Tiny Pacific island nation Nauru reclaims traditional name 'Naoero' reut.rs/3RMZklo

Tiny Pacific island nation Nauru reclaims traditional name 'Naoero'

The Pacific island nation of Nauru has officially changed its name to the Republic of ​Naoero, reverting to its traditional designation in a ‌move it said was aimed at strengthening national identity and cultural heritage.

reut.rs

"Artificial intelligence is not just a market product or a scientific achievement. It is a political theory. And it is gobbling up our democracy." connect the dots! Dr. McMillan Cottom has homework! go to the library, host a reading group, organize your neighbors www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/o...

Opinion | A Reading List for Our Age of A.I. (Gift Article)

A.I. is a political theory. And it is gobbling up our democracy.

nytimes.com

I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful

I am stunned to hear of the passing of the fierce, brilliant and principled scholar activist Johanna Fernandez. Johanna's scholarship will endure. She was a gem and the world is worse for her no longer being here. Rest in power, comrade.

Johanna Fernandez, RIP! 😭💔

Today’s the day! Our multimedia exhibit Undercurrents just launched - featuring Ahmed Alaqra, Brad Isaacs, Carlie Trosclair, Danielle Boudreau, James May, Manuel Axel, Matou, Pari Mokradi, & Steve Maldonado Silvestrini. freshwaterfishfutures.ca/undercurrent... Funded by @sshrc-crsh.canada.ca

UNDERCURRENTS EXHIBIT 2026

Undercurrents is an online multimedia exhibit that explores artistic responses to water, fish, and aquatic ecologies, where materiality, memory, myth, and metaphor converge.

freshwaterfishfutures.ca

"One 58 y.o. Haitian woman … was just fired from two full-time jobs. A single mother, she worked to pay for her two kids’ college tuition. free: archive.ph/Z7DRu 'I can’t plan ahead for this news. We live paycheck-to-paycheck… There is nowhere to go in Haiti. There are gangs living in my house.'”

Airports, nursing homes and schools brace for disruption without Haitian workers

The Trump administration and courts are at odds over whether about 350,000 Haitians have officially lost humanitarian protections, but employers are already letting workers go.

washingtonpost.com

Citizen.Coping@propcazhpm.bsky.social · 6d ago

alt-text: 200,000 Haitian TPS holders in the U.S. hold jobs Top occupations: Cooks and servers, 22,000 Stockers and packers 22,000 Retail workers 14,000 Nursing assistants 13,000 Farmworkers 15,000 Drivers 9,000 Caregivers 8,000 Security guards 7,000 Factory workers 7,000

"A Reuters analysis found the image of the map included ⁠in the presentation contained an artificial intelligence watermark that signals it was made with OpenAI tools."

Reuters@reuters.com · 7d ago

US government map of Africa mislabels every country at global conference reut.rs/4x9eTCW

US government map of Africa mislabels every country at global conference reut.rs/4x9eTCW

US government map of Africa mislabels every country at global conference

A U.S. government map of Africa mislabeled every country during a State Department presentation at ‌a global conference taking place in Brazil this week, causing a stir among attendees who took screenshots and posted them online.

reut.rs

As an environmental sociologist, Dorceta Taylor has dedicated her career to reframing and expanding representation in the environmental justice movement. https://bit.ly/4h1mChV

Meet the woman behind the world’s first environmental justice encyclopedia

Dorceta Taylor spent decades pushing back on the idea that environmentalism ‘wasn't a Black thing.’ Now she's rewritten its history.

19thnews.org

Apply for the Boston Youth Climate Action Fund at boston.gov/youth-climate (link in bio). Applications open today and will stay available through September 4th!

Ontario is using AI in its jails, and assigning Black prisoners to maximum security more than others The government knew its AI program would likely produce biased results, and used it anyway Our latest @breachmedia.ca investigation www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1Ha...

AI is putting Black prisoners in maximum security

YouTube video by The Breach

youtube.com

SpaceX rocket that exploded shortly after takeoff destroyed land & wildlife: Concrete chunks had left craters a foot deep & were strewn across tidal flats, almost four acres of state park burned, 7 bobwhite quail eggs & a collection of blue land crabs incinerated. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

SpaceX Blast Left Officials in Disbelief Over Environmental Damage

Fish and Wildlife Service biologists expressed frustrations in emails obtained by Bloomberg.

bloomberg.com

As of this week, hundreds of thousands of Haitians lost their legal status. Most have lost work permits as well. That's left many people unable to support themselves. Here is a verified link to a fundraiser supporting Haitians in Springfield. Please drop links to other fundraisers in the replies.

Stand with Haitian Families in Crisis

Build the Emergency Fund that protects families when everything feels uncertain. The end of TPS. Increasing ICE actions. Families losing work authorization overnight. For Haitian parents and children ...

ancljkuy.donorsupport.co

Caribbean bears brunt of £43bn climate-fuelled damage to developing islands

Caribbean bears brunt of £43bn climate-fuelled damage to developing islands

Findings can inform conversations about global climate reparations and financing for mitigations, researchers say

theguardian.com

NEW – Analysis: Wind and solar power overtake fossil fuels in Germany for first time ever ✍️ By Ho Woo Nam and @joshgabbatiss.bsky.social 🔗 Read here: www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-win...

