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Inside a new factory near Louisville, Kentucky, bright orange robots will soon begin carefully loading boot parts into a machine that adds soles. It’s one step in the highly automated process of making a Keen work boot—and an illustration of what it looks like now to bring factories back to the United States. Keen, which is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, started planning the new factory last year, long before current tariffs were in place. And the company, unlike the majority of shoe brands, had already been manufacturing some shoes in Portland for more than a decade. The Portland factory is now closing as the company prepares to open the larger factory in Kentucky next month. When it first started operations in Oregon in 2010, the business world was skeptical. “Many people told us that [making shoes] could not be done in the U.S., primarily because of some of the cost factors,” says Hari Perumal, Keen’s chief supply chain officer. The company wanted to be closer to its American market, so it looked for a solution. Labor was the biggest challenge. “Footwear is a very labor-intensive product to make,” Perumal says. And it’s 10 to 12 times more expensive to hire workers in the U.S. than in factories overseas, he says. The team focused on its high-end work boots, a product with strong demand for an “American built” label. They started by streamlining the process to add soles to the boots. In a traditional factory in Asia, adding soles would happen on a long production line. Instead, Keen turned to a process called direct injection fusing. The shoe’s upper is loaded into a machine where heated polyurethane is molded into an outsole, bonding it directly to the rest of the shoe without glue. Robots also prep materials. In the new Kentucky factory, robots will also handle steps like “flash” trimming of excess material. Even with advanced automation in place, it’s still more expensive to make shoes in the U.S. than in other countries. Keen plans to continue making many of its shoes elsewhere, including in a factory that the company owns in Thailand. But making boots in the U.S. has some obvious advantages, and the brand plans to continue growing the number of products it makes in Kentucky. With a U.S. factory, Keen can more nimbly respond to demand from American customers if it needs to make more or less of a particular style. The carbon footprint of delivery is much lower, Perumal says. (Kentucky was chosen strategically since it’s within a two-day drive of 80% of the U.S. population; the company already had a distribution center next door to the new factory.) And customers have made it clear that they want American-made work boots. “We have seen a huge surge in the request for American-built products,” says Perumal. That’s not to say that the rest of the footwear industry is necessarily likely to follow. Keen struggled to find and keep workers at its Portland factory, despite paying high wages. It also has to invest in training, since American workers no longer have experience making shoes. Because the company has to source components globally—and tariffs now apply to those parts—the cost of manufacturing in the U.S. is now growing even more. The company has pledged not to raise prices for consumers because of tariffs for the rest of the year, however. To encourage more American shoe manufacturing, Perumal says the government could help by eliminating tariffs on components. “We don’t have a supply chain ecosystem,” he says. “All that’s needed to make the shoes is outside the U.S. right now. It took 40 years to build this global supply chain.” Even if more factories relocated to America, it’s not clear that there are enough workers who’d take traditional shoe manufacturing jobs. “If you have 4% unemployment in the U.S., are we going to find 20,000 or 40,000 people that want to work for shoe company wages here?” he asks. “Our economy has migrated more toward service.” The new Kentucky factory will create jobs, but at a small scale: the factory is initially launching with a lean team of 24 skilled production and operations staff. Robots will do the rest. View the full article

TikTok has spent nearly $1 billion cracking down on intellectual property violations in its marketplace. So why is TikTok Shop still flooded with knockoffs? From July to December 2024, the platform shut down 900 stores for IP infringements and brought on 400 additional IP protection specialists. Yet TikTok remains a hub for “dupe” culture—promoting and selling low-cost imitations of popular products. Even when sellers aren’t blatantly copying major brands, they often market untested look-alike items at a fraction of the price. Hiring more staff isn’t enough to make TikTok Shop a safe, trustworthy brand. What’s needed is a full-scale culture shift. The TikTok Shop IP crackdown TikTok Shop is expanding fast. According to The New Consumer, by the end of 2024, it was already outpacing Shein, Sephora, and home shopping TV in quarterly spending. Of course, The President’s proposed tariffs could threaten that growth, though the data isn’t in yet. Still, TikTok Shop remains crowded with cheap products, many of which mimic more established (and expensive) brands. TikTok wants those big-name brands on its platform. Cracking down on IP theft helps win them over—like with LVMH, which partnered with ByteDance last year to target copycats. Some brands, such as Nike and E.l.f., have joined the platform; others remain hesitant. In the second half of 2024 alone, TikTok blocked more than 7 million items from being listed. The company also expanded its global IP specialist team from 1,400 to 1,800. On the creator side, TikTok removed 675,000 videos and livestreams that promoted IP-infringing goods and revoked the selling privileges of 16,000 creators. “While the vast majority of our sellers play by the rules, we are focused on keeping bad actors off our platform,” reads a recent report published by the company. “That’s why we’ve strengthened our reactive governance efforts to keep pace with the rising volume and complexity of activity on the platform.” “Dupe” culture runs wild on TikTok Focusing solely on “the rules” won’t fix TikTok Shop’s brand safety problem. While some sellers engage in outright IP theft, many more push look-alike products—slightly tweaked, drastically cheaper versions of established goods. A quick scroll through TikTok Shop’s homepage reveals dozens of knockoffs. There’s the $18 Miniso “Crocs Design” bag, which closely resembles a pricier tote from Crocs. (Miniso is based in Guangzhou.) Or the $4 star-shaped Qustere pimple patches, strikingly similar to Starface. (Qustere operates out of Shenzhen.) You’ll also find budget Chelsea boots and shapewear from brands that overlap with Shein’s catalog. Just one swipe away from TikTok Shop, the For You Page is flooded with more of the same. In response to The President’s proposed tariffs, some Chinese manufacturers recently went viral for urging Americans to buy directly from their factories to bypass fees. The catch? Many of the goods were counterfeit. TikTok Shop’s brand safety issues go far beyond IP enforcement. The platform—from its marketplace to its short-form content—thrives on cheap imitations. Until that culture changes, brands will remain wary. View the full article

In the city of Bethlehem, a team of mechanics is currently working around the clock to install a medical fridge, air diagnostic equipment, oxygen supply, and blast-proof windows into one of the most iconic vehicles in the world. The team is tasked with turning Pope Francis’s old popemobile into a mobile health clinic for the children of Gaza—and it could be operational as soon as next week. The project, called Vehicle of Hope, is spearheaded by the Catholic humanitarian organization Caritas, which runs more than 160 agencies across the world that work to provide aid in crisis zones. Caritas Jerusalem, which has advocated for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, currently operates 14 medical teams across the Gaza Strip, two of which are actively working in Gaza City. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas originally gifted the popemobile currently undergoing renovation to Pope Francis, who died in April, during his visit to Bethlehem in 2014. Francis later donated the car, a custom-designed Mitsubishi, to the Franciscan Order in Jerusalem. This allowed Caritas Jerusalem to convert it into a medical clinic. Now, amidst Israel’s resumed air and ground campaign in Gaza, Caritas is hoping that the symbolic vehicle will help humanitarian workers enter the Gaza Strip to treat children in need. Repurposing a long-standing tradition Since the beginning of automobiles, nearly every pope has used multiple cars for travel, including Pope Francis. Francis’s characteristic popemobiles included several different Jeeps, an Isuzu, and a Kia Sedona, and were typically outfitted with a raised transparent barrier to protect the pontiff as he greeted onlookers. According to Peter Brune, secretary general of Caritas Sweden, it’s become a tradition for local leaders to gift the Pope a special popemobile when he visits a new country. “I guess hundreds of them by now, all over the world,” Brune says. The idea for a popemobile clinic comes as, on March 17, Israel ended a two-month-long ceasefire and resumed airstrikes and ground attacks in Gaza. More than 48,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip so far, and only 48% of primary care facilities in the area are currently functional, according to a report from the World Health Organization in early March. It also follows Israel’s full blockade of humanitarian aid and other supplies into the Gaza Strip, which began March 2. The stoppage leaves communities there in desperate need of humanitarian supplies, food, and medical attention. Brune hopes that the symbolic popemobile clinic will be enough to convince authorities to allow the vehicle into Gaza. In an interview with The Washington Post, Anton Asfar, secretary general of Caritas Jerusalem, shared that Caritas Jerusalem plans to request permission for entrance from COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry unit that coordinates civil affairs in occupied territories (COGAT told The Post that approval would actually need to come from the government itself.) “We are trying to use this powerful symbol to convince those who are in charge to let it in, and we hope that it will be allowed in,” Brune says. “It’s very important to make sure that the humanitarian community can do their job.” Giving a papal symbol new purpose The idea to transform the popemobile into a clinic came from a conversation last year between Brune and Asfar during which they brainstormed “new symbols” that could represent this cause and bring more attention to the children in Gaza. “Caritas Jerusalem has more than 100 staff working out of Gaza—actually, several of them have been killed,” Brune says. “We are so desperate about bringing across this message that the civilians in Gaza, especially the children, are being so badly affected by this [conflict]. A few months ago, when it was colder, they were freezing to death; they were starving to death.” They realized that the popemobile could be the perfect tool. “The popemobile is a very powerful symbol,” Brune says. “So we said, ‘Let’s upscale it. Let’s give it a new mission.’” That mission, Brune says, would be to turn the popemobile into a mobile medical clinic, staffed by doctors and nurses from Caritas Jerusalem, which could provide on-the-move assistance to those in need. Cardinal Anders Arborelius of Sweden, who is set to join the upcoming conclave, relayed the concept to the Pope late last year. Francis, who repeatedly advocated for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza and spent the last month of his life calling a small church in Gaza every day, quickly gave his consent. “We presented the idea to the late Pope Francis, and he approved the idea. That was amazing,” Brune says. “He said, ‘Go for it. Gaza is very close to my heart, and if my popemobile can be used for this new and much more important mission, then go for it.’” Installing a decade’s worth of repairs, and then some When mechanics started work on the once-retired popemobile several weeks ago, they found several problems that you might expect from a car that’s been out of use for over a decade: rust, a faulty engine, and a flat tire. “When we found the car in Bethlehem, we looked into whether it was actually still in such a condition that you could make it function in its new role,” Brune says. “The mechanics said, ‘Yes, it’s doable. It’s in a bit of a bad shape, but it’s absolutely doable.’” The complicated process involves fitting the vehicle with equipment for diagnosis, examination, and treatment—including rapid infection tests, suture kits, syringes and needles, and oxygen supply. A special air-conditioning system will be used to keep medicines at the right temperature, and mechanics will also install blast-proof windows to protect occupants. “It’s not only beautiful, it’s also very practical,” Brune says. “It will be capable of serving kids, and it will be equipped with air-conditioning so that it can keep the medical equipment at the right temperature and then make it also a good environment for the child to feel safe and taken care of.” Using design to create a practical solution, and an emotional connection While parts of the popemobile have to be changed in order to add medical equipment, Brune says one of the main goals of this project is actually to keep the bones and appearance of the car as similar to its original appearance as possible. Brune and his team made a specific point to keep the seat Pope Francis once used intact. “One important symbolic piece is the seat where the Pope used to sit during when he was riding the popemobile—that’s where we will place the children who will be attended to by medical doctors and nurses,” Brune says. “We want to say, ‘You are the most important, now you sit in the chair of the Pope.’” Initially, the Vehicle of Hope was scheduled to be completed in around three weeks from now. But Brune says mechanics are so invigorated by excitement around the concept that they’ve predicted it could be ready as soon as this coming Tuesday. In the future, Brune hopes that similar mobile clinics can be scaled and used in other areas facing crises. For now, though, his focus is on Gaza. “The Vehicle of Hope is telling the children, ‘There is a future for you. There is a time when the adults have agreed to stop fighting, stop bombing. And we want to give you this notion of hope,’” Brune says. View the full article

