Recently, the World Bank Group’s Board of Directors made the unprecedented decision to overrule its own independent accountability mechanism: the Office of the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman. Independent accountability mechanisms at development finance institutions address complaints from communities experiencing harms ranging from environmental damage to gender and sexual violence.

Normally, when investigating non-compliance with institutional policies, the board approves an action plan to address the non-compliance and remedy the harm. As advocates for communities harmed by development finance, we have seen the transformative impact that this accountability process can have, if followed. This is not what happened in June.

In response to a 2022 complaint, a Compliance Advisor Ombudsman investigation found that the International Finance Corporation (IFC) — the private sector wing of the World Bank Group — violated its own sustainability framework in its investments in six microfinance institutions in Cambodia. These investments enabled predatory lending practices that led to the loss of land and livelihoods, hunger, increased suicide risks and threats of retaliation.

Instead of following the process required by the accountability mechanism policy, the board invalidated the findings and allowed IFC to create a “special” action plan that does not fully address the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman’s recommendations and the harmed communities’ demands. Moreover, the board is preventing the office from addressing any other microfinance complaints. As a result of this massive overstep, Compliance Advisor Ombudsman Director General Janine Feretti resigned, and over 100 civil society organizations and experts have called on the bank to reverse course. 

Microfinance excluded today. Something else tomorrow

The decision argues that microfinance, which has well-documented shortcomings that the World Bank acknowledges, is not governed by IFC’s Sustainability Framework. Microfinance experts disagree. The controversy points to a larger issue plaguing the institution: the false choice between efficiency and accountability. 

Increasing global challenges and shrinking bilateral commitments to development aid have pushed multilateral institutions like the World Bank to demonstrate that they can do development more efficiently. Three years ago, the bank underwent a self-proclaimed “evolution” to become a “bigger and better bank” with a redoubled focus on “impact, speed and efficiency.”

But the institution has increasingly seen accountability to project-affected communities as inefficient, rather than recognizing that it is necessary for effective development. Although the board’s response in the Cambodia case is unprecedented, it is only the latest in a string of problematic decisions limiting accountability. 

Recently, the World Bank entered a series of Full Mutual Reliance Frameworks with other development finance institutions. These agreements allow certain co-financed projects to apply only one institution’s environmental and social standards. Unfortunately, they also limit harmed communities’ access to only that financier’s independent accountability mechanisms, barring them from using the other lender’s mechanism despite the project being supported by both institutions. This is a problem because independent accountability policies vary in the rights afforded to complainants, making a difference for the outcomes communities can expect.

Similarly, the board kicked off 2026 by approving a hydroelectric power project in Bhutan co-financed by the World Bank’s public and private sector arms that stripped affected communities’ access to its Compliance Advisor Ombudsman office. The bank celebrated this project as emblematic of an efficient, “One World Bank” approach.

Accountability is not inefficient

Independent accountability mechanisms allow institutions to hear directly from harmed communities and course correct, protecting themselves from reputational damage. They also legitimize international financial institutions’ operations in-country and are often the sole pathway to remedy for project-related harm when local accountability channels — such as courts — are inaccessible or function poorly. Without these independent mechanisms, international financial institutions would not have a legitimate claim to legal immunity. 

In the Cambodia case, reports claim that the institution wanted to limit the World Bank’s Compliance Advisor Ombudsman’s jurisdiction over microfinance to prevent a flood of complaints, since IFC is one of the largest international funders of the microfinance sector. If IFC is afraid of receiving many complaints, wouldn’t that indicate that its current microfinance activities aren’t efficient and effective? In the future, will other sectors be excised from accountability because they are “too big to fail?” 

Rather than shrinking the scope of what the bank can be held accountable for, the institution should focus on preventing and addressing harm so that development is sustainable. Restricting communities’ ability to spotlight harm is counterproductive. 

Next steps for World Bank accountability

The Cambodia case saga is happening while the bank is integrating its Compliance Advisor Ombudsman with other independent accountability mechanisms that cover the institution’s public sector investments. While the board committed to the principle of “no regression” from the protections that communities enjoy under the existing independent accountability policies, recent events undermine trust in that commitment.

To us, “no regression” primarily means not diluting the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman policy, which has strengths recognized by several board-commissioned external reviews. 

But there are signs that dilution is already happening. The bank has launched a recruitment process for the leader of the new independent accountability mechanism that does not include civil society stakeholders on the selection committee, falling short of past recruitment processes. In another departure, current World Bank staff are not prevented from applying for the position, potentially undermining the mechanism’s independence.

Here’s what the World Bank needs to do to restore trust:

Ensure the new independent accountability mechanism covers all the institutions’ activities. Any investment, regardless of sector or type, can contribute to harm. Creating accountability “carveouts” only allows harm to continue and prevents the institution from learning lessons. 

Commit to a strong independent accountability policy and better delivery of remedy. The integration of the bank’s independent accountability mechanisms should build on the principle of non-regression by taking the best policies and practices from each. The new policy should increase its accessibility and independence. It must also contain an explicit remedy mandate, as an accountability mechanism that does not facilitate remedy is of little use to communities.  

The World Bank Group must stop mistaking accountability for inefficiency. Effective development is impossible without strong accountability to impacted people. 

Feature image credit: UKinUSA/Wikimedia Commons

TriplePundit]]> Tina Casey https://triplepundit.com/?p=71558 2026-09-04T15:27:28Z 2026-09-04T15:27:27Z

Climate-related floods are becoming more frequent, deadly and unpredictable worldwide, forcing emergency planning professionals to rethink their strategies for keeping communities safe.

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A devastating flash flood wreaked a destructive path in the Himalaya mountain region at the border of central Nepal and Tibet last week. At least 1,252 people were killed, more than 4,200 are still missing, and thousands have been displaced as communities take stock of the damage. Climate-related floods are becoming more frequent, deadly and unpredictable worldwide, forcing emergency planning professionals to rethink their strategies for keeping communities safe.

The Himalayas: A climate canary in the coal mine

The Himalayas have been warming almost twice as fast as the global average for the past 40 years. The evidence is shown in melting glaciers, thawing permafrost, shifting river patterns, and a weakening of the underlying bedrock.

In 2020, researchers noted 47 glacial lakes at risk of flooding, spread across Nepal, China and India. The actual figure is thought to be much higher. According to a 2026 update from the United Nations Development Program and partners, millions of people are at risk from glacial lake flooding in the Himalayas.

The August disaster also illustrates how difficult it is to prepare for climate-related emergencies. A flood hit the same area 14 months ago after a glacial lake burst in Tibet, and disaster officials set up a new response plan focusing on the Gyirong Port complex at the border. However, their monitoring system was not designed to anticipate ice collapsing from a high-altitude glacier. In a matter of minutes, the flooded Trishuli River surged past the border and hit the Rasuwa district in Nepal.

The August 26 disaster was “unlike anything they had prepared for,” New York Times reporters Lily Kuo and Pei-lin Wu emphasized. They cited Dr. Saswata Sanyal of the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development, who explained that the traditional model of single-hazard monitoring is outdated. “There were sensors for flood, flash flood risk, right? But there were not sensors for this kind of ice avalanche,” he told the Times.

Nepal says high-emitting countries should shoulder the cost of climate disaster

The bulk of the disaster occurred in Nepal, where recovery is estimated to cost $5 billion or about a tenth of the country’s total economy. Local leaders are already pressing the case for climate justice, with Nepal Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal saying major greenhouse gas emitters should be responsible for the financial burden of losses caused by climate change.

“We are shifting our diplomatic framework from ‘aid’ to ‘justice and compensation,” Khanal told the Kathmandu Post. “This is not a matter of charity; it is a matter of legal and moral liability. The major industrial emitters, such as China, which is the world’s top emitter, the United States at number two, and India at number three have a historical responsibility to compensate vulnerable nations like Nepal.”

Some nations have affirmed that responsibility through pledges to the international Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, approved by almost 200 countries at the COP28 climate talks in 2023. But inflows to the fund fall far short of what’s needed to cover the cost of climate disasters in vulnerable countries.

