Blog

BIG MEGA Renewable Energy, a joint venture between publicly listed Israeli real-estate companies BIG Shopping Centers Ltd. and MEGA OR Holdings, has built a growing presence in Romania’s wind energy sector through two major project financings over the past two years.

The post Israeli investors secure $120 million USD loan to build wind power in Romania appeared first on Green Prophet.

BIG MEGA Renewable Energy, a joint venture between publicly listed Israeli real-estate companies BIG Shopping Centers Ltd. and MEGA OR Holdings, has built a growing presence in Romania’s wind energy sector through two major project financings over the past two years.

In 2024, BIG MEGA secured financing for its 102-megawatt Urleasca wind farm in Braila County. That project was later constructed by Portuguese EPC contractor CJR Renewables and marked the company’s first large-scale Romanian wind development.

Related: all the functioning wind farms in the Middle East

In late 2025, with public reporting in January 2026, BIG MEGA announced a second major financing: a €100 million syndicated loan to support the construction of a 102-MW wind farm in Vacareni, Tulcea County. The financing was arranged with a syndicate of European lenders including Erste Group Bank, Banca Comerciala Romana, Intesa Sanpaolo’s Romanian unit, and Vseobecna uverova banka, according to deal advisor Kinstellar. The Vacareni project has ready-to-build status and will include 17 wind turbines.

Together, the two projects represent more than 200 MW of wind capacity in southeastern Romania, a region with strong wind resources and increasing demand for low-carbon electricity under European Union climate targets. Romania has become one of Southeast Europe’s more active renewable markets as grid modernization and policy alignment continue.

BIG MEGA Renewable Energy was created to extend the founding companies’ activities beyond traditional real estate into long-term infrastructure assets. BIG Shopping Centers and MEGA OR Holdings are both experienced developers and operators of capital-intensive, income-producing properties and are publicly traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE).

Their renewable expansion comes during a period of strong performance on the Israeli stock market. Over the past three years, Israel’s major indices — including the TA-125 and TA-35 — have delivered some of the strongest cumulative returns among developed markets, supported by gains in technology, finance, real estate, and defense-related sectors. This market strength has increased international visibility of Israeli public companies and supported their ability to expand abroad.

Foreign investors cannot invest directly in BIG MEGA Renewable Energy (on Crunchbase), which is a private joint venture led by Eran Davidi. However, they can gain indirect exposure by investing in its publicly listed parent companies through institutional brokers, global investment banks, Israel-focused equity funds, or international ETFs that track Israeli equities.

BIG MEGA has not yet announced a commercial operation date for the Vacareni wind farm, nor any additional project phases. But the two successive financings — in 2024 and 2026 — show a steady, project-by-project strategy rather than a single one-off investment, reflecting a longer-term commitment to Romania’s renewable energy market.

The post Israeli investors secure $120 million USD loan to build wind power in Romania appeared first on Green Prophet.

“Enough is a decision, not a condition.” ~Unknown

The night sky above Disneyland shimmered in color as fireworks burst to life. My daughters leaned against me, sticky-fingered from melted ice cream, eyes wide with wonder. It was supposed to be the happiest place on earth.

Then Mirabel’s voice from Encanto echoed through the speakers: “I will never be good enough. Will I? No matter how hard I try.”

Something inside me broke.

Sitting cross-legged on the pavement surrounded by thousands of smiling families, I sobbed. Not a dainty, delicate tear but the kind of quiet, chest-aching cry you hope no …

“Enough is a decision, not a condition.” ~Unknown

The night sky above Disneyland shimmered in color as fireworks burst to life. My daughters leaned against me, sticky-fingered from melted ice cream, eyes wide with wonder. It was supposed to be the happiest place on earth.

Then Mirabel’s voice from Encanto echoed through the speakers: “I will never be good enough. Will I? No matter how hard I try.”

Something inside me broke.

Sitting cross-legged on the pavement surrounded by thousands of smiling families, I sobbed. Not a dainty, delicate tear but the kind of quiet, chest-aching cry you hope no one notices. Because I felt every word of that line to the depth of my soul. I will never be good enough. No matter how hard I try.

It wasn’t just a line from a movie; it was a mirror.

For a long time, I’d been living that sentence. Even there, amid the music and magic, my brain replayed its familiar loop: You could have done more. Planned better. Been better. I had done everything to make this trip perfect: the color-coordinated outfits, the matching Mickey ears, the surprise treats, the sparkly magic I wanted my girls to remember. But as fireworks lit up the castle, all I could see were the cracks.

If a stranger had seen me earlier that day, they would have thought we were a picture-perfect family: two happy children, a smiling mom, laughter caught in a hundred photos. But what I saw were invisible failures: the husband who stayed home so we could enjoy the trip, the work deadlines I’d missed, the credit card balance quietly growing, the school days my girls were skipping, the millions of things I could have done differently … better.

