U.S. presidents enjoy full immunity from criminal charges for their official “core constitutional” acts, but no immunity for unofficial acts, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, sending former President Donald Trump’s case back to the lower courts.
The justices left open the question of how far official acts can reach, possibly reshaping the contours of the American presidency.
Trump escalated his immunity claim to the nation’s highest bench after two lower courts denied his request for protection from federal criminal charges alleging he schemed to overturn the 2020 presidential results.
The decision about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s actions while in office likely closes the door to any chance that Trump’s election subversion case could go to trial before Election Day.
The justices took up the case in February but did not hear oral arguments until April 25.
The trial court must now grapple with whether Trump’s alleged conduct to spread false information about the 2020 election results and conspiring to overturn them qualified as official presidential action.
In a 6-3 opinion, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote that the president is subject to criminal prosecution for unofficial acts, “like everyone else.”
“But unlike anyone else, the President is a branch of government, and the Constitution vests in him sweeping powers and duties,” Roberts wrote. “Accounting for that reality—and ensuring that the President may exercise those powers forcefully, as the Framers anticipated he would—does not place him above the law; it preserves the basic structure of the Constitution.”
The Supreme Court held that Trump’s conversations with Department of Justice officials regarding the election results were official but left unanswered questions about other conduct named in Department of Justice special counsel Jack’s Smith indictment of Trump.
“Certain allegations—such as those involving Trump’s discussions with the Acting Attorney General—are readily categorized in light of the nature of the President’s official relationship to the office held by that individual,” the opinion reads. “Other allegations— such as those involving Trump’s interactions with the Vice President, state officials, and certain private parties, and his comments to the general public—present more difficult questions.”
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the decision makes the president “immune from criminal prosecution if he used the trappings of his office to violate criminal law.”
“If the occupant of that office misuses official power for personal gain, the criminal law that the rest of us must abide will not provide a backstop,” Sotomayor wrote. “With fear for our democracy, I dissent.”
Trump claimed in court filings that he could not be prosecuted for actions he took while still in office. His legal team also argues that former presidents cannot be tried in the court of law unless they are first impeached by the U.S. House and convicted by the Senate.
The indictment, which a federal grand jury handed up in August 2023, alleges Trump knowingly spread falsehoods to his supporters, plotting with co-conspirators to overturn results in seven states and eventually working his base into a frenzy that culminated in a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the day Congress was to certify electoral votes.
DOJ’s Smith charged the former president with conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of, and attempt to obstruct, an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.
The right-wing court is engaged in a radical revolution to upend U.S. democracy.
Monday’s Supreme Court ruling granting far-reaching presidential immunity gives the lie to decades of right-wing propaganda about the real purpose of the long conservative campaign to take over the court.
The court’s immunity ruling is nearly a blank check for Donald Trump.
Generations of conservativepseudointellectuals have argued that the mission of the Federalist Society, the powerful conservative legal group that has seeded the Supreme Court with its zombie-like members, was to bring the court back to its original mandate under the Constitution. The right-wing pundits who promoted the Federalist Society were always a little vague on what their version of “originalism” really entailed, which led to widespread suspicions that it just meant whatever was politically beneficial to conservatives.
The ruling on presidential immunity is just the latest piece of evidence that shows that originalism was just a confidence game by the right to gain power. The court’s conservative majority has revealed itself to be a corrupt political machine with both short- and long-term goals. Today, the court is determined to protect Donald Trump and the Republican Party; longer-term, its mandate is to protect and defend the powers of those who willenable white minority rule in America for years to come.
Since Thursday, the only story in American politics has been President Joe Biden’s poor debate performance and what on earth Democrats are going to do about it. That was until today, when the Supreme Court ruled that American presidents have legal immunity for official acts.
In this installment of the 538 Politics podcast, Galen Druke speaks with Jessica Roth, a law professor and former federal prosecutor, about the details of the Supreme Court’s ruling. Then 538’s Nathaniel Rakich and Tia Yang discuss the continued fallout from the presidential debate.
During a routine traffic stop in California, police broke the car window of a Black driver after he refused get out of the car so that they could conduct a search of the vehicle. He repeatedly asked, “What is the probable cause?” The officers refused to answer him, instead breaking his car window.
Nicholas Hoskins, a 31-year-old San Diego resident, spent eight years in prison on a false conviction before the California Supreme Court overturned his conviction for lack of evidence and set him free.
But since his release in February 2023, he has been pulled over several times by San Diego police over minor infractions like a broken tail light, tinted windows and rolling through a stop sign.
It was the latest stop in May for rolling through a stop sign that resulted in San Diego police breaking his passenger side window after he refused to step out of the car to allow them to search it for weapons.
Hoskins was pulled over on his way to pick up his son at a school bus stop. When the officer asked to search the vehicle, Hoskins declined, asking the officer to state the probable cause for the search. Ignoring his questions, the officers asked him to exit the vehicle. After Hoskins repeated the question several times, the second officer walked around to the passenger side of the vehicle and the San Diego police officer broke the window of the car door.
San Diego Police Department Captain Jeffrey Jordon said several factors behind the racial gap are beyond the department’s control.
Hoskins was polite and calm throughout the entire incident, which was filmed using the camera on his phone that was mounted on the dashboard of the car (See recording below). After the San Diego police officer broke his car window, Hoskins exited the vehicle and was placed in handcuffs. He was taken to the station and given a citation for the traffic violation with the added charge of resisting arrest before being released.
After his son was left waiting at the bus stop for 2 hours, not knowing what had happened to his dad (police seized his father’s cell phone), Hoskins was able to pick him up. He was forced to pay $1000 to get his car out of police impound and to replace the broken window.
The Overturned Conviction
The Atlanta Black Star reported that Hoskins had recently been released from prison after serving 8 years of a 25-year sentence for a false conviction. The California Supreme Court had overturned his conviction for conspiracy to commit murder, citing the fact that the prosecution had no evidence tying him to the crime.
Instead, the prosecution had used an image from Facebook that showed Hoskins throwing up gang signs as evidence. He said it was a case of him being a stupid, ignorant teenager and that it was common for teens to throw up gang signs in photos taken at house parties during that time period. The only other evidence presented against him was Facebook posts of rap lyrics condoning murder. That was all the jury needed to come back with a guilty verdict.
Hoskins told NBC7 that he has been pulled over by the SDPD often ever since the conviction was overturned. He feels targeted and thinks police see him as a violent criminal when he’s not.
Nicholas Hoskins has been using his newfound freedom since February 2023 to turn his life around. At the time he was pulled over in May, Hoskins was just about to start attending a technical college to study carpentry and welding so he could improve his life and care for his 12-year-old son.
This graph shows stops by race next to the demographics of that race in San Diego. While Whites made up the majority of stops, they also make up the majority of the population. Statistics for Black residents show the number of stops being high when compared to the demographic makeup.
The Crime of Driving While Black
NBC7 conducted an investigation into traffic stops as part of their reporting.
Hoskins raced through a lot of emotions moments before the San Diego Police officer shattered his passenger-side window: Anger, frustration, and a sense that police were treating him differently because he’s Black. It was the fourth time he’d been stopped in just a year. Statistics show he’s not wrong. SDPD officers pulled over Black and brown drivers disproportionately. While 23% of drivers pulled over for traffic violations were Black, they only make up 6% of the population in San Diego. People of color are not only stopped more often, those stops result in vehicle searches more often as well.
“It’s kind of demeaning. Emasculating. Sometimes I feel like I’m not a man,” Hoskins said in an interview with NBC7.
People of Color More Likely to Be Searched During a Stop by San Diego Police
While Black residents make up only 6% of the population in San Diego, searches occurred in 27% of traffic stops. 23% of Hispanic drivers stopped resulted in searches, while only 19% of stops involving White drivers did.
Traffic stops resulting in searches by race
Hoskins has now retained an attorney and is planning on filing a lawsuit.
A San Diego traffic stop is under an internal investigation after video shows an officer smash a Black driver’s window when he refused to consent to a search.
The Statistical Data of Traffic Stops in San Diego
Your body is your business — and no one else’s. And it’s your right to access the information you need to make choices about your body and your future.
Today, if you’re searching for abortion care or reproductive health information online, it will often leave a digital trail. But there are steps you can take to protect your digital privacy.
That’s why we created the Vagina Privacy Network: a new kind of ‘VPN’ with a step-by-step protocol for those who want to stay anonymous online — so your private parts stay private.
Vagina Privacy Network
The website provides tips to keep personal information private while searching for reproductive health care, calling providers, scheduling appointments online, and more. They also offer a complete guide to digital privacy that is available to download from the homepage.
