upon by the 28 members of the Western Europe and Others Group bloc.

    (Reporting by Sam McKeith in SydneyEditing by Rod Nickel)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Halloween pumpkin waste is a methane problem, but chefs and farmers have solutions

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    Don’t let your Halloween pumpkin haunt the landfill this November.More than 1 billion pounds (454 million kilograms) of pumpkins rot in U.S. landfills each year after Halloween, according to the Department of Energy.Video above: Halloween festivities in full swing in Salem, MassachusettsYours doesn’t have to go to waste. Experts told us your pumpkins can be eaten, composted or even fed to animals. Here’s how. If you’re carving a jack-o’-lantern, don’t throw away the skin or innards — every part is edible.After carving, you can cube the excess flesh — the thick part between the outer skin and the inner pulp that holds the seeds — for soups and stews, says Carleigh Bodrug, a chef known for cooking with common food scraps. You can also puree it and add a tablespoon to your dog’s dinner for extra nutrients. And pumpkin chunks can be frozen for future use.”The seeds are a nutritional gold mine,” Bodrug said. They’re packed with protein, magnesium, zinc and healthy fats, according to a 2022 study in the journal Plants.One of Bodrug’s recipes involves removing the seeds, rinsing and roasting them with cinnamon for a crunchy snack or salad topper. Then you can use the stringy guts to make a pumpkin puree for muffins. This version differs from canned purees in grocery stores — which typically use a different type of pumpkin or squash — because carving pumpkins have stringier innards and a milder flavor. A carving pumpkin’s guts can still be used for baking — you’ll just have to amp up the seasoning to boost the flavor.If you don’t want to eat your pumpkins, you can donate them to a local farm, which might use them to feed pigs, chickens and other animals. Edible parts should be collected while you’re carving and before they’re painted, decorated or left on your porch for weeks. Paint and wax aren’t food-safe, and bacteria and mold can grow on the skin in outdoor climates.Once you’ve cooked what you can and donated what’s safe to feed, composting the rest is the easiest way to keep it out of the landfill.”That way, even though they’re not safe to eat, they can still give back to the earth,” Bodrug said. Composting pumpkins keeps them out of methane-emitting landfills and turns them into nutrient-rich soil instead. You can do this at home or drop them off at a local farm, compost collection bin or drop-off site.”A large percentage of what ends up going to the landfill is stuff that could have been composted,” said Dante Sclafani, compost coordinator at Queens County Farm in New York. “So even just cutting down something like pumpkins could really help curb how many garbage bags you’re putting out every week.”Before composting, remove any candles, plastic, glitter, or other decorations — they can contaminate the compost. A little glitter or paint won’t ruin the pile, but it’s best to get it as clean as possible before tossing it in. Then, chop up the pumpkin into 1-inch (2.5-centimeter) pieces so it can break down more easily.”Pumpkins are full of water, so it’s important to maintain a good balance of dried leaves, wood chips, sawdust, shredded newspaper, cardboard, straw — anything that’s a dry organic material — in your compost bin,” Sclafani said. If you don’t maintain this balance, your compost might start to stink.According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a healthy compost pile should include a mix of “greens” — like pumpkin scraps and food waste — and “browns” like dry leaves, straw or cardboard, in roughly a 3-to-1 ratio. That balance helps the pile break down faster and prevents odors.And if your pumpkin’s been sitting on the porch all month? That’s actually ideal. “It’s never too far gone for compost,” Sclafani said. “Even if it’s mushy or moldy, that actually helps, because the fungus speeds up decomposition.””Composting anything organic is better than throwing it out because you’re not creating more refuse in landfills, you’re not creating methane gas,” said Laura Graney, the farm’s education director.Graney said autumn on the farm is the perfect opportunity to teach kids about composting since it gives them a sense of power in the face of big environmental challenges. “Even though they’re little, composting helps them feel like they can make a difference,” Graney said. “They take that message home to their families, and that’s how we spread the word.”

    Don’t let your Halloween pumpkin haunt the landfill this November.

    More than 1 billion pounds (454 million kilograms) of pumpkins rot in U.S. landfills each year after Halloween, according to the Department of Energy.

    Video above: Halloween festivities in full swing in Salem, Massachusetts

    Yours doesn’t have to go to waste. Experts told us your pumpkins can be eaten, composted or even fed to animals. Here’s how.

    If you’re carving a jack-o’-lantern, don’t throw away the skin or innards — every part is edible.

    After carving, you can cube the excess flesh — the thick part between the outer skin and the inner pulp that holds the seeds — for soups and stews, says Carleigh Bodrug, a chef known for cooking with common food scraps. You can also puree it and add a tablespoon to your dog’s dinner for extra nutrients. And pumpkin chunks can be frozen for future use.

    “The seeds are a nutritional gold mine,” Bodrug said. They’re packed with protein, magnesium, zinc and healthy fats, according to a 2022 study in the journal Plants.

