In recent weeks, the National Park Service (NPS) has removed interpretive signage referencing climate change, slavery, the internment of Japanese Americans, and the massacre of Native Americans from multiple parks and historic sites聽around the country.

The initiative appears to be in response to a sweeping executive order, 鈥�,鈥� signed by President Donald Trump in late March, which decried information in national parks that included 鈥渋mproper partisan ideology.鈥� By June, notices began appearing at NPS sites requesting that park visitors report 鈥渁ny signs or other information that are negative about either past or living Americans.鈥�

Now, at least a handful of so-called聽“interpretive”聽signs鈥攖hose providing visitors with historical or cultural context鈥攈ave been removed from multiple national park destinations.

To combat the removals, a collective of librarians, historians, and data experts has organized a project called (SOS). The group is attempting to 鈥渂uild a community archive of the signs, exhibits, and texts that could soon disappear from our national parks.鈥� It encourages park visitors to photos of interpretive signs from any area administered by the NPS. The SOS team is also maintaining a public map of the signage uploaded thus far, which includes over 10,000 photos as of September 20.

鈥淭his sign removal process is not transparent at all, and there is no shared definition of what it means to have 鈥榥egative鈥� content on a sign,鈥� Jenny McBurney, a librarian involved with the project, told 国产吃瓜黑料. 鈥淲e were very concerned about the potential for whitewashing history.鈥� McBurney said that the photo collection of all signs will be published for the public in mid-October, for anyone to see and reuse. 鈥淲e want to ensure that these public signs, created with taxpayer dollars, remain in the public鈥檚 hands.鈥�

Representative Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) told that a sign at Maine鈥檚 Acadia National Park referencing the role of climate change in extreme weather had been removed, as well as 鈥渟ignage suggesting visitors take a shuttle bus to minimize their carbon footprint.鈥�

鈥淭his is an outrageous assault on our free speech and ability to educate each other,鈥� she told the publication. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just bonkers to me that the federal government is imposing these kinds of restraints, that we鈥檙e taking away valuable information from our citizens who visit this park, and that we are trying to dumb everyone down and pretend real weather events don鈥檛 happen by not letting you read a simple sign.鈥�

Another source, who remained anonymous, told The Washington Post that an 1863 , his back heavily scarred with whip marks, had been removed from Georgia鈥檚 Fort Pulaski National Monument, the site of a key battle during the Civil War. According to聽The Washington Post’s reporting, at least 30 signs at Harpers Ferry National Historic Park, the site of abolitionist John Brown鈥檚 failed anti-slavery revolt in 1859, had been flagged for removal.

Another piece of signage was reportedly taken down in New York鈥檚 Gateway National Recreation Area. According to the Post, the removed sign read: 鈥淪ome very new parks preserve not just lands or buildings but our nation鈥檚 ideas and ideals. They remind us of things we hope to live up to鈥攍ike women鈥檚 rights and liberty鈥攁nd things we hope never to repeat鈥� like slavery, massacres of Indians, or holding Japanese Americans in wartime camps.鈥�

The SOS team believes signs like these, which highlight both the good and bad in U.S. history, are of crucial value to the American public.

鈥淭he National Parks have been called 鈥榯he nation鈥檚 largest outdoor history classroom,鈥欌�� McBurney said. 鈥淲e know that not all stories in our history are happy. but they are essential to understanding what happened in the past, and how we got to where we are today. If we lose these pieces of our history, then we lose the ability to learn from the past and build a better future together.鈥�

Other lawmakers have pushed back on the removal of the signs. On September 18, California Rep. Jared Huffman a meeting of the House Committee on Natural Resources.

鈥淲hat the hell is going on here? That someone in this administration directed this photo to be removed from a display?” Huffman said of the removal of photos from Fort Pulaski National Monument. “Our national parks are not monuments to a single, sanitized version of American greatness. They are places for all of us to confront and learn from the full complexity of our past.”

To combat the removals, a collective of librarians, historians, and data experts has organized a project called (SOS). The group is attempting to 鈥渂uild a community archive of the signs, exhibits, and texts that could soon disappear from our national parks.鈥� It encourages park visitors to of interpretive signs from any area administered by the NPS. The SOS team is also maintaining a uploaded thus far, which includes over 10,000 photos as of September 20.

The post Signs Referencing Climate Change, Slavery, and Other 鈥業mproper鈥� Topics Removed from National Park Sites appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

A 29-year-old hiker was attacked earlier this week in Yellowstone National Park, plus millennia-old petroglyphs were reportedly damaged during construction at an Arizona church. 国产吃瓜黑料 has you covered in this edition of our weekly news roundup.

A Bear Attacked a Hiker in Yellowstone National Park

A 29-year-old solo hiker was hospitalized after a bear attacked him in Yellowstone National Park.

The National Park Service said in a that the hiker was walking alone along the Turbid Lake Trail, northeast of Yellowstone Lake鈥檚 Mary Bay, on September 16, when he ran into the bear. The hiker attempted to use his bear spray to ward off the animal, but he still suffered 鈥渟ignificant but non-life-threatening injuries to his chest and left arm.鈥�

Turbid Lake Trail remains closed in the wake of the attack.

On September 18, the NPS stated that the hiker was treated for his injuries and released from the hospital, according to the National Park Service. Officials investigated the attack site, discovered grizzly tracks near the trail, as well as the carcass of a dead animal.

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Here鈥檚 How to Cheat at an International Stone Skimming Championship

The World Stone Skimming Championships (WSSC), an annual international tournament for long-distance rock skimming, or skipping, is marred by a scandal after organizers said that multiple competitors admitted to cheating during the 2025 competition.

Organizers of the event, which was held on September 6 on Easdale Island, Scotland, on September 10 that numerous participants admitted to breaking the rules.

