Green & indigenous News

For decades, scientists assumed that order drives efficiency. Yet in the bustling machinery of mitochondria—the organelles that crank out adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the universal "energy currency" of cells—one of the most enigmatic components is a protein that appears anything but orderly.

---

From Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology via This RSS Feed.

Anyone who looks at a social media feed with any regularity is likely familiar with the deluge of fabricated images and videos now circulating online. Some are harmless curiosities (other than the resource use). Others are more troubling. Among the most consequential are AI-generated depictions of wildlife, which are beginning to distort how people understand animals, their behavior and the risks they pose, Mongabay contributor Sean Mowbray reported. Wildlife imagery has long been embellished, staged or misrepresented, sometimes for effect, sometimes for attention. What has changed is the speed, scale, plausibility and ease with which all three now combine. Artificial intelligence allows convincing scenes to be produced quickly, cheaply and without specialist skill, often by people with no connection to wildlife at all. A lion appears where no lions live. A leopard stalks a shopping mall. An eagle carries off a child. To an expert, the errors are visible. To most viewers, they are not. This matters because wildlife conservation rests heavily on public perception. When AI-generated videos exaggerate danger or invent attacks, they can inflame anxieties that already exist. In places where farmers contend with real predators, false sightings can provoke retaliation against species that were never involved. Other fabrications pull in the opposite direction. Videos showing wild animals behaving like pets or companions encourage sentimental interpretations of species that are neither domesticated nor safe. Normalizing close contact with wildlife can feed demand for exotic pets, a trade that already threatens many species. What looks charming on a screen…This article was originally published on Mongabay

---

From Conservation news via This RSS Feed.

Artificial light is one of the most ingrained features of modern life. For humans, light after dark offers convenience and a sense of safety. For wildlife, it's a growing environmental disturbance. "When humans introduce artificial light at night, they are fundamentally altering an aspect of the environment that many species depend on for processes like foraging, navigation, and risk-avoidance," says Christopher Hickling, a Ph.D. student in natural resources science at the University of Rhode Island. "Species also depend on light to maintain their natural rhythms and cycles."

---

From Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology via This RSS Feed.

February 6, 2025 – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will scale back on enforcing food dye labeling, making it easier for food companies to advertise products as made with no artificial dyes.

On Thursday, the FDA sent a letter to food manufacturers clarifying it would exercise “enforcement discretion,” or would not take enforcement action, on items labeled as made without artificial colors. Currently, the definition of an artificial color does not distinguish between those made from natural sources and other color additives. This means a company could only claim its product had no artificial dyes if it had no colors added at all.

By relaxing the enforcement of this definition on labeling claims, the FDA argues it is making it easier for food manufacturers to transition to natural dyes. In April 2025, the Trump administration announced a plan to phase out all petroleum-based food dyes from the U.S. food system, in line with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again agenda.

The bulk of the initiative relies on voluntary commitments by food companies. Several companies have since said they would take steps to transition to natural dyes.

In July, Consumer Brands Association (CBA), which represents over 2,000 food companies, volunteered to aid in the phase-out of artificial dyes. But it has also urged the administration to boost access to natural color alternatives. The FDA’s letter is a positive step in supporting companies through this transition, Sarah Gallo, senior vice president at CBA, said in a statement.

“In order to continue delivering affordable, convenient and safe products to consumers, manufacturers need increased access to natural color alternatives,” Gallo said in a statement.
“This is a positive example of the FDA taking the lead on ingredient safety and transparency.”

But the Environmental Working Group, a public health organization, argued the move instead opens the door for food companies to falsely advertise their products as made without artificial dyes. “This latest retreat on synthetic food dye regulations is another broken promise from Secretary Kennedy and President Donald Trump,” Ken Cook, president and co-founder of EWG, said in a statement.

In Thursday’s announcement, the FDA, which is under Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services, said it approved beetroot red as a new natural color option and expanded the approved use of spirulina extract. The agency also sent a separate letter to food makers reminding them that all color additives—even those from natural sources like plants—must meet safety and purity standards. (Link to this post).

