June 13, 20255 min readFive Climate Issues to Watch When Trump Goes to CanadaPresident Trump will attend the G7 summit on Sunday in a nation he threatened to annex. He will also be an outlier on climate issuesBy Sara Schonhardt & E&E News Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty ImagesCLIMATEWIRE | The world’s richest nations are gathering Sunday in the Canadian Rockies for a summit that could reveal whether President Donald Trump's policies are shaking global climate efforts.The Group of Seven meeting comes at a challenging time for international climate policy. Trump’s tariff seesaw has cast a shade over the global economy, and his domestic policies have threatened billions of dollars in funding for clean energy programs. Those pressures are colliding with record-breaking temperatures worldwide and explosive demand for energy, driven by power-hungry data centers linked to artificial intelligence technologies.On top of that, Trump has threatened to annex the host of the meeting — Canada — and members of his Cabinet have taken swipes at Europe’s use of renewable energy. Rather than being aligned with much of the world's assertion that fossil fuels should be tempered, Trump embraces the opposite position — drill for more oil and gas and keep burning coal, while repealing environmental regulations on the biggest sources of U.S. carbon pollution.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Those moves illustrate his rejection of climate science and underscore his outlying positions on global warming in the G7.Here are five things to know about the summit.Who will be there?The group comprises Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States — plus the European Union. Together they account for more than 40 percent of gross domestic product globally and around a quarter of all energy-related carbon dioxide pollution, according to the International Energy Agency. The U.S. is the only one among them that is not trying to hit a carbon reduction goal.Some emerging economies have also been invited, including Mexico, India, South Africa and Brazil, the host of this year’s COP30 climate talks in November.Ahead of the meeting, the office of Canada's prime minister, Mark Carney, said he and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva agreed to strengthen cooperation on energy security and critical minerals. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump would be having "quite a few" bilateral meetings but that his schedule was in flux.The G7 first came together 50 years ago following the Arab oil embargo. Since then, its seven members have all joined the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement. The U.S. is the only nation in the group that has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, which counts almost every country in the world as a signatory.What’s on the table?Among Canada’s top priorities as host are strengthening energy security and fortifying critical mineral supply chains. Carney would also like to see some agreement on joint wildfire action.Expanding supply chains for critical minerals — and competing more aggressively with China over those resources — could be areas of common ground among the leaders. Climate change is expected to remain divisive. Looming over the discussions will be tariffs — which Trump has applied across the board — because they will have an impact on the clean energy transition.“I think probably the majority of the conversation will be less about climate per se, or certainly not using climate action as the frame, but more about energy transition and infrastructure as a way of kind of bridging the known gaps between most of the G7 and where the United States is right now,” said Dan Baer, director of the Europe program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.What are the possible outcomes?The leaders could issue a communique at the end of their meeting, but those statements are based on consensus, something that would be difficult to reach without other G7 countries capitulating to Trump. Bloomberg reported Wednesday that nations won’t try to reach a joint agreement, in part because bridging gaps on climate change could be too hard.Instead, Carney could issue a chair’s summary or joint statements based on certain issues.The question is how far Canada will go to accommodate the U.S., which could try to roll back past statements on advancing clean energy, said Andrew Light, former assistant secretary of Energy for international affairs, who led ministerial-level negotiations for the G7.“They might say, rather than watering everything down that we accomplished in the last four years, we just do a chair's statement, which summarizes the debate,” Light said. “That will show you that you didn't get consensus, but you also didn't get capitulation.”What to watch forIf there is a communique, Light says he’ll be looking for whether there is tougher language on China and any signal of support for science and the Paris Agreement. During his first term, Trump refused to support the Paris accord in the G7 and G20 declarations.The statement could avoid climate and energy issues entirely. But if it backtracks on those issues, that could be a sign that countries made a deal by trading climate-related language for something else, Light said.Baer of Carnegie said a statement framed around energy security and infrastructure could be seen as a “pragmatic adaptation” to the U.S. administration, rather than an indication that other leaders aren’t concerned about climate change.Climate activists have lower expectations.“Realistically, we can expect very little, if any, mention of climate change,” said Caroline Brouillette, executive director of Climate Action Network Canada.“The message we should be expecting from those leaders is that climate action remains a priority for the rest of the G7 … whether it's on the transition away from fossil fuels and supporting developing countries through climate finance,” she said. “Especially now that the U.S. is stepping back, we need countries, including Canada, to be stepping up.”Best- and worst-case scenariosThe challenge for Carney will be preventing any further rupture with Trump, analysts said.In 2018, Trump made a hasty exit from the G7 summit, also in Canada that year, due largely to trade disagreements. He retracted his support for the joint statement.“The best, [most] realistic case outcome is that things don't get worse,” said Baer.The worst-case scenario? Some kind of “highly personalized spat” that could add to the sense of disorder, he added.“I think the G7 on the one hand has the potential to be more important than ever, as fewer and fewer platforms for international cooperation seem to be able to take action,” Baer said. “So it's both very important and also I don't have super-high expectations.”Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.

