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Climate advocacy groups file two lawsuits against Trump administration

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Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Green advocacy groups filed two lawsuits against the Trump administration on Wednesday, marking the first environmental legal challenges against the president’s second administration.Both focus on the Trump administration’s moves to open up more of US waters to oil and gas drilling, which the plaintiffs say are illegal.“Offshore oil drilling is destructive from start to finish,” said Kristen Monsell, the oceans legal director at the conservation organization Center for Biological Diversity. “Opening up more public waters to the oil industry for short-term gain and political points is a reprehensible and irresponsible way to manage our precious ocean ecosystems.”In the first lawsuit, local and national organizations including the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, the Louisiana-based Healthy Gulf, and the Northern Alaska Environmental Center took aim at the president’s revocation of Joe Biden-era protections for 265m acres of federal waters from future fossil fuel leasing. Trump signed an order withdrawing the protections just hours into his second term.Another related challenge, filed by many of the same groups, calls for a court to reinstate a 2021 decision affirming protections from nearly 130m acres in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.“The Arctic Ocean has been protected from US drilling for nearly a decade, and those protections have been affirmed by the federal courts,” said Sierra Weaver, a senior attorney at the organization Defenders of Wildlife, which is a plaintiff in the case. “Though these coastlines have been protected, the administration is showing no restraint in seeking to hand off some of our most fragile and pristine landscapes for the oil industry’s profit.”The lawsuits will probably be the first of hundreds of environmental lawsuits filed by green groups against the Trump administration. During his first weeks in office, Trump has already rolled back a swath of Biden-era environmental protections while freezing green spending programs – part of his pledge to boost the fossil fuel industry.Trump says the US must boost fossil fuels – which are responsible for the vast majority of global warming – to meet demand and ensure that the United States remains a global energy leader. The US is currently producing more oil and gas than any other country in history.The Guardian has contacted the White House for comment about the litigation.

Groups from Sierra Club to Greenpeace take aim at Trump’s drilling orders in term’s first environmental legal battlesGreen advocacy groups filed two lawsuits against the Trump administration on Wednesday, marking the first environmental legal challenges against the president’s second administration.Both focus on the Trump administration’s moves to open up more of US waters to oil and gas drilling, which the plaintiffs say are illegal. Continue reading...

Green advocacy groups filed two lawsuits against the Trump administration on Wednesday, marking the first environmental legal challenges against the president’s second administration.

Both focus on the Trump administration’s moves to open up more of US waters to oil and gas drilling, which the plaintiffs say are illegal.

“Offshore oil drilling is destructive from start to finish,” said Kristen Monsell, the oceans legal director at the conservation organization Center for Biological Diversity. “Opening up more public waters to the oil industry for short-term gain and political points is a reprehensible and irresponsible way to manage our precious ocean ecosystems.”

In the first lawsuit, local and national organizations including the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, the Louisiana-based Healthy Gulf, and the Northern Alaska Environmental Center took aim at the president’s revocation of Joe Biden-era protections for 265m acres of federal waters from future fossil fuel leasing. Trump signed an order withdrawing the protections just hours into his second term.

Another related challenge, filed by many of the same groups, calls for a court to reinstate a 2021 decision affirming protections from nearly 130m acres in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.

“The Arctic Ocean has been protected from US drilling for nearly a decade, and those protections have been affirmed by the federal courts,” said Sierra Weaver, a senior attorney at the organization Defenders of Wildlife, which is a plaintiff in the case. “Though these coastlines have been protected, the administration is showing no restraint in seeking to hand off some of our most fragile and pristine landscapes for the oil industry’s profit.”

The lawsuits will probably be the first of hundreds of environmental lawsuits filed by green groups against the Trump administration. During his first weeks in office, Trump has already rolled back a swath of Biden-era environmental protections while freezing green spending programs – part of his pledge to boost the fossil fuel industry.

Trump says the US must boost fossil fuels – which are responsible for the vast majority of global warming – to meet demand and ensure that the United States remains a global energy leader. The US is currently producing more oil and gas than any other country in history.

The Guardian has contacted the White House for comment about the litigation.