Artificial intelligence. It’s pretty cool, I guess? Look at those neat videos. And the thousands of product design iterations just to get those creative balls rolling. Sure. Awesome. Or is it? Maybe. Who knows. All that seems to be the summary of Figma’s 2025 AI Report, based on a survey of 2,500 designers and developers. While tools like ChatGPT and Figma’s AI features are embedded in daily workflows, the report reveals a stark disconnect. Enthusiasm for AI’s potential is high, but its practical impact remains uneven, the numbers show, constrained by vague goals, quality concerns, and cooling expectations. The report underscores a paradox: professionals see AI as essential to their future, but struggle to meaningfully harness it today. It kind of fits my own experience. It’s there, but not there yet. Figma’s study shows that a staggering 76% of AI projects prioritize vague objectives like “experimenting with AI” over concrete goals such as revenue growth, with an eye-popping 9%. It makes me weep for all the gigawatts evaporating in the name of a revolution that’s not actually happening, at least for designers and developers. The ambiguity reflects the technology’s nascent state, Figma’s Head of Insights Andrew Hogan tells me in a phone interview. “There’s a lot of play and experimentation happening—it’s natural,” he explains, comparing the current moment to early mobile app development, where rapid iteration preceded clear use cases. One survey respondent likened building AI products to “running a restaurant where the menu changes daily,” a metaphor Hogan calls “the quote of the survey.” So much contradiction I’m not so sure about that parallelism with mobile app development, which struck me as a much faster, much more impactful revolution than AI, in practical, tangible economical terms, not just paper gains. Past technological shifts, like desktop publishing or the iPhone, delivered seismic industry changes within months. By comparison, AI’s impact feels incremental and anecdotal. Sure, there are brilliant examples of big AI impacts in some industries—mostly audiovisual—but having a synthetic research minion, a repetitive-task assistant, or an artificial creative buddy don’t seem quite as revolutionary as a billion smartphones taking over our lives. Hogan acknowledges the tension and, at the same time, has a warning: Companies risk dismissing AI too early if experiments fail to yield quick wins, potentially missing strategic advantages. He also says that, while the research highlights these contradictory data points between expectations/desires and reality, the data shows real progress: 34% of Figma users shipped AI products this year, up from 22% in 2024. The question is whether the vague goals—again, back to the figure of 76% of companies saying let’s play, throw some mud against the wall and see if it sticks—will harden into measurable ROI before disillusionment sets in. The research shows that there are efficiency gains thanks to AI. But there’s a dichotomy here, too. Seventy-eight percent of professionals say it speeds up their work (up from 71% last year), but only 58% believe it improves quality, while 47% feel it makes them better at their jobs. What about the ones who think the quality is just the same or worse, and the 53% who don’t think AI makes them better at their jobs? It’s a strange, puzzling juxtaposition. Developers report higher satisfaction (67% say AI boosts work quality) than designers (40%), partly because code generation tools offer clearer utility. Designers, meanwhile, grapple with generative AI’s unpredictable outputs. Hogan attributes this gap to the “limitations of how we as humans interact with these things,” not the technology itself. He cites Amara’s Law: We overestimate short-term change and underestimate long-term transformation. “Mobile took years to reshape industries,” he says, pointing to Uber’s evolution. Yet tools like ChatGPT sparked expectations of rapid, iPhone-level disruption—a bar AI hasn’t yet cleared. Cooling expectations Despite 85% of professionals calling AI essential for future success, expectations for its near-term impact are cooling. Only 27% predict AI will significantly influence company goals in the next year, unchanged from 2024. Hogan frames this as a recalibration, not disillusionment. “The hype gets ahead of what most people can do today,” he says, likening AI’s trajectory to the internet’s gradual adoption. Yet the “Cambrian explosion” of AI apps—like the one that happened with the iPhone’s apps—is yet to come. Sure, there are niche applications like medical document interpreters or predictive maintenance tools, but where are the truly transformative apps beyond being able to talk to glorified Wikipedia oracles? Where’s the Uber of AI? The answer may lie in agentic AI, the fastest-growing product category. These tools, which automate multistep tasks, saw a 143% year-over-year surge in development (from 21% in 2024 to 51% in 2025). But Hogan warns they require rethinking design principles. “When should an agent check in with users? What information should it share?” Design’s role here is critical—52% of builders say design is more important for AI products than traditional ones, as intuitive interfaces bridge the gap between capability and usability. AI’s paradox—ubiquitous yet underutilized, and underwhelming for a large part—stems from its adolescence. Designers and developers are caught between excitement, collective hysteria, and pragmatism, navigating a landscape where prototyping and iteration matter more than ever. The technology’s potential is real, yes. Code generation already accelerates development, and is used by 59% of developers. Agentic tools promise workflow revolutions, and adoption is rising. But without clearer goals, trust in outputs, and design-led refinement, AI risks becoming a toolbox without a blueprint. As Hogan puts it, “We’re still early.” The challenge isn’t whether AI will reshape design, but whether teams can evolve their processes fast enough to meet its uneven promise. For now, the future belongs to those who treat AI not as a magic wand, but as clay—malleable, demanding, and far from fully molded. View the full article

“He just put it in bold!” exclaimed Ryan Gosling’s character in a Saturday Night Live video that attracted a cult following in the world of graphic design last year. The follow-up to a 2017 SNL bit in which Gosling played a man haunted by his realization that the logo for the 2009 blockbuster Avatar was expressed in the gauche Papyrus typeface, the newer video centered on his fresh horror of discovering that the same graphic designer responsible for the first logo had updated the wordmark for the movie’s sequel by simply setting it in bold type. A year later, it seems that life is imitating satire, as, following last week’s announcement of Amazon’s brand refresh, 2025’s three biggest rebrands to date—including those of Walmart in January and OpenAI in February—have, to the untrained eye, more or less involved hitting “Ctrl+B” on the companies’ wordmarks and logos to put them in bold. All three of these corporate behemoths’ updated wordmarks are somewhat heavier than their predecessors, while not representing radical changes. Unlike Walmart’s brutalist look of a generation ago, with its massive and intimidating all-caps, sharp-cornered letterforms projecting its retail dominance, these new marks are all clean, respectable sans-serifs with enough roundedness to signal a degree of friendliness and approachability. Perhaps this style might be dubbed Blanding Bold. Their associated symbolic elements have undergone a similar transformation. While OpenAI’s “blossom,” Walmart’s “spark,” and Amazon’s “smile” all look basically the same as they did before, much to the consternation of some social media users who feel personally affronted that these expensive rebrands did not result in more noticeable changes, the differences are there. The blossom’s strokes have thickened and evened, improving its overall composition while still allowing it to evoke an unfolding flower, a foreboding whirlpool, or imagery of a more alimentary nature. The new spark met the approval of logo guru Armin Vit, who called it “softer, warmer, and more friendly while being so much better executed,” and noted that “the bolder weight of the segments gives the icon more presence and strength to stand on its own as it moves forward as the company’s primary logo.” And the Amazon logo received an injection of lip filler, resulting in what the design agency Koto calls a “deeper and more emphatic smile” (to the extent that a smile can be “emphatic”). While the rebrands of these three giants, with their estimated combined value of $3 trillion, have attracted the most attention, this bold new trend in corporate graphics has been spotted in many other quarters over the past year or so, including PayPal, ABC, Reddit, the CW network, Workday, the Guggenheim, Herman Miller, Eventbrite, Crumbl, New York City Football Club, New York Botanical Garden, and even Fluz. Patient zero in this outbreak might be the 2019 Slack redesign, in which the wordmark was Ctrl+B’d and the logo’s hot dog shapes plumped just like Ball Park Franks. What accounts for all this boldness? Companies have long expressed the desire to get more bang for their branding buck; “Make the logo bigger” is a common refrain among design clients (and one that designers tend to dread hearing). It would seem that making the logo bolder is the next best thing, allowing for more logo per square inch, a denser deployment of general logo essence, and a symbol that, like Amazon’s, is more emphatic overall. For what brand would not want its logo to be emphasized? And if a company’s goal is to use its logo to communicate boldness as a brand attribute, the single most obvious, literal, no-brainer way to do so is to just put it in bold. View the full article

