MOTHER JONES CLIMATE DESK WEEKLY: The Great American Road Trip Is Done For, We are consuming thousands of chemicals from our food packaging, with unknown health risks, If data centers actually benefit locals, as Big Tech claims, then what’s with all the NDAs?, US Forest Service chief with close industry ties pushed to expand logging on public lands, A Rough Estimate of the American Military’s Vast Carbon Footprint 6SEP26

 

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STORIES FROM MOTHER JONES AND ITS PARTNERS This summer, my family and I set out on a grand, iconic adventure—the Great American Road Trip. We planned to drive coast to coast and border to border, visiting 14 national parks. I was on sabbatical from Grist, where I serve as editor-in-chief. After leading a newsroom through 18 months of environmental policy rollbacks and climate disasters, the trip seemed like the perfect way to unplug. As it turns out, when you’re a climate journalist, there really is no escaping work. There was beauty and awe in spades. But the 9,000 miles we traveled also provided a very stark look at how a warming planet is reshaping our nation and our public lands. Dozens of wildfires in Utah, charring forests and towns and turning skies orange. Bathtub rings on drought-stricken reservoirs in Arizona. Stands of trees killed by bark beetles in the Sierra Nevadas. Toxic dust blowing off the Great Salt Lake. Emergency alerts for flooding and evacuations in Glacier National Park. Extreme heat warnings in Grand Teton.   It felt like a near-constant assault, one disaster stacked atop the next. Travel a few miles, a few hours, and we’d encounter yet another mark climate change had made—or was actively making—on the American landscape. When we returned home and I returned to work, I knew I had to chronicle the journey. My family’s days whiplashed between grandeur and extreme weather crises. I knew we couldn’t be the only ones going through this. The family road trip is basically a rite of passage in our culture, and most of the travel takes place during summer months, when floods, fires, drought, and heat are at their peak.   And things are different now.   Last weekend, terrifying flash floods trapped dozens of hikers in the Grand Canyon—at least two were killed. They were people simply out enjoying America’s public lands as my family had, only to experience firsthand the brutal consequences of burning fossil fuels for two-plus centuries. I hugged my kids tight when I heard the news.   I hope you’ll take a few minutes to read my essay. —Katherine Bagley

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TOP STORY KATHERINE BAGLEY/GRIST The Great American Road Trip Is Done For My family clocked 9,000 miles this summer, but we couldn’t escape the climate crisis. GRIST

SPONSORED CONTENT BY THE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING Climate Desk Live: Tech, Energy, and Our Just Future Join us September 24, 9-11 a.m., at The New School for Climate Desk Live, a free NYC Climate Week event from Mother Jones, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and Capital B. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, Bill McKibben, Manish Bapna, and Gretchen Goldman tackle AI, energy, and democracy. Seats are limited—RSVP today.

TRENDING We’ve identified California’s top 100 glyphosate sprayers. Some of them may surprise you. MOTHER JONES We are consuming thousands of chemicals from our food packaging, with unknown health risks  INSIDE CLIMATE NEWS If data centers actually benefit locals, as Big Tech claims, then what’s with all the NDAs? CAPITAL B US Forest Service chief with close industry ties pushed to expand logging on public lands THE GUARDIAN

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EDITOR'S PICK LT. STEVE GOZZO/US NAVY A Rough Estimate of the American Military’s Vast Carbon Footprint Its emissions are hard to track, but they’re too important to ignore. BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS

HELP CLIMATE DESK THRIVE A brighter future for journalism is possible—thanks to you. Accurate news and information are essential for democracy. It’s the only way you can be sure that you’re getting the real story and hearing it from voices on the ground. At Mother Jones, we promise to keep pursuing the truth for you. As an independent, nonprofit newsroom, we can do that work thanks to our readers. We’re not funded by billionaires or corporations but by the people who read and listen to our print, radio, and web investigations. People like you. Make a brighter future possible. Support Independent Journalism

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MOTHER JONES CLIMATE DESK WEEKLY: EPA Vows to Fight “Forever Chemicals”—by Loosening Regulations, Fire in the “Galapagos of North America” threatens species found nowhere else, SpaceX is spending $2.8 billion on gas turbines for its AI data centers, Meet the Black mushroom hunters unearthing America’s essential fungi, This Vermont town embraced a wind farm. Solar is a different story., These New Photos Reveal Strange Sea Creatures Scientists Have Never Seen Before 24MAI26

 

Doesn't fascist lee zeldin look like the Roswell aliens??? 