How, exactly, does one cheat at rock skimming? By doctoring their stones, of course.

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Southwest Petroglyphs Survived 1,000 Years鈥擴ntil a Church Underwent Construction

A series of petroglyphs estimated to be between 700 and 1,000 years old was allegedly damaged by construction crews renovating a church north of Phoenix, Arizona.

Phoenix city officials told 国产吃瓜黑料聽that when city staff went to the site on September 12, it appeared as if rocks, including those that contained the petroglyphs, may have 鈥渂een pushed around by heavy machinery.鈥� The stones were not removed from the property, officials said.

The full extent of the damage is unclear, though some social media users have stated that the petroglyphs were 鈥�bulldozed.鈥� Petroglyphs in Arizona are protected by the Archaeological Resources Protection Act. State laws also provide for both felony and misdemeanor prosecution with imprisonment and fines.

鈥淲e are still gathering background information about the petroglyphs in question, but records suggest that the petroglyphs date between 1000 and 1300 AD,鈥� officials added.

Read More

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A series of petroglyphs estimated to be between 700 and 1,000 years old was allegedly聽damaged by construction crews renovating a church north of Phoenix, Arizona.

According to news outlet , the rocks containing the ancient symbols were damaged by construction workers in early September. On September 10, news station toured the site where the petroglyphs used to sit. The site is now an empty field of dirt.

Phoenix city officials told 国产吃瓜黑料 that when city staff went to the site on September 12, it appeared as if rocks, including those that contained the petroglyphs, may have 鈥渂een pushed around by heavy machinery.鈥� The stones were not removed from the property, officials said.

鈥淭he City of Phoenix is working with church leaders and representatives from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa and Gila River Indian Community Tribal Historic Preservation Office to assess petroglyph damage,鈥� city officials told 国产吃瓜黑料 in an email.

鈥淭he City will coordinate a site visit with Tribal representatives, conduct an archaeological survey, and educate the community and church about the significance of these petroglyphs and hilltop archaeological sites to local descendant communities and the importance of their preservation for future generations. We remain committed to a respectful and informed resolution.鈥�

The full extent of the damage is unclear, though some social media users have stated that the petroglyphs were 鈥�bulldozed.”

Local news outlets and reported that the petroglyphs were located on property owned by Christ鈥檚 Church of the Valley in North Phoenix.

“There have been no boulders removed from our area at this time. Our focus is on responsible stewardship鈥攕upporting preservation efforts into the future,” the church told 国产吃瓜黑料 in an email. The church did not directly acknowledge whether the petroglyphs had been damaged.

The City of Phoenix told聽国产吃瓜黑料 that the “petroglyphs are associated with a recorded archaeological site, named AZ T:8:101(ASU).”

“We are still gathering background information about the petroglyphs in question, but records suggest that the petroglyphs date between 1000 and 1300 AD,” officials added.

Petroglyphs in Arizona are by the Archaeological Resources Protection Act. State laws also provide for both felony and misdemeanor prosecution with imprisonment and fines.

国产吃瓜黑料 also contacted Christ鈥檚 Church of the Valley for more information on the petroglyphs, but did not receive a response. In a statement to Arizona television station , the church wrote: 鈥淒uring routine perimeter campus maintenance a neighbor raised concern that work on our property might affect nearby petroglyphs. We are in consultation with Dr. Christopher Schwartz, city of Phoenix Archaeologist, to review and advise any appropriate next steps. None of the petroglyphs have been removed from our property and our priority is ensuring preservation standards are upheld and that any work on our property reflects the proper precautions. We will continue to follow the city鈥檚 guidance closely.鈥�

As the Arizona NBC affiliate station 12 News reported, the carvings are believed to be linked to the Hohokam people. Nearby similar petroglyphs are estimated to be between 700 and 1,000 years old.

Petroglyphs are ancient illustrations created by carving away the outer, darker layer of stone to expose lighter stone beneath. They differ from pictographs, which are rock paintings created using mineral pigments, such as hematite or charcoal.

According to the , petroglyphs in the region were primarily created by the Hohokam, who occupied the area from 450 to 1450.

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Nicole McLaughlin believes anything can become a shoe.

Upcycled Patagonia fleeces work well if you’re making a slipper鈥攂ut so do tennis balls, badminton birdies, crossword puzzle booklets, balloons, golf visors, and packing peanuts. An egg carton makes an excellent sandal, and the baffles of a beach ball can quickly become a striking rainbow clog.

But why limit yourself to shoes when you can also make pants from napkins or backpacks, and bras from lemon squeezers or croissants? McLaughlin, a fashion designer, artist, and gorpcore icon based in Boulder, Colorado, has made a jacket from oven mitts鈥攁nd an oven mitt from a loaf of bread. She’s turned cereal bags (still filled with Froot Loops and corn flakes) into a vest and sewn a puffy jacket from bubble wrap. Each of her garments is quirky and evocative鈥攁nd has the power to chip away at the very foundations of the outdoor gear world.

Like any arm of the fashion universe, outdoor gear is a high-production, high-expense, high-waste kind of industry. Some brands are trying to change that, but the process has been slow and cumbersome. McLaughlin’s designs, however, cut through all the marketing chatter and straight to the core of the issue: they point out, loudly, that there’s no excuse for waste. Old or even damaged gear doesn’t have to be discarded. Instead, it can live on indefinitely through upcycling.

Upcycling is part craft, part raw imagination. It’s the practice of refurbishing an old item until it’s once again chic and useful. Over the last few years, the upcycling movement has gone mainstream鈥攁nd some of the world’s biggest companies are catching on.

