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July 13, 2025

Canada’s proposed east-west energy corridors should prioritize clean energy

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Andy Hira, Professor of Political Science, Simon Fraser University

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has made establishing east-west energy corridors a priority for Canada. He suggested that such corridors would include new oil and natural gas pipelines, designed to reduce dependence on the United States.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson has gone even further in pushing for subsidization of carbon capture and storage projects that would effectively underwrite the long-term continuation of the fossil fuel industry at taxpayer expense.

While there might be short-term political reasons for backing fossil fuels, such an approach goes against Canada’s long-term interests. Prioritizing fossil fuels undermines the country’s commitments to reduce emissions and takes away the investment needed for it to realize its potential to become a green energy superpower.

Creating energy corridors is in the national interest, and would allow Canada to take full advantage of its abundant and diverse energy and mineral resources. The government also needs to be involved, as the corridors are interprovincial and will require substantial investment. However, the government has limited resources and so Canada must think strategically about its priorities for such corridors.

Canadian taxpayers should not be subsidizing an already lucrative oil and gas industry. Instead, the federal government should prioritize funding clean energy supply solutions.

Oil and gas subsidies

Canadian governments have long faced opposition to building new pipelines. The provinces of Québec and British Columbia and many First Nations have strongly opposed new pipeline proposals. More recently, there is some signs of softening under the duress of U.S. tariffs.

Even if such shifts are lasting, it’s for the private sector to step up and invest into these projects. Previous federal investments, such as the Trans Mountain pipeline (TMX), were reflections of the private market’s unwillingness to invest in pipelines because they are bad investments. The 2024 Parliamentary Budget Office report estimated that selling the TMX would result in a loss.

There are reasons to question the soundness of fossil fuels on a purely financial basis. A 2022 Parliamentary budget office report found that climate change reduced GDP by 0.8 per cent in 2021, or around $20 billion. This number is expected to rise to 5.8 per cent per year by 2100 (or $145 billion in 2021 dollars).

By contrast, from 2017 to 2021, federal, provincial and territorial governments received an average of $12 billion annually in revenues from the the oil and gas industry.

The gap between the costs and benefits is only going to increase over time. The costs cut across all aspects of life, including food security, health care, global instability and threats to coastal cities due to sea level rise.

On the other hand, every dollar invested in adaptation today has an estimated return of $13-$15.

Furthermore, a recent study indicates a likely glut in global natural gas markets, and the future prospects for oil are equally questionable. For example, one of Canada’s target markets, Japan, has been reselling its liquefied natural gas imports to other countries, suggesting the glut of oil and gas is likely to continue as cheaper producers, including those in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, who are cheaper and closer to consumers, flood the market.

Cheaper and closer oil producers are also flooding markets in anticipation of declining prices.

There are important opportunity costs of investing money in fossil fuels that could otherwise be invested in the clean energy economy. When new technologies arise, there is a limited window of opportunity for global competitors to enter into an emerging industry.

In light of the shift to electric vehicles, heat pumps and artificial intelligence, it’s clear that energy demand is bound to increase significantly in Canada in the coming years. Canada can become a global competitor, but only if it enters the race now, while the window is open.

An East-West clean energy system

Solar and wind prices have declined by 83 per cent and 65 per cent respectively since 2009. However, they suffer from the fundamental issue of intermittency; the sun is not always shining and the wind isn’t always blowing.

While battery prices are declining, they remain an expensive solution. An easier solution is at hand: Canada’s hydroelectric resources. Québec, B.C. and Manitoba have abundant hydro resources that can reduce energy costs throughout the rest of the country.

Alberta and Saskatchewan have potential for significant geothermal power generation. Ontario and the Atlantic provinces could contribute wind and solar. Trading electricity through an integrated national grid increases the investment capital and reduces the need for batteries while diversifying the energy mix.

But we need an east-west electricity market to make this happen.

An east-west grid would reduce the need for every province to run its own power generation system. Creating a pooled market would allow provinces to trade electricity, giving consumers more choice and investors a larger market and potential return on their investment.

More valuable still is the fact that electricity capacity has to be built for the few peak hours and seasons. But most of the time demand is well below full capacity, such as the middle of the night or early summer, when neither heat nor air conditioning is needed in many areas. As peak times and seasons vary across the country, Canada can reduce overall costs by trading the electricity in the lowest cost producing province at a given time to where it’s needed in the other.

By locating some of the new clean energy in First Nations, Canada can also move reconciliation forward. There is potential for a win-win situation whereby Canada increases renewable energy generation while creating new jobs and income for First Nations wherever feasible.

The first step is for regulatory reform across the provinces to support a Canada-wide electricity market, and to provide the funding for the massive infrastructure investment required to connect provincial grids. This would be a federal investment with incredible long-term payoffs for employment, taxpayers and future generations.

Following this plan could truly make Canada an energy superpower on the right side of the energy transition, create thousands of jobs and give the country a global competitive edge — all while helping to save the planet in the process.

This article was co-authored by energy consultant Sheldon Fernandes.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Canada’s proposed east-west energy corridors should prioritize clean energy – https://theconversation.com/canadas-proposed-east-west-energy-corridors-should-prioritize-clean-energy-259530

July 13, 2025

Lemurs can help save Madagascan forests, but first we need to protect them

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Colombe Nirina Sehenomalala, PhD candidate, Anthropology, Université de Montréal

Most people’s encounters with lemurs have occurred through their representations in popular children’s media, like Zoboomafoo or Madagascar. However, most people don’t know that lemurs play an important role in forest renewal and that they’re currently in grave danger from climate change.

In my home country of Madagascar, there is an amazing array of creatures that are not found anywhere else in the world. Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot, and approximately 90 per cent of plant and animal species on this island are endemic.

Among them are lemurs, a group of primates that are not only the flagship symbols of the island’s fauna, but also one of the key players in the health and stability of Madagascar’s ecosystems because they do the very important work of dispersing seeds.

I am a primatologist who researches the interactions between infant-and-mother lemur dyads in wild. Their bond is a reminder of what we stand to lose, as it shows care, learning and viability. When forests disappear, so does this fragile bond, and a whole way of life we can never replace.

Lemurs’ habitats and survival are increasingly being threatened by human activities such as deforestation, forest resource exploitation and hunting. There is an urgent need for conservation projects that involve local communities in preserving Madagascar’s unique biodiversity.

a bent over branch in a rainforest — A lemur trap encountered in the field during our research.
(C.N. Sehenomalala), CC BY

Charismatic animals

Due to their charisma, media attention and their biological significance, lemurs attract tourists and researchers to Madagascar. The viability of lemurs is essential to the island’s future, both economically but especially in terms of protecting biodiversity. As they eat fruits from trees like ebony, mammea and wild coffee and then scatter seeds through their droppings, they help new plants grow.

Among the 105 lemur species of Madagascar, Propithecus candidus, commonly known as the silky sifaka, is one of the most endangered species. Only around 250 of them are currently living in the wild.

As their name implies, silky sifakas have visually striking long white hair, and they can only be found in the misty, mountainous rainforests of northeastern Madagascar.

Silky sifakas are primarily active during the daytime, and can travel very quickly through the trees by vertically clinging to them and leaping from tree to tree using their powerful legs. They have highly specialized diets consisting of leaves, flowers and fruits like Diospyros pervilleana, a native ebony species from Madagascar.