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STORIES FROM MOTHER JONES AND ITS PARTNERS Your blood, like the blood of 97 percent of Americans, probably contains what are known as “forever chemicals.” These compounds—per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances commonly referred to as PFAS—have been linked to a range of cancers and adverse health effects.    This past week, the Trump administration announced a bold new plan to tackle forever chemicals in drinking water. But it has a curious way of showing its commitment to ending PFAS pollution. The new plan will unravel historic restrictions approved by the Biden administration in 2024—the first and only regulations in the nation’s history to put limits on PFAS in drinking water. “This is about being realistic,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said at an event Monday.   The EPA intends to lift restrictions on four types of PFAS and extend by two years the amount of time water utilities have to comply with restrictions on two other legacy forever chemicals if the utilities can prove they need the time. The Biden-era limits would not have survived court challenges, the EPA argued.   Legal experts I spoke with disagreed. “It seems like they have largely adopted the positions of the chemical industry,” said Richard L. Revesz, a former Biden official and dean emeritus at the New York University School of Law.    Aware that the announcement is sure to anger the Make America Healthy Again contingent—which is already rebelling against the administration’s support for the herbicide glyphosate—Trump officials sought to divert attention away from PFAS repeals and are focusing instead on the EPA’s recent unveiling of $1 billion in grant funding for small and disadvantaged communities to detect and eliminate PFAS.    “We have a president who has made a greater financial commitment than any president in US history,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., pointing to the $1 billion. The catch: That money comes from an appropriation made by Congress in 2021, when Joe Biden was president.    Read all about it in my story for Grist.   —Zoya Teirstein

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TOP STORY TOM WILLAMS/ZUMA EPA Vows to Fight “Forever Chemicals”—by Loosening Regulations “It seems like they have largely adopted the positions of the chemical industry.” GRIST

SPONSORED CONTENT BY PATAGONIA PROTEST Our new book, “Protest,” is an invitation to act. Published by Patagonia Books, “Protest” highlights the formidable and deeply human tradition of peaceful protest, placing today’s threats within a long arc of collective action. We hope this book helps you see yourself in this tradition, and deepens your resolve to act. Written by lifelong activists Annie Leonard and André Carothers with contributions from Jane Fonda, Dolores Huerta and Robert Reich. Grab your copy today.

TRENDING Fire in the “Galapagos of North America” threatens species found nowhere else INSIDE CLIMATE NEWS SpaceX is spending $2.8 billion on gas turbines for its AI data centers WIRED Meet the Black mushroom hunters unearthing America’s essential fungi THE GUARDIAN  This Vermont town embraced a wind farm. Solar is a different story. CANARY MEDIA

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EDITOR'S PICK ROV SUBASTIAN/SCHMIDT OCEAN INSTITUTE These New Photos Reveal Strange Sea Creatures Scientists Have Never Seen Before The discovery of more than 1,100 new marine species over the last year shows how unexplored our oceans really are. VOX

HELP CLIMATE DESK THRIVE A brighter future for journalism is possible—thanks to you. Accurate news and information are essential for democracy. It’s the only way you can be sure that you’re getting the real story and hearing it from voices on the ground. At Mother Jones, we promise to keep pursuing the truth for you. As an independent, nonprofit newsroom, we can do that work thanks to our readers. We’re not funded by billionaires or corporations, but by the people who read and listen to our print, radio, and web investigations. People like you. Make a brighter future possible. Support Independent Journalism

Did you enjoy this newsletter? Share it on Facebook and Bluesky.

Donate Subscribe For advertising opportunities see our online media kit. Were you forwarded this email? Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today. www.climatedesk.org PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755