Today, the 32-year-old McLaughlin has worked with brands ranging from Coach and Herm猫s to Merrell and Hoka. She’s been featured in Forbes’s Thirty Under Thirty, and is a sought-after speaker and workshop instructor. But her biggest achievement is the cultural change she’s helped affect: through her witty, tongue-in-cheek designs, she’s helped turn upcycling from a stodgy homeschoolers’ craft into an edgy and provocative response to consumerism at large.

Given McLaughlin’s r茅sum茅, I expected her to be sophisticated and reserved, in an out-of-touch, artsy sort of way. But what I found when I visited her in Boulder was an unassuming woman in plain clothing, bright-eyed and warm and ready with a smile. When she opened the door to her studio鈥攁 small warehouse space off a dirt road鈥攕he was dressed in baggy jeans and gingham sneakers, and her gray hoodie sported a fuzzy zipper charm in the shape of a cartoon character. She played with it while she talked, her fingers turning the little character this way and that.

“Come on in,” she said. “Did you have trouble finding it?” The studio is in Niwot, a one-street rural outpost well northeast of Boulder proper. So yes, I did. In fact, I’d been lost for ten full minutes before knocking on the weathered door. But I lied. And then, between spurts of showing me around the studio, McLaughlin told me about her life.

Sometimes, when you’re a young person trying to choose a career, an adult will give you this guidance: “Do the thing that would make your eight-year-old self proud.” It’s good advice鈥攖hough often impractical for those of us who dreamed of becoming race-car drivers or astronauts. Few people are able to truly self-actualize in this way. But McLaughlin, somehow, has.

Growing up, McLaughlin was an artsy kid, the daughter of a New Jersey carpenter and an interior designer. She was also a dedicated member of the early 2000s skate scene. A fan of hardcore punk music, she had an anti-authoritarian attitude toward homework, and an obsession with chunky skate shoes that would later become a hallmark of her upcycling style. Eventually, McLaughlin wandered into a four-year graphic design program at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania. Then, after graduation, things started to get interesting.

For three years, McLaughlin lived a double life. She was just out of college and trying to prove herself at Reebok’s Massachusetts corporate office, where she’d gotten a gig as a graphic designer. During the day, she’d work long hours, shadowing other employees, placing logos, and sometimes sleeping on the office floor. During nights and weekends, she was mostly alone. Making friends in a new city takes time; McLaughlin was too focused on her career for that. But after a while, she began to realize that placing logos wasn’t exactly keeping her creative mind occupied. She felt stuck. She was approaching creative stagnation.

Then, one night, she snuck into Reebok’s recently vacated offices. There, she discovered mounds of discarded samples and fabric swatches鈥攂oxes upon boxes of really expensive trash. She filled a bag, thinking the pieces could be good inspiration for her side projects.

Soon, she was taking her pilfered samples apart, tearing out stitching and prying apart shoes on her bedroom floor. She’d mix and match soles and glue on new pull tabs, straps, and toggles. Held together by adhesive and pins, none of it was wearable; the only goal was to make something that looked cool. Eventually, she started posting photos of her designs on Instagram, a nerve-wracking experience. One鈥攁 blue sandal made from the straps of an Ikea tote鈥攔acked up several thousand views. For a burgeoning artist with zero product-design experience, it was a major confidence boost.

After some experimentation, McLaughlin gravitated toward vintage sports equipment. There was something playful about the nostalgia of it, and the absurdity of crafting a shoe from a lacrosse stick or basketball. In 2016 she picked up rock climbing, and two years later began tinkering with chalk bags and harnesses. She saw limitless design potential in outdoor gear.

McLaughlin churned out dozens of innovative upcycled designs, one after another, on Instagram. It was a private thing鈥攂edroom projects furtively shared on a faceless page. Her bosses at Reebok had no idea she was doing it. Until one meeting in 2019.

McLaughlin was sitting in a conference room, surrounded by colleagues, kicked back in a chair, twirling a pen in her hands. It was supposed to be a routine meeting with a marketing agency, which gave Reebok ideas for upcoming campaigns and collabs. But this time, photos of McLaughlin’s Instagram creations popped up on the projector screen. McLaughlin blinked. What?

Her colleagues started glancing across the room. “Is that you?” They mouthed as the agency rambled.

“You should collaborate with this girl,” the presenter ultimately suggested. “She’s coming up with some cool ideas.” McLaughlin kept her mouth shut during the meeting but later admitted to her bosses that she was the one behind the designs.

McLaughlin was still a junior employee, so she wasn’t surprised when Reebok didn’t jump at the opportunity to fund her weird, experimental art. But the company did send her to a three-month-long program at Adidas’s Brooklyn maker space, a wonderland of sewing machines and free materials called the Creator Farm. There, McLaughlin learned how to sew and make shoes from scratch. Meanwhile, her Instagram following continued to grow, and other brands emailed her project inquiries鈥攁 video series with Depop about her work, for example, and an opportunity to teach an upcycling workshop with footwear retail giant Foot Locker. That was all the nudge she needed. In 2019, McLaughlin quit her cushy corporate Reebok job鈥攖o the chagrin of her parents鈥攁nd went full-time freelance.

“I still worry that it’s all going to stop,” she says. “Like this is a phase I’m just riding out, and one day the work is all going to disappear. But it’s funny, because I’ve been doing this full-time for six years, and it hasn’t stopped yet.”

It’s easy to see why McLaughlin and other upcycling designers have gained prominence. Designing and manufacturing apparel and footwear creates a ton of waste. That goes for fast fashion, of course. But it also goes for the outdoor industry.

Outdoor gear may appear rugged and practical, but the industry that produces and markets it is yoked to traditional fashion cycles. Yes, people want equipment that performs, but they also want to look on-trend. Most brands cash in on the appeal of new fashions by constantly changing designs and churning out new colors and cuts each season.

What’s the point of saving humanity if we can’t have a little fun in the meantime?

