A Texas tragedy, Medicaid massacre, squirrel blackout, ‘toxic’ tofu, and the mysterious new lifeform ShipGoo001
The eighth edition of the Sunday Revue – and the last free one.
Dear reader,
Welcome to the eighth edition of the Sunday Revue of the FIELDS NOTES newsletter. We’re close to this newsletter going behind a paywall. This is the final edition that’s being offered for free.
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Today’s edition boasts a new section – the Parting Shot section, where I’ll be publishing original photography by yours truly each week.
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NUMBERS GAME
43 – the latest death toll for the Texas flood catastrophe that struck a Christian girls summer camp. Local officials blamed the National Weather Service, which has faced steep cuts from the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, for failing to issue proper warnings. Meteorologists defended the federal forecasters, saying they did their jobs. The Texas Tribune
200 – how many megawatts of power Google just agreed to buy from the fusion energy startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems, despite the fact that commercial power from nuclear fusion has yet to be generated. CNN
270,000 – the square footage of the California battery startup Lyten’s new factory in Poland, its second in Europe. Latitude Media
29 – the number of locations Vietnam occupies in the hotly-contested Spratly Islands archipelago, which is gaining new relevance as Hanoi embarks on a new wave of land reclamation. Pekingnology
$124.5 million – how much the Colorado-based green cement startup Terra CO2 just raised in its Series B funding round, despite the Trump administration’s pullback of federal funding for similar clean industrial projects. TechCrunch
51% – how much Google’s emissions have soared since 2019, thanks to increased energy usage from data centers. The Guardian
4,600 – the number of people in Washington State who lost power last week due to a squirrel burrowing into some electrical equipment. Cascadia Daily
3 – the number of French financial institutions that have rejected funding any deep-sea mining projects. Scoop
LINES OF ARGUMENT
On the right way to take on China’s critical mineral monopolies, Daleep Singh in The Financial Times:
That’s the approach we need for critical minerals. Restore price signals. Crowd in capital. Let private investors drive supply, not the government. But for that to work, policy must be conducted by credible institutions with insulation from political cycle. A Strategic Resilience Reserve should be structured like the Federal Reserve — technocratic and independent.
Without functioning markets for critical minerals, American manufacturers will face higher input costs, supply disruptions, and rising dependence on foreign state-backed firms. China’s model isn’t just undesirable — it’s unworkable in a liberal economy. You don’t beat China’s state capitalism by copying it. You beat it by rebuilding the markets they’ve tried to dismantle.
On the fundamental flaws in the Trump administration’s nuclear energy strategy, Matt Bowen and Sagatom Saha in The National Interest:
Achieving a genuine nuclear resurgence will be difficult and require thoughtful policy development and sustained bipartisan support. That means empowering the NRC, not undermining its independence. It means building on the progress of the last few years to incentivize new nuclear, not unraveling it. And it means recognizing that revitalizing an industrial sector as complex as nuclear energy will take more than unfunded directives. On that score, the second Trump administration’s policy on US nuclear energy development appears more harmful than helpful so far.
On what it’s like to have your uncle arrested by ICE, Yessenia Funes in Possibilities:
Do you know the feeling of getting a call to hear that a loved one has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement? I didn't. Not until Tuesday night when my mom called me, scared, that her brother — my tío, the only one who's ever been a big part of my life — had been detained.
His papers were in order. He had Temporary Protected Status and a work permit, but my tío had struggled with alcoholism. ICE grabbed him during his probation hearing. In the eyes of a violent, fascist state, my tío is a criminal. Is addiction a crime? Is unresolved trauma a crime? Is showing up to your hearing a crime? Is cleaning yourself up a crime? Getting your life back on track? Repairing the relationship with your family?
I'm sick with fear and anger and helplessness.
GRAPHIC DETAIL
NEWS BITES
South Korean industrial giant Hanwha is reflagging its LNG shipping vessels as U.S. carriers as part of a broader investment in the American market. Business Korea
With the Russians still completing its first nuclear power station, Türkiye is looking to sign deals for its next plant by the end of this year – and it’s considering buying a Chinese reactor. NucNet
Japan’s ubiquitous mini pickups, known as Kei trucks, are gaining a devoted fanbase in America, the land of the behemoth Dodge Ram and the Ford F-450. The New York Times
The years New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani spent cultivating allies in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority could offer hints as to how he’d govern in City Hall. Streetsblog
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told European Union diplomats that Beijing does not want to see Russia lose its war in Ukraine, lest the U.S. shift its attention to Asia. South China Morning Post
The EU is going to start stockpiling critical minerals out of concern that more war is coming. The Financial Times
A mysterious new single-cell organism found on the back of an Ohio boat rudder, known as ShipGoo001, has left scientists puzzled. It apparently resembles material plucked from oil reservoirs in Oklahoma. The Cleveland Plain-Dealer
A Greek nuclear startup is teaming up with Core Power, the company pushing to build the West’s first floating nuclear power plant. TradeWinds
France’s elite Sciences Po is launching a Paris climate school. Press release
OPEC+ is ramping up oil production to larger-than-expected levels as the cartel seeks to regain global market share from the U.S. CNBC
WATCHING
On the toxic fumes from burning plastic in Indonesia’s giant tofu factories:
On the tragic history of the Indigenous people at the southernmost tip of the planet in Tierra del Fuego:
On New Jersey’s Democratic governor opposition to New York City congestion pricing and how to deal with Trump:
On the rise of Japan’s far-right populist Sanseitō party:
LISTENING
Podcasts
Catalyst’s Shayle Kann on the promise of General Motors’ new battery technology.
CSIS’s Mvemba Phezo Dizolele on the environmental dilemmas facing Africa as a continent.
Decouple’s Chris Keefer on the costly GE-Hitachi SMR project in Ontario and the promise of Canada’s CANDU reactors.
Music
“Sabor Dulce,” a dreamy instrumental surf rock track by the 1970s Peruvian band Los Belkings.
“Nightwalk,” the kind of 1960s Latin jazz track that's perfect for a certain kind of summer evening, by the great son of Spanish Harlem Joe Torres.
“Fig Pulp,” a hypnotic, lazy-sounding groove by the French instrumentalist Quetzal.
PARTING SHOT
Signing off from sunny Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, where developers are reportedly advancing plans to demolish a giant, vacant office building next to my gym on Fourth Avenue and build 143 new apartments.