Climate

Hot weather influences aircraft performance. We asked experts what it means for safety.

Even as global emissions plateau, new research shows that wildlife in the Arctic is exposed to rising levels, posing a risk to those who eat it.

Among other concerns, the US military parade will produce as much pollution as created to heat 300 homes for a year

Donald Trump’s military parade this weekend will bring thousands of troops out to march, while dozens of tanks and armored personnel carriers roll down the streets and fighter jets hum overhead.

The event has prompted concern about rising autocracy in the US. It will also produce more than 2m kilograms of planet-heating pollution – equivalent to the amount created by producing of 67m plastic bags or by the energy used to power about 300 homes in one year, according to a review by the progressive thinktank Institute for Policy Studies and the Guardian.

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This weekend has the makings of an unprecedented moment for our nation. A rare peacetime military parade in Washington DC to mark the president’s birthday will be countered by anti-authoritarian protests around the country. Both of these come amid the president’s devolving rhetoric around military deployment against protesters and a test-run of actual military deployment in Los Angeles. This dynamic cannot balance on the knife’s edge for long. Where it falls—toward tyranny or democracy—depends on us. 

We are all under assault

This improbable blue planet is enough to make you gasp: suspended in the silent dark, yet bedazzled and humming with life. But here in the summer of 2025, its brilliant corals are fading to bone-white in the hot ocean, its glaciers are collapsing, rivers are shrinking, its forests are on fire, its vibrating soundscape is going quiet as the chorus of Earth’s creatures dies out. We are breaking Nature’s back and the price is going to be steep. There’s no sugarcoating that humanity’s ship is headed into a dark and challenging night.  

Our challenge is to pull together, navigate with care toward possibility—of which there is still so much—steer safely to the other side, and deliver our children and future generations a new day. We can!  

But with everything riding on us rising to that challenge, this ship we are on together is being steered by people choosing to govern through intimidation, not hope, by sowing chaos, not community. Our president, the captain of our ship, and his crew—an administration of anti-democratic, anti-science, and incompetent leaders working to advance the agenda of the very fossil fuel companies choking our planet—are trying to set the ship on an even crueler and more challenging course than the one we are on and tormenting anyone on board who reminds them of the future they fear. They are destroying the instruments (read: science) for navigating toward those better shores. They are burning the sails (read: clean energy) that would carry us there. They seem ready for people to die (read: too many cuts and policies to name) as they claw toward absolute power. 

People are rising up from below deck to fight back. But their numbers are still small compared with the many who remain below. In the relative comfort of their berths, they hear the shouting from above but try to ignore it (or cheer it on; this crew still has its supporters). Those below deck soothe themselves with the small, unremarkable view from their porthole window, where not much has changed. “Maybe this will blow over,” they think.  

But above deck, this evermore power-hungry crew is now forcing people off the ship and into the water. Families. Children. Terrorizing them for who they are. Those who would defend their fellow humans are growing desperate. And the captain and crew appear to be just waiting for provocation to draw their weapons on the ship’s passengers.  

This is the ruthlessly, callously steered ship we find ourselves on, and they are sailing us toward violence. 

We are in a knife’s edge authoritarian moment. Where our democracy, our nation, and our future hang in the balance. Where, without our overwhelming, peaceful response, we could all find ourselves under full authoritarian rule any day now. This is where you and I are needed. 

A manufactured crisis

We’ve been watching the rhetoric and official signals mount since January 20th, when the new president signed a “National Emergency” Executive Order that considered invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807—i.e., deploying troops on US soil—to “secure the southern border.” A preliminary 90-day mark for that decision passed, perhaps due to public outcry. But in the last couple of months, unlawful and violent raids by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have increased dramatically, with some deportees shipped to foreign prisons where our constitutional protections don’t apply. The terror campaign being waged against immigrants, naturally, has driven new activist opposition.    

Which brings us to this week, where the situation in Los Angeles, the looming prospect of the president’s military birthday parade this Saturday, and the widespread opposition that will be voiced that day are a tense and dangerous mix. 

But the situation in LA is a manufactured crisis. 

On Tuesday, President Trump said that governors should be able to handle disasters without FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency—the same week he insisted that governors cannot handle protesters without the US Marines. He cannot mean both things. What’s happening in LA, in Governor Gavin Newsom’s words, is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions. President Trump’s response to LA protests of ICE abductions of innocent people has been to override the governor, LA Mayor Karen Bass, and local law enforcement—all of whom insist that involving US military in the situation is uncalled for.  