    One of Bodrug’s recipes involves removing the seeds, rinsing and roasting them with cinnamon for a crunchy snack or salad topper. Then you can use the stringy guts to make a pumpkin puree for muffins. This version differs from canned purees in grocery stores — which typically use a different type of pumpkin or squash — because carving pumpkins have stringier innards and a milder flavor. A carving pumpkin’s guts can still be used for baking — you’ll just have to amp up the seasoning to boost the flavor.

    If you don’t want to eat your pumpkins, you can donate them to a local farm, which might use them to feed pigs, chickens and other animals.

    Edible parts should be collected while you’re carving and before they’re painted, decorated or left on your porch for weeks. Paint and wax aren’t food-safe, and bacteria and mold can grow on the skin in outdoor climates.

    Once you’ve cooked what you can and donated what’s safe to feed, composting the rest is the easiest way to keep it out of the landfill.

    “That way, even though they’re not safe to eat, they can still give back to the earth,” Bodrug said.

    Composting pumpkins keeps them out of methane-emitting landfills and turns them into nutrient-rich soil instead. You can do this at home or drop them off at a local farm, compost collection bin or drop-off site.

    “A large percentage of what ends up going to the landfill is stuff that could have been composted,” said Dante Sclafani, compost coordinator at Queens County Farm in New York. “So even just cutting down something like pumpkins could really help curb how many garbage bags you’re putting out every week.”

    Before composting, remove any candles, plastic, glitter, or other decorations — they can contaminate the compost. A little glitter or paint won’t ruin the pile, but it’s best to get it as clean as possible before tossing it in. Then, chop up the pumpkin into 1-inch (2.5-centimeter) pieces so it can break down more easily.

    “Pumpkins are full of water, so it’s important to maintain a good balance of dried leaves, wood chips, sawdust, shredded newspaper, cardboard, straw — anything that’s a dry organic material — in your compost bin,” Sclafani said. If you don’t maintain this balance, your compost might start to stink.

    According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a healthy compost pile should include a mix of “greens” — like pumpkin scraps and food waste — and “browns” like dry leaves, straw or cardboard, in roughly a 3-to-1 ratio. That balance helps the pile break down faster and prevents odors.

    And if your pumpkin’s been sitting on the porch all month? That’s actually ideal. “It’s never too far gone for compost,” Sclafani said. “Even if it’s mushy or moldy, that actually helps, because the fungus speeds up decomposition.”

    “Composting anything organic is better than throwing it out because you’re not creating more refuse in landfills, you’re not creating methane gas,” said Laura Graney, the farm’s education director.

    Graney said autumn on the farm is the perfect opportunity to teach kids about composting since it gives them a sense of power in the face of big environmental challenges.

    “Even though they’re little, composting helps them feel like they can make a difference,” Graney said. “They take that message home to their families, and that’s how we spread the word.”

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  • Climate Change Made Hurricane Melissa 4 Times More Likely, Study Suggests

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    This story originally appeared on Inside Climate News and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

    Fueled by unusually warm waters, Hurricane Melissa this week turned into one of the strongest Atlantic storms ever recorded. Now a new rapid attribution study suggests human-induced climate change made the deadly tropical cyclone four times more likely.

    Hurricane Melissa collided with Jamaica on Tuesday, wreaking havoc across the island before tearing through nearby Haiti and Cuba. The storm, which reached Category 5, reserved for the hurricanes with the most powerful winds, has killed at least 40 people across the Caribbean so far. Now weakened to a Category 2, it continues its path toward Bermuda, where landfall is likely on Thursday night, according to the National Hurricane Center.

    Early reports of the damage are cataclysmic, particularly in hardest-hit western Jamaica. Winds reaching speeds of 185 miles per hour and torrential rain flattened entire neighborhoods, decimated large swaths of agricultural lands and forced more than 25,000 people—locals and tourists alike—to seek cover in shelters or hotel ballrooms. According to the new attribution study from Imperial College London, climate change ramped up Melissa’s wind speeds by 7 percent, which increased damages by 12 percent.

    Losses could add up to tens of billions of dollars, experts say.

    The findings echo similar reports released earlier this week on how global warming contributed to the likelihood and severity of Hurricane Melissa. Each of the analyses add to a growing body of research showing how ocean warming from climate change is fueling the conditions necessary for stronger tropical storms.

    Hurricane Melissa is “kind of a textbook example of what we expect in terms of how hurricanes respond to a warming climate,” said Brian Soden, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Miami, who was not involved in the recent analyses. “We know that the warming ocean temperatures [are] being driven almost exclusively by increasing greenhouse gases.”

    The storm has disrupted every aspect of life in this part of the Caribbean.

    “There’s been massive dislocation of services. We have people living in shelters across the country,” Dennis Zulu, United Nations resident coordinator in Jamaica, said in a press conference on Wednesday. “What we are seeing in preliminary assessments is a country that’s been devastated to levels never seen before.”

    The Climate Connection

    For the rapid attribution study, researchers at Imperial College used the peer-reviewed Imperial College Storm Model, known as IRIS, which has created a database of millions of synthetic tropical cyclone tracks that can help fill in gaps on how storms operate in the real world.