That’s been my pattern for as long as I can remember. I can turn any success into a shortcoming. I could have a beautiful day and still go to bed listing the ways I fell short.

The Job That Stole My Joy

A few months after that trip, I lost a job I hated—one that demanded everything from me and gave very little back. I worked late, missed family dinners, and convinced myself it was all temporary, that the sacrifices would make sense later.

The company bragged about “unlimited leave,” but each day off came with guilt and suspicion. I gave it everything—my time, my peace, my confidence—and when it ended, I felt hollow. I resented the job for stealing my joy, but I also blamed myself for not being able to thrive in it. I told myself I should have been tougher, smarter, better.

Even when I was free from it, I still heard its voice in my head: Not enough. Not enough. Not enough.

It’s strange how we can be both relieved and wrecked at the same time—free from something we didn’t want, yet still mourning the part of ourselves that believes we failed.

Holding Others to a Kinder Standard

The irony is, I would never hold anyone else to the standards I hold myself to.

When my daughter came home one day with a “1” on a test (our school’s version of an F) she was devastated. She cried that she was stupid, that she wasn’t good enough.

I didn’t hesitate. “Sweetheart, you were sick last week. You missed school. You did your best, and that’s all that matters. We’ll talk to your teacher and figure it out.”

I never once thought, “You should have studied harder.” I just wanted to remind her she was loved, safe, and enough.

Later that night, as I tucked her in, it hit me like a lightning bolt: I don’t talk to myself that way. If I miss a goal, make a mistake, or fall short, I don’t respond with grace. I scold, criticize, analyze, and push harder. I’d never speak to my child that way, so why do I speak to myself that way?

That realization stayed with me. It sat quietly in my chest for weeks, whispering every time I said, “I should have” or “I could have.”

The Mirror Moment

That was my real turning point—a bedtime realization whispered in the dark. If I wanted my daughter to grow up believing she was enough, I needed to show her what that looked like. Kids learn from what we model, not just what we say.

So I started asking myself a new question: What if my best really was enough?

Not perfect. Not world-changing. Just enough.

At first, I said it through gritted teeth, like an affirmation I didn’t quite believe. But over time, those words softened into something closer to truth.

Redefining “My Best”

For most of my life, “my best” was a moving target. It meant giving everything I had until I was empty… and then finding more to give. It meant equating outcome with worth: if the results weren’t amazing, the effort didn’t count.

But I’m learning that “my best” changes every day. Some days, my best is productivity and creativity. Other days, it’s showing up tired and still trying. And sometimes, my best is resting—choosing not to push when my body and heart need to heal.

Doing my best isn’t about checking every box. It’s about showing up with love and integrity, even when the outcome isn’t perfect.

It’s about whispering to myself, You did what you could today. That’s enough.

The Lessons I’m Still Learning

I wish I could say I’ve mastered this—that I never fall into the old trap of comparison or self-criticism. But self-kindness, like any form of growth, takes practice.

Here’s what helps me when I start to forget:

1. I talk to myself like I talk to my daughters.

When that voice in my head starts listing my shortcomings, I imagine saying those words to them. Instantly, my inner tone softens. I swap “You failed again” for “You tried so hard, and I’m proud of you.” It’s not about letting myself off the hook—it’s about letting myself be human.

2. I look for evidence of effort, not perfection.

Some days, my “proof” is a clean kitchen or a finished project. Other days, it’s the fact that I kept everyone fed and loved. Either way, effort counts. It all matters, even if no one else sees it.

3. I measure progress, not performance.

I remind myself that healing isn’t linear and growth isn’t graded. The goal isn’t to win every day; it’s to keep moving forward with compassion. Some seasons, forward might be inches. Others, miles. Both count.

4. I practice gratitude over guilt.

When my mind replays regrets, I pause and thank myself for trying. Gratitude and guilt can’t share the same breath, and choosing gratitude quiets the noise.

And on the hardest days, I add a fifth quiet mantra: You are learning. You are allowed to be learning.

Choosing Enough

Some days, I still catch myself thinking about the job I lost or the trip I could have planned better or the dinner I burned because I was distracted helping with homework. I still hear the whisper: Not enough.

But then I look at my daughters—at their laughter, their curiosity, their unconditional love—and I remember what’s true: they don’t need a perfect mom. They need a present one.

They need to see a woman who fails sometimes and keeps going. A woman who apologizes, laughs at herself, and tries again. A woman who believes that doing her best—even when it’s messy, even when it’s not much—is enough.

Because enough isn’t a finish line. It’s a choice we make, every day, to love ourselves as we are and trust that effort counts for something.