Manufactured to consolidate power 

Why is the Trump Administration doing what it’s doing right now in LA? Here are four of the reasons I and other observers are seeing: 

1. To test run deploying military forces on US soil and see how far they can get. Historically, deployment of the National Guard to quell civil unrest is rare, deployment of active-duty troops is rarer still, and their presence in the past was short term. If the administration does deploy troops more broadly and makes any headway in establishing a sustained military presence, it would provide precedent and lasting latitude for them to rule in unprecedented, unconstitutional ways. And it would have lasting implications for our freedom, including to free assembly, speech, and fair elections.  

Let’s be clear: There’s no democracy under martial law. 

(2) To create a huge distraction that draws attention away from the One Big Bonus for Billionaires Bill.  

The bill contains such terrible things and comes with such terrible costs, that some of the terribly disingenuous lawmakers who voted for it are now playing dumb and distancing themselves from it. It also contains expansion of ICE’s increasingly unpopular activities. This is a bill with something for everyone to hate. But not if they’re terrified about our second largest city unraveling into violence.  

If we, the American public, are terrified and transfixed, all manner of injustice is possible.  

(3) To provoke, demonize and disempower the resistance.  

Across the US, people of conscience are appalled at the ICE abductions. Some are organizing to protect people and to protest ICE’s presence. Their actions have been overwhelmingly peaceful. This is true in LA, too, though instances of vandalism and looting have also occurred.

Though local law enforcement insist they are capable of handling the situation, the Trump administration appears to be deliberately building pressure in LA by calling up 4,000 National Guard and then 700 Marines. Unlike state and local law enforcement, the US military are not typically trained in the general de-escalation ethos essential to peacefully calming civil unrest. This dangerous mismatch was demonstrated during the 1992 riots in LA when Marines were also deployed. Members of the military are being forced into roles they may be unprepared for. And peaceful protesters are in grave danger should violence break out on militarized streets.  

It’s not difficult to see how a cycle of violence begetting violence could easily lead to a public relations opportunity for the Trump administration and its supporters. Footage can shape and shift public opinion from support of people exercising their rights under the Constitution to support for martial law to quell what they perceive as violent mobs.   

If the administration wishes to test drive domestic military deployment, public opinion and opposition is one of the few things in its way. But public opinion in a world of disinformation is a highly-engineerable thing.  

Speaking of which: 

4) to project inevitability of their takeover 

Since his inauguration, President Trump has been pushing the nation away from democracy and toward authoritarianism: releasing the January 6th insurrectionists, ignoring judicial orders, degrading institutions, punishing opponents, demonizing vulnerable groups, inflaming prejudices, and deepening division. This is the authoritarian playbook and a show of military force on US soil is right on schedule. As the organizers of No Kings call out: “For the would-be dictator, success depends on projecting power and creating an aura of inevitability.”  

That’s part of this LA show-of-strength and the military parade. With tanks rolling through DC and our neighbors being ripped from the streets, a shocked, awed, and disheartened public is more likely to accept the previously unthinkable as inevitable.  

All of us who are alarmed, outraged, and terrified by the increasingly authoritarian actions of the administration need help shedding that sense of inevitability. We need reason to think democracy, love thy neighbor, and care for our planet will win. We need each other. 

https://www.nokings.org/ What now in this increasingly authoritarian moment? It’s our move

To counter the above, we need a massive peaceful opposition. Millions of everyday people mobilizing and showing up in the streets, demanding the administration walk back from authoritarianism. And not just the stalwarts who have been protesting administration actions since day one. Not just frontline communities, BIPOC activists, LGBTQ+ folks, white educated women, and youth activists. We need everyone who believes in democracy, human rights and our constitutional freedoms.  

If we show up, millions of peacefully mobilized people will:  

• Demonstrate broad opposition to the abductions of immigrants, tearing apart of families, and heartless ICE policies and actions. 

• Directly discredit the administration’s claims of radical, violent mobs and undermine its calls for domestic military deployment.  

• Defuse the “distraction bomb” the administration is hoping will provide cover for the heinous reconciliation bill.  

• Show the nation and the world that resistance is broad, powerful, and peaceful and that violence toward those of us protesting would be an authoritarian crime. 

• Show the nation and the world that there is nothing inevitable about this authoritarian juggernaut. This is still the United States of America and we do not bow to kings.  