    The model essentially runs simulations on the likelihood of a given storm’s wind speed—often the most damaging factor—in a pre-industrial climate versus the current climate. Applying IRIS to Hurricane Melissa is how the researchers determined that human-induced warming supercharged the cyclone’s wind speed by 7 percent.

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    Kiley Price

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  • Prince William Leaves Andrew Scandal Behind for Trip to Brazil

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    LONDON (Reuters) -Prince William heads to Brazil next week for the awards ceremony for his multi-million-dollar environmental prize, hoping to refocus attention away from the scandal of his uncle Andrew and back on the royals’ causes.

    William will visit some of Rio de Janeiro’s most famous landmarks on what will be the British heir’s first Latin American trip.

    The aim is to turn the spotlight onto a line-up of environmental projects before the annual awards ceremony for the prince’s Earthshot Prize.

    The visit comes days after King Charles stripped his younger brother of his title of prince and evicted him from his mansion, banishing his sibling from public life to try to prevent any further damage to the royal brand from Andrew’s ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

    During his three-day trip, William will seek to focus on his main philanthropic environmental cause, which aims to find innovations to combat climate change, and awards five winners 1 million pounds ($1.3 million) each to drive their projects.

    William will visit Sugarloaf mountain, the Maracana soccer stadium, the Christ the Redeemer statue and the Copacabana beach where he will play volleyball, a Kensington Palace spokesperson said.

    His wife Kate, who is in remission after cancer treatment, will not be joining him.

    South America is an uncommon destination for the British royals who tend to focus overseas trips on Europe or the foreign realms where the king is head of state, such as Canada.

    William has never been to Brazil or Latin America before, while Charles last went there in 2009.

    This year, the Earthshot events will take place a week before the United Nations COP30 climate summit which is also being held in Brazil and which the prince will attend in place of his father.

    “With its energy, its people and its iconic landscapes it is the perfect place to celebrate amazing environmental innovation and host our biggest and best Earthshot ever,” Jason Knauf, chief executive of the Earthshot Prize, said.

    The winners will be announced at a ceremony on November 5 which will feature a host of celebrities and performances from Australian popstar Kylie Minogue and Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil.

    Organisers say the summit surrounding the event will attract more than 1,000 global leaders, some of the world’s biggest philanthropists along with global mayors and world-leading scientists.

    (Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Explainer-Nuclear Testing: Why Did It Stop, Why Test and Who Has Nuclear Weapons?

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    (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. military on Thursday to immediately resume testing nuclear weapons after a gap of 33 years, minutes before beginning a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

    How many nuclear weapons tests have there been, why were they stopped – and why would anyone start them again?

    The United States opened the nuclear era in July 1945 with the test of a 20-kiloton atomic bomb at Alamogordo, New Mexico, in July 1945, and then dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 to force Japan to surrender in World War Two.

    The Soviet Union shocked the West by detonating its first nuclear bomb just four years later, in August 1949.

    In the five decades between 1945 and the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), over 2,000 nuclear tests were carried out, 1,032 of them by the United States and 715 of them by the Soviet Union, according to the United Nations.

    Britain carried out 45 tests, France 210 and China 45.

    Since the CTBT, 10 nuclear tests have taken place. India conducted two in 1998, Pakistan also two in 1998, and North Korea conducted tests in 2006, 2009, 2013, 2016 (twice) and 2017, according to the United Nations.

    The United States last tested in 1992, China and France in 1996 and the Soviet Union in 1990. Russia, which inherited most of the Soviet nuclear arsenal, has never done so.

    Russia held nuclear drills last week and has tested a nuclear-powered cruise missile and a nuclear-powered torpedo but has not tested a nuclear warhead.

    WHY WAS NUCLEAR TESTING ENDED?

    Concern mounted about the impact of the tests – above ground, underground and underwater – on human health and the environment.

    The impact of the West’s testing in the Pacific and of Soviet testing in Kazakhstan and the Arctic was significant on both the environment and the people. Activists say millions of people in both the Pacific and Kazakhstan had their lands contaminated by nuclear testing – and have faced health issues for decades.

    By limiting the Cold War bonanza of nuclear testing, advocates said, tensions between Moscow and Washington could be reduced.

    The CTBT bans  nuclear explosions  by everyone, everywhere. It was signed by Russia in 1996 and ratified in 2000. The United States signed the treaty in 1996 but has not ratified it.

    In 2023, President Vladimir Putin formally revoked Russia’s ratification of the CTBT, bringing his country in line with the United States.

    WHY WOULD YOU TEST AGAIN?

    To gather information – or to send a signal.

    Tests provide evidence of what any new nuclear weapon will do – and whether older weapons still work.

    In 2020, the Washington Post reported that the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump had discussed whether or not to conduct a nuclear test.

    Apart from providing technical data, such a test would be seen in Russia and China as a deliberate assertion of U.S. strategic power.

    Putin has repeatedly warned that if the United States resumed nuclear testing, Russia would too. Putin says a global nuclear arms race is already underway.