The post FDA Makes It Easier for Food Products To Be Labeled ‘No Artificial Dyes’ appeared first on Civil Eats.

---

From Civil Eats via This RSS Feed.

Researchers at Kyoto University have proposed a new physical model that explores how disturbances in the ionosphere may exert electrostatic forces within Earth's crust and potentially contribute to the initiation of large earthquakes under specific conditions. The study does not aim to predict earthquakes but rather presents a theoretical mechanism describing how ionospheric charge variations—caused by intense solar activity such as solar flares—could interact with pre-existing fragile structures in Earth's crust and influence fracture processes.

---

From Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change via This RSS Feed.

Earth's surface is covered by more than a dozen tectonic plates, and in subduction zones around the world—including the Japanese Islands—plates converge and dense oceanic plates sink into Earth's interior. These regions, especially plate boundaries, are known for frequent seismic activity.

---

From Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change via This RSS Feed.

"Dirty" or "extremely dirty": these are the classifications of 46% of the world's aquatic environments. This conclusion comes from a study that compiled and systematized data from 6,049 records of waste contamination in aquatic environments on all continents over the last decade.

---

From Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change via This RSS Feed.

KNBA's top story: An overflow crowd and hours of testimony on the Federal Subsistence Board's future at a hearing in Anchorage this week.

---

From Newscasts via This RSS Feed.

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — More than 140,000 people were evacuated from their homes in northwestern Morocco as heavy rainfall and water releases from overfilled dams led to flooding, the Interior Ministry said. Stormy weather also disrupted maritime traffic between Morocco and Spain. Torrential rains and water releases from overfilled dams raised water levels in recent days in rivers such as Loukkous, triggering floods in several towns, including Ksar El Kebir, according to residents and local media. Authorities urged people in the affected areas to leave immediately and deployed the army to evacuate residents from the hardest-hit towns and set up temporary shelters. The ministry said Thursday that 143,164 people had been evacuated. Schools and universities were closed. Officials said up to 85% of Ksar El Kebir was evacuated, leaving the town, known for its sugar production, nearly deserted. Videos provided by a witness to The Associated Press showed damaged homes and landslides in the northern rural town of Bni Zid after torrential rains. Other footage showed bulldozers being used to clear roads and restore access to the isolated community. Long-awaited after seven years of drought, the heavy rains brought relief to the North African nation, ending a dry spell and securing at least a year of drinking water by filling reservoirs. But it also overfilled some dams, damaged crops such as avocados, potatoes and olives, disrupted port operations and delayed shipments. Morocco’s water ministry said it has launched controlled water releases from dams nearing maximum capacity, including the total discharge of more than 372…This article was originally published on Mongabay

---

From Conservation news via This RSS Feed.

Word that the Washington Post would be cutting roughly one-third of its staff spread quickly this week. Among those affected were at least a dozen reporters, editors, and visual journalists covering climate and the environment. The cuts will materially reduce the Post’s climate coverage. They come just over three years after the paper significantly expanded that desk, nearly tripling its size and describing climate change as “perhaps the century’s biggest story.” At the time, then–executive editor Sally Buzbee framed the investment not as a specialty beat, but as a recognition that climate touches nearly every domain the newsroom covers. What has changed is not the scale of the problem, but the political, economic, and institutional context in which it is reported. The layoffs were first reported by the New York Times as part of a broader retrenchment that will see more than 300 journalists lose their jobs. After the cuts, the Post’s climate desk is expected to retain only a handful of reporters. This is not simply a story about one newsroom. It reflects a wider weakening of the institutions responsible for producing and maintaining a shared factual record, particularly on subjects that are politically contested and structurally complex. Under ordinary conditions, information performs an underappreciated coordinating function. It allows people to orient themselves, to understand what is happening, and to trace responsibility across systems that are otherwise hard to see. When it works, it often recedes into the background. Its absence becomes evident only when facts arrive late, circulate…This article was originally published on Mongabay

---

From Conservation news via This RSS Feed.

