We hope you participated in No Kings Day! After a year, the results of stupid and vindictive people, often untrained, at the top of our government is appallingly obvious. Act politically and empower a climate-focused House and Senate for next year!
Below is part of the Trinidad No Kings Day rally.
SCIENCE
The Earth’s climate is more out of balance than at any time in observed
history, as greenhouse gas concentrations drive continued warming of the
atmosphere and ocean and melting of ice, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The rising temperature experienced by humans on the surface is only 1% of the faster-accumulating heat in the wider Earth system. These rapid and large-scale changes
have occurred within a few decades but will have harmful repercussions
for hundreds – and potentially thousands – of years. One worrying result is that scientists
are detecting more heat deeper in the ocean, rather than just at the
surface. Below
2,000 meters, oceans store and hold heat longer than at the surface
layer, which releases it to the atmosphere. That means that the effects
of climate change will continue for a long time: “The
more we have heat kept away from communication with the atmosphere,”
Dr. Von Schuckmann said, “the more we are moving to time scales of
committed climate change of 400 to 1,000 years.”
Scientists have determined that tree bark contains a methane eating microbe. Experiments in live trees showed that bark microbes don’t just eat these [greenhouse] gases as they diffuse up through the trees; they also suck in methane,
hydrogen, and carbon monoxide from the surrounding air. These gases
exist in the atmosphere at only trace levels, ranging from 2 parts per
million to 40 parts per billion. But multiplied across the entire world,
tree microbes are consuming vast amounts of them – an estimated 25 to 50 million tons of methane alone.
GREENING
- Ann Arbor, Michigan, prepares to launch its own clean energy utility — Carey L.w1 Biron
- Puget Sound Energy launches Washington state’s first bidirectional EV charging pilot that will use residents’ EV batteries to provide backup home power and peak demand grid support. (Utility Dive)
- Energy Secretary Chris Wright has reportedly overstated the extent to which the Trump administration has dismantled a Biden-era clean energy loan program, which is still supporting the buildout of clean energy infrastructure. (Grist)
- Direct Air Capture of CO2 is done at industrial scale. A new start-up has developed two small units that allow an IPA beer manufacturer to capture CO2 in redwoods right outside its back door. “We’re literally taking carbon out of the environment,” Damian Fagan, the head of the Almanac Beer Company, said. “It’s pretty surreal and
amazing.” There is a large market for uses of CO2. The start-up, Aircapture, aims to provide an alternative. Its machines capture 100 to 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, depending on the
size of the machine, and can be mass produced like cars, allowing the
company to respond to demand quickly. Aircapture is trying to address some of the challenges of Direct Air Capture by creating a nimble, modular system, one that can be scaled “not by making it bigger,
but by making more of it.” - Observers say a plan to convert 136,000 acres of farmland into a 21,000 MW solar-plus-storage complex in California’s Central Valley can be a model for clean energy development in the state and nation. (Canary Media)
- Toyota said this week that it will invest an additional $1 billion in Kentucky and Indiana to increase production, including EV production, as Suvrat Kothari reports for InsideEVs. Toyota’s increase in EV spending is happening at the same time that other large automakers are pulling back in response to hostile policies from the Trump administration.
- Last week, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed an executive order ordering the state to bring 10 GW of new clean energy resources online by the end of 2035. The EO calls for 4 GW of new solar, and 3.5 GW of demand management capacity. Importantly, the EO also targets 5 GW of energy storage by 2035.
- Wind and solar grew to produce 17% of all U.S. electricity in 2025, up from less than 1% in 2005 according to the Energy Information Administration. Even amidst a “war” on renewables from the Trump Administration, renewables continue to drive growth in the electricity sector. In 2025, 93% of the 63 GW of grid additions were wind, solar, or storage.
CLIMATE DESPOLIATION
- With no place to send their natural gas, Gulf states are flaring it. There are thirteen billion cubic feet of natural gas flared or vented annually in Venezuela, another country that’s seen US military intervention in recent months. In addition to damaging the climate, it wastes about $1.4 billion of potential revenue.
- Global air quality declined in 2025, with more cities reporting standards below international health guidelines from the impact of severe wildfires and pollution from fossil fuels and agriculture. Data from almost 9,500 cities showed 14% met World Health Organization standards for annual average concentrations of harmful fine-particle matter, or PM2.5, according to a report released Tuesday by IQAir Group. That compared to a total of 17% a year earlier when nearly 9,000 cities were surveyed.
- A new nationwide report from the insurance price comparison firm Insurify found that the average American homeowner’s insurance bill rose 12 percent last year, reaching $2,948 per year, and will rise another 4 percent this year. This is much faster than overall inflation for the same period. (These numbers don’t include flood insurance, which most often requires a separate plan, backed by the federal government.) The primary culprits are the rising toll of extreme weather as the planet warms and the millions of new homes developers have built in vulnerable areas. Insured losses from natural catastrophes in the U.S. averaged $100 billion a year between 2023 and 2025, up from an annual average of around $15 billion per year a decade earlier, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
- The US has caused $10 trillion in global damages to the world since 1990 through its emissions, making it the largest carbon emitter in history, researchers have found. This put it ahead of China – currently the world’s biggest emitter – which has been responsible for $9trillionn in damage in the past three decades. A quarter of the damage wreaked by US emissions has been inflicted on itself, though the poorest countries have suffered disproportionate economic pain. (The Guardian)
DARK AGE CLIMATE POLITICS
- One year into President Donald Trump’s second term, the Department of
the Interior is in turmoil, hobbling many of the agencies overseeing
the country’s public lands and waters. Not only has Interior lost some 11,000 employees, or more than 17
percent of its workforce, it is also reeling from a drastic
centralization of personnel: Last May, almost 5,500 staff from the
department’s component agencies were moved into the office of the
Interior secretary, Doug Burgum. According to an Inside Climate News analysis
of federal workforce data released by the Office of Personnel
Management, almost 1,800 workers have left Burgum’s office since the
reorganization—the vast majority opting to retire or quit. - Data show gas-powered car sales in Oregon outpaced those of electric vehicles last year for the first time in a decade after federal EV tax credits expired. (Oregonian)
- Ohio regulators cite local opposition in their decision to block construction of a 94-MW solar project, though previous Canary Media reporting has found that opposition may have been driven by fake public comments. (WOSU, Canary Media archive)
- In its efforts to block U.S. offshore wind development, the Trump administration has halted project construction, rolled back tax credits, and spread misinformation. Now, in the latest maneuver, the administration is paying a global energy giant nearly $1 billion to walk away from its plans to install turbines off the east coast.
- Southern California residents push back on proposed utility-scale wind and solar developments, saying the “green colonialism” threatens wildlife, ecosystems, and cultural sites. (KPBS)
Take Action!
No Kings Day brings home the need for political change. One good way to contribute is to write or phone voters. 350 Humboldt has a letter writing group. You can join us Sunday evenings (including today) at 7pm on zoom.
If you want, you can sign up at Vote Forward, which has a new program that some of us are working on.
Please join us.