The Guardian

• EPA urged to ban spraying of antibiotics on US food crops amid resistance fears

  Use of 8m pounds of antibiotics and antifungals a year leads to superbugs and damages human health, lawsuit claims

  A new legal petition filed by a dozen public health and farm worker groups demands the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stop allowing farms to spray antibiotics on food crops in the US because they are probably causing superbugs to flourish and sickening farm workers.

  The agricultural industry sprays about 8m pounds of antibiotic and antifungal pesticides on US food crops annually, many of which are banned in other countries.

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• Power surge: law changes could soon bring balcony solar to millions across US

  Tweaks to state laws mean many Americans will be able to benefit from small, simple plug-in solar panels

  Acquiring solar panels at home can be an expensive hassle for people in the US. But small, simple, plug-in solar panels for use on balconies are soon to become available for millions of Americans, with advocates hoping the technology will quickly go mainstream.

  Earlier this year, Utah became the first state in the country to pass legislation allowing people to purchase and install small, portable solar panels that plug into a standard wall socket.

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• ‘Deeply demoralizing’: how Trump derailed coal country’s clean-energy revival

  Biden earmarked billions for former coal communities in Appalachia – and his successor came and took it away

  For a moment, Jacob Hannah saw an unprecedented opportunity to make Appalachia great again.

  In 2022, the Biden administration earmarked billions of dollars to help revitalize and strengthen former coal communities. The objective was to lay down building blocks for the region to transition from extractive industries like coal and timber to a hub for solar and other advanced energy technologies, with a view to long-term economic, climate and social resilience.

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• Trump order to keep Michigan power plant open costs taxpayers $113m

  Critics say JH Campbell coal-fired plant in western Michigan is expensive and emits high levels of toxic pollution

  Trump administration orders to keep an ageing, unneeded Michigan coal-fired power plant online has cost ratepayers from across the US midwest about $113m so far, according to estimates from the plant’s operator and regulators.

  Still, the US energy department last week ordered the plant to remain open for another 90 days.

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• Food is medicine, and that’s a fact. Why we all need Native American foodways

  Ecologically sound farming and land stewardship can change individual, collective and planetary health

  Within Indigenous communities across North America and beyond, we have long known that food is medicine. This isn’t just theory; it’s fact. We understand that seasonal, regionally specific and culturally relevant foods are vital for nurturing, nourishing and healing both our people and our planet. And it’s high time we all embrace the Native American concept of food as medicine.

  Our ancestral wisdom has ensured our survival for millennia, even in the face of unthinkable circumstances like colonialism, genocide and ongoing oppression. This ever-relevant knowledge will ensure our collective survival amid today’s unthinkable circumstances here in the United States, such as political instability, climate change and rising health issues.

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