Last Updated on February 6, 2026 Anti-Indigenous rhetoric and policy actions have started trending in Canada, Australia, the United States and New Zealand, reflecting what can only be described as a coordinated rollback of hard-won gains and an emboldened backlash against Indigenous self-determination. What was once debated at the margins has moved into mainstream politics. […]

Source

---

From Intercontinental Cry via This RSS Feed.

Implementing novel management practices in dairy farming, one of the commonwealth's major agricultural industries, could help alleviate a large source of both nutrient pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, according to a multidisciplinary team led by researchers at Penn State. Those practices include continuous cover—keeping fields covered with vegetation year-round—and anaerobic digestion—a microbial process that converts manure and plant organic matter, called biomass, into biogas—a combustible fuel consisting mostly of methane.

---

From Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology via This RSS Feed.

Mangrove forests, located along tropical and subtropical coastlines, are increasingly recognized for their role in buffering climate disasters, storing carbon, supporting wildlife and livelihoods. Yet even as interest in mangrove conservation and restoration has surged in recent years, many projects fail — seedlings die, sites degrade further or communities disengage. One reason, according to Catherine Lovelock, professor in the School of the Environment at the University of Queensland in Australia and expert in mangrove ecology, is that restoration efforts are often led by small community groups with limited resources and expertise. In fact, studies have shown that around 70% of mangrove restoration projects in some regions, particularly Southeast Asia and Latin America, have low rates of success. To bridge this gap, a growing number of environmental nonprofits are tapping into their experience with fundraising and resource mobilization to help local communities more effectively conduct restoration. Seatrees, a California-based NGO (formerly known as Sustainable Surf), is one such organization. Rather than running projects itself, the organization partners with local community groups and other NGOs, providing funding, scientific expertise and media support to boost coastal and marine restoration efforts worldwide, including mangroves. Over the past five years, Seatrees has supported mangrove restoration projects in Kenya, Mexico, the U.S. and Indonesia “by providing much needed funds to scale up tree planting, produce storytelling materials and build capacity in science, monitoring and impact measurement,” Leah Hays, the program director, told Mongabay. Seatrees is one of nearly 130 organizations worldwide identified by researchers at the…This article was originally published on Mongabay

---

From Conservation news via This RSS Feed.

Southern California's beaches have grown more than 500 acres over the past four decades despite being one of the most heavily urbanized and dammed coastal regions in the world, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, the U.S. Geological Survey and other institutions. The conventional wisdom-challenging revelation about coastal erosion and replenishment is the subject of the study published recently in Nature Communications.

---

From Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change via This RSS Feed.

An aerial view of nməlqytkʷ (the Similkameen River), pictured in December 2024, flowing through the town of Keremeos in smǝlqmíx homelands. Photo by Aaron Hemens

Leaders of the Lower Similkameen Indian Band (LSIB) are again demanding the protection of their community’s river, nməlqytkʷ.

As the First Nation awaits a provincial decision on an open-pit mine expansion near the waterway, also known as the Similkameen River, a province-wide council of outdoor recreationists declared it among the province’s most endangered rivers last month.

The provincial government has yet to decide if it will allow Hudbay Minerals’ controversial Copper Mountain Mine to expand, despite fears about it further polluting nməlqytkʷ.

The band’s leaders said the river’s health is of critical importance to its members, the sməlqmíx (syilx people of the Similkameen Valley).

“Economic benefits only last for so long,” the First Nation’s leaders said in a statement. “Environment health and wellness, or the lack thereof, will be forever.

“The sməlqmíx will continue to be here and must prioritize and strive for a balance — for our future generations, and the future generations of our neighbours.”

The remarks came after an umbrella group of outdoor organizations declared the river among the seven most-endangered waterways in the province last month.

On Jan. 7, the Outdoor Recreation Council of B.C. (ORCBC) — whose members include more than 130 organizations across the province — included the Similkameen River in its annual Endangered Rivers List, citing fears about the open-pit copper, gold and silver mine proposal.