The next time Mirabel’s voice echoes through those fireworks, maybe I’ll hear it differently. I hope I’ll smile. I hope I’ll squeeze my girls’ hands and think, “We are good enough. We always were. And tomorrow, we’ll keep trying.”

And maybe, just maybe, that’s what “enough” really means.

See more posts

Get in the conversation! Click here to leave a comment on the site.

Jewish Climate Trust has quickly attracted the attention and support of some of the most influential voices in Jewish philanthropy, drawing backing from prominent family foundations and business leaders connected to the Bronfman and Schusterman philanthropic networks, alongside climate-focused investors and community builders aligned with founding leader Nigel Savage. Together, these donors have committed many millions of dollars to build a serious, long-term climate platform for the Jewish world — not as a symbolic gesture, but as a strategic intervention in one of the defining challenges of this generation.

The post What is the Jewish Climate Trust? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Why China’s “Artificial Sun” Density Breakthrough Matters

Nuclear fusion is often described as the holy grail of clean energy: a process that could one day provide abundant power without carbon emissions or long-lived radioactive waste. It has so much promise, but it’s difficult. This article on fusion explains why. But turning fusion into a practical energy source depends on solving a set of extremely difficult physics problems. One of the most important is how to keep plasma — a super-hot, electrically charged gas — dense, stable, and confined long enough to produce useful energy.

In January 2026, researchers working on China’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), often called the “artificial sun,” reported a breakthrough in this challenge in Science Advances. Their experiment showed that plasma could operate at densities 30% to 65% higher than EAST normally achieves — beyond a long-standing boundary known as the Greenwald density limit — while remaining stable. They reported their breakthrough in the journal Science Advances. Their plasma burned 5 times hotter than the sun.

Why does density matter? Fusion reactions become more efficient when more particles are packed into the plasma. High density is essential to meeting the Lawson criterion, the basic condition for producing more energy than the reactor consumes. For decades, however, increasing density has usually caused plasma to become unstable and suddenly collapse, ending the experiment.

The EAST team overcame this by using a carefully designed start-up method that combines traditional electrical heating with electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH), a microwave technique that warms electrons directly. They also adjusted the amount of neutral gas in the chamber before ignition. Together, these changes allowed the plasma to enter what scientists call a “density-free regime,” predicted by a recent plasma-wall self-organization theory.

Burns 5 times hotter than the sun

In simple terms, this means the plasma and the reactor walls interacted in a way that reduced harmful impurity radiation — one of the main causes of instability. With fewer impurities cooling the plasma, the system could tolerate much higher densities.

The experiment achieved line-averaged electron densities up to 1.65 times the standard operating range of EAST. Importantly, the results matched theoretical predictions, strengthening confidence in the underlying physics model.

This does not mean fusion power plants are now close to commercial operation. EAST did not produce net energy from fusion, and many engineering and materials challenges remain. However, the study demonstrates that a fundamental limitation in tokamak operation may be more flexible than once believed.

For the public, the importance is simple: every improvement in plasma stability and density brings fusion researchers closer to designing reactors that could one day operate continuously, efficiently, and safely. This work shows that the “rules” of fusion confinement are still being rewritten — and that progress is coming from careful physics, not science fiction.

If you are a science geek, you can read all about it here.

The post China is one step closer to making artificial sun appeared first on Green Prophet.

In a region more accustomed to headlines of loss than of listening, the Institute of International Education (IIE) has chosen to honor something quietly radical: healing. The 2025 Victor J. Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East has been awarded to Nitsan Joy Gordon and Jawdat Lajon Kasab, the co-founders of the Army of Healers, for building spaces where Israelis and Palestinians — Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Bedouins — can grieve, speak, and rebuild trust together.

The post An Army of Healers Wins the 2025 IIE Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East appeared first on Green Prophet.

Why China’s “Artificial Sun” Density Breakthrough Matters

Nuclear fusion is often described as the holy grail of clean energy: a process that could one day provide abundant power without carbon emissions or long-lived radioactive waste. It has so much promise, but it’s difficult. This article on fusion explains why. But turning fusion into a practical energy source depends on solving a set of extremely difficult physics problems. One of the most important is how to keep plasma — a super-hot, electrically charged gas — dense, stable, and confined long enough to produce useful energy.

In January 2026, researchers working on China’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), often called the “artificial sun,” reported a breakthrough in this challenge in Science Advances. Their experiment showed that plasma could operate at densities 30% to 65% higher than EAST normally achieves — beyond a long-standing boundary known as the Greenwald density limit — while remaining stable. They reported their breakthrough in the journal Science Advances. Their plasma burned 5 times hotter than the sun.

Why does density matter? Fusion reactions become more efficient when more particles are packed into the plasma. High density is essential to meeting the Lawson criterion, the basic condition for producing more energy than the reactor consumes. For decades, however, increasing density has usually caused plasma to become unstable and suddenly collapse, ending the experiment.