Creating those new styles generates lots of waste. For example: before a sneaker or hiking shoe goes to market, the factory will send a brand three or four prototypes鈥攗nwearable single shoes that get examined by the product designers, and are then thrown into the trash. Fabric swatches are much the same. It all piles up.

The constant change of seasonal colors and styles speeds up the turnover of product styles. According to a 2018 report from the EPA, American retail stores and consumers throw out about 13 million tons of clothing and footwear every year. The expense is ghastly. The waste is obscene.

Few of us are immune to this materialistic ethos. Have you ever tossed out a rain shell instead of re-waterproofing it? Gotten a new chalk bag solely because it had a cute pattern? Shelled out for a name-brand fleece with cool colorblocking, even though you’ve already got a serviceable midlayer? I know I have.

Through her work, McLaughlin forces consumers to question the outdoor industry’s process. And people are catching on. Upcycling is having a moment, and its ethos appears to have struck a chord with Gen Z consumers.

Gen Z faces more pressure from climate change鈥攁nd climate anxiety鈥攖han any generation ever. Add to that post-inflation prices and a tough job market, and DIY starts to look mighty appealing, both as a cost-saving hobby and as a revolutionary movement.

Upcycling has also amplified new voices. For decades, brands have been the arbiters and gatekeepers of style. Now, a far more grassroots group of tastemakers is rewriting the rules and deciding for themselves what gets to be considered high fashion鈥攁nd what gets dismissed as trash.

McLaughlin is one of the most prominent, but there are others. Anna Molinari, a 27-year-old designer based in New York City, makes skirts from plastic bags and decorative chain mail from soda can tabs. Rivers McCall, 23, crafts handbags and even cocktail dresses from old climbing rope. Both artists have dressed Wyn Wiley, the drag queen and environmental activist better known as Pattie Gonia. The partnerships have put cutting-edge upcycled designs in front of millions of viewers.

Upcycling鈥攁nd its close siblings, thrifting and DIY鈥攚eren’t always cool. When my parents were young, new products were synonymous with wealth and importance. Old clothes meant you were a charity case. But over the last few decades, that’s begun to change. In fact, buying new will now earn you serious backlash in some corners of the internet.

“Social media has normalized second-hand shopping to the extent that there’s this sentiment of judgment if you buy a new designer bag,” says Molinari. She doesn’t necessarily disagree. “No one needs to buy new clothes. Buying new is so unnecessary, and watching the environment decline so quickly is terrifying,” she says. “I think everybody needs to take this seriously.”

Social media isn’t just a way to spread the zero-waste gospel. It has also allowed new generations to learn the timeless arts of sewing and repair.

I, for example, learned to sew from my mother, who hand-made my dresses in grade school. She learned from her mother, who learned from her grandma鈥攖he fearsome Ma Stalvey, who lived on a farm in southern Georgia, wringing the necks of chickens, cooking cornbread, and churning out shirts and nighties for her ten children out of the fabric flour sacks the grocery truck brought once a week. If it weren’t for those women, I’d never have picked up a needle. I don’t know that I ever would have wanted to; sewing always felt like a thing grown-ups did on school nights with the middle-aged mending circle at the local JoAnn’s. The act of sewing wasn’t aesthetic. It wasn’t edgy. And it certainly wasn’t cool.

But now, somehow, it is. According to Claudia E. Henninger, a fashion researcher and professor at the University of Manchester, the pandemic accelerated an interest in crafting. Gen Z ran with it.

“Social media has been massive,” Henninger says. “People can suddenly see other people knitting or crocheting or being creative. If that person can do it, then I can do it, as well.”

TikTok quickly emerged as a massive repository of sewing and crafting inspiration, and DIY tutorials and process videos exploded on Instagram. Entire crafting communities emerged. These days, if you upcycle, you’re not just a quirky teenager tinkering in your bedroom. You’re a part of something big.

That extends to the community of outdoor enthusiasts. Secondhand gear shops are popping up across the country. And outdoor brands are increasingly offering take-back programs, upcycling workshops, and repair services. Those that already have them are seeing major gains. Take Patagonia, which has offered repairs since the seventies. Its current pre-owned gear program, called Worn Wear, launched in 2012. The brand has seen more Gen-Z customers flocking to Worn Wear鈥攏ot to mention massive viewership of its DIY repair videos on YouTube. Since 2018, The North Face, Arc’teryx, and REI (which has re-sold used gear for more than 60 years) have all launched or expanded existing used gear resale programs, as have more mainstream brands like Carhartt, Lululemon, and even Juicy Couture.

“I think it’s starting to become more culturally accepted,” Henninger says. Molinari sees long lines of customers outside of curated thrift stores in New York City on most weekends. “There’s the virality of videos about vintage clothing hauls,” she says. In the UK, Henninger often walks by protest sewing pop-ups: people set up in front of high street retailers and sew their own clothes, informing curious passersby that they don’t have to shop at big-name fashion houses to look good.

“That’s very powerful,” Henninger says. Nicole Bassett, a textile recycling expert and the co-founder of The Renewal Workshop, believes the upcycling movement could someday have a huge impact on the fashion industry. Over time, it could slow style turnover, undermine brands’ bottom lines, and finally force big companies to rewire their supply chains.

“We’re not on the precipice yet鈥攚e’re in the beginning of a very big change in our economics in general,” says Bassett.

Pockets are a common theme鈥擬cLaughlin’s way of giving the finger to the lack of functionality that’s historically plagued women’s clothing.

As with any revolution, this movement faces hurdles. Young people don’t always have the purchasing power to pass over items with lower price tags鈥攅ven if those products are less sustainable. But customer behavior indicates that Gen Z and Millennial shoppers are moving toward products that are environmentally conscious.