Though experts estimate developing countries will need up to $580 billion to cover their climate-related losses by 2030, only $741 million was committed to the Loss and Damage fund as of last year. Less than $500 million has actually been delivered, and the fund is now at risk of running out of money.

Nearly 30 countries have sent emergency aid to Nepal following the floods, though experts say recovery will be long and challenging.

Flood risk looms large in developed and developing countries alike

While the dramatic changes happening in the Himalayas present an extreme example of the deadly risks of a warming world, the remote mountain villages of Nepal and Tibet are far from the only places facing the threat of extreme floods.

Around 1.8 billion people, nearly a quarter of the world’s population, live in areas with significant flood risk tied to climate change, according to the World Bank.

Even in wealthy nations like the United States, people are purchasing homes and businesses in high flood risk areas without even knowing it. In years past, planners could refer to historic flood records when determining whether or not to buy out properties in at-risk zones, but the historic record is an insufficient guide in the climate-induced flood risk scenario of today.

A growing number of U.S. states are adopting new laws that require detailed flood disclosures on real estate transactions, including a past history of flood damage, to ensure buyers are fully aware of the risks. Some states, such as New York, also require landlords to inform tenants of flood risks before they sign a lease.

But most states are still woefully unprepared, leaving residents in the dark even as risks increase. Only New York, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and North and South Carolina get an “A” grade in the Natural Resources Defense Council’s flood disclosure law tracker, with Tennessee rated a B for “better.” More than a dozen states have yet to pass a disclosure bill, while the rest are inadequate.

As states and insurance companies find themselves underprepared for the risks ahead, the federal government under Donald Trump not only denies U.S. responsibility for global climate impacts, but seems intent on scrubbing climate awareness from the public consciousness as well.

The multi-front attack has most visibly taken the form of an aggressive energy policy aimed at increasing fossil fuel consumption while obstructing wind and solar alternatives and eliminating energy efficiency programs. More insidiously, upon taking office Trump also ordered federal agencies to wipe references to climate change from their websites, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture further crippled by a planned “restructuring” aimed at driving experienced professionals out of the agency.

As the Natural Resources Defense Council points out in a recent report, the rising cost of flood damage is just one of many contributors to the affordability crisis fostered in part by Trump’s climate change denialism.

TriplePundit]]> Sanket Jain https://triplepundit.com/?p=71522 2026-09-01T23:51:43Z 2026-09-01T23:51:41Z

Menopause-related depression remains overlooked, especially in low- and middle-income countries where access to mental healthcare is limited. In India, some community health workers are stepping in to support women despite receiving no formal training in menopause care.

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When Sanjivani Patil spoke about the excruciating pain she was enduring, everyone dismissed it and said it was normal.

She started experiencing irregular periods at the age of 42, and often felt restless, suicidal and depressed. “I would get periods twice a month and bleed excessively,” said Sanjivani, a resident of Badlapur in India’s Maharashtra state.

Somehow, she kept dealing with it. Then one day, Sanjivani’s blood pressure spiked and she had to be hospitalized. Night sweats, sleepless nights, slowed metabolism and brain fog followed.

Menopause is a natural transition, typically occurring between ages 45 and 55, when hormone levels change and periods stop permanently. Many experience irregular periods, hot flashes, night sweats, sleep disturbances, brain fog and mood changes. Growing evidence suggests that these hormonal changes can also affect mental health.

An analysis of over 28,000 women in India found that nearly one in five postmenopausal women aged 50 years and older were living with clinical depression. But reliable estimates of the number of women affected by depression during menopause are scarce, partly because menopausal mental health is not routinely monitored and receives little attention, largely due to negative stigmas and the normalization of emotional and physical period pain.

The consequences of that lapse in recognition can be severe. Sanjivani went through this emotionally devastating period with no support system. “I felt sick and didn’t want to live anymore,” she told TriplePundit.

Almost on the verge of ending her life, Sanjivani found hope in a phone call from a community health worker who lived 370 kilometers away.

Building a volunteer support system

Sanjivani is an Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA), one of over 1 million women community health workers serving people in both rural and urban India.

ASHAs were introduced under India’s National Rural Health Mission in 2005 to improve access to maternal and child healthcare and bring down infant and maternal mortality rates. They are officially considered voluntary workers, rather than government employees, and are paid largely through performance-based incentives with additional payments varying across states. Over the years, however, their responsibilities expanded far beyond maternal and child health to include immunization drives, family planning, tuberculosis care, non-communicable disease screening, and public health campaigns, leaving the majority of them overworked and underpaid.

As a result, ASHAs are unionizing to demand better pay and working conditions. During one such protest, Sanjivani met Netradipa Patil (no relation), a fellow ASHA and union leader representing 3,000 health activists, and the two exchanged phone numbers.

They chatted regularly until, one day, Netradipa noticed that Sanjivani wasn’t talking as much. Then, she stopped answering Netradipa’s calls altogether. Through fellow ASHAs, Netradipa learned that Sanjivani was diagnosed with depression.

After 15 days of unanswered calls, Sanjivani finally picked up. Based on their conversation, Netradipa suspected Sanjivani’s symptoms might be linked to menopause. “She needed psychosocial support,” Netradipa said.

Though long-distance personal support is not a typical part of an ASHA’s duties and the health activists receive no formal training in menopause care, Netradipa immediately began counseling Sanjivani over the phone and advised her to consult a doctor.

She also suggested meditation, deep-breathing exercises and other mindfulness practices. They spoke daily, and Netradipa eventually found that Sanjivani loved poetry and making rangolis — intricate, hand-drawn floor designs made with colored powders or flowers. Drawing upon her own experience, Netradipa knew that arts could be a gateway to recovery. She encouraged Sanjivani to start practicing the arts regularly, but Sanjivani didn’t feel motivated.

After two months of Netradipa sharing inspiring poems and rangoli designs on WhatsApp, Sanjivani was moved to try her hand at rangoli and document her experiences through poems. “I felt relieved,” Sanjivani said.

After seeing her rangolis, some spanning more than 6 feet across, people began inviting her to create rangolis in their homes. “This helped me regain my lost confidence,” Sanjivani said.

She was still struggling with her mental health, but she called Netradipa whenever she felt overwhelmed. Netradipa patiently listened. “It’s important that people vent,” she said.

Over time, Sanjivani began sharing small victories, too, like someone complimenting her poetry and rangoli. Netradipa encouraged her to hold on to these moments as reminders of her progress and give her something positive to draw on when she was struggling. “It’s important to keep building a bank of such positive affirmations,” Netradipa told TriplePundit.

Tackling menopause misconceptions

Menopause remains a taboo subject in many parts of India, leaving women reluctant to discuss their symptoms or seek help, especially when it is viewed as an inevitable part of aging. When Sanjivani experienced depression, she said those around her did not recognize that depression during the menopausal transition can be influenced by hormonal changes and may require a different approach to diagnosis and treatment than other forms of depression.

Menopause-related depression can also be difficult to recognize because symptoms often fluctuate over many years, said Dr. Jayashri Kulkarni, director of health education and research in the Women’s Mental Health Center at Australia’s Monash University. “Sometimes women describe that they feel completely normal, and then again, they can have a crash in their mental health,” she said.

The fluctuating nature of the condition can make diagnosis challenging, and there is no specific laboratory test to detect menopause-related depression, Kulkarni said. Instead, doctors rely on tests commonly used to assess hormone levels that do not accurately depict what’s happening inside the brain during menopause. “Many times, doctors do blood tests to understand the hormone levels in the peripheral blood sample, which is not a good indication of what is happening with the hormonal fluctuations in the brain,” she explained.

Researchers still need to develop better ways to measure these changes in the brain, Kulkarni said.

Another common misconception in the medical community is that menopausal depression is the same as any other depression, Kulkarni added. This can lead to women being treated with standard antidepressants without sufficient consideration of the specific hormonal changes associated with menopause, and they may not be helpful.

Sanjivani faced this problem. In the first year of experiencing menopause, she said she grew frustrated with taking antidepressants while the underlying cause of her symptoms continued and went unrecognized.