The list of tips they provide include things like; Download a secure web browser: “When searching for local resources, make sure to mention your area when searching, as your location will be hidden when using a secure browser.” Chat through encrypted messaging apps: “Apps like Signal offer more protection than text, email, or social media direct messages. Be sure to turn on ‘disappearing messages’ as well.” Make calls to clinics using a burner phone: “If you’re concerned about leaving a record of a call regarding your reproductive health, you could use a pre-paid phone or an app like Hushed.” The list consists of 7 privacy tips, with more included in the full guide.
We are MSI Reproductive Choices. We believe that everyone should have the freedom to determine their own future, on their terms. Our teams work across 36 countries and six continents to provide and advocate for abortion and contraception, supporting over 93,000 people with their reproductive choices every day.
About EFF
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF champions user privacy, free expression, and innovation through impact litigation, policy analysis, grassroots activism, and technology development. EFF’s mission is to ensure that technology supports freedom, justice, and innovation for all people of the world.
Abortion Laws
If you’re a woman living in a state with an abortion ban (Iowa recently became the 15th state to enact a ban on abortion after 6 weeks), there might be surveillance happening already or there could be new policies from Republican state legislatures on the horizon. If you need to perform activities related to reproductive health care online or over the phone, follow the tips from the Vagina Privacy Network’s homepage to protect yourself from any type of abortion surveillance, and don’t forget to share the website with friends and family.
Abortion surveillance is something former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, has said is up to states. But for abortion providers and advocates, surveillance and monitoring by anti-abortion activists has long been the reality. And post-Dobbs many states are actively trying to expand government surveillance.
“There is a lot of confusion in our patient population — because most of them are coming from states that have banned abortion — about the legality of coming to another state,” said Michele Landeau, chief operating officer of Hope Clinic in Granite City, Illinois.
Just across the border from St. Louis, Missouri, Hope Clinic serves as one of the closest abortion clinics to several banned states in the Midwest and the South. After Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, the clinic increased its staff and capacity to accommodate an influx of patients, more than 80% of whom are coming from outside of Illinois, Landeau told States Newsroom. She said the clinic has also seen an influx of protesters, especially on Saturdays, who can sometimes be heard shouting patients’ out-of-state license plates.
“That can cause a lot of anxiety and fear,” Landeau said. “I believe the protesters know that, and that’s why they do it.”
Since Dobbs, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit that specializes in digital civil liberties, has seen a spike in doxing of abortion providers and assistance groups, said staff attorney Lisa Femia. Another increased privacy threat since Dobbs, she said, is police sharing automated license plate reader data with police in states where abortion is not legal.
Illinois is among several states that have adopted abortion rights in the lead-up to and since Dobbs, most recently travel data privacy protections. Alaw that went into effect earlier this year prohibits the sharing of data from automated license plate readers with law enforcement for the purpose of investigating or enforcing a law that “denies or interferes with a person’s right to choose or obtain reproductive health care services.”
But even in this abortion-haven state, Mark Lee Dickson’s Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn initiative helped pass an ordinance banning the mailing or shipping of abortion pills inDanville, a town along Illinois’s eastern border with Indiana, where abortion is not legal. The ordinance (which the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois says is “unlawful and unenforceable” because it violates state law) was passed the same month an anti-abortion extremist drove a car loaded with gasoline-filled containers into the building of a planned abortion clinic in Danville.
Femia said increased legal challenges have so far not upheld laws that attempt to restrict interstate abortion-related travel or information. But it’s still early, she said.
“I think we also have to remember that in sort of the scheme of the legal system, it hasn’t really been very long since Dobbs and since states have actually started implementing extremely abortion restrictive laws,” Femia told States Newsroom. “So we’re still in sort of the nascent stages of abortion prosecutions.”
To fight for reproductive health privacy, Femia said the Electronic Frontier Foundation has tried to put pressure on government to enforce privacy protections on the books as well as educate the public.
This week, the nonprofit MSI Reproductive Choices launched a digital guide for safely searching abortion-related information online in partnership with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, called the Vagina Privacy Network, and as part of the launch handed out free burner phones at three different reproductive rights marches in Indiana, Tennessee, and Georgia.
Amber Ruffin said her decision to come out would “come as a shock to exactly zero people.”
What better day for a joyous coming-out ’gram than the last day of Pride?
The comedian, writer, and former late-night host Amber Ruffin admitted it would “come as a shock to exactly zero people” as she came out on Instagram on Sunday.
The author, with sister Lacey Lamar, of books including The World Record Book of Racist Stories, Ruffin added: “I can’t wait to be discriminated against for a new reason!!”
Stevia, a natural sweetener coveted for its zero-calorie sweetness, has been embroiled in a whirlwind of controversy in Europe. But what led to the ban of this South American plant, and why was stevia banned in Europe still a bone of contention among regulators and industry leaders? Let’s unravel the layers of this complex narrative.
Artificial sweeteners like Sweet’nLow, Equal, Splenda, and others are known for causing gastrointestinal issues and reactions in people sensitive to the ingredients. Some people enjoy the taste of artificial sweeteners while others can’t drink diet soda because of its strong “fake sugar” flavor. Stevia came on the market as a natural alternative to both sugar and artificial sweeteners. It is well-known that certain artificial sweeteners contain ingredients that are carcinogenic. The warning label appears on boxes.
However, the United States has a long history of not banning products that are proven to cause cancer and other major health issues. Why? Money. Cigarettes are a great example of this. The tobacco industry is too powerful and lucrative. Being that stevia was touted as a natural alternative to sugar, it was surprising to hear that the product had been banned in Europe.
Key Takeaways from this article
✔️The European ban on stevia was initially motivated by potential cancer risks and safety concerns,although the influence of the food industry may have played a role.
✔️Purified stevia extracts are approved for consumption due to their safety and clean taste, while whole leaf stevia and crude extracts remain prohibited.
✔️Stevia products are available in various forms throughout Europe with growing consumer awareness. Health benefits should be weighed against potential risks before use.
The Stevia Dilemma: Understanding the European Ban
The controversy surrounding stevia largely stemmed from initial safety concerns. Studies suggested potential cancer risks associated with its consumption, which led to a ban in Europe. Despite its acceptance and long-standing usage in countries like Japan and Brazil, Europe opted for caution. Nonetheless, the European Union changed its stance in 2011, approving high-purity steviol glycosides as food ingredients.
Adding complexity to the narrative was the considerable influence of the food industry. Suspected financial motivations, such as competition with existing sweeteners, were thought to be behind the ban. The industry’s lobbying efforts also resulted in the approval of sweeteners, which could potentially be carcinogenic, while concurrently banning natural stevia. Nevertheless, regulatory requirements and safety concerns were the primary drivers of the initial prohibition.
The Initial Safety Concerns
The initial concerns about stevia’s safety were rooted in early studies suggesting its potential to cause cancer. (Doesn’t everything cause cancer nowadays?) These findings led the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to classify stevia as an ‘unsafe food additive,’ prohibiting its use as a sweetener in the United States. However, the speculation of financial motivations from the sugar industry adds a layer of complexity to the issue. Could the sugar industry’s potential fear of losing market share to stevia have influenced the ban? It’s very likely to be a factor.
The initial prohibition of stevia put a damper on the enthusiasm for this natural, zero-calorie sweetener. However, as research evolved, so did the regulatory perspective, leading to a shift in the classification of stevia by the FDA from an ‘unsafe food additive’ to being ‘generally recognized as safe’ (GRAS).
The same way you’ll see articles about eggs being good for you, then a few years later: “Scientists have now determined that eggs are unhealthy and fattening.” A few years later: “New findings show eggs are very good for you!” A lot of people had been excited to see a sweetener on the market that came from natural sources vs. the carcinogenic chemicals found in the popular artificial sweeteners currently on the market.
The Food Industry’s Influence
The food industry’s potential financial motivations for prohibiting Stevia could have stemmed from a desire to maintain the dominance of existing sweeteners and safeguard their profits. This is evident in the approval of potentially carcinogenic sweeteners such as saccharin, aspartame, and sucralose, while simultaneously having stevia banned.
The same financial motives can be found in the pharmaceutical industry in the U.S.. There are highly effective drugs available to treat depression, but the United States is the only country that hasn’t approved the drugs for use. If you look at the current stranglehold that some brands of antidepressants have on the market, it’s not hard to see why introducing a new medication that patients have claimed “cured” their depression would be very bad for the manufacturers of Prozac and other commonly prescribed antidepressants.