The EAST team overcame this by using a carefully designed start-up method that combines traditional electrical heating with electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH), a microwave technique that warms electrons directly. They also adjusted the amount of neutral gas in the chamber before ignition. Together, these changes allowed the plasma to enter what scientists call a “density-free regime,” predicted by a recent plasma-wall self-organization theory.

Burns 5 times hotter than the sun

In simple terms, this means the plasma and the reactor walls interacted in a way that reduced harmful impurity radiation — one of the main causes of instability. With fewer impurities cooling the plasma, the system could tolerate much higher densities.

The experiment achieved line-averaged electron densities up to 1.65 times the standard operating range of EAST. Importantly, the results matched theoretical predictions, strengthening confidence in the underlying physics model.

This does not mean fusion power plants are now close to commercial operation. EAST did not produce net energy from fusion, and many engineering and materials challenges remain. However, the study demonstrates that a fundamental limitation in tokamak operation may be more flexible than once believed.

For the public, the importance is simple: every improvement in plasma stability and density brings fusion researchers closer to designing reactors that could one day operate continuously, efficiently, and safely. This work shows that the “rules” of fusion confinement are still being rewritten — and that progress is coming from careful physics, not science fiction.

If you are a science geek, you can read all about it here.

The post China is one step closer to making artificial sun appeared first on Green Prophet.

After a sold-out London debut in 2024, the acclaimed immersive audio experience “in the dark” returns to the capital in January 2026, with performances scheduled for January 22, 23, 29 and 30 at St Andrew’s Church in Holborn.

The post In the dark returns to London in 2026 with immersive sound experience in total darkness appeared first on Green Prophet.

Why China’s “Artificial Sun” Density Breakthrough Matters

Nuclear fusion is often described as the holy grail of clean energy: a process that could one day provide abundant power without carbon emissions or long-lived radioactive waste. It has so much promise, but it’s difficult. This article on fusion explains why. But turning fusion into a practical energy source depends on solving a set of extremely difficult physics problems. One of the most important is how to keep plasma — a super-hot, electrically charged gas — dense, stable, and confined long enough to produce useful energy.

In January 2026, researchers working on China’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), often called the “artificial sun,” reported a breakthrough in this challenge in Science Advances. Their experiment showed that plasma could operate at densities 30% to 65% higher than EAST normally achieves — beyond a long-standing boundary known as the Greenwald density limit — while remaining stable. They reported their breakthrough in the journal Science Advances. Their plasma burned 5 times hotter than the sun.

Why does density matter? Fusion reactions become more efficient when more particles are packed into the plasma. High density is essential to meeting the Lawson criterion, the basic condition for producing more energy than the reactor consumes. For decades, however, increasing density has usually caused plasma to become unstable and suddenly collapse, ending the experiment.

The EAST team overcame this by using a carefully designed start-up method that combines traditional electrical heating with electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH), a microwave technique that warms electrons directly. They also adjusted the amount of neutral gas in the chamber before ignition. Together, these changes allowed the plasma to enter what scientists call a “density-free regime,” predicted by a recent plasma-wall self-organization theory.

Burns 5 times hotter than the sun

In simple terms, this means the plasma and the reactor walls interacted in a way that reduced harmful impurity radiation — one of the main causes of instability. With fewer impurities cooling the plasma, the system could tolerate much higher densities.

The experiment achieved line-averaged electron densities up to 1.65 times the standard operating range of EAST. Importantly, the results matched theoretical predictions, strengthening confidence in the underlying physics model.

This does not mean fusion power plants are now close to commercial operation. EAST did not produce net energy from fusion, and many engineering and materials challenges remain. However, the study demonstrates that a fundamental limitation in tokamak operation may be more flexible than once believed.

For the public, the importance is simple: every improvement in plasma stability and density brings fusion researchers closer to designing reactors that could one day operate continuously, efficiently, and safely. This work shows that the “rules” of fusion confinement are still being rewritten — and that progress is coming from careful physics, not science fiction.

If you are a science geek, you can read all about it here.

The post China is one step closer to making artificial sun appeared first on Green Prophet.

Runners at the Dubai Marathon will have a rare chance to enter the Guinness World Records archive this year, as the global record-keeping authority partners with the marathon to mark the race’s 25th anniversary.

The post Runners Can Break Guinness World Records at the Dubai Marathon in 2026 appeared first on Green Prophet.

Why China’s “Artificial Sun” Density Breakthrough Matters

Nuclear fusion is often described as the holy grail of clean energy: a process that could one day provide abundant power without carbon emissions or long-lived radioactive waste. It has so much promise, but it’s difficult. This article on fusion explains why. But turning fusion into a practical energy source depends on solving a set of extremely difficult physics problems. One of the most important is how to keep plasma — a super-hot, electrically charged gas — dense, stable, and confined long enough to produce useful energy.