Read the full story here.
Photos courtesy of

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Scientists urge caution after a carcinogen is detected in water in fire-stricken areas

While residents in the Palisades and Eaton fire areas can use tap water for some limited purposes, the detection of a carcinogen in the systems can pose some risks.

Utilities in both the Eaton and Palisades fire burn scars have reported detecting the carcinogen benzene in parts of their water systems. State regulators have recommended the utilities issue “do not drink” and “do not boil” notices, which still permit residents to use the water for showers, handwashing, laundry and other daily activities.The state said the order attempts to balance safety with the need for usable water, while some scientists warned that using the water, even for purposes other than drinking or cooking, could pose a risk.Studies have linked long-term exposure to benzene through inhalation or ingestion to the development of blood cancers like leukemia. Research has also found long-term exposure can result in anemia, which can leave patients feeling weak and tired; a low white blood cell count, which debilitates the immune system; and a low platelet count, which leads to excessive bleeding and bruising.So far, two of Altadena’s three customer-owned water utilities have detected the carcinogen.Lincoln Avenue Water Co. said it has taken over 350 samples, and — out of the 296 samples analyzed so far in results posted on the California State Water Resources Control Board’s website — 30 had contamination above the state’s maximum allowed level, with concentrations as high as 31 times the allowed level. Rubio Cañon Land & Water Assn. said it has taken over 150 samples. Out of the 100 posted so far, six had contamination above the state limit, as high as 190 times the allowable level.Both Lincoln Avenue and Rubio Cañon posted a list of affected streets on their websites.Las Flores Water Co. — whose infrastructure suffered significant damage and has not been able to restore water pressure to large swaths of its customers, let alone begin comprehensive testing — did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the water utility responsible for most of the affected area of the Palisades, said it had detected benzene. However, it has not listed affected streets in its “do not drink” notice, nor has any of its testing data been posted on the California State Water Resources Control Board’s website yet, unlike Rubio Cañon and Lincoln Avenue.The LADWP said it was working on an online dashboard to help customers understand its testing data. The utility tested water at 276 sites and originally found 14 where the amount of benzene exceeded allowable limits. However, since then, the LADWP has been able to reduce the number of high benzene sites to eight by flushing water through the system.The allowable limits of contaminants in drinking water are set based on the risks posed by daily exposure over decades. Scientists said much less is known about the potential health implications for extreme, short-term exposure.It is unclear whether, or how many, currently undamaged and inhabited homes may be running water contaminated by benzene and at what level.Benzene is a common chemical in many materials found in and around houses, including in wood products, plastics, paints and gasoline. As these materials burn, benzene enters the smoke. And if water systems lose pressure and begin to completely drain, fire hydrants that were left open and broken connections at destroyed homes can suck smoke into the pipes to fill the void in the system.On Jan. 8, the three customer-owned private water utilities in Altadena (Lincoln Avenue, Rubio Cañon, and Las Flores) issued “do not use” orders — the most restrictive level of drinking-water-use notices. With no idea what contaminants could be in the water, they advised residents to avoid tap water altogether.The same day, the LADWP issued a “boil water” notice, which allowed residents to still drink the water if boiled, although the region remained under evacuation orders.The “boil water” notice is the least restrictive of the four drinking notices. It’s designed to protect against pathogens — like viruses and bacteria — that have contaminated the water supply but can be neutralized with high heat. The next level, a “do not drink” notice, is for contaminants that are dangerous to ingest even if they’re boiled.The combined “do not drink” and “do not boil” notice is for contaminants dangerous not only to ingest, but also to inhale as particles that can enter the air when boiled. Finally, the “do not use” notice is used when the potential contaminants are unknown or pose a danger when they contact the skin.The initial warnings issued on Jan. 8 were precautionary. At the time, no benzene or other contaminants had been detected. But public health officials and utilities were acting out of an abundance of caution given that in the aftermath of other urban wildfires — including the Tubbs fire and the Camp fire in Northern California and fires in Colorado and Hawaii — where benzene had been detected in water supplies.On Jan. 10, LADWP upgraded the notice to “do not drink,” advising against drinking the water even if boiled. And by the end of the following week, Lincoln Avenue and Rubio Cañon, on the advice of state regulators at the Division of Drinking Water, relaxed their notices to “do not drink” and “do not boil,” allowing residents to use the water for showers and other uses. Eaton and Palisades fires The devastating fires killed at least 28 people, destroying and damaging more than 18,000 buildings valued at more than $275 billion and leaving a burn zone 2½ times the size of Manhattan. While the current orders allow residents to use the water in some capacity, scientists say benzene can also enter the body through direct contact with the skin (though the amount absorbed compared to inhalation and ingestion is typically much lower).How residents use tap water makes a difference for their risk, experts say. For example: washing hands with cold water doesn’t create much risk for benzene exposure, said Gina Solomon, chief of the Division of Occupational, Environmental and Climate Medicine at UC San Francisco. On the other hand, taking a long, hot bath — especially with a rash or unhealed wound — means a more significant risk for absorption of the chemical.For this reason, the LADWP, Rubio Cañon and Lincoln Avenue all advise residents to limit hot water use, limit shower and bathing time, use the air-dry setting on dishwashers, avoid using clothes dryers and wash clothes with cold water.That said, the science isn’t fully settled. Researchers only really identified benzene as a prominent post-wildfire drinking water contaminant after the 2017 Tubbs fire, and some scientists said that not enough research has been conducted to confidently determine what household water uses are high risk and which aren’t.“Right now, there’s no chemical modeling, mathematical modeling or any exposure assessments that have been conducted to determine the answers to [these] questions,” said Andrew Whelton, a professor of civil environmental engineering at Purdue University and a leading researcher in the field of postfire water safety.California policy uses benzene as a sort of benchmark for contamination as a whole. The state requires utilities to test for bacteria and benzene contamination, arguing that benzene is a good indicator of whether other contaminants may be present.But Whelton and others emphatically argue that this assumption is not supported by the evidence. In previous fires, they point out, other known carcinogens in the same family as benzene, called volatile organic compounds (VOCs), have been found in water systems even when benzene was not present.The LADWP, Rubio Cañon and Lincoln Avenue all said they’re testing not just for benzene, but also for the full EPA-recommended suite of VOCs, including dangerous chemicals found after the Tubbs and Camp fires.In the meantime, experts advise that before using tap water, anyone in the burn scars should turn on all the faucets and water fixtures in their home and let them run for at least 10 to 15 minutes to flush out the system.Experts also cautioned that, while residents might seek at-home water-testing kits and filtration systems for extra peace of mind, most kits do not test for all prominent wildfire contaminants, and filtration cannot guarantee safe water if the contamination level is unknown.The utilities in Pacific Palisades and Altadena all said they were working as quickly as possible to restore drinking water without compromising on safety. With the detection of benzene, none could predict when they would be able to lift the “do not drink” and “do not boil” notices.

