No act of congress has dismantled the National Weather Service (NWS) yet, but the White House’s FY-2026 budget seeks to continue dramatic staffing cuts and would hollow out research and data-gathering, crucial to determining early weather warnings that are the hallmark of the weather service. With increased flood, fire and hurricane events, this is not the time to decrease weather-forecasting or contracting it out to private firms that will price their services beyond the budgets of local communities who depend on this weather data.

Tell congress that you support increased funding for the National Weather Service.

These are critical times to preserve and protect America’s public lands and national parks, resources that belong to all Americans. Recently H.R.1 not only dramatically cut park service staff and budgets, it originally contained a provision to sell some of America’s vast public lands. Hunters, fishermen, cattlemen and environmentalists fought to have that provision cut from the bill. They succeeded for the time being, but we need continued vigilance to protect our public lands and national parks.

Five years in-the-making, A curated time-lapse and still photography collection of clouds filmed in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and combined with original music by National Geographic photographer / composer Richard Olsenius.  Designed for those in search of unusual and emotional moments to enhance their mindfulness and well-being.

By Richard Olsenius

As a photographer who spent years covering rural America, I never saw it coming, the “great divide,” that chasm between urban and rural, liberal and conservative, the loss of civility and social norms that we all grew up with.

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