In January 2026, researchers working on China’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), often called the “artificial sun,” reported a breakthrough in this challenge in Science Advances. Their experiment showed that plasma could operate at densities 30% to 65% higher than EAST normally achieves — beyond a long-standing boundary known as the Greenwald density limit — while remaining stable. They reported their breakthrough in the journal Science Advances. Their plasma burned 5 times hotter than the sun.

Why does density matter? Fusion reactions become more efficient when more particles are packed into the plasma. High density is essential to meeting the Lawson criterion, the basic condition for producing more energy than the reactor consumes. For decades, however, increasing density has usually caused plasma to become unstable and suddenly collapse, ending the experiment.

The EAST team overcame this by using a carefully designed start-up method that combines traditional electrical heating with electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH), a microwave technique that warms electrons directly. They also adjusted the amount of neutral gas in the chamber before ignition. Together, these changes allowed the plasma to enter what scientists call a “density-free regime,” predicted by a recent plasma-wall self-organization theory.

Burns 5 times hotter than the sun

In simple terms, this means the plasma and the reactor walls interacted in a way that reduced harmful impurity radiation — one of the main causes of instability. With fewer impurities cooling the plasma, the system could tolerate much higher densities.

The experiment achieved line-averaged electron densities up to 1.65 times the standard operating range of EAST. Importantly, the results matched theoretical predictions, strengthening confidence in the underlying physics model.

This does not mean fusion power plants are now close to commercial operation. EAST did not produce net energy from fusion, and many engineering and materials challenges remain. However, the study demonstrates that a fundamental limitation in tokamak operation may be more flexible than once believed.

For the public, the importance is simple: every improvement in plasma stability and density brings fusion researchers closer to designing reactors that could one day operate continuously, efficiently, and safely. This work shows that the “rules” of fusion confinement are still being rewritten — and that progress is coming from careful physics, not science fiction.

If you are a science geek, you can read all about it here.

The post China is one step closer to making artificial sun appeared first on Green Prophet.

Nuclear fusion is often described as the holy grail of clean energy: a process that could one day provide abundant power without carbon emissions or long-lived radioactive waste. It has so much promise, but it’s difficult. This article on fusion explains why. But turning fusion into a practical energy source depends on solving a set of extremely difficult physics problems. One of the most important is how to keep plasma — a super-hot, electrically charged gas — dense, stable, and confined long enough to produce useful energy.

The post China is one step closer to making artificial sun appeared first on Green Prophet.

Why China’s “Artificial Sun” Density Breakthrough Matters

Nuclear fusion is often described as the holy grail of clean energy: a process that could one day provide abundant power without carbon emissions or long-lived radioactive waste. It has so much promise, but it’s difficult. This article on fusion explains why. But turning fusion into a practical energy source depends on solving a set of extremely difficult physics problems. One of the most important is how to keep plasma — a super-hot, electrically charged gas — dense, stable, and confined long enough to produce useful energy.

In January 2026, researchers working on China’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), often called the “artificial sun,” reported a breakthrough in this challenge in Science Advances. Their experiment showed that plasma could operate at densities 30% to 65% higher than EAST normally achieves — beyond a long-standing boundary known as the Greenwald density limit — while remaining stable. They reported their breakthrough in the journal Science Advances. Their plasma burned 5 times hotter than the sun.

Why does density matter? Fusion reactions become more efficient when more particles are packed into the plasma. High density is essential to meeting the Lawson criterion, the basic condition for producing more energy than the reactor consumes. For decades, however, increasing density has usually caused plasma to become unstable and suddenly collapse, ending the experiment.

The EAST team overcame this by using a carefully designed start-up method that combines traditional electrical heating with electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH), a microwave technique that warms electrons directly. They also adjusted the amount of neutral gas in the chamber before ignition. Together, these changes allowed the plasma to enter what scientists call a “density-free regime,” predicted by a recent plasma-wall self-organization theory.

Burns 5 times hotter than the sun

In simple terms, this means the plasma and the reactor walls interacted in a way that reduced harmful impurity radiation — one of the main causes of instability. With fewer impurities cooling the plasma, the system could tolerate much higher densities.

The experiment achieved line-averaged electron densities up to 1.65 times the standard operating range of EAST. Importantly, the results matched theoretical predictions, strengthening confidence in the underlying physics model.

This does not mean fusion power plants are now close to commercial operation. EAST did not produce net energy from fusion, and many engineering and materials challenges remain. However, the study demonstrates that a fundamental limitation in tokamak operation may be more flexible than once believed.