Go see the new exhibition of her dolls at the NY Historical: www.nyhistory.org/exhibitions/... - open until October 4. I've seen the exhibition and it's lovely.

Betye Saar's Black Dolls  | The New York Historical

The New York Historical honors the renowned artist’s 100th birthday and celebrates a landmark promised gift of her collection of more than 100 Black dolls.

nyhistory.org

Siddhartha Mitter@siddharthamitter.bsky.social · last wk.

Ms. Betye Saar has left us. Three days shy of her 100th birthday. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/27/a...

A South Carolina federal judge this week ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to resume distributing funds designed to address environmental and health challenges in underserved communities. insideclimatenews.org/news/2407202...

Federal Judge Orders EPA to Administer Environmental Justice Grants - Inside Climate News

The judge rejected the Trump administration’s interpretation of a recent court ruling and ordered officials to release funds for a $2.8 billion federal program.

insideclimatenews.org

"Scientists have found that extreme heat can disrupt the body's serotonin, aka the happy hormone. They've also found a connection between extreme heat and increased levels of cortisol, our stress hormone." via @yessfun.com

Extreme Heat Is Making Us Sadder (And Sicker)

A study the media largely ignored suggests that suicide rates may increase as the planet's temperature does.

possibilities.news

Almost three-quarters of a million people were forced from their homes by Typhoon Noul this weekend. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Typhoon Noul forces more than 715,000 from homes and cancels hundreds of flights in China and Hong Kong

Noul is the strongest typhoon to make landfall in China so far this year, state media reported

theguardian.com

As Trump boosts nuclear power, regulators seek to eliminate a longstanding radiation safety practice by Jennifer McDermott apnews.com/article/nucl...

As Trump boosts nuclear power, regulators seek to eliminate a longstanding radiation safety practice

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing to eliminate a foundational safety principle that has for 50 years minimized the radiation people in the United States are exposed to, and that has been ...

apnews.com

2026 is on track to be the warmest (~35% chance) or second warmest (~63%) year on record, while 2027 is very likely (92% chance) to be the warmest on record on the back of a growing super El Niño event. For more, check out my new Carbon Brief State of the Climate Q2 update: www.carbonbrief.org/...

Mamdani Commits $43 Million to Jump-Start Effort to Stop NYC Flooding. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/n... by @hilaryhoward.bsky.social

Mamdani Commits $43 Million to Jump-Start Effort to Stop N.Y.C. Flooding (Gift Article)

The money will go to an agency responsible for addressing the effects of climate change in the city, including the operation of flood gates.

nytimes.com

First Nations leaders are calling for a public inquiry and government resignations after wildfires destroyed communities in northwestern Ontario and left residents fleeing with little warning or support.

Chiefs call for resignations and public inquiry following wildfire devastation - ICT

First Nation leader reports from visit to burned community. “Just Ashes”

ictnews.org

The report “calls for the government to invest in young researchers, without noting that the administration fired scores of young scientists and terminated hundreds of grants to early career researchers.”

Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · 2w ago

Once you understand that this is a model of science written by non-scientists who hate universities but love venture capital and redirecting money to political allies, everything makes a lot more sense. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/u...

New White House plan reimagines American science — more $$ for AI, less for universities and the “life sciences.” Written by Trump’s science adviser, who is a Silicon Valley tech guy, not a scientist. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/u...

Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities

Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.

nytimes.com

Sperm whales change ‘vowel’ sounds when boats are nearby, scientists discover

Sperm whales change ‘vowel’ sounds when boats are nearby, scientists discover

Researchers listening off the Caribbean island of Dominica found variations in the mammals’ audible clicks when marine traffic was close

theguardian.com

Hundreds of thousands of Bostonians live at risk of worsening coastal flooding, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) states in a draft report set to be released this week outlining massive projects to defend the city’s waterfront…

Boston, US Army announce coastal flooding and sea level rise protection plan

bostonherald.com

Live soon — @mayorwu.boston.gov joins the US Army Corps of Engineers to announce the publication of a draft report of their Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility Study, a once-in-a-generation study to protect Boston against coastal flooding and sea level rise.

City of Boston and US Army Corps of Engineers Coastal Resilience Announcement - July 20, 2026

Mayor Michelle Wu announces the release of the US Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) draft Boston Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility Study, a once-in-a-generation study to protect Boston…

youtube.com

The US plans to auction off sections of water around "American" Samoa in a push for deep-sea mining by @danicacoto.bsky.social apnews.com/article/amer...

The US plans to auction off sections of water around American Samoa in a push for deep-sea mining

The U.S. government is planning to auction off massive sections of water surrounding American Samoa for potential deep-sea mining.

apnews.com