A BBC Nature documentary clip on silky sifakas.

Observing mothers and infants

I have spent 10 years studying and following lemurs daily. During my fieldwork in northeastern Madagascar, I closely observed how deforestation and habitat fragmentation affect silky sifaka females and their young.

I studied these females during their lactation season in three different forest contexts: Marojejy National Park (a mostly untouched primary rainforest), Makira Natural Park (a mix of old-growth and re-generating forest) and Anjanaharibe-Sud Special Reserve (known as COMATSA-Sud, a primary forest with heavily degraded areas).

At each forest, the forest canopy, which provides both shelter and food for the lemurs, measured above 10 metres at all sites, but was semi-open, which is a sign of habitat degradation. A semi-open canopy allows more light to permeate the forest canopy, but it also exposes animals to predators and decreases the quantity of high-quality food.

Mothers’ movements and behaviours

One clear difference between the three sites is how mother–infant pairs move and use space. In Marojejy, where the forest is more continuous even if the canopy is partly open, mothers and babies stay within fairly fixed areas, following the same paths and resting spots.

But in places like Makira and COMATSA-Sud, where the forest is broken up into separate patches, mothers have to travel farther and more unpredictably, moving between these isolated patches. This extra travelling causes them to burn more energy and face higher risks from predators and hunters.

These differences show that fragmentation doesn’t just affect food availability, but also changes how these lemurs move and survive.

Forest fragmentation affects lemurs’ social behaviour and grouping patterns to deal with low food availability. It also impacts their health and development; a poor diet causes malnourishment in the lemurs.

a white lemur feeds another one — Lemurs are social animals, but scarce resources can cause competitive behaviours to emerge.
(Simponafotsy/Wikimedia Commons), CC BY

Poor nutritional quality

While the food availability for silky sifakas in northeastern Madagascar during the lactation season is relatively abundant, it is of low nutritional quality.

This leads to increased stress and competition as dominant lactating females, desperate to feed their infants, attack subordinates to accumulate more nutrients to produce higher quality milk.

As offspring start to feed on non-milk foods, the poor nutritional quality of available plants after weaning can lead to poor health and stunted growth.

Engaging the community

The decline of lemur populations, particularly silky sifakas, shows the need for urgent conservation action. Continued monitoring — as well as sustained support and funding for Malagasy scientists — is crucial for long-term lemur and biodiversity conservation.

When it comes to the effects of human activity, this decline — habitat fragmentation, global climate change and deforestation — is the result of large-scale activites such as extraction, tourism and state infrastructural development.

Education and awareness campaigns are crucial, both in Madagascar and internationally, to inform people about lemurs’ habitat needs and what can be done to prevent their extinction.

Conservation will never be successful without building an appreciation of the environmental, cultural and economic value of lemurs and the forests they inhabit.

– ref. Lemurs can help save Madagascan forests, but first we need to protect them – https://theconversation.com/lemurs-can-help-save-madagascan-forests-but-first-we-need-to-protect-them-256300

July 13, 2025

Guineafowl can outsmart extreme temperatures: we spent a year finding out how

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Johann van Niekerk, Doctor, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa

Have you ever wondered how wild birds cope with baking hot afternoons and freezing cold mornings? Our new study has taken a close look at one of Africa’s most familiar birds – the helmeted guineafowl – and uncovered surprising answers about how they deal with extreme temperatures.

The helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris) is a common sight across sub-Saharan Africa’s savannas and semi-arid regions. They are instantly recognisable with their spotted plumage, bony helmet, bare blue head, and loud cackling calls. These birds are famously social, often seen roaming in noisy flocks.

Helmeted guineafowl can endure air temperatures from -4°C up to 40°C in South Africa.

The idea that animals huddle to stay warm – known as social thermoregulation – is well documented in mammals and birds like penguins. This theory proposes that animals huddle together to conserve heat in cold conditions, but is this what guineafowl are doing?

Together with colleagues in Spain, we set out to find the answer because understanding whether birds group to keep warm or for other reasons helps ecologists uncover the true drivers of social behaviour. This can also inform how species will respond to changing climates and help guide conservation strategies.

We studied a wild population of guineafowl in South Africa’s Madikwe Game Reserve, a protected area near the Botswana border. It’s known for its sharp daily temperature fluctuations during winter, with cold, frosty mornings dropping to 0°C and sweltering afternoons reaching up to 40°C.

To spy on the birds without disturbing them, we set up a live-streaming webcam at a busy waterhole, recording their behaviour over an entire year. We watched how group size, body posture and daily routines shifted with the seasons and weather.

What we found was striking.

Our study challenges some common assumptions about how animals survive in extreme climates. Guineafowl don’t rely on cuddling for warmth like some penguins and some species of monkeys. Rather, they use behaviour – adjusting posture, timing their activity and changing group sizes according to food and safety needs – to navigate life’s temperature extremes.

This strategy may help them cope with the growing unpredictability of climate.

When they get together, it’s to exploit a food patch and nurture their offspring within close-knit social groups while foraging, or to fend off predators during coordinated mobbing behaviour.

What we found

The evidence we gathered shows that the guineafowl did not form bigger groups when temperatures dropped. There was no evidence they huddled together to stay warm. Even at night, when they roosted in trees, they perched in small family units – just two or three birds per branch.

Our findings suggest that the reason guineafowl form groups has more to do with food and safety.

During the dry winter months, when seeds and vegetation are scarce, the birds form large foraging flocks to help find food and stay safe from predators. More eyes mean better chances of spotting danger. This supports the widely recognised “many eyes” hypothesis, which shows that individuals in larger groups benefit from improved predator detection. But once the rains return and food becomes more plentiful and spread out, the guineafowl split into pairs or small groups to focus on breeding.

While group size wasn’t tied to temperature, the birds used clever body postures to handle both heat and cold. On chilly mornings below 17°C, they puffed out their collar feathers and tucked their bare necks deep into their bodies, creating a rounded, fluffy ball that trapped heat.

On warmer days, they stood tall with their necks fully extended, legs exposed, and feathers sleek to release excess heat. When temperatures soared above 30°C, they opened their beaks to pant, spread their wings slightly away from their bodies, and exposed bare skin to cool off, much as a dog pants on a hot day.

One of the most delightful behaviours observed was “sunning”. On frosty winter mornings, guineafowl would fly down from their roosts and stand facing the rising sun, fluffing their feathers and soaking up warmth before starting their day. It’s a simple, effective way to heat up after a cold night.

Another surprise was how rarely the birds drank water. Despite living in a dry environment, only about 2% of observed guineafowl visits were to the waterhole. In wet seasons, they likely get most of their moisture from eating green plants and insects. In the cold, dry season, when food is drier, drinking increased slightly, but still far less than expected.

They drank even less when it was both hot and windy, possibly because the noise of the wind makes it harder to detect predators when standing out in the open. Avoiding water during hot periods is usual among helmeted guineafowl, which typically avoid exposing themselves during peak heat due to increased predation risk and the physiological stress of extreme temperatures. Most galliforms (gamebirds) and terrestrial species favour early morning or late afternoon activity patterns, limiting mid-day exposure.