    WHAT ARE BIG POWERS DOING WITH THEIR NUCLEAR WEAPONS?

    The exact number of warheads each country has are secret but Russia has a total of about 5,459 warheads while the United States has about 5,177, according to the Federation of American Scientists. Those number include deployed, stockpiled and retired warheads.

    The Washington D.C.-based Arms Control Association says the United States has a stockpile of 5,225 nuclear warheads and Russia has 5,580.

    Global nuclear warhead stockpiles peaked in 1986 at over 70,000 warheads, most in the Soviet Union and the United States, but have since been reduced to about 12,000, most still in Russia and the United States.

    China is the third largest nuclear power with 600 warheads, France has 290, the United Kingdom 225, India 180, Pakistan 170, Israel 90 and North Korea 50, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

    Russia, the United States and China are all undertaking major modernisations of their nuclear arsenals.

    (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • How to Keep Subways and Trains Cool in an Ever Hotter World

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    TfL, to its credit, has made many efforts over the years to try to deal with the problem of hot tunnels, including attaching cooling panels to tunnel walls. The panels, which circulate water to remove heat from the air, were deployed in a trial in 2022, though they are not currently in use. Paul argues that such a system could be prohibitively expensive.

    Hassan Hemida at the University of Birmingham says Paul’s water-cooling technology is a “good idea,” though it remains to be seen how much heat it could really remove from a real-life, busy Tube station full of people.

    Certain railways simply push the boundaries of our ability to cool things down, says Hemida. He gives the example of super-high-speed trains traveling at, say, 400 kilometers per hour. They force air out of their way at high velocities, meaning the air pressure surrounding heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) equipment on the roofs of those trains can drop significantly. “Then, you cannot suck air into the HVAC system,” he says. Ultimately, that could cause the air-conditioning unit to fail. “I have been contacted by colleagues from China, and they want to find a solution for this problem,” Hemida adds.

    More and more train operators are adopting air-conditioning systems as standard, though. London’s still relatively new Elizabeth Line features air-conditioning, for example. And a spokesman for Škoda Transportation, which recently rolled out air-conditioned metro trains in the capital of Bulgaria, says: “Generally, every vehicle we produce now is equipped with AC.” Sharon Hedges, senior engagement manager at Transport Focus, an industry watchdog, adds: “As people think about procuring new rolling stock, these are the kind of things that need to be uppermost in minds now.”

    Heat waves are one thing in Britain. What about the Egyptian desert? German tech company Siemens is supplying Egypt with a new set of high-speed trains that can travel at speeds of up to 230 kilometers per hour. The firm’s Velaro trains are used in many places around Europe, but for Egypt, Siemens has really put them through their paces. Last summer, the company took one of the trains to a test facility in Austria and exposed it to unpleasant conditions, including temperatures as high as 60 degrees Celsius and high winds. “We are achieving 26 degree inside temperature at the hottest outside conditions,” says Björn Buchholz, head of HVAC and door systems.

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    Chris Baraniuk

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  • Trump reveals his mass deforestation plans as retaliation to Canada, says the US will grow its own lumber | The Mary Sue

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    The current United States government isn’t the most American-friendly, and its leader in chief is proving it once again. In a resurfaced video that has been making the rounds recently, Donald Trump can be seen giving Americans the hope for self-sufficiency, but one that comes at a huge cost.

    Recently, Americans raised alarm bells after hearing Donald Trump claim in a video from March 2025 that he would be clearing the country’s forests to support the lumber production economy. He made these comments in response to repeated pushback from Canada over Trump’s tariffs, which have significantly increased the import costs of timber. Speaking on the topic, Trump said:

    “We don’t need Canada’s lumber. So what I’m doing is I’ll be signing an executive order freeing up our forests so that we’re allowed to take down trees and make a lot of money”

    He also said that he would reharvest the trees and cut fire breaks that would greatly reduce the impact on the entire production in case of forest fires. He reiterated his past claim of not depending on Canada for its trees and also added “cars” and “energy” to that list.

    After hearing Trump’s outrageous comments, one person, under a video of the incident on X (formerly Twitter), said:

    “Environmental Suicide !!!!”

    Another person on the platform, while making a similar observation, stated:

    “Oh, brilliant idea, Mr. Trump…let’s deregulate logging in those already-shrinking US national forests to stick it to us pesky Canadians and our tariffs. Because nothing screams “genius economic policy” like trading your precious woodlands for a quick buck on two-by-fours, right? I mean, why rely on Canada’s colossal boreal forest when you can pretend your scraps are enough?”

    Several others criticised Donald Trump and his whimsical behaviour, which has caused more harm than good for the American population in the past couple of months. Trump is so consumed by ego clashes with Canada and other countries that he refuses to see beyond them. His plan to clear forests in the US and harvest trees for lumber is a big slap to environmentalists who have been working tirelessly over the past few years to preserve the environment. History shows that when a capitalist’s hunger for power and economic gain reaches dangerous levels, it is never beneficial to regular citizens.

    Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

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    Sanchari Ghosh

    Sanchari Ghosh is a political writer for The Mary Sue who enjoys keeping up with what’s going on in the world and sometimes reminding everyone what they should be talking about. She’s been around for a few years, but still gets excited whenever she disentangles a complicated story. When she’s not writing, she’s likely sleeping, eating, daydreaming, or just hanging out with friends. Politics is her passion, but so is an amazing nap.

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  • Hurricane Melissa Makes Landfall in Cuba, NHC Says

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    (Reuters) -Hurricane Melissa made landfall on the southern coast of eastern Cuba on Wednesday as a category three hurricane, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest advisory.

    Melissa was located about 60 miles (95 km) west-southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba, with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph), the Miami-based forecaster said.

    (Reporting by Anmol Choubey and Ishaan Arora in BengaluruEditing by David Goodman)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Spain Marks Deadly Valencia Floods Anniversary With State Funeral, Solemn Marches

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    MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s King Felipe will attend a state funeral in the eastern region of Valencia as part of a number of events on Wednesday to mark one year since deadly floods killed 237 people.

    Authorities were still finding victims buried in the mud as recently as last week, as the country comes to terms with the most catastrophic flooding in Europe in more than five decades.

    Flash floods caused by torrential rains swept away bridges, cars and people and swamped homes and underground car parks on October 29, 2024. Some 229 people died in the Valencia region and a further eight in other parts of Spain.

    Local residents plan to lay out 229 emergency foil blankets representing the victims in a Valencia square.

    Two silent, torch-carrying marches will join together in Benetusser, one of the suburbs of Valencia city that was most affected by the floods.

    Anger over the handling of the catastrophe continues to rage a year later, with tens of thousands of people calling for conservative regional leader Carlos Mazon to resign at a demonstration in Valencia on Saturday.

    Protesters accused the regional government of failing to warn citizens early enough during the emergency, sending a text message alert when many buildings were already under water.

    A court is investigating Mazon’s handling of the emergency and his whereabouts on the day, after a local journalist said she had a nearly four-hour lunch with him when he was meant to be at an emergency services meeting. Mazon has refused to provide details of the lunch or show the restaurant bill but says he was kept informed at all times over the phone.

    The government on Tuesday approved 5 billion euros ($5.8 billion) of loan guarantees to help businesses and homes affected by the floods. The government has so far handed out more than 8 billion euros to clear up devastated areas.

    The heavy rains and subsequent flash floods were caused by a high-altitude isolated depression – referred to locally as a DANA – a highly destructive weather system created when cold and warm air meet to produce powerful rain clouds.

    It typically happens after a hot summer, and scientists believe the phenomenon is occurring more frequently due to climate change.

    (Reporting by Charlie Devereux, David Latona and Ana Cantero; Writing by Charlie Devereux; Editing by Sonali Paul)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Rainfall Buries a Mega-Airport in Mexico

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    The story of the park begins in 2014, when Enrique Peña Nieto, the president of Mexico at the time, announced plans for a new transport hub for Mexico City. It would be built on the largely dry bed of Lake Texcoco, the body of water that had once surrounded Mexico City’s ancient ancestor, Tenochtitlán, the center of the Aztec empire. The marketing promise was that NAICM would be one of the greenest airports in the world. The terminal, designed by Norman Foster—winner of the Pritzker Prize in 1999 and the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts in 2009—was going to be the first to obtain LEED platinum certification, the highest international recognition for energy efficiency and sustainable design.

    Its site, Lake Texcoco, had already lost more than 95 percent of its original surface area, and in 2015 plans were made to drain it completely to build the airport. However, when Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office as Mexico’s president in 2018, he canceled the plan. It would end up costing more than $13 billion and would leave behind serious environmental damage: The incomplete project destroyed a key refuge for migratory birds; carved up mountains in the State of Mexico (the federal region that surrounds Mexico City); razed agricultural land; and altered the landscape of the cultural capital of the Nahua, an indigenous people that includes the Mexica (or Aztecs).

    Echeverría, who says he has been obsessed with the area for nearly three decades, was appointed by the new government to restore the local ecosystem. “It felt like I was stepping onto Mars,” says the architect, reflecting on being placed at the helm of the project. The park covers an area equivalent to 21 times the area of Mexico City’s enormous Bosque de Chapultepec park. Echeverría offers his own comparisons: “This place is three times the size of the city of Oaxaca and, as a reference for those outside Mexico, it’s roughly three times the size of Manhattan.”

    The restoration project wasn’t a mere whim of Mexico’s new president, but the culmination of a century of visions and plans. “We’ve been skating around this for 75 years,” Echeverría says, citing restoration projects that were proposed as early as 1913, including ones by Miguel Ángel de Quevedo (a celebrated early environmentalist) in the 1930s and agronomist Gonzalo Blanco Macías in the 1950s. What was missing, Echeverría says, “wasn’t a lack of ideas, but of political will.”

