Big farmers grab the lion’s share of US government support, and recent cuts have chipped away at small growers’ markets and margins
The most significant food system failure since the pandemic was not a natural disaster: in October, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) was temporarily suspended for the month of November due to the government shutdown
More than 40 million people had to ration food, skip meals and make sacrifices we might associate with the Great Depression, not 21st-century America. Churches, community groups and neighbors sprang into action. They checked on single moms juggling multiple jobs, elderly friends living alone, people with disabilities and large families with children too young for school lunch programs. And though food stamps were restored, the Trump administration is now threatening to pull Snap funds from Democratic-led states.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
12/04/2025 - 09:00
At 88, the Canadian reflects on a golden era of underwater discovery and how shipwrecks and the cruel sea are the ‘greatest of all teachers’
Joe MacInnis admits there are simply too many places to begin telling the story of life in the ocean depths. At 88, the famed Canadian undersea explorer, has many decades to draw on. There was the time he and a Russian explorer and deep-water pilot, Anatoly Sagalevich, were snagged by a telephone wire strung from the pilot house of the Titanic, trapping the pair two and a half miles below the surface.
Another might be the moment he and his team stared in disbelief through a porthole window at the Edmund Fitzgerald, the 222-metre (729ft) ship that vanished 50 years ago into the depths of Lake Superior, so quickly that none of the crew could issue a call for help. MacInnis and his team were the first humans to lay eyes on the wreck.
MacInnis diving in Lake Huron, off Tobermory, Canada, in 1969. Photograph: Don Dutton/Toronto Star/Getty Images
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12/04/2025 - 07:55
Watchdog investigating South East Water contamination issue had previously warned of potential health danger
A water treatment centre that failed and led to tens of thousands of people in Tunbridge Wells being cut off from the supply had previously been served a warning by the regulator over bacteria and pesticide contamination risks.
The Kent town is under a boil water notice after residents’ water supplies were cut on Saturday. South East Water has told residents the water from their taps is unsuitable for drinking, giving to pets, brushing teeth, washing children , or bathing in with an open wound.
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12/04/2025 - 03:26
Plan to improve gas networks and rewire electricity systems across Great Britain likely to add £30 to average annual bill
Households face higher energy bills after network companies were given the green light to spend £28bn on Great Britain’s gas and electricity grids.
The energy watchdog, Ofgem, approved more than £17.8bn of spending plans to upgrade gas transmission and distribution networks in the five years from April 2026.
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12/04/2025 - 01:00
Pesticide Action Network Europe study finds average concentrations 100 times higher than in tap water
High levels of a toxic “forever chemical” have been found in cereal products across Europe because of its presence in pesticides.
The most contaminated food is breakfast cereal, according to a study by Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN), with average concentrations 100 times higher than in tap water.
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12/04/2025 - 00:01
Pace of area’s temperature rise, outpaced in US only by Alaskan Arctic, apparently increased in past five years
The US region called New England is widely known for its colonial history, maple syrup and frigid, snow-bound winters. Many of these norms are in the process of being upended, however, by a rapidly altering climate, with new research finding the area is heating up faster than almost anywhere else on Earth.
The breakneck speed of New England’s transformation makes it the fastest-heating area of the US, bar the Alaskan Arctic, and the pace of its temperature rise has apparently increased in the past five years, according to the study.
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12/04/2025 - 00:00
Nootka lupins, introduced in the 1940s to repair damaged soil, are rampaging across the island, threatening its native species
It was only when huge areas of Iceland started turning purple that authorities realised they had made a mistake. By then, it was too late. The Nootka lupin, native to Alaska, had coated the sides of fjords, sent tendrils across mountain tops and covered lava fields, grasslands and protected areas.
Since it arrived in the 1940s, it has become an accidental national symbol. Hordes of tourists and local people pose for photos in the ever-expanding fields in June and July, entranced by the delicate cones of flowers that cover the north Atlantic island.
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12/04/2025 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 04 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00155-0
Reply to: “Comment to ‘Rethinking maritime security from the bottom up: four principles to broaden perspectives and centre humans and ecosystems’”
12/03/2025 - 19:01
Many now concerned about ability to make living in fast-changing climate after one of worst grain harvests recorded
Record heat and drought cost Britain’s arable farmers more than £800m in lost production in 2025 in one of the worst harvests recorded, analysis has estimated.
Three of the five worst harvests on record have now occurred since 2020, leaving some farmers asking whether the growing impacts of the climate crisis are making it too financially risky to sow their crops. Farmers are already facing heavy financial pressure as the costs of fertilisers and other inputs have risen faster than prices.
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12/03/2025 - 17:04
Move marks president’s latest effort to dismantle pollution regulations and support for cleaner-running vehicles
Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he is repealing the Biden-era federal fuel economy standards, significantly weakening fuel efficiency requirements for tens of millions of new gasoline-powered cars and light trucks.
It marks the US president’s latest effort to dismantle pollution regulations and federal support for cleaner-running vehicles and renewable energy. Burning gasoline is a significant contributor to global heating and transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
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