Every evening, the flock gathered at the same familiar “launching pad” near the waterhole and flew into nearby trees to roost. But once again, warmth wasn’t the reason for this behaviour. They roosted to avoid ground predators, not to share body heat. I have seen them for many years going into trees when predators or dogs chase them, unlike spurfowl and francolin just flying further on.

Why insights are useful

This research carries important lessons for understanding animal adaptation. Rather than relying on group warmth, guineafowl show how behavioural flexibility, adjusting posture, timing and habitat use, can buffer them against harsh conditions. It highlights how survival depends not just on temperature or water availability, but on having access to diverse habitat types: open grasslands for foraging and trees or dense bush for roosting and safety.

As climates shift and ecosystems change, understanding how animals like guineafowl cope with extremes will be crucial for conservation planning.

Johann van Niekerk does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Guineafowl can outsmart extreme temperatures: we spent a year finding out how – https://theconversation.com/guineafowl-can-outsmart-extreme-temperatures-we-spent-a-year-finding-out-how-260439

July 13, 2025

Indonesia plans to rewrite its national history: A return to an incomplete narrative?

Source: The Conversation – Indonesia – By Adrian Perkasa, Peneliti Pascadoktoral, Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies

Indonesia’s plan to rewrite its official national history was initially met with positive responses, particularly for its goal of better serving the younger generation. But the project to reshape the country’s mainstream historical narrative soon ignited widespread controversy for overlooking underrepresented groups and reinforcing authoritarian tendencies.

By incorporating the latest data and expanding the coverage of historical events and figures, the initiative — launched by the Indonesian Historian Association (MSI) and backed by the Culture Ministry on May 2025 — raised hopes for a more inclusive, accurate, and relevant national history.

However, backlash soon followed, with criticism intensifying after Culture Minister Fadli Zon’s controversial statement) dismissing the 1998 mass rapes as mere rumours.

Various groups argue that the rewriting of national history is a calculated move to bolster an increasingly authoritarian government, as it relies solely on scholars and historians with ties to those in power.

Many groups remain underrepresented

A nation’s relationship with its history is deeply tied to how contemporary narratives are constructed or shaped. For national historiography to carry legitimacy, it must meaningfully include the voices of diverse groups, classes, communities, and entities.

However, the project’s terms of reference fail to give due attention to space for women’s roles in the Indonesian independence movement].

Its treatment of historical narratives from regions beyond Java also remains insufficient — let alone its neglect of non-political and non-economic themes, such as the arts or sports.

Silent affirmation?

In response to the controversy, few formal statements have been made from either MSI or the historians involved in the project, apart from the minister and the project’s principal editor.

One notable exception came from a historian via his social media page, where he reflected on the dilemma of being both an intellectual and a public servant involved in the project.

He argued that speaking from within, rather than criticising from the outside, demands greater courage and careful calculation – a stance he fears is likely to be overlooked.

As a history-and-culture researcher, his remarks reinforce the perception that many of the historians involved in the revision project are civil servants at state universities or individuals closely aligned with those in power.

Lessons from the past

History itself tells us that the writing of national history is deeply intertwined with the interests of ruling authorities and their affiliated groups.

From its inception, the genre of national history that emerged in 19th-century Europe and the United States was closely tied to efforts to legitimise territorial expansion and colonial rule.

In the context of Indonesia’s current national history revision project, it is worth revisiting comparisons between how national histories were written under Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines and Suharto in Indonesia.

Historians in both countries should be recognised as active agents with their own interests and authority — not as passive participants or easily influenced figures.

During Suharto’s regime, one historian even withdrew from the state-led national history writing project due to disagreements, particularly over methodological approaches.

The project’s director marginalised historian Sartono Kartodirdjo — who championed a multidimensional approach — in favour of a more linear, state-centric narrative. Sartono’s more holistic perspective made space for a broader range of historical actors, including farmers and other often-overlooked communities.

A similar precedent can be traced back to the early years of Indonesian independence, when the government initiated efforts to document the country’s national history in the 1950s. At the time, the National History Writing Committee — comprising prominent scholars — organised Indonesia’s first National History Seminar.

Yet the initiative failed to produce an official national history, partly due to the same kind of unresolved methodological debates that resurfaced during Suharto’s rule.

A project for whom?

Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman philosopher-turned-statesman, once said, historia magistra vitae est – history is the teacher of life.

Given the failures and controversies surrounding Indonesia’s earlier attempt to produce an official national history, the current revision project demands critical re-evaluation — and, if necessary, a complete halt.

Merely involving more historians to boost representation is not an adequate solution either.

The core issue lies not in revising history, but in advancing Indonesian historiography. Rather than pushing ahead with an extensive national history rewrite, the government should prioritise fostering diverse local history initiatives — through programmes such as the Cultural Endowment Fund or the Indonesiana Fund.

This approach would enable a more comprehensive and representative account of Indonesian history — one that integrates local perspectives while remaining connected to national and global narratives.

Saya pernah dan masih berkolaborasi untuk riset dengan beberapa lembaga di lingkungan Kementerian Kebudayaan seperti Museum dan Cagar Budaya Nasional, Balai Pelestarian Kebudayaan, dan lainnya.

– ref. Indonesia plans to rewrite its national history: A return to an incomplete narrative? – https://theconversation.com/indonesia-plans-to-rewrite-its-national-history-a-return-to-an-incomplete-narrative-260298

July 12, 2025

Shopping en ligne : comment Shein, Temu et les autres utilisent l’IA pour vous rendre accro

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Ghassan Paul Yacoub, Associate Professor of Innovation and Strategy, EDHEC Business School

Le succès rencontré par des applis comme Temu ou Shein (et d’autres) s’appuie sur des outils marketing très efficaces. L’intelligence artificielle est devenue un levier majeur pour fidéliser les clients… Au-delà du raisonnable ?

Ces dernières années, plusieurs sites Internet à positionnement ultra low cost ont fait leur apparition sur le marché français. Shein, Temu ou encore Aliexpress, pour ne citer qu’eux, rebattent les cartes du commerce en ligne. D’après une étude menée par BPCD Digital & Payments en 2023, le nombre de cartes de paiements enregistrant au moins une transaction mensuelle sur un site discount a ainsi augmenté de 20 % entre le premier trimestre de 2022 et le premier trimestre de 2023.

Rien d’étonnant si le site Temu compte 18,4 millions d’internautes français chaque mois, selon les données de la fédération du e-commerce et vente à distance (Fevad)). Et, désormais, les plates-formes low cost représentent 22 % des colis pris en charge par la Poste, contre 5 % il y a 5 ans. Cette hausse devrait se prolonger, puisque l’on anticipe une croissance du secteur à 6,5 % en 2025.

Bien entendu, l’inflation galopante en France ces dernières années explique pour partie cet engouement. Mais celle-ci n’est pas la seule explication de ces évolutions. L’usage de l’intelligence artificielle (IA), au cœur du business model de ces plates-formes low cost, permet de fidéliser les consommateurs.

Profilage comportemental

Ainsi, dans nos derniers articles sur Shein et Temu, nous avons analysé, notamment, la façon dont ces plates-formes œuvrent en coulisses. En analysant les données comportementales des utilisateurs, les outils d’IA utilisés par les plates-formes peuvent identifier les clients les plus susceptibles de réaliser un achat et ajuster les messages publicitaires que ceux-ci reçoivent.

