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BROOKWOOD, Ala.The Trump administration has announced it will aim to fast-track the permitting and environmental review of a major coal mine expansion in central Alabama as part of a larger effort to accelerate the construction of what the government has labeled critical mineral infrastructure. While administration officials said the change is aimed at significantly reduc[ing] our reliance on foreign nations, coal produced as part of Warrior Mets expansion in Alabama is almost entirely exported overseas to support foreign steelmaking markets, according to the company. Warrior Mets Blue Creek mine expansion, set to be one of the largest coal build-outs in Alabama history, is one of 20 planned developments deemed transparency projects by the administration over the last two months. The mine expansion will be placed on the federal governments permitting dashboard as it moves its way through the regulatory and permitting process. The projects inclusion on the dashboard authorized under the 2015 Fixing Americas Surface Transportation Act (FAST) will, according to the Trump administration, make the environmental review and authorizations schedule for these vital mineral production projects publicly available and allow all of these projects to benefit from increased transparency. The public nature of the dashboard ensures that all stakeholders, from project sponsors and community members to federal agency leaders, have up-to-date accounting of where each project stands in the review process, the administration said in its announcement. This transparency leads to greater accountability, ensuring a more efficient process. During the Biden administration, the so-called FAST-41 dashboard was used to fast-track projects aimed at benefiting tribal nations, as well as various projects advancing renewable energy, coastal restoration, broadband, and electricity transmission sectors. The program was created as a means to enhance transparency and increase the efficiency of the permitting process, the Biden administration said at the time. With a new president, though, the programs designated to participateand the policy priorities they representhave now changed. The Trump administration has already signaled its support of the Alabama project. In April, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum visited an existing Warrior Met mine outside Tuscaloosa and took a windshield tour of the Blue Creek facility currently under construction. During that visit, Burgum emphasized the administrations stated commitment to fossil fuel production and said that its actions would unleash American energy. He did not acknowledge Warrior Mets checkered safety and environmental record or that nearly all of its productmetallurgical coalis shipped overseas for foreign steelmaking operations, not used in the U.S. We sell substantially all of our steelmaking coal production to steel producers outside of the United States, a recent Warrior Met corporate filing said. For the three months ended March 31, 2025, our geographic customer mix was 37% in Europe, 43% in Asia, and 20% in South America. The planned expansion of Blue Creek involves a major build-out of Warrior Mets ability to mine for underground coal using the longwall method, a particularly destructive form of mining in which large machines shear walls of coal, leaving vast, empty expanses in their wake. Land above those empty caverns sinks, causing what is often permanent damage to the surface and structures there. Longwall mining has devastated communities in Alabama and beyond. In March 2024, an Alabama home exploded above a longwall mine with a different owner after methanea gas released during miningseeped into the residence and ignited. The resulting blast killed an Alabama grandfather and seriously injured his grandson. Since then, the community above the Oak Grove mine in western Jefferson County has continued to crumble, with homes foundations cracking as the longwall mine expands below. Earlier this year, just as President Donald Trump was announcing efforts to promote clean, beautiful coal, a West Virginia woman was hospitalized after a methane explosion in her home atop a longwall mine left her seriously injured. Workers from the mine beneath her home had stood behind Trump during his White House announcement. Once completed, Warrior Mets Blue Creek expansion will increase the companys coal production by 60%, providing additional supply for overseas steelmaking markets hungry for metallurgical coal that can meet production needs. Taxpayer-funded support for the facility may top $400 million. The company has also asked the federal government to allow it to mine publicly owned coal as part of the Blue Creek project. The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced last year that it would conduct an environmental assessment related to Warrior Mets Blue Creek project and, specifically, its proposal to mine 14,040 acres of federal minerals underlying privately owned land in Tuscaloosa County. Warrior Mets applications to lease the coal rights propose the extraction of approximately 57.5 million tons of recoverable public coal reserves. Initial government scoping documents indicated that any environmental assessment of the Blue Creek project would include an analysis of its impact on climate change, both direct and indirect. Since those initial documents were released, however, federal guidance on the inclusion of climate change considerations in government decision-making has been in flux. A day-one executive order by Trump, for example, disbanded the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases, which was established pursuant to a Biden executive order. The order said any guidance, instruction, recommendation, or document issued by the IWG is withdrawn as no longer representative of governmental policy. That guidance had emphasized the importance of government analysis of the social cost of carbon, a way of putting a dollar figure on the economic damage that comes from emitting a ton of carbon dioxide. The Trump White House has said without evidence that the concept is marked by logical deficiencies, a poor basis in empirical science, politicization, and the absence of a foundation in legislation. Public comments on the project already submitted to BLM included concerns aroundgreenhouse gas emissions and Warrior Mets contribution to the climate crisis. Please do not approve any new or expanded coal mining, one commenter wrote. The climate crisis is already deadly and rapidly getting worse. There is an overwhelming international consensus on the severity of this crisis and the urgent need to phase out the use of harmful fossil fuels. The draft environmental impact statement for the Blue Creek project, originally set to be released sometime in the fall, is now scheduled to be published on May 30, according to BLM. Lee Hedgepeth, Inside Climate News This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter here.