Critically, we need to do this peacefully. There is abundant guidance on how to engage in peaceful protest, help to de-escalate violence and counterprotest situations, and keep ourselves and each other safe. I’ve done my share of protests but I’m no expert, especially not in these times, so please consult expert resources closely. Know your rights and risks. Mind your health and digital safety. Learn how to safely document and be a good ally. There are real risks of showing up to protest, especially amid the administration’s escalation. And there are assured costs of us failing to mount a massive public opposition. 

The next important opportunity to show up and be heard is Saturday, June 14th at the No Kings demonstrations. The thousands of protests planned around the nation that day will, collectively, be a huge, peaceful counter to President Trump’s dictator-esque military birthday parade.  

But again, we need numbers. People by the millions. History provides evidence that when movements grow to involve a critical share of the population—in this country, around 10 million people—they can topple authoritarian regimes.

Our vigilance or our neglect?

And here I want to go back to the ship and the quiet majority biding their time below deck. We have seldom had anything more important to do than fight the authoritarian takeover of our country. If you can show up, show up.  

I recently re-read a powerful 2023 commencement speech by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. (My eldest child just graduated college and the start of these people’s new lives at this tumultuous time is much on my mind.) In it she quotes words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that are apt today:  

“We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time…. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: ‘Too late.’ There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records our vigilance or our neglect…. Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter—but beautiful—struggle for a new world.” 

It is not too late. But soon, it could be. If we lose this nation to an authoritarian ruler and waste these four years undoing climate progress at home and abroad, it will be too late for our near-term climate goals, too late for certain life-sustaining ecosystems around the world, and too late for the hopes of better lives for many of the world’s vulnerable people. But it is not too late today.  

Do not stay home. Yes, they are steering the ship, but that doesn’t mean they have total control of it. It doesn’t mean they decide what happens next. The ship is everything and everyone we love is on it.  

Do not give up the ship.

The news is getting hard to bear

• See more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here

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Already controversial because of extra fixtures and Fifa involvement, the new tournament in the US is likely to be played in temperatures above 30C

Across this weekend, the US National Weather Service is predicting “moderate” heat risk for Miami and Los Angeles. With temperatures likely to exceed 30C, the agency warns “most individuals sensitive to heat” will be affected, a group that contains those “exercising or doing strenuous activity outdoors during the heat of the day”. This weekend is also when the Club World Cup begins.

When Lionel Messi and Inter Miami kick off the tournament on Saturday night against Al Ahly of Egypt it will be 8pm in Miami and, although the humidity is predicted to be high, the day’s peak temperatures will have passed. Paris Saint-Germain and Atlético Madrid, however, will play under the full height of the California sun on Sunday, with their Group B fixture a midday kick-off at the famously uncovered Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

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Sale covering 56,000 square miles set to go ahead despite opposition from Indigenous and environmental groups

The Brazilian government is preparing to stage an oil exploration auction months before it hosts the Cop30 UN climate summit, despite opposition from environmental campaigners and Indigenous communities worried about the environmental and climate impacts of the plans.

Brazil’s oil sector regulator, ANP, will auction the exploration rights to 172 oil and gas blocks spanning 56,000 square miles (146,000 sq km), an area more than twice the size of Scotland, most of it offshore.

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Climate change is real and Coalition’s job is to determine how to cut emissions, shadow assistant minister to opposition leader Maria Kovacic says

• Kovacic on what the Coalition needs to move forward – Australian Politics podcast

• Australia news live: latest politics updates

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Coalition MPs should stop questioning climate change science and instead fully embrace emissions policies to deliver net zero by 2050, the Liberal senator Maria Kovacic says, warning that Australia’s environment and economy are at risk.

After its historic drubbing at the 3 May election, some Coalition MPs are preparing for a protracted brawl over climate targets, leaving support for net zero policies under the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, in significant doubt.

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Order aims to centralize efforts, which are now split among five agencies and two cabinet departments

Donald Trump has ordered the US government to consolidate its wildland firefighting force into a single program, despite warnings from former federal officials that it could be costly and increase the risk of catastrophic blazes in the middle of peak wildfire season.

The order aims to centralize firefighting efforts, which are now split among five agencies and two cabinet departments. Trump’s proposed budget for next year calls for the creation of a new Federal Wildland Fire Service under the US interior department.

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The official, Jeremy Greenberg, was in charge of coordinating the national response to major disasters.

Genetically altering crops may be key to helping them adapt to extreme temperatures. But shrinking funds and social acceptance stand in the way.

California leaders said the state intends to challenge the move in court, and to find new ways to move drivers toward electric vehicles.

Senate Republicans want to sell the land to build more housing in the West, but the idea is contentious even within their own party.