Des algorithmes prédictifs analysent également le comportement des utilisateurs pour leur proposer des recommandations personnalisées. Cette approche vise à créer un besoin avant même qu’il n’apparaisse, en jouant sur le sentiment de rareté et d’urgence. C’est le fameux FOMO, l’acronyme de fear of missing out, défini comme la crainte de rater une occasion importante.

Ces algorithmes prédictifs existent depuis de nombreuses années, mais leurs nouvelles capacités « augmentées » par les outils IA ouvrent une nouvelle ère, s’adaptant encore plus finement et rapidement à chaque internaute. En bas de chaque page, figure ainsi une liste d’« articles également consultés » par les autres utilisateurs, qui ressemblent au produit recherché. Cette technique marketing classique est poussée plus loin : les algorithmes soumettent en permanence de nouveaux contenus au client pour étudier sa réaction. La moindre réaction (clic, ajout d’un article dans le panier…) est analysée en direct. L’algorithme, appuyé par l’IA, utilise ensuite ces données pour inciter l’utilisateur à acheter d’autres produits, qu’il n’était pas venu chercher en premier lieu.

Abonnez-vous dès aujourd’hui !

Chaque lundi, recevez gratuitement des informations utiles pour votre carrière et tout ce qui concerne la vie de l’entreprise (stratégie, RH marketing, finance…).

Jouer pour mieux vendre

La gamification, aussi appelée ludification en français, désigne l’utilisation des mécanismes du jeu à des fins de marketing pour capter l’attention des clients.

Sur l’application Temu, les interfaces s’inspirent des jeux d’argent, connus pour être particulièrement addictifs : roue de la fortune, comptes à rebours mettant en avant des offres limitées dans le temps, cadeaux et codes promotionnels à débloquer… Ces stimulations constantes génèrent chez l’utilisateur un sentiment d’urgence, tout en perturbant le mécanisme biochimique du circuit de la récompense.

Les leviers psychologiques exploités par les plates-formes low cost sont redoutables. Elles agissent sur :

le besoin : grâce à des prix très bas qui incitent à acheter toujours plus de produits ;
le sentiment d’urgence, avec des comptes à rebours qui laissent croire que l’article ne sera bientôt plus disponible ;
la transformation de l’expérience shopping en un jeu.

Tarification dynamique

Toujours sur Temu, des mini-jeux intégrés à l’application mobile (Farmland, Fishland) promettent de gagner des objets gratuits et des coupons de réduction. Par ailleurs, des systèmes de points et de bons d’achat sont utilisés pour pousser les utilisateurs à retourner sur le site le plus souvent possible. Des notifications personnalisées sont également envoyées selon le moment propice, en fonction des données recueillies sur l’utilisateur (jour, heure, humeur supposée).

Par ailleurs, des algorithmes de tarification dynamique (qui ajustent les prix en fonction des variations de la demande) affichent des réductions dont la réalité est parfois loin d’être patente. Elles n’en sont pas moins psychologiquement puissantes sur les consommateurs.

Une hyperpersonnalisation en temps réel

Autre levier utilisé : l’hyperpersonnalisation de la plate-forme. Grâce à l’intelligence artificielle, qui collecte d’abondantes données relatives aux profils des utilisateurs, chaque client dispose d’une boutique en ligne différente, personnalisée selon son historique, ses goûts, ses préférences et ses aversions. De quoi augmenter la probabilité d’un ou de plusieurs achats impulsifs.

Mais la contribution la plus importante de l’IA au succès de Shein va bien plus loin, et précède l’arrivée des clients sur la plate-forme. En effet, Shein a développé ses propres outils d’IA et ses propres algorithmes pour collecter et analyser des données. Les utilisant pour suivre le comportement de ses clients sur Internet (sur et au-delà de son site), Shein s’appuie aussi sur ces outils pour analyser les résultats des recherches faites en ligne, les posts des réseaux sociaux, les sites de ses concurrents, etc.

Ces outils sont donc au cœur du succès de Shein, qui peut identifier les tendances (couleurs, prix, designs, etc.) en temps réel ou presque, et ajuster très rapidement la conception et la production de ses produits car l’ensemble de ces données est partagé avec ses fournisseurs, qui produisent l’intégralité des pièces vendues sur son site. Ceci est facilité par une stratégie privilégiant une production de petits volumes (100 pièces ou moins) pour tout nouveau produit.

France 24 2025.

D’importants enjeux éthiques

L’ensemble de ces éléments soulève évidemment des problèmes éthiques, eu égard à l’opacité des algorithmes utilisés et du manque de transparence quant à l’utilisation qui est faite des données recueillies.

Shein a d’ailleurs été condamnée en 2022 par la justice new-yorkaise pour ne pas avoir informé près de 40 millions d’utilisateurs d’un vol de données sur les utilisateurs intervenu en 2018. Comme nous l’avons évoqué plus haut, l’entreprise est aussi dans le viseur de la Commission européenne, qui lui reproche au moins six pratiques trompeuses ou abusives envers les consommateurs (faux rabais, informations mensongères, pression à l’achat, opacité de certaines informations, etc.).

Alors, jusqu’à quel point faut-il réguler l’intelligence artificielle dans la vente et le marketing en ligne ? Quelles limites doit-on poser ? Jusqu’où, enfin, doit aller la protection du consommateur ? Selon un rapport Statista de 2024, les systèmes de recommandation basés sur l’intelligence artificielle influencent près de 35 % des achats en ligne, ce qui démontre leur impact considérable. Ceci interroge sur la portée effective du Digital Services Act et de l’EU AI Act, pourtant supposés œuvrer pour une meilleure protection des consommateurs.

Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.

– ref. Shopping en ligne : comment Shein, Temu et les autres utilisent l’IA pour vous rendre accro – https://theconversation.com/shopping-en-ligne-comment-shein-temu-et-les-autres-utilisent-lia-pour-vous-rendre-accro-257029

July 12, 2025

Tour de France 2025 : quand des réserves naturelles émergent sur des sites pollués

Source: The Conversation – France (in French) – By Patrick de Wever, Professeur, géologie, micropaléontologie, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)

La mare à Goriaux, née d’un affaissement minier. Wikimedia commons, CC BY-NC-SA

Au-delà du sport, le Tour de France donne aussi l’occasion de (re)découvrir nos paysages et parfois leurs bizarreries géologiques. Le XXI^e siècle est marqué par un regain de sensibilité à la nature, qui a poussé à la protection de certains sites, sélectionnés parmi de nombreuses possibilités. Mais paradoxalement, certaines aires sont protégées alors qu’elles semblent polluées… par un phénomène naturel ?

Le naturaliste respecte tout ce qui vient de la nature. De cette dernière il exclut généralement l’humain et ses œuvres, tant elles portent atteinte à un équilibre sain. En témoignent les nombreuses traces laissées par le passé industriel de notre pays : certaines sont visibles (bâtiments en ruines…), quand d’autres, plus insidieuses, sont chimiques (sols pollués).

Et pourtant, en France, certaines pollutions et désordres industriels sont aujourd’hui classés… comme des réserves naturelles.