“Sustainability can be a very boring topic. And climate is honestly a boring, dry thing,” says Wyn Wiley, the person behind the Pattie Gonia persona. “But now there’s all this creativity and interest from Gen Z. They’re under more pressure than ever鈥攂ut they’re also getting more creative than ever.”

As for McLaughlin? Sustainability wasn’t top of mind when she first started upcycling; she was initially attracted to samples and off-cuts only because they were free fodder for low-stakes experiments.

“When I started doing this work, I didn’t even know what upcycling was. Then, during COVID, brands started cleaning out their offices and realizing just how much stuff they had. That’s when they started reaching out to me for help,” McLaughlin says. At first that gave her pause. She was at a turning point in her career, and wanted to make sure the brands she worked with weren’t just doing sustainability as a shtick.

“But then I realized, I don’t work for the brands,” she says. “I work for the people who buy from those brands. Brands make all this stuff, and the responsibility falls on the consumer to figure out how to discard an item or recycle it.” Most of the time, there’s nowhere for that stuff to go. Most gear isn’t recyclable. Thrift stores are overwhelmed. We all have too much stuff in our houses. Waste is a serious issue.

Since 2021, McLaughlin has done consulting work with big brands about how they can limit waste and creatively reuse the scraps they already have. But she admits that her work sometimes feels like it’s just making a dent in the enormous problem created by fashion’s waste.

“I think there are days that are easy and exciting, and I feel really good about everything and like I can figure it all out,” she says. “But there are a lot of other days where it’s more like, ‘Oh my god, how did we get here? What are we doing? How am I helping to contribute to this?'”

McLaughlin escapes her worries by rock climbing鈥攕he finds the creative problem-solving on the wall helps complement her problem-solving in the studio. She also finds that the full-body movement helps her think. Her other tool is humor.

“There are so many hard conversations surrounding sustainability,” she says. “I want my work to be a moment of levity.” Often, that means leaning into the absurd.

“Making a bra out of lemon squeezers is funny. Putting pockets on a shoe is funny,” she says. “Most of the time, when I talk with brands about their process or what they could do to reduce waste, they’ve so overwhelmed. So when I’m designing, I want to make a statement, but I also want it to be fun.”

It’s a unique take on climate optimism. McLaughlin’s opinion is that, the more we lead with hope and humor, the more empowered we’ll be to take on the catastrophes facing our planet. What’s the point of saving humanity if we can’t have a little fun in the meantime?

“For me, upcycling is about being creative and using what you have. But it’s also about having fun,” she says. “I mean, that’s the root of upcycling: imagination and lightheartedness. That’s what keeps me going. And I think that’s what will get brands鈥攁nd the fashion industry鈥攅xcited about making change.”

5 Questions with Nicole McLaughlin

1. Your favorite material to work with is: Bread. Any time I work with food it’s always a really insane challenge of trying to figure out how to sew it, or construct it such that I can still take it apart and eat it after.

2. If the studio was burning down and you could grab one thing it would be: My grandfather’s squash trophy. He played until he was 80 years old and was a huge inspiration to me. When he passed away, all the kids in the family each took a trophy to remember him by.

3. The sports you played as a kid were: Tennis and basketball. And skateboarding.

4. You like to listen to: Podcasts and audiobooks while I’m working. I just flew through the whole Twilight series鈥擨’d never read them, and my sister told me I needed to. If I’m listening to music, usually it’s lo-fi beats and shoegaze.

5. Right now you’re reading: Start With Why by Simon Sinek. It’s been a good reminder to define my goals and purpose. Otherwise, it can be easy to lose sight of those things.

The post All Hail Outdoor Gear鈥檚 Upcycling Queen appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

To get to Glacier Bay National Park, you have to fly or swim. Measuring more than 5,000 square miles, the Southeastern Alaska park is only accessible by air or water, and visitors typically arrive in the area by boat from the tiny nearby town of Gustavus, just outside of Alaska鈥檚 capital city, Juneau.

Alaska has just documented a 鈥渂rand new鈥� island in Glacier Bay National Park after floodwater from the nearby Alsek Glacier surrounded a landmass known as Prow Knob.

At nearly 15 miles long, the Alsek Glacier in the park once encompassed the 5-square-mile Prow Knob. However, warming temperatures and increased glacial melt have caused freshwater to replace glacial ice, contributing to the growth of Alsek Lake around the strip of land.

NASA taken between 1984 and 2025 that show how far ice has retreated throughout the decades. In the early 20th century, the glacier ended about 3 miles from Prow Knob. Ice continued to melt throughout the century, and by 1984, the eastern side of Prow Knob had its first documented lakeshore. In August, the lakeshore expanded around the entire perimeter of Prow Knob.

Glaciers rely on snowpack to form and be maintained. As snow falls in the mountains, it compacts into ice and eventually slides downhill鈥攂ut more and more glaciers around the world are melting away. The National Park Service writes that centuries ago, an 鈥渆normous glacier, several miles wide and several thousand feet thick, covered most of Glacier Bay National Park.鈥� In the last 250 years, this glacier has retreated 65 miles to form Glacier Bay. Most of the are smaller pieces of the enormous glacier that once filled the region.

Alsek Glacier is just one example showing how glaciers are thinning. In August, residents of Juneau, Alaska, received evacuation warnings after glacial floodwater broke through a dam of glacial ice at Mendenhall Glacier. The , with the peak water level reaching nearly 16 feet.

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Geologists in Yellowstone National Park are reporting an unusual threat to the area鈥檚 hydrothermal areas. According to a from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) observatory, lost hats are infiltrating the park鈥檚 hot springs, geysers, mudpots and fumeroles.