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E-Commerce
Ambition is one of the most defining forces in human affairsa psychological engine that propels individuals beyond the realm of survival into the arena of creation, disruption, and transformation, and significantly predicts educational attainment, career success, job performance, and income. At its core, ambition is the refusal to accept the status quo, the internal pressure to stretch personal limits and societal boundaries. In a way, the best way to understand ambition is as the inability to be satisfied with ones accomplishments. Ambition fuels leadership by pushing individuals to take responsibility, imagine alternatives, and mobilize others toward a vision. Ambition underwrites entrepreneurship as the catalyst for risk-taking, persistence, and the stubborn belief that a better way is not only possible but necessary. Without ambition, innovation stalls; with it, people challenge orthodoxy, break conventions, and solve problems that others resign to fate. Across disciplines, from science to art to politics, historys breakthroughs are seldom the product of complacencythey are the residue of restless, ambitious minds. The world, to a large extent, is the output of ambitious people. It is shaped by those who couldnt sit still, who werent content with inherited limitations, and who felt compelled to act on their ideas, no matter how unlikely or unpopular. From the first controlled fire to the latest generative AI models, progress has never been evenly distributedit has been driven by individuals and groups with an outsized appetite to leave a mark. Ambition transforms dissatisfaction into momentum, and imagination into infrastructure. It explains not just who rises to lead or invent, but why civilizations expand, technologies leap forward, and cultures evolve. While it must be tempered by ethics and collective concern, ambition remains an irreplaceable force in the story of human progress. Everything in moderation And yet, like all powerful traits, ambition is best expressed in moderation. Too little, and individuals driftuntethered from purpose, passive in the face of opportunity. Too much, and ambition can metastasize into obsession, crowding out humility, collaboration, and even moral judgment. When ambition becomes unbounded, it stops serving the individual and begins demanding sacrificeof relationships, values, and long-term well-being. It can distort self-perception, encouraging people to see themselves not as contributors to a shared cause, but as lone heroes in a zero-sum contest. Teams suffer when ambition eclipses empathy: the pursuit of personal achievement starts to undermine trust, cooperation, and psychological safety. A competitive drive that ignores others needs doesnt just alienate colleaguesit weakens the very foundation of high-functioning organizations. Unchecked ambition often bleeds into greed, an insatiable hunger not just to succeed, but to dominate. As Gordon Gekko infamously said, Greed is gooda provocative mantra for the high-octane world of finance, but a dangerous philosophy when applied indiscriminately. Greed erodes the social contract. It justifies exploitation, tolerates unethical shortcuts, and treats people as a means to an end. In leadership, this can result in toxic cultures, short-term thinking, and spectacular failures. Companies driven solely by ambition without constraint may grow fast, but they often implode fastertoppling under the weight of hubris, burnout, and scandal. The WeWork Case Adam Neumann, cofounder and former CEO of WeWork, is a textbook example of how unbridled ambition can lead to spectacular collapse. Neumann started with a compelling vision: to elevate the worlds consciousness through a coworking space company that promised to redefine the way people live and work. His charisma and relentless ambition helped WeWork grow at breakneck speed, attracting billions in venture capital and inflating its valuation to nearly $47 billion at its peak. But Neumanns ambition quickly outpaced operational reality. He expanded into housing (WeLive), education (WeGrow), and other ventures with little strategic coherence. Reports surfaced of erratic behavior, conflicts of interest, and a corporate culture driven more by Neumanns personal mythos than sound governance. In 2019, when WeWork attempted to go public, its financial inconsistencies and Neumanns questionable leadership style came under scrutiny. The IPO failed, Neumann was forced to resign, and the companys valuation plummeted. His ambition wasnt the problem in itselfit was that it became delusional, detached from execution, and ultimately corrosive to the companys sustainability. Neumann exemplifies how visionary drive, without discipline or humility, can become a liability rather than an asset. In short, the healthiest ambition is grounded in purpose, tempered by self-awareness, and balanced by a commitment to collective success. It lifts everyone, not just the one climbing the fastest. So, while it’s generally better to have than to lack ambition, here are three proven ways in which an excess of drive or motivation can harm your career and negatively impact others. 