The Trump administration is trying to strip Harvard of its ability to enroll international students — an effort blocked by a federal judge on Friday, just hours after the university filed a lawsuit claiming Trump was violating its First Amendment rights.On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rescinded Harvard’s access to the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a government database of international students attending universities in the United States. The students’ visas weren’t cancelled, but DHS’s revocation of Harvard’s SEVIS certification could, in theory, make nearly 6,800 international students enrolled at Harvard deportable immediately.“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” DHS secretary Kristi Noem said on Thursday. “It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments. Harvard had plenty of opportunity [sic] to do the right thing. It refused.”A month earlier, DHS demanded that Harvard turn over information on its international students, including their “known illegal activity,” “known dangerous or violent activity,” “known threats to other students or university personnel,” and “known deprivation of rights of other classmates or university personnel.” The department also requested information on any disciplinary action that had been taken against international students who participated in protests. DHS threatened to rescind Harvard’s SEVIS certification if the university didn’t turn over student records by April 30th.Since taking office, Trump has used allegations of antisemitism at universities across the country to retaliate against students involved in campus protests against the war on Gaza — and against the universities themselves, which the administration claims haven’t done enough to quell antisemitism on their campuses. In addition to pulling billions of dollars in federal funding, the administration has also had Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest several students over their pro-Palestine activism. Some of these students, like Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi, are green card holders whom ICE has accused of engaging in behavior that is contrary to the US’s foreign policy interests. Others are international students whose visas were revoked by the State Department, thus making them deportable.RelatedInstead of targeting individual students at Harvard, the Trump administration is going after the university’s ability to enroll international students altogether. Unlike Columbia, which capitulated to a list of Trump’s demands, Harvard has generally refused to comply with the administration’s requests that it hand over data on its international students; “audit” its academic programs, as well as students’ and faculty’s political views; and change its governance structure and hiring practices.Harvard sued the administration on Friday. In a complaint filed in Massachusetts federal court, the university’s lawyers called DHS’s revocation of its SEVIS certification a “blatant violation of the First Amendment.”“It is the latest act by the government in clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students,” the complaint alleges. “With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission.”Moreover, the suit claims, revoking Harvard’s SEVIS status puts students in an impossible position. “Termination of SEVIS records presents student visa holders whose school loses its certification with two bad choices,” the complaint claims: transferring immediately, or leaving the country.A federal judge has temporarily blocked DHS’s attempt to revoke Harvard’s SEVIS certification. The university’s international students are safe — for now.See More:

As Memorial Day approaches and National Military Appreciation Month comes to a close, here’s a timely fact: the largest private funder of veteran employment in the United States is a video game. Tied to Activision’s long-running military game franchise “Call of Duty,” the aptly named Call of Duty Endowment (C.O.D.E.) has placed over 150,000 veterans in jobs since 2009 and has been surpassing the federal government’s placement efforts since 2022, according to the organization’s president, Dan Goldenberg. Related Stories The initiative has raised $48 million through sales of special accessory packs in “Call of Duty” games alone (one of which recently launched in collaboration with real-life vets First Sergeant Korey Staley and Captain Florent “Flo” Groberg), in addition to other donation streams, and “every cent of which is going to putting vets in jobs,” Goldenberg says. Popular on Variety “The ‘Call of Duty’ community has been generous. Activision, as partners, have been incredible. They’ve all kind of come together in this ecosystem,” Goldenberg told Variety. “And one thing I know for sure is we’ve had more measurable social impact than anyone I know of in the gaming industry. I can’t think of another cause where it’s not so much the money raised, it’s the impact out. Others may have raised more money, but we’ve put — including the in-game stuff and other donations and corporate partnerships — close to $100 million against this problem. And as a result, 150,000 vets have jobs, their families are more secure. Meaningful employment is just so core to so many other challenges a vet may encounter. If you have a meaningful job, you probably have health care, you have colleagues, you have purpose.” According to C.O.D.E., it costs $628 per placement of each vet. The average starting salary for vets in these placements is $75,000, and 93% are receiving full-time placement. Goldenberg says the program has seen an 89% retention rate at six months. Additionally, 20% of the program’s veterans placed are women. Launched in 2009 by former Activision chief Bobby Kotick and co-chaired by General James L. Jones beginning in 2012, the Call of Duty Endowment started out a time when the unemployment rate for veterans “was super high,” Goldenberg said. “It stemmed from this very successful gaming franchise that said, ‘We’ve gotten really big, and we owe a