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Carney Cares. The Tax Code Doesn’t.
Retirement analyst and author Sue Pimento looks more closely at the just-announced "Canada Groceries & Essentials Benefit Program" in the broader context of the country's overall tax-and-benefit system. A closer analysis of steep GIS clawbacks layered on top of taxes shows that some seniors face tax rates comparable to those of the country's highest earners. Pimento argues that we should address this “participation tax” to ensure seniors earn more without being penalized for their work. Prime Minister Mark Carney just announced the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit. The intent is good. The relief is welcome. The tax code, however, did not get the memo. Important Disclaimer (Please Read) This article is for educational and discussion purposes only and does not constitute financial or tax advice. Canada's tax and benefit system is complex, highly individualized, and subject to frequent changes. Before making any financial or tax decisions, consult a qualified professional familiar with seniors' benefits, including GIS, OAS, CPP, and related clawbacks. Now that we've cleared that up, let's talk… Here’s a quick overview of what was announced. What the Canada Groceries & Essentials Benefit Program Covers Bigger Benefit Cheques: About 12 million Canadians will receive relief. Food Bank Relief: $20 million to food banks through the Local Food Infrastructure Fund. Food Supply: Immediate expensing for greenhouse buildings to bolster domestic production. Food Security: A national strategy including unit price labelling and enforcement by the Competition Bureau. Business Support: $500 million in supply chain support to help businesses absorb costs rather than passing them on to consumers. These ideas aren’t bad. Some are very sensible. Taken together, the Government estimates in its announcement that these measures would "provide up to an additional $402 to a single individual without children, $527 to a couple, and $805 to a couple with two children. They go on to say that at these levels, Canada’s new government will be offsetting grocery cost increases beyond overall inflation since the pandemic." On paper, this looks helpful. Unfortunately, paper has never had to buy groceries. But… You knew there was a “but” coming. Government announcements are legally required to include one. A Little-Known Tax Reality That Makes You Shake Your Head New research shows Canada's tax-and-benefit system disadvantages low-income seniors who work. The issue? It's hidden in the tax code. On January 28, 2026, a Zoomer Radio Fight Back discussion hosted by Libby Znaimer highlighted the issue. Guests included: • Gabriel Giguère, Senior Policy Analyst, Montreal Economic Institute • Jamie Golombek, Managing Director, Tax & Estate Planning, CIBC Financial Planning & Advice Their conclusion? Canada's tax system discourages low-income seniors from working exactly when they need income the most. Many seniors discover (usually the hard way) that a small side hustle doesn't always pay off. It can lead to higher taxes and benefit clawbacks. Work a little more, and Ottawa takes a lot more. Why Seniors Are Still Working Because the math doesn't add up. Either way. More than 600,000 older adults live below the poverty line. Meanwhile, rent, food, utilities, insurance, and property taxes are increasing faster than pensions ever did. More seniors are employed, particularly GIS recipients. MEI analysis indicates that GIS recipients with work income increased by 56% from 2014 to 2022, rising to 64% among those aged 65–69. These seniors aren't working for "fun money." They're working to keep the lights on and purchase medication. Reviewing the details reminded me of a long-standing issue in my research on income and cash flow for Canadians aged 55 and over. Many Canadians can’t make ends meet and are forced to work well past 65. Yet Canada’s tax system punishes low-income seniors for working—exactly when they need income most. To understand why, we need to look at the Guaranteed Income Supplement. The Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) Program for Low-Income Seniors Here's how the GIS benefits work: • A non-taxable monthly benefit on top of Old Age Security for low-income seniors. • Roughly one-third of OAS recipients also receive GIS—over 2 million Canadians. • For a single senior with no other income, the maximum annual benefit is about $13,000. (Source: Government of Canada GIS website) The program has done meaningful work. Combined with OAS, CPP, and private pensions, Canada dramatically reduced senior poverty over the past half-century. But there’s a catch hiding in the design. Think of GIS as a hug that tightens when you try to stand up. The GIS Clawback Problem for Canadians GIS recipients can earn only $5,000 per year in employment income before clawbacks begin. After that, GIS takes back 50 cents of every dollar earned—before income tax and payroll deductions. A partial exemption applies to the next $10,000, where 25–37.5% is clawed back. The program helps seniors—right up until they try to help themselves. How the GIS Clawback Works Against Working Seniors Let me illustrate this. Meet Agnes. She is about to learn more about marginal tax rates than any bookstore employee should. Agnes is between 65 and 69 years old, lives alone, and receives OAS and CPP. Rising costs push her to take a job at a local used bookstore. She works about 15 hours a week at roughly minimum wage. Here annual gross employment income is about $13,000 Here’s what happens: • Her employment income triggers GIS clawbacks once she exceeds $5,000. • She pays income tax, CPP contributions, and sometimes EI premiums. • Between taxes and clawbacks, much of her earnings disappear. Simple version: Agnes works more hours but keeps far less than expected. When you keep 20 cents on the dollar, even capitalism looks confused. Agnes didn’t go back to work for the thrill of alphabetizing mystery novels. She did it to afford her prescriptions. A Canadian Tax System That Punishes the Wrong Thing If we’re going to test income, test investment income. Fine. Tax it. But employment income? Showing up? Working? The system treats that like misconduct. Once you add income tax, CPP contributions, and the loss of other credits, low-income seniors can face effective marginal tax rates of 70–80% on modest earnings. Nothing says “fairness” like taxing a bookstore clerk harder than a boardroom executive. As Gabriel Giguère of the Montreal Economic Institute has noted, "this level of taxation normally applies to wealthy Canadians—not seniors living in poverty." In a well-researched economic brief, Giguère and Jason Dean, Assistant Professor of Economics at King’s University College at Western Ontario, present a compelling argument for policy change. This comment by Giguère and Dean nicely sums up their key findings: "For various reasons, including insufficient pensions to maintain their living standards, seniors are increasingly turning to work. Yet the current tax-and-benefit system merits reform as it undermines their efforts, with the harshest effect on low-income