Stevia’s Journey Through Legislation
Stevia’s journey through the complex realm of food legislation has been a tumultuous one. Before its reclassification, it did not receive initial approval for processing into products in the EU. The plant and leaves were only allowed in specific applications. The reclassification of stevia as a non-novel food has enabled marketing infusions made from stevia leaves in the EU, contributing to improved clarity and transparency in labeling and usage. The main challenge for stevia in obtaining EU approval was securing permission for its processing into products, initially facing restrictions on the plant and leaves themselves.
The Food Standards Agency and Stevia
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) considerably influenced stevia’s prohibition in Europe. It initially banned stevia due to concerns about its safety and potential cancer connections. This decision was in line with the broader European response to the potential health risks associated with stevia. However, as more research emerged, the FSA revised its stance on stevia, acknowledging the potential health benefits and the safety of high-purity steviol glycosides.
The Current Status of Stevia in the EU
Purified Stevia Extracts vs. Whole Leaf Stevia
Purified stevia extracts are considered safe for consumption due to their extensive purification process and approval by regulatory bodies such as the FDA. These extracts eliminate the majority of the bitter components, providing a clean, sweet taste that has made them popular in the food and beverage industry.
On the other hand, whole leaf stevia and crude extracts are not approved due to safety concerns. The absence of toxicological information and research on their safety has led regulatory agencies to decline their use as food ingredients.
Acceptable Daily Intake and Usage Guidelines
The acceptable daily intake for steviol is 4 mg/kg of body weight, equivalent to 12 mg/kg of high-purity stevia extract per day. This recommendation is based on over 200 studies that have shown stevia to be safe for consumption within this limit, as determined by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). For example, an individual weighing 70 kilograms should limit their daily consumption of high-purity stevia extract to 280 milligrams.
These guidelines provide a safety net for consumers, ensuring they can enjoy the sweetness of stevia without exposing themselves to potential health risks. However, individuals with preexisting health conditions should consult a healthcare professional before incorporating stevia into their diet.
Health and Consumption: Evaluating Stevia’s Impact
The health implications of consuming stevia are as complex as its regulatory journey. Stevia is considered safe for consumption and is believed to offer various health benefits, such as the potential to reduce total daily calorie intake and sugar consumption. Its use has demonstrated no insulin or blood glucose response, and it may even contribute to lowering blood pressure. However, certain individuals may experience side effects like nausea, abdominal fullness, muscle pain, and weakness following the consumption of stevia.
While the potential health benefits of stevia are compelling, it’s important to weigh them against potential health risks. Despite copious research, the overall impact of zero-calorie sweeteners like stevia on the body remains unclear. More research is needed, particularly regarding the consumption of stevia by pregnant women and its long-term effects.
Potential Health Benefits of Stevia
Stevia’s potential health benefits extend beyond its sweetness. For individuals with diabetes, stevia can be a game-changer. As a natural sweetener with no calories or carbohydrates, stevia exerts minimal impact on blood sugar levels. Additionally, it has the potential to assist in weight management and reducing appetite, which are significant factors for diabetic patients.
Beyond diabetes management, stevia could potentially aid in:
Weight loss due to its minimal calorie content
Reducing blood pressure in individuals with hypertension
Providing antioxidant activity, contributing to its potential health-promoting properties.
Addressing the Health Concerns
Despite the potential health benefits, some concerns surround the consumption of stevia. These concerns include:
Elevated risk of type 2 diabetes
Cardiovascular diseases
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
Potential behavioral and cognitive issues
Migraines
Carcinogenic effects
However, a thorough review of 372 studies concluded that short-term use of stevia did not result in an elevated risk of cancer, suggesting that stevia may possess anti-cancer properties. Despite these promising findings, the potential long-term effects of stevia consumption on the body are still not fully understood. Therefore, individuals with preexisting health conditions should consult a healthcare professional before incorporating stevia into their diet.
Stevia in the European Market: Availability and Products
Despite facing controversy and regulatory hurdles, stevia has found a place in the European market. Consumers can find stevia in a variety of forms including liquid, powder, and granules, often mixed with other components. The primary distribution channels for stevia products in Europe involve importers and distributors who supply them directly to food and beverage processors and manufacturers. Furthermore, the market for stevia in the European food and beverage industry can be segmented by application, offering a range of opportunities for incorporation into different products.
The growing consumer awareness and acceptance of stevia-sweetened products in Europe suggest that consumers have embraced them despite previous concerns about potential health effects. The competition in the European market for stevia extract and leaves comes from within the EU, specifically France and Spain, and notable non-EU exporting countries like China, Morocco, India, and Malaysia. The regulations impacting stevia products in Europe require adherence to EU legislation and buyer-specific requirements.
Expect Health Food Stores to Stock Stevia
Health food stores across the EU have embraced stevia, recognizing its potential benefits as a natural sweetener and food ingredient. Stevia-based products, including stevia extract powder, table-top sweeteners based on steviol glycosides in liquid or tablet form, and zero-calorie sugar substitutes, are commonly available. The rising demand for natural and healthier products, market segmentation by industry, and the various functionalities of stevia as an antioxidant, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial, influence the availability of stevia products in these stores.
When marketing stevia products, these stores emphasize:
the clean, sweet, and sugar-like taste
its natural and label-friendly attributes
benefits like strong market availability and positive consumer perception
Indeed, stevia has not only carved a place for itself in the European market but has also become a staple in health food stores.
Food and Beverage Manufacturers Incorporating Stevia
The food and beverage industry has also hopped on the stevia bandwagon. Manufacturers like PureCircle by Ingredion have received authorization from the EU Commission for their steviol glycosides produced via bioconversion. The high solubility of these extracts has made them attractive to European buyers, suggesting a potential for increased adoption of stevia in European products. Stevia is commonly incorporated into a range of products, including:
bakery items
dairy food products
beverages
dietary supplements
confectionery
The manufacturers promote stevia-sweetened products by emphasizing their natural credentials, and benefits like strong market availability and positive consumer perception. The consumer response to stevia-sweetened products in Europe has been predominantly favorable, characterized by growing consumer awareness and a rising prevalence of food and beverage items containing stevia.
Stevia’s journey through the European regulatory landscape has been a roller coaster of bans, concerns, revisions, and acceptance. Its potential health benefits and the increasing demand for natural, low-calorie sweeteners have carved a niche for stevia in the European market. Despite the controversy and the availability of alternatives, it seems that stevia has secured its place as a popular choice for those seeking a natural sweetener. However, the evolving research and regulatory stances remind us that the world of sweeteners is as complex as it is sweet, necessitating informed choices for the benefit of our health.
Donald Trump visibly descends into confusion during a baffling rant on stage attempting to attack government regulations to protect climate initiatives and education funding proving sinister Republican truth. John Iadarola and Francesca Fiorentini break it down on The Damage Report.
“Donald Trump’s rally speeches have always been a dizzying mix of fearmongering, conspiracy theories, threats against his enemies, and laments about how America is a “nation in decline.” Since Trump made Joe Biden’s decrepitude the centerpiece of his 2024 campaign, even before the Democrat’s calamitous debate, you might have expected the Republican to focus on appearing more competent and presidential at his MAGA gatherings. Yet Trump’s rallies are now weirder than ever.
It’s not just that the substance of Trump’s remarks has grown more disturbing, though it certainly has (for example, he regularly celebrates the January 6 rioters and uses Nazi rhetoric to describe migrants). These days his speeches are also littered with pointless and astoundingly strange musings, like his anti-shark diatribes and tributes to a fictional serial killer.”
In a world where environmental issues are beginning to become much more noticeable, instilling a sense of environmental awareness in children is more important than ever.
Environmental activities help parents teach their kids about the importance of caring for the planet—not only by promoting a love for nature, but also by developing responsible habits that can last a lifetime.
Here are 20 examples of fun, educational activities designed to inspire climate awareness in children.
20 Environmental Activities For Kids:
1. Nature Scavenger Hunts
Who doesn’t love scavenger hunts? Play along with your kids and have fun! Nature scavenger hunts provide an exciting way for kids to explore the outdoors while learning about the environment. Create a list of items for them to find, such as different types of leaves, rocks, or animal tracks. This activity not only connects children with nature but also encourages observation and curiosity. Plus it’s fun for adults, too!
2. Recycling Relay Race
Trick the kids into helping you to take out the recycling on trash day! Transform the concept of recycling into a fun and active game. Set up recycling bins with different categories (paper, plastic, glass) and have a relay race where children sort recyclables into the correct bins. This interactive activity not only educates them about recycling but also promotes teamwork and physical activity.
3. Planting Adventures
This is a great activity to keep the kids busy while you’re gardening. Engage them in the wonder of growing plants by organizing a planting adventure. Provide seeds, soil, and small pots, allowing each child to plant their own seeds. As they witness the growth of their plants, they develop an understanding of the life cycle and the importance of nurturing the environment.