Measures would take effect if insufficient progress is made to reduce US leviesView the full article

Tit-for-tat strikes represent most extensive exchange between neighbours in decadesView the full article

Opposition bill includes annual cap on arrivals as party seeks to arrest flow of support to Reform UK View the full article

If you’ve gone shopping for a home appliance sometime in the last 30 years, you’ve probably noticed a blue “Energy Star” label on certain water heaters, stoves, light bulbs, and even windows. The program, launched by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1992, helps consumers identify energy-efficient products. But now the The President administration is planning to shut it down. President Donald The President has been attacking energy-efficiency measures since his return to office. In February, he said he would call on the EPA to revert to older efficiency standards for light bulbs, toilets, showers, and more. In his “Unleashing American Energy” order, The President promised to “safeguard the American people’s freedom to choose from a variety of goods and appliances, including but not limited to lightbulbs, dishwashers, washing machines, gas stoves, water heaters, toilets, and shower heads.” Experts say the Energy Star standards are meant to help the environment by reducing water and energy consumption; they also lower U.S. households’ energy bills. And though The President has framed standards as limiting to consumer choice, the Energy Star program itself is voluntary, and doesn’t narrow what manufacturers can produce. To earn the Energy Star label, products do have to meet certain efficiency standards—but the program doesn’t stop manufacturers from making items that are not considered energy efficient, or Americans from purchasing them. (Energy Star stopped recommending any gas stoves in 2022, for example, but gas stoves are still available in America.) Energy Star also points consumers toward tax credits to bring down the cost of efficient appliances. Energy Star certifies all sorts of items, from heating and cooling (including heat pumps, ceiling fans, air conditioners, and thermostats) to appliances (like washers and dryers, dehumidifiers, dishwashers, refrigerators, and cooking products), plus water heaters, lighting, windows, and personal electronics like computers and TVs. By certifying efficient appliances, Energy Star has helped American households and businesses avoid more than $500 billion in energy costs since its founding, per a 2023 report. With an annual budget of around $50 million—less than 1% of the EPA’s spending, the Alliance to Save Energy notes—Energy Star saves Americans $40 billion on energy bills each year. Energy Star has also prevented about 4 billion metric tons of emissions from entering the atmosphere—equivalent to taking more than 933 million gas cars off the road for one year. The President considered dismantling Energy Star in his first term. His move to eliminate it now comes alongside plans to shutter the EPA’s climate change division and climate protection partnership division, sources told CNN. Historically, Energy Star has had bipartisan support, and more than 1,000 companies, cities, and organizations have signed a letter to the EPA urging continued support for the program. Republican senators have even praised the program, The Washington Post notes, saying it helped customers reduce their energy bills. Energy efficiency in general has strong public and bipartisan support. A March 2025 survey by Consumer Reports found that 87% of Americans agree that new U.S. home appliances should need to achieve a minimum level of efficiency (that included 94% of Democrats and 82% of Republicans). Supporters of Energy Star add that axing the program goes against the The President administration’s promises to lower energy costs for Americans, as well as efforts by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency to save taxpayer money. “If you wanted to raise families’ energy bills, getting rid of the Energy Star label would be a pretty good way,” Steven Nadel, executive director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, said in a statement. “This would take away basic information from consumers who want to choose cost-saving products easily. There’s a reason this program has been so popular with consumers and manufacturers alike.” The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, which represents a variety of appliance makers, said the industry is proud of its efficiency achievements, and that Energy Star is an example of a successful private-public partnership. “AHAM supports the continuation of a streamlined Energy Star program, which could be managed through the Department of Energy,” a spokesperson added. (Energy Star is currently a joint program of the EPA and DOE.) “Moving the program to DOE would meet the administration’s goals of preserving a full selection of products from which consumers can choose, and also reducing unnecessary regulatory burden.” View the full article

Remote work is going mobile. Starting today, the Florida-based high-speed rail service Brightline is launching a partnership with the shared workspace provider Industrious to turn parts of its stations—and even entire train cars—into coworking spaces. Industrious coworking spaces are now open in Brightline’s stations in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Orlando, as well as a bookable train car for business meetings or private events on the move. “If people can work from anywhere, then anywhere can be a workplace,” says Jamie Hodari, cofounder and CEO of Industrious. “I think that’s something that’s been underdeveloped.” Brightline sees the addition of formal workspaces as a way to build on its high-speed connections between cities across Florida, giving riders more ability to use its network for both leisure and business travel—sometimes simultaneously. “It’s a solution for modern professionals where we’re enhancing productivity through mobility,” says Megan Del Prior, Brightline’s vice president of corporate partnerships. “A lot of folks are riding for business. With our long-haul offering going from Miami to Orlando people are traveling during the workday and still need to work within the station spaces as well as on the trains,” she says. The coworking spaces are built in underutilized conference and meeting rooms inside Brightline’s stations, according to Del Prior. The bookable train cars available through the partnership have no special features, but do include Wi-Fi and charging ports like all Brightline train cars. Hodari says the idea for the partnership grew from Industrious’s previous experience building out workspaces in unconventional locations. In 2018, the company partnered with the outdoor apparel brand L.L. Bean to create a pop-up outdoor coworking space in New York City’s Madison Square Park. “The whole thing sold out within five minutes,” Hodari says. “It was such a sign that people are really curious about trying working and being productive in unfamiliar or new settings.” According to Hodari, the addition of coworking spaces to train stations is a recognition that people are already doing work in these spaces, either taking calls while waiting for their train or working on projects once their train is in motion. The experience of working like this, though, can be less than ideal. “Oftentimes it can be this really unpleasant, highly unproductive thing,” he says. “And it can be kind of painful for the people around you, where you’re talking loudly and you’re in your earphones and you’re unwittingly a nuisance.” Having dedicated spaces for meetings or focused work will enable people to make more of their travel time, Hodari says, noting, “You don’t stop being productive or engaging with your colleagues or other people because you’re in movement.” View the full article

Ever wondered what happens when you add random household items to the same bowl every day for 100 days straight? Well, you’re in luck. One TikTok account has made it their mission to find out—so you don’t have to. The anonymous account, known simply as Bowl of Danger, adds “random stuff” to a bowl each day until they “get in danger.” The experiment began in January with a dollop of sunscreen. Each day, something new entered the mix: sugar, whipped cream, deodorant, lit firecrackers, batteries, nail polish, vodka, a whole pizza, a Big Mac. “Can’t imagine how bad that reeks,” someone wrote in the comments. “I just unlocked a new facial expression,” added a second. Another warned, “No cuz I genuinely think we’re making a pandemic” (check out day 25 at your own risk). For every person who scrolls past in horror, plenty are invested. Some of the most viral Bowl of Danger videos have racked up millions of views, with fans suggesting new items to add. As for Day 100? The video was taken down, but according to the comments, it involved a firecracker and an explosion. Since Bowl of Danger went viral, a number of copycat accounts have emerged. There’s The Danger Bowl, naturally, and Bowl of Living—an organic version of the original series. “Mold is just a simple form of life,” the creator says. “I want to create something more—like a new species.” If you prefer your bowl of rot with an educational edge, there’s also Bowl of Science. “While other bowls waste food or resources, we mix a bowl with things that only physically or chemically react,” the creator said in one video, taking a swipe at the competition. “Where you actually can learn from.” A theory is also circulating that the different anonymous accounts may be run by the same person under different aliases. Warning: If you’re considering making your own bowl at home, remember that mixing random stuff can have harmful, even deadly, side effects. (Ever heard of mustard gas?) But if you missed the first round, good news: Season 2 of Bowl of Danger just started. View the full article