seniors." One-Time Credits Don’t Fix Structural Problems At Davos, Mark Carney famously said, “Nostalgia is not a strategy.” Fair point. So why does our benefit system still behave as if retirement lasts ten years and ends with a gold watch? The system still thinks retirement lasts ten years and includes a gold watch. People are living longer. Many will spend 25 to 30 years in retirement. Some want to work. Many need to. A grocery credit helps. But a broken incentive structure still breaks people. Common Sense Tax Solutions the Canadian Government Should Consider 1. Raise the GIS earnings exemption The Montreal Economic Institute recommends raising it to around $30,000. Estimated cost: $544 million annually. Modest relative to the program’s size. 2. Exempt employment income from GIS clawbacks (at least partially) Keep testing investment income. Stop penalizing work. 3. Rethink retirement assumptions Policy built around “retire at 65 and earn almost nothing” no longer matches reality. None of these ideas are radical. They’re just… current. What to Ask Your Accountant About Your Tax Rate Get professional advice. Not generic advice. Not from Google. Not from your unemployed nephew. Ask specifically about: • Pension income splitting • Strategic RRSP contributions • Consulting or corporate structures where appropriate • Creative but compliant barter arrangements • CPP and OAS deferral strategies • Documentation. Lots of documentation. When clawbacks are involved, paperwork is your lifeboat. A Short, Honest Take Grocery relief is appreciated. The intent is good. But until Canada fixes a tax system that punishes low-income seniors for working, affordability will remain fragile. This isn’t about blame. It’s about aligning incentives with reality. Right now, it feels like we’re helping seniors swim by handing them bigger life jackets—while quietly drilling holes in the boat. And yes… I need to lie down. I feel another blog coming on. Apparently, exercising this much common sense counts as cardio. Sue Don't Retire...Re-Wire! Want more of this? 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From classroom to cosmos: Students aim to build big things in space
In the vast vacuum of space, Earth-bound limitations no longer apply. And that’s exactly where UF engineering associate professor Victoria Miller, Ph.D., and her students are pushing the boundaries of possibilities. In partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, known as DARPA, and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, the University of Florida engineering team is exploring how to manufacture precision metal structures in orbit using laser technology. “We want to build big things in space. To build big things in space, you must start manufacturing things in space. This is an exciting new frontier,” said Miller. An associate professor in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at UF’s Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, Miller said the project called NOM4D – which means Novel Orbital and Moon Manufacturing, Materials, and Mass-efficient Design – seeks to transform how people think about space infrastructure development. Picture constructing massive structures in orbit, like a 100-meter solar array built using advanced laser technology. “We’d love to see large-scale structures like satellite antennas, solar panels, space telescopes or even parts of space stations built directly in orbit. This would be a major step toward sustainable space operations and longer missions,” said team member Tianchen Wei, a third-year Ph.D. student in materials science and engineering. UF received a $1.1 million DARPA contract to carry out this pioneering research over three phases. While other universities explore various aspects of space manufacturing, UF is the only one specifically focused on laser forming for space applications, Miller said. A major challenge of the NOM4D project is overcoming the size and weight limitations of rocket cargo. To address these concerns, Miller’s team is developing laser-forming technology to trace precise patterns on metals to bend them into shape. If executed correctly, the heat from the laser bends the metal without human touch; a key step toward making orbital manufacturing a reality. “With this technology, we can build structures in space far more efficiently than launching them fully assembled from Earth,” said team member Nathan Fripp, also a third-year Ph.D. student studying materials science and engineering. “This opens up a wide range of new possibilities for space exploration, satellite systems and even future habitats.” Miller said laser bending is complex but getting the correct shape from the metal is only part of the equation. “The challenge is ensuring that the material properties stay good or improve during the laser-forming process,” she said. “Can we ensure when we bend this sheet metal that bent regions still have really good properties and are strong and tough with the right flexibility?” To analyze the materials, Miller’s students are running controlled tests on aluminum, ceramics and stainless steel, assessing how variables like laser input, heat and gravity affect how materials bend and behave. “We run many controlled tests and collect detailed data on how different metals respond to laser energy: how much they bend, how much they heat up, how the heat affects them and more. We have also developed models to predict the temperature and the amount of bending based on the material properties and laser energy input,” said Wei. “We continuously learn from both modeling and experiments to deepen our understanding of the process.” The research started in 2021 and has made significant progress, but the technology must be developed further before it’s ready for use in space. This is why collaboration with the NASA Marshall Space Center is so critical. It enables UF researchers to dramatically increase the technology readiness level (TRL) by testing laser forming in space-like conditions inside a thermal vacuum chamber provided by NASA. Fripp leads this testing using the chamber to observe how materials respond to the harsh environment of space. “We've observed that many factors, such as laser parameters, material properties and atmospheric conditions, can significantly determine the final results. In space, conditions like extreme temperatures, microgravity and vacuums further change how materials behave. As a result, adapting our forming techniques to work reliably and consistently in space adds another layer of complexity,” said Fripp. Another important step is building a feedback loop into the manufacturing process. A sensor would detect the bending angle in real time, allowing for feedback and recalibration of the laser’s path. As the project enters its final year, finishing in June of 2026, questions remain -- especially around maintaining material integrity during the laser-forming process. Still, Miller’s team remains optimistic. UF moves one step closer to a new era of construction with each simulation and laser test. “It's great to be a part of a team pushing the boundaries of what's possible in manufacturing, not just on Earth, but beyond,” said Wei.