4. Upcycled Art
Encourage creativity while teaching the principles of upcycling by organizing art projects using recycled materials. Take the kids on a walk to look for interesting items being thrown away in your neighborhood. This will create an even stronger correlation between what was once trash and what is now something useful or beautiful. Talk to them about the state of our landfills or garbage in the ocean while you work on the projects.
5. Earth Day Pledges
Celebrate Earth Day by having children create personalized pledges to care for the planet. Provide them with sample papers outlining simple actions like reducing water usage, recycling, or picking up litter. Allow them to decorate their pledges using images cut out of magazines, markers, colored pencils, stickers, etc. This makes the pledge more special to them as it is uniquely their own. Hang them somewhere as a reminder to them.
Global warming Photo: Sujalparab Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
6. Trash to Treasure Fashion Show
Turn environmental education into a creative event with a trash to treasure fashion show. Have children design and create outfits using recycled materials such as newspapers, plastic bags, and cardboard. This activity not only emphasizes the importance of reusing materials but it is a fun time for everyone. Have them walk the runway as if they were in a real fashion show. Take pictures of the kids wearing their creations so you never forget the memories you made that day!
7. Animal Habitat Dioramas
Deepen children’s understanding of ecosystems by having them create dioramas of animal habitats. This hands-on activity allows them to explore the unique environments different animals call home. Prior to creating the dioramas, take the kids for a walk through the woods to point out the habitats of different animals (holes in the ground created by groundhogs, bird nests in the trees, a dam in a stream created by beavers, etc.). As they are creating the dioramas talk to them about how things we do can impact animal’s homes and that we’re responsible for protecting species from going extinct.
8. Environmental Story Time
Libraries aren’t as busy as they used to be, but they still have events for kids. Check your local library for any climate change events and take the kids to pick out the environmental books they’re most interested in reading and/or learning from. This activity combines literacy with valuable lessons about our planet.
9. Water Conservation Challenge
Teach children about the importance of water conservation through a hands-on challenge. This activity empowers children to take direct action toward sustainability and helps them understand the finite nature of resources.
One way to go about this would be to show them how much water is used when washing dishes or point out how much water is being wasted when they have the sink running while they brush their teeth. Keep in mind that you don’t want to scare them by talking about not having enough water in the future or by telling them about the predicted “Water Wars” of the future. (That scares me!)
10. Waste Audit
Provide each child with a small waste basket for their room and then on trash day, go through them together and point out things that should be recycled vs. thrown away. This activity is meant to teach them about what items should be recycled, but it can also help them to see how much waste is generated by just one person each week.
Discussing ways to reduce waste and promote recycling can help kids develop a sense of responsibility when it comes to what they throw away.
11. Bird Watching Excursions
Introduce children to the world of birdwatching by organizing a trip to a local park or nature reserve. Provide binoculars and bird guides, encouraging them to observe and document the bird species they find. Connecting with nature on a personal level sparks an appreciation for biodiversity.
One way to turn it into a game is to have the kids mark each bird they see in their guidebooks and make it a challenge to see who will be the first to find every type of bird. Obviously you’ll want a guide specific to your country and location. Set aside a month over the Summer and visit a new location each weekend.
12. Energy-Saving Home Challenge
Educate children about energy conservation by organizing a challenge. If they have a habit of leaving bedroom or bathroom lights on, explain why it is important to turn lights off when leaving a room and award little prizes for anyone who remembers to turn the lights off for an entire week.
13. Environmental Science Experiments
Make learning about the environment exciting with hands-on science experiments. There are many different science kits you can purchase for kids that make learning fun with experiments. Check out Amazon for the widest selection of kits (not an affiliate or sponsor!).
14. Community Clean-Up
Contact the local government to see if any public spaces nearby are in desperate need of clean-up. If you live near the beach, that is an excellent place to start. There is garbage washing up on shore from the ocean as well as trash left behind by beach visitors. Take this time to talk about the dangers certain types of trash pose to wildlife—from seagulls to sea life.
15. Eco-Friendly Cooking Classes
Teach children about sustainable food choices, such as using locally sourced ingredients or reducing food waste. Cooking activities not only instill a sense of responsibility but also teach practical life skills. Instead of organizing formal classes, you can also find a selection of recipes for the kids to choose from so they are motivated to make the food because they actually want to eat it afterwards!
16. Eco-Friendly Crafting Workshops
Make craft projects focused on eco-friendly materials and sustainable practices. Using items like recycled paper, fabric scraps, and natural dyes, children can create artwork while learning about the environmental impact of different materials.
17. Nature Tours
You can take the kids on virtual journies to learn about ecosystems all over the world online. However, I would anticipate better engagement if you take them outdoors on a hike, or to the local aquarium to see underwater species. Kids will enjoy being there in person more than watching it on a computer screen.
18. Environmental Awareness Games
Turn learning about the environment into a play time with educational games. Whether it’s a board game focusing on conservation or interactive online quizzes, incorporating gamified elements makes environmental education enjoyable and memorable for children.
19. Eco-Friendly Fashion Design Challenge
Inspire eco-conscious thinking in the realm of fashion by organizing a design challenge. Have children create outfits using sustainable and recycled materials, emphasizing the importance of making environmentally friendly choices in the fashion industry. Have them put on a fashion show where they walk the “runway.” Afterwards, ask them to pose like models as you take photos.
Logo for the Earth Guardians Club
20. Earth Guardians Club
If you have a lot of free time and you’re ambitious, you can create something for all of the kids in your community. Establish an Earth Guardians Club where children actively participate in environmental projects and initiatives. This club provides a platform for collaboration, idea-sharing, and taking collective action to make a positive impact on the environment.
Nurturing Tomorrow’s Environmental Activists
Kids will enjoy these environmental activities. They will teach them about the state of our planet while also preparing them to take care of it in the future. The younger generations are more passionate about climate change, gun reform, and world peace. They are activists at heart and each generation that follows will be more educated about saving our planet and acting responsibly—unlike the generations that came before them.
There are now extreme weather events and wildfires occurring earlier in the season, and increasing in number. The 20 environmental activities on this list will prepare kids for the tough road that lies ahead. Especially when dealing with the inaction of our government!
Are your kids too old for these environmental activities?
That’s okay! You can have conversations with them instead. Be prepared to have a difficult conversation with older children when they ask why we continued to use fossil fuels when scientists warned us that we were damaging our only home. There is no planet B. If they are old enough to understand, you can explain how each country’s government is the party responsible for regulation and use of fossil fuels. As individuals we can do our part to protect the planet and protest/demonstrate to push the government to do the right thing.
Encouraging environmental awareness in children goes beyond imparting knowledge; it involves fostering a deep connection and sense of responsibility toward the planet. By engaging kids in hands-on environmental activities that blend education with creativity and fun, we sow the seeds for a future generation of environmental activists. These activities empower children to understand their role in caring for the Earth and inspire a lifelong commitment to sustainability.
As we nurture their love for nature, we equip them with the tools to become advocates for a healthier and more sustainable world. We must try to think positively about the state of the planet and the government policies that may or may not have changed for the better by the time they are adults. As children ourselves we would envision what the world looked like in the future. Most of us imagined flying cars and a more technologically advanced world by the year 2000 and we’re now in 2024. Society did not move forward and embrace change— which is a requirement for progress.
If you have ideas for other environmental activities not included in this list, please leave your ideas in the comments below!
A group of about 20 school-age participants demonstrated what peace means to them Friday inside the Kansas Statehouse.
According to the students, who participated in the Topeka Center for Peace and Justice Peace Camp, peace means respecting other people’s boundaries, ending gun violence and supporting kindness. They learned this over their weeklong camp, which focused on finding inner and community peace. They spent time in nature, had a “peace for me” day that was all about self care, and created projects.
Their art was displayed around the first floor of the Statehouse. Campers performed dances they choreographed, and 14-year-old Sophia Ellington sang “Stand Up” by Cynthia Erivo and “Rise Up” by Andra Day.
“You need to stand up for your people,” Ellington said. “And for peace and justice.”
The demonstration happens at the end of peace camp each year, but this was the first time it was held at the Statehouse. Elligton’s voice echoed through the halls, into the rooms where laws are made, carrying lyrics like: “Do you hear freedom calling?”
Executive director and pastor Carl Frazier said he wants lawmakers to worry.
“We want to worry them until they say, ‘OK, I’m going to do this,’ so our future can get better,” Frazier said.
Restorative Justice counselor Regina Platt said one of the ways to get better is creating safe spaces.
“Topeka needs a safe haven for our young people,” Platt said. “There is no need to be turning down the opportunity for young people to come in and connect.”