lot of our success to the people who inspired us. We’d like to find a good way to give back to them,'” Goldenberg said, adding that “initially, we looked like a lot of corporate foundations writing big checks. But the difference was the discipline that had made Activision and ‘Call of Duty’ so successful was being applied to trying to solve a social problem here.” C.O.D.E. is currently bracing for a higher number of unemployed veterans amid the recent job cuts across government service, a popular sector for vet placement, under the administration of President Donald Trump. But Goldenberg says the techniques the endowment already has in place — methods it has been building on through years of trial and error — will help significantly with this influx. “A lot of it was vetting our partners, and we insisted on a return on our investment,” Goldenberg said. “The difference was, it was a social return. We wanted to see a lot of vets put in jobs. And when we started, we were at parity. Our cost per placement was about the same as the federal government’s efforts.” And with “consistent disciplined vetting and accountability of our grantees on a quarterly basis,” Goldenberg says the Endowment has pulled ahead. “It works. So last year, we placed vets in jobs for 1/15th the cost of placement of the government with much higher quality outcomes in terms of average starting salary, retention rates, and the percentage of those jobs that are for full-time employment,” Goldenberg said. “And I guess the big lesson out of it is the discipline of business can really make a big difference for social cost. That’s been our unequivocal experience. We didn’t go in for brands. We looked for nonprofit partners who we thought for the dollar could accomplish the most social impact, and that’s what we’ve gotten.” As for how the actual “Call of Duty” video games can help vets, a study done by the Entertainment Software Association found that 86% of surveyed U.S. vets said video games provided them with a “healthy outlet for stress and anxiety.” “And not surprisingly, ‘Call of Duty’ is their favorite game,” Goldenberg says of the study’s findings. “When I’ve talked to friends who’ve been forward, when I’ve gone forward, you would think, and people from outside will say, ‘Don’t you get enough of the military thing?’ And no, it’s like a great way for them — especially when we were in active combat, people would come back to the forward operating bases, and they use it to decompress and have fun,” Goldenberg says.

As the most famous residence in the country, the White House’s interiors are given the utmost attention, and they tend to change with every new administration. So, we’re taking a look back at how the property’s design has evolved over the years. From the famed Sister Parish designs of the Kennedy era to Michael S. Smith’s vision for the Obamas, the house has seen impressive transformations and, more recently, some unexpected style choices. The White House’s OriginsBefore we explore the White House’s most prominent interiors, let’s take a look back at the famed home’s history. The White House was designed by Irish architect James Hoban in the Neoclassical style of architecture and built over the course of eight years (from 1792 to 1800). The edifice itself is made of Aquia Creek sandstone that was painted white because of the risk posed by the permeability of the stone, which could crack in colder months. Before the White House was built, the President’s House in Philadelphia served as home to two presidents: George Washington and John Adams. The construction of the White House was completed just a few months before Adams’s presidency ended, so he was able to move into the People’s House before his term concluded.Until 1901, what we know as the White House was actually called the Executive Mansion, which then-President Theodore Roosevelt didn’t find ideal—given that many U.S. states had a governor’s residence that was also called the Executive Mansion. Roosevelt subsequently coined the term "White House" that we know and still use to this day—the new name could also be seen atop copies of his stationery.Related StoryThe Early Years When President John Adams and his wife, First Lady Abigail Adams, moved into the White House, the residence was lacking in decor, given that it was only recently completed. The East Room of the White House—which is now used for events such as press conferences, ceremonies, and banquets—was then used by Abigail Adams as a laundry room.Thomas Jefferson was the first president of the United States to spend his entire time in office living in the White House. He set the precedent for the home’s opulent but still livable interiors by having furnishings and wallpaper imported from France.The Late 1800s and Early 1900sIn 1882, President Chester Arthur enlisted Louis Comfort Tiffany to reimagine the Red Room, the Blue Room, the East Room, and the Entrance Hall, the latter of which soon welcomed the addition of a stained glass screen, in true Tiffany style. Library of CongressLouis Comfort Tiffany’s design of the White House Red Room, circa 1884-1885.whitehousehistory.orgPeter Waddell’s The Grand Illumination, an 1891 oil painting that showcases Louis Comfort Tiffany’s stained glass screen in the White House Entrance Hall.Much to our dismay, President Theodore Roosevelt had Tiffany’s creations removed 20 years later, because the designs were seen as dated at this point. Roosevelt already had a construction crew at work in the White House to make more room for his sizable family (hence the addition of the East Wing and the West Wing). While there are no colorized photos of these rooms under Tiffany’s direction, there are black and white photographs and a colorful oil painting of what the stained glass screen likely looked like—so we can only imagine how magical it appeared in real life. It’s believed that after the screen was removed, it was sold at auction and later installed at Maryland’s Belvedere Hotel, which was destroyed in a fire in 1923. Shortly after the removal of Tiffany’s designs, Theodore