One of the biggest challenges is how the medical field has long-viewed menopause in the same way it views diseases, said Martha Hickey, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Melbourne and director of the Women’s Gynecology Research Center at the Royal Women’s Hospital Australia. “That model shouldn’t apply to menopause because it’s a life event,” she added.

When menopause is framed as an illness, it can reinforce the notion that aging marks a period of decline rather than another stage of life. One way to challenge that stigma is to “talk about the value of older women rather than see [menopause] as a period of decline and decay,” Hickey said.

Rethinking menopause care

While Sanjivani rediscovered herself through poetry and rangoli, researchers were exploring the impacts of different creative expressions, as well. In Turkey, a randomized trial found that mandala coloring significantly reduced menopause related anxiety and improved quality of life.

Researchers also asked menopausal women to listen to two traditional Turkish music pieces — a calming melody in the morning and another designed to promote sleep at night — for 15 minutes twice a day over five weeks in addition to routine menopause care. They reported fewer menopausal symptoms, reduced depressive symptoms and better sleep quality than women receiving only routine care.

Another analysis found that mind-body interventions improved sleep, depression and anxiety during menopause, with mindfulness- and music-based interventions showing the strongest psychological benefits. That includes meditation, yoga, pilates, music therapy and dance therapy, among others.

And a review of 30 randomized trials including over 3,500 women found that a wide range of psychosocial interventions — from cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness to support groups, counseling, and coaching — improved women’s emotional wellbeing during menopause.

While menopause research traditionally focused on identifying and addressing symptoms, a review of 181 studies argues that researchers should also ask how women can flourish during this life stage. Although menopausal symptoms were consistently associated with poorer emotional and psychological wellbeing, a small body of research suggests that some women describe the transition as a period of personal growth and renewed purpose. The authors argue that these positive experiences remain underexplored.

With counseling, medications, and arts in her toolkit, Sanjivani recovered after three years. She then decided to address misconceptions about menopause in her community and help other women experiencing menopause-related depression.

Drawing on her experience as an ASHA, Sanjivani said that many women with persistent menstrual problems are quickly advised to undergo a hysterectomy — the surgical removal of the uterus — which permanently stops menstrual periods. India’s National Family Health Surveys have found that by age 50, one in 10 women have undergone a hysterectomy. “This is not how it should be,” Sanjivani said, echoing many health advocates who say the procedure is often recommended to women without adequately exploring less invasive treatments for their menopause symptoms.

Sanjivani now maintains a list of women experiencing symptoms similar to hers and helps them receive proper treatment. She aims to reach as many people as possible. “After someone heals, I ask them to share their experience with others, and that’s how this chain keeps growing,” Sanjivani said.

And while professional medical treatment is an essential, irreplaceable part of menopause care, she suggests it should be complemented with art therapy.

Netradipa is also spreading her knowledge. She has trained more than 50 ASHAs in menopause support and provides counseling for patients remotely. While ASHAs receive no formal training in menopausal mental health, many take it upon themselves to support others. Their efforts are helping fill a critical gap in mental health support. Less than 4,000 clinical psychologists serve more than 1.4 billion living in India, leaving many women with few places to turn.

Netradipa said she would like to see the government formally train ASHAs to counsel menopausal women, compensate them fairly and hire more mental health and menopause specialists. Despite success stories like Sanjivani’s, ASHAs face tremendous challenges. With limited resources and without compensation, they remain overstressed and many also work as farmers to make ends meet.

Still, they continue to help people, reaching as far as the most remote corners of the country. “Whenever I see someone recovering, I feel like I have given them a new life, which inspires me to keep going,” Sanjivani said.

TriplePundit]]> Tina Casey https://triplepundit.com/?p=71504 2026-08-28T18:14:07Z 2026-08-28T18:14:05Z

As credible sources of information are cut off in the United States, from lost newspapers to deleted government data, the nation’s public libraries play a crucial role in educating the public and serving communities. But budget cuts threaten their mission.

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The United States lost more than 270,000 journalism jobs over the past two decades as almost 3,500 newspapers shut down. Even as independent news outlets are forced to close, a well-capitalized network of partisan platforms that some have likened to propaganda machines is growing quietly in the background.

Media critics have long focused attention on Fox as a mainstream news outlet singularly dedicated to coloring the news with a formulaic ratings strategy that promotes and amplifies conservative talking points on issues like climate change and transgender rights. Even casual Fox News viewers can determine pretty quickly the network has a partisan bent, but that’s not always the case.

In one concerning example, investigative journalist Judd Legum recently identified a new network of Republican-affiliated news websites aimed at influencing voters in key swing states under the guise of reliable media outlets.

“One Nation, the Senate GOP’s primary dark money group, is producing propaganda masquerading as journalism,” Legum reported in his Popular Information newsletter earlier this month. So far, he found half a dozen such operations, covering key races in Alaska, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire and Ohio in the runup to the November midterm elections.

These outlets are branded as neutral and credible local news platforms like Maine Policy Updates, which publishes under the tagline “Maine’s News Source,” and Iowa Voice (“Stay Informed. Stay Iowa”), making it almost impossible for readers to tell the sites are entirely owned and operated by One Nation. Legum also identified factual inaccuracies reported in the outlets that match messaging used in One Nation political ads.

The loss of credible news outlets alongside the rising prevalence of fake news is not the only concern. The decline of trustworthy information resources in the United States takes many forms — from social media platforms, where over half of Americans are exposed to misinformation on a daily basis, to the Donald Trump administration’s systematic elimination of evidence-based federal programs and resources.

In the face of these challenges, a group of often unsung heroes are still fulfilling the role of professionally trained, reliable information and community outreach specialists, even as budget cuts threaten their mission. Yes, we’re talking about your local librarians, who perhaps are more important now than ever before.

Libraries remain a trusted resource, but staffing and budget shortfalls pose problems

Trump took office last year with a reputation for criticizing public libraries, among other independent social and cultural institutions. But the latest numbers from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), an independent federal agency Trump unsuccessfully tried to eliminate, tell a story of an essential community resource.

“This year’s data make clear that public libraries remain one of the most trusted and utilized institutions in American life. With over 800 million visits, millions of programs offered, and a steady rise in both physical and digital circulation, libraries are demonstrating their enduring relevance and reach in communities nationwide,” according to the most recent IMLS report tracking over 9,000 U.S. public library systems. “A total of 93 million people attended 4.6 million programs, addressing critical needs in early learning, digital and financial literacy, workforce development, and public health.”

The use of digital library services is also on the rise. Earlier this year, the Ohio-based e-lending firm OverDrive noted that digital lending broke records last year among the 114 countries where it provides services, with U.S. library systems listed in nine of the top 10 library systems providing e-books, audiobooks and digital magazines.

Yet the gap between library budgets and the rising demand for library services is widening. While library room reservations and e-resources increased alongside in-person visits from 2021 to 2024, staffing and budgets have not kept up, the advocacy organization Every Library warns. In 2024, staffing levels remained 8.2 percent below pre-pandemic levels and a 5 percent budget increase failed to match the pace of inflation.

“Smaller libraries have been hit especially hard. Their staffing levels were down 11.5 percent, more than three times the average,” Every Library emphasized. “They also saw a decrease in e-resource usage, contradicting the trend seen in larger systems.”

Changes to federal broadband program could threaten digital access and restrict access to content at public libraries

Libraries are also beacons of digital literacy for people with limited access to the internet, undercutting educational and employment opportunities among other life goals. Around 66 million U.S. households have “low levels of digital readiness,” and 33 million do not use the internet at home, according to the American Library Association. People of color, rural residents, low-income families and people with disabilities are most impacted by digital opportunity gaps, according to the ALA.

“America’s libraries — 120,000 strong — are essential to addressing these gaps and realizing the vision of universal broadband adoption and ability to use,” the organization argues. Even so, smaller libraries are more likely to cut e-services when budgets fall short.

Despite these concerns, in June the Federal Communications Commission signaled that it will propose new rules impacting its E-Rate program, which provides schools and public libraries with low-cost broadband access.