For the public, the importance is simple: every improvement in plasma stability and density brings fusion researchers closer to designing reactors that could one day operate continuously, efficiently, and safely. This work shows that the “rules” of fusion confinement are still being rewritten — and that progress is coming from careful physics, not science fiction.

If you are a science geek, you can read all about it here.

The post China is one step closer to making artificial sun appeared first on Green Prophet.

Eyeing the mushrooms for sale in the local supermarket, I was intrigued to see shaggy, pearl-white Lion’s Mane mushrooms (H. erinaceus ). It’s not often found fresh, and is mostly used as a health supplement in capsule, powdered, or tincture form. Traditional Chinese medicine has used it to improve memory and ability to withstand stress, […]

The post Lion’s Mane Mushroom Recipe appeared first on Green Prophet.

The United States has announced it is withdrawing from 66 international organizations, many of them linked directly or indirectly to the United Nations system. The decision, announced by President Donald Trump and reinforced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, reflects a renewed “America First” approach to foreign policy and multilateral engagement. The full list of cut funding is here. Given the pro-terror stance for organizations funded by the UN Green Prophet sympathizes with the US and understand that what appear as cleantech or environmental projects is money sent to support countries that are anti-environment, such as Qatar. Read our article on the Union for the Mediterranean.

“Today, President Trump announced the U.S. is leaving 66 anti-American, useless, or wasteful international organizations,” Rubio said. “These withdrawals keep a key promise President Trump made to Americans — we will stop subsidizing globalist bureaucrats who act against our interests. The Trump Administration will always put America and Americans first.” The administration added that its review of additional international organizations remains ongoing.

Although the full list has not yet been released, the move has immediate relevance for sustainability, climate policy, science, and culture, where the US has historically been one of the largest financial contributors. Several UN bodies central to environmental governance are widely expected to be affected, either through full withdrawal, funding cuts, or reduced engagement.

Among the most consequential is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which oversees global climate negotiations including the annual COP summits. This year the COP31 event will be held in Antalya, Turkey. The US has already exited the Paris Agreement once under Trump and rejoined under President Biden; this announcement raises fresh uncertainty about America’s long-term role in global climate coordination.

The United Nations Environment Programme is another body closely tied to sustainability. UNEP coordinates international research, policy guidance, and monitoring on biodiversity loss, pollution, and climate adaptation. Critics in Washington argue that UNEP promotes regulatory frameworks that conflict with US economic and energy interests, while supporters say it provides essential scientific coordination that no single country can replicate alone.

Cultural and scientific organizations are also in focus. The UN’s UNESCO, which works on education, heritage protection, and science cooperation, has long been criticized by US conservatives for what they see as politicization and perceived institutional bias, particularly in resolutions related to Israel and the Middle East.

Sustainability advocates note that UNESCO’s work on water resources, ocean science, and heritage conservation often intersects directly with environmental protection. This is true, but the UN funds organizations that seem harmless, but which take a very clear political point of view that contradicts American policies and allies.

Other bodies potentially affected include the Food and Agriculture Organization, which addresses food security and sustainable farming, and the World Health Organization, whose work increasingly links environmental degradation, pollution, and climate change to public health outcomes.

Related: The UN and EU fund anti-west biases in Spain

The administration and its supporters argue that many UN and EU-aligned institutions have developed ideological and structural biases that reflect European policy preferences more than American priorities. In the EU and UN funded Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), the organization operates like a pan-Arab support network instead of servicing actual countries in the Mediterranean. These critiques often point to heavy emphasis on precautionary regulation, climate mandates, and social frameworks that are seen as misaligned with US energy production, industrial competitiveness, and national sovereignty.

On the other hand, critics warn that disengagement from UN sustainability institutions risks reducing US influence over global standards that will shape markets, trade, and technology regardless of American participation.

For sustainability advocates, the moment highlights a deeper tension: whether environmental governance is best pursued through global institutions or through national and regional strategies. I personally believe that more power should be put into the hands of local organizations. The bigger and more bloated EU and UN organizations become (with non-elected leaders), the more political biases and racism creep into global policies and perception. The world needs a reset and to restart well intentioned cooperation projects from start. Because right now the UN and EU projects look like software built on code from the 80s, rickety, patched, slow to adapt, and prone to crashing under the weight of outdated assumptions.

Karin Kloosterman – Green Prophet

The post The US leaves 66 United Nations organizations to “put America first” appeared first on Green Prophet.

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I grew up as the fifth of seven children in a strict religious family where faith shaped everything. From an early age, I learned to follow the rules, perform to be seen, keep the peace, and be good.

My religious upbringing taught me to give my power away. The church held the answers, the authority, and even forgiveness itself. I learned to seek approval from outside sources instead of developing a relationship with my own inner truth. …

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I grew up as the fifth of seven children in a strict religious family where faith shaped everything. From an early age, I learned to follow the rules, perform to be seen, keep the peace, and be good.