La troisième étape du Tour de France 2025, le 7 juillet dernier, a permis de l’illustrer avec deux exemples : les pelouses métallicoles de Mortagne-du-Nord et la « Mare à Goriaux », deux réserves biologiques du Parc Naturel régional Scarpe-Escaut traversées par la route dans la forêt de Saint-Amand, à une dizaine de kilomètres de son départ. Nous évoquerons aussi un troisième cas dans le Massif central, que les cyclistes parcourront lors de la 10^e étape, le lundi 14 juillet 2025.

Pelouses métallicoles et plantes hyperaccumulatrices

Éliminer les cicatrices que l’humain a laissées en maltraitant la Terre n’est pas chose aisée et les approches sont aussi variées que les causes sont différentes. Les blessures visuelles se résorbent quand les moyens financiers sont mobilisés. La pollution chimique en revanche requiert, outre des subsides, un bien non achetable : du temps.

Magie de la nature, certaines plantes dites hyperaccumulatrices ont la propriété de prospérer sur des sols qui empoisonneraient la plupart des autres. Elles ne sont pas rares : on en connaît près de 400 espèces. La plupart bioaccumulent un ou deux métaux, mais certaines prélèvent un plus large éventail, en pourcentage variable selon le polluant.

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Ces capacités d’extraction par des plantes qui absorbent et concentrent dans leurs parties récoltables (feuilles, tiges) les polluants contenus dans le sol sont utilisées pour la dépollution : on parle de phytoremédiation. Le plus souvent, les végétaux sont récoltés et incinérés : les cendres sont stockées ou valorisées pour récupérer les métaux accumulés.

Mortagne du Nord, commune qui appartient au Parc naturel régional Scarpe-Escaut, en offre un exemple édifiant. Une usine y traitait du zinc, du cadmium, du plomb et quelques terres rares.

Mortagne-du-Nord, une pelouse métallicole décontaminante environne le collège, 2005.
Patrick De Wever, Fourni par l’auteur

Désormais, en lieu et place de l’amoncellement de déchets qui y étaient entreposés, prospèrent de jolis prés. Des pelouses dites « métalicolles » ou « calaminaires » qui entourent un collège en pleine nature.

Une réserve biologique fruit d’un effondrement minier

Le nord de la France est connu pour son absence de relief, comme la plaine de Flandre, vers Dunkerque, ou la région marécageuse de Saint-Amand-les-Eaux. Cette horizontalité est démentie par une dépression, notamment visible sur certaines routes.

Ainsi, à proximité de la terrible « trouée de Wallers-Arenberg », passage célèbre du Paris-Roubaix, une route montre une dépression très nette qui semble évoquer le passage d’une rivière. Or il n’y a pas de rivière. Quelle peut en être l’explication ?

La dépression de la route D313 ne correspond pas à un vallon naturel mais à un effondrement minier du Boulevard des mineurs d’Aremberg.
Patrick de Wever, Fourni par l’auteur

La dépression de la route ci-dessus permet de quantifier l’effondrement topographique. On notera, sur la partie droite de la photo, que la ligne de chemin de fer est restée horizontale car un remblai régulier était effectué. C’est d’ailleurs ce remblai, pris annuellement en charge par les houillères, qui a permis de les rendre responsables de cet effondrement. La gauche de la route, derrière les arbres, est bordée par le terril qui délimite la Mare à Goriaux (gorets en picard), une zone naturelle protégée installée sur un terril plat.

Les bois de la gauche de la route sont ceux de la « Mare à Goriaux », une réserve naturelle créée suite à un affaissement minier en 1916. En effet, il existait là un ancien terril horizontal – avant de prendre leur forme conique avec la mécanisation des apports, les terrils étaient horizontaux car alimentés par des wagonnets poussés par des hommes ou tirés par des chevaux. L’affaissement a formé trois mares, qui ont fini par se réunir en 1930 en un seul plan d’eau, la Mare à Goriaux.

La colonisation des lieux par la flore et la faune, riche et diversifiée, a conduit à décréter ce lieu réserve biologique domaniale de Raismes-St Amand-Wallers en 1982.

Une source de pétrole au cœur de l’Auvergne

La nature rejette du pétrole depuis toujours : on en connaît dans les Caraïbes tant au fond de la mer, où il suinte et est constamment digéré par des bactéries spécialisées, qu’à terre. Il était déjà utilisé par les Amérindiens Olmèques 12 siècles avant notre ère, afin d’imperméabiliser les toitures, étanchéifier les navires, les canalisations, les récipients ou décorer des masques. Dans l’Antiquité Classique, il a servi à étanchéifier les jardins suspendus de Babylone, à enduire l’arche de Noé ou à conserver les momies.

Si le bitume affleurait en surface dans toutes les régions aujourd’hui connues comme étant pétrolifères, de l’Arabie saoudite à l’Iran (alors la Perse) en passant par l’Irak (alors la Mésopotamie), en France, le pétrole est plus rare. Il existe néanmoins un endroit où il coule en surface.

Près de Clermont-Ferrand, à proximité de l’aéroport de Clermont-Aulnat se trouve une rivière de pétrole. L’eau, très riche en organismes (bactéries, algues…), présente une couleur d’un vert très particulier.
Patrick de Wever, Fourni par l’auteur

À l’est de Clermont-Ferrand, que traversera le peloton lors de la 10^e étape, est visible entre l’autoroute et l’aéroport la « Source de la Poix », un lieu géré par le Conservatoire des espaces naturels. Le bitume qui s’y écoule librement est associé à de l’eau salée, du méthane et des traces d’hydrogène sulfuré, dont l’odeur parfois forte peut évoquer celle d’œufs pourris. Le mélange, qui circule sur une quinzaine de mètres avec un débit extrêmement faible (de l’ordre d’un hectolitre/an), surgit par des fractures dans la roche volcanique, ce qui explique qu’il n’est plus exploité. Dans le passé, il fut utilisé pour calfater (c’est-à-dire, étanchéifier) les embarcations de l’Allier.

Panneau de la source de la poix. Ce site, unique en France, n’est cependant pas protégé aux yeux de la loi. Il est demandé de le « préserver ensemble » (haut du panneau), mais (est-ce parce qu’il s’agit de pétrole ?), en bas… on pense à le partager !
Patrick de Wever, Fourni par l’auteur

Cet hydrocarbure vient des sédiments de Limagne qui se sont déposés dans un grand lac peu profond qui permettait une vie abondante, il y a une trentaine de millions d’années (Oligocène). Celle-ci a évolué avec le temps pour devenir le bitume que l’on trouve aujourd’hui – il ne s’agit pas vraiment de pétrole car il a subi une légère oxydation. N’ayant pas été piégé par une couche ou une structure imperméable, le liquide remonte lentement en surface.

Les suintements de bitumes sont nombreux en Limagne : outre au Puy de la Poix, on en connaît au Puy de Crouël, à la carrière de Gandaillat et à Dallet, à quelques kilomètres, où une mine a été exploitée jusqu’en 1984.

Cette source de bitume a été plus ou moins aménagée au cours des siècles, mais depuis, le site est presque tombé dans l’oubli. Il présente pourtant un joli potentiel pédagogique, d’un point de vue géologique, biologique, environnemental et sociétal.