Wake up, go to class, grab a panini, then go to work. The day in the life of students James Haupt, Caroline Pirtle, and George Small seemed nothing out of the ordinary, except “going to work” meant entering restricted buildings in the Vatican, and reporting on what was happening at the papacy, just a few minutes away from the Holy See. As part of Villanova University’s 22-year-old Vatican and Rome Internship Program, which over the years has helped boost the Pope’s social media presence, the three students were on exchange for nearly five months. Small and Pirtle, both computing sciences majors, were stationed at the Vatican Museum and the Vatican Media Office respectively, assisting on the creation of VR tours. Haupt, a communication major, worked at Rome Reports, a local newsroom covering the papacy in English and Spanish. What was supposed to be just an opportunity for immersion in Italian culture, and privileged access to one of the world’s most visited institutions, quickly changed into a different sort of educational opportunity. These three students soon found themselves at the epicenter of a historical event: the papal transition. Pope Francis’s passing Pirtle, while helping to create the VR tour of St. Peter’s Basilica, had enjoyed privileged access to restricted areas in the Vatican, including the Altar of the Confessio, escorted by Basilica security. Still, she found the news of the pontiff’s death just like everyone else. On Easter Monday, Pirtle had to sleep in, exhausted from attending Easter mass the day before. Caroline Pirtle At noon, she was awoken by a text from her friend, notifying her that Pope Francis had passed away. She was shocked. “I literally saw him the day before, and he drove right past me,” Pirtle says. After almost two months working in the Vatican, this was the first time she had seen Pope Francis in person. “Going from seeing him the day before and being right next to him, to him dying the next morning was a crazy feeling.” Small and Haupt had a similar experience. Working at a newsroom, Haupt had been covering the Pope’s illness, “I knew his prescribed rest was two months,” Haput says, “and he was on a medicine program.” Yet he, too, learned of the news when he woke up on Monday, from TikTok. In disbelief, he checked Rome Report’s Instagram, and then woke up Small, who was his apartment mate. As the news sunk in, the interns went to work. Working through it “Back at home you’d look at your phone once, and then kind of forget about it. Here, you go outside and right there is Vatican City, and that’s where Pope Francis died, maybe a couple 100 feet from where we’re staying,” Small says. Pirtle continued taking photos and setting up annotations for the interactive virtual reality project. Small went back to coding for the Vatican Museum’s VR. “Trying to actually access the office was a lot crazier, because everything was blocked off, and they just had so many more police, so many more guards, and just so many more people,” Pirtle says. “But inside the building, nothing really felt too different.” Haupt’s job, at the newsroom of Rome Reports, was the most affected. Haupt had been translating the publication’s stories from Spanish to English, doing audio recordings for the outlet’s broadcast stories, and looking for American angles on stories related to the Pope, Catholicism, and the Vatican. (Vice president JD Vance’s visit to the Vatican was an easy one, he says.) He had written stories about Pope Francis’s relationship with Father Federico Lombardi, the former director of the Holy See press office, and the coordinator behind the 35,000 flowers that covered the Vatican during Easter Sunday. James Haupt But upon the Pope’s death, Haupt realized he was part of something bigger. “There were, like, 400 journalists that came within a day” to the Vatican, he says. “It was so packed, people were in and out, so much was going on . . . Seeing all those journalists in the Vatican immediately made me realize how significant this was.” An unexpected end to studying abroad In the weeks before the end of their internships, the three students joined the crowds flocking to bid farewell to Pope Francis before the burial. Small and Haupt bypassed the long lines by visiting the open casket at 1:40 a.m. on a school night, while Pirtle got lucky with a 25-minute wait on a Thursday at 5 p.m. They also bid farewell to the various projects they’d helped build. “Working on something that could provide a lot more accessibility” to “people who might not have the chance to come to Rome has been special to me,” Pirtle says. For Haupt, the experience “gave me the skill of adjusting to the environment. My coworkers would tell me how they would have to be ready to come into the office at any moment no matter the day or time,” he says, and “hearing about how they had to switch gears on their days off and holidays made me realize how important it to be alert as a journalist.” For all three Villanova students, the end of their Vatican internship coincided almost exactly with the beginning of the long awaited papal election process. They are looking forward to following news about the Conclave. “I’m planning on at least grabbing a coffee in St. Peter’s Square and just seeing,” Pirtle says. “Maybe I’ll get lucky and see some smoke.” View the full article

When Katie Hammel arrived at her company’s offsite in Cabo San Lucas, she expected the usual formula: long meetings, awkward icebreakers, and a packed agenda that left little room to breathe. What she experienced instead was something different—a thoughtfully curated, empowering, and inclusive retreat. “There was a little wrap-up at the end of each day,” says Hammel, director of content at travel rewards booking platform Point.me. “At first I thought it was going to be kind of corny, and I actually ended up really loving it. Hearing what surprised people, what they learned—it just really crystallized the day.” Hammel, who’s attended nine retreats while working at four different companies, has witnessed firsthand how offsites have evolved. “Early retreats were like, ‘Let’s rent a cabin and figure it out.’ Now, they’re much more intentional. It’s something you need to invest time and money and real deep thought into planning so that you can make the most of that time.” As remote and hybrid work have become more permanent, companies are rethinking the role of retreats. What used to be a perk is now a necessity: a way to reinforce culture, rebuild trust, and create connection in the absence of daily in-office interactions. But simply gathering people in a room (or on a beach) isn’t enough. Today’s distributed teams require something more thoughtful, more inclusive, and more strategic. Designing With, Not For One of the biggest mistakes companies make when planning offsites is assuming that physical presence alone will foster connection. But as Stephanie Felix, a DEI leader and social impact strategist who has organized offsites across companies, explains. “If the format isn’t inclusive or meaningful, built with shared purpose in mind, it can actually deepen disconnection.” Retreats often reflect outdated traditions—activities designed in a pre-remote era that may no longer serve diverse, distributed teams. Planning, says Felix, needs to begin with intentionality, not logistics. “Gathering isn’t inherently inclusive,” she says. “It has to be designed that way.” For Milton Rivera, global VP of the Experience Studio at Amex Global Business Travel, this starts with co-creation. “Putting an emphasis on gathering employee or attendee input early in the planning process has greatly helped events to be much more relevant and engaging,” he says. His team collects not only schedules and availability, but also pain points, accessibility needs, and emotional goals—helping clients map how attendees want to feel at each stage of an event. (Rivera’s team not only handles clients looking for team event planning help, but also manages his own remote team, with their own offsites, as well.) It’s also a matter of resourcing: outsourcing logistics, hiring professionals, and avoiding the common pitfall of assigning retreat planning to someone who already has a full-time job. At The Corcoran Group, this kind of collaborative planning is already embedded in its retreat culture. “Our events are carefully curated by our events team and shaped by insights from leaders across all departments,” says Pamela Liebman, president and CEO at the real estate firm. “We intentionally create space for conversations at all levels and encourage cross-functional participation.” This includes having casual on-site gatherings where convos across teams can happen, as well as senior leadership-led open events that can get people talking, like exercise walks with the company president or morning meditations led by a team member. Basically, “creating space for organic moments of interaction,” says Liebman. That intentionality transforms offsites from top-down presentations to genuinely shared experiences. Understanding the ‘Why’—And Going Smaller If Needed Instead of asking “Should we host an offsite?” more teams are now asking “Why are we hosting one?” says Julie Noda, GM of Groups at Fora Travel. “Retreats are becoming more intentional, inclusive, and purpose-driven,” she says. “Whether they’re focused on alignment, celebrating top performers, or helping employees recharge, the ‘why’ behind a retreat shapes everything—from destination choice to daily schedule.” Rather than hosting one massive, annual event, more companies are turning to smaller, regional gatherings throughout the year. “Smaller, intimate retreats are increasingly common for remote teams, fostering better collaboration and deeper conversations,” Noda adds. “Teams are leaning into informal formats like fireside chats, rather than over-structured sessions.” “Every quarter, we host varying degrees of offsites—social, educational, collaborative,” says Rivera. “We also host a larger annual event per region. But a critical element in all of this is to determine the expected outcomes of the event, the personas of the attendees, and the objectives.” Liebman echoes that clarity of purpose. “The goal has always been to connect and celebrate our brand, and while that hasn’t changed, the ‘how’ has,” she says. “In a more remote/hybrid environment, retreats have become even more important to reinforce our shared purpose.” Rivera’s team uses a process called “experience mapping” to help both their internal teams and their clients understand what impact the retreat should have and what value it should deliver. The result? More tailored experiences that serve their specific goals—whether it’s aligning on strategy, deepening peer-to-peer bonds, or co-creating solutions. This level of intentionality has led many organizations to think smaller—trimming attendance, focusing on meaningful moments, and allowing flexibility for personal circumstances, like caregiving or travel burdens. At Corcoran, “we announce conference dates well in advance, and begin the first day’s events midday to support those balancing caregiving responsibilities or long-distance travel,” Liebman says. Removing Financial Barriers As companies push for inclusivity, many are rethinking the financial side of offsites. While most employers now cover core expenses, how they do so matters more than ever—particularly for newer employees, junior staff, or those without access to personal credit. “Yes, we cover all major expenses,” says Jaclyn Fu, CEO of the bra company Pepper, who oversees a remote-first team. “We want the experience to be something the team can look forward to and wholeheartedly enjoy, without having to stress.” Rivera adds that even well-intentioned policies can have unintended consequences. “Policies that ask people to use personal funds upfront for business travel create a potential barrier,” he says. “They may not have access to a credit card or might not have the funds, which creates an unintentional barrier to attending the offsite and enjoying the benefits.” Felix underscores that financial equity is often overlooked—especially when it comes to internal dynamics like dinners or group outings once at the retreat. “When I was a manager, company policy dictated that I cover junior team members’ expenses on a personal card,” she says. “It’s a problematic assumption that any individual manager, a relatively junior role, is always in the financial position to cover those costs. Team dinners can run hundreds of dollars. We need to be sure company policy is equitable.” Making the Exceptions the Default The best retreat experiences today prioritize proactive inclusion. Instead of making accommodations for individuals, smart organizers now build accessibility and choice into the default experience. “One of the things I really appreciate about my current company is that they take requests—like dietary restrictions or not drinking alcohol—and make them standard,” says Hammel. “So instead of just having one mocktail, every drink has an equivalent mocktail. It’s not like, ‘Here’s something for them.’ It’s just, ‘Here’s something for everyone.’” That same thinking applies to food, schedules, and even accommodation arrangements. True inclusivity is invisible. It’s not about creating separate options, but about making everyone feel seen without having to ask. At Corcoran’s events, inclusion extends to cultural and regional representation, too. “Our network spans diverse markets, so we aim to reflect that in our programming,” Liebman explains. “At our conference in Scottsdale, for example, we opened with a performance by Mariachi Rubor, Arizona’s international all-female mariachi band.” True inclusion, she says, is about “spotlighting local voices and tailoring content to highlight what makes a region [and our employees] special.” Rethinking the Corporate Retreat Location Choosing the right destination has always mattered. But beyond cost and climate, companies are now also weighing sustainability, accessibility, and cultural relevance. “We’ve seen eco-friendly and socially responsible destinations becoming increasingly more popular,” says Noda. This might include locally sourced food, carbon offsetting, service projects, or immersive cultural experiences. “We try to choose cities where we have a strong team presence—NYC, Denver, and Austin, for example,” adds Fu. “We look for spaces that feel both energizing and accessible: a mix of creative inspiration, practical travel logistics, and comfort.” Rivera also notes that diverse teams require venues that accommodate different travel needs, from sensory-friendly environments to direct flights. His company has developed a Global Venue Sourcing team for exactly this reason. Building in Down Time and Preventing Burnout One challenge with offsites is the temptation to over-program. For remote workers who rarely see each other, time feels precious. But not every moment needs to be filled. “There’s so much pressure to make the most of every moment,” says Hammel. “I think companies pack it in a little too much. Even just 45 minutes to decompress before a social event would be so valuable.” Designing for all personality types—especially introverts—means allowing space to recharge. Quiet time isn’t a waste; it’s a necessary part of creating connection that lasts beyond the event. Noda sees this understanding of accommodating different types of individuals at the planning level. “The most progressive organizations are offering flexible engagement options—high-energy and low-energy activities, quiet spaces, hybrid participation tools, and agendas that leave space to breathe,” she says. “Inclusivity isn’t just about food or access. It’s how people engage.” Including Those Who Stay Behind Not everyone can (or wants to) attend an offsite. Health issues, family obligations, and financial constraints still keep some employees home. That doesn’t mean they should be excluded from the experience. In her most recent retreat, Hammel’s team did their best to include remote attendees, despite logistical challenges. “Everything was outdoors, so we didn’t have a lot of AV,” she says. “But we took photos of our exercises and wrote up little reports to share in Slack.” Felix notes that in-person environments can also carry a different emotional toll, especially for employees from marginalized backgrounds. “There’s compelling data showing that microaggressions increase in in-person environments, particularly for Black women and other women of color,” she says. “Remote work gave many people a reprieve. There’s more control, and often more accountability [when communicating remotely].” Therefore, making sure environments not only have structure in comms but also opportunities for feedback is so important. In planning retreats, companies need to think beyond who can attend, and design with inclusion in mind for those who stay back, too. The New Retreat: Less Perk, More Purpose Retreats used to be framed as perks—fun escapes from routine. But as the nature of work changes, they’ve become something far more meaningful: rare chances to build trust, reinforce shared purpose, and cultivate belonging across distance. “Inclusion is about emotional safety, psychological comfort, and cultural sensitivity, not just physical presence,” says Felix. Today’s most successful retreats are grounded in intention. “Retreats have become essential for building trust, empathy, and friendship. It’s not just about alignment on strategy. It’s about feeling like you’re part of something meaningful, even when you work from different zip codes,” says Fu. View the full article