The FCC followed up on August 14, filing a document in the Federal Register in which it opened several proposed rules for public comment. Although the FCC previously stated that no facilities would be cut from the E-Rate program, advocacy groups continue to raise alarms over the potential for paring down the program, if not eliminating it entirely.

Equally concerning is the FCC’s apparent willingness to impose new content restrictions on E-Rate users that target minorities, particularly transgender individuals. Specifically, the agency’s proposal references CIPA, the Children’s Internet Protection Act of 2000, which is intended to prevent minors from accessing pornography online. However, words like pornography are subject to interpretation, and Trump swept into office under a social agenda targeting “transgender ideology” as pornographic.

Although the text of the FCC filing emphasizes general concerns over “children’s screen time,” the initial reference to CIPA is of a piece with the Trump administration’s persistent efforts to demonize transgender persons, providing powerful momentum for ongoing attempts to prevent LGBTQ materials from circulating in public libraries.

Library advocates fight back

This summer, the American Library Association partnered with the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition to launch a national campaign calling on the public to lobby their representatives in Congress to preserve E-Rate. “E-Rate is a congressionally-mandated program, and we need Congress to help us defend E-Rate now,” the partners emphasize.

The campaign also includes an online tool to help people submit comments to the FCC before the October 13 deadline.

While the result remains to be seen, raising awareness about the potential impact on library services is a solid first step. For communities already impacted by cuts to food assistance benefits and new Medicaid work requirements, losing free services at a local public library is yet another cut that runs deep.

Featured image: Mitya Ivanov/Unsplash

TriplePundit]]> Farai Shawn Matiashe https://triplepundit.com/?p=71475 2026-08-18T04:16:38Z 2026-08-18T12:00:00Z

In thousands of communities across Zimbabwe, people pool their savings together and loan it out to help their neighbors build homes and start businesses.

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Esther Mwedzi sits on the front veranda of her home in eastern Zimbabwe separating her laundry. The large, modern brick house stands out against the dusty yard. “I built this house with my hardwork,” the 38-year-old mother of three told TriplePundit. 

Mwedzi belongs to Mutekwatekwa, a savings group in Chitiyo village near the capital of Zimbabwe’s Manicaland province, Mutare. With no access to banks, she borrowed low-interest loans from the informal savings group to buy materials like bricks, cement, windows and doors. A year and a half later, she had built a four-bedroom home for her family.

Informal savings groups — popularly known as “mukando” in Shona, a local language — offer small loans to their members at a 10 percent interest rate. And unlike commercial banks and other registered financial institutions, they do not ask for collateral. Thousands of these groups exist across Zimbabwe.

Interest rates for commercial banks, on the other hand, are as high as 46 percent annually. Lending from them also requires payslips, letters of employment, and proof of residence, which are significant barriers in a country with a high unemployment rate where many people work in the informal sector. 

Zimbabwe’s financial sector, and especially access to capital, is inaccessible for many, said Rashweat Mukundu, a social commentator. Formal banking is limited to the few who hold formal jobs and businesses, so savings groups are a long-standing method community members can use to support each other. 

“The poor, urban, and rural communities mobilize whatever they have to support investment and to support food security,” he told 3p.

Lending to your neighbors

Informal savings groups allow people to pool money regularly to access low-interest loans and earn returns based on trust and agreed rules. 

Established in January 2024, the Mutekwatekwa savings group that Mwedzi belongs to serves 50 members. They are divided into four, 12-person groups, and each group manages its own funds. Every member contributes at least US$5 monthly to the shared pool. 

Each small group lends money to its own members, expecting them to repay it within a month with an additional 10 percent in interest. The 12 members share the extra income from the interest at the end of the year.

The initiative helps people access capital, acquire assets and start up small businesses, said Jeremiah Chitiyo, chair of the Mutekwatekwa savings group. “At the end of the year, members’ savings normally double,” he added. “Small loans have enabled people in this community to build houses, buy cows and goats, pay school fees and drill boreholes.”

The clubs encourage people to work hard so that they can contribute something to the group at the end of the month, Jeremiah said. Most of the members make their money from farming and keeping livestock, but the Mutekwatekwa savings group also runs a garden, where members grow vegetables and fruits to eat and sell to pay for their monthly contributions.

Some members also run their own informal savings group outside of Mutekwatekwa. Senior Chitiyo, a relative to Jeremiah and another Mutekwatekwa savings group member, is in a separate six-member club made up of smallholder farmers. The area is dry and water is scarce, so the members are taking turns loaning out the group savings to each other to drill boreholes to irrigate their crops. 

Each borehole costs about $2,000, which is beyond the reach of what Senior can afford on her own. Using lessons from Mutekwatekwa savings club, she pays $25 a month towards the borehole drilling initiative. So far, the group has drilled boreholes at three members’ homes, and Senior is next in line. Construction is scheduled for August  2027.

Senior is not new to informal savings groups. She has participated in different clubs for more than a decade, using the proceeds to build her house and feed and clothe her four children.

The broader impact 

Village savings groups were the first step to improving community members’ livelihoods, alongside climate-smart agriculture and ability to sell produce in more towns, said Delilah Takawira, country director at the international humanitarian aid and development organization CARE Zimbabwe.

CARE Zimbabwe built the Mutekwatekwa garden and helped establish its savings groups with funding from a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) program designed to reduce poverty and improve food security and climate resilience. “Our role is facilitator, not financier,” Takawira said. “We train groups, support them to develop their own constitutions, and step back. Members own and manage their money.”

USAID funding cuts imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump in early 2025 disrupted the effort, which was supposed to run from 2020 to 2027.  But because long-term sustainability was designed into the program from day one by encouraging local ownership and self-managed structures, like the village savings groups, much of what it built continues to live in the communities without additional support. 

“Savings groups do not require external funding to operate,” Takawira said. “They belong to their members.” 

Tsitsi Mahari, another member of the Mutekwatekwa group in Chitiyo village, built her family a three-bedroom house with loans from her group. It’s a modern home with tiled floors, sectional couches, and a smart television powered by a solar system.

“I bought building materials for this house and the furniture,” said the 23-year-old mother of two. To do so, she borrowed loans as high as $300, which is more than what most Zimbabwean government workers like nurses and teachers earn a month. 

CARE Zimbabwe established similar programs across many communities. As of 2025, its programs have supported 47,777 village savings members in 5,013 groups around the country. Combined, they have saved over $1.1 million and circulated nearly $2 million in loans among themselves.

Beyond the numbers, the real impact is seen in people’s lives. Across rural communities, women who once relied solely on seasonal farming are using savings group loans to start small businesses — like chicken farms, tailoring shops and grocery stores — creating new and more reliable sources of income.

Many members have also improved their financial literacy skills, learning how to budget, save, invest, and manage household finances more effectively, Takawira said.

Savings groups also help households build resilience during difficult times, Takawira said. “During recurring droughts and economic shocks, many families have been able to draw on their savings or access loans to purchase food and pay school fees,” she added.

What if someone defaults? 

The benefits of informal savings groups come with a fair share of risk. Some people take advantage of the absence of legally binding agreements and guarantors. Across the country, many borrowers have failed to pay back the loans, resulting in financial losses for the savings group. Others may intentionally target the groups to steal money.

“This is a system entirely based on trust and promoting the common good,” social commentator Mukundu said.

The Mutekwatekwa group in Chitiyo village has experience with members who refused to pay back loans, Jeremiah said. To safeguard members’ money as much as possible, the savings group avoids giving loans to non-members, as it is difficult to follow up when they default. Members also develop, agree to, and sign a constitution that clearly states the program is owned by its members, only open to its members, and does not accept money from external parties. 

“All transactions happen in front of the full membership,” Takawira said. “The funds sit in a lockbox with three keys, held by three members.” Groups that lend within themselves experience less theft cases compared to those that lend to non-group members across the country. 

Right now, the loans in Chitiyo village are small and can only help boost small businesses, but access to any funding is better than nothing, Mwedzi said. She plans to borrow from her group to start a chicken farming project and tap into the larger market in the province’s capital, Mutare. 

“Now that I am done building, I want to invest in a broiler project” she said, smiling. “I want to diversify my sources of income.”

