In a new book, The Seabird Trials, B.C. author Briony Penn tells a story of legal intrigue, corporate warfare, and broken friendship on the way to saving the birds of the Pacific coast.

The huge AI industry, with a value approaching $1 trillion, has promised new jobs; safer, more efficient production in industry and agriculture; secure borders; instantaneous ease of communication; and seamless augmentation of human thinking with benefits to global health, environment, and culture. Consumers have accepted its power to help them write and do research; to power their computers, smart phones, and other goods; with algorithms to bring love in dating Apps, and bring digital age self-driving vehicles to the roadways. But AI is suffering from an existential crisis. From its military origins to its invasive data scraping; from its promise to augment human intelligence to its unbounded surveillance of our bodies, faces, and thoughts; and from its genesis in university research to its iron-handed embrace by unregulated big technology companies, AI commands a dark presence in daily life. As university and industry researchers moved closer to developing “thinking machines,” publics understandably began to worry about the threats that accompany potentially sentient devices. They have grown uncomfortable about giving up their privacy to data management industries that use their financial, travel, and health information to invade their lives. They worry mightily about the environmental impacts of the growing number of data...

John Murdock had been working for the agency for 18 years and his resignation comes during an exodus of longtime federal workers and scientists

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. In February 2023, George Garrow jumped in his car and hurried to help people impacted by a freight train that had derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. The crash happened about a quarter-mile west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line and sent plumes of toxic smoke and hazardous chemicals into the air above the small town. A medical doctor by training, Garrow was on his way there when it dawned on him that he was in over his head. “I realized I don’t know the first thing about what we were supposed to do to care for someone who may be exposed to an environmental pollutant,” he said. Garrow is CEO of Primary Health Network, Pennsylvania’s largest federally qualified health center, with a network of 46 community clinics. Also known as community health centers, these sites aim to fill gaps in the healthcare system and provide care to underserved populations, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. A few months after the train derailment, wildfires raging in Canada sent smoke billowing south into Pennsylvania, and Garrow recalled seeing people harmed by the...

In February 2023, George Garrow jumped in his car and hurried to help people impacted by a freight train that had derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. The crash happened about a quarter-mile west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line and sent plumes of toxic smoke and hazardous chemicals into the air above the small town. A medical doctor by training, Garrow was on his way there when it dawned on him that he was in over his head. “I realized I don’t know the first thing about what we were supposed to do to care for someone who may be exposed to an environmental pollutant,” he said. Garrow is CEO of Primary Health Network, Pennsylvania’s largest federally qualified health center, with a network of 46 community clinics. Also known as community health centers, these sites aim to fill gaps in the healthcare system and provide care to underserved populations, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. A few months after the train derailment, wildfires raging in Canada sent smoke billowing south into Pennsylvania, and Garrow recalled seeing people harmed by the dangerous air quality. “What I noticed was [the wildfire smoke] was particularly impactful on folks that were under-resourced: people in...

The tit-for-tat continued a second day.

Within 24 hours after the collapse of a massive glacier in the Himalayas triggered deadly flash flooding in northern Nepal, Senthil Kumar Gurunathan was boarding a plane in Delhi on his way to assist in the relief efforts. The country representative for CRS India, Gurunathan arrived Aug. 27 in Kathmandu to work with staff already on the ground with CRS Nepal. Both are country chapters of Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' international development organization. As of Sept. 1, the death toll from the flooding had climbed past 1,000 people, with as many as 4,000 people missing across Nepal and Tibet. The devastation was apparent in the early hours of the Aug. 26 disaster. According to Caritas Nepal, another Catholic humanitarian group, entire villages and settlements along the Trishuli River had been wiped out. "We are seeing an incredible amount of destruction right now," Gurunathan said in an email Aug. 28. "So many people have lost everything, including their homes and are staying in whatever spaces they can find," he said. The flash flooding in Nepal is the latest environmental catastrophe to strike this summer. Extreme flooding has also occurred in other parts of Asia, as well as Ghana, Peru...

40,000 Evacuated After Toxic Tank Threat—Could This Happen In YOUR Neighborhood? A terrifying chemical tank failure in Garden Grove, California forced the evacuation of more than 40,000 people over Memorial Day weekend—including my friend Brandon and his family. Why? Because a massive industrial tank containing highly toxic chemicals was at risk of catastrophic failure. Had it exploded, thousands could have been injured—or worse. So why are dangerous industrial chemicals stored in densely populated neighborhoods? Why are homes, schools, and businesses built around facilities capable of mass disaster? And how many Americans are living next to hidden industrial threats without even knowing it? Today we examine the Garden Grove evacuation, the dangers lurking in cities across America, and why regulators continue allowing hazardous facilities near residential communities. Also: Trump pushes the Abraham Accords as global pressure mounts over Israel and the Middle East. Is diplomacy—or coercion—the real strategy? And I’ve seen what may be the best movie of the year—and no, it’s not another franchise blockbuster. I’ll tell you what surprised me and why you should watch it. The Karel Cast is supported by your donations at patreon.com/reallykarel Watch, like, and subscribe at youtube.com/reallykarel The Karel Cast streams Monday through Thursday at 10:30 AM PST and is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Spreaker, TikTok and Instagram. #GardenGrove, #CaliforniaNews, #BreakingNews, #ChemicalSpill, #ToxicLeak, #MassEvacuation, #EmergencyAlert, #EnvironmentalDisaster, #PublicSafety, #IndustrialAccident, #ToxicChemicals, #NeighborhoodDanger, #TrumpNews, #AbrahamAccords, #MiddleEastNews, #Politics, #CurrentEvents, #NewsCommentary, #KarelShow, #TheKarelCast, #YouTubeNews, #ViralNews, #EmergencyResponse, #DisasterZone, #ChemicalPlant, #CaliforniaEmergency, #InvestigativeNews, #HiddenDanger, #MovieReview, #StreamingNow https://youtube.com/live/4lx3aCO3co8

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Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement in response to reports that the Trump administration began...

April 20, 2010: An explosion and fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, kills 11 people and triggers the largest offs...