Patrick de Wever ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. Tour de France 2025 : quand des réserves naturelles émergent sur des sites pollués – https://theconversation.com/tour-de-france-2025-quand-des-reserves-naturelles-emergent-sur-des-sites-pollues-258130

July 12, 2025

A wildfire’s legacy can haunt rivers for years, putting drinking water at risk

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Ben Livneh, Associate Professor of Hydrology, University of Colorado Boulder

Burned ground can become hydrophobic and almost waxlike, allowing rainfall to quickly wash contaminants downslope. Carli Brucker

A wildfire rages across a forested mountainside. The smoke billows and the flames rise. An aircraft drops vibrant red flame retardant. It’s a dramatic, often dangerous scene. But the threat is only just beginning for downstream communtiies and the water they rely on.

After the smoke clears, the soil, which was once nestled beneath a canopy of trees and a spongy layer of leaves, is now exposed. Often, that soil is charred and sterile, with the heat making the ground almost water-repellent, like a freshly waxed car.

When the first rain arrives, the water rushes downhill. It carries with it a slurry of ash, soil and contaminants from the burned landscape. This torrent flows directly into streams and then rivers that provide drinking water for communities downstream.

As a new research paper my colleagues and I just published shows, this isn’t a short-term problem. The ghost of the fire can haunt these waterways for years.

Scientists explain how wildfires can contaminate water supplies and the ways they measure the effects, summarized in their 2024 publication. University of Colorado-Boulder.

This matters because forested watersheds are the primary water source for nearly two-thirds of municipalities in the United States. As wildfires in the western U.S. become larger and more frequent, the long-term security and safety of water supplies for downstream communities is increasingly at risk.

Charting the long tail of wildfire pollution

Scientists have long known that wildfires can affect water quality, but two key questions remained: Exactly how bad is the impact? And how long does it last?

To find out, my colleagues and I led a study, coordinated by engineer Carli Brucker. We undertook one of the most extensive analyses of post-wildfire water quality to date. The results were published June 23, 2025, in the journal Nature Communications Earth & Environment.

We gathered decades of water quality data from 245 burned watersheds across the western U.S. and compared them to nearly 300 similar, unburned watersheds.

A map of watersheds in the western U.S. — A map of the basins studied shows the outlines of fires in red and burned basins in black. The blue basins did not burn and were used for comparisons.
Carli Brucker, et al., 2025, Nature Communications Earth & Environment

By creating a computer model for each basin that accounted for its normal water quality variability, based on factors such as rainfall and temperature, we were able to isolate the impact of the wildfire. This allowed us to see how much the water quality deviated after the fire, year after year.

The results were stark. In the first year after a fire, the concentrations of some contaminants skyrocketed. We found that levels of sediment and turbidity – the cloudiness of the water – were 19 to 286 times higher than prefire levels. That much sediment can clog filters at water treatment plants and require expensive treatment and maintenance. Think of trying to use a coffee filter with muddy water – the water just won’t flow through.

Concentrations of organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus were three to 103 times greater in the burned basins. These dissolved remnants of burned plants and soil are particularly problematic. When they mix with the chlorine used to disinfect drinking water, they can form harmful chemicals called disinfection byproducts, some of which are linked to cancer.

More surprisingly, we found the impacts to be really persistent. While the most dramatic spikes in phosphorous, nitrate, organic carbon and sediment generally occurred in the first one to three years, some contaminants lingered for much longer.

Charts show how contaminants lingered in water supplies for years after wildfires. — Contaminants including phosphorus, organic carbon and nitrates lingered in water supplies for years after wildfires. The charts show the average among all burned basins eight years before fires (light blue) and all burned basins after fires (orange). The gray bars show levels in the year immediately after the fire. The horizontal purple line shows levels that would be expected without a fire, based on the prefire years.
Carli Brucker, et al., 2025, Nature Communications Earth & Environment

We saw significantly elevated levels of nitrogen and sediment for up to eight years following a fire. Nitrogen and phosphorus act like fertilizer for algae. A surge of these nutrients can trigger algal blooms in reservoirs, which can produce toxins and create foul odors.

This extended timeline suggests that wildfires are fundamentally altering the landscape in ways that take a long time to heal. In our previous laboratory-based research, including a 2024 study, we simulated this process by burning soil and vegetation and then running water over them.

A blackened mountain slope where all of the trees have burned. — After mountain slopes burn, the rain that falls on them washes ash, charred soil and debris downstream.
Carli Brucker

The stuff that leaches out is a cocktail of carbon, nutrients and other compounds that can exacerbate flood risks and degrade water quality in ways that require more expensive treatment at water treatment facilities. In extreme cases, the water quality may be so poor that communities can’t withdraw river water at all, and that can create water shortages.

After the Buffalo Creek Fire in 1996 and then the Hayman Fire in 2002, Denver’s water utility spent more than US$27 million over several years to treat the water, remove more than 1 million cubic yards of sediment and debris from a reservoir, and fix infrastructure. State Forest Service crews planted thousands of trees to help restore the surrounding forest’s water filtering capabilities.

A growing challenge for water treatment

This long-lasting impact poses a major challenge for water treatment plants that make river water safe to drink. Our study highlights that utilities can’t just plan for a few bad months after a fire. They need to be prepared for potentially eight or more years of degraded water quality.

We also found that where a fire burns matters. Watersheds with thicker forests or more urban areas that burned tended to have even worse water quality after a fire.

Since many municipalities draw water from more than one source, understanding which watersheds are likely to have the largest water quality problems after fires can help communities locate the most vulnerable parts of their water supply systems.

As temperatures rise and more people move into wildland areas in the American West, the risk of wildfires increases, and it is becoming clear that preparing for longer-term consequences is crucial. The health of forests and our communities’ drinking water are inseparably linked, with wildfires casting a shadow that lasts long after the smoke clears.

Ben Livneh receives funding from the Western Water Assessment NOAA grant #NA21OAR4310309, ‘Western Water Assessment: Building Resilience to Compound Hazards in the Inter-Mountain West’.

– ref. A wildfire’s legacy can haunt rivers for years, putting drinking water at risk – https://theconversation.com/a-wildfires-legacy-can-haunt-rivers-for-years-putting-drinking-water-at-risk-259118

July 12, 2025

FEMA’s flood maps often miss dangerous flash flood risks, leaving homeowners unprepared

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Jeremy Porter, Professor of Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences, City University of New York

A deadly flash flood on July 4, 2025, swept through Nancy Callery’s childhood home in Hunt, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Destructive flash flooding in Texas and other states is raising questions about the nation’s flood maps and their ability to ensure that communities and homeowners can prepare for rising risks.

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood maps are intended to be the nation’s primary tool for identifying flood risks.

Originally developed in the 1970s to support the National Flood Insurance Program, these maps, known as Flood Insurance Rate Maps, or FIRMs, are used to determine where flood insurance is required for federally backed mortgages, to inform local building codes and land-use decisions, and to guide flood plain management strategies.

A flood risk map. — A federal flood map of Kerrville, Texas, with the Guadalupe River winding through the middle in purple, shows areas considered to have a 1% annual chance of flooding in blue and a 0.2% annual chance of flooding in tan. During a flash flood on July 4, 2025, the river rose more than 30 feet at Kerrville.
FEMA

In theory, the maps enable homeowners, businesses and local officials to understand their flood risk and take appropriate steps to prepare and mitigate potential losses.

But while FEMA has improved the accuracy and accessibility of the maps over time with better data, digital tools and community input, the maps still don’t capture everything – including the changing climate. There are areas of the country that flood, some regularly, that don’t show up on the maps as at risk.