My religious upbringing taught me to give my power away. The church held the answers, the authority, and even forgiveness itself. I learned to seek approval from outside sources instead of developing a relationship with my own inner truth. It disconnected me from the very part of me that was meant to guide my life.

For years, I believed goodness was about compliance, not compassion. I was told that being good meant obedience, not connection or genuine concern for others. It kept me disconnected from my own body, my intuition, and my desire to experience life itself as something sacred.

When I began to question that, it was not rebellion. It was the beginning of taking responsibility for my own relationship with myself and my truth.

For a long time, I did what was expected. I was very involved in church and attended regularly, married young, and had a baby. I built a life that looked exactly like it should.

After my divorce in 2013, most of what I had been taught to trust began to unravel. I had (naively) assumed my family would be a source of comfort, but what I found instead was distance. The disapproval came in small but unmistakable ways. It showed me how fragile some of my relationships really were and how easily love could be withdrawn when I stopped fitting the mold.

For the first time, I began to see how deeply religion had shaped the way love was given and withheld.

I kept trying to make it work, like really tried, convincing myself I could still belong if I followed the rules and stayed small. But pretending only made me feel further from myself.

Then, in 2018, everything totally unraveled. A painful conflict within my family led to a level of rejection I could never have imagined. People I loved most turned away from me and my daughter. What I thought would be the place I could lean on became the place that hurt the most. The loss was total.

In the months that followed, I fell into a level of grief and despair I had never known. Days blurred together, and I moved through them feeling only numbness. It was as if color had drained from the world. I was not just sad. I was gone.

I did not know it then, but I was in what some might call a dark night of the soul, and mine lasted for the better part of seven years.

It was depression, yes, but it was also something deeper. I was not just emotionally unwell. I was spiritually unwell. The faith that once gave me meaning no longer worked, and I had nothing real to replace it with. I was lost inside a life that looked objectively fine from the outside but felt hollow at the core.

This is why our spiritual health matters. Spiritual wellness has little to do with religion or anything “woo.” It is about a deep connection to yourself, to others, and to the greater world around you. It is what gives life depth and coherence. When that connection is strong, you feel anchored and alive.

When we lose connection to meaning, we lose connection to ourselves. We start to live from the outside in, measuring worth by output and identity by what others reflect back. Life becomes something to manage rather than something to experience.

For a long time, I kept trying to fix myself the way I had been taught—pray harder, achieve more, be grateful, push through. But that only led me further away from myself. I realized it was mostly performative.

Eventually, survival required surrendering. I stopped trying to get back to who I had been and started asking who I was now. I pulled every lever I could reach—therapy, yoga, journaling, meditation, long walks, finding community, and even psychedelics. None of them were magic, but together they were medicine. Slowly, I began to build a spirituality that was mine.

I learned that I could still believe in something greater without needing someone else to define it for me. I could find reverence in the ordinary, in the breath, the body, and the kindness of strangers. I did not need a church to feel close to something sacred.

That realization did not come with fireworks. It came through small moments: cooking dinner for my daughter, breathing through anxiety, and allowing grief to move through me. Each moment of honesty stitched me back together.

Over time, I came to understand that connection is not something you find once and keep forever. It is something you return to again and again. Some days I still forget, and that is okay. Remembering is part of the practice.

Aliveness is not about chasing a spiritual high or waiting for life to line up perfectly. It is the decision to participate, even when things are uncertain. It grows through honesty, through presence, and through the willingness to be shaped by what is real. That is the work of connection, and it is the work of being human.

Why This Matters

When we lose connection, we lose direction. Without a sense of meaning, it is easy to slip into a version of life that looks fine but feels empty. We move faster, achieve more, and still feel like something is missing.

Reconnection changes that. It restores depth to experience and turns ordinary moments into opportunities for truth and awareness. It reminds us that we are not here to perfect life but to live it, to feel it, to engage with it, and to learn from it.

The world does not need more people performing wellness or chasing enlightenment. It needs people who are awake to their own lives and who bring meaning back into the everyday. People who show up honestly for themselves, for their friends and families, and in service to their community.

See more posts

Get in the conversation! Click here to leave a comment on the site.

Trigger Warning: This piece contains references to childhood trauma, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Please take care of yourself as you read, and step away if you need to. If you are struggling, you are not alone — support is available through trusted loved ones, a therapist, or resources like the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (in the U.S.).

Hello, darkness, my old friend.

I can’t push you away—because if I do, you only grow stronger. So I’m learning to let you be here. You settle in my chest like a hollow weight, speaking not in words but in pressure.

At …

Trigger Warning: This piece contains references to childhood trauma, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Please take care of yourself as you read, and step away if you need to. If you are struggling, you are not alone — support is available through trusted loved ones, a therapist, or resources like the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (in the U.S.).