Water
Chemicals
Health

Parched Southern Greece Reveals EU's Giant Challenge to Conserve Water

By Renee MaltezouNAFPLION, Greece (Reuters) - In the Argolida region of southern Greece, water escapes through cracks in an irrigation canal...

NAFPLION, Greece (Reuters) - In the Argolida region of southern Greece, water escapes through cracks in an irrigation canal feeding a plain of orange trees. Underground, old pipes lose more than half the water that is pumped through them, officials say.In summer, when reservoir levels tumble, authorities in the regional capital Nafplion advise residents not to drink the contaminated brackish water that is pumped from backup sources into their homes."You can smell the difference in the water, feel the dryness on your clothes," said Lydia Sarakinioti, a jeweller in Nafplion who uses bottled water even to cook.This month, the EU launched a campaign to combat a climate change-driven water crisis that it says already affects 38% of its population. It has given EU countries until next year to assess leakage levels before a legal threshold is imposed.The program to increase water security is expected to cost hundreds of billions of euros and comes as countries across southern Europe experience more erratic rainfall and hotter temperatures linked to climate change.The situation in Greece, which lies on Europe's baking southern frontier, shows just how complex and costly change will be. Last summer and winter were the warmest on record and many places saw no rainfall for months.Moreover, a crippling 2009-18 debt crisis has led to years of underinvestment. Greece loses around half its drinking water from leaky pipes and theft, government figures show - nearly twice the EU average of 23%. Most maps of its underground pipeline network are either not digitised or do not exist, experts and officials said.Greece has spent more than 1.5 billion euros on drinking water infrastructure since 2019, the government said. But Argolida, an agricultural hub that produces roughly a third of Greece's oranges, shows much more is needed."There are many problems, and we are trying to gradually tackle them all," said Socrates Doris, the head of Nafplion's municipal drinking water provider. He said that the company was seeking EU funding to help.Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis promised to make fixes to Argolida's water problems when he visited in November, including extending the irrigation network and providing a desalination unit to dissolve salts in water.Government officials say fundamental fixes are needed first."If an area's network leaks everywhere, what's the point of buying a new desalination unit or drilling a well?" said Petros Varelidis, the environment ministry's secretary general for water resources.Leakages in some areas reach 80%, he said."The needs are a lot bigger than the resources available."In Argolida, water scarcity leads to poor water quality. When the lake feeding Nafplion shrinks, authorities boost it with brackish water from a submarine spring, Anavalos.Tests commissioned by water authorities from June to November in 2022-24, seen by Reuters, showed higher than permitted levels of chlorides and sodium in those sources, which can affect people with blood pressure or kidney issues.Nafplion is not alone. In the coastal town of Ermioni, only 8% of the 13,500 residents have permanent access to safe drinking water, according to local authorities' data submitted to parliament.Most residents rely on plastic bottled water, which creates its own environmental problems."The quality is really bad. It harms electric devices, such as the washing machine," said resident Evi Leventi, 58.Outside town, in fields dried by two years of drought, farmers dig up to 300 metres below the surface in search of water. It often comes up too salty because sea water has seeped into depleted underground aquifers."Every drop of water is indispensable... We pin our hopes on rainy winters," said farmer George Mavras.(Additional reporting by Louisa Gouliamaki; Editing by Edward McAllister, Alexandra Hudson)Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.Photos You Should See - Sept. 2024

Water
Climate
Government

Droughts are getting worse. Is fog-farming a fix?

Tapping low-hanging clouds could be a cheap way to boost dwindling water supplies, according to new research.