“Indigenous communities and others are concerned the provincial government is rushing to approve an expansion plan at the Copper Mountain Mine south of Princeton,” the charity wrote on its website.

“The proposed expansion would reopen an open pit mine that would extend close to the river and below the riverbed level, while the tailings dam would increase in size.”

The group has been issuing a list of endangered rivers for more than 30 years “to raise awareness about clean water and free-flowing rivers.”

While most of the council’s members are outdoor sports clubs across the province, it also includes several regional districts, municipalities and First Nations.

‘An endangered river’

nməlqytkʷ was not the only river in syilx Nation’s territories to be included in the charity’s list, however.

ORCBC also included the Kettle River, also part of the Okanagan-Similkameen Watershed, as being “of concern.”

“Land use, water consumption and climate change impacts have caused low flows and water quality issues,” the organization stated, “that impact human use and ecology in the watershed.”

The Copper Mountain Mine is located in smǝlqmíx and syilx territories near the town of “Princeton.”

The century-old project is on the territories of LSIB and Upper Similkameen Indian Band (USIB).

As part of Hudbay’s proposed expansion of the mine’s New Ingerbelle Pit, the company wants to build a bridge over the Similkameen River, connecting its Ingerbelle Pit to the rest of its operations.

“The Upper and Lower Similkameen Indian Bands are asking the province for more time,” ORCBC’s Endangered Rivers List website stated, “so that they can fully assess and gauge the risks of the project.”

Hudbay Minerals said protecting the Similkameen River is “one of the top priorities” for the company.

“The New Ingerbelle pit, which is a proposed expansion of the Copper Mountain mine, has been carefully designed to ensure it does not affect the flow or quality of the Similkameen River,” said John Ritter, head of the New Ingerbelle project at Hudbay Minerals, in an email to IndigiNews.

But LSIB said that the Similkameen River “was, and continues to be, an endangered river,” a stance the First Nation has taken long before it was added to ORCBC’s list.

The band said in a statement that the waterway is particularly at risk because of its extremely low water levels in summertime, as well as high water temperatures due to droughts and water shortages.

“The river also experiences multiple weather events each year that destroy fish reproduction and health,” LSIB stated.

“This threatens the entire food chain associated to the river and to the tmixʷ (all living things) who rely on the Similkameen.”

In November, y̓ilmixʷm (Chief) kalʔlùpaɋʹn Keith Crow of LSIB told regional leaders the river “has been black for the last month” due to poor water quality — which an Elder blamed on a combination of mining and local agricultural practices.

“[The Similkameen River] is where our name comes from. It’s who we are,” Crow added. “And we’re failing it.”

‘We have our own process and our own laws’

The mine’s proponents say the proposed expansion will support local jobs and the economy, and will be environmentally sustainable.

Princeton Mayor Spencer Coyne — who is also a USIB member — told Crow and other regional leaders in November that he “wanted to see the health of our river back.” But he later told local media he thinks the New Ingerbelle project would be a “major economic driver.”

“We’re all concerned about our water,” he told Castanet. “But I also feel that the mine has made some course corrections.

“I always tell people I live down the river from it. So it impacts me, and it impacts my kids.”

IndigiNews reached out to Coyne for further comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.

In December, Upper and Lower Similkameen Indian Bands issued a joint statement warning the province was “accelerating a controversial decision” on the New Ingerbelle project.

The two First Nations alleged the Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals is “ignoring their input” in an effort to quickly “force a critical mine decision” early this year — a process Crow criticized as rushed and “a slap in the face.”

“We have our own process and our own laws we need to take care of,” Crow said in the statement.

“We don’t think the mine company is the one driving this short timeline — why is B.C.?”

The Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals hasn’t made a decision yet, and a spokesperson told IndigiNews via email that the New Ingerbelle proposal still requires further consultation with USIB and LSIB.

The spokesperson added the expansion plan, if approved, must “meet or exceed B.C.’s world-class environmental standards.”

