Kickstart: What's in a name? Funding

Political pressure is playing an increased role in sustainability issues in the U.S.

Environmental groups have warned that job cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association could disrupt studies on marine plastics while the Environmental Protection Agency has signaled changes in enforcement going forward.

That's not necessarily a surprise since the Republican party in general has pushed for reduced regulations.

But beyond those moves, there's increased emphasis on non-governmental organizations to adopt terminology and names preferred by President Donald Trump and his administration. The Nature Conservancy, which has been active in discussions about the global plastics treaty and active in cleanup efforts related to hurricanes and other natural disasters, said Feb. 26 that it will refer to the Gulf of America for U.S. territorial waters.

"To ensure our programs continue, in accordance with clear directives from federal agencies under recent executive orders, TNC is required to refer to its programs in the Gulf of Mexico in U.S. territorial waters as 'Gulf of America,'" it says in a statement posted to its website. "We continue to refer to our programs occurring outside of U.S. territorial waters in the Gulf as 'Gulf of Mexico,' in accordance with international practice."

The website Heatmap says TNC could have lost more than $150 million in grants related to its work in the Gulf.

With threats for 25 percent tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada set to begin on March 4, some auto industry firms are continuing to say those costs will be pushed forward to customers.

Executives from Forvia, the France-based car interiors and lighting supplier previously called Faurecia, said during a Feb. 28 conference call related to its 2024 fiscal results that suppliers cannot bear the burden of tariffs alone.

Forvia has drafted a plan on how it will respond to tariffs.

"We have defined what will be necessary for the entire impact to be passed on to our clients and suppliers. Because we can't do otherwise," Forvia Chief Financial Officer Olivier Durand said, according to a Reuters report.

The tariff threats come as sales in both Europe and North America have slowed.

We can finally put the threats of a dockworkers' strike behind us.

About four months after reaching a tentative agreement, members of the International Longshoremen's Association union overwhelmingly approved a six-year labor contract with the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents ports from Maine to the Gulf Coast in Texas.

Union members will see a 62 percent pay hike over six years that will lift top hourly wages to $63 an hour. At the same time, the dock owners will be permitted to begin investing in some autonomous operations, as long as they retain and add jobs.

The union had briefly gone on strike in October, threatening severe supply chain issues that would affect the import and export of resins, machinery, vehicles and other goods. It had industry analysts fearing "cascading effects" of port shutdowns at the time.

The new contract will extend to Sept. 30, 2030.