In 2008, the American dream of homeownership morphed into a nightmare that tanked the global economy. The culprit? A toxic mix of bad mortgages and casino mentality. Today, another financial time bomb is ticking—and this one is fueled by rising seas, wildfires, and a lethal dose of denial. Climate change is quietly corroding the foundations of the U.S. housing market. From Florida’s hurricane-battered coasts to California’s fire-razed suburbs, a crisis is brewing that could make the subprime mortgage collapse look like a warm-up act. The crisis will be triggered by home insurance. To get a mortgage, you need homeowner’s insurance. But in climate-vulnerable Sunbelt states like California and Florida, insurers are either fleeing or increasing premiums to eye-watering heights. In some areas, home insurance costs have doubled or tripled in just three years. In others, policies are vanishing altogether. Meanwhile, in a stunning irony, the top 16 U.S. insurance companies hold more than $500 billion in fossil fuel investments—collecting premiums with one hand while funding the climate disasters that force them to pay out with the other. Homeowners on the hook Current homeowners and retirees are sitting ducks. Florida, Arizona, and Texas lure seniors with sun and tax breaks, but fixed incomes can’t absorb climate chaos. In Arizona, home insurance premiums have surged by 62% since 2019 driven by wildfire risks. Texas has seen rates climb by 40% since 2015, as hurricanes and other climate-driven disasters batter the state. Imagine a retiree watching their insurance premium spike from $7,500 to $17,000 overnight. Florida retirees spend 34% of their average income on home insurance. (Nationally, retirees pay 8% of their income toward home insurance.) Their options are grim: Drain savings, sell, default, or, for those who own their homes outright, “go bare,” skipping insurance entirely—a risky bet that leaves them one disaster from devastation. Multiply that by millions of people, and you get a fire sale of homes, crashing property values, and ghost towns of stranded assets. A 2023 study found that U.S. properties exposed to flood risk are overvalued by $121 billion to $237 billion. Local governments will feel the squeeze like never before. Florida funds schools, roads, and police forces via property taxes. Paradise, California, which was ravaged by wildfire in 2018, wiped out 90% of its property tax base and almost all its local revenue. ​ What happens to a city when its tax base collapses? Detroit offers a cautionary tale here. The Motor City’s population plunged from a peak of about 1.8 million in the 1950s to barely 700,000 by 2010 as jobs vanished and residents fled. Detroit spiraled into the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. Streetlights literally went dark; entire neighborhoods were abandoned. Unlike Detroit’s industrial decline, a future trigger would be natural calamity—but the end result (a city unable to pay its bills) could look eerily similar. Could Miami or New Orleans face a similar fate? Subprime mortgages are back And let’s not forget the banks: They’re sitting on trillions in mortgages tied to homes that could soon be uninsurable, unlivable, or underwater (literally). The 2008 subprime crash taught us that if homeowners default en masse, the contagion can spread through mortgage-backed securities and derivatives—except this time, it’s not bad borrowers but uninhabitable land driving a similar chain reaction. In the 2000s, lenders treated subprime mortgages like an all-you-can-eat buffet, convinced home prices would only rise. Today, lenders cling to the fantasy that climate risk is “manageable” or “priced in.” Spoiler: It’s not. Research from McKinsey reveals that even as insurance companies acknowledge climate risks, they haven’t meaningfully integrated these same risks into their investment strategies or mortgage underwriting practices. This cognitive dissonance mirrors the 2008 crisis, when rating agencies slapped AAA ratings on what were essentially junk securities. As storms intensify and wildfire seasons lengthen, mortgage defaults will surge. And guess who’s holding the bag? Taxpayers, via Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Just like in 2008, savvy mortgage originators are quietly dumping risky mortgages onto government-backed entities, making you, the taxpayer, the ultimate insurer of America’s climate delusion. Sprawling suburbs in floodplains, McMansions in fire corridors, and regulatory blind spots have created a Ponzi scheme of climate risk. Here’s the kicker: There’s little chance climate risk will be “contained”—to borrow Ben Bernanke’s famously off-the-mark reassurance about subprime. The financial contagion will spread rapidly across markets because climate-vulnerable mortgages, like subprime loans before them, have been bundled, securitized, and distributed throughout the global financial system. How to mitigate the disaster So, what’s the fallout when this bubble bursts? Retirees forced out, cities bankrupted, banks bailed out—it’s 2008 with a side of rising oceans. The lesson from subprime was simple: Denying reality doesn’t erase risk; it just guarantees a harder crash. The looming crisis isn’t a mystery, and neither are the solutions. We can take steps right now to defuse this “climate housing bubble” before it pops. First off, policymakers can require far greater transparency about climate risks. Homebuyers have the right to know if that bargain beachfront cottage is likely to flood—yet shockingly, states like Florida (with some of the highest overvaluation) do not require sellers to disclose flood risk to buyers. Mandatory disclosure laws for flood, fire, and heat risks would inject some reality into pricing and steer some people out of harm’s way. Next, we need to end perverse incentives that encourage building and rebuilding in disaster zones. For decades, the federal government—via cheap flood insurance, disaster aid, and infrastructure spending—has socialized climate risk, effectively footing the bill for risky development with taxpayer money. The National Flood Insurance Program, for example, historically charged below-market rates and racked up $20 billion in debt, requiring repeated bailouts​. It’s now moving toward risk-based pricing, which is painful for homeowners but absolutely necessary to signal where it’s safe (and not safe) to build. Similarly, officials could tighten zoning and building codes in high-risk areas, or even prohibit new construction in the most exposed floodplains and fire zones. (As one former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency bluntly suggested: Stop writing government-backed insurance for brand-new houses in flood zones). In parallel, banks and regulators must get serious about integrating climate risk into lending decisions. That could mean requiring robust insurance coverage (beyond the minimal standards) on mortgaged homes, adjusting loan-to-value ratios or loan terms in ultra-risky areas, and incorporating climate data into underwriting models when valuing mortgage portfolios. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in particular, should lead by not purchasing loans on obviously doomed properties. Why extend a 30-year mortgage on a house that may be underwater (literally) in 20? On the community level, we need to shore up climate resilience to protect home values: stronger levees and hardened grids, yes, but also difficult conversations about strategic retreat. In some places, the safest plan is to help people move now, rather than rebuild for the fifth time after a disaster. Policymakers can create funds for voluntary buyouts and relocations to get vulnerable families into safer housing—a “managed retreat” that’s humane and ahead of the curve. None of this is easy or cheap. But the alternative—maintaining our current course—is far more costly. The 2008 crash taught us that unheeded risk in housing markets can bring the entire economy to its knees. We have an opportunity today to prevent a replay, this time driven by climate rather than credit. It will require political courage, sober risk management from lenders, and, yes, higher costs up front in some cases. But proactively pricing in climate risk (and mitigating it where possible) is like preventive medicine. It might sting now, but it will save us from far greater pain down the road. The housing collapse of ’08 wiped out $7 trillion in homeowner equity and ravaged communities; a climate-induced collapse could be even worse if we do nothing. Will policymakers and lenders act before Miami becomes Atlantis and Phoenix a blast furnace? Or will they keep chanting the same mantra—“home prices only go up”—until the levees break, literally and financially? Time’s up. The water’s rising. And this time, there’s no bailout big enough. View the full article