The park鈥檚 specially trained Geology Program is charged with cleaning up more than 10,000 iconic hydrothermal areas in Yellowstone National Park, including Grand Prismatic Spring and Old Faithful. The team is constantly battling a daunting array of human litter鈥攊n 2025 alone, they have already collected 鈥渕ore than 13,000 pieces of trash, 4,000 rocks and sticks, and over 300 hats.鈥�

These aren鈥檛 just dollar-store hats either. The USGS estimates that headwear collected this year is worth over $6,000.

Trash floating in 驰别濒濒辞飞蝉迟辞苍别鈥檚 pristine pools is more than an eyesore. It also poses a serious risk to the delicate ecosystems inside these hydrothermal features.

鈥淒ebris thrown into a hot spring can irreversibly change its behavior, resulting in lower temperature, changes to color, and altered eruption behavior,鈥� wrote the USGS in a published on September 8.

Located just over a mile from the Old Faithful Visitor Center, the park鈥檚 famous Morning Glory Pool is one such example. It was named in the 1880s for its resemblance to the blue flower, but to shades of oranges, yellows and greens. Although features shift naturally over time, park officials have reason to believe that humans have caused the stark shift by throwing coins, trash, and other debris into it, blocking the movement of hot water into the pool and altering its temperature.

Removing all this trash isn鈥檛 an easy task. Staffers can鈥檛 simply swim into the boiling springs and pluck debris out with a net. Rather, the team uses a hodgepodge of tools, some of which are custom-made by the park with a 鈥渓ittle more than creativity and elbow grease.鈥� This array of trash-picker-uppers includes fishing rods, extra-long slotted spoons, and grabber poles up to 30 feet long.聽 The USGS added that in total, pool cleanup efforts this year have required the team to walk over 1,300 miles and drive more than 11,000 miles around the park to various hydrothermal areas.

驰别濒濒辞飞蝉迟辞苍别鈥檚 trash problem is largely accidental, according to the USGS. With more than 4.7 million visitors in 2024, it鈥檚 one of the most visited national parks in the United States. This large number of people, combined with the park鈥檚 frequently high winds, means that personal items often are blown into the park鈥檚 hydrothermal areas.

However, some of the litter is intentional, like biodegradable items such as sunflower seed shells and orange peels. While visitors may think these items are harmless, the USGS notes they are damaging to the pools and 鈥減articularly time-consuming for the team to remove.鈥�

USGS team members recover more than a few wacky items from the pools now and then.

鈥淔avorite finds from the team during the summer of 2025 include a Birkenstock sandal, a pizza box with slices still inside, a fake Louis Vuitton bucket hat, a stuffed koala toy, a ball cap with the phrase 鈥業 PEE IN THE LAKE,鈥� and a Polaroid picture of Excelsior Geyser鈥攚hich was found within Excelsior Geyser鈥檚 crater,鈥� wrote the USGS.

While these discoveries are sometimes humorous, the USGS hopes such items remain with their owners, and offers a few simple reminders for park visitors.

鈥淗old on tight to your hats, stay on marked boardwalks and trails, and make sure all your trash (even the food!) ends up in a trash can,鈥� wrote the USGS.

The post What鈥檚 the Latest Threat to 驰别濒濒辞飞蝉迟辞苍别鈥檚 Geysers? Hats. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Hey, did you hear: Burning Man is going on right this moment!

Like me, your Instagram feed is probably chock-full of videos of your coolest friends, all dressed like Rob Zombie in the , gyrating and boogying atop a 50-foot-tall metal thingamajig covered in neon lights. These people .

But wait鈥攁re they actually enjoying themselves? For every bonkers video of dance parties, , or people going ham inside of a , there’s also at least one story in a mainstream news outlet about Burning Man chaos and Burning Man misery.

And if you’ve been staring at this content all week, like me, you may be contemplating the eternal Burning Man question that all non-Burning Man attendees ask themselves.

Is Burning Man really that听蹿耻苍?

Over the years, news sites have published stories about epic sand storms and bottomless mud bogs, and ones about hopelessly marooned partiers being reduced to pooping into a plastic bag. Yes, you’ve probably read some of these pieces on 翱耻迟蝉颈诲别.听

And wow, an impressive tonnage of news about Burning Man misery has graced the Internet in 2025. It all kicked off this past Saturday, August 23, when a . Gusts measuring 52 miles an hour shredded tents, filled eyeballs and other body parts with coarse sand, and blew glittery costumes high into the stratosphere before the festival even kicked off.

Media outlets dubbed the storm a “bad omen” for the coming burn, and at least according to the news stories, things only got worse. The festival shuttered its entrance during the wind, creating a traffic jam of epic proportions鈥攖he line of recreational vehicles, pickup trucks, and probably a war rig or two, stretched to the horizon.

Then, rain drenched the dusty landscape, turning it into peanut buttery mud. As SFGATE columnist Timothy Karoff explained “within minutes of my arrival, my sneakers were completely caked in mud. Not a thin cover, but a two-inch think clump so heavy it made my Nikes feel like moon boots.”

The moon boot-clad attendees then discovered the worst news of all. Burning Man’s famed Orgy Dome鈥攁 massive tent where attendees meetup to, well, you know what they do inside鈥� after it sustained crippling damage in the wind storm. Ack, no orgies this year. Huge bummer.

After that, there’s been a steady trickle of minor calamities: , there was more rain and mud, and then there was this report about the event feeling like a “e.”

OK鈥攂ack to the eternal Burning Man question. Despite these stories of horror, the Burning Man people in my Instagram feed and on my favorite YouTube channels are still so stoked. It’s as if they live in an entirely different universe from the oneThe New York Times.聽

What’s the root of this Burning Man paradox? Why is there such a distorted view of the festival in media reports when compared to the man-on-the-ground perspective? Should we all鈥斺�攋ust stop talking about Burning Man? It’s been around for nearly 40 years, after all.