Frazier and Platt said they want lawmakers to take a look at the laws and regulations that affect youths. Frazier cited California as an example, with its second chance law, which gives people who have been convicted of crimes an opportunity to have their criminal record sealed or expunged.
Fraizer said officials also should be looking at laws that affect people with limited resources — such as those who can’t pay bail.
“Sometimes African Americans and poor people can’t make bail, because a lot of their grandmothers are taking care of them, and all they’ve got is Social Security,” Frazier said “So we’ve got laws that our youth are staying in jail because their parents can not make bail. Those things are terrible.”
Peace Camp was open to any child. But the Topeka Center for Peace and Justice usually works with kids who have “touched the criminal justice system,” Frazier said.
The organization focuses on being a hub for restorative resources: in the community, justice system and schools. It provides resources in the community through events such as peace camp and neighborhood accountability boards, in the justice system with their peace outreach program, parent adolescent mediation and victim/offender mediation, and in the schools by promoting peaceful schools restorative leadership.
One of the main things the Topeka Center for Peace and Justice helps with is mediation in the justice system. Community corrections officers send them referrals, and the center offers trained mediators.
One referral came from a school where a girl had an altercation with the security guard. At first, Frazier wasn’t sure she was going to make it through mediation.
“But at the end, the officer was there, and she hugged him and said she was sorry.” Frazier said. “That means the work we’re doing is touching people. It’s making a difference. And I love it, because I think everyone deserves a second chance.”
One of the peace demonstrations June 28, 2024, at the Kansas Statehouse. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector).
During an appearance before a military review board, an attorney for Guantánamo Bay’s Gazan “forever prisoner” revealed that negotiations are underway for his possible release after being tortured and detained without charges for 22 years.
Abu Zubaydah (whose real name is Zayn al-Abidin Muhammed Husayn) is perhaps the most egregious victim of the U.S. national security apparatus that ran amok after the September 11 attacks and still grinds on. He appeared in a Guantánamo courtroom Thursday, listening to his attorney Solomon Shinerock tell a board of U.S. officials that a “redacted” country could admit Abu Zubaydah and monitor his activities indefinitely. The detainee will agree to any form of surveillance by the host country, said Shinerock, who did not name the country during the unclassified portion of the hearing.
The prisoner looking healthy at 52 in a business suit and tinted glasses, did not sport the piratical eye patch he carried the first time he was seen in a public setting in 2016. At that time, the government was still insisting that Abu Zubaydah had been an important Al Qaeda operative who had advance knowledge of 9/11 and other attacks and was only cooperating with Guantánamo staff as a subterfuge. Since then, the claim that he was “No. 3” in Al Qaeda has been abandoned. The U.S. government’s assessment of Abu Zubaydah has shrunk to a brief statement that he “probably” served as one of Osama bin Laden’s “most trusted” facilitators.
State Superintendent Ryan Waters is trying to mandate prayer and Bibles in Oklahoma schools. Christian Nationalists can’t seem to grasp the concept of the separation of church and state.* Yasmin Khan breaks it down on Rebel HQ.
In this episode of the 538 Politics podcast, senior election analyst Nathaniel Rakich reacts to President Joe Biden’s performance at the first debate in the 2024 Presidential election.
Donald Trump’s private jet sat overnight next to a diplomatic aircraft for the Russian government at Washington Dulles International Airport, according to a reporter’s photos.
Raw Storyreported on Friday that Trump’s private Boeing 757, sometimes referred to as “Trump Force One,” was sitting next to the Russian government plane. Social media users reacted with jokes, but it was also noted that it was unclear exactly how this happened, and that it could easily have been a coincidence.
The next day, there was an update from the individual who released the initial photos, freelance reporter Andrew Leyden.
“Saturday Update: Trump’s plane is still at IAD next to the Russian government plane, which appears to be readying to leave soon,” Leyden reported. “A United Arab Emirates Air Force C-17 is also parked nearby today.”
Saturday Update: Trump’s plane is still at IAD next to the Russian government plane, which appears to be readying to leave soon. A United Arab Emirates Air Force C-17 is also parked nearby today. pic.twitter.com/so8uro48KP
The U.S. Supreme Court’s watershed decision on the homeless Friday will make it easier for elected officials and law enforcement authorities nationwide to fine and arrest people who live on streets and sidewalks, in broken-down vehicles, or within city parks — which could have far-reaching health consequences for homeless Americans and their communities.
Zany: I would like to start off my commentary by sharing information about a country that has solved homelessness and ask any government official why we have trillions of dollars for the Defense Department (which has lost track of and can’t account for billions in funding) and foreign wars, but we can’t implement a policy proven to solve homelessness. Instead, we vilify and criminalize people who have no home. Realize that we’re experiencing a severe housing shortage. To buy a home in California, you need to have a yearly income of at least $200,000 (California requires the highest annual salary to afford a typical home at $197,057, according to Bankrate’s analysis.)
“Finland is the only European Union country that has nearly eliminated homelessness. In 2022, the number of people experiencing homelessness in Finland was 3,686, down from 18,000 in 1987. The country’s “Housing First” policy, launched in 2008, is based on the idea that everyone has a right to a permanent place to live, regardless of their circumstances. The policy includes converting homeless shelters into housing units with supportive services, and NGOs like the Y-Foundation also provide housing for people in need. As a result, the practice of sleeping outside, known as “sleeping rough”, has been almost completely eliminated in Helsinki, where only one night shelter remains. Finland’s constitution also mandates that public authorities promote the right to housing and that citizens have the right to care and subsistence if needed.”
What a drastic difference between how they view the homeless in Finland (people in need of help) and how America views the homeless (criminals and addicts). Instead of creating policies to fine people for sleeping outside or in their car, how about you create policies to solve the actual crisis? We are the richest country in the world, yet we have a large population of people in poverty, homelessness, and starving children. Meanwhile, the CEOs of corporations are being paid billions for overseeing the workers who are the ones actually generating the revenue for the corporations.
We also have the richest people in the country barely paying anything in taxes, while the poorest of us have to give up a large percentage of the paychecks we bust our asses to earn. Does that sound fair to you? Last thing I’ll say: Biden was horrible during the debate and we’d all love a strong, vibrant candidate who could put Trump in his place and forcefully vocalize the plan for this country moving forward. However, if we end up having Biden as our candidate, regardless of the horrible decisions he’s made in funding Israel’s genocide, we cannot allow Trump to get back into the White House.
Trump and his Project 2025 crew will destroy this country AND the world. They plan to deport every immigrant in the country. He’s going to repeal birthright citizenship and deport people born to parents who are immigrants, even if they’ve never been to their parents’ home country!
And then once again, our allies will be alienated and we’ll cater to Russia and China. To the people saying, “We survived 4 years of Trump. We can survive 4 more:” First of all, it won’t be 4 years, it’ll be the rest of his life and then another GOP President will take over the new America—a dictatorship we used to call a democracy. This is not hyperbole! Trump would neverhelp women to regain their rights, fund Ukraine so it can maintain its democratic nation, do anything to help the homeless or marginalized groups among us. He’s already said he’ll make it a law that there are only two genders in America—Male and female.
So regardless of how terrible or old Biden may be, our country will be much better off than it would be under Donald Trump’s leadership.
Now back to the regularly scheduled news of another bad decision handed down by the Supreme Court.
KFF HEALTH NEWS
In a 6-to-3 ruling in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, the justices in the majority said allowing the targeting of homeless people occupying public spaces by enforcing bans on public sleeping or camping with criminal or civil penalties is not cruel and unusual punishment, even if there are no alternative shelter or housing options available for them.
“It’s hard to imagine the chaos that is going to ensue. It’ll have horrible consequences for mental and physical health,” said Ed Johnson, director of litigation at the Oregon Law Center and lead attorney representing homeless defendants in the case.
“If people aren’t allowed to engage in survival while living outside by having things like a blanket and a pillow, or a tarp and a sleeping bag, and they don’t have anywhere else to go, they can die,” he said.
The case, the most consequential on homelessness in decades, comes amid widespread public frustration over the proliferation of homeless encampments — especially in Western cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Portland, Oregon — and the unsafe and unsanitary conditions that often fester around them.
An estimated 653,100 people were homeless in the United States in 2023, according to the most recent federal estimates, the vast majority residing in shanties, broken-down recreational vehicles, and sprawling tent camps scattered across urban and rural communities.
The Oregon city of Grants Pass, at the center of the legal battle, successfully argued that it was not cruel and unusual punishment to fine and arrest homeless people living outdoors or illegally camping on public property.