Roosevelt hired celebrated architectural firm McKim, Mead & White to restore the White House to its Neoclassical glory. Related StoryThe Early-to-Mid-1900sIt wasn’t until 1909—over a century after the White House’s completion—that the Oval Office was created. Then-President William Howard Taft added this room and had it painted in an army green shade, which has since been changed, as every president likes to make the space their own.Given the numerous state dinners at the White House and accompanying serveware required for them, First Lady Edith Wilson (wife to Woodrow Wilson) oversaw the completion of the White House China Room in 1917. Since then, the room has displayed state service china, silverware, and glassware chosen and used by each administration (a selection traditionally made by the First Lady). The White House Historical AssociationThe White House China Room in 1975.The majority of the presidential china depicts some variation of the Great Seal, which features a bald eagle and a shield that resembles the United States flag, but most administrations have come up with their own unique designs. Many of these are produced by Pennsylvania-based porcelain manufacturer Lenox. One of our personal favorites? James Polk’s charming floral dessert plate, featuring a mint green hue, is a refreshing change from the usually neutral color palette of other presidential china. (Heads up: You can buy reproductions of this plate and others on eBay!)Many may not know that the White House was once home to an indoor pool. (Yes, really!) In 1933, an indoor pool was installed in the People’s House at the request of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who used swimming as a form of therapy to help with his polio. On the walls overlooking the pool was a mural by artist Bernard Lammotte, who painted the Christiansted Harbor from the island of Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Thirty-six years later, Richard Nixon nixed the underground pool and turned the space above it into a press briefing room to host televised broadcasts.Abbie Rowe/National Park Service/Harry S. Truman Library & MuseumThe White House Reconstruction under President Harry S. Truman, circa 1950.Following the Great Depression and World War II, the White House was in desperate need of repair, so much so that it was deemed unsafe for occupancy in 1948, after architectural and engineering investigations. Harry S. Truman, his family, and the White House staff had to live elsewhere during a three-year-long reconstruction project in which the People’s House was completely gutted, enlarged, and reconstructed. The Trumans spent this time living at Blair House—also known as the President’s Guest House—which is located across the street from the White House. (Two members of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party attempted and failed to assassinate Truman while he was living in this house.) The Kennedy YearsFirst Lady Jacqueline Kennedy was very passionate about historic preservation, and it was her efforts that led to the formation of the White House Historical Association, a nonprofit organization that still exists today, aiming to preserve the White House’s history and make the home more publicly accessible. She was also the reason the White House was declared a museum, thereby ensuring its preservation for decades to come.View full post on YoutubeDuring Jackie Kennedy’s first year as First Lady, she oversaw a $2 million renovation of the White House. Following the completion of the project, Jacqueline Kennedy gave a televised tour of the White House, which aired on NBC and CBS to over 80 million viewers on Valentine’s Day of 1962. This was the second televised tour of the White House (Harry S. Truman was the first to give a tour in 1952), and the first time it was led by a First Lady. The broadcast went on to win both an Emmy Award and a Peabody Award.Mrs. Kennedy's renovation focused on reincorporating historic furniture and decor. “It just seemed to me such a shame when we came here to find hardly anything of the past in the house, hardly anything before 1902,” she explained in the broadcast. She cited Colombia’s Presidential Palace as a site where “every piece of furniture in it has some link with the past. I thought the White House should be like that.” Kennedy was so passionate about allowing the public to access the People’s House that, following the suspension of tours after her husband's assassination in 1963, she requested that the tours resume just one week later.The John F. Kennedy LibraryFirst Lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s dressing room at the White House, designed by Stéphane Boudin.The Kennedy-era White House restoration would not have been complete without the interior decorators who helped make it possible: Sister Parish, and later, Stéphane Boudin. Parish designed the Yellow Oval Room and the Kennedy’s private quarters, but was later replaced by Boudin (reportedly following an occurrence in which Parish advised a young Caroline Kennedy to keep her feet off of the furniture; in Parish’s own writing, she revealed that someone told Mrs. Kennedy that Parish kicked Caroline—but this was never confirmed). Parish’s granddaughter, Susan Bartlett Crater, once told the New York Times that the rift was sparked mainly by “a problem over money.” Regardless, Parish’s influence on the interior design world remains indisputable to this day, and much of the popularity of her style can be traced to this high-profile project.Boudin was soon hired to decorate the Blue Room, the Treaty Room, the Red Room, and the Lincoln Sitting Room. He would later add his own touch to the private rooms of the White House as well, with more French-style decor than was previously in place.Getty ImagesThe White House Rose Garden as Bunny Mellon designed it during the Kennedy administration. Jackie Kennedy also famously oversaw the completion of the White House Rose Garden, at the behest of her husband. She tapped socialite, philanthropist, and horticulturalist Rachel Lambert "Bunny" Mellon to design the project. Related StoryThe Late 20th Century to Present DayThe White House interiors have been reinvented numerous times over the 220-year history of the building, and the decor tends to perfectly encapsulate both the time period and the First Family living there. Dorothy Draper protégé Carleton Varney served as Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's "design consultant," styling state dinners and overseeing Christmas decor. Famed American decorator Mark Hampton also contributed Christmas decorations in 1977. The Ronald Reagan Library Ronald and Nancy Reagan enjoying a meal on silver TV trays in the White House.In the 1980s, the Reagans hired Ted Graber, a decorator from Beverly Hills, to bring their vision to life. In the process, many antique furnishings were replaced with 20th-century decor, straying from typical White House decorating traditions. At the beginning of the next decade, George H.W. Bush tapped Hampton to revive the Oval Office and Executive Residence during his tenure. By the time Bill Clinton moved in, the hand-painted 18th-century-style bird wallpaper that was installed by the Reagans in the master bedroom was still in place. The Clintons’ interior decorator, Kaki Hockersmith, removed and replaced the wallpaper, telling The Washington Post that the room “had lots of all kinds of birds flying and sweeping around. It was not a calming atmosphere.”As First Lady, Hillary Clinton helped raise the White House Endowment Trust’s funds to $35 million, so that more restoration work could be done to White House. During her time spent living at the People’s House, Mrs. Clinton had five rooms restored: the State Dining Room (which Mark Hampton oversaw), the East Room, Cross Hall, the Red Room, and the Blue Room. The Ronald Reagan Library The Reagans’ bird wallpaper (pictured) was later replaced by the Clintons.George W. Bush hired Kenneth Blasingame, a fellow Texan, to decorate the White House interiors during his administration. And this wasn’t their first time working together—Blasingame also decorated the Bush family’s ranch house in Crawford, Texas. Then-First Lady Laura Bush told Architectural Digest about her plans for the Oval Office’s redesign, saying, “We knew he wanted it to be a sunny office that showed an optimist worked there.” One of the pieces that she and Blasingame collaborated on was a rug that featured the iconic presidential seal, along with a cheery addition: sun rays above the emblem, which echoed Mrs. Bush’s hopes for a “sunny office.” The rug also includes a depiction of a garland made of laurel leaves, a tie-in to the First Lady’s first name, Laura.Architectural DigestThe Queens’ Bedroom as it appeared during the George W. Bush years, where various queens throughout history have stayed. The drapery, bed hanging, and armchair are by Scalamandré.When President Barack Obama took office, he replaced the aforementioned rug with one that paid tribute to four prior presidents and a civil rights icon. The following quotes from Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. outline the perimeter of the historical rug:"Government of the people, by the people, for the people.” —Abraham Lincoln"The welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally upon the welfare of all of us.” —Theodore Roosevelt"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” —Franklin Delano Roosevelt"No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.” —John F. Kennedy"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” —Martin Luther King Jr.Michael Mundy/Rizzoli Michael S. Smith’s design for the Obama-era Yellow Oval Room.Barack and Michelle Obama worked with decorator Michael S. Smith to make extensive updates to the residence, creating spaces that merged formality and comfort—and incorporating plenty of modern and contemporary art by American talents. With the help of decorator Tham Kannalikham, President Donald Trump replaced the Obama-era beige striped wallpaper in the Oval Office with a light grey damask option during his first term. In the years Trump first took office, at least $3.4 million was spent to revamp the White House to better suit his aesthetic—including a highly controversial revamp of the Rose Garden.During Joe Biden’s term as president, First Lady Jill Biden notably chose interior designer Mark D. Sikes—known for his expertise in fresh, all-American style—to reimagine her East Wing office. Sikes was the first design expert the Bidens selected to transform a White House space, according to The Washington Post. When the couple was living in the vice president’s residence, they enlisted designer Victoria Hagan.View full post on InstagramSikes later updated Blair House, the President’s Guest House, with more than 100 rooms. He spent a year and a half revamping the place with his team to make it feel comfortable and homey for visitors while preserving the historic interiors, which hadn’t been updated since Mario Buatta and Mark Hampton refreshed the house in the 1980s. “We wanted to continue the story that was already told by Mark and Mario,” Sikes told AD in October 2024. “They’re both idols of mine, so we didn’t want to completely reimagine what they did, but continue the story and update it and make it feel like the best representation of American traditional design there is.”Sikes reupholstered existing furniture, designed custom pieces, and even commissioned a brighter take on the Clarence House damask wallpaper Buatta and Hampton installed in the hallways and staircases. The designer also applied the refreshed Blair House logo to everything from linens to china.Related StoryAnna Moneymaker//Getty ImagesIn Trump’s second term as president so far, he’s made evident changes to the Oval Office—giving the room a more ornate, gold-heavy look. Among the new accessories are a row of historic gold objects on the mantel, gold medallions on the walls and fireplace, gilded Rococo mirrors on the walls, gold eagles on side tables, and even gold cherubs above the doors.Follow House Beautiful on Instagram and TikTok.

