Re-Gain

https://wapo.st/44HaY4z

https://www.dnronline.com/opinion/letters/letter-trump-s-quid-pro-quo/article_e08eabe3-1b05-58cb-96d0-fc5f956ca9ac.html

I live in the breadbasket of Virginia’s agriculture, in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. For years I’ve worked on composting projects—most recently hauling tarps full of leaves to a neighbor’s pile. A simple act, yet it reflects a larger imbalance: rural areas are saturated with nitrogen waste, while cities accumulate excess carbon. The result is a double burden—carbon pollution concentrated in urban centers and nitrogen pollution spilling across ecosystems. A few generations ago, America’s farmland was blanketed with hundreds of inches of rich topsoil. Today, only fragments remain. Each storm strips away more of this foundation of life, carrying billions of tons of soil into rivers and bays. What was once the nation’s greatest natural asset is vanishing before our eyes. The United States loses an estimated 1.7 to 2.3 billion tons of soil every year to runoff and erosion. Agricultural land—especially corn, soybean, and wheat fields—suffers the highest losses. This is not...

Boomers’ Vast Wealth Will Be Hard to Replicate – 11/19/25 Baby Boomers now hold an estimated $85 billion dollars in assets. Yet the question remains: what seeds for the future have truly been planted—especially in protecting the environment that sustains us?   At my fiftieth high school reunion, I reflected on fortune and fragility. My father helped write Medicaid and Medicare into law, and our family benefited from inheritance. Not everyone has that kind of safety net.   Fiscal awareness is not optional; it is the lifeblood of democracy. Each day, the dollar in your pocket loses value while Washington funnels wealth upward. Without accountability and restraint, debt and inflation will continue to hollow out the middle class and mortgage the future.   History offers a warning. Global empires—from Spain to England—collapsed after debasing their currency through unchecked debt. America is not immune.   Today’s numbers are staggering:...

AI Stupidity or Unwise Intelligence In 1992, I worked as a regional environmental planner in Northern Virginia, a place still defined by its landscapes and communities. Today, it has been overtaken by “Data Center Alley,” home to 300–600 facilities consuming 4,140–4,900 megawatts of electricity. This staggering demand strains local grids, with AI promising even sharper increases.   Amazon Web Services alone operates more than 160 centers—the largest corporate concentration worldwide—recently adding a $700 million campus in Prince William County. Yet the deals behind these projects remain cloaked in secrecy.   The repercussions are profound:   - Power grids forced into costly upgrades, expenses passed to residents.   - Noise from generators and cooling systems disrupting neighborhoods.   - Diesel emissions degrading air quality and health.   - Roads, emergency services, and local systems stretched thin.   -...

Landfills and Methane:  Landfills and Methane: Old Lessons, New Insights (published Waste360.com 11/12/25)  Years ago, I wrote for MSW Management magazine about landfill methane capture and the growing number of facilities turning waste gas into usable energy. At the time, the promise was clear: landfills could be more than repositories of refuse—they could become sources of renewable fuel.   Recently, Nature magazine revisited this issue with sobering new findings (https://share.google/eT5RligxwcqlxhZIJ). Global satellite survey reveals uncertainty in landfill methane.   Methane is a potent but short-lived greenhouse gas. Rapid reductions in human-caused emissions could significantly slow near‑term warming. Solid waste alone contributes about 10% of global methane emissions through the anaerobic decay of organic material.   High‑resolution satellites now allow scientists to monitor methane “hotspots,” especially in urban areas where l...

https://share.google/images/4nsM8JwNgVxVw4HvU How we care for our homes reflects who we are. The bulldozing of the East Wing may have done more than erase history—it may have endangered workers, neighbors, and the city itself.   Old federal buildings almost certainly contained asbestos. Demolition without transparent abatement and monitoring risks turning the site into a future Superfund case. Asbestos fibers don’t stay put; they drift on the wind. Workers without respirators and nearby residents could face asbestosis and related diseases years from now.   Officials claim an “extensive abatement and remediation assessment” was followed, yet no public records of surveys, sampling, or air monitoring have been released. Federal law requires these steps. Until documentation is disclosed, the public cannot know whether safety measures were adequate.   Where are the abatement plans and permits? Where are the waste manifests, contractor credentials, and oversight ...

My life completely changed when I began to truly listen. There is no greater speaking skill than the art of listening. Stillness and quiet bring profound benefits. By hearing beyond the voices and noise, I learn to accept my pain and vulnerability. Listen to your breath as if it were the ocean, each inhale and exhale rising and falling like waves. It is no accident that hear and here sound the same.   Listening beyond sound itself opens the door to presence, allowing me to explore the mystery of each moment. In deep silence, words and concepts dissolve into stillness.   For over thirty years, twice a month, I have gathered with a group where listening is practiced as meditation. I now pay closer attention to what others say, no longer distracted by rehearsing my own response. Instead of multiple voices competing with inner monologues, we practice insight dialogue. The silences—the gaps between words—are honored. In this space, I feel heard. There is no ju...