JBS, the biggest meatpacker in the world, is set to go public on the New York Stock Exchange this week.

State says it would challenge president’s resolution, setting up a battle over California’s environmental measures

Donald Trump has blocked California’s first-in-the-nation rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035, signing a resolution on Thursday to stymie the state’s ambitious attempt to tackle the climate crisis by pivoting to greener vehicles.

The state quickly announced it was challenging the move in court, with California’s attorney general holding a news conference to discuss the lawsuit before Trump’s signing ceremony ended at the White House.

The resolution was approved by Congress last month and aims to quash the country’s most aggressive attempt to phase out gas-powered cars. Trump also signed measures to overturn state policies curbing tailpipe emissions in certain vehicles and smog-forming nitrogen oxide pollution from trucks.

California has some of the worst smog and air quality issues in the nation, and has for decades been able to seek waivers from the Environmental Protection Agency that have allowed the state to adopt stricter emissions standards than the federal government.

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The Trump Administration’s mission to carve the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) role out of federal disaster response and recovery and end FEMA as we know it is well underway. In a startling statement by President Trump during a briefing at the White House earlier this week, he stated he’d be implementing his plan to let the governors of states handle disasters after this hurricane season and that “if they can’t handle it, they shouldn’t be governor.”

But if the Trump administration would listen to the resounding majority of the 11,708 public comments to the FEMA review council in support of FEMA (99%), members of Congress on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and FEMA staff and former FEMA administrators for example, he’d know that there’s overwhelming support for FEMA, not for decimating it.

The FEMA review council that President Trump established via Executive Order 14180 early in his presidency met for the first time May 20 to do his bidding to dismantle the agency.

Only one of the chairs of the council, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Noem, was present, and she led the effort. The other chair, Department of Defense (DoD) Secretary Hegseth had a deputy attend in his place.

Based on what I heard at the council meeting and the administration’s recent actions, here are my top five reactions:

#1 It’s a futile effort for council members wishing to make positive FEMA reforms, but they should try

While the members of the council are bipartisan, recommendations by council members that aren’t in sync with the administration’s goals will likely be stifled. The executive order that established the council requires it to produce a report to the president in November. Included in that report must be a review of FEMA’s disaster response during the Biden administration and Secretary Noem gave the council a crystal clear message:

“The president has said to me many times that he believes that FEMA should be eliminated as it exists. So what that means is I need you to reimagine this agency. If we do what the president has tasked us to do, I believe this agency needs to be renamed.”

And she also stated:

“He wants state and local governments and emergency management directors to lead response immediately when something happens in a state or jurisdiction.”

Rep. Troy Carter, representative for Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District, said it best in recent MSNBC coverage referring to the president’s executive order 14180 that established the council:

“With Executive Order 14180, President Donald Trump has initiated a dangerous restructuring of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which millions of Americans rely on in their most desperate moments. The president’s plan shifts the responsibility for emergency preparedness and disaster recovery from the federal government to already overburdened state and local governments. That’s not reform. It’s federal abandonment. It’s like closing fire stations and telling people to buy their own hoses.”

Council members who have emergency management experience and understand the value of FEMA should use their voice to share their ideas on reform (such as those offered by a non-council member, North Carolina Governor Josh Stein) with the other council members.  If that situation isn’t tenable, I suggest they work behind the scenes. One way to do this is to read the US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s discussion draft of the FEMA reform bill “Fixing Emergency Management for Americans (FEMA) Act” and consider submitting comments.

#2 Congress should press White House to nominate FEMA administrator with emergency management experience ASAP

The most hopeful takeaway I could glean from the council meeting is that DHS Secretary Noem and the Executive Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management Kevin Guthrie have what seems like an excellent rapport. This is good news because Kevin Guthrie has been one of the names the White House has been considering for the FEMA administrator position.

Mr. Guthrie would be a more than welcome replacement to the second FEMA chief David Richardson (he’s not alone in having a hard time remembering his actual title “Senior Official Performing the Duties of FEMA Administrator”), a former marine who previously worked at DHS on countering weapons of mass destruction and who has no emergency management experience. He’s already made a name for himself in the month he’s been leading FEMA given numerous gaffes. For example, the Atlantic hurricane season started June 1, yet David Richardson reportedly told staff he didn’t know the US had one.

For a more colorful review of David Richardson’s background and actions to date, read Samantha Montono’s Disasterology blog for May.

