From Stalingrad To Ulupuene To The Antarctic December 28, 2025December 27, 2025 But first . . . JON STEWART Nails it (42 seconds). PROJECT 2029 Yesterday I posted South Park’s Project 2029 (30 seconds). Peter S.: “I [bleep]ing love South Park. My additions: Make DC and PR states . . . Pass universal online voting using block chain for verification . . . Start universal basic income based on need, funded by taxing the 1% and richest corps and honor and celebrate those richest individuals and corps for their generosity and contributions to the welfare of the nation and for leading the way to a future when AI and robots replace most of the existing jobs and professions and fund the liberation from daily toil for humans . . . Abolish Gerrymandering and the electoral college . . . Pass Medicare for all with Plan F Medigap included eliminating deductibles and copays . . . Develop passively safe nuclear power . . . Phase out non-biodegradable plastics . . . Massively fund renewable energy sources and research on a scale equal to fossil fuel funding and subsidies over the last 100+ years . . . Remove every trace of the name Trump from everywhere it’s been added . . . Investigate and prosecute the most egregious violations of law by his administration . . . Reverse all RFQuack Jr changes . . .” → Giving new definition, perhaps, to the phrase “easier said than done.” Yet you can just feel the excitement of the age that is dawning and the need to think smarter than “drill baby drill” with everything renamed for Trump. (Stalin took over in 1924. By 1925, he had renamed a city “Stalingrad.”) One of the worthy non-profits I’ve touted here from time to time is the Amazon Conservation Team. For those of us who don’t think climate change is a hoax, and that biodiversity is important, it’s heartening to see what they’ve accomplished since founding 29 years. This year-end thank-you note will give you an idea: Deep in the Brazilian savanna, on the southeastern edge of the Amazon rainforest, is a village called Ulupuene. The Amazon Conservation Team first began our partnership with the Wauja people in this territory 21 years ago, working with them to map important cultural sites and preserve their cultural heritage. This year, members of our staff had the opportunity to make the very long journey to this special place along the Bakiri River once again, and it highlighted how longstanding partnerships, led by those who have called the Amazon home for generations, offer hope for saving it. Over the decades, we supported the Wauja in establishing native gardens for food and medicine. When nearby agricultural runoff threatened their water supply, we supported them in building a well. After devastating fires in the region a few years ago, which are becoming more common due to climate change, we worked with the Wauja to rebuild traditional structures and provided resources to create a professionally trained volunteer indigenous fire brigade. Ulupuene is a bright spot in the Amazon, literally during our visit, we saw that the forest around the village is vibrant and diverse compared to the desert of ever-encroaching soybean fields you’ll find across the region. But Ulupuene is just one example of what’s possible. With your generosity, we have created hundreds of bright spots just like this one, always in collaboration with communities, from the rainforests to the coasts. Nearly three decades of groundbreaking work can only be hinted at through a few numbers: 3 million acres of indigenous reserves created or expanded 8 million acres zoned to protect isolated indigenous peoples in national parks and reserves More than 150,000 baby sea turtles hatched through Ancestral Tides, a marine conservation effort uniting communities from Mexico to Costa Rica 60 community rangers trained and 7 ranger posts established across Suriname’s vast rainforests More than 100 million acres of ancestral rainforest collaboratively mapped Thank you for standing with us. Together, we are building healthier ecosystems, resilient livelihoods, stronger rights, and thriving cultures. Our shared imagination and commitment can guide us toward a more hopeful future for tropical forests, for our planet, and ultimately for ourselves. Those who do think climate change is a hoax . . . or who don’t but want to be inspired by a heroic 77-year-old with a heart transplant . . . could do worse than to watch a documentary called Canary (as in: the coal mine). It which scores 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and can be seen here, for free. And/or watch a 10-minute preview on The Daily Show, here. Have a great week.