1. Ambition can inhibit peoples prosocial drive When the desire to get ahead outweighs the instinct to get along, ambition can corrode social cohesion. In team environments, overly ambitious individuals may hoard credit, prioritize visibility over contribution, and treat colleagues as competitors rather than collaborators. This undermines trust and psychological safetytwo bedrocks of effective teamwork. For example, a rising executive who constantly angles for the spotlight may alienate peers and demoralize subordinates, even if their individual output is impressive. Over time, the cost of such interpersonal friction outweighs the benefits of raw performance. In the long run, organizations thrive not on lone stars but on networks of mutual respect and cooperationboth of which ambition can quietly erode if left unchecked. 2. Ambition can amplify antisocial traits like narcissism, aggression, and entitlement While a healthy dose of drive can motivate people to aim high, excessive ambition can inflate the ego and distort moral reasoning. Narcissistic leaders, for instance, often begin their ascent with impressive confidence and visionbut as their ambition grows, so does their sense of superiority and disregard for others. This can lead to toxic behaviors like manipulation, bullying, or a refusal to accept criticism. Take the case of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos: her ambition to revolutionize healthcare was laudable, but her unwillingness to admit failure or accept limits led to deception and collapse. When ambition aligns with antisocial traits, it stops being a virtue and becomes a liabilityboth for the individual and the system theyre part of. 3. Ambition can harm personal relationships, wellbeing, and life outside work Ambition often demands trade-offs, but when those trade-offs become sacrifices, the consequences can be severe. People driven by intense professional goals may neglect family, friends, and self-carebelieving that success justifies the costs. This mindset is especially common in high-stakes environments like consulting, finance, or tech startups, where long hours and relentless competition are normalized. Over time, the neglect accumulates: relationships fray, health deteriorates, and a creeping sense of emptiness can set ineven after major achievements. A partner who misses birthdays for business trips or skips vacations for product launches may eventually find the corner office far lonelier than expected. True success requires integration, not imbalancesomething ambition doesnt always encourage. Research consistently shows that moderate levels of ambitionas opposed to extremely high or low levelsare most beneficial for long-term well-being, work-life balance, and sustainable career success. In the famous words of Seneca, It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor. A more sustainable strategy Indeed, people with a healthy dose of ambition tend to have clear goals, a sense of purpose, and enough drive to stay engaged and motivated. But unlike the hyper-ambitious, they are less likely to sacrifice personal relationships, sleep, or mental health in pursuit of constant advancement. They are also more likely to value balance, practice self-care, and define success in broader terms than just titles or paychecks. This makes them not only happier individuals but often better colleagues and leaders. Moderately ambitious individuals are also more likely to stay grounded in reality. They can be ambitious without being delusional, motivated without being obsessive, and confident without being overbearing. As a result, they tend to make better long-term decisionsfor themselves and others. Rather than chasing every opportunity or competing with everyone around them, they focus on meaningful progress, both professionally and personally. In a world that often glamorizes extreme ambition, it’s worth remembering that the good life is rarely lived on the edge of burnoutand that sometimes, aiming for enough is the smartest and most sustainable strategy of all.It is also clear that de-emphasizing ambitionor the importance we give to itcould help in many areas of life, including business. For example: 1. We tend to overrate ambition, especially when selecting leaders In many organizations, leadership potential is judged through the lens of visibility, assertiveness, and a hunger for advancementclassic signals of ambition. We rarely pause to ask whether that ambition serves the group, or merely the individual. As a result, we often confuse confidence for competence, and ambition for ability. Research consistently shows that traits like humility, integrity, and emotional intelligence are more predictive of effective leadership than raw drive or self-promotion. Yet job interviews and promotion processes still reward those who lean in, speak up, and outperform peersoften selecting the loudest rather than the wisest. This opens the door to narcissistic leaders who crave power for its own sake. As Plato warned, a person who wants to govern should not. 2. Ambition is frequently mistaken for talent, even in roles that demand competence over charisma Think of professions where precision, reliability, and