The Army Corps of Engineers, citing a recent national energy emergency order by President The President, has expedited a permit review for a new miles-long section of an oil and gas pipeline that would bore deep into protected wetlands bordering Canada and the United States. The pipeline request from Enbridge Energy, a Canadian company, would cut beneath the Straits of Mackinac—the connecting waterway between Lakes Michigan and Huron—to install a tunnel 12 times as wide as above-ground existing pipelines. Tribal groups that had been cooperating with the Corps’ environmental impact statement for the project pulled out when they learned of the emergency review. The Corps announced April 15 that the project, known as Line 5, fits under The President’s January order. The project is part of a 645-mile pipeline between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario, that transports about 22 million gallons of oil and natural gas liquids daily, according to the company website. The Corps’ decision to expedite consideration came days before a sweeping change by the U.S. Department of Interior to hasten energy reviews. The federal agency said beginning April 23 that energy-related projects and, specifically, environmental impact reviews of such projects will move with unprecedented speed and with truncated public comment. Energy, under The President’s order, refers to fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal, along with geothermal, nuclear and hydropower. The Corps operates within the Defense Department, not the Interior Department. While the Interior policies do not apply to Line 5, they are likely to accelerate fossil fuel projects in the coming months. New emergency procedures from both departments in response to The President’s executive order are “really ploughing new ground,” said Dave Scott, a senior attorney at the Environment Law & Policy Center, a legal advocacy group. “There is a massive and real risk that the public won’t be able to engage meaningfully with decisions that government agencies like the Corps are making that have significant impacts on the environment,” Scott said. The Interior Department announced last week it was pursuing what it called an “alternative National Environmental Policy Act,” to allow for sharply compressed timelines for projects that “strengthen domestic energy supply.” Projects that require an environmental assessment, which the department said now takes a year to complete, will be reviewed within 14 days. Projects in need of an environmental impact statement, which the department said can result in two years of study, will be reviewed in “roughly 28 days,” according to its announcement. Scott also noted a second executive order, Unleashing American Energy, further erodes environmental protections for new projects. It directs the Council on Environmental Quality to consider rescinding National Environmental Policy Act regulations, which are the rules that require federal agencies to consider environmental impact when issuing permits. Environmental groups have questioned the need and the rationale behind the pipeline change. “We know that there is no national energy emergency,” said Julie Goodwin, senior attorney at Earthjustice, the country’s biggest public interest environmental firm. The U.S. produces more crude oil than any other country, ever, and has for the past six years. The emergency process “is really a gift to the fossil fuel industry,” Goodwin said. At issue is Enbridge’s replacement of two 20-inch diameter pipelines now buried close to shore and resting or supported on the lakebed. Instead, it wants to dig a 3.6-mile-long tunnel, with a 21-foot diameter, into the Straits’ lakebed. The Corps is still developing an environmental impact statement for the Straits project, which it acknowledges will “permanently impact 1.52 acres of wetlands, including 1.01 acres within the Corps’ responsibility under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.” The statement is expected in June. “The Detroit District has not yet determined the length of the public comment period for its Line 5 Tunnel,” the Corps said in an email. The standard comment period is 60 days, but the Corps’ new policy for emergency reviews is 15 days. The Interior Department announcement last week may indicate a new public comment timeline in store for energy-related projects. In some cases, public comment at Interior would depend largely on the decision of department officials. Proposals found to have “no significant impact” during an internal department assessment will have a report issued on a public website, the announcement said, and no public comment is required. For projects “likely to have significant environmental impact,” a department official “can determine the duration of the written comment period based on the nature of the action and the urgency of the emergency response, and the Department anticipates that most comment periods will be approximately 10 days,” Interior’s announcement said. Regarding the pipeline project before the Corps, seven local tribes described the shortened environmental impact statement (EIS) process as “unacceptable.” A letter was sent in March to the Corps and signed by representatives from the Bay Mills Indian Community, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi, and Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi. “Tribal Nations are no longer willing to expend their time and resources as Cooperating Agencies just so their participation may be used by the Corps to lend credibility to a flawed EIS process and document,” the letter said. The Corps “has disregarded its commitments to cooperating agencies and its obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act by fully aligning itself with the applicant [Enbridge] at every step.” The emergency review process “is really rewriting and bypassing critical and important laws for an unneeded pipeline,” said Beth Wallace, director of climate and energy at the National Wildlife Federation, the nonprofit conservation education and advocacy group. Enbridge has said the existing pipes, which date back to 1953, need replacement to prevent a possible oil spill. Burying the new pipeline section as much as 100 feet below the lakebed would “eliminate the chance of a pipeline incident in the Straits,” according to the project website. “Line 5 is critical energy infrastructure,” Enbridge said in an email to Inside Climate News. The tunnel project is “designed to make a safe pipeline safer while also ensuring the continued safe, secure, and affordable delivery of essential energy to the Great Lakes region.” On its website, the company called its supply to Michigan “vital” and said that “Line 5 supplies 65% of propane demand in the Upper Peninsula, and 55% of Michigan’s statewide propane needs.” Tribal groups, citizens, and environmentalists have called for decommissioning the pipeline out of concern for risks to freshwater sources and local ecosystems. The Great Lakes are the largest freshwater system on the planet, providing clean drinking water to more than 40 million people in the U.S. and Canada. “Enbridge’s own pipelines have capacity to pick up product and move it to the same exact refineries and facilities,” said Wallace of the National Wildlife Federation. Investing further in fossil fuel infrastructure also runs counter to Michigan’s plan to reach 100 percent carbon neutrality by 2050, she added. An economic analysis by PLG Consulting, a Chicago-based logistics firm, examined how shutting down Line 5 could impact energy markets. “Surging output” has made North America energy independent and “there is no risk of supply shortages,” the PLG report from October 2023 found. There are a “multitude” of alternative supply sources from both domestic and international sources that could fill in for Line 5. Even today, no refinery relies entirely on Line 5 for its crude oil supply, the PLG report said. Enbridge is still waiting on several federal and state permits before it can begin construction. The state of Michigan issued environmental permits for the tunnel project in 2021 but those will expire next year. Enbridge re-applied earlier this year to renew the permits. The Michigan Public Service Commission approved the tunnel project in 2023 although Enbridge still needs the permitting decision from the Army Corps. The activist group Oil and Water Don’t Mix is also urging citizens to demand that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer deny the pipeline permit to protect the Great Lakes. “The state of Michigan has the opportunity to shut down Line 5,” Earthjustice’s Goodwin said. “And that’s what should happen.” —By Carrie Klein, Inside Climate News This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News. It is republished with permission. Sign up for its newsletter here. View the full article