Streaks of white that coat roads and cars. Powdery footprints smudged into floors. It’s the time of year when much of the United States relies on road salt to keep ice at bay and accepts the nuisances that come with it. But beyond the inconvenience, all that salt has potentially serious, long-term effects on the environment, human health and infrastructure. Steven Goldsmith, PhD, an associate professor of Geography and the Environment at Villanova University, researches topics in watershed biogeochemistry and environmental health. A focus of his lab is the study of de-icing practices on water quality. Recently, Dr. Goldsmith shared insights from his work, exploring the widespread consequences of road salt and potential solutions to reduce its harm. Question: You have led or participated in research focused on the environmental impacts of road salt application, often locally, but with much broader implications. What have some of those studies found? Steven Goldsmith: In 2022, we published a paper showing that salt—sodium in particular—is seeping into Philadelphia's water supply, and it's timed with snow melts. We found that if you drank a glass of tap water during the peak period in the winter of 2018-19, your sodium intake would be six times what the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends within a glass of water for someone on a low-sodium diet. We are susceptible in this region because most of our water supply comes from rivers, and the rivers receive that salt runoff. Some of our findings indicate this is a chronic issue and not limited to winter months. All that contaminated shallow groundwater causes the concentration to rise year-round, even in the summer. In a recent paper, we discuss the issue of salt that lands on the side of the road. When it does, it infiltrates into soil, and then it goes into shallow groundwater before entering our streams. Oftentimes when salt is applied to the road and you receive that initial precipitation, you are left with runoff with salinity near the concentration of sea water, which is very bad for freshwater organisms. Q: Have those studies found other impacts beyond those created directly by sodium? SG: It’s certainly not just a sodium issue—it's also a chloride issue. Chloride does have a negative impact on aquatic organisms, but it can also corrode drinking water infrastructure. If you have lead pipes in that infrastructure, that can lead to a range of human health issues. Even just to prevent those problems, applying chemicals to protect from the corrosion of pipes increases costs. Perhaps the worst part is when road salt infiltrates shallow soil and groundwater, the sodium is left behind preferentially in soils because it's displacing other positively charged elements, which could then go into groundwater. The elements it replaces are metals. If we have more salt runoff on the side of the roads, chances are, if we look in those streams, we are going to see higher concentrations of heavy metals like copper, zinc and even lead. Q: You have mentioned the efficacy of brine. What is brine and why is it more effective than traditional road salt? SG: If you’ve ever driven behind a rock salt truck, you probably noticed it pelts your windshield and shoots salt everywhere. A lot of that rock salt ends up following the natural trajectory of the road, which is designed to drain towards the sides to keep water from pooling. As soon as a snowstorm happens, it's going to melt and flow into the storm drain. That, of course, is bad for the environment, but also doesn’t help remove ice from the road. With brine, the application is a diluted road salt with water mixture that is usually about 23 percent sodium chloride by volume, and it’s referred to as an “anti-icing” measure. The saltwater infiltrates the top layer of pavement and embeds in the roadway itself, which keeps ice from crystallizing when snow or water hits the surface. To use an analogy, let’s say you have a large rock that you placed on top of the pavement, but you also have a quarter of that rock’s volume in sand. If you put that sand onto the pavement, it will permeate into nooks and crannies. That's the same idea here: use less material and in a way that makes it stick better to the surface and reduces the need to reapply as often during and after storms. Q: What are potential positive impacts if municipalities switch from road salt to brine? SG: There are limited studies on this, but it's been shown that if done properly, brining can reduce salt runoff into streams by anywhere from 23 to 40 percent. If it's 40 percent, you have almost cut the problem in half, and that lower peak salt concentration and runoff would have a profound positive impact on aquatic organisms that are downstream. From a cost standpoint—and I say this theoretically because there are other up-front costs associated with brining at the municipal level—if you reduce salt concentrations by up to 40 percent it means you apply a lot less and therefore spend a lot less. Q: What can individuals do to decrease road salt runoff, and how much of an impact does individual use have? SG: We can start by addressing the household salt application problem. Another one of our recent papers suggests that other impervious surfaces, like driveways, sidewalks and parking lots, are probably contributing even more than the roadway application. The best estimate is that individual or private contractor use could be over 10 times what you see on roads. For researchers, part of addressing this is trying to understand why people apply so much salt on their personal properties: are they afraid of lawsuits? Keeping with the Joneses? Are they not aware of ordinances that say you have to shovel within a certain number of hours, which would negate the need for salt anyway? For homeowners and other individuals, one proposed solution is to use a coffee mug’s worth of salt for every 10 sidewalk squares. Think of it as a “low-sodium diet” to make sure you’re not overapplying. It’s a way we can limit our use of salt and do so in a way that doesn't jeopardize safety. These individuals can also sweep up salt applied before a storm that never materialized to use before the next one. This will prevent the possibility of rain needlessly dissolving the salt. Q: Are there effective alternatives to road salt that individuals can use? SG: The only truly effective alternative, unfortunately, is simply using less road salt. While some people apply sand, it also washes into local streams, causing environmental harm. Another option that has gained attention is beet juice—what I like to call the “Dwight Schrute” solution. Beet juice actually works better than road salt because its organic acids prevent ice from crystallizing at temperatures much lower than those at which rock salt is effective. However, from an environmental standpoint, beet juice contains high levels of nutrients, which can contribute to algae growth if it enters waterways. Additionally, recent studies suggest it may also be toxic to aquatic organisms. The growing consensus is that while some road salt is necessary, we need to use less of it.