Hello, darkness, my old friend.

I can’t push you away—because if I do, you only grow stronger. So I’m learning to let you be here. You settle in my chest like a hollow weight, speaking not in words but in pressure.

At two years old, I could already feel my grandmother’s sadness. She didn’t believe anyone really loved her. I absorbed it for her.

At three, I sat in front of my mother while tears welled in her eyes. A lump rose in my own throat as I told her, “Don’t cry, Mommy. It’s okay.” She needed comfort, so I gave it. I did the best I could.

At four, I can still see myself on the porch, singing a song of longing for my mother, hoping she would come get me. I hadn’t seen her for two years. I had been kidnapped back and forth between my parents—not because of custody battles (my mom never had the money to fight), but because that was the reality of the seventies, when parental abductions, divorces, and conflict between parents were far too common.

My mom was a domestic violence survivor, scarred and traumatized. Her depression deepened over time. All I knew was that I missed her. So I sang.

At twelve, I stood in front of my best friend’s casket—her hands folded, a bruise on one. From then on, the feeling never really left. It would shrink sometimes, but it always lived somewhere in the background.

At fifteen, I shoplifted a pair of floral shorts because my mom couldn’t afford the things that made me fit in. I stared at myself in a mirror lit like a stage: green eyes, smiling on the outside, aching on the inside. I was waiting for my first love to pick me up. Even then I could feel it.

At twenty-two, just before Christmas, I had nowhere to go. I lived in a one-bedroom apartment by myself, just trying to get through the last semester of college. My mom was back in the hospital—the depression that had deepened over the years had become a more permanent fixture. Now I know it was bipolar disorder, sometimes followed by psychosis. I held the sadness silently. No one really knew how much I was hurting.

I went to the kitchen cabinet and grabbed a bottle of household chemicals. I almost did it. I really almost did. Then I didn’t. Maybe I couldn’t let go of hope entirely. Maybe some stubborn strand inside me decided there would be another day.

Instead, I pet my cat and cried. I opened a little book of scripture my aunt had given me and whispered a prayer. My cat purred beside me. I was grateful for his company.

When the darkness returns, it doesn’t always come as me. Sometimes I’m inside the memory, reliving it. Sometimes I’m watching from above, seeing a girl I used to be, hurting quietly.

Darkness, I hear you. I know you’re here because you need to be seen. I can hold you. I can love you. I’m getting better at this.

What follows isn’t a conclusion I arrived at all at once, but an understanding that emerged gradually through my body.

The memories I’ve shared, though not linear, all surfaced in one Brainspotting session.

Brainspotting is, at its core, a deep, focused form of mindfulness: using the eyes to find a spot in the visual field that connects with the body’s felt sense, allowing the subconscious to release what words alone cannot reach.

I first learned about it as a therapist, trying to do my own healing while also searching for what worked with clients who were much like me.

Over the years, I’ve had hundreds of sessions—sometimes on my own, sometimes with my therapist. Each one takes me deeper into myself, my own story, my own inner knowing. My body shows me what my mind can’t access—old grief, stored memories, and the protective patterns I built as a child.

Facing these truths has changed my life in drastic ways. Each session deepens my self-compassion, strengthens my capacity to sit with hard feelings instead of dissociating, and expands my understanding of how trauma lives in the nervous system.

The wisdom isn’t tidy or instant; it’s an ongoing process of seeing the little girl and young woman I once was with gentleness—reclaiming my voice and agency in the present and learning to make choices from the adult me rather than the child me.

One night, while out of town, the ache returned. I had been away from a relationship I was in at the time after a long day. The abandonment wound rose in my chest—not because anything was overtly wrong, but because distance and quiet pressed against something familiar. At other times, space hadn’t been a problem. But that night, something in my subconscious was ready to surface, and I felt it before I could fully understand it.

I went into the bedroom where I was staying, sat down, and found a spot.

Images began flashing—moments of grief, loneliness, and survival my body had been holding for decades. As they moved through me, my chest softened. What had been tight and wordless began to organize itself, allowing my nervous system to release what it was ready to release.

By the next morning, the ache felt different—no longer overwhelming but something I could hold with more space and less fear. I understood more clearly where this pain had roots, even as I stayed curious about how the present moment interacted with the past.

What Brainspotting gave me wasn’t a simple answer—it gave me capacity. Capacity to stay present with sensation, to listen instead of panic, and to remain anchored in myself while navigating intimacy and uncertainty.

Healing doesn’t come from fighting the mud. Pain is wisdom wrapped in mud: messy, heavy, but also the ground from which the lotus rises—when the right conditions allow it.

See more posts

Get in the conversation! Click here to leave a comment on the site.