What happens when someone comes close to death and then returns to everyday life, including work? For some, the experience can be transformative. Near-death experiences (NDEs) are deeply personal experiences that some people report after a close brush with death. These experiences can include sensations such as floating above one’s body, reviewing moments from one’s life, encountering spiritual beings and feeling a profound sense of unity and love. Although NDEs have been studied since the 1970s, we know relatively little about how they affect people after the event. Research suggests people who have near-death experiences may feel increased empathy, spiritual growth, a sense of purpose, and even change how they approach their jobs. Our recent study explored how near-death experiences impact people’s return to work. We interviewed 14 working adults who had a near-death experience as a result of medical crises such as a heart attack or accidents such as a car crash. What we found challenges conventional ideas about success, motivation, and workplace culture. Doing meaningful work One of the most common changes expressed by the participants in our study was a desire to do work that felt meaningful and aligned with their newfound purpose in life. After their near-death experience, many wanted to spend time doing work that mattered to them and made a positive difference. “I was not interested in doing nonsense. . . . I just was not gonna waste my time on nonsense,” one participant told us. Her perspective shifted dramatically after her heart began beating abnormally for 20 minutes and she lost consciousness. Others described similar shifts. Many participants changed their careers by focusing on different work priorities, switching jobs or even starting their own companies. One participant described quitting a high-earning job after being headhunted. She started her own business, which allowed her to use her own NDE to support individuals through the end-of-life process. As one participant put it: “I like to say that when I woke up in that hospital bed, I had a knowing that the character I was playing was no longer working for me and I had to change characters, and changing that character meant changing that job.” Rethinking motivation Another significant shift reported by participants was a reprioritization of their values, which, in turn, shifted their attitudes towards work and their careers. After experiencing a near-death experience, many lost interest in external measures of success such as salary, fancy titles, and prestige. Across the study’s participants, all reported no longer being motivated by extrinsic factors, such as money or receiving recognition for work. Instead, they focused on internal alignment and authenticity. Rather than being driven by external rewards, participants were motivated by personal growth and making a positive difference. In some workplaces, employee motivation is driven by extrinsic incentives such as bonuses, promotions or external recognition. However, after their NDEs, participants reported being driven by their own internal benchmarks or purpose. As one of our interviewees said: “The motivation that was there came from this very strange, deep place that I wanted to all of a sudden make a huge impact, you know, in every part of my life. . . . It’s hard to come out of this experience and not feel there’s a reason why you’re here, and you hate to say it, but you feel you have this special gift now. And it’s like why and how am I going to apply this? So, with work, I approach it that way as well.” Relational transformations We also found that near-death experiences transformed how people interacted with and related to others at work. This is consistent with previous research that shows distinct personality and attitude changes reported by survivors of NDEs. Specifically, NDEs shift individual outlooks on life and can serve as catalysts for transformation, influencing how people relate to others. Before their near-death experience, many participants viewed workplace relationships as task-oriented and transactional. But afterward, those same relationships became more meaningful to them. Colleagues, clients and customers were no longer viewed as just business contacts. Instead, several participants spoke of their service and sales interactions as small acts of relationship-building rather than simply being economic exchanges. One participant said: “My relationships across the board are deeper, are more connected with people, 100%. . . . I was a decent salesman before but this is, like, bringing spirituality into a quote-unquote sales position, which blows my mind.” Lessons for the rest of us What does this mean for those of us who haven’t had a near-death experience? The participants in our study said their near-death experiences reoriented them to what really matters in life. The after-effects challenge traditional organizational values that celebrate hyper-productivity at the expense of meaning and high-quality relationships. As previous studies suggest, workers engaged in meaningful work eventually manifest greater productivity and accomplishment as opposed to burnout as a result of overwork. As interest in workplace well-being continues to rise—particularly in the wake of COVID-19 and the “great resignation”—NDE survivors may be ahead of the curve. The after-effects of a near-death experience align with what workers tend to want from their jobs. Workers generally want to satisfy three fundamental needs: economic security, meaningful work and high-quality relationships. Our results suggest that NDE after-effects result in reductions in the importance of satisfying the drive for economic security and elevate the significance of meaningful work and authentic relationships. The stories of near-death experience survivors offer a kind of blueprint for reimagining how we work. For employees, that might mean re-evaluating what success looks like or exploring roles that align more closely with personal values. For employers, it might involve fostering workplace cultures that prioritize connection, purpose and well-being. One participant offers a lasting reminder for all of us seeking more meaning in our life and jobs: “It’s about relationships, not achievements.” Akierah Binns is a PhD management candidate at the University of Guelph. Jamie Gruman is a professor of organizational behaviour at the University of Guelph. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article

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This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Subscribe here. Recently, I shared the tools that power my mornings. Now let’s explore what I rely on from lunch to bedtime. Below you’ll see sites, apps, and gadgets that carry me from noon to night. From a niche workshop platform to my quirky ‘invisible’ clock, these are the tech companions that help me wrap up a fruitful day. 2 p.m.: Lunch and thinking break I often abandon screens for my midday pause. Other times I use apps like these: Healthy Minds: Short audio pieces help guide me through mindfulness practices. I like the 5-10 minute “active” lessons that work well for a walking meditation. The app is free and well designed. If I’m feeling anxious, I sometimes use the Headspace meditation app, which I also use for focus music when working. Libby: is my beloved source of free library audiobooks. I listen when I’m walking to lunch or commuting. Resy and OpenTable: Handy for quick lunch reservations. Too Good To Go: It’s fun to try heavily discounted local restaurant food, though the quality varies. I used MealPal for a while for local lunch deals when I wasn’t as often bringing lunch from home. The Infatuation: Helpful lists of tasty new local restaurants. 1 to 3 p.m.: Preparing to teach After lunch, I develop teaching plans, prepare to lead workshops, or work on other school-related projects for my job as Director of Teaching and Learning at the CUNY Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. Craft: My go-to for creating visually engaging digital handouts. It’s easy to use and works wonderfully on mobile or desktop. [Why Craft is so useful.] Text Blaze: When I’m typing a lot, keyboard shortcuts help. I use snippets for signatures, AI prompts, addresses, and commonly typed phrases. Raycast also works well for these shortcuts. Tangible notes: I like writing notes away from my laptop periodically to get my eyes off the screen and to change my brain mode. I alternate between: I use a Rocketbook reusable notebook for lists and reminders. A $20 VersaTiles memo board is great for jotting passing thoughts. A giant whiteboard helps me draw connections. My reMarkable Paper Pro tablet hosts notes I will return to repeatedly. Arc Browser: I create custom spaces for specific classes or projects, with bookmarks and account settings tailored to that context. Kahoot, Padlet, and Slido: I rely on this trio of teaching tools to power activities that promote active learning in classes or workshops—rather than passive listening. Here are more of my favorite apps for teaching. Protecting my afternoon focus Raycast Focus Mode: Blocks email and distractions during short, focused, deep work sprints. Time Out: I set this app to remind me to give my eyes a screen break every 15 minutes. It pulses over the screen to nudge me to look out the window. Paper book: I sometimes take a short midafternoon reading break to relax, breathe, recharge my brain, and detach from my screen. Here’s the book stack I’m dipping into this month, reflecting a mix of my interests. 3 to 5 p.m.: Meetings I try to schedule meetings for late afternoon. When they’re fruitful, it’s great to conclude the day with collaboration. Granola: My favorite new app for transcribing and summarizing meetings. Its three best features: 1. Since it records locally on my laptop, there’s no awkward bot joining the Zoom. 2. I can incorporate my own notes during the meeting, which get blended into the AI-powered summary. 3. Granola can draft helpful follow-up emails or Slack messages, or I can query it afterward about a meeting topic. Butter: My favorite tool for leading live online workshops, including live demos for Wonder Tools paid subscribers. It’s thoughtfully designed for facilitators and teachers. It lets me easily incorporate interactive elements, from polls to collaborative brainstorming. If a meeting has to be hosted on Zoom or another platform, I can use Butter Scenes for interaction. Camera tools: Camo lets me modify my camera to zoom in, adjust lighting, or add an overlay during video calls. Prezi Video and Mmhmm enable lower-thirds, annotations, and overlay visuals I occasionally use for presentations. Sony UX570 voice recorder is my reliable $80 hardware backup for recording audio. I like that it doesn’t require an open laptop or running phone. I often transcribe the audio files with MacWhisper. 6 p.m.: After work Evening and nighttime tools help with relaxation, family time, and better sleep: Snipd: This smart podcast app lets me triple-tap my AirPods to save highlights to Readwise, which syncs to my digital notebook. (Recent favorite: Shell Game by Evan Ratliff. Season 1 is terrific, about AI voice clones.) Nex: I love playing the sports and workout games on this family video game system. They’re all active games played with your body, not your thumbs, and there’s no violence. I play solo or with my wife and daughters. It’s like a next-generation Nintendo Wii, which we also still play—especially tennis, skiing, and the Wii Fit balance games. We also enjoy these family tabletop games. 11 p.m.: Bedtime Glocusent rechargeable reading light: This little $13 light clips onto any book or magazine for nighttime reading. One battery charge lasts for months. Yogasleep Dohm white noise machine: This $50 gadget masks random night sounds in noisy New York City, making it easier to sleep. Sony Noise Cancelling Headphones: I bought my WH-1000XM3 pair seven years ago, and still rely on them for listening to music before bed and focus sounds while working. I’m planning to buy a new XM6 model when they’re released this summer. Peakeep “invisible” alarm clock: I turn off the display on this $12 bedside clock so it’s hidden at night. I can tap the top to see the time if I need to. I mainly use it for its gentle morning alarm, so I can keep my tempting phone out of my bedroom. This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Subscribe here. View the full article