TriplePundit]]> Megan Amrich https://triplepundit.com/?p=71467 2026-08-17T17:36:15Z 2026-08-17T17:36:13Z

With so much information in the news and online about nutrition, it’s easy for caregivers to feel confused and overwhelmed about making the best choices for their kids. Fortunately, clear, evidence-based resources like the Guiding Stars nutrition guidance program are available to help.

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Lunch is a critical part of a child’s healthy diet, supporting physical growth, brain development and immunity. But with so much information in the news and online about nutrition, it’s easy for caregivers to feel confused and overwhelmed about making the best choices for their kids. Fortunately, clear, evidence-based resources — such as the science-backed Guiding Stars nutrition guidance program found in more than 2,000 U.S. grocery stores — are available to help families check “nutrition” off their busy list of back-to-school tasks.

School lunch: Buy or bring?

The National School Lunch Program provides 22 million free or reduced-price lunches to students across the United States every single day. The school lunch program is a lifeline for the millions of U.S. families facing food insecurity and one of the largest food and nutrition assistance programs in the nation. Along with federal assistance, nine U.S. states offer free breakfast and lunch to all students regardless of their family’s ability to pay.

School-provided meals are shaped by consistent guidelines, and research shows they’re the most nutritious food source for American kids. By law, all public school meals must adhere to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s school nutrition standards, which are based on the federal dietary guidelines updated every five years. The most recent update, for example, focused on reducing added sugars and sodium while promoting whole grains, produce and proteins.

These standards make school meals a reliable and affordable source of nutritious food, Lunches brought from home, however, can vary widely.

It may surprise some parents to learn that home-packed lunches have lower nutritional quality on average when compared to what’s provided at school, according to a 2024 meta-analysis of more than a dozen studies published over two decades. While studies like these are helpful reminders for families, the big decision to buy or bring comes down to a number of factors, from medical considerations and personal preferences to cost and access.

“Ultimately, the decision about whether to bring lunch or eat the school lunch is a family decision,” dietitian Kitty Broihier, a member of the Guiding Stars scientific advisory panel , assures caregivers. “And there are no right or wrong answers.”

Evidence-based guidance helps families take the stress out of shopping

Many families find that combining homemade and school-made lunches strikes the right balance for them. “When my children were in public school, we reviewed the school menus together,” Broihier shares. “They’d decide which two or three days to eat school lunch and which days to bring lunch from home. This allowed them some autonomy in food selections. It also encouraged them to learn to eat food someone else had prepared.”

Children involved in selecting and preparing their own food are building skills that support their health over the long term. Research including a widely cited 2018 literature review of 15 studies finds a positive association between getting kids involved with home meal prep and a greater consumption of fruits and vegetables, along with “higher self-efficacy” for cooking and choosing foods that support a healthy diet.

Still, knowing what to purchase and pack in a school lunch can easily start to feel overwhelming. Fortunately for busy families, some of the top grocers in the United States make evidence-based nutrition guidance available right on the shelf.

Celebrating 20 years in 2026, Guiding Stars is the longest-running on-shelf rating program in the U.S., leveraging the latest nutrition science to rate tens of thousands of products in a consumer-friendly system that helps shoppers make informed choices that support good health.

Guiding Stars uses credible, evidence-based nutrition science and standards from leading national and international health organizations. The system’s patented algorithms calculate nutrient density across ingredients to score food and beverage products based on attributes to encourage (such as fiber, whole grains and Omega-3 fatty acids) and attributes to limit (such as added sugars, chemical preservatives and artificial colors). The findings are overseen by an independent scientific advisory panel, including Broihier and her colleagues, and are updated regularly to reflect the latest standards.

You may have seen Guiding Stars icons in your local grocery store aisles. The apple icons with highlighted stars above are found on price tags, star-earning store brand product packaging and online. Products that meet transparent nutrition criteria earn one, two or three stars, indicating “good,” “better” or “best” nutritional value.

Research in both the U.S. and Canada has shown that featuring this type of one- to three-star nutritional guidance program at the point of purchase can effectively shift consumer behavior toward making more nutritious food choices.

That’s largely because the system helps consumers make more informed choices in a single glance, ideal for busy families making a quick grocery stop between after-school activities.

Guiding Stars is also one of the few nutrition guidance programs accessible in multiple places — not only on grocery store shelves, but also on product packaging, on the Guiding Stars website, and in the Guiding Stars app — making it even more accessible to simplify everyday food decisions based on the latest dietary guidelines.

As Broihier reminds overwhelmed audiences: “We are bombarded with more information, more messages, and a wider variety of opinions than ever before. So no wonder it feels next to impossible to sort through it all! But take heart, because you can simplify the role of nutrition in your life. It really is possible to eat well without too much stress, time, or mental energy.”

TriplePundit]]> Tina Casey https://triplepundit.com/?p=71446 2026-08-13T17:46:03Z 2026-08-13T17:46:02Z

A community cancelled their contract with Flock Safety almost every single day last month. While Flock is getting the most press and community blowback, it’s far from the only company assisting U.S. law enforcement with surveillance technology.

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A bipartisan wave of opposition to the security technology startup Flock Safety is growing across the United States. Critics say the Georgia-based company’s vast network of automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, collect personal data in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Flock says what it does improves public safety and is perfectly legal, but the system has proven ripe for error and abuse.

Though its name is seemingly everywhere right now, Flock is just one part of a growing disconnect between the expectation of constitutional protections and the reality of life in the 21st century.

Flock cameras are already active in thousands of U.S. communities

Surveillance cameras in public places are not a new phenomenon, but the rise of artificial intelligence provides Flock and companies like it with new and infinitely more powerful tools that have raised alarms among civil rights advocates.

Flock has approximately 120,000 ALPRs operating in 7,000 communities across the U.S. The cameras capture license plates and details like paint colors, bumper stickers and visible damage to recognize vehicles and allow for law enforcement tracking. The latest Flock devices can also focus on and follow pedestrians.

Though it indiscriminately records millions of people’s daily movements, Flock says it does not violate the Fourth Amendment. Part of the Bill of Rights, the Fourth Amendment prohibits the U.S. government from conducting searches, including the use of digital footprints such as cell phone location data, without a warrant.

As a private company, Flock is not subject to the same legal framework that applies to the government. Regardless of its position on this heavily debated topic, though, the company’s core business is built around contracting with law enforcement. That’s where the model collides with civil rights, including putting lives at risk.

License plate reader errors create dangerous community encounters

Increased use of automated license plate readers is followed by a worrying pattern of dangerous roadside encounters and wrongful detainments of innocent people.

Last week, a Wisconsin woman was stopped on a busy interstate and surrounded by police with their guns drawn after Flock’s system wrongfully linked her car to a homicide. She told local reporters it was the second time she’d been stopped at gunpoint in less than two weeks.

“I haven’t been asleep since this has happened,” she said, holding back tears. “Every time I close my eyes, all I can see is guns.”

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A few weeks before, automotive journalist Joel Feder of The Drive said he and his wife were surrounded by armed officers while test-driving a Range Rover in Minnesota, which Flock’s system had erroneously reported stolen. “Flock isn’t just at the center of a national debate, it hit at the center of my life,” Feder wrote.

In a July analysis of 24 traffic stops linked to license reader errors, the Institute of Justice found that officers drew and pointed their guns at innocent people in two-thirds of them. “Every one of those stops is a high-risk encounter where a wrong move, a misunderstanding, or a moment of fear can turn deadly,” Michael Soyfer, an Institute of Justice attorney, said in a statement. “No one should have to prove their innocence on the side of the road because a camera couldn’t tell a zero from an O.”

Law enforcement traffic stops are dangerous regardless of why the person was pulled over. More than 800 people died in the course of traffic stops between 2017 and 2025, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. “Despite representing only 12 percent of the population, Black people make up more than a quarter of those killed in these encounters,” the organization notes.

In one particularly horrifying incident earlier this year, a Black driver in Ohio feared for his life when an erroneous Flock alert led police to pull him over. Exiting the car at gunpoint, he was attacked by a police dog and suffered life-changing injuries. He was then jailed for hours before being released.