The city of Alto Hospicio, in Chile’s Atacama Desert, is one of the driest places on Earth. And yet its population of 140,000 continues to balloon, putting mounting pressure on nearby aquifers that haven’t been recharged by rain in 10,000 years. But Alto Hospicio, like so many other coastal cities, is rich in an untapped water resource: fog. New research finds that by deploying fog collectors — fine mesh stretched between two poles —  in the mountains around Alto Hospicio, the city could harvest an average of 2.5 liters of water per square meter of netting each day. Large fog collectors cost between $1,000 and $4,500 and measure 40 square meters, so just one placed near Alto Hospicio could grab 36,500 liters of water a year without using any electricity, according to a paper published on Thursday in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science.  By placing the collectors above town — where the altitude is ideal for exploiting the region’s predictable band of fog — water would flow downhill in pipelines by the power of gravity. So that initial investment for collectors would keep paying liquid dividends year after year. “If you’re pumping water from the underground, you will need a lot of energy,” said Virginia Carter Gamberini, a geographer and assistant professor at Chile’s Universidad Mayor and co-lead author of the paper. “From that perspective, it’s a very cheap technology.” A view of Alto Hospicio, Chile. Virginia Carter Gamberini It’s a simple idea that’s already in use around the world. Fog is just a cloud that touches the ground. Like a puffy cloud higher in the atmosphere, it teems with tiny water droplets that gather in the mesh of a fog collector, dripping into a trough that runs into a tank. Communities across South America, Africa, and Asia have been deploying these collectors, though on very small scales compared to other methods like pumping groundwater. So why haven’t cities expanded their use? For one, if a region gets rain, that volume of water is much higher than what can be extracted from fog, and communities can store that rainfall in reservoirs. Fog collection also requires constant attention, as the devices can break in fierce winds, requiring repairs. The economics are tricky, too. Water remains very cheap in places with modern infrastructure, disincentivizing fog collection, said Daniel Fernandez, an environmental scientist at California State University, Monterey Bay who studies the technology but wasn’t involved in the new paper. “They’re going to catch a few gallons, if you’re lucky, in a day,” said Fernandez, who also founded a company that installs collectors. “That’s kind of cool to get that much from fog. But how much is that going to cost you to turn on your tap and get that much?”  A fog collector at work near the port city of Antofagasta, Chile. Daniel Fernandez The investment is more enticing where water is scarcer and therefore more expensive, Fernandez said. As climate change makes droughts more intense, communities struggling to get enough water might find the economics make sense. Supplementing aquifers, reservoirs, and other established sources with fog would help a region diversify its water system, in case one of them dries up or gets contaminated. Alto Hospicio can’t just rely on its aquifers, since they’re no longer being replenished by rain. “Without thinking outside the box, including fog harvesting, that solution places a limit on how long human habitation can exist there,” said Michael Kiparsky, director of the Wheeler Water Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, who wasn’t involved in the new paper. Dense cities, though, may struggle to deploy fog collectors compared to the countryside. “The wind load on a fog collector is like that on the sail of a sailing ship,” said Robert S. Schemenauer, executive director of FogQuest, a Canadian nonprofit that advises on collection projects. “It has to be very strongly anchored. Therefore, placing it on the building could lead to building damage or material ending up on the street below.” Beyond drinking water, using the fog for hydroponic farming could help Alto Hospicio and other parched communities grow their own food. Gamberini is already doing additional research elsewhere in the Atacama to expand this kind of farming, growing tomatoes, lettuce, and other crops with fog water and bountiful desert sunlight. Even in the United States, where water is comparatively cheap, gardeners are experimenting with fog collectors. Peter Weiss, an atmospheric chemist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has been installing them in Pacifica, just south of San Francisco. In the summertime, fog can provide enough water to sustain a home’s established plants without turning on the hose.  For Weiss’ next project, he wants to bring fog collection to California’s vineyards. “That could be a way to make it more sustainable, less water intensive,” he said. “At first I hated fog because it’s so dreary. But then I started collecting it, and I loved it.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Droughts are getting worse. Is fog-farming a fix? on Feb 20, 2025.