I study flood-risk mapping as a university-based researcher and at First Street, an organization created to quantify and communicate climate risk. In a 2023 assessment using newly modeled flood zones with climate-adjusted precipitation records, we found that more than twice as many properties across the country were at risk of a 100-year flood than the FEMA maps identified.

Even in places where the FEMA maps identified a flood risk, we found that the federal mapping process, its overreliance on historical data, and political influence over the updating of maps can lead to maps that don’t fully represent an area’s risk.

What FEMA flood maps miss

FEMA’s maps are essential tools for identifying flood risks, but they have significant gaps that limit their effectiveness.

One major limitation is that they don’t consider flooding driven by intense bursts of rain. The maps primarily focus on river channels and coastal flooding, largely excluding the risk of flash flooding, particularly along smaller waterways such as streams, creeks and tributaries.

This limitation has become more important in recent years due to climate change. Rising global temperatures can result in more frequent extreme downpours, leaving more areas vulnerable to flooding, yet unmapped by FEMA.

A map overlay shows how two 100-year flood maps compare. First Street shows many more streams. — A map of a section of Kerr County, Texas, where a deadly flood struck on July 4, 2025, compares the FEMA flood map’s 100-year flood zone (red) to First Street’s more detailed 100-year flood zone (blue). The more detailed map includes flash flood risks along smaller creeks and streams.
Jeremy Porter

For example, when flooding from Hurricane Helene hit unmapped areas around Asheville, North Carolina, in 2024, it caused a huge amount of uninsured damage to properties.

Even in areas that are mapped, like the Camp Mystic site in Kerr County, Texas, that was hit by a deadly flash flood on July 4, 2025, the maps may underestimate their risk because of a reliance on historic data and outdated risk assessments.

Political influence can fuel long delays

Additionally, FEMA’s mapping process is often shaped by political pressures.

Local governments and developers sometimes fight to avoid high-risk designations to avoid insurance mandates or restrictions on development, leading to maps that may understate actual risks and leave residents unaware of their true exposure.

An example is New York City’s appeal of a 2015 FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps update. The delay in resolving the city’s concerns has left it with maps that are roughly 20 years old, and the current mapping project is tied up in legal red tape.

On average, it takes five to seven years to develop and implement a new FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map. As a result, many maps across the U.S. are significantly out of date, often failing to reflect current land use, urban development or evolving flood risks from extreme weather.

This delay directly affects building codes and infrastructure planning, as local governments rely on these maps to guide construction standards, development approvals and flood mitigation projects. Ultimately, outdated maps can lead to underestimating flood risks and allowing vulnerable structures to be built in areas that face growing flood threats.

How technology advances can help

New advances in satellite imaging, rainfall modeling and high-resolution lidar, which is similar to radar but uses light, make it possible to create faster, more accurate flood maps that capture risks from extreme rainfall and flash flooding.

However, fully integrating these tools requires significant federal investment. Congress controls FEMA’s mapping budget and sets the legal framework for how maps are created. For years, updating the flood maps has been an unpopular topic among many publicly elected officials, because new flood designations can trigger stricter building codes, higher insurance costs and development restrictions.

A map of Houston showing flooding extending much farther inland. — A map of Houston, produced for a 2022 study by researchers at universities and First Street, shows flood risk changing over the next 30 years as climate change worsens. Blue areas are today’s 100-year flood-risk zones. The red areas reflect the same zones in 2050.
Oliver Wing et al., 2022

In recent years, the rise of climate risk analytics models and private flood risk data have allowed the real estate, finance and insurance industries to rely less on FEMA’s maps. These new models incorporate forward-looking climate data, including projections of extreme rainfall, sea-level rise and changing storm patterns – factors FEMA’s maps generally exclude.

Real estate portals like Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com and Homes.com now provide property-level flood risk scores that consider both historical flooding and future climate projections. The models they use identify risks for many properties that FEMA maps don’t, highlighting hidden vulnerabilities in communities across the United States.

Research shows that the availability, and accessibility, of climate data on these sites has started driving property-buying decisions that increasingly take climate change into account.

Implications for the future

As homebuyers understand more about a property’s flood risks, that may shift the desirability of some locations over time. Those shifts will have implications for property valuations, community tax-revenue assessments, population migration patterns and a slew of other considerations.

However, while these may feel like changes being brought on by new data, the risk was already there. What is changing is people’s awareness.

The federal government has an important role to play in ensuring that accurate risk assessments are available to communities and Americans everywhere. As better tools and models evolve for assessing risk evolve, FEMA’s risk maps need to evolve, too.

Jeremy Porter has nothing to disclose.

– ref. FEMA’s flood maps often miss dangerous flash flood risks, leaving homeowners unprepared – https://theconversation.com/femas-flood-maps-often-miss-dangerous-flash-flood-risks-leaving-homeowners-unprepared-260990

July 11, 2025

How citizenship chaos was averted, for now, by a class action injunction against Trump’s birthright citizenship order

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Julie Novkov, Professor of Political Science and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, University at Albany, State University of New York

Protesters support birthright citizenship on May 15, 2025, outside of the Supreme Court in Washington. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

Legal battles over President Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship continued on July 10, 2025, after a New Hampshire federal district judge issued a preliminary injunction that will, if it’s not reversed, prevent federal officials from enforcing the order nationally.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante, a George W. Bush appointee, asserts that this policy of “highly questionable constitutionality … constitutes irreparable harm.”

In its ruling in late June, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to deny citizenship to infants born to undocumented parents in many parts of the nation where individuals or states had not successfully sued to prevent implementation – including a number of mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Southern states.

Trump’s executive order limits U.S. citizenship by birth to those who have at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident. It denies citizenship to those born to undocumented people within the U.S. and to the children of those on student, work, tourist and certain other types of visas.

The preliminary injunction is on hold for seven days to allow the Trump administration to appeal.

The June 27 Supreme Court decision on birthright citizenship limited the ability of lower-court judges to issue universal injunctions to block such executive orders nationwide.

Laplante was able to avoid that limit on issuing a nationwide injunction by certifying the case as a class action lawsuit encompassing all children affected by the birthright order, following a pathway suggested by the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Pathways beyond universal injunctions

In its recent birthright citizenship ruling, Trump v. CASA, the Supreme Court noted that plaintiffs could still seek broad relief by filing such class action lawsuits that would join together large groups of individuals facing the same injury from the law they were challenging.

And that’s what happened.

Litigants filed suit in New Hampshire’s district court the same day that the Supreme Court decided CASA. They asked the court to certify a class consisting of infants born on or after Feb. 20, 2025, who would be covered by the order and their parents or prospective parents. The court allowed the suit to proceed as a class action for these infants.

Several people raise their hands as a man at a podium answers questions. — President Donald Trump takes questions on June 27, 2025, in Washington, D.C., after the Supreme Court ruled on the birthright citizenship case.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

What if this injunction doesn’t stick?

If the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit or the Supreme Court invalidates the New Hampshire court’s newest national injunction and another injunction is not issued in a different venue, the order will then go into effect anywhere it is not currently barred from doing so. Implementation could begin in as many as 28 states where state attorneys general have not challenged the Trump birthright citizenship policy if no other individuals or groups secure relief.