One year ago, after a campaign that toppled Bashar al-Assad's repressive dictatorship, Ahmed al-Sharaa assumed the Syrian presidency. Since then, the former rebel commander has worked to establish his credentials as a statesman, winning the support of regional powers like Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Qatar—as well as recognition from the White House. Yet al-Sharaa and his transitional government have not been immune from criticism, particularly over their handling of domestic affairs. Samer Abboud, PhD, director of the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at Villanova University, is an expert on modern Syria and the wider Middle East. A year into al-Sharaa's presidency, he believes the provisional government has made incredible strides in some areas, like international diplomacy, while struggling to find its footing in others. "There's no doubt that Syria's external image is becoming more positive. We see this kind of charm offensive, with President al-Sharaa taking to the world stage," says Dr. Abboud. "Also, most of the regional actors are very fond of al-Sharaa and were very happy for the Assad regime to have fallen. So, there's this external presentation of a transition government that is legitimate and has support, and I think that's largely true. "The problem in Syria right now, of course, is what's happening internally. To begin, across the country, you have completely collapsed infrastructure—limited electricity, restricted access to running water and unreliable internet." Much has been made of economic sanctions' role in contributing to these internal issues, with Western governments having historically limited the amount of aid and investment that could enter Syria. However, while Dr. Abboud sees these measures' elimination as crucial to the nation's progress, he also contends that ending restrictions alone is not enough to ensure the country's long-term stability and prosperity. Of particular concern, according to the professor, is the al-Sharaa administration's persistent claim "that 'free markets' could and would be a cure-all." As he explains, "The problem is that there's literally no evidence to demonstrate that private enterprise is interested in social betterment in reconstruction cases. You can't rebuild a state and a society on the profit logic. When you look at Lebanon, after all the wars Lebanon endured, what did free markets—without a strong public sector—do for that country? Roughly 80 percent of Lebanese people live in poverty." Beyond the troubles surrounding economic growth and infrastructural development, there also exist a series of fractures along ethnic and ideological lines. Wide swaths of Syria are currently controlled by militias with agendas at odds with that of the provisional government, and despite making inroads with one significant bloc of dissent (the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces), tensions are exceedingly high. Furthermore, a number of groups remain suspicious of the president and his intentions due to his past affiliation with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a Sunni Islamist group that traces its roots to al-Qaeda. Navigating this delicate situation with poise and precision is something that al-Sharaa needs to master, contends Dr. Abboud. And, over the course of the past several months, it seems Syria's new leader has started to refine the skill. "To illustrate, last year, at least 25 people were killed in a bombing at the Mar Elias Church in Damascus, and President al-Sharaa did not go to the site. In addressing the incident, he also didn't use the language of martyrdom, which is what you would typically do for any person—Christian or Muslim—who died in this context," says Dr. Abboud. "In June, however, they arrested the culprits, and he went and met the patriarch and went inside the church, and they publicized it. "The first time, he was too worried about these internal influences—of being perceived by his base as having moderated his views. Right now, he very much finds himself caught in a balancing act, working to temper the forces that are compelling him to possibly do something that could worsen an unstable situation. But I do think that the two contrasts [represented in the Mar Elias Church episode] suggest that the president is learning and gradually figuring out how to do politics a bit differently." In this vein, Dr. Abboud feels the next phase in al-Sharaa's evolution should center on reckoning with the history of the country's late civil war and encouraging a dialogue between those who supported the Assad regime and those who sought to overthrow it. In the professor's estimation, this step is essential to achieving a lasting peace in Syria. "Currently, there are some memory projects and knowledge projects that are happening, but those are not led or facilitated by the state. And that's troublesome, given what we've seen in other conflict contexts," he says. "In Lebanon, for instance, the state has amnesia. The civil war is not in the textbooks, officials don't talk about it, and it's not commemorated nationally. But then, in many ways, the narrative of how it happened—who are the victims, who are the perpetrators—can totally shape people's lives." Still, while much economic, social and humanitarian work remains to be done, Syria today finds itself in a position unlike any it's occupied in decades' time: one marked by possibility. "In general, I envision an extended period of grace for the government and an extended period of hope," concludes Dr. Abboud. "Syria did not have a future under the Assad regime. Or it had a future, but one characterized by generations of isolation. Today, people, both inside and outside Syria, have an entirely different outlook."