Mike Zacchino, a spokesperson for Grants Pass, issued a statement Friday that the city was “grateful” to receive the decision and is committed to assisting residents struggling to find stable housing. Theane Evangelis, the city’s lead attorney, told the Supreme Court in April that if it couldn’t enforce its anticamping laws, “the city’s hands will be tied. It will be forced to surrender its public spaces.”
In the majority opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch argued that the homelessness crisis is complex and has many causes, writing, “With encampments dotting neighborhood sidewalks, adults and children in these communities are sometimes forced to navigate around used needles, human waste, and other hazards to make their way to school, the grocery store, or work.”
However, Gorsuch wrote, the Eighth Amendment does not give the Supreme Court justices primary responsibility “for assessing those causes and devising those responses.” A handful of federal judges cannot “begin to ‘match’ the collective wisdom the American people possess in deciding ‘how best to handle’ a pressing social question like homelessness,” he wrote.
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the decision focuses on the needs of local government and “leaves the most vulnerable in our society with an impossible choice: Either stay awake or be arrested.”
Elected officials, both Republican and Democrat, have increasingly argued that life on the streets is making people sick — and they should be allowed to relocate people for health and safety.
“If government offers people help and they can’t or won’t accept it, there should be consequences. We have laws that need to be used,” said Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who is an adviser to California Gov. Gavin Newsom on homelessness, referencing laws that allow the state to require mental health and addiction treatment, for instance.
The high court decision could further embolden cities to sweep encampments and could force homeless people to be more transient — constantly moving around to evade law enforcement. Sometimes they’re offered shelter, but often there is nowhere to go. Steinberg believes many cities will more aggressively sweep encampments and keep homeless people on the move, but he does not believe they should be fined or arrested.
“I’m comfortable telling people that you can’t camp in public, but I would not criminalize it,” he said. “Some cities will fine and arrest people.”
Advocates for homeless people say constant relocations will further imperil the health of this population and magnify public health threats, such as the spread of communicable diseases. They fear conservative-leaning communities will criminalize street camping, pushing homeless people to liberal municipalities that provide housing assistance and services.
“Some cities have decided that they want to fine, arrest, and punish people for being homeless, and the majority opinion tells communities that they can go ahead and do that,” said Steve Berg, chief policy officer for the National Alliance to End Homelessness. “If communities really want less homelessness, they need to do what works, which is make sure people have access to housing and supportive services.”
As they disperse and relocate — and possibly get arrested or slapped with fines — they will lose connections to the doctors and nurses who provide primary and specialty care on the streets, some health care experts say.
“It just is going to contribute to more death and higher mortality rates,” said Jim O’Connell, the president of Boston’s Health Care for the Homeless Program and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “It’s tough, because there’s a public safety versus public health” debate cities are struggling with.
As homeless people become sicker, they will get more expensive to treat, O’Connell said.
“Stop thinking about the emergency room, which is cheap compared to what we actually see, which is homeless people being admitted to the ICU,” he said. “I’ve got 20-something patients at Mass General today taking a huge amount of money to care for.”
In Los Angeles, which has one of the biggest homeless populations in America, street medicine provider Brett Feldman predicts more patients will need emergency intensive care as chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease go untreated.
Patients on anti-addiction medication or those undergoing treatment to improve their mental health will also struggle, he said.
“People are already getting moved and camps swept all the time, so we already know what happens,” Feldman said. “People lose their medications; they lose track of us.”
Homeless people die at rates two to six times higher than residents living in stable housing, according to a May report from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Drug overdoses and coronary artery disease were the top two causes of death since 2017.
Feldman said it may become harder to house people or place them into treatment programs.
“We rely on knowing where they are in order to find them,” Feldman said. “And they rely on us knowing where they are to get their health care. And if we can’t find them, often they can’t complete their housing paperwork and they don’t get inside.”
The Biden administration has pushed states to expand the definition of health care to include housing. At least 19 are directing money from Medicaid — the state-federal health insurance program for low-income people — into housing aid.
California is going the biggest, pumping $12 billion into an ambitious Medicaid initiative largely to help homeless patients find housing, pay for it, and avoid eviction. It is also dramatically expanding street medicine services.
The Supreme Court decision could interrupt these programs, said Margot Kushel, a primary care doctor and homelessness researcher at the University of California-San Francisco.
“Now you’re going to see disconnections from those case managers and housing navigators and people just losing touch in the chaos and the shuffle,” she said. “What’s worse, though, is we are going to lose the trust that is so essential to getting people to take their medications or stop their drug use and, ultimately, getting people into housing.”
Kushel said the ruling would make homelessness worse. “Just having fines and jail time makes it easier for a landlord to reject you for housing,” she said.
At the same time, Americans are increasingly frustrated by encampments spreading into neighborhoods, ringing public parks, and popping up near schools. The spread is marked by more trash, dirty needles, rats, and human excrement on sidewalks.
Local leaders across deep-blue California welcomed the decision from the conservative majority, which will allow them to fine and arrest homeless people, even if there’s nowhere for them to go. “The Supreme Court today took decisive action that will ultimately make our communities safer,” said Graham Knaus, CEO of the California State Association of Counties.
Newsom, a Democrat who leads a state with nearly 30% of the nation’s homeless population, said the decision gives state and local officials “the definitive authority to implement and enforce policies to clear unsafe encampments from our streets,” ending legal ambiguity that has “tied the hands of local officials for years and limited their ability to deliver on common-sense measures to protect the safety and well-being of communities.”
Trump has a take on Taylor Swift and it’s extremely creepy. Cenk Uygur and Jordan Uhl discuss on The Young Turks.
“Donald Trump repeatedly fawned over Taylor Swift in newly released audio ― but it’s not her skills as a singer, songwriter and live performer that had the former president so enchanted.
It’s her looks.
In audio from author Ramin Setoodeh that was played Wednesday on CNN, Trump says he has heard that Swift is talented, but largely focused on how “beautiful” she is.”
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According to the American Heritage Dictionary; 1. Young progressive or insurgent member of an institution, movement, or political party. 2. Young person who rebels against authority or societal expectations.
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The operators of the decades-old energy systems that heat and cool buildings in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul have ambitious plans underway to reduce emissions.
The mostly hidden networks of insulated pipes connected to centralized heating and cooling equipment are known as district energy systems. They’ve long been championed as an energy efficient way to heat and cool campuses or downtowns, especially in cooler climates.
Many, though, are connected to fossil fuel facilities, and the systems’ high efficiency alone won’t be enough to help schools, cities, and companies meet their goals of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions by midcentury or sooner. Climate pledges by these institutional customers are now driving efforts to repower district energy systems with clean energy.
University district energy systems began initiatives to reduce emissions years ago and “now in the last five years we’re seeing a lot of emphasis on this from cities and towns,” said Rob Thornton, president and CEO of the International District Energy Association.
In Minneapolis, Cordia Energy, the private company that operates the largest downtown district energy system, is replacing natural gas boilers with electric models. And in downtown St. Paul, officials are seeking federal funding for a project to recover heat from a wastewater treatment plant and reduce energy use for a system currently powered by electricity and biomass.
“We’re doing decarbonization at the rate that our customer base is asking for and we can economically withstand,” said Jacob Graff, Cordia Energy’s north region president. Customers connected to its downtown Minneapolis system range from stadiums and high rises to apartments and medical facilities.
From ancient Rome to skyscrapers
The concept of district heating has been around for centuries, with its roots in the networks of hot water pipes built in ancient Rome. Some of the first modern steam-based systems were built in New York in the 1880s. Today, the United States has more than 700 district energy systems heating and cooling buildings in downtowns, universities, medical campuses, towns and communities.
Cordia Energy’s Minneapolis system opened in 1972 to serve the 57-story IDS Center, still the tallest building in Minneapolis. Today, the steam and chilled water system manages seven plants that heat and cool the IDS and more than 100 other buildings, including U.S. Bank Stadium, Target Center, and the convention center.
Hennepin County owns and operates a much smaller district energy system, connected to a downtown trash incinerator, that primarily serves county buildings and Minneapolis City Hall.
District Energy St. Paul began in the early 1980s after then-Mayor George Latimer hired Swedish engineer Hans Nyman to replace the aging steam system with a hot-water central heating system. Latimer wanted to create a national model of district energy and he largely succeeded. District Energy St. Paul has the largest hot water system in the country, with more than 200 buildings.
Together, the two systems serve some of the state’s biggest buildings, which have emerged as the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in both cities. In Minneapolis, 65% of the emissions are from commercial, multifamily and industrial buildings. St. Paul’s data is similar.
Tapping clean electricity in Minneapolis
Cordia plans to reduce emissions from its Minneapolis system by 30% by 2030 before reaching net zero by 2050. Xcel Energy’s green tariff program will offset around half the electricity Cordia uses this year, and it wants to buy more credits if they become available.