Water
Climate
Food

Fog harvesting could provide water for arid cities

Research in Chile could help to provide drinking water for some of the world's most arid places.

Fog harvesting could provide water for arid citiesVictoria GillScience correspondent, BBC NewsGetty ImagesAerial image of an encampment in Alto Hospicio, ChileCapturing water from fog - on a large scale - could provide some of the driest cities in the world with drinking water.This what researchers in Chile have concluded after studying the potential of fog harvesting in the desert city of Alto Hospicio in the north of the country.Average rainfall in the region is less than 0.19in (5mm) per year."The city also has a lot of social problems," said lead researcher Dr Virginia Carter Gamberini, from Universidad Mayor. "Poverty, drugs, many slums."With no access to water supply networks, people in the slums rely on drinking water that is delivered by truck.However, clouds of fog that regularly gather over the mountain city are an untapped source, researchers say.Maria Virginia Carter GamberiniFog harvesting systems consist of a fine mesh, through which the moisture-laden clouds pass How do you harvest fog?Capturing fog water is remarkably simple - a mesh is hung between poles, and when the moisture-laden clouds pass through that fine mesh, droplets form. The water is then channelled into pipes and storage tanks.It has been used at a small scale for several decades, mainly in rural South and Central America - in places with the right foggy conditions. One of the biggest fog water harvesting systems is in Morocco, on the edge of the Sahara Desert.However, Dr Carter says a "new era" of much larger-scale fog harvesting could provide a more secure and sustainable supply of water in urban environments where it is most needed.Maria Virginia Carter GamberiniAlto Hospicio is in one of the world's driest regions, and some of the poorest areas of the growing city have no secure water supply She and her colleagues carried out assessments of how much water can be produced by fog harvesting, and combined that information with studies of cloud formation in satellite images and with weather forecasts.From this, they concluded that the clouds that regularly form over the Pacific - and are blown across the coastal mountain city - could provide the people of Alto Hospicio's slums with a sustainable source of drinking water. They published their findings in a paper in the journal Frontiers of Environmental Science.Alto Hospicio's fog forms over the Pacific Ocean - when warm, moist air flows over cold water - and is then blown over the mountains. The reliably foggy conditions here allowed Dr Carter and her colleagues to pinpoint areas where the largest volumes of water could be harvested regularly from the clouds.Based on an annual average water collection rate of 2.5 litres per square metre of mesh per day, the researchers worked out:Getty ImagesScientists say "water from the clouds" could enhance some arid cities' resilence to climate change Alto Hospicio is on the edge of the Atacama Desert - one of the driest places on Earth. With little to no precipitation, the main water source of cities in the region are underground aquifers - rock layers that contain water-filled spaces - that were last refilled thousands of years ago.With urban populations growing, and demand on those water supplies from mining and industry, the scientists say there is an urgent need for other sustainable sources of clean water.Dr Gamberini explained that Chile is "very special" for its sea fog, "because we have the ocean along the whole country and we have the mountains".Her team is currently working on a "fog harvesting map" of the whole country."Water from the clouds", as Dr Carter describes it, could, she said, "enhance our cities' resilience to climate change, while improving access to clean water".