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  • Hurricane Melissa Has Meteorologists Terrified

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    Meteorologists who have spent the past few days monitoring the rapid development of Hurricane Melissa in the Atlantic Ocean are sounding the alarm about the storm, which is set to make landfall in Jamaica today as a Category 5 hurricane. The sustained—and growing—intensity of the storm is remarkable, experts say, and has the makings of a historic hurricane.

    “When I look at the cloud pattern, I will tell you as a meteorologist and professional—and a person—it is beautiful, but it is terrifying,” says Sean Sublette, a meteorologist based in Virginia. “I know what is underneath those clouds.”

    There are a few different ways to measure the strength of hurricanes. One is by air pressure: the lower the pressure, the stronger the storm. Early Tuesday morning, as it approached Jamaica, Melissa was measuring a minimum pressure of 901 millibars (mb)—lower than Hurricane Katrina’s peak low pressure of 902 mb, and the lowest pressure ever recorded in a hurricane this late in the year, according to CSU meteorologist Philip Klotzbach.

    Incredibly, as of Tuesday morning, Melissa wasn’t done intensifying. At 10 am, the National Weather Service posted an update measuring the storm’s pressure at 892 mb. If it makes landfall at this pressure, it would be tied with the catastrophic 1935 Labor Day hurricane, which hit Florida, as the most intense hurricane by pressure to make landfall.

    “That record’s been in place for 90 years now,” says Brian McNoldy, a senior research associate at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. “It would be a pretty big deal if that fell.”

    The pressure dropping so much as a hurricane approaches land—especially around elevated ground—is “really remarkable,” McNoldy says. “Normally it would start to feel a mountainous island, like Jamaica, and it would kind of interrupt it a little and start to weaken it. But it’s actually still intensifying right now.”

    A second way of measuring hurricanes is by wind speed; Melissa has also startled meteorologists with its strength here, as well as the speed at which it intensified. Wind speeds inside Melissa measured just 70 mph on Saturday as the storm formed in the Atlantic basin, lower than the 74 mph of the mildest Category 1 storms. However, they had quickly jumped to 140 mph—Category 4 strength—just 24 hours later. Melissa’s winds kept on intensifying through Monday and Tuesday. As of 10am Tuesday, it had maximum sustained winds of 185 mph.

    “It’s extremely rare to have a storm rapidly intensify when it’s already really intense,” says McNoldy. “You usually see rapid intensification happen when it’s a tropical storm or a Category 1, 2 hurricane. That’s when it is very common to happen. But not when it’s already at the upper end of intensity.”

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    Molly Taft

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  • Poachers are killing families of spider monkeys, kidnapping their babies and selling them to Americans on social media

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    Bound, sedated and stuffed into bags: Poachers are ripping baby spider monkeys from their mothers in the forests of southern Mexico and selling them as pets on social media platforms in the United States.

    Jim Stinebaugh, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says nearly 90 baby spider monkeys have been confiscated at the Texas-Mexico border in the last 18 months – and that’s believed to be just a fraction of the spider monkeys illegally brought into the United States.

    Wildlife officials say the spike in spider monkey smuggling is driven in part by viral videos showing the animals dressed up, diapered and treated like human babies. Those clips racking up millions of views may look cute, but experts warn they glamorize illegal pet ownership and fail to show the cruel conditions for monkeys torn from the wild.

    Investigative photos document the cruelty of how baby spider monkeys are smuggled across the border. Traffickers smuggle the spider monkeys in horrific conditions, often crammed into tiny compartments with no food or water. Many arrive sick, injured or clinging to life, with authorities racing to save those that survive the brutal journey.

    In Mexico, poachers shoot mother spider monkeys out of trees, with their babies still clinging to their backs. And because the moms only give birth every two to four years, the population is slow to recover. 

    “You’re going to have to kill the mothers to get the babies, and then the rest of the family are going to be protective of the mother and the baby as well,” Stinebaugh explained. “You very well may end up killing dozens of monkeys, just to keep a few of the babies.”

    Stinebaugh focuses on catching smugglers who sell through social media platforms. It’s an uphill battle because law enforcement is understaffed, and the penalties are often small.

    He warned: “If you’re paying cash for a spider monkey in the parking lot of a big-box store, there’s something wrong.”

    Baby spider monkeys can’t be returned to the wild without their mothers, so agents bring them to the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas, where five veterinarians care for 1,600 other animals. But one Texas zoo can’t tackle the problem alone, so the Association of Zoos and Aquariums is piloting a project where facilities house, care for and permanently place spider monkeys at other accredited facilities around the country.

    Stinebaugh believes that if people understood the brutality of the spider monkey black-market trade, they would see the truth: that we’re pushing these animals closer to extinction.

    His message: “If you care at all about this species, if you don’t want them killed in the wild, if you don’t want the babies smuggled across the border and these abhorrent conditions, don’t make the purchase.”

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  • Factbox-What Is APEC? Asia-Pacific Leaders to Gather in South Korea

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    SEOUL (Reuters) -Leaders from 21 Pacific Rim economies will gather this week in Gyeongju, South Korea, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, forum.

    Meetings began Monday and will run through Saturday, though talks are expected to be overshadowed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs and high-stakes trade standoffs with China and other nations.