Though Flock’s marketing materials boast a 93 percent accuracy rate, the company’s camera network reads more than 20 billion license plates every month, adding up to over a billion inaccurate readings.

Overall outcomes can also mask more substantial shortcomings in individual jurisdictions. In Roseville, California, for example, a customized Flock system generated 1,427 alerts regarding stolen or felony-linked vehicles from 2023 to 2024. More than 70 percent of the alerts were later found to be erroneous. Flock reportedly attributed the problem to the deployment of older equipment in a configuration requested by Roseville officials.

Police misuse of Flock systems is the last straw for many communities

Beyond mistakes and equipment failures, Flock’s data is also vulnerable to intentional abuse by law enforcement officers. Recent cases in Georgia jurisdictions alone include a former police officer charged with accessing the system multiple times for non-enforcement reasons, three sheriff’s employees who resigned after an audit of Flock usage, the arrest of a former deputy charged with tracking a person known to him, three officers fired after an audit revealed unauthorized searches, and more.

This spurt of arrests, charges, and terminations follows the rollout of a new auditing tool from Flock. Effective as the tool may be, it can only catch abuse after the damage is done. Combined with terrifying cases of mistaken identity, publicity over intentional misuse of the system created mounting backlash in communities.

More than 100 municipalities have cancelled their contracts with Flock since 2021, according to the civic engagement organization Deflock. More than half of them cancelled this year, with over a quarter in July alone. The ACLU also posted an advocacy toolkit to help concerned residents press for action against ALPRs.

Flock is getting the most press and community blowback, but it’s far from the only company assisting law enforcement with surveillance technology. Vigilant Solutions and Rekor Systems also operate broad ALPR networks in the U.S., while the drone surveillance company Skydio partners with more than 1,200 government and law enforcement agencies across the country.

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Whatever happened to the Bill of Rights?

Adding to the fraught environment is the specter of U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration policy and the wanton abuse of constitutional protections by federal immigration agents. Though Flock claims it does not work with immigration agencies, local law enforcement has been documented sharing ALPR data with agents.

Other vulnerable populations are also at risk of persecution through surveillance tracking. In 2022, for example, women were warned to delete popular menstrual tracking apps after advocates raised the potential for law enforcement to use the data in abortion cases. More recently, a sheriff’s deputy in Texas searched more than 83,000 Flock cameras across the country in an effort to find a woman suspected of having an abortion.

People seeking gender-affirming care are also increasingly vulnerable to interstate data collection and sharing, civil rights advocates say.

Surveillance companies like Flock Safety, Skydio, and others operate in a legal grey area as legislators and the courts are slow to keep pace with rapidly advancing technology. Though the Supreme Court has ruled there are few reasonable expectations of privacy in public, some legal experts say mass AI-powered surveillance networks go beyond security camera feeds to provide a searchable account of a person’s daily movements before there is any probable cause of a crime.

“While companies can manipulate you, they cannot put you in jail. But the U.S. government can, and it now purchases massive quantities of your information from commercial data brokers,” Anne Toomey McKenna, an affiliated faculty member of the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences at Penn State University, wrote in The Conversation.

Far beyond ALPRs, McKenna describes a lifestyle of continuous personal data collection that includes Ring cameras, smart phones, automotive sensors, and more.

While ordinary people can reduce some of the risks, completely disconnecting from the modern world is virtually impossible. It will take continued public pressure, and aggressive legislative and judicial action, to rein in the growing threat of surveillance data abuse.

TriplePundit]]> Tina Casey https://triplepundit.com/?p=71265 2026-08-11T18:27:03Z 2026-08-10T12:00:00Z

Balcony solar systems help people reduce their utility bills, with solar power feeding directly into a standard wall outlet to replace energy from the grid. The balcony solar movement in the U.S. is growing, but not all states are on board (yet).

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Solar panels are not just for rooftops any more. In Germany, for example, thousands of apartment dwellers are hanging solar panels from their balconies to help reduce their electricity bills. So-called “balcony solar” is booming across Europe. Interest in the technology is growing in the U.S., too, but several obstacles need to be cleared before it can be widely adopted.

What is balcony solar?

Balcony solar is shorthand for solar panels designed to be hung from a railing or fence and plugged into an ordinary power outlet. Sometimes called plug-in solar, these panels can also be propped up on a patio or any other space where sun is available.

Why is it popular? 

Balcony solar systems help people reduce their utility bills. The panels feed directly into a home, apartment, or commercial space’s standard wall outlets, allowing the solar energy generated to replace part of the grid-supplied electricity for the building. Balcony solar systems can also be combined with batteries to store energy for later use.

The online solar marketplace EnergySage estimates that a typical balcony solar system, ranging in size from 400 to 800 watts, costs about $500 to $1,500. Those systems reduce electricity bills by approximately $15 to $50 per month, depending on local utility rates and the location.  At that rate, a $1,500 system that reduces energy costs by the lowest estimated monthly amount, would pay for itself in about eight years. 

At an average of 12 kilowatts, rooftop solar systems are far more powerful and can save a considerable sum over time. But residents of apartment complexes and  multi-family buildings with no roof access have no place to install them. Depending on state laws, homeowner associations can also prohibit rooftop solar outright, or require a cumbersome approval process. Commercial tenants are also generally precluded from the rooftop solar market. For these ratepayers, balcony solar offers a partial solution.

What’s the catch?

In the early 2000s, balcony solar occupied a small, niche position in the solar market due to the relatively high cost of solar panels at the time. Today’s solar panels cost less, and balcony solar adoption has skyrocketed accordingly. Germany is the standout example, with an estimated 4 million units registered, and growing.

In contrast, balcony solar has barely registered in the U.S. Homeowner association and rental property restrictions are part of the reason. Cumbersome and costly utility permitting requirements are another factor. And state and local electrical codes can require an inspection and permitting process.

While balcony solar can offset some household energy use — roughly the amount consumed by the appliances constantly running in a home, like refrigerators and wifi routers — they are not powerful enough to offset the majority of a building’s energy use as rooftop panels are known to do. 

The state of play

Altogether, the U.S. balcony solar movement is a long way from the simple plug-and-play model envisioned by its advocates. Still, change is slowly snowballing as obstacles fall.

Last year, Utah became the first state to pass legislation aimed at removing utility and property-based obstacles, to widespread acclaim. But so far, uptake is limited by a requirement that solar devices be certified as safe to operate by a recognized testing laboratory, and no such program existed throughout much of last year. 

While Utah put the cart before the horse, the required lab testing framework was finally established in December 2025. In January, the leading laboratory, UL Solutions, announced the launch of a dedicated plug-in solar program. 

“UL 3700 marks a major step forward, helping remove regulatory uncertainty and making plug-in solar a potential choice for consumers across the U.S.,” Robert Slone, UL Solutions chief scientist and vice president, said in a statement.

The UL Solutions program is a system-level approach for an entire balcony solar device, not to be confused with other certifications that only cover the components piecemeal. As of  April 2026, no holistic plug-and-play certification was registered, though determined ratepayers could work with a licensed electrician to install a balcony solar system.

With the Utah experience in hand, the trickle of balcony solar legislation became a flood. According to a legislation tracker from the balcony solar advocacy organization Brightsaver, lawmakers in 10 states passed legislation to support the technology, with some still awaiting signatures by governors. Similar legislation is introduced in 35 others.

That doesn’t necessarily mean a free-for-all is in store. Enabling legislation can provide homeowner associations and rental property management with some latitude for restricting the size and placement of balcony solar systems, tenants must provide notice before plugging in, and the number of plug-in panels per ratepayer can also be limited.

What’s next for balcony solar? 

Despite some limitations, balcony solar is poised to support the growth of distributed energy resources in the U.S. These are small-scale and local energy systems that generate, store and manage energy where it’s used instead of at a traditional power plant. Rooftop solar arrays, for example, have contributed an estimated total of 46 gigawatts in installed solar capacity to the nation’s power generation profile so far.

When Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed Virginia’s new balcony solar bill into law in May, she drew attention to the combined benefits of small-scale solar. The signing ceremony included several separate bills that will streamline Virginia’s permitting process for rooftop solar and expand the state’s shared solar programs. All three bills passed the legislature with bipartisan support.