Natural defenses: UF researchers use living infrastructure to protect Florida’s shores
Armed with a $7 million grant from the Army Corp of Engineers, University of Florida researchers are working to bolster shoreline resilience and restore troubled wetlands in St. Augustine through nature-based solutions. “The idea of nature-based solutions is to build what we sometimes refer to as green infrastructure, to use living, natural components as the building blocks,” said Andrew Altieri, Ph.D., an assistant professor with the Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment and interim director of the Center for Coastal Solutions, also known as CCS. Instead of building man-made structures to protect wetlands, for example, restoration crews can move dredged natural sediment otherwise destined for costly disposal to increase wetlands’ size and elevation, restoring their ability to protect shorelines from storm surge, keep pace with sea-level change, filter toxins, store carbon and provide habitats for wildlife. The project is in concert with the Army Corps of Engineers’ goal to naturally reuse and repurpose at least 70% of dredged sediment into other natural areas to benefit habitats and restoration by 2030. “It is critical to understand, test and model how natural processes can be harnessed and strategically implemented to sustainably meet the challenge of rapidly intensifying coastal hazards while also providing environmental, economic and social benefits,” Altieri wrote in the project’s technical summary. Overall, the multi-disciplinary project closely examines patterns and processes of change in coastal landscapes. That includes wetlands — marshes and mangroves — and beach/dune systems. The project comes as these coastal areas are facing threats both natural and human. These areas are essential to wildlife, air quality, native vegetation, storm protection and the overall health of the ecosystem. A 2008 study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported a net loss of about 361,000 acres of wetlands in the coastal watersheds of the eastern United States between 1998 and 2004 — an average net decrease of 59,000 acres each year, with experts citing sea-level rise as one of the primary factors. “We're trying to understand the patterns of that loss and what's leading to it,” Altieri said. “These systems are essentially the first and sometimes last line of defense against coastal hazards, risks that include storm surges and coastal flooding. They are forming a buffer, this kind of protective layer on our coast. But they're changing, generally for the worse and are in danger of being lost.” With this project, the CCS-led research team plans to advance the science, technology and engineering principles of nature-based solutions. With marshes, the primary concern is elevation loss, which can drown the vegetation critical to the ecosystem. They are sinking, eroding and succumbing to sea-level changes, Altieri said. “The plants are really important for trapping sediment and holding sediment,” he said. “You lose some of the plants, then you get more erosional loss and a lack of the accumulation of sediment.” Sediment is natural muck on the bottom of water bodies. “If we can add sufficient sediment to increase the elevation to a level where the plants thrive, then they will retain that sediment that's been added to hopefully trap more sediment and accumulate more biomass through their growth,” Altieri said. “It’s something that may need to be done periodically. You may stop that decline, but you may even reverse the process of loss and change the trajectory.” As a bonus, this process saves the cost of disposing of dredged sediment, which is usually piped offshore or to a materials-management area. This project is the next step for CCS-led coastal resilience efforts in St. Augustine. In 2024, CCS and WSP Environment & Infrastructure Inc. launched a coastal wetlands-restoration project to keep pace with sea level change and erosion. The 2025 work is a standalone project with separate funding, Altieri said. The current project also has more research disciplines and project partners, including UF researchers from Landscape Architecture, Geological Sciences and the School of Forest, Fisheries and Geomatic Sciences. “Storm surges, wave energy, coastal flooding – all of that can be slowed or reduced because of wetlands,” Altieri said. “They are basically like shock absorbers. These wetlands, beaches and dunes can be lost or eroded to some degree, but the upland area behind them is essentially protected.” Researching the resilience of dunes comes with a different set of dynamics. Here, they are looking at the plants that support the dunes – sea oats and panic grass, for example. That vegetation also provides a habitat for animals such as beach mice, turtles and birds. On the beach, the team also is looking at water energy and how grain size affects the stability of dunes. “It’s understanding water movement, water energy. How is that interacting with depositing sediment, moving sediment around, sorting sediment? With water, you tend to carry finer particles further than coarser materials,” he said. What does success look like after the award’s five years end? “We'll have an understanding of what's changing on our coasts and why,” Altieri said. “We'll have an understanding of how we can work within this system to modify the natural components and utilize the natural processes. And we will hopefully be working with partners through additional funding mechanisms to actually apply that towards implementation of solutions to increase coastal resilience.” The team also includes Peter Adams, Department of Geological Sciences; Julie Bruck, Department of Landscape Architecture, School of Landscape Architecture and Planning; Maitane Olabarrieta, ESSIE; Alex Sheremet, ESSIE; Nina Stark, ESSIE; Ben Wilkinson, Geomatics Program, School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences; and Xiao Yu, ESSIE.
The Ads are Coming ! OpenAI is testing ads inside ChatGPT starting this month.