Water
Climate
Science

World’s ugliest lawn winner says she leaves watering to Mother Nature

New Zealand garden takes first prize in global competition designed to promote water conservationA sun-scorched patch of lawn near Christchurch, in New Zealand, has been crowned the ugliest lawn in the world.Now in its second year, the World’s Ugliest Lawn competition rewards lawn owners for not watering their parched yellow grass and patchy flowerbeds. Continue reading...

A sun-scorched patch of lawn near Christchurch, in New Zealand, has been crowned the ugliest lawn in the world.Now in its second year, the World’s Ugliest Lawn competition rewards lawn owners for not watering their parched yellow grass and patchy flowerbeds.The winning lawn in the settlement of Birdlings Flat belongs to Leisa Elliott, and is kept closely cropped by harsh coastal winds and little rainfall.“I live in a small coastal community,” Elliott said. “Our drinking water is pumped from a well in nearby Kaitorete Spit. In my mind, drinking water is drinking water, not watering-the-lawn water.”Leisa Elliott’s winning lawn is in Birdlings Flat in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. Photograph: Leisa ElliotThe contest began in the Swedish municipality of Gotland as a stunt to promote water conservation on the island. An irrigation ban in 2022 due to water shortages led to a competition between residents, which quickly gained global recognition.Elliott said: “I have aimed at creating a garden that primarily looks after itself, making its own natural rhythm.” Bushes of stout, verdant cacti surround the lawn, and are perfectly suited to the hot weather.“Mother Nature does the watering here,” she said. “When the rain comes, the transformation is stunning. An oasis after a desert is a sight to behold.”Wildlife is left to thrive undisturbed, often congregating by Elliott’s pond. “Many varieties of birds drink and bathe in it. Bellbirds, fantails, silver eyes, different types of finches, blackbirds, starlings. The list goes on. Bees and geckos also call this place home.”Elliott found out about the competition in February through a morning breakfast show. “We were experiencing above-normal summer temperatures and my lawn sure fitted the competition bill.”The jury, composed of Gotland residents, voted unanimously for Elliott’s lawn after an hour-long deliberation. “Her lawn may not win beauty contests, but it wins hearts for its message of sustainability and adaptability,” they said. “The ground, parched and textured by the elements, is dotted with natural, weather-carved indentations and adorned with the muted colours of a landscape that thrives without human interference.”skip past newsletter promotionThe planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essentialPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionMimmi Gibson, the brand director at tourism agency Region Gotland, who helps organise the contest, said competition for the title was fierce. “I mean, they’re all so bad,” she said. “They’re so terrible.”Gibson said she hoped the annual contest would continue to provide people with optimism and ideas for small, meaningful actions they can take during the climate crisis. In Gotland, the contest and other initiatives have reduced water consumption by 5% to 7% each year since 2022.“We all have to channel this anxiety about environmental issues and the challenges we’re facing as a global population,” Gison said. “And this is one way to do that, not by making people feel bad but making them feel good.“At first you stand and you laugh and it’s like: ‘God, what is this?” Then you start thinking. It’s not just a fun thing, it’s actually saving water. I think people like that.”

Water
Conservation
Nature

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