"McDonald’s, Subway and Taco Bell are failing to keep up with pledges to reduce the use of antibiotics in their beef supply, according to a group of food safety advocates."
"The country’s biggest energy market has a problem: It can’t build enough power plants to keep up with electricity demand." "More than 50 GW of solar, wind, and batteries can now connect to PJM’s grid. It could help drive down costs — if states, utilities, and hyperscalers make it happen."
"The artificial intelligence race is creating demand for more than data centers and electricity. It is also creating a new market for the chemicals needed to keep increasingly powerful computer chips from overheating. Some of those cooling technologies rely on PFAS, a broad class of fluorinated compounds already responsible for widespread drinking water contamination in North Carolina."
"A handful of mega data center projects would emit over 100 million tons per year of greenhouse gases, an enormous amount roughly equal to the annual emissions of a mid-sized industrialized country."
"Half a billion pastoralists draw on generations of knowledge to thrive on rangelands. They say protecting their way of life would help others prepare for a hotter, drier world."
"Grape growers in Mexico have a new tool to fight powdery mildew, a common fungal disease, after the country became the first in the world to approve the commercial sale of an RNA-based biofungicide." "Oifirax, created by GreenLight Biosciences, uses RNA molecules to kill the fungus responsible for powdery mildew on grapes"
"Congressional lobbyists working for fossil fuel firms that are exacerbating the climate crisis are simultaneously representing more than 300 local governments raising funding to recover from climate damage, according to a new analysis."
"A troubling trend has shown up in some communities around the U.S.: Public officials are being inundated with seemingly fake public feedback that aims to block renewable energy and promote fossil fuels."
"The Trump administration is moving to make it harder for communities to weigh in on proposed data centers, even as a backlash against the behemoth projects grows across the country." "Under the proposal, states would no longer need to provide public notice or solicit comments on air pollution permits for data centers and other projects."
"In a decades-long crisis, marine life has suffered as oxygen periodically dwindles in waters along the Gulf Coast."