“All decisions remain subject to technical review and consultation,” the spokesperson wrote, “ensuring that all provincial agencies are resourcing projects appropriately, collaborating to reduce unnecessary red tape and exploring pathways with First Nations to address issues and roadblocks quickly to reduce permitting timelines.”

For both First Nations who share the waters of nməlqytkʷ, they hope the province will not rush the company’s plans through.

Instead, they want the province to collaborate with them — and choose to “make informed, and hopefully consensus-based” decisions impacting their river.

“With the right commitments, and meaningful effort from BC, our communities could possibly see a joint consensus on New Ingerbelle by April or May,” said Crow.

The post ‘B.C.’ group declares Similkameen River among province’s most ‘endangered’ appeared first on Indiginews.

---

From Indiginews via This RSS Feed.

Charles Fox
Special to ICT

As the 2026 Winter Olympics open in Italy, the nephew of American hockey pioneer Taffy Abel will ask President Donald Trump to give Abel the Presidential Medal of Freedom — and the official recognition he has long been denied.

The request is the latest in a decades-long effort from nephew George Jones for honoring the Ojibwe athlete, who is widely recognized as the first Indigenous American in the Winter Olympics and the first to break the color barrier in the National Hockey League.

“I think it would be a great thing for Native Americans … not just for our family, but for Native Americans,” Jones told ICT. “It starts to tell some of the untold history of Native Americans.”

More than 100 years ago, Abel was a member of the silver-medal-winning U.S. hockey team in the very first Winter Olympics in 1924, played outdoors in Chamonix, France. He was also the flag-bearer for the United States and recited the Olympic oath for the team.

A Soul on Ice: The quest for recognition after 100 years for hockey great Taffy Abel

While Abel is believed to be the first Native American to participate in the Winter Olympics — and the only Indigenous American to carry the flag in Olympic history — he kept his Ojibwe heritage secret at the time.

Due to his light skin color, Abel racially passed as White during the Olympics and throughout his 333-game career in the National Hockey League, though he is widely believed to have been the first player of color to take the ice.

Abel’s parents began the practice of concealing their race to avoid having their two children taken from them and sent to Indian boarding schools in the early 1900s. His family was multi-racial, with Taffy’s father, John Abel, a White man, originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana, and his mother, Charlotte Gurnoe Abel, from the Chippewa (Ojibwe) Sault Tribe.

It is likely Able would not have been put on the Olympic team or given the opportunity to play in the NHL if he had disclosed his Ojibwe heritage.

Because of his racial passing, however, the NHL has not recognized his pioneering achievements, despite being on two Stanley-Cup winning teams. While he was sometimes referred to as “Superman with skates” due to his physical play and size, not revealing his heritage by racially passing would be his kryptonite in later getting recognition.

Jones sees his uncle as the “Unseen Warrior” who used a White disguise “because of the deep societal prejudices against Indians in the early 1900s.”

The NHL has not responded to repeated requests from ICT for comment.

New life to an old resolution

The first day of 2026 was almost the last for Jones. He suffered a coronary event, and it is estimated he was dead for approximately 8 minutes before CPR by his wife and defibrillation by paramedics brought the 76-year-old man in Winter Haven, Florida back to life.

The under-14 Soo Lakers hockey team practices on Sept. 29, 2025, at the Taffy Abel Arena on the campus of Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The arena, named for the Ojibwe hockey great, is the only NCAA hockey arena that has more seats (4,000) than the university has students. The Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians donated $3 million to the renovation. Credit: Charles Fox/Special to ICT

The near-death event, which Jones described as “transforming,” gave Jones yet another chance to win recognition for his uncle. While campaigning for a Congressional Medal of Honor or induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame requires convincing a large number of individuals to vote in Abel’s favor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is strictly the decision of the U.S. president.

In the end, it will require one man to convince one man of another man’s achievement.

“So, he’s [President Trump] got an America First policy. Well, why the hell not honor some of the first Americans here, too? That’s my point. They deserve it,” Jones told ICT.  “Maybe he will, maybe he won’t. So, it’s not a foregone conclusion either way, but that’s not going to extinguish my advocacy to be on the right side of history.”