The company is replacing older engine-driven chillers with electric models at the former Dayton’s department store, where it has operations. Chillers modulate the temperature inside buildings and can be powered by electricity or natural gas. Geothermal is another potential solution being studied.
A potential geothermal project “hasn’t cleared the economic hurdles yet,” Graff said. “I think we’ll eventually get there.”
Minneapolis customers are not alone in seeking to reduce emissions from district energy systems, Graff said. San Francisco will be Cordia’s first system to decarbonize using hydropower from a dam the company owns in Yosemite National Park.
St. Paul looks to waste heat recovery
Downtown St. Paul’s district heating system is owned and operated by a company called District Energy, which recently worked with the city and the regional planning agency on a $152 million U.S. EPA grant application to tap heat from a regional wastewater plant for the city’s system. It would include a project with Xcel Energy to pay for an electric boiler and hot water storage.
District Energy president and CEO Ken Smith said half the system already has been decarbonized through biomass, solar thermal and renewable energy credits. An analysis showed that recovering heat from the Metro Wastewater Treatment Plant, which manages 170 million gallons of water daily, could produce 60 megawatts of thermal energy, and heat pumps could lift the temperature up to the system average.
If District Energy receives the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant, the system would go live in 2028 and allow District Energy to provide 92% of energy from carbon-free or carbon-neutral sources, far ahead of its goal of net zero by 2050.
“This certainly would be able to accelerate that by 30 years,” Smith said. “From everything we’ve seen, there’s nothing like this, certainly not in the United States, and I don’t believe there’s anything like it at this scale in Canada, either.”
St. Paul Resilience Officer Russ Stark said District Energy’s emissions represent a small portion of the total greenhouse gases in the city. Still, around 50,000 tons of carbon would be eliminated annually, and that’s “very impactful,” he said.
The wastewater project would allow District Energy St. Paul to expand to more buildings, decarbonizing them in the process, Stark said. Adding clients “is not a simple process but we’ve been talking a lot about that being an exciting part of the project,” he said. “I don’t know how many major city downtowns there are where there’s an opportunity to largely decarbonize most of the downtown in the way that we can.”
Systems face unique, local challenges
A one-size-fits-all solution for decarbonizing district energy systems doesn’t exist, as most are unique based on customers and geography. Not all can be inexpensively retrofitted for electricity, and the ongoing office and commercial real estate fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic adds risk to financing projects.
Thornton, of the district energy association, said electricity pricing can escalate quickly, especially in summer, creating uncertainty in the market. New technology may require more space, different controls and significant staff training. Federal policy remains unclear about what parts of a district energy system would qualify for tax incentives, he said.
Graff ticks off many challenges in decarbonizing Cordia’s Minneapolis operations. Geothermal works well on campuses and in low-slung neighborhoods where the problem of sending steam to the 50th floor of a skyscraper does not exist, Graff said.
There’s not a simple clean power source like natural gas that has the energy density to create and push steam through a network, he said. To illustrate the point during a tour of Cordia’s downtown plant, he pointed to a pipe with a modest circumference and said the natural gas flowing through it provided the heating for much of the system.
Electrification may be a goal of heating and cooling, but offsetting it with clean power is daunting. Cordia would have to install heat pumps capable of drawing more than 400 megawatts from a clean energy source, which would be no small feat, Graff said.
Hydrogen sounds promising but has no track record yet for supplying an entire downtown district energy system, Graff said. Biomass has potential, too, but sourcing enough it to service a sprawling district energy system reliably remains difficult.
Battery storage, microgrids and other technologies could all play a role, but each brings issues ranging from cost to a lack of testing in a district energy environment, at least at the size of the downtown Minneapolis system.
“We have the economy of Minneapolis in our hands, and regional economics depend on downtown Minneapolis,” Graff said “We need a reliable infrastructure that people can count on that can be delivered economically, and it’s our responsibility to do that.”
Medicaid Committee asks attorney general if KDHE can be forced to disclose documents.
Zany: I’m no expert on Kansas’ Medicaid Contract award process, but a few things stood out to me waving bright red flags. I hope someone helps me out in the comments if they know more about this than I do. I don’t want to spread misinformation here.
Medicaid red flags:
The first thing that jumped out at me was the mention of a governor privatizing Medicaid. How would that even work? They’d have to use the state’s money to pay for it, right? The whole purpose of Medicaid is that it’s funded by the federal government to make sure low-income families and single mothers have health insurance. I hope they aren’t charging any of the recipients for their insurance plan.
If they still receive funding from the government (since it’s sent out to all of the states) what is the Kansas government doing with it? They can’t use it to pay the Medicaid contractors if it’s now private vs. public assistance, right?
The second red flag is the secrecy about how the contractors were picked. I have a feeling I know why. One of the insurance companies they chose employs a lot of people from the Kansas state government, including someone who worked with Medicaid. Again, this information is not a proven fact. It’s only me asking questions and making observations (no Tucker Carlson comments, please 😁).
Since so many people who worked in the government have become employed by one of the chosen insurance companies, it makes me think that there is corruption involved here with money being given to people in government in exchange for a contract worth $1 billion. It reminds me of lobbyists and how so many people go from the U.S. Congress to working as lobbyists for certain industries.
That’s all I am going to say about this story. If you know more about this or have answers to my questions, please comment below and I will correct anything I have said. Instead of my opinion here, I will provide the answers to my questions as factual information.
A committee of the Kansas Legislature opened an inquiry into the Kelly administration’s replacement of one of three Medicaid contractors with a Blue Cross and Blue Shield entity linked to the disgraced company that stiffed Kansas health care providers for millions of dollars when forced out of the program in 2018.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced in early June the retention of two KanCare contractors — Sunflower Health Plan and United Healthcare Community Plan — and ouster of the third incumbent contractor Aetna Better Health Kansas. KDHE chose Healthy Blue, which had joined forces with a holding company associated with Amerigroup, the company that burned bridges in Kansas by refusing to pay millions of dollars to service providers after it failed to win renewal of its KanCare contract.
“I cannot imagine why on earth they (Amerigroup) would ever be considered to be brought back in,” said Rep. Susan Concannon, R-Beloit. “I’m just appalled that we … are reentering into a contract, with the way they behaved when they exited.”
Rep. Barbara Ballard, a Lawrence Democrat and also a member of the Medicaid oversight committee, told KDHE officials during a statehouse hearing on KanCare that her constituents were concerned Healthy Blue was affiliated with a company that didn’t have a good reputation.
“Did you totally disregard past performance?” Ballard asked.
KanCare provides health coverage to approximately 450,000 low-income children, parents, pregnant women, people with disabilities and seniors in Kansas.
The method deployed by KDHE to award three-year deals worth more than $1 billion annually to each of three contractors led to an initial third-place tie between Aetna Better Health and Healthy Blue. The administration of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly broke the deadlock in favor of Healthy Blue. That prompted Aetna Better Health to formally challenge the decision. It also triggered the inquiry by the Republican-led House and Senate committee responsible for oversight of the state’s Medicaid program.
In addition to Aetna Better Health, another of the seven bidders — CareSource Kansas — filed a protest with the Kansas Department of Adminstration. The agency’s secretary said reviews of the two complaints could be completed around the Fourth of July.
The pending complaints limited KDHE’s ability to comment on the controversy and hindered release of documents associated with awarding of the contracts. In reponse to questions posed by legislators, KDHE secretary Janet Stanek defended integrity of the selection process.
“It was the entire picture,” Stanek said. “As the leader of the agency, I’m very confident in the process that was used. It was much more comprehensive than the past process. I’m not worried about the move forward.”
The hunt for documents
The joint committee of the Legislature voted to ask Attorney General Kris Kobach to prepare a memorandum articulating what information about the KanCare procurement process could be obtained by legislators. In part, lawmakers want access to documents showing how KDHE scored applicants on a series of questions posed to each bidder. Two Democrats on the Medicaid oversight committee expressed reservations about calling in Kobach.
“We have a responsibility to the people of the state of Kansas and 450,000 Medicaid folks,” said Rep. Will Carpenter, an El Dorado Republican.
Aetna Better Health, the company at risk of losing a KanCare contract after holding it five years, filed requests under the Kansas Open Records Act for detailed records on the scoring of rival companies on 36 questions submitted to each. A summary of scoring among bidders has been made public. An executive with Aetna Better Health said the company may go to court to force prompt release of KDHE documents.
On June 7, KDHE announced selection of the three managed care organizations to serve the Medicaid program from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2027.