I posed the question to 翱耻迟蝉颈诲别听contributor Brent Rose, who covered the 2023 edition for us. In my eyes, Rose is the perfect person to help us understand the paradox. He’s been to Burning Man six times, and in 2023 he endured one of the worst calamities in the festival’s history: the goopy quagmire that stranded thousands on the playa. Yes, Rose is the guy who had to poop into a plastic bag.

So, why do Burning Man attendees love the festival, while media outlets focus on the disasters?

“I think there’s a real appetite in the media and from people who are reading these websites for Burning Man to be a catastrophe,” he said. “People hate Burning Man, especially people who have never been to it, because there is an obnoxiousness to it.”

Outlets will forever be able to make Burning Man look like hell on earth, due to the location of the festival. Nevada’s Black Rock Desert will always be buffeted by winds and blasted by rain in late August. And millions of people will read these stories of Burning Man calamities, because we all secretly hate Burning Man.

But for attendees, the party that goes on usually overshadows the harsh conditions, Rose told me.

“You get to engage in this silliness and playfulness that is missing from adult life,” he told me. “Where else can you go order free french fries from this 30-foot ketchup bottle in the desert.”

Rose did not attend Burning Man this year due to a scheduling conflict, but he said that his friends at the festival have texted him various photos and updates about their fun experiences. And yeah, the wind and soaring temperatures have made life difficult. But he told me he can’t wait to go back.

And yeah鈥攖his coming from a guy who literally had to poop into a bag back in 2023. Call me crazy鈥擨 think I’d call it quits after that.

Whether Rose’s perspective forever solves my Burning Man paradox is, of course, not guaranteed. And I can guarantee that I personally will never attend the thing.

But from now on, when I read another headline about a destroyed orgy tent, or about sandstorms, or about to escape waist-deep mud, I’ll also assume that at least a few people had a good fun.

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Bill Hamilton鈥檚 chest freezer probably looks a lot different than yours. While most of us pack ours with groceries, Hamilton stores pounds upon pounds of bison dung in his.

, a professor of biology and research science at Washington and Lee University in Virginia, studies the role bison and other large herbivores play in ecosystems. In a new study published this month, Hamilton explains how bison, and their poop, are the key to a healthy environment in some parts of the U.S.

鈥淗umans have been applying dung as a fertilizer for millennia, so we know it鈥檚 an important fertilizer. Bison are a restoration story, and allowing their grazing in places like Yellowstone provides a 鈥榬eawakening鈥� of the landscape,鈥� Hamilton told 国产吃瓜黑料.

According to Hamilton鈥檚 study, freely roaming bison in Yellowstone National Park鈥攖he only place in the lower 48 where bison have continuously free-ranged since prehistoric times鈥攑lay a pivotal role in the ecosystem. Bison contribute to a healthier landscape by adding nitrogen to the soil, which supports the growth of nutrient-dense plants. The bison鈥檚 impact on the soil, in turn, supports the many animals that call Yellowstone home.

国产吃瓜黑料 of Yellowstone, most bison are domesticated and kept in confined areas, such as in zoos and conservation parks. The in the American West and Midwest could be healthier if bison were allowed to roam freely.

The study is the latest wrinkle in a simmering debate over whether bison herd size should be managed, and whether or not bison should be excluded from certain areas due to concerns about overgrazing. Hamilton鈥檚 research suggests that the eating habits鈥攁nd pooping鈥攐f large bison populations may actually help the landscape in ways previously not fully understood.

鈥淎nimals need to be able to move,鈥� Hamilton told 国产吃瓜黑料 in a phone interview. 鈥淔ree-roaming bison restore ecological processes across a long-distance migration.

A Keystone Species Returns

North America was once home to approximately 30 million grazing bison that ranged across the continent. By 1889, after being hunted nearly to extinction, that number dropped to under 1,000. In 1902, there were just 23 animals. Recent recovery efforts in areas like Yellowstone National Park have focused on returning the giant ungulates to specifically managed areas.

Bison are to Yellowstone National Park what African wildebeest are to the Serengeti, their influence on the land essential, says Hamilton. And like the wildebeest, bison dung packs a nutritional punch when deposited across the landscape.

In areas with heavy bison grazing, Hamilton found plants were denser, shorter, and more nitrogen-rich. Not only did these plants grow as much as they would have if they weren鈥檛 grazed, Hamilton’s team found them to be 150 percent more nutritious than plants growing in areas with no bison.

Weighing more than 2,000 pounds, one bison will poop enough in a typical day to fill a 3-gallon bucket. Annually, each Yellowstone bison will migrate around 1,000 miles, making back-and-forth movements over their route.聽The animals graze on grasses and other plants as they move, which the research team found helps speed up an area鈥檚 nitrogen cycle.

Nitrogen is one of the most essential nutrients found in fertilizers, and it鈥檚 also considered to be a fundamental building block of life. As bison graze, they speed up the nitrogen cycle by consuming plants and eventually returning nitrogen to the soil through their feces.

As bison contribute to the broader ecosystem of Yellowstone, Hamilton’s research team suggests these benefits might be seen elsewhere. With its diverse, largely undisturbed ecosystem, Yellowstone National Park serves as a living laboratory, providing researchers with a unique window into how North American landscapes appeared before the influence of western hunting efforts.

鈥淭his version is a glimpse of what was lost when bison were nearly wiped out across North America in the late 1800s,鈥� said Hamilton. 鈥淲hen we lost bison, we lost a different way that large grazers moved across and used landscapes.鈥�

According to Hamilton, Yellowstone grasslands are functioning better now with large herds of bison than they were in the animals鈥� absence.