As of January 2025, 673 individuals have been awarded the medal but only six Native Americans — Wilma Mankiller, Suzan Shown Harjo, Eloise Cobell, Billy Frank Jr., Jim Thorpe, and Annie Dodge Wauneka.

The very low percentage of Native honorees, Jones feels, could work in his favor.

‘Errors of omission and silence’

This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the historic moment on Nov. 16, 1926, when Abel stepped onto the ice for the New York Rangers, becoming the first Indigenous American player in the National Hockey League. It was also the opening game in the inaugural season of the New York Rangers.

Clarence “Taffy” Abel, Ojibwe, was the first Indigenous athlete to play in the National Hockey League. He joined the Chicago Blackhawks in 1929 and played until 1934. This photo is from the 1929-1930 hockey season, when he began playing with the team. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Jones Family Collection

But there are numerous factors that work against Jones’ campaign.  Getting recognition for his uncle has often put him at odds with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Trump has a long-standing relationship with Bettman and has praised the hockey commissioner for the “incredible” job he has done. In 2025, Trump appointed Bettman to his President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition.

Jones has never hesitated to speak poorly about Bettman in strong, condemning language and has accused the league of bypassing his uncle through “errors of omission and silence.”

Bettman and other league executives credit Willie O’Ree, the first Black (African-Canadian) player in the NHL, with breaking the league’s color barrier in 1958, proclaiming him the “Jackie Robinson of hockey.” It has been an ongoing point of contention between Jones and the NHL.

To strengthen his cause, Jones hopes to gain the support of the governors of Michigan, New York, Illinois, and Minnesota — the states where Abel played. He is also hoping for grassroots support.

While not reacting specifically to Jones’ campaign, the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians Chairman Austin Lowes responded in an email to ICT.

“Taffy Abel is a hero in our community for being both an Olympian and the first American Indian to also play in the NHL,” Lowes said. “Our Tribe contributed several millions to support the renovations to the Lake Superior State University ice arena in the mid 1990s. In turn, the university named the university ice area the Taffy Abel Arena.  We are very proud of Taffy and support recognition of his accomplishments.”

Jones said he will remain focused on his goal.

“I’m talking about my uncle’s legacy,” he said. “I think his legacy was forgotten.”

The post Winter Olympics bring new push to recognize hockey great Taffy Abel appeared first on ICT.

---

From ICT via This RSS Feed.

Around 14 hours before a partial solar eclipse passed over the Dolomites in Northern Italy, a group of spruce trees showed a sudden, synchronized increase in electrical activity. Previous research by Alessandro Chiolerio and others claimed that the trees were anticipating and preparing for the impending solar eclipse.

---

From Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology via This RSS Feed.

Bolivia has added nearly a million hectares to its protected areas over the last several months, an effort by local governments to link Indigenous territories with nearby national parks and strengthen ecological connectivity. The four new protected areas cover 907,244 hectares (2.2 million acres) of Amazon lowlands and Andean highlands, creating corridors intended to improve wildlife migration and maintain forest-based economies for local families. The effort was led by local officials and Indigenous communities, who planned and approved the protections. “In many cases, the municipalities have now protected more than half their territories, a remarkable commitment that shows how local leadership can deliver durable conservation that strengthens communities and outlasts political cycles,” Eduardo Forno, vice president of Conservation International-Bolivia, which supported the projects, said in a statement. The initiative was also backed by the Andes Amazon Fund, Rainforest Trust, Conservación Amazónica, and the Swedish Embassy and EU. In recent years, Bolivia has had some of the highest deforestation rates in the world, driven by agribusiness, cattle ranching and fires, among other factors. In 2025, it lost 1.8 million hectares (4.4 million acres), according to Global Forest Watch, a satellite monitoring initiative. The year before that, it lost around 490,000 hectares (1.2 million acres). In the early 2000s, Bolivia made a push to expand nationally protected areas. But since then, efforts have tapered off. In the last five years, only two nationally protected areas have been created or upgraded: El Choré National Park in Santa Cruz department and El Cardón Natural Park and…This article was originally published on Mongabay

---

From Conservation news via This RSS Feed.