expertise are paramountpilots, surgeons, financial advisers. In these roles, would you rather entrust your life or money to someone highly ambitious, or someone quietly excellent? In reality, you often cant have both. The most ambitious professionals may focus more on personal brand-building and career climbing than on mastering their craft. Yet our hiring and evaluation systems tend to reward the ambitious candidate: the confident speaker, the impressive résumé, the person with a five-year plan to reach the top. This obsession with upward momentum blinds us to quiet competence. Ironically, many of the best performers are not those obsessed with being someone, but with doing something well. 3. Finally, ambition is often directed at the wrong goalsthose that serve ego more than others Many high achievers are not driven to make things better, but to be seen as better than others. Their goals are status-enhancing, not impact-driven: more power, more wealth, more recognition. This kind of ambition justifies any meanscutting corners, sidelining colleagues, or exploiting loopholesso long as the outcome advances their image. In this light, ambition becomes less a force for progress and more a zero-sum race for supremacy. Organizations and societies pay the price: innovation stalls when energy is spent on internal jockeying, teams fracture under self-serving leadership, and trust erodes. True ambition should be oriented toward contribution, not domination. But too often, we reward the latter and wonder why so many leaders fail to elevate anyone but themselves. When Enough is Enough Ambition is a powerful tool, but like any tool, it can become dangerous when misused or overvalued. In a world that equates relentless drive with virtue, we risk promoting the wrong people, building the wrong cultures, and pursuing the wrong goals. We forget that ambition is not inherently nobleit simply magnifies what already exists. In the right hands, it catalyzes innovation, service, and progress. In the wrong ones, it fuels ego, exploitation, and eventual collapse. The challenge, then, is not to reject ambition, but to recalibrate our relationship with it: to stop treating it as an end in itself, and start seeing it as a means to something greater. This requires a collective shift in how we define successnot as the ability to outshine others, but as the capacity to uplift them. We need to stop conflating ambition with leadership potential, charisma with competence, and visibility with value. Its time to reward the quietly excellent, the others-focused, and the impact-driven. The future will not belong to those who climb the fastest, but to those who climb with purposeand bring others with them. As my colleague and friend Amy Edmondson and I have argued, ambition may drive history, but only wisdom, humility, and interity ensure that it drives us somewhere worth going.
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E-Commerce
Continuing from the year of yeehaw, professional bull riding is having a moment on TikTok. Since the beginning of this year, Professional Bull Riding (PBR)the largest bull riding league in the worldhas gained 650,000 followers across its social media platforms, Mashable recently reported. Thats just 200,000 fewer than they gained throughout all of 2024. Mitch Ladner, PBRs social media lead, told Mashables Christianna Silva that most of this growth comes from followers between the ages of 18 and 35. On PBRs TikTok, which is nearing 3 million followers, many recent videos tap into viral trends and audiowith a cowboy twist. Aligning our chakras, one caption reads, but instead of a sound bowl, its a can of Monster Energy and a meat stick. Whoever is in charge of your page is so Gen Z chronically online coded, and I LOVE IT, reads a comment beneath a recent video. The sport itselfwith rides lasting a maximum of eight secondswas practically built for short-form video. The goal is simple: Stay on the bull using just one hand and both legs (touching the bull with the second hand means disqualification). Now its finding fresh traction with a new TikTok audience. Cowboy culture, too, is enjoying a broader resurgence. From fashion trends like coastal cowgirl and cowboy core to Beyoncés Grammy-winning Cowboy Carter album and tour, 2024 earned its year of yeehaw nickname. Today, cowboy hats and boots are everywhere. Pinterest reported an 8,700% spike in searches for country glam in 2024, while searches for Western style outfits rose 418%. A RealReal report also showed searches for vintage Levis denim and fringed leather up nearly 70%. Still, we may not have hit peak cowboy. In January, a PBR event sold out Madison Square Garden for three consecutive daysthe first time in nearly 20 years, according to Mashable. Founded in 1992, PBR is leaning into its Gen Z moment. “Our mantra is: Be cowboy,” PBR CEO and Commissioner Sean Gleason told Mashable. “It doesn’t matter where you live, what you drive, how you dress, the color of your skin, or your gender. If you live honestly with integrity, hard work, and an appreciation for the history and heritage of America, you’re a cowboy.”
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