Will Anderson

A mushroom farm in Kenya and fungi-based panels give hope for sustainable building A large mushroom farm near Nairobi is producing mycelium for building materials that end up as fungi-based panels, which are more sustainable and affordable than traditional bricks.

Building with 🍄🍄‍🟫

apnews.com/article/keny...

my takeaway from climate week nyc is that "climate storytelling" is a little too much "we must reimagine our deepest souls in relationship to mother nature and the moral abyss of the polycrisis into which we must now stare" and not enough "ok but get a heat pump"

How volunteers are fighting the vines strangling D.C.'s trees How local residents are restoring D.C.’s green spaces — and combating the effects of climate change.

“I worry about climate change. But when I cut vines and save one tree, I worry less.”

Meet some of the volunteers who are restoring D.C.’s green spaces — and combating the effects of climate change, one tree at a time.

@samdelgado.bsky.social reports:

Brazilians protest in their thousands against granting Bolsonaro amnesty Huge crowds pack the streets to oppose endeavours to help ex-president escape jail

“Huge crowds packed the squares and beaches of some of Brazil’s biggest cities to voice their opposition to rightwing endeavors to help Bolsonaro escape jail for his failed power grab”

Hide and seek Meet the Nigerians who make your genuine ‘Italian’ leather.

The Nigeria leather industry is estimated to generate at least $600-million a year, but most of it goes to people in the middle. The shoes, bags, and belts assembled from this leather will bear labels like “Made in Italy” but give no credit to the Nigerian workers who did the dirty first steps.

Eve Babitz, posts from the 60s

Responsible Commodity Contracts Can Accelerate Africa's Restoration Economy Offtake contracts can help restoration businesses build sustainable supply chains by guaranteeing attractive prices for their products.

New from me: With a little help, small enterprises across Africa can access domestic & intl markets. That means more $$$ in farmers' pockets!

Here's what $24m in contracts for 7 restoration champions taught us at @worldresources.bsky.social:

www.wri.org/update/respo...

There’s a billboard in Nairobi advertising a luxury development with the tagline “luxury is waking up to lush green views”. And it really it goes to the heart of how neoliberal approaches to development screw over poor countries. They really are paving paradise to put up a parking lot.

How a $5 Billion Federal Project Could Sink the Lower Ninth Ward Forever Decades after Betsy and Katrina, the community faces another threat — a canal proposal promising “progress” that could threaten its survival.

Willie Calhoun remembers the day, sitting at the dinner table when he was about 10. His longshoreman father, tired after a day on the barge, declared a warning almost as fact: “If a storm ever come up, it is gonna drown the Ninth Ward.”

Bowser to provide indefinite coordination with federal law enforcement Bowser issued an executive order Tuesday requiring local coordination with federal law enforcement “to the maximum extent allowable by law.” The order gives no expiration date.

"Bowser issued an executive order that requires local coordination with federal law enforcement “to the maximum extent allowable by law within the District.” The order gives no expiration date."

I, for one, would like a new mayor (and statehood)

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

The Rainforests Being Cleared to Build Your R.V.

Stories like these lay bare the opportunities and perils of global supply chains, even in the tariff era. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/w...

3 Things to Know About Prison Violence Against Transgender People Key takeaways from our story about one trans woman’s legal battle for accountability.

Transgender people are a tiny fraction of the federal prison population. But they are disproportionately targeted for abuse and assault.

We deserve much better.

put street trees everywhere you can in a neighborhood, make curb cuts so that their roots can absorb storm water from the street, grow native plants around their base, check back in five years and count how many welfare and health measures have improved

The Perils and Absurdities of Trump’s DC Occupation Trump compels his followers to endorse obvious lies. It’s accelerating the country’s descent into authoritarianism.

Wrote about how both dangerous and ineffably stupid everything is right now in these DC streets. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

An AI breakthrough offers a major leap forward in how we monitor the world's land🛰️🌍

@aiatmeta.bsky.social, with support from @worldresources.bsky.social Institute, has created DINOv3. It’s a game-changer for geospatial monitoring.

Learn more: go.wri.org/ai-finance-f...

I’m Captain Ahab and I Say We Must Never Transition Away from a Whale-Based Energy Industry When I heard that the globalist oligarchs and fat cats in the Washington marshland were conspiring to invest in alternative, non-whale-based energy...

"Reducing our dependence on whales as an energy source will send us sliding down the slippery, spermaceti-lubricated slope to socialism. If we give up whaling, what will those lackwits come for next? Will I have to surrender my peg leg for a titanium prosthetic?"

In Italy, Immigrant Workers Launch a Wave of Strikes for a 40-Hour Week Since early April, immigrant workers in the Tuscan city of Prato have staged a wave of strikes demanding their right to a 40-hour work week, or “8x5.” Organized by the union SUDD Cobas, these walkouts...

Immigrant workers in Prato, Italy have mounted a series of strike days this year against exploitative conditions like 14-hour workdays, union busting and dangerous machinery.

They've already won a 40-hour work week in 68 fashion workshops and warehouses: labornotes.org/blogs/2025/0...

La famine a poussé 90 000 personnes dans une immense migration interne à Madagascar depuis 2018.

Les racines de cette crise remontent à la période de la colonisation française, dénonce Amnesty International.

Lire l'article ➡️ https://l.reporterre.net/pMZ

Soutine - The Tree - ca.1939

The U.S. has led the world in science since the mid-20th century for two reasons: funding & welcoming students and researchers from around the world. The Trump administration is destroying both advantages (1/2)

I’m looking for recommendations for newsletters on the Brazilian economy!

Something Is Still Rotten in the City of Philadelphia Philly workers went out on strike—and came back with a deal that nobody seems to like.

After an eight-day strike, DC33 reached a tentative agreement with the city of Philadelphia last week. Tonight, we’ll find out the results of the membership vote.

I wrote about the human costs of the strike and the cruelty of the city’s response for @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Knock the AC! Windows open!

Climate change will hurt the richest farmers—and the poorest Even with realistic adaptation, crop yields will fall as temperatures rise

Climate change is bad for agriculture and food security.

This study found that even considering adaptation and development, crop yields are likely to decline by 2050 and 2100 (vs. baseline projected yield growth with no climate change) in every region of the world. 🧪

Residents at D.C.'s last operating migrant shelter told to leave By the end of the summer, families at the District’s last city-funded migrant shelter will have had to find somewhere else to go.

🚨🚨🚨 from @streetsensedc.bsky.social:

"DC began telling migrants they had to leave the only operating migrant shelter earlier this summer, according to shelter residents, after Mayor Muriel Bowser’s fiscal year 2026 budget proposed defunding the Office of Migrant Services, a $39.8 million cut."

Evaluating the impact of two decades of USAID interventions and projecting the effects of defunding on mortality up to 2030: a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis USAID funding has significantly contributed to the reduction in adult and child mortality across low-income and middle-income countries over the past two decades. Our estimates show that, unless the a...

Elon Musk casually, and illegally, dismantled USAID. According to a new study in the Lancet, that action will lead to *14 million* premature deaths between 2025 and 2030.

Again: Elon Musk is directly responsible for 14 million coming deaths. 4.5 million will be children.

Local Leaders Are Driving Systems Change. Philanthropy Must Follow. (SSIR) Now is the time for funders to back local leaders who are making lasting improvements to people's lives and the systems that shape them, even amidst global disruption.

Fund local, fund long-term, fund transparency and accountability.

Guiding principles for philanthropies as traditional development funders step back.

ssir.org/articles/ent...

Few things are more pleasurable than finishing a whole book in one day

The American nightmare: A boat advertising for a man who needs a kidney.