A new study shows that, despite fires, floods and record heat, most Australians do not change their behavior or beliefs in response to climate change—except in a narrow window following a disaster. Lead author Dr. Omid Ghasemi from the UNSW Institute for Climate Risk & Response (ICRR) says the study set out to answer a central question in climate policy: whether rising climate-related costs would drive stronger public action.

---

From Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change via This RSS Feed.

Charles Fox
Special to ICT

As the 2026 Winter Olympics open in Italy, the nephew of American hockey pioneer Taffy Abel will ask President Donald Trump to give Abel the Presidential Medal of Freedom — and the official recognition he has long been denied.

The request is the latest in a decades-long effort from nephew George Jones for honoring the Ojibwe athlete, who is widely recognized as the first Indigenous American in the Winter Olympics and the first to break the color barrier in the National Hockey League.

“I think it would be a great thing for Native Americans … not just for our family, but for Native Americans,” Jones told ICT. “It starts to tell some of the untold history of Native Americans.”

More than 100 years ago, Abel was a member of the silver-medal-winning U.S. hockey team in the very first Winter Olympics in 1924, played outdoors in Chamonix, France. He was also the flag-bearer for the United States and recited the Olympic oath for the team.

A Soul on Ice: The quest for recognition after 100 years for hockey great Taffy Abel

While Abel is believed to be the first Native American to participate in the Winter Olympics — and the only Indigenous American to carry the flag in Olympic history — he kept his Ojibwe heritage secret at the time.

Due to his light skin color, Abel racially passed as White during the Olympics and throughout his 333-game career in the National Hockey League, though he is widely believed to have been the first player of color to take the ice.

Abel’s parents began the practice of concealing their race to avoid having their two children taken from them and sent to Indian boarding schools in the early 1900s. His family was multi-racial, with Taffy’s father, John Abel, a White man, originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana, and his mother, Charlotte Gurnoe Abel, from the Chippewa (Ojibwe) Sault Tribe.

It is likely Able would not have been put on the Olympic team or given the opportunity to play in the NHL if he had disclosed his Ojibwe heritage.

Because of his racial passing, however, the NHL has not recognized his pioneering achievements, despite being on two Stanley-Cup winning teams. While he was sometimes referred to as “Superman with skates” due to his physical play and size, not revealing his heritage by racially passing would be his kryptonite in later getting recognition.

Jones sees his uncle as the “Unseen Warrior” who used a White disguise “because of the deep societal prejudices against Indians in the early 1900s.”

The NHL has not responded to repeated requests from ICT for comment.

New life to an old resolution

The first day of 2026 was almost the last for Jones. He suffered a coronary event, and it is estimated he was dead for approximately 8 minutes before CPR by his wife and defibrillation by paramedics brought the 76-year-old man in Winter Haven, Florida back to life.

The under-14 Soo Lakers hockey team practices on Sept. 29, 2025, at the Taffy Abel Arena on the campus of Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The arena, named for the Ojibwe hockey great, is the only NCAA hockey arena that has more seats (4,000) than the university has students. The Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians donated $3 million to the renovation. Credit: Charles Fox/Special to ICT

The near-death event, which Jones described as “transforming,” gave Jones yet another chance to win recognition for his uncle. While campaigning for a Congressional Medal of Honor or induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame requires convincing a large number of individuals to vote in Abel’s favor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is strictly the decision of the U.S. president.

In the end, it will require one man to convince one man of another man’s achievement.

“So, he’s [President Trump] got an America First policy. Well, why the hell not honor some of the first Americans here, too? That’s my point. They deserve it,” Jones told ICT.  “Maybe he will, maybe he won’t. So, it’s not a foregone conclusion either way, but that’s not going to extinguish my advocacy to be on the right side of history.”