Bryant Francis, Senior EditorMay 19, 20253 Min ReadImage via The Strong Museum.At a GlanceThe AIAS has asked donors for their support of the Strong Museum of Play after funds were cut by the Trump Administration.The Trump administration's questionably legal cuts to federal programs have created a half-million dollar shortfall for the Strong National Museum of Play.According to an email sent by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (passing on a message "from our friends" at the Museum), the organization learned last month that two of its federal grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) were "terminated" following executive orders by President Trump "downsizing" these agencies.These executive orders were preceded by mass firings at both agencies executed in part by the Elon Musk-helmed "Department of Government Efficiency." Because the Department was not created by the United States Congress, its dramatic cuts to the federal government have been repeatedly challenged in court.Cuts like those faced by the Strong Museum have also been challenged for being unconstitutional under the argument that Congress—not the Executive Branch—already funded these programs and agencies in the 2024 spending bill.Shane Rhinewald, communications director for the Strong Museum, confirmed the cuts in an email to Game Developer. He explained that the two grants were were meant to fund upcoming exhibits: one called "Beyond the Buzzer: Game Shows in America" funded by the NEH, and a collections preservation project related to "important toy catalogues."Related:"Neither grant affects the regular operating budget of the museum," Rhinewald stated. "Despite the funding setback, the museum still intends to complete both projects, though the size, scope, and timeline may be affected if the funding gap isn’t closed through other means, including donations, other grant opportunities, and industry support."The two government organizations previously funded other exhibits at the Strong Museum, including the ESL Digital Worlds exhibits which house the World Video Game Hall of Fame.The Trump administration keeps attacking the game development communityThough the President Trump and his administration have not made any direct comments or regulatory actions targeting the video game industry, its actions have repeatedly harmed companies and workers alike.In February 2025 a Massachusetts game developer joined a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration over its reversal of an existing policy to allow US citizens to obtain passports affirming their gender identities. This developer argued that the administration's actions impacted their ability to travel internationally to work in-person with their colleagues.Related:Meanwhile, the administration's on-again off-again tariffs have rattled the world of video game hardware—a move that would be stressful on any given year, but made more potentially dramatic thanks to the upcoming launch of the Nintendo Switch 2. Elsewhere, Sony stated it is considering passing the cost of tariffs onto consumers for its electronic hardware (including the PlayStation 5 lineup), and Microsoft announced a first-ever price increase to its Xbox consoles following the tariff announcements.The Entertainment Software Association publicly warned the world in February 2025 that these tariffs would have a "negative impact" on the video game business.Finally, there is of course the continued rollout of policies and proposed legislation aligned with Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation-backed initiative that proposes cutting labor law enforcement, civil rights protections, and beyond.Game Developer has reached out to the IMLS and NEH and will update this story when a comment is issued.Read more about:Top StoriesAbout the AuthorBryant FrancisSenior Editor, GameDeveloper.comBryant Francis is a writer, journalist, and narrative designer based in Boston, MA. He currently writes for Game Developer, a leading B2B publication for the video game industry. His credits include Proxy Studios' upcoming 4X strategy game Zephon and Amplitude Studio's 2017 game Endless Space 2.Follow Bryant Francis, Senior Editor, on Bluesky or LinkedIn.See more from Bryant FrancisDaily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inboxStay UpdatedYou May Also Like

Saudi Arabia’s artificial intelligence (AI) ambitions were boosted following US president Donald Trump’s recent trip to the Middle East. The Trump administration’s import tariffs and AI chip export restrictions appear to have been behind the decision by Saudi Arabian datacentre operator DataVolt to sign a major server deal with US firm Supermicro. The company’s selection of the US firm for its $20bn investment in AI datacentre technology will secure graphics processing unit (GPU) hardware currently seen as the best way to provide the accelerated processing power AI workloads require. “Partnering with Supermicro guarantees us a US-made supply chain for critical GPU systems and positions DataVolt to accelerate our investment plans,” said Rajit Nanda, CEO of DataVolt. Supermicro said the collaboration would fast-track delivery of its ultra-dense GPU platforms, storage and rack-based systems for DataVolt’s hyperscale gigawatt-class renewable and net-zero green AI datacentre facilities.  The hardware uses liquid cooling, which Supermicro said reduces power costs by up to 40%, which allows datacentres to run more efficiently with lower power usage effectiveness. “We are excited to collaborate with DataVolt to bring our advanced AI systems featuring the latest direct liquid cooling technology (DLC-2), powered by local renewable, sustainable and net-zero green technology,” said Charles Liang, president and CEO of Supermicro. Supermicro claims its latest AI infrastructure is able to lower the total cost of ownership by up to 20%. Along with its Saudi AI datacentre build, Datavolt, Google, Oracle, Salesforce, AMD and Uber have said they are committed to the investment of $80bn in cutting-edge transformative technologies in both the US and Saudi Arabia. Oracle said it plans to invest $14bn over the next 10 years to deliver cloud and AI technology to Saudi Arabia. “Thanks to the decisive actions and strong leadership of President Trump and his administration, Oracle is providing the world’s most advanced cloud and AI technology to Saudi Arabia,” said Safra Catz, CEO at Oracle. “Our expanded partnership with the kingdom will create new opportunities for its economy and deliver better health outcomes for its people.” As part of Trump’s visit, Humain, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), also announced a $10bn deal with US chipmaker AMD to develop 500 megawatts of open, scalable, resilient