As political science scholars who study race and immigration policy, we believe that, if implemented piecemeal, Trump’s birthright citizenship order would create administrative chaos for states determining the citizenship status of infants born in the United States. And it could lead to the first instances since the 1860s of infants being born in the U.S. being denied citizenship categorically.

States’ role in establishing citizenship

Almost all U.S.-born children are issued birth certificates by the state in which they are born.

The federal government’s standardized form, the U.S. standard certificate of live birth, collects data on parents’ birthplaces and their Social Security numbers, if available, and provides the information states need to issue birth certificates.

But it does not ask questions about their citizenship or immigration status. And no national standard exists for the format for state birth certificates, which traditionally have been the simplest way for people born in the U.S. to establish citizenship.

If Trump’s executive order goes into effect, birth certificates issued by local hospitals would be insufficient evidence of eligibility for federal government documents acknowledging citizenship. The order would require new efforts, including identification of parents’ citizenship status, before authorizing the issuance of any federal document acknowledging citizenship.

Since states control the process of issuing birth certificates, they will respond differently to implementation efforts. Several states filed a lawsuit on Jan. 21 to block the birthright citizenship order. And they will likely pursue an arsenal of strategies to resist, delay and complicate implementation.

While the Supreme Court has not yet confirmed that these states have standing to challenge the order, successful litigation could bar implementation in up to 18 states and the District of Columbia if injunctions are narrowly framed, or nationally if lawyers can persuade judges that disentangling the effects on a state-by-state basis will be too difficult.

Other states will likely collaborate with the administration to deny citizenship to some infants. Some, like Texas, had earlier attempted to make it particularly hard for undocumented parents to obtain birth certificates for their children.

Protesters hold signs in front of a federal building. — People demonstrate outside the Supreme Court of the United States on May 15, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Potential for chaos

If the Supreme Court rejects attempts to block the executive order nationally again, implementation will be complicated.

That’s because it would operate in some places and toward some individuals while being legally blocked in other places and toward others, as Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned in her Trump v. CASA dissent.

Children born to plaintiffs anywhere in the nation who have successfully sued would have access to citizenship, while other children possibly born in the same hospitals – but not among the groups named in the suits – would not.

Babies born in the days before implementation would have substantially different rights than those born the day after. Parents’ ethnicity and countries of origin would likely influence which infants are ultimately granted or denied citizenship.

That’s because some infants and parents would be more likely to generate scrutiny from hospital employees and officials than others, including Hispanics, women giving birth near the border, and women giving birth in states such as Florida where officials are likely to collaborate enthusiastically with enforcement.

The consequences could be profound.

Some infants would become stateless, having no right to citizenship in another nation. Many people born in the U.S. would be denied government benefits, Social Security numbers and the ability to work legally in the U.S.

With the constitutionality of the executive order still unresolved, it’s unclear when, if ever, some infants born in the U.S. will be the first in the modern era to be denied citizenship.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. How citizenship chaos was averted, for now, by a class action injunction against Trump’s birthright citizenship order – https://theconversation.com/how-citizenship-chaos-was-averted-for-now-by-a-class-action-injunction-against-trumps-birthright-citizenship-order-260175

July 11, 2025

Too much Lena Dunham, Lorde’s new album and a book to break your heart: what to watch, listen to and read this week

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jane Wright, Commissioning Editor, Arts & Culture, The Conversation UK

When I first watched Girls, I remember marvelling at Lena Dunham’s four twenty-something New Yorkers. Sex and the City it was not. I realised wistfully just how much I wished the series had been around when I was in my twenties.

Dunham’s character Hannah Horvath was like a beacon, illuminating the possibilities of how you could just be yourself in this world – good and bad – without apologising for it. I loved her boldness. Girls was messy, awkward, embarrassing, relatable and real. It was also very funny.

Now Dunham brings her latest, similarly awkward comedy-drama, Too Much, to Netflix. The series follows the trials and tribulations of Jess (the brilliant Megan Stalter) as she flees New York for London with a broken heart.

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An American with a romanticised movie-informed idea of Britain, Jess sees Blighty as some kind of fantasy creation fashioned by Jane Austen with a little help from Richard Curtis.

She spends her days obsessing over her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend on Instagram and trying to fit into London life. And then she meets laconic musician Felix (Will Sharpe), who is determined to demolish her romantic notions of a Notting Hill-esque London. Discovering they have an instant connection, Jess is thrust back into dating again, still reeling from the PTSD of her previous relationship.

Too Much charts the tumultuous experience of becoming an adult, as Jess experiences all the thrills and vulnerabilities of meeting someone new. Mirroring her own relocation to London, Dunham mines a rich seam of fish-out-of-water comedy as Megan navigates a new city and different culture.

Reviewer Jane Steventon finds the show is a hopeful paean to womanhood, a declaration that messiness, failure and fear are all part of becoming a woman just as much as joy, love and intimacy.

The idea of intimacy takes on a much darker and more troubling meaning in David Cronenberg’s latest body horror Shrouds in which the protagonist Karsh (Vincent Kassel) finds that technology can help him with the grieving process.

Discovering that a piece of wearable tech within a shroud can allow him to watch his wife’s corpse decompose via a video link, Karsh believes this can help reclaim her from her illness. But as the plot progresses, lines blur between Karsh’s dreams and reality and the film becomes darker and more ominous.

This deeply disturbing premise, says film expert Laura Flanagan, allows Cronenberg to explore issues of technology, control and grief, and is all the more chilling when you learn that he embarked on the film after the death of his own wife.

Musical autobiography

Simone de Beauvoir, the great feminist French philosopher, once opined: “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” Meaning, it is down to each woman to articulate and determine her own path and transcend any limits of “femininity” imposed by a patriarchal society.

According to our reviewer Lillian Hingley, the New Zealand singer Lorde unveils that process in her latest album Virgin as she musically explores how her body is changed by what she has been through in her life.

Hingley discovers a multi-layered collection of songs and videos that lead us through a piece of performance art examining identity, sexuality and a female reproductive system that comes fully loaded with both jeopardy and joy.

Last week, the Disney musical Hercules opened in London so we sent along Emma Stafford, professor of Greek culture at the University of Leeds to give us her take.

Despite finding Hercules’ trusty steed Pegasus has been written out of the show and Hades has been somewhat toned down, the innovative role of the five muses has been elevated to a spectacular cross between the chorus of a Greek tragedy and a gospel choir. A terrific cast, impressive visuals, slick stagecraft and magical special effects all mean this high-octane production will delight West End audiences.

The book that won this year’s Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke, has two children at its centre. One is Max Johnson, a healthy nine-year-old whose heart begins to fail, and the other, nine-year-old Keira Ball, a vibrant, pony-mad little girl who is killed in a car accident. Despite their unimaginable grief, Keira’s parents decide to donate her organs. Her precious heart goes to Max, and in that unbearable gift, one child dies, and another child lives.

Leah McLaughlin, a health services researcher who has spent her career working in the emotionally complex and often obscured world of organ donation, found the book a searingly honest account of the hope and despair of this devastating experience.

– ref. Too much Lena Dunham, Lorde’s new album and a book to break your heart: what to watch, listen to and read this week – https://theconversation.com/too-much-lena-dunham-lordes-new-album-and-a-book-to-break-your-heart-what-to-watch-listen-to-and-read-this-week-260893