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It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Coworker who (probably) has a crush keeps hanging out at my desk I was hoping I could get your advice on dealing with a coworker who won’t leave me alone (“Greg”) and is making me increasingly uncomfortable. I’m a woman in my 20s and Greg is a decade older than me. He asked me out a few months ago and I rejected him, and he hasn’t asked me out since. We are under the same organization and our work overlaps somewhat. Greg works in another building and frequently comes over to mine. While he says he has meetings in my building, he will often come to my desk and sit next to me to chat. He starts awkward, banal conversations (for example, how an energy drink I once casually recommended makes him sweat a lot) and absolutely cannot take a hint that I am busy or not interested. It also feels like he’s watching me (he will immediately look over when my eyes move in his general direction). I feel trapped when this happens, and it’s impacting my productivity when I go into the office. I enjoy chatting with my other coworkers but only when we’re on the same wavelength. I know I need to be more direct with Greg, but I don’t know what to say. I suspect he is infatuated with me, but I fear telling him I’m not romantically interested will make him defensive and not fix the root of the problem. What are some things I can say to get him to leave me alone without souring things too much? It’s fine to start with hints because often they’ll work — but once you see that they’re not, that’s a sign that you need to say it more directly. In this case, that means: – “I can’t talk, I’m really busy.” – “I can’t have you hang out here, I need to focus.” – “I’m swamped, can’t chat.” Also, since you said he’s sitting next to you, is he using a chair you can temporarily move to make it harder for him to plop himself down? If not, it doesn’t really matter because you can still clearly say the sentences above, but if there is a way to make it physically harder for him to linger, it might be worth doing that too. I don’t think you need to tell him you’re not romantically interested — you presumably made that clear when you turned down a date — but if a week or two of consistently saying the things above doesn’t stop the drop-by’s, you might need to say, “This feels awkward to say but I’m uncomfortable with you dropping by to chat so often after asking me out, and I’d prefer you stop.” My guess is that you’re going to feel rude saying that (since you haven’t felt comfortable telling him directly that you can’t talk to him), but it’s not rude; at that point it’s the clearest way to deliver the message, and it would be warranted. (In fact, I’d argue it’s kinder to just rip the band-aid off and say it.) 2. How can I improve staff morale in hard times with little flexibility? I am a director at a state agency managing a staff of about 30. We are currently short-staffed by about 10 positions and in a hiring freeze where I have to write lengthy justifications as to why I need those positions. Needless to say, hiring has been slow to non-existent in a process that already took forever. Staff morale is not great and any time I announce any change, I am faced with negativity, no matter how I phrase it. I would love to try to increase morale somehow. I already began an Employee of the Month program last year, and I make homemade baked goods out of my own money each month for our staff meetings. But I can’t do anything about pay, time off, flex time, or any of those types of perks since we’re state and union. We also have no budget for employee food/parties/gifts. Do you have any other suggestions? Employee of the Month programs and baked goods aren’t the place to focus. People are demoralized because the team is short-staffed (and I’m guessing overworked as a result), and neither of those things get close enough to addressing that. In fact, sometimes things like Employee of the Month programs run the risk of making the problems worse, by increasing cynicism/frustration if people feel like you expect them to be distracted by a mildly shiny object when there are massive problems. (That doesn’t mean that you’re to blame for not being able to do anything about those problems — just that you don’t want to seem oblivious to them, or like you’re expecting your team to be oblivious to them.) That said, you can talk to people and ask if they have ideas for what would help! Explicitly lay out the constraints (you can’t do anything about pay, time off, or flex time) but ask them to think creatively about what would make their jobs better or easier. Who knows, maybe you’ll hear that you pushing back on Department X’s unrealistic deadlines or rude behavior would make a significant improvement to their quality of life or that they’d love to get rid of Excessively Long Weekly Meeting Y, or all sorts of other things that might not be on your radar until you talk with them. 3. I’m exhausted from being the only one with drive in my company I am working for a family-owned business. The environment is laid-back, and the owners are nice and kind. I work remotely with little to no supervision and am considered a key employee for advising and working closely with the owners. I have realized that, of the entire company and owners, there are only a handful of people who are competent and internally motivated to grow the business. The owners severely lack business skills and knowledge, despite having run the company for more than a decade. My boss, who is a long-time friend of the family and was hired as a consultant, runs the show. He gives them advice on everything and anything, including trivial and basic tasks like how to tally receipts. In addition to the lack of knowledge, the owners also lack a sense of curiosity and internal drive. While I spend time after-hours finding ways to better the business and increase efficiency, the owners are unreachable after 5 pm. They are still asking me the same questions they did when I started a few years ago. Some of my tasks require input from them and I have to remind them repeatedly even though they are routine tasks. The slack culture spreads to employees, as there is little to no supervision. When the owners introduced new processes and accountability as I suggested, employees pushed back and refused to perform the new tasks assigned to them. The owners were then afraid of upsetting employees, so they took on the tasks themselves or hired people to meet the demands. My boss asked me to take on additional executive functions because the others are “unable and won’t be able to make these decisions” (in his words) and I declined. I am feeling exhausted from the follow-ups, having people come to me asking the same questions and fixing the same mistakes. I witness subpar performance from both employees and owners alike. I constantly feel like I am pushing a boulder uphill with a couple of people sitting on it. The business is slowly facing consequences with reduced profits this year. I did not get my annual raise. My bonus was also lower. I am not learning new things from the job. But I have been able to exert influence and push new initiatives. I am also highly regarded for my contributions to the company. However, I am deeply dissatisfied by the lack of progress and complacency in the organization. My friends and family said that I expect too much from people. How should I navigate this situation? It sounds like you should find a different job and quit this one! The working environment is frustrating and demoralizing, you have a radically different vision for how things should run than how they’re actually going to run, you’re seeing financial consequences coming down the pike, and it’s already affecting your pay. You don’t need to stay! You can decide to leave and do something else. If you think over your options and decide that staying there, with all its flaws, is still better than leaving, then you’ve just got to do it with your eyes open: the owners are who they are, their limitations are exactly what you’ve seen, and most/all of what you think should change isn’t going to, but you’re choosing to stay anyway because ____. You’ve got to fill in that blank on your own, but getting really clear on why you’re staying despite all this, if in fact that’s what you decide, should help. 4. Backing out of a talk I thought was already canceled Last August, a former boss asked if I would give a volunteer professional development session during a series he arranged at my former workplace. Even though I don’t particularly like some of the people who still work there, I agreed, and we settled on a topic where I have expertise and that would be interesting to the audience for a date in May. This March, my former boss let me know he’d been unexpectedly fired, and asked if I’d keep him in mind if I heard of jobs he’d be a good fit for. Of course I said yes, and I mentally removed the session from my calendar. Now, the day before the originally-scheduled event, I got a text from an unknown number to confirm my session and ask if I need anything for set-up. I let them know that unfortunately, I’d be unable to make it. No one had contacted me until the day before, and they fired the person responsible for the arrangements in the first place; I didn’t realize this was still on and hadn’t done any work to prepare for it, nor would I have known who to contact to confirm. Certainly this won’t reflect poorly on my former boss, and I shouldn’t feel bad about backing out of something that I was never officially confirmed, right? Well … I can see how you got there in your thinking, but I wouldn’t have assumed it was off without first trying to confirm that. It was arranged by your former boss, yes, but it clearly got put on some kind of team-wide calendar and someone else took over the planning for it. That said, it’s not a big deal. It won’t reflect badly on your old boss (he’s gone! he couldn’t have done anything about it), and it probably won’t reflect badly on you either; they’ll just figure it was a miscommunication, which it was. (And really, they should have contacted you sooner than the day before to confirm and to let you know who your new point of contact would be. What if you had needed to cancel two weeks ago? You wouldn’t have known who to contact.) 5. My company wants me to talk to an outside recruiter for an internal position My company has hired a recruiter for a role that I am also throwing my hat in the ring for. I was told that the recruiter would talk to me, too. But is there a financial incentive for the recruiter to bring someone in from the outside? Just wondering if this means the deck is stacked against me from the outset. Yes, there is a built-in financial incentive for the recruiter to bring in an outside candidate, assuming they have a traditional recruiter relationship with your company where they only get paid if a candidate they find gets hired. In fact, if this is a traditional recruiter set-up, it doesn’t make sense for the recruiter to talk to you at all! Typically they’d find candidates and present them to your company, and your company would decide who they’re going to interview and assess people from there. Unless the recruiter is also part of the hiring decision itself (which would be unusual but not impossible), your company should just interview you the same way they’re interviewing other candidates, unless there’s some specific reason they want her evaluation of you (like if she specializes in X, the job is X, and no one internal has the expertise to assess X) or unless they’re not taking you seriously as a candidate. The post coworker with a crush keeps hanging out at my desk, exhausted from being the only employee with any drive, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

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Etsy has launched a series of product updates aimed at streamlining the seller experience and improving business management tools on the platform. The updates, announced April 25, 2025, focus on listing enhancements, shop management improvements, and expanded support options for sellers. Listing Creation Enhancements One of the most significant updates is the introduction of new photo tools within the Etsy Seller app. Sellers can now upload and edit images more efficiently, with features such as background photo processing and the ability to create and save custom filters. These tools are designed to save time and maintain a cohesive visual identity across a shop. Sellers can also now view all listing categories and subcategories directly within the Etsy Seller app. A new feature in the search visibility dashboard prioritizes listings that may benefit most from updates, helping sellers focus on improving their visibility. Additionally, a beta feature offering real-time listing quality feedback is being tested by a select group of sellers. Improved Shop Management Etsy has also introduced changes to Shop Manager to offer a more streamlined experience. The redesigned interface makes it easier for sellers to locate essential tools and information, such as shop stats and order data. Recent activity now has its own dedicated tab, allowing for quicker access to buyer interaction data. Performance improvements have also been made throughout the seller platform. The Orders and Sales & Discounts pages now load faster, enabling sellers to manage their workflows more efficiently. Message loading times in the Etsy Seller app have been improved, enhancing communication with customers on mobile devices. A more intuitive navigation system has also been introduced to help users find important pages with greater ease. The updated Etsy Apps page is now designed to make it easier for sellers to discover third-party tools to expand their business. Updates within the app now also provide Etsy with improved diagnostics for identifying and fixing performance issues more quickly. Expanded Support and Sales Tools Etsy is expanding access to its support team, allowing eligible sellers—including those in the U.S., Canada, the UK, Australia, select high-volume sellers, and all Star Sellers—to contact Etsy Support directly from Shop Manager. The company plans to continue expanding this support capability throughout the year. Other notable updates include improvements to Etsy Ads placement in search results, aimed at helping buyers connect with relevant listings more effectively. Etsy is also testing updates to the Shop Home layout, which are designed to make shop inventories easier to browse and increase the likelihood of sales. This article, "Etsy Rolls Out Spring Product Updates to Improve Seller Experience" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article