My sincere hope is that Congress is working in a bipartisan fashion to pressure the president to nominate a FEMA administrator with emergency management expertise as the law requires. A former FEMA administrator, Craig Fugate, has expressed worry about current FEMA staff’s lack of experience after sweeping DOGE cuts.

He also harkened back to Hurricane Katrina, which was mismanaged by an equally inexperienced FEMA chief and ill-prepared local and state governments when it devastated Louisiana 20 years ago. With 30 years of public safety and emergency management experience, Kevin Guthrie would be a much preferable candidate and someone who FEMA staff could be assured knows what he’s doing when a disaster hits. Having a qualified FEMA administrator as required by law will help move FEMA in the right direction.   

#3 Congress should pass legislation to make FEMA a standalone cabinet agency, ASAP

Given President Trump’s stated intention of completely overhauling FEMA into a new agency as stated by Noem in closing remarks at the meeting, congress should move swiftly to return it to a cabinet level agency. She stated:

“So I don’t want you to go into this thinking that we’re going to make a little tweak here, a little delegation of authority over here, that we’re going to maybe cut a few dollars somewhere. No, FEMA should no longer exist as it is. He wants this to be a new agency.”

Congress would serve the agency and communities across the US well by swiftly passing legislation that would move FEMA out from under the DHS and returning it to its former status as a cabinet level agency. By doing so, it would help protect the agency by giving the FEMA administrator direct access to the president, limiting bureaucracy and increasing efficiency and eliminate the pressures of competing with other agencies within DHS.

Currently, both the House and the Senate have introduced bipartisan legislation with that goal—the FEMA Independence Act (H.R.2308 and S.1246)—and similar language is included in the discussion draft of the FEMA reform bill being considered in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Over 40 years ago there was a successful drive to centralize emergency management under FEMA based on multiple reasons that still resonate today, some include:

1. A clear need for the federal government to coordinate its emergency management capabilities that spread across 100 agencies causing inefficiencies;
2. Disasters exceeded the fiscal realities of state coffers; and
3. The recognition that standardized requirements were needed to ensure a more equitable approach across states.

I recommend reading The Creation of FEMA: Historical Context which provides analysis on why the federal model remains essential, the impacts of President Trump’s mission to move to a primarily state-focused model and the benefits of the current system. 

Given the nature of Congress, realistically this call to action to return FEMA to a cabinet level agency won’t happen quickly. But it’s worth trying given the clearly destructive goals of the Trump administration and his FEMA review council.

#4 Resist President Trump’s mission to force disaster assistance onto states

Under President Trump, the burden of disaster assistance and recovery is being pushed down to states, hurting the most vulnerable: congress and governors should push back

All states are not created equal when it comes to the resources available to respond to a disaster, some states are more rural and have lower populations and therefore have less of a tax base to pull from. But no state can handle a large, catastrophic disaster.

The leaked memo by former FEMA chief Cameron Hamilton on April 12 entitled “Actions to Rebalance FEMA’s Roles in Disasters” is the closest formal policy that we can point to regarding how the administration plans to have states take on more of disaster response and recovery. It calls for the public assistance disaster relief threshold to be increased roughly fourfold.

The analysis by Urban Institute finds that this would reduce the number of disaster declarations and significantly reduce the amount of federal funding by leaving all but the major disasters to the states and local jurisdictions to cover. In addition, President Trump has denied, delayed and partially approved disaster declarations which is unnecessarily straining areas that are trying to recover from extreme events.

• Denied: According to CNN, in an authoritarian move, the White House told FEMA that “Trump does not have to follow the agency’s recommendations and will not justify his decision when he denies a state’s application ….” As of June 10, my analysis of FEMA data finds President Trump has denied six major disaster declarations and two emergency declarations during his time in office. This compares with an average of 11.3 denials annually for major disaster declarations from 2010 to 2016 and the Atlantic hurricane season has only just begun. It’s know that declarations can be political no matter who is in office, typically this tends to be the case more so during election years and the average range annually of disaster “turndowns” tends to be similar. I imagine this year will be an outlier.
• Delayed: After making governors wait to approve 17 disaster declaration requests, President Trump approved fewer than half of them—a total of eight disaster declarations on May 23 after a month-long delay for the majority of the requests. He also delayed informing FEMA that he had approved declarations, in some cases over a week.
• Partially approved: Most of the assistance for major disaster declarations that the president has approved have been partially approved for one of three types of assistance: for public assistance (for things like debris removal); for individual assistance; and for the Hazard Mitigation and Grant Program (HMGP) for helping communities reduce risk. Former acting FEMA Chief Cameron Hamilton’s April 12 memo to the Office of Management and Budget suggested that the president not automatically approve HMGP when declaring a disaster. A Bloomberg report confirmed this, noting that Virginia and Arkansas have been denied HMGP funds.