As of January 2025, 673 individuals have been awarded the medal but only six Native Americans — Wilma Mankiller, Suzan Shown Harjo, Eloise Cobell, Billy Frank Jr., Jim Thorpe, and Annie Dodge Wauneka.

The very low percentage of Native honorees, Jones feels, could work in his favor.

‘Errors of omission and silence’

This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the historic moment on Nov. 16, 1926, when Abel stepped onto the ice for the New York Rangers, becoming the first Indigenous American player in the National Hockey League. It was also the opening game in the inaugural season of the New York Rangers.

Clarence “Taffy” Abel, Ojibwe, was the first Indigenous athlete to play in the National Hockey League. He joined the Chicago Blackhawks in 1929 and played until 1934. This photo is from the 1929-1930 hockey season, when he began playing with the team. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Jones Family Collection

But there are numerous factors that work against Jones’ campaign.  Getting recognition for his uncle has often put him at odds with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Trump has a long-standing relationship with Bettman and has praised the hockey commissioner for the “incredible” job he has done. In 2025, Trump appointed Bettman to his President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition.

Jones has never hesitated to speak poorly about Bettman in strong, condemning language and has accused the league of bypassing his uncle through “errors of omission and silence.”

Bettman and other league executives credit Willie O’Ree, the first Black (African-Canadian) player in the NHL, with breaking the league’s color barrier in 1958, proclaiming him the “Jackie Robinson of hockey.” It has been an ongoing point of contention between Jones and the NHL.

To strengthen his cause, Jones hopes to gain the support of the governors of Michigan, New York, Illinois, and Minnesota — the states where Abel played. He is also hoping for grassroots support.

While not reacting specifically to Jones’ campaign, the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians Chairman Austin Lowes responded in an email to ICT.

“Taffy Abel is a hero in our community for being both an Olympian and the first American Indian to also play in the NHL,” Lowes said. “Our Tribe contributed several millions to support the renovations to the Lake Superior State University ice arena in the mid 1990s. In turn, the university named the university ice area the Taffy Abel Arena.  We are very proud of Taffy and support recognition of his accomplishments.”

Jones said he will remain focused on his goal.

“I’m talking about my uncle’s legacy,” he said. “I think his legacy was forgotten.”

The post Winter Olympics bring new push to recognize hockey great Taffy Abel appeared first on ICT.

---

From ICT via This RSS Feed.

Rising day and night temperatures are threatening rice, wheat, and maize production by disrupting plant growth, grain filling, and grain quality, putting global food security at risk. Precision breeding and genome editing offer ways to reprogram plant clocks, optimize flowering and panicle architecture, and protect grain quality under heat stress.

---

From Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology via This RSS Feed.

California doesn't have a water scarcity problem. It has a distribution problem, according to Nícola Ulibarrí, whose new research is reshaping how policymakers think about one of the state's most pressing challenges.

---

From Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change via This RSS Feed.

A new book by a Cambridge engineer and an Oxford theologian argues that our faith in technology to solve the climate crisis is distracting us from the uncomfortable truth: that saving the planet is neither a task for future technologies nor for world leaders alone. It is something all of us—especially those with comfortable lives—can and must do now.

---

From Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change via This RSS Feed.

Rove beetles have evolved a neat trick to survive. They cloak themselves in ant pheromones, allowing them to enter and remain undetected within ant colonies. But it comes with a catch. Once a rove beetle lineage evolves this kind of obligate symbiotic relationship, it can never go back and survive independently, according to a new study published in the journal Cell.

---

From Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology via This RSS Feed.

Rivals or allies—how do bacteria and fungi interact in our bodies? Until now, bacteria on our mucous membranes were primarily considered to be antagonists of fungi, as they can inhibit their growth. However, an international research team led by the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Leibniz-HKI) in Jena has now been able to show that the yeast Candida albicans and the bacterium Enterococcus faecalis form a dangerous alliance under certain conditions: Instead of fighting each other, they can amplify their impact and cause significantly more severe cell damage together than alone.

---

From Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology via This RSS Feed.