Medicaid was privatized under the KanCare banner by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback in 2013. He extended the initial KanCare contracts by issuing an executive order, rather than seek permission of the Legislature. Sunflower State Health Plan and United Healthcare have been KanCare contractors from the start.
In the second round of KanCare contracting, the administration of GOP Gov. Jeff Colyer announced seven months before Colyer’s term as governor ended that Aetna Better Health would replace the third original KanCare contractor Amerigroup Kansas. The change accompanied implementation of KanCare 2.0 on Jan. 1, 2019.
In the years since, KanCare contracting became a larger political football in the Legislature. Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, and her peers blocked Kelly from moving ahead with development of new KanCare contracts. The objective was to push Medicaid managed-care decisions beyond the 2022 election in anticipation Republican Derek Schmidt would be elected governor. However, Kelly defeated Schmidt.
In 2023 and 2024, Kelly administration officials at KDHE and the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services collaborated on the request for proposals and evalution of bidders for KanCare 3.0. During the Legislature’s Medicaid oversight meeting Monday, several Republicans on the panel appeared eager to support reversal of Aetna Better Health’s ouster as a KanCare contractor.
‘Why did this happen?’
Jane Brown, president and CEO of Aetna Better Health, said the company was protesting KDHE’s “arbitrary and capricious” approach to breaking the scoring tie with Healthy Blue because the process was unfair to participants.
“The basis for the protest is simple,” she said. “One cannot make up grading criteria after a bid has already been opened and graded.”
Brown also raised Healthy Blue’s connection to Amerigroup and argued Healthy Blue was unlikely to stand up an acceptable service delivery system by Jan. 1. In the company’s formal complaint, Aetna Better Health recommended the contract award to Healthy Blue should be rescinded.
Brown suggested that one alternative would be to make Aetna Better Health the state’s fourth managed care contractor.
“I am being asked the question: Why? Why did this happen?” she said. “I do not, at this time, have a good answer. By the time this process is over I think we’re all entitled to know why we have to have over 100,000 people go through this disruption. This is a moment for passion, and I feel strongly that we did not deserve to lose this bid.”
‘Conflict of interest’
Chad Moore, president of CareSource Kansas, said it was disappointing the company wasn’t chosen to help manage KanCare. He objected to KDHE’s procurement process, the decision-making criteria applied to contracts and potential complications of alleged underbidding by successful applicants. In the scoring process, CareSource trailed Aetna Better Health and Healthy Blue.
Moore raised an alarm on behalf of CareSource Kansas because Healthy Blue wasn’t disqualified early in the process despite evidence of “significant conflict of interest concerns” at Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Comparable assertions of an apparent conflict of interest associated with Healthy Blue’s bid were raised by attorneys for Aetna Better Health in a lengthy document challenging KDHE’s contract award.
In the past three years, at least four former state employees were hired by Blue Cross and Blue Shield or entities related to Healthy Blue.
The list included: Sarah Fertig, state Medicaid director at KDHE from 2022 to 2023, as BCBS Kansas director of government relations; Ashley Jones Wisner, senior director of public affairs at KDHE from 2019 to 2021, as director of corporate communications at BCBS Kansas; Clay Britton, chief counsel to the governor from 2019 to 2021, as general counsel for BCBS Kansas; and RJ Wilson, chief of staff to the Kansas House Democratic leader from 2023 to 2024, as director of government relations for Elevance, which is a joint venture linked to Healthy Blue and Amerigroup.
“CareSource was placed at a competitive disadvantage to successful bidders,” Moore said. “Our protest highlights procedural and evaluative concerns in the KanCare contract award process. Ensuring a transparent and fair evaluation process is essential for maintaining the integrity of KanCare, its providers and the quality of services provided to its beneficiaries.”
And, a response
Adam Proffitt, secretary of the state Department of Administration, said the written contract protests by Aetna Better Health and CareSource Kansas would be considered separately by the state’s director of purchases.
The decision of the director regarding the appeals would be considered the “final agency action,” Proffitt said, because no other mechanism existed for an administrative appeal. The director’s decision could occur around July 4, he said.
He said unsuccessful bidders on the new KanCare contract who objected to the agency’s final ruling could file a lawsuit to challenge the outcome. In 2018, that’s what transpired when Amerigroup was dropped as a KanCare contractor by the Colyer administration. Amerigroup unsuccessfully sought to force KDHE to repeat the bidding process.
“Any petition for judicial review should be served on the director of purchases on behalf of the Department of Administration,” Proffitt said.
I met McShera while reporting another newsletter story on the world’s first degrowth master’s program, run by a university in Barcelona. She’s a recent graduate of the online master’s, and the clothing library was her thesis project. In that story, we explored what happens when the philosophical ideas of a new economic system meet the realities of the one we have. McShera’s project is one example of what that looks like in practice.
McShera started her career in fashion. In 2000, she launched the first fashion incubator in the U.S. But as much as she loved the essence of fashion, she knew that the industry was guilty of horrifying human rights abuses, pollution, and waste. She had long been interested in circular fashion, but she came to feel that even a circular approach was not enough to get to the root of all the ills associated with fast fashion. When she discovered degrowth and the master’s program, it became a proving ground for her ideas about replacing fast fashion and extraction with borrowing and being resourceful with what already exists.
McShera started building her clothing library pilot by collecting surplus garments from local thrift and vintage stores. It’s estimated that thrift stores sell only about 20 percent of the donated clothing they receive. Even vintage boutiques and curated consignment shops will end up getting rid of some garments they weren’t able to sell in a set time. “They have to cycle stuff in,” she said. “So even if it’s something really cute, maybe they overpriced it at the thrift store, or maybe it just didn’t sell in two weeks because it’s a sweater and it’s unseasonably warm.”
Just from local secondhand shops, McShera quickly gathered over 5,000 garments — even more than she could take, she said. She donated her own surplus to a housing shelter, winnowing the library collection down to about 1,500 items.
McShera kicked off the launch with a fashion show in the stacks. Professionally coiffed librarians modeled items from the collection for photographers and a crowd of over 160 attendees. “It was so much fun,” said Denise LaFrance, the Dover library’s director. The fashion show was the biggest indoor event at the library in her 25-year tenure. “I mean, seriously, people still are talking about it.”
The Library Fashion Show
The Library and some of the fashion looks
During the pilot, McShera also hosted an eco-fashion panel and three workshops on mending and styling, intended to help people think differently about their relationship to their wardrobes. “Because it’s free, people were more willing to experiment with their style,” McShera said. There was no guilt or shame associated with returning something, because returning was an understood part of the process.
LaFrance borrowed, among other things, a pair of gray silk pants that she remembered loving, even though they weren’t the type of thing she would typically shop for. When she checked them out, they still had their original price tag attached. They retailed for about $400. “I would never buy $400 pants,” she said. “But they were fabulous.”
Over just 12 days of being open, McShera said, the library saw over a hundred people come through, and 65 borrowed something. And of the more than 100 garments that were checked out during the library’s pilot, all of them came back clean and in good condition.
“It’s the commoning of clothing,” McShera said. “It’s free access versus ownership.”
With the pilot concluded, and McShera’s thesis complete, she’s now looking toward the next steps of bringing clothing libraries to fruition in her community and beyond. She presented the concept at the 10th International Degrowth Conference last week in Spain, and plans to publish a manual that will empower community members all over the world to start their own projects, in partnership with their local libraries. Someday, she’d like to see a network of clothing libraries — sharing resources and knowledge, advocating for policy change, and possibly even swapping clothes to help keep their collections fresh.
Although she feels there’s more testing to be done, a few more local libraries in her area have already expressed interest in hosting a pilot, she noted.
“The most difficult thing about this was space and time,” said LaFrance. The library is in an old building, she said, “and we’re kind of bursting at the seams.” She suspects that most libraries would be similarly pressed to carve out space for a small shop’s worth of clothing racks. One thing she suggested to McShera was a setup more like a traveling bus.
But McShera’s ultimate vision is to integrate clothing into the normal functioning of a library. “The reason I wanted the model to be in partnership with the public libraries is because the behavior’s normal. People already know, I go in and I borrow,” she said. She added that libraries tend to be centrally located in cities and neighborhoods, highly visible and easily reachable by foot or transit. And many libraries — including Dover’s — already branch out from books, lending things like tools, games, and music.
“This just seems like a logical next step,” she said.
Rather than a pop-up in an event room, she envisions a future where clothing racks could find a permanent home in the library. There could even be regular staff members with fashion expertise who could steward the collections. “Just like if someone needs help using the photocopier or help researching something, you ask the librarian for help,” McShera said. “So if you wanted some help styling, you could say, ‘Hey, is there a clothing librarian on shift today?’”
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