and cost-efficient AI infrastructure that spans Saudi Arabia and the US. Through the collaboration, Humain will oversee end-to-end delivery, including hyperscale datacentres, sustainable power systems and global fibre interconnects, while AMD has said it will be providing its AI compute processors and the AMD ROCm open software ecosystem. Tareq Amin, CEO of Humain, described the initiative as “an open collaboration to the world’s innovators”. “We are democratising AI at the compute level, ensuring that access to advanced AI is limited only by imagination, not by infrastructure,” he said. Read more about AI in Saudi Arabia Saudi puts $15bn into AI as experts debate next steps: The kingdom’s Leap 2025 tech show is the backdrop for huge investment, plus debate over the future of artificial intelligence as a productivity tool but which can also potentially undermine human society. Saudi Arabia struggling to reach global leadership in deeptech: Petrostate monarchy trying to build surrogate industry made of foreign startups because own ecosystem is too immature. A number of US tech firms have made major investments in Saudi this year, driven by the kingdom’s ambitions to boost AI. Data for the Saudi Data and AI Authority from Accenture shows that generative AI (GenAI) has the potential to elevate its gross domestic product (GDP) by approximately $42.3bn by augmenting and automating nearly a third of all jobs. In February, Accenture said it was collaborating with Google Cloud to accelerate the adoption of cloud and GenAI capabilities in Saudi Arabia to support the KSA’s local data, operational and software sovereignty needs. As part of this work, Google and Accenture announced a joint centre of excellence for GenAI. During the Leap 2025 conference, Salesforce said it would be investing $500m in Saudi, with the focus again on AI. The company announced a regional head office in Riyadh, and as part of this expansion, Salesforce said it was working with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to deliver its Hyperforce, next-generation platform architecture to the kingdom. The work with AWS means Salesforce’s global customers are able to run workloads locally through a distributed public cloud infrastructure that Salesforce said complies with local regulations. Commenting on Salesforce’s plans, Abdullah Alswaha, minister of communications and information technology, said: “We look forward to seeing Salesforce expand its presence here and welcome the investment in AI that will drive unprecedented innovation and operational efficiency, supporting the realisation of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 goals.” While the White House has linked Trump’s visit to the investments major tech firms are making in Saudi Arabia, the kingdom faces a number of challenges as it fleshes out its AI ambitions. According to a March 2025 paper from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Vision 2030 represents a future-orientated vision to make religion less of a focal point of its society, particularly with regards to how Saudi Arabia is perceived internationally. But the paper notes that private-sector employers face the challenge of hiring Saudi citizens to fill high-skilled jobs. “This skills gap will only worsen as the kingdom targets a wide range of highly skilled sectors, including AI startups, green technology, datacentres, e-gaming, fintech and EV production,” it says.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) launched the Energy Star program in 1992 as part of the Clean Air Act. The program was passed with strong bipartisan support under the President George H. W. Bush administration. It’s used to designate and promote energy-efficient appliances and architecture. Energy Star’s 33-year run may soon end, however. Since 1992, Energy Star has helped U.S. families and businesses save $500 billion in energy costs, and has staved off approximately 4 billion metric tons of climate pollution in the form of greenhouse gases. Energy Star Buildings meet stringent performance metrics established by the EPA, based on a 1 to 100 scale—buildings must achieve a 75 for Energy Star rating. A recent Office of Air and Pollution (OAP) meeting alerted reporters to the Trump administration’s plan to terminate the program. EPA director Lee Zeldin, on May 2, announced plans to scale down the EPA more broadly, albeit without explicitly mentioning the Energy Star program. Zeldin said the White House’s proposed changes to the EPA could save taxpayers $300 billion, but didn’t give details as to how. Zeldin also said, “EPA expects to have employment levels near those seen when President Ronald Reagan occupied the White House.” Jeanne Shaheen, Democratic Senator of New Hampshire, called the decision to terminate Energy Star a win for billionaires. “Let’s be clear: Cutting the popular Energy Star program—which helps everyday households and businesses save on their energy bills—would mark another rash attempt by this administration to line the pockets of billionaires and utility companies at the expense of hardworking Americans,” Shaheen said in a statement. Ted Kelly, U.S. Clean Energy, Environmental Defense Fund director, was also quick to respond. “For more than three decades,” Kelly said, “the Energy Star program has helped American families shop for reliably energy-efficient home appliances that would save them money. Generations have looked for the blue Energy Star label in stores when they were buying a refrigerator or dishwasher and wanted something they could trust.” Kelly continued: “Companies chose to participate in the voluntary program because they knew their customers liked it.” After the decision was made public, over 1,000 companies wrote letters to the EPA in support of the Energy Star program. Vivian Loftness, an architecture professor at Carnegie Mellon University, said: “This takes us out of a position of leadership.” In an op-ed published in The Washington Post, William K. Reilly a former administrator of the EPA, called it “a case of mistaken identity.” Adding that “In its antipathy to climate activism, the EPA has taken an ax to that rare government program embraced by both seller and buyer, builder and environmentalist, because everyone comes out ahead.” The announcements comes not long after other defunding efforts, Medicaid being a hot button one. The proposed 2026 federal budget deprives architecture schools and nonprofits of vital resources, as part of National Endowment for the Arts cuts. Zeldin previously slashed EPA spending, taking aim at $2 billion in grants that would have supported sustainability initiatives, DEI, natural disaster relief, and environmental justice work. AN reached out to the EPA and DOE for comment.