    Trump will arrive on Wednesday but is scheduled to depart before the APEC leaders’ summit itself. He is expected to see Chinese President Xi Jinping for their first in-person meeting of Trump’s second term, as the two countries seek to dial down trade tensions.

    The following are facts about the APEC meeting:

    – APEC, which was founded in 1989, has 21 members that represent more than 50% of global GDP and are home to some 2.7 billion people, or 40% of the world’s population. China, Russia and the U.S. are three of the group’s largest members. The APEC region generated 70% of the world’s economic growth during its first 10 years of existence.

    – Leaders of the countries meet annually. The last gathering was in November 2024 in Peru, dominated by worries over the incoming Trump administration’s vows to enact tariffs and reverse course on issues like climate change.

    – The economic club aims to encourage cooperation and reduce trade and investment barriers, though decisions made at meetings are non-binding and consensus has been increasingly difficult. South Korea says it wants to use this year’s forum to discuss supply chains, the World Trade Organization’s role in fostering a free and fair trade environment, as well as advancing the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, an agreement designed to eventually include all APEC members.

    – The agenda also includes topics like adapting to digital change, harnessing artificial intelligence, sustainable energy, food supplies, responding to demographic shifts and increasing opportunities for women and people with disabilities.

    – South Korea is hosting Trump and Xi for state visits and it is hoping to make progress on a trade deal with the U.S. President Lee Jae Myung has suggested Trump use the visit to engage with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but it is unclear whether a meeting will happen.

    (Reporting by Josh Smith; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • China’s Heatwaves Threaten to Dry up Supply of Delicious ‘Hairy Crabs’

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    By Brenda Goh and Nicoco Chan

    YANGCHENG LAKE, China (Reuters) -The last three years have been the toughest for Xie Dandan and her family during more than a decade cultivating one of China’s most esteemed culinary delicacies, the “hairy crab”, named for its furry claws.

    “From 2022, it feels like the weather has been getting worse every year,” said the 34-year-old, standing amid tanks filled with the crabs, coveted for their sweet flesh and golden roe, while she wrapped some in straw to prepare them for customers.

    “We’ve come to mentally prepare for these losses.”

    Xie is among the farmers at Yangcheng lake in the eastern province of Jiangsu being forced to devise new ways to keep the crustaceans alive as unusually high temperatures and longer-than-expected summers have disrupted breeding cycles since 2022.

    The Chinese mitten crabs, as they are also known, can sell for hundreds of dollars when exported in sets of four to countries such as Singapore and Japan.

    “Those who work in agriculture are at the mercy of the sky,” said Xie, whose community reeled last year from losses caused by the strongest typhoon to hit the east coast since 1949, ripping out nets and shutting down oxygenation systems.

    Higher temperatures than usual spell a triple theat for the crabs by slowing their growth, reducing the amount of oxygen in the water and boosting growth of bacteria, said Kenneth Leung, a marine environment expert at the City University of Hong Kong.

    Hopes for a bumper harvest this year were crushed by summer temperatures around the lake in Suzhou city famed for some of the tastiest crabs, which stayed above 30 degrees C (86 degrees F) until late October, delaying their maturity.

    The labour-intensive cultivation of the crabs begins with farmers growing their larvae in ponds for about a year before they are moved to fenced farms within the lake for the creatures to molt, or shed their outer shells, as they grow.

    Molting happens about five times between March and the traditional end-September start of the harvest, Xie said.

    But stronger heat can kill crabs as they shed their shells, in addition to the delay in maturity caused by longer summers. In 2022, farmers dumped blocks of ice into the water to cool it, Xie said.

    Some of eastern China’s hottest and longest summers in the last three years have brought temperatures of 40 degrees C (104 degrees F), or higher, on consecutive days as early as July.

    In September, weather officials said this year’s summer was China’s hottest since 1961, while northern rains were the longest in the same period, bringing disruptions that scientists have linked to climate change.

    Leung suggested selective breeding as a possible solution, by choosing crabs with a greater tolerance of higher temperatures for breeding.

    Authorities expect the lake to yield a harvest of 10,350 metric tons this year, roughly in line with previous years’ figures, except for 9,900 tons last year, when the typhoon hit.

    While crab farmers may pray for better weather next year, they know they ultimately have little control, Xie added.

    “We only can see whether the hairy crabs will be able to adapt, and if they can’t, then maybe this industry will just be eliminated. We can’t do anything about it.”

    (Reporting by Brenda Goh and Nicoco Chan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Melissa Now a Category 3 Hurricane on Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, US Forecaster Says

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    (Reuters) -Melissa is now a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale, the U.S. Hurricane Center said on Saturday.

    The hurricane was located about 280 miles (450 km) from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, packing maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph).

    Melissa is expected to rapidly intensify during Sunday and expected to be a major hurricane when making landfall in Jamaica early next week, the Miami-based forecaster said.

    (Reporting by Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Hogue)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Exxon Sues California Over Climate Disclosure Laws

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    (Reuters) -Exxon Mobil sued California on Friday, challenging two state laws that require large companies to publicly disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risks.