But there's a catch: You can’t just buy your way in ChatGPT will soon include “clearly labeled sponsored listings” at the bottom of AI-generated responses. And while the mock-ups don't appear all that sophisticated, it's important to focus on the bigger picture. We're about to see a new wave of 'high-intent advertising' that combines the targeting sophistication of social media with the purchase-intent clarity of search advertising. More on that in a moment. How Do ChatGPT Ads Work? Starting later this month, free users of the ChatGPT platform and those under 18 will begin receiving Ads at the bottom of their screens. First, they will see ChatGPT's answer to their question, which provides a comprehensive, relevant response that builds trust. Then they will see an ad for a sponsored product/service below. An ad that suddenly doesn't feel like a blunt interruption. It feels like a natural next step. This is premium placement. The user has already received value. They've been educated. And now there's a clear call to action (CTA) that's in context. Open AI has stated that their new Ads “support a broader effort to make powerful AI accessible to more people.” Translation: As they approach 1 billion weekly users across 171 countries using ChatGPT for free, OpenAI needs to offset its astronomical burn rate with ads. Makes sense. This New Era of Conversational Ads Will be Complicated But there's a structural difference with these new ads. OpenAI has stated that ads will only appear when they're relevant to that exact conversation. This means you can't just buy your way into ChatGPT Ads. In fact, with ChatGPT you are being selected because you're the right answer the user needs at that time. Put another way: When ChatGPT evaluates which sponsored products to show, it will favor brands with demonstrated authority on the topic. So unlike traditional paid search, where a higher bid gets you ranked in sponsored results, ChatGPT Ads will reward the brands whose content has already been recognized as authoritative by the AI model. Brands with strong organic visibility, topical expertise, and content that aligns with user intent will have a distinct competitive advantage from day one. Brands without that foundation will be paying premium rates to compete with established authorities. How ChatGPT's Ad Strategy is Set to Change Digital Marketing For years, CMOs have treated organic search and paid search as separate budget lines, often managed by different teams. I saw this firsthand, as I helped my client DoubleClick launch it’s first Ad Exchange network in the US market. Programmatic exchanges brought a new efficiency to digital ad buying. It was a very groovy time. This feels very different. Why? Because, the conventional wisdom has always been that paid search and ads drive immediate results while organic search plays the long game. In 2026, that strategy isn’t completely obsolete. But that type of thinking is about to get a lot more expensive for clients if they don't start to appreciate quality "organic" content and its ability to improve their paid advertising ROI. Now organic and paid need to get along, to get ahead. ChatGPT Ads Are Looking for Topical Authority that Experts Can Demonstrate When ChatGPT evaluates which sponsored products to show, it will favor brands with demonstrated authority on the topic. Brands won't simply be able to "buy" visibility. OpenAI in its announcements, has been explicit: ads must be relevant to the conversation. Relevance is determined by topical alignment, not budget. A brand spending millions on generic bidding will lose to a smaller competitor whose product is more precisely aligned with what the user actually asked. The ads aren't live yet. But the infrastructure supporting them is. Open AI, Google and many of the other generative search platforms are building very sophisticated systems that track topical authority and content quality signals. They're already reshaping how organic search, AI recommendations, and paid advertising work together. Topical Relevance + Expert Authority is the Path to Visibility in Search Investing in well-developed thought leadership programs generates compound returns. You get the organic search results plus an improvement in your paid search metrics in Generative AI search platforms. When done right, you build authority for AI citations, which then positions you better for ChatGPT ads. Remember, your organic traffic gains are built on authoritative content. They're built on being the answer that search engines and AI systems select. And once you've built that authority, it works everywhere—traditional search, AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and soon… ChatGPT ads. What To Do Before AI Ad Networks Start to Scale The early advantage will go to brands that invest in quality content right now. Organizations that invest in expert-authored, intent-aligned content over the next six months will have more AI citation visibility from Google Overviews and similar LLM's like ChatGPT. That means more trust signals, making paid ads more effective when they run. Content that is aligned with user intent: Answers a specific question. Not tangentially, not after 2,000 words of context. The answer appears in the opening paragraph, structured for AI extraction. Includes expert perspective. Generic information that could come from anywhere doesn't differentiate you. Expert insight, original research, or proprietary frameworks do. Demonstrates topical authority. A single authoritative article matters less than a cluster of related content that shows comprehensive expertise on a topic. Is structured for scanning. Clear headings (H2, H3), bullet points, tables, Q&A blocks. This structure helps both human readers and AI systems parse meaning. Remember, the brands that get the most value out of ChatGPT Ads will be the ones that built intent-aligned content years before the ads launched. They'll have topical clusters, expert perspectives, and the authority signals that make them the natural choice for sponsorship. Questions CMO’s Should Be Asking their Teams Now to Prepare for ChatGPT Ads Q. Can I pre-purchase Chat GPT Ads? As of today, there are currently no ads in ChatGPT. Open AI has announced that they will begin internal testing ads in ChatGPT later this month for Free users in the US market. Q. Do Ads influence the answers ChatGPT gives you? What about privacy? Open AI in their release states that answers are optimized based on what's most helpful to you. Ads are always separated and clearly labeled from Answers. They also state that they keep your conversations private from advertisers and will never sell your data to advertisers. Q. How do we audit our site content to ensure we're aligned with user intent? For your top 20-30 decision-stage queries (the ones that drive revenue), here's a quick test. Does the content directly answer the question in the opening paragraph? Are you including question-and-answer formats in your content? If you're burying the answer in a 3,000-word article full of tangents, you're losing visibility in organic search, and you're already failing in ChatGPT's environment. Restructure. Q. How do we prepare for ChatGPT Advertising Opportunities? Build topical authority through content clusters. Don't publish isolated blog posts. Organize your content around core topics your audience cares about. Create a long-form hub article that comprehensively covers the topic, then develop additional linked articles that dive into sub-topics and questions. Link them together. This structure helps AI systems over time, recognize your brand as authoritative on that topic, which improves both organic rankings and AI citation rates. Q. Can we still get traction with content that is not authored by experts? Generic AI-written content won't differentiate you. Get expert voices into your content. Feature your subject-matter experts, partner with practitioners, and customers to contribute original insights, case studies, or frameworks. AI systems can detect authenticity, and original expert perspectives is now a ranking signal. This is especially critical as you prepare for ChatGPT ads. OpenAI has prioritized conversations that cite authoritative sources. Q. How does content need to be structured for citations? Implement proper schema markup and structured data. AI systems extract information by parsing content structure. If your pages include proper schema markup (FAQPage, HowTo, Review, Product schema), you're making it easier for AI to pull your content into answers. This increases citation rates, which builds authority before ChatGPT ads scale. Q. How do we allocate our organic and paid programs? Own the organic + paid intersection. For your highest-intent topics, if you have a budget, invest in both organic visibility and paid campaigns. Run ads targeting the same keywords where you rank organically. This takes up more real estate on the results page and signals authority. It also gives you direct feedback on keyword performance, messaging, and landing page effectiveness—data that informs your organic content strategy and drives more citations - a virtuous cycle. Q. What types of creative will work best in these new Ad products? Until they roll out, it's unwise to make too many predictions. The safe bet here is to prepare your team for conversational advertising. ChatGPT ads won't reward traditional ad copy. They'll reward clarity, specificity, and direct value messaging. If you're used to brand-heavy, aspirational creative, this will feel foreign. Start testing conversationally-appropriate messaging now. Short, clear, problem-focused. Test on existing paid channels and refine before ChatGPT ads launch. Our Prediction When ChatGPT ads fully launch and scale, many brands that have invested in organic visibility and content quality will start to pull away from the pack. Remember…The brands that win won't be the ones with the biggest ad budgets. They'll be the ones whose content has already proven they're the right answer. They'll be the ones users already trust, already cite, and already know. The ads are coming. Are you ready?