“By diversifying our energy usage, we can make sure that Virginia families are less exposed to volatility,” Gov. Spanberger said in a statement. “That is what energy independence means in practice, and that is exactly what we are building toward.”

Feature image credit: Nikolai Twin/Wikimedia Commons

TriplePundit]]> Tina Casey https://triplepundit.com/?p=71417 2026-08-07T16:16:07Z 2026-08-07T16:16:06Z

Amid heavy criticism, the USDA plans to go ahead with a massive reorganization and forced relocation of nearly 3,000 workers. Advocates say it couldn’t come at a worse time, as a Super El Niño threatens a return to the Dust Bowl and a parasite eradicated 60 years ago reemerges on U.S. livestock farms.

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Recent changes at the U.S. Department of Agriculture threaten farmers who are already struggling. Though framed as an efficiency measure, advocates say a proposed drastic re-organization of the agency would destroy the USDA from the inside and weaken, if not eliminate, crucial support systems that farmers and rural communities need now more than ever.

What is the proposed USDA restructuring, and how does it impact farmers?

Agriculture Secretary Susan Rollins first announced the USDA restructuring plan last summer, without consulting Congress, farmers or other stakeholders. Among other things, the plan would move about half of the agency’s Washington, D.C.-based employees to “regional hubs” in North Carolina, Missouri, Indiana, Colorado and Utah.

The Donald Trump administration says the change will save taxpayers money due to the lower cost of living outside the D.C. area, while simultaneously framing the plan as a way to reduce Beltway bureaucracy and centralize more USDA employees near rural areas.

But farming advocates and union groups warn that many of the most skilled workers would sooner leave the agency than take a pay cut to uproot their lives and families with a cross-country move, which is essentially what happened the last time the U.S. tried to do this.

Trump initially took steps to dismantle the USDA during his first term, including the relocation of essential research offices from Washington, D.C. to Kansas City. About 75 percent of workers facing relocation chose to leave the agency instead, including highly experienced researchers and staffers. Though promoted as a $300 million savings for taxpayers, experts estimated a loss of up to $182 million due to staff attrition, with a knock-on effect of $2.8 billion due to a shortfall in USDA guidance for farm bill expenditures.

Farmers, federal workers and concerned citizens fear the same thing will happen this time around. Out of more than 46,000 public comments on the plan, 82 percent expressed serious concerns over staffing, oversight and the loss of experienced personnel at the USDA.

When the American Federation of Government Employees union surveyed its members in Washington, around three-quarters said they would not relocate.

“By forcing this move on an accelerated timeline, with no promise of financial help or job security, the USDA is effectively dismantling decades of institutional knowledge, jeopardizing the very data and funding that farmers, policymakers and land-grant universities rely on,” the union told the Federal News Network this spring. The Food Research & Action Center similarly warned of a “significant brain drain” at the agency.

Death by a thousand cuts: Though few support it, USDA pledges to go ahead with the reorg

Despite the unpopularity of the idea, at the end of July the USDA confirmed it plans to go ahead with the massive reorganization and forced relocation of nearly 3,000 workers.

Advocates say it couldn’t come at a worse time. The USDA is already down more than 24,000 workers since the beginning of last year. Most left as part of the Deferred Resignation Program, a budget-cutting effort led by the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Headed by billionaire Elon Musk and staffed mostly by young tech workers with no policy backgrounds, DOGE offered buyouts to around 15,000 USDA employees and summarily fired thousands of others.

Despite the supposed focus on shifting the agency from Beltway-centered to be more closely connected with rural communities, almost all (98 percent) of the USDA staff lost since last year were based outside of Washington, D.C., according to a National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition analysis.

As the agency lost 1 in 5 staff, farmers are facing a financial strain at levels not seen in decades. Farm debt is at an all-time high, and 70 percent of farmers said they couldn’t afford the fertilizer they needed this spring. That’s all while a Super El Niño weather event threatens a return to the Depression-era “dust bowl” conditions of the 1930s, while a parasite eradicated 60 years ago has reemerged on U.S. livestock farms.

Critics of the USDA reorganization are concerned it will further cripple the inspection services that contain disease and delay program delivery when farmers most need it.

Disease outbreaks put even more pressure on farmers while risking public health

Screwworm, a species of fly that lays eggs in mammals, can spread quickly through livestock populations and is often deadly in animals such as cows, sheep, pigs and horses. It was virtually eradicated in the U.S. by the 1960s, but constant vigilance is needed to prevent spread from South America, where the parasite is still endemic.

The dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) last year effectively halted all joint screwworm monitoring and containment efforts in Central America.

By June, the first U.S. screwworm case in over half a century was reported on a Texas farm, and the parasite has since been detected in 45 cases of animal infection in Texas and New Mexico. Critics say the USDA is far behind on measures needed to control local outbreaks amid already ongoing staffing shortages at its agencies.

The agriculture industry is also threatened by ongoing diseases including HLB, which has systematically destroyed orange groves in Florida and is now attacking California. Other pests of rising concern include the glassy-winged sharpshooter, recently spotted in California wine country.

Those threats have largely flown under the radar of the general media, but the recent “explosive diarrhea” parasite outbreak brought the consequences of reduced oversight squarely into the spotlight.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 6,707 laboratory-confirmed cases of domestic-sourced cyclosporiasis infection from May through July, far eclipsing the total recorded during the last major outbreak in 2019. Two people have died, and the CDC is investigating more than 11,000 additional cases of the parasitic infection across 15 states.

This comes roughly a year after the Trump administration “stopped tracking the parasitic infection cyclospora through the CDC, USDA, FDA and 10 state health departments,” The Hill reported last month. “Surveillance of cyclospora had previously been mandatory since 1997.”

Advocates fight back

Ultimately, it is up to Congress to exercise its authority to direct how and where the USDA spends its funds, but that is unlikely to happen as long as Trump-allied Republican representatives hold the majority.

The federal judiciary may yet provide some relief. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union is among those going to court to stop the USDA reorganization plan.

“This administration is trying to gut the agency that helps farmers stay in business and puts food on working families’ tables so it can hand out even more tax cuts to billionaires,” AFSCME President Lee Saunders said in a July press statement.

A request for an injunction filed against the USDA reorganization will be heard in federal court in California on September 1.

In the meantime, U.S. farmers will simply have to wade through the consequences of diminishing oversight and converging external factors: a rise in farm debt and bankruptcies, a 63 percent increase in the cost of diesel fuel, and a spike in the cost of fertilizer alongside the impacts of Trump’s tariff wars and his terrorization of migrant farm workers.

Image: Justin Simmonds/Unsplash

TriplePundit]]> Elyse Hauser https://triplepundit.com/?p=71372 2026-08-06T17:52:02Z 2026-08-06T12:00:00Z

In one Alaskan village, turbines have harnessed electricity from the river since 2019. This summer, a second village is testing its own turbine in an attempt to reach 100 percent renewable power.

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Every year, millions of salmon return from the ocean to Alaska’s rivers to spawn. Species like Chinook and sockeye fight upriver in some of the world’s largest salmon runs, their silvery scales turning to warm shades of copper and red before they breed. After breeding, the salmon die far upriver, where their bodies feed scavengers and fertilize trees. The fish are critical to this habitat, and they sustain Native communities that have lived and fished in the region for thousands of years. 

This summer, the salmon in Alaska’s Kuskokwim River will swim past something new: a spinning hydrokinetic turbine that turns the flowing water into electricity for the village of Napaimute. Local experts will watch closely to see if the fish can safely navigate around the turbine. If this test project succeeds, Napaimute is poised to become the second Alaska Native community to draw energy from a powerful local river, joining the village of Igiugig.

The village leading the way

Igiugig sits where the Kvichak River flows out of Lake Iliamna in southwest Alaska. Diesel fuel was once floated up the river in 55-gallon drums to power the village. Now, it’s often shipped in by barge. 

“Fuel getting to Igiugig has been an everlasting issue since electricity was introduced,” said Jonathan Salmon, Igiugig Village Council energy director. 

