Mother Jones, David Corn: “Now that he’s back in the White House—after his humiliating 2020 defeat—Trump has embarked on a revenge-a-thon that goes beyond what we might have expected even from a vengeance junkie. He has removed security protection from past aides who pissed him off—including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former National Security Adviser John Bolton, and former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mark Milley—exposing them to serious danger. Angry at the National Archives for its role in the stolen documents case in which his Mar-a-Lago home was raided and he was indicted, Trump booted out the leadership of that agency. He moved to revoke the security clearance of a private Washington, DC, lawyer who represented the whistleblower at the center of the first impeachment of Trump. He did the same concerning Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and others. Trump has tried to freeze out media outlets that draw his ire, particularly the Associated Press, which would not follow his lead and refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” FBI officials and Justice Department prosecutors who worked on the January 6 investigation—which led to the convictions of more than 1,000 Trump supporters who rioted at the US Capitol—have been dismissed or demoted. And Trump’s antagonistic treatment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy—calling him a “dictator,” blaming him for the war that Russia launched, and berating him on live television during a White House meeting—is likely rooted, in part, in Trump holding him and Ukraine responsible for that first impeachment. (During the infamous call with Zelenskyy that led to the impeachment, Trump referred to a bonkers conspiracy theory that held that Ukraine, not Russia, was involved in the computer hacking during the 2016 election that was blamed on Moscow.)”
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Category Archives: Climate Change
Global Atlas of Environmental Justice
What type of information can you find in the EJAtlas? The EJatlas maps conflicts across 10 main categories: Nuclear Mineral Ores and Building Extractions Waste Management Biomass and Land Conflicts Fossil Fuels, Energy and Climate Justice Water Management Infrastructure and Built Environment Tourism Recreation Biodiversity Conservation Conflicts Industrial and Utilities Conflicts The database contains information… Continue Reading
The dam, the myth, the legend: 50 years of the beaver
Canadian Geographic: “…This spring marks 50 years since the beaver reached this exalted status [Beaver (Castor canadensis) as a symbol of the sovereignty of the Dominion of Canada]. Were O’Sullivan alive today, he’d surely be gratified by its persistent grip, literally and figuratively, on our collective soul and heart and emotions. Beaver imagery permeates every… Continue Reading
WHO unveils updated global database of air quality standards
“The World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), has unveiled the updated 2025 Air Quality Standards database. This resource compiles national air quality standards for major pollutants and other airborne toxics from countries worldwide. This latest update provides an overview of global efforts towards achieving the… Continue Reading
Botanizing: The best hobby you’ve never heard of
Joseph Gardens – Botanizing: The best hobby you’ve never heard of: “The quickest way to describe botanizing is that it is like bird-watching, but for plants. To botanize, you go out into natural areas and look for plants growing in the wild, maybe hoping to see new species or particularly impressive populations of familiar species.… Continue Reading
Censor, purge, defund: how Trump is following the authoritarian playbook on science and universities
Christina Pagel – Diving into Data & Decision making: “The attacks on science and universities are neither random nor new. This isn’t chaos—it’s a deliberate war on science and academic freedom. In just six weeks, the Trump administration has slashed research budgets, purged health and scientific agencies, censored research, and threatened universities. Making a list… Continue Reading
Photos are disappearing, one archive at a time
Washington Post – no paywall: “Kira Pollack, a former editor at Time and Vanity Fair, is a distinguished fellow at the Starling Lab for Data Integrity, a research lab co-anchored by Stanford University’s School of Engineering and USC Libraries. When Hurricane Milton threatened Tampa last October, photojournalist Christopher Morris faced a familiar challenge: protecting his… Continue Reading
DOGE Fires National Weather Service Staff Endangering Forecasting
Via David Ho: Radiosondes on weather balloons are essential for collecting data from the upper atmosphere for accurate forecasting. Due to the mass firing at NOAA, the NWS doesn’t have enough people to launch balloons. Accurate weather forecasts save lives. Continue Reading
National Parks Staff Purged – Impact to National Capital Area
Axios: “More than 750 national park workers have been fired amid the Trump administration’s purge of federal employees, per an unofficial tally shared with Axios by a park ranger. Why it matters: Our region is home to over 70 national parks that draw millions of visitors each year, from the National Mall to Shenandoah —… Continue Reading
US lost a fifth of its butterflies within two decades
BBC: “Butterfly populations in the US shrank by more than a fifth within the space of two decades, according to a new study. Numbers fell by 22% between 2000 and 2020, according to research by Binghamton University in New York. A third of species saw serious decline, with some, like Julia’s Skipper, losing more than… Continue Reading
Half of world’s CO2 emissions come from 36 fossil fuel firms
The Guardian: “Half of the world’s climate-heating carbon emissions come from the fossil fuels produced by just 36 companies, analysis has revealed…The Carbon Majors report calculates the emissions released by the burning of the coal, oil and gas produced by 169 major companies in 2023. The database also includes emissions from the production of cement,… Continue Reading
The Biodiversity Collections Crisis
The Biodiversity Collections Crisis – “You might be familiar with the concept of the present “biodiversity crisis“. There is an increasing consensus in the ecological research community that the current loss of species this planet is experiencing is not sustainable, in the sense that the loss of some species may precipitate the loss of more, in… Continue Reading