UF water researchers develop prediction system for harmful algae
The slimy algae topping Florida’s waterways are more than just unsightly. They are often toxic to humans, animals and the environment. To mitigate those risks, University of Florida researchers are collaborating with North Carolina State University and University of South Florida scientists on a next-day prediction model to warn and inform water managers about harmful algal blooms. The research is funded by two U.S. Army Corps of Engineers grants for two phases, totaling $4.4 million. The project is led by David Kaplan, Ph.D., a professor with the Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering and director of the Howard T. Odum Center for Wetlands, and Mauricio Arias, Ph.D., an associate professor at USF. In a paper published recently in the Journal of Environmental Management, Kaplan, UF assistant professor Elise Morrison, Ph.D., and NCSU’s Maria Menchu Maldonado, Ph.D., chronicled their work with harmful algal blooms in the Caloosahatchee River and Estuary, the environmentally sensitive link between Lake Okeechobee and Florida’s southwestern coast. Maldonado performed the work under the guidance of NCSU collaborator Natalie Nelson. In a collaboration between multiple colleges, organizations, departments and universities, the paper’s other authors are Eric Milbrandt of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, Edward Phlips of UF and Natalie G. Nelson of NCSU. The project’s facilitators include Darlene Velez, research coordinator with the UF Water Institute, and Lisa Krimsky, Ph.D., a water resources regional specialized agent with IFAS. Using water samples and computer algorithms, the team developed prediction models based on two water sources feeding the river: Lake Okeechobee and the river’s watershed – the water run-off from the surrounding land. The models determine levels of chlorophyll-a, which is a pigment in algae that is indicative of algal bloom conditions. “For watershed-dominated conditions, the model was able to predict 49% of the variation in next-day chlorophyll-a, which isn’t bad, but for lake-dominated conditions, the model was much better, explaining 78% of the variation in next-day chlorophyll-a in the water,” Kaplan noted. Unlike traditional forecasting models for algal blooms, which are often complex and require much computing power, these models are designed to be practical for daily decision-making, particularly for the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD), which has made improving the health of the Caloosahatchee Estuary a state priority. Ultimately, researchers want to develop an algae-prediction system and tools for water managers to reduce risks in all freshwater bodies. “Definitely, this model could be expanded with the use of more data,” said Maldonado. “The same procedure could be applied in other lakes that are highly managed. And this could be done around the world.” Algal blooms in Florida’s lakes, rivers and estuaries have caused significant environmental and economic damage in recent years, UF researchers contend. Blooms are becoming more frequent and longer lasting. The initial project – called Coupling Lake, Estuarine, and Watershed Models for the Caloosahatchee River and Estuary (CLEW) – designed data- and model-driven guidance for Lake Okeechobee water releases. “The overall motivation is that Lake Okeechobee is a challenging natural resource to manage, particularly deciding when and how much water to discharge from the lake to either estuary,” Kaplan said. “There are many competing needs surrounding management of the lake, which has only so much volume. We don't want to cause flooding or other ecological harm.” The follow-up project is UF’s collaboration with USF to develop tools for end users, meaning agencies and managers to make better decisions. The team wants to deliver a system where water managers press the button to get the one-day risk forecast. The study was organized to predict whether the algae-toxin risk is low, medium or high. “In this case, there is a threshold of algal organisms that is considered harmful,” Maldonado said. “Those waters carry phytoplankton species, a microscopic algae that produce toxins. They can be dangerous to swim in, and they can be harmful to the environment. It can be a liver toxin.” Beginning in the late 19th century, the Caloosahatchee River and its watershed underwent extensive modifications that significantly altered the hydrology of the region, according to SWFWMD. The once-shallow river was deepened and widened into a regulated waterway that was connected to Lake Okeechobee and the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes for navigation, water supply and flood control purposes. “Water quality is a challenge in Lake Okeechobee, including sometimes pretty bad harmful algal blooms,” Kaplan said. “And then, of course, the downstream recipients of whatever water is discharged are very sensitive to the amount of water they're getting and what's in it. They’d prefer it to be only the right amount at only the right times with the best quality."