Shipping anything to the remote village is costly. But the price skyrockets when the river is too shallow for the barge, and fuel needs to be flown in — which is even more inefficient and dangerous than the barge. “When we fly in with fuel, that’s a very high-risk situation,” Salmon said.

Still, the village needs reliable power for everything from online education to food security. One missed fuel delivery puts essentials like the annual food supply at risk. “I have my whole winter’s worth of salmon stored in my freezer. I have my whole fall moose in my freezer,” Salmon said. “We store lots of our food throughout the year frozen.”

The community had long recognized the Kvichak River as a possible source of consistent energy. So, in a quest to create a local energy system that doesn’t depend on fuel deliveries, Igiugig applied for an Alaska state grant to develop river energy in 2007.  

“River hydrokinetic energy is essentially a new way of harnessing some of the energy that’s available in rivers,” said Craig Hill, an aquatic energy technology expert who isn’t involved in the Igiugig or Napaimute projects.

Historically, that energy was captured using dams, but dams can come with environmental tradeoffs like blocking fish from migrating or changing the natural ecology and characteristics of the river. Early research suggests that turbines are a safer alternative. River turbines function similarly to wind turbines. Instead of wind, water spins the blades, and the movement is converted into electricity. 

“The faster the water is flowing, the more energy is available,” Hill said. 

The Kvichak River near Igiugig was an ideal place for a turbine power project: fast-flowing water, deep sections, plenty of room for boat traffic to get by, and not much plant debris. Still, given the newness of the technology, the remote location, and the permits required to put a new device in the river, launching the turbine was a slow process. After receiving the state grant in 2012, the Igiugig community hosted four companies to explain their turbine designs, then chose two of those companies to move forward and demonstrate their technology in the Kvichak River in 2015.

One company ignored local knowledge about the river’s strength, and when its turbine design failed, it left the village with the cleanup. The other company, Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC), had a vastly different approach. The company started the conversation by asking the community, “What can we do to help you?” Salmon said. 

“It’s really important from our perspective that it’s their project,” said Nathan Johnson, ORPC’s vice president of development. “They’re the ones that are leading the project. They’re the ones that are guiding the project.” 

In 2019, after several rounds of testing and redesigning the technology, Igiugig and ORPC officially deployed the first RivGen turbine that sends power straight from the Kvichak River to the local grid. It was followed by a second one in 2023.

Since the installations, ORPC and the Igiugig community have watched for impacts to local salmon populations using underwater cameras and sonar. Research so far suggests that the turbines don’t significantly affect fish. Adult salmon migrating upriver usually don’t swim in the fast sections of the water where the turbines operate, Johnson said. Young salmon smolts migrating downriver can become disoriented after swimming through a turbine, but most smolts appear to swim above them instead. 

Even the noise from the turbines churning through the water doesn’t impact fish, because the natural sound of gravel moving in the flowing water is louder, Salmon said. 

The turbines also proved capable of holding up to the area’s harsh winter weather. “We’ve had ice completely form over the top of our technology, and we’ve had ice directly collide with our technology, we’ve had pieces of steel bent by ice,” Johnson said. “All that being said, we continue to operate.” 

Local experts handle the turbine operation and maintenance whenever possible. “We’ve really designed our systems so that they can be shipped and then reassembled using smaller local equipment, using things like local fishing vessels to deploy the systems, and really trying to utilize the capabilities and the workforce in the communities,” Johnson said. “The folks that are there know those waters much, much better than outsiders.” 

While the river turbines avoid the pollution and risk of explosion that comes with diesel, that doesn’t mean they’re completely safe. It’s important to have experienced experts handling the work. Many people in the community, like Salmon, have longstanding experience working on local waterways. They help maintain the turbines and train others. 

“It’s a very high-risk situation when you’re working on a device,” Salmon said. “If you were attached to the device and the water’s flowing, you’ll go to the bottom of the river and it’s gonna be three hours before we get you back.” 

Igiugig’s turbines have proven to be a valuable addition to the local energy mix, but they don’t meet all of the community’s energy needs throughout the year, and residents still rely on fuel. The Igiugig Village Tribal Council aims to cut electricity-related diesel consumption in half by 2030, Salmon said. Meeting that goal will likely require adding more solar panels, which are already another reliable source of renewable power for the community.

A second village tests a turbine

The village of Napaimute lies northwest of Igiugig on the Kuskokwim River, another important waterway for Alaska’s salmon. In summer, people from up and down the river gather in Napaimute to fish and take their catch home to sustain them through the year. 

“It is a really important site for seasonal activities,” said local biologist Dan Gillikin. Gillikin isn’t a tribal member, but he’s served as the environmental director for the Native Village of Napaimute for over a decade. 

The Napaimute area has no roads. As in Igiugig, fuel arrives by plane or river barge at high risk and high cost. When the village fills with visitors each summer, the need for electricity rises, and so does the expense. The community began exploring renewable energy options to help meet that need about 15 years ago, starting with solar panels and a wind turbine. 

“The wind turbine unfortunately didn’t pan out very well,” Gillikin said.  “It’s really hard to find equipment that can hold up to the environment that we’ve got out here.” 

After five years, a storm knocked the wind turbine down, and no one put it back up. Solar panels were a much better fit for the location, but they still don’t cover all of the village’s power needs. That left Napaimute searching for another option to rely on during busy summer days or cloudy days when solar doesn’t work.

Eventually, a representative from hydropower company BladeRunner Energy reached out to Gillikin to pitch a turbine project in Napaimute’s fast-flowing river. The village agreed to give it a try. 

That pilot project is officially launching this summer, with one turbine — a different, smaller design than those in Igiugig.

“We’re pretty certain that between the solar side of things and then the river turbine side of things, we can produce 100 percent renewable power,” Gillikin said. 

He estimates that switching to renewable energy could save Napaimute $25,000 to $30,000 a year. “At $10.50 a gallon for diesel fuel, 10 percent of your power generation coming from a river turbine throughout the year can be a big deal,” Gillikin said.

This summer will test whether maintenance can be handled locally and whether the turbine impacts fish traversing the river. If the fish are negatively affected, the project will shut down. “Fish are so vital to all the communities out here,” Gillikin said. “We want to be sure we’re not impacting any of the fisheries or any of the species migrating either upriver or downriver.” 

Local experts will trap fish smolt migrating toward the ocean and examine adults caught in a traditional fish wheel to see how they fare after passing by the turbine. “The ladies that typically process the fish that come out of that wheel, they’re very familiar with what those fish should look like,” Gillikin said.

If the turbine is still running when winter approaches and the village slows down, it will be removed before the river freezes, ready to be reinstalled next summer. 

Though Gillikin doesn’t anticipate any negative impacts, his outlook is cautious. “It’s a pilot,” Gillikin said. “You never know how it’s gonna go. This could all go sideways real quickly.” 

Will rivers power the future?

Napaimute will know later this year whether its turbine will stick around for the long run. But it’s not yet clear what the future looks like for river turbines in the region. The successful project in Igiugig has a 10-year pilot license that ends in 2029. With no existing model for turning pilots into long-term river turbine installations, the community will need to figure out the next steps from scratch. 

Motivation to make it happen is growing as fuel prices continue to rise, pushing up the local cost of living. “It’s becoming very unaffordable for people to stay out here,” Gillikin said. “You’re starting to see people actually leave the villages and move into places like Anchorage and Fairbanks and outlying areas on the grid or on the road system, and that’s really unfortunate.” 

Interest in riverine energy is slowly expanding elsewhere in the world, too. In 2018, a modern river turbine was installed at a World Heritage watermill site in Germany. It generates enough hydropower for about 300 homes, without disrupting the site’s historic look. This year, ORPC plans to install two turbine devices in Montreal’s St. Lawrence River — a much more urban location than the Alaska sites. The company is also working on a project on the Niagara River, which runs between New York and Ontario, Canada. 

 With these early projects as proof of concept, river power could gain the momentum to become part of the renewable energy puzzle for many communities. “There’s a tremendous amount of energy in our rivers around the world,” Hill said. 

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