    In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Exxon argued that Senate Bills 253 and 261 violate its First Amendment rights by compelling Exxon to “serve as a mouthpiece for ideas with which it disagrees,” and asked the court to block the state of California from enforcing the laws.

    Exxon said the laws force it to adopt California’s preferred frameworks for climate reporting, which it views as misleading and counterproductive. The oil giant said it already reports emissions and climate risks voluntarily, and objects to California’s frameworks.

    Democrat-ruled California has long had some of the strictest environmental rules in areas like vehicle fuel efficiency standards and planning policy, after passing a climate change law in 2006.

    California passed two laws in 2023 that would require companies to publicly report their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risks.

    The California laws were supported by several big companies including Apple, Ikea and Microsoft, but opposed by several major groups such as the American Farm Bureau Federation and Chamber of Commerce, which called them “onerous.”

    SB 253 requires public and private companies that are active in the state and generate revenue of more than $1 billion annually to publish an extensive account of their carbon emissions starting in 2026. The law requires the disclosure of both the companies’ own emissions and indirect emissions by their suppliers and customers.

    SB 261 requires companies that operate in the state with over $500 million in revenue to disclose climate-related financial risks and strategies to mitigate risk. Exxon also argued that SB 261 conflicts with existing federal securities laws, which already regulate what publicly traded companies must disclose regarding financial and environmental risks.

    The California Department of Justice and the California Air Resources Board did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    (Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru and Mike Scarcella in Washington, editing by Deepa Babington)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • USF studies environmental impact of pollutants like pharmaceuticals in Tampa Bay

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    ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — University of South Florida scientists are studying how contaminants like flushed or thrown away pharmaceuticals impact Tampa Bay, hoping to mitigate future environmental damage.

    What You Need To Know

    • USF is studying pollution from contaminants like pharmaceuticals

    • Previous research has detected PFAS, known as forever chemincals, and medications in Tampa Bay

    • Research aims to understand sources and distribution of these chemicals

    • The five-year study will come to end in 2028, but researchers are hoping to extend the project


    As part of the Tampa Bay Surveillance Project, USF scientists placed 17 racks around Tampa Bay for barnacles to grow on.

    “We’re interested in what contaminants they may be actually filtering out and contained within their bodies,” said Steve Murawski, professor at USF’s College of Marine Science.

    Murawski said previous research has detected PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, in the bay. He said research has also shown the presence of anti-depressants, heart medicine, illicit drugs and other pharmaceuticals.

    “The majority of them are passing through people first before they actually get in the bay. So, the fact that we can detect them in concentration is very impressive and what that basically says is it’s primarily coming from the wastewater treatment system,” Murawski said.

    The Tampa Bay Surveillance Project aims to characterize the distribution of what’s called contaminants of emerging and known concern.

    “We’re trying to understand what the sources are of these chemicals that are entering the environment and also how they might spread out,” he said.

    Because these pollutants impact more than just the environment.

    “Many of these chemicals can mimic estrogen, for example. So, they potentially can disrupt reproductive facilities, not only in the fishes, but in people as well and so that’s why it’s quiet problematic,” Murawski said.

    The concept for the research began years ago when USF was studying the impacts of the Deep Horizon oil spill. When that projected ended Murawski said the Tampa Bay Surveillance Project was the next logical step.

    The five-year study will come to end in 2028, but researchers are hoping to extend the project to answer more questions about the bay.

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    Tyler O’Neill

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  • 10/24: The Takeout with Major Garrett

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    10/24: The Takeout with Major Garrett – CBS News










































    Watch CBS News



    New York Attorney General Letitia James pleads not guilty to bank fraud charges; Former Obama speechwriter finds common ground by riding the waves

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  • One Year On, Victim of Valencia Floods Found Buried in Mud

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    MADRID (Reuters) -The body of a 56-year-old man has been found buried in mud a year after he was swept away in deadly flash floods in southeastern Spain, authorities said on Thursday.

    Nearly 240 people died when floodwaters swamped homes, underground car parks and vehicles on the outskirts of Valencia, Spain’s third-largest city, on October 29 last year.

    The man was one of three people still unaccounted for and had already been officially declared dead, said a local court in Catarroja – one of the towns most affected by the floods.

    He was discovered on Tuesday during earth-moving operations in the town of Manises, about 40 km (25 miles) downstream from Pedralba, where he went missing, it added.

    Under Spanish procedure, judges are called in when bodies are discovered.

    The same court, overseen by Judge Nuria Ruiz, is carrying out a judicial investigation into the delayed emergency response to the floods, which rank among Spain’s worst natural catastrophes in modern history.

    A text alert sent by Valencia’s regional government warning people to take shelter arrived when buildings were already under water and many people were drowning.

    On Thursday, the court summoned a local journalist who had lunch with Valencia’s conservative regional leader, Carlos Mazon, on the day of the floods.

    (Reporting by Emma Pinedo; Editing by David Latona and Andrew Heavens)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

    Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

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