The president wooed farmers in his campaign, but now the USDA is yanking funding, citing ‘DEI’ and wasteful spending
It’s just an eighth of an acre, but for Lawrencia Rogers, the plot where she grows broccolini, lettuce and beans on land once tilled by poorhouse residents in eastern Iowa is the closest she has come to living her dream.
Iowa is one of the most agriculturally productive states in the country, but getting into farming is not easy, particularly for people like Rogers who have no family connections to the business. It’s nonetheless been a lifelong passion for the 33-year-old Iowan: at age six, she planted a rosebush that’s still alive today, and managed to grow cantaloupe on a strip of dirt and chain-link fence next to the driveway of her grandmother’s house.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
07/11/2026 - 09:00
07/11/2026 - 07:53
Two striking Asian praying mantis species that have rapidly spread across Europe have now been officially classified as invasive, raising new concerns about their impact on native wildlife. Boosted by climate change and urban environments, these fast-breeding predators are expanding northward, where they prey on native insects, pollinators, and even small vertebrates while also reducing native mantis populations through deadly mating interactions.
07/11/2026 - 07:00
Increase in sightings may not reflect increase in sharks with little evidence that threat to swimmers has risen
Experts say that despite recent increased investment in drones to monitor for sharks in states like New York, the machines have limited usefulness as a public safety tool and there does not appear to be evidence that the threat to swimmers from sharks has increased.
There have, however, been more reports of sharks around local beaches.
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07/11/2026 - 06:00
Microsoft, Amazon and Google say they still aim to achieve net zero output despite construction boom
Microsoft, Amazon and Google’s collective carbon emissions have increased by nearly a fifth in the past year, driven largely by datacentre construction.
In the financial year ending March 2026, the three tech companies emitted 119m mTCO₂e (metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent), or about a third of those of France.
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07/11/2026 - 03:45
The tube cannot easily be adapted to cope with heatwaves, making conditions almost unbearable
As the escalator descends below ground at King’s Cross St Pancras station in London, the shift from what was already a hot station entrance to the furnace-like subterranean depths is perceptible.
On the tube it’s worse: a man leans back in his seat, eyes closed, sweltering; people hold electric fans an inch away from their faces. London commuters are known for their stoicism and the heat appears to be another tribulation to accept. They will need to: heatwaves in the capital are becoming routine.
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07/11/2026 - 03:00
Every few decades mass blooming in Mizoram’s forests causes a rodent boom – and devastation to crops. The cycle is well-known, so why aren’t farmers and authorities better prepared?
In the hills of Mizoram state in north-east India, the first thing that farmers notice are the swarms of stink bugs, known locally as thangnang. It can mean only one thing: the rats are coming. And with them, famine.
As dawn breaks in Mamit district, Maunsanga, a 62-year-old farmer, walks across his plot, stopping where his rice crop once stood. He bends down to examine a broken stalk.
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07/11/2026 - 01:00
Teachers call for schools to be urgently adapted for hot weather amid reports of nausea, fainting and heatstroke
The extreme heat that has hit the UK twice in the past few weeks has left teachers struggling to cope as temperatures in some classrooms climb above 40C, with pupils and staff suffering from heatstroke, nausea and headaches.
Teachers say they have been desperately trying to keep children safe, with some covering younger pupils in wet paper towels as they lie on the floor, while older students have been given trays of water under their desks to put their feet in.
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07/10/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 11 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00205-1
The climate-smart MSP framework to support biodiversity objectives
07/10/2026 - 16:01
Matthew Wielicki frequently criticizes established climate science online, including in videos from rightwing PragerU
The Trump administration has tapped a former geochemist who has railed against “climate alarmism” and calls himself an “Earth science professor-in-exile” to oversee the federal government’s flagship report about climate impacts on the US.
Matthew Wielicki, who lacks formal training in climate science, will now lead the nation’s Global Change Research Program, which federal officials have gutted during Trump’s second term.
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07/10/2026 - 15:37
Habitat destruction strongest driver of species loss, with legislation keeping 99% of listed species from going extinct
The Trump administration repealed a crucial part of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on Friday, finalizing a new rule that will open habitats of imperiled wildlife to development, logging, mining and other uses.
For the last 50 years, the landmark environmental law included a broader understanding of the word “harm”, which ensured that not just the plants and animals themselves were protected but also the places that are critical to their survival. The inclusion of habitat in the “harm” definition was upheld by the supreme court in 1995, which ruled in support of old-growth forest protections relied on by endangered spotted owls.
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