Harvard GSD has announced the Class of 2026 Loeb Fellows. The 10 winners come from varied disciplines and places—Quito, Pittsburgh, Stockholm, Los Angeles, London, Rio de Janeiro, and Glasgow. The Loeb Fellowship gives mid-career professionals the chance to stay at Harvard and MIT for 10 months, and engage with students, participate in round tables, convene workshops, and more. Harvard GSD dean Sarah M. Whiting said this year’s batch are “inspiring individuals” and represent “exceptional practitioners in their respective fields.” She said she looks forward to the fellows “sparking new conversations and challenging us all to consider how design can address global challenges.” Oliver Wainwright, The Guardian’s London-based architecture critic, is among the fellows. Wainwright follows in the foot steps of past architecture critics to have earned the fellowship, like Inga Saffron, Mark Lamster, Alexandra Lange, Pilar Viladas, Henry Grabar, and others. Both Saffron and Lange were fellows prior to winning Pulitzer Prizes for Criticism. Loeb Fellow Daniela Chacón Arias is cofounder and executive director of TANDEM, a Quito, Ecuador–based consultancy. Other fellows participating in the 2026 iteration include, Cecilia Cuff, founder of The Nascent Group in Chicago; Jeremiah Ellison, Ward 5 City Councilmember in Minneapolis; and  Brazilian architect Pedro Évora Amaral. Jennifer Hughes of the National Endowment for the Arts; Natalia Rudiak, director of special projects at ReImagine Appalachia in Pittsburgh; Jacek Smolicki, founder of Ekoton in Stockholm; Andy Summers, founder and co-director of Architecture Fringe in Glasgow; and Julia Thayne, founder of Twoº & Rising in Los Angeles, are also 2026 Loeb Fellows. Jacek Smolicki is the 2026 Loeb/ArtLab Fellow. Architect John Loeb is the Loeb Fellowship’s namesake. John Peterson—an architect, activist, and a Loeb Fellow in the class of 2006—now curates the fellowship. “In his autobiography, John Loeb reflected that among his many philanthropic endeavors, the Loeb Fellowship stood out as the most personally rewarding,” Peterson said. “Until their passing in 1996, John and his wife, Frances, hosted a luncheon for each year’s class of fellows at their home,” Peterson continued. “It was not the program alone, but the people—their talents, aspirations, and potential—that inspired their deep appreciation for this unique investment. In difficult times, when the future can feel bleak, it is the vision and actions of individuals with a shared purpose that rekindle hope and remind us that better futures are possible.” Tosin Oshinowo, Shana M. griffin, Tawkiyah Jordan, and others were among the 2025 Loeb Fellows. The 2026 Loeb Fellowship will commence in August 2026.

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Harvard GSD announced the 2026 cohort of Loeb Fellowship recipients this morning. During their ten-month residency, the group of seasoned mid-career professionals will bring to campus a variety of backgrounds, from architecture and design criticism to policymaking and environmental activism. The ten incoming Class of 2026 Loeb Fellows are:Daniela Chacón Arias, cofounder and executive director of TANDEM, Quito, EcuadorCecilia Cuff, founder of the Nascent Group, Chicago, USAJeremiah Ellison, Ward 5 city council member, Minneapolis, USAPedro Évora Amaral, founder of Évora ArPE and RUA Arquitetos and professor at PUC-Rio, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilJennifer Hughes, senior advisor for partnerships, expansion, and innovation at the National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC, USANatalia Rudiak, director of special projects at ReImagine Appalachia, Pittsburgh, USAJacek Smolicki, founder of Ekoton and cofounder of the Walking Festival of Sound, Stockholm, SwedenAndy Summers, founder and co-d...