Why Greenland Matters: The History and Strategic Importance of the World’s Largest Island
Often viewed as remote and sparsely populated, Greenland has long played an outsized role in global strategy. Settled by Inuit peoples for thousands of years, Greenland later became part of the Danish realm in the 18th century and today exists as an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. Its location—bridging North America and Europe—has consistently drawn the attention of major powers, especially during moments of geopolitical tension. That attention intensified during the Cold War, when Greenland became a critical asset in Arctic defense. The United States established military installations on the island, most notably what is now known as Pituffik Space Base, to support missile warning systems and transatlantic defense. Greenland’s position along the shortest air and missile routes between North America and Russia made it indispensable to early-warning networks—and that strategic logic has not faded with time. Today, Greenland’s importance is growing rather than shrinking. Climate change is reshaping the Arctic, opening new shipping routes and increasing access to natural resources such as rare earth minerals, hydrocarbons, and freshwater reserves locked in ice. These developments have renewed global interest in Greenland from NATO allies and rival powers alike, as control over Arctic infrastructure, data, and mobility becomes central to economic and security planning. At the same time, Greenland’s own political future—balancing autonomy, Indigenous priorities, and external pressure—adds another layer of complexity. Greenland’s story is ultimately one of geography shaping history. What once made the island strategically valuable for defense now places it at the center of debates about climate, security, energy, and sovereignty in the 21st century. As Arctic competition accelerates, Greenland is no longer a peripheral actor—it is a focal point where global interests converge. Journalists covering geopolitics, Arctic security, climate change, Indigenous governance, or global resource competition are encouraged to connect with experts who study Greenland’s past and its evolving strategic role. Expert insight can help explain why this vast island continues to matter—and why it is likely to play an even larger role in the years ahead. Our experts can help! Connect with more experts here: www.expertfile.com
Always On, Never Present: How Work Takes Over Your Life
In many workplaces, being “good at your job” has quietly become synonymous with being constantly reachable. Slack on the laptop, email on the phone, DMs on every platform and a creeping expectation that you’ll answer “just one more thing” at night, on weekends, and even on vacation. Psychotherapist Harshi Sritharan, MSW, RSW and Offline.now founder Eli Singer say this culture is pushing knowledge workers into a state of continuous partial attention: always connected, never fully present. “Most of my high-performing clients don’t have a time-management problem,” says Sritharan. “They have a boundary problem — and their phones are the device enforcing it. Every ping is a tiny dose of dopamine and a tiny spike of stress, and their nervous system never really shuts off.” Research on digital and media multitasking backs up what she sees clinically. Studies have linked frequent task-switching between apps and notifications to: Reduced sustained attention and working memory Slower task performance and more errors Greater mental fatigue and perceived stress Neuroscience and cognition papers also describe how multitasking conditions the brain to seek novelty and micro-rewards, making it harder to tolerate the “boredom” of deep work — exactly the kind of focus most knowledge jobs actually require. Singer argues that the issue isn’t just individual burnout; it’s organizational self-sabotage. Offline.now’s behavioral data show that people now spend about 10 of their 16 waking hours on screens — roughly 63% of the day — and that 8 in 10 want a healthier relationship with tech but feel too overwhelmed to know where to start. “We’ve built workplaces that confuse constant availability with value,” Singer says. “But when you look at the cognitive science, an always-on culture is actually an anti-productivity policy. ‘Do Not Disturb’ isn’t a luxury — it’s the competitive advantage most teams are missing.” The term “continuous partial attention” coined to describe the state of being perpetually attuned to the possibility of new information has been linked in emerging research and commentary to chronic stress, shallow thinking, and emotional exhaustion in modern knowledge work. “The moment you stop treating rest and focus as perks and start treating them as infrastructure, everything changes,” Singer says. “Teams ship better work, people make fewer mistakes, and employees don’t feel like they have to burn their nervous system to keep their job.” For journalists covering work culture, productivity, burnout, or the future of work, this story connects the dots between work apps, multitasking science and mental health and offers a concrete alternative to the “always on” norm. Featured Experts Harshi Sritharan, MSW, RSW – Psychotherapist specializing in ADHD, anxiety, burnout and digital dependency. She helps high-achieving professionals understand how constant notifications, late-night work and screen habits disrupt dopamine, sleep, and emotional regulation — and what sustainable boundaries actually look like. Eli Singer – Founder of Offline.now and author of Offline.now: A Practical Guide to Healthy Digital Balance. He brings proprietary behavioral data on digital overwhelm, the Offline.now Matrix framework, and case examples of organizations reframing “Do Not Disturb” as a strategic asset, not a sign of disengagement. Expert interviews can be arranged through the Offline.now media team.
Power, Politics, and Petroleum: The Story of Venezuela
After gaining independence from Spain in the early 19th century under the leadership of Simón Bolívar, the country spent much of the next century marked by political instability and military rule. Everything changed in the early 20th century with the discovery of vast oil reserves, which rapidly transformed Venezuela into one of the world’s leading petroleum exporters and shifted power toward a centralized state funded almost entirely by oil revenue. By the mid-20th century, oil had become both Venezuela’s greatest asset and its greatest vulnerability. Democratic governments that emerged after 1958 used oil income to expand social programs and infrastructure, but also built an economy dangerously dependent on a single commodity. When oil prices fell in the 1980s and 1990s, economic inequality and public frustration surged, creating the conditions that brought Hugo Chávez to power in 1999. Chávez reoriented the political system around a state-controlled oil sector, using petroleum revenues to fund social initiatives while consolidating political authority and weakening independent institutions. Under Chávez and his successor Nicolás Maduro, oil remained the backbone of the state—but declining production, corruption, and mismanagement hollowed out the industry itself. As oil revenues collapsed, so did public services, democratic norms, and economic stability. Venezuela’s history illustrates a central paradox: immense natural wealth paired with fragile governance. Control of oil has repeatedly shaped political power, domestic policy, and Venezuela’s relationship with the world—making energy inseparable from the country’s political story. Journalists covering Venezuela, Latin American politics, energy markets, or resource-driven economies are encouraged to connect with experts who can provide historical context, explain the role of oil in shaping political outcomes, and assess how Venezuela’s past continues to influence its uncertain future. Our experts can help! Connect with more experts here: www.expertfile.com