Some governors have had to deal with the combination of all three tactics. For example, Governor Huckabee of Arkansas was at first denied disaster assistance, the president then finally approved $1 million of individual assistance for temporary housing and home repairs which was a partial approval of a fraction of the Governor’s request.

We need Congress to pressure the administration to clarify its approval process for disaster declarations, and we need Congress to approve funding for FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 and supplemental funding for FY 2025.

It was a welcome but surprising move by President Trump to allocate $26.5 billion for the DRF in his budget to Congress for FY 26. However, there has yet to be a call by the administration or formally by a member of Congress for supplemental funding for this fiscal year that will have a $7 billion deficit this September. Without supplemental funding for FY25, the FEMA acting administrator may have to restrict funding for life sustaining and lifesaving services (referred to as Immediate Needs Funding) which would put many local and state recovery and resilience projects in limbo.

#5 States and local jurisdictions must get ready for this danger season…and next

Secretary Noem and President Trump don’t understand disaster assistance and recovery, and therefore their policies will continue to be flawed. Noem repeated that states and local jurisdictions must provide disaster response and recovery despite emergency managers, political leaders having tried to explain that this is actually what already happens.

FEMA only comes in when a state or local jurisdiction is overwhelmed by a disaster, and then FEMA often is in the background helping to coordinate federal resources. Some states like Vermont, for example, were hit with back-to-back flood events in 2023 and 2024 and will be in a state of recovery for years given the small size of their communities and are in particular need of FEMA’s help when a catastrophe hits.

In just over 140 days since President Trump has been in office, he’s been following the playbook of the right-wing Project 2025. This is evidenced by his multiple executive orders (establishing the FEMA review council and shifting the disaster response burden to the states) and a whole lot more that I discuss in this blog. The tragedy here is FEMA is strained and communities will be more vulnerable and people will likely suffer when a disaster hits.

While the Trump administration’s changes don’t allow much time for local jurisdictions and states to prepare for drastically reduced FEMA funding, other federal resources are available and can be found at disasterassistance.gov. The Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster assistance provides low interest loans for individuals and business to help mitigate risk; the US Economic Development Administration (EDA) Disaster Supplemental Grant Program has $1.45 billion available; and the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) has numerous programs for example the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) grant program allocated $12 billion for 2023 and 2024 events.

Bottom line: FEMA review council is doing Trump’s bidding to dismantle FEMA

When you listen to the public, members of Congress, FEMA staff and former FEMA administrators, most want to improve FEMA, not dismantle it. People want FEMA, they support change but not a slash and burn process like this.

The FEMA review council has the appearance of a democratic, public process, but let’s not be fooled. Before the end of the year when the council will finalize its report, I expect the recommendations will reflect the Trump administration’s goals to end FEMA as we know it and not those of the council members. We need Congress to take actions now to strengthen FEMA and keep communities safe.

Hosepipe bans possible as low reservoir levels make region second in England to enter drought status

Yorkshire has become the second area of England to enter drought after the country recorded its driest spring in 132 years.

Hosepipe bans could be possible if the region did not have significant rainfall in the coming weeks as, despite recent showers, reservoir stocks were continuing to dwindle. Yorkshire Water reservoir stocks dropped 0.51% over the last week to 62.3%, significantly below the average of 85.5% for this time of year.

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Sound is the primary means of tracking subs in vast ocean expanses, and research shows that it’s behaving differently as the seas warm.

Communities in the Salaquí basin face deepening food insecurity, armed conflict and the collapse of a way of life – while government schemes ignore the real problem

• Photographs by Antonio Cascio

Riosucio was established between rivers and swamps. For most of the year, the people of this Colombian municipality live above water and have developed ways to manage the fluctuating river levels. A network of makeshift wooden boards connects the houses in the town, allowing people to move between them.

Despite the resilience of these communities, their increasingly harsh environment is beginning to overcome all the methods and systems designed to tame it, causing crop destruction, hunger and deepening poverty.

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The US health secretary is among those who believe nefarious substances are covertly added to commercial jet fuel

The Trump administration appears sceptical about the climate crisis but is deeply concerned about another supposed weather phenomenon: chemtrails.

To conspiracists, chemtrails are visible trails left by commercial airliners, lasting longer than the usual condensation trails from jets and containing unknown, sinister chemicals.

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