The Latest Discovery From Yellowstone Living Laboratory

Since its establishment in 1872, Yellowstone National Park has served as a living laboratory for the examination of natural processes. Its preserved ecosystem allows researchers to study unique opportunities in a relatively undisturbed environment, including reintroduced species once on the verge of extinction. These population shifts can cause what鈥檚 known as a trophic cascade, an ecological process in which a change in the population of a top predator affects other species lower in the food chain, triggering a chain reaction.

Wolves are one such case. After wolves were exterminated from the Yellowstone region in the 1920s, the elk population more than doubled, causing significant damage to the area’s grasses, shrubs, and trees. Following the reintroduction of wolves in 1995, research suggests that elk populations have declined to a more sustainable level, thereby improving the overall health of the ecosystem.

Similarly, beaver populations dramatically declined in much of the park by the mid-20th century due to trapping. Without beavers in the watersheds, streams and river beds eroded. Upon their return鈥攑rimarily after the reintroduction of wolves鈥攂eavers built dams and ponds, slowing water flow and restoring river ecosystems.

鈥淵ellowstone has been a success story and example for ecosystem restoration, and the return of bison is another step towards bringing it back to what it may have been in the past. When bison are given room to roam, they reawaken the Yellowstone ecosystem,鈥� said Hamilton.

The bison study contributes to a growing body of evidence that population control, whether by humans or through natural processes, is a complex and nuanced task.

For researchers like Hamilton, the next challenge lies in finding suitable locations large enough to reintroduce bison, which can then migrate in large numbers.

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Federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security arrested two firefighters who were battling the largest wildfire in Washington state.

The incident, which occurred on August 27, was the Seattle Times, and then confirmed to聽国产吃瓜黑料 by a spokesman with the state’s department of natural resources.

On August 28, Washington Governor聽Bob Ferguson that his office was investigating the incident.

“Deeply concerned about this situation with two individuals helping to fight fires in Washington state,” Ferguson wrote. “I’ve directed my team to get more information about what happened.

According to the聽Seattle Times,聽federal agents wearing police vests confronted firefighting crews on the morning of Wednesday, August 27. The crews were part of six separate firefighting teams battling the Bear Gulch fire in Washington’s Olympic National Forest, about two hours from Seattle. The blaze, which started in early July, has burned approximately 9,000 acres and is 13 percent contained.

Eyewitnesses told the Seattle Times that agents demanded identification cards from members of two private contractor fire crews. They prevented crew members from leaving the area during the check.

Speaking anonymously, firefighters who witnessed the confrontation told the聽罢颈尘别蝉听that they were prevented from speaking to the detained members of their crew.

鈥淚 asked them if his [family] can say goodbye to him because they鈥檙e family, and they鈥檙e just ripping them away,鈥� one firefighter told the Times. 鈥淎nd this is what he said: 鈥榊ou need to get the [expletive] out of here. I鈥檓 gonna make you leave.’鈥�

A spokesperson for the firefighter’s incident management team said that the federal agents did not interfere with the firefighter’s response to the blaze.

Arresting firefighters marks a major change in policy by the Department of Homeland Security. In 2021, that it would not conduct immigration enforcement in locations where disaster or emergency response teams were working.

The incident prompted an angry responses from U.S. senator Patty Murray, who represents Washington. In a statement, Murray demanded answers from the federal government about the arrests, and then called the Trump administration’s immigration policy “fundamentally sick.”

“Here in the Pacific Northwest, wildfires can, and have, burned entire towns to the ground,” Murray said in a statement. “We count on our brave firefighters, who put their lives on the line, to keep our communities safe鈥攖his new Republican policy to detain firefighters on the job is as immoral as it is dangerous.”

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As if your local Starbucks releasing pumpkin spice lattes in August wasn’t pushy enough, now nature is getting the early jump on fall.

Folks across the U.S. are to neighbors and local weather stations on the shocking early arrival of fall foliage at their homes, nearly a month before the usual hello.

The in Denver, Colorado reported that leaves are already turning yellow, orange, and red in the western half of the state. The transformation is linked to statewide drought, caused by a weak snowpack during the 2024/25 winter, and insufficient summer rainfall.

But it’s not just that color change is prematurely happening.

“Trees are experiencing stress,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist, Tom Kines, told 国产吃瓜黑料. There’s another dynamic at play with trees that Kines also shared.

What We’re Missing

As the days grow shorter and temperatures drop, the natural process of color change occurs. Trees are sent signals to slow down on their production of chlorophyll and vibrant shades of yellow, orange, and red emerge.

Drought conditions such as high heat and less rain fall deprive leaves of the moisture needed to produce chlorophyll that keeps them green. Soaring temperatures and drought also sends trees into stress, dulling the experience of fall foliage.

“The leaves are turning colors too quickly,”Kines said. “They are not as bright or vivid as they would be.”

Current reports of early fall foliage are that the colors are less vibrant than in other years. Areas experiencing drought-like conditions, may see a less impressive fall.

Drought Happens Often. What’s Different This Year?

“In New England, a lot of those areas, while it’s been dry recently, they have received enough rainfall that their colors should be okay,” Kines said. For Western states, it’s a different story.

Kines also said that the timing and brilliance of foliage depends on when it rains. “If you have dry weather in the early part of the summer and rain second half, it will balance out things,” Kines said.

That checks out. In the Pacific Northwest where I am based, we’re used to high heat in June, this year it came later in the season. Excessive heat warnings have been across the Pacific Northwest as we end August. Washington and Oregon are still breaking 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The bushes in my front yard started turning yellow last week.

国产吃瓜黑料’s associate editor Madison Dapcevich recently reported on the best places to catch fall foliage this year, per the 2025 Farmer’s Almanac. As Kines mentioned, the Northeast will be the place to be, Acadia National Park (Maine) and Adirondack and Catskill Mountains (New York) made the top five.

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