Category: Climate News Roundup

Local and Virginia Climate News

It is still not clear how the Trump administration’s move to freeze federal grants might affect Harrisonburg. The city often receives federal funding for city programs and projects, including a recent grant from the EPA for clean-energy school buses.

Democratic lawmakers are clashing with governor Youngkin over the Virginia’s membership in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Youngkin withdrew Virgina from RGGI, a move that a court ruling judged was illegal and is now tied up in an appeal process.

Dominion Energy executives say they expect the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project to be completed and operational next year. They say it offers one of the best chances to meet potentially soaring energy demands from an explosion of data centers. The energy demand from data centers in Virginia almost doubled in the last half of 2024.

This was supposed to be the year the Virginia General Assembly did something about data centers. It has, however, largely failed to regulate the rapid expansion of data centers despite mounting concerns over their strain on energy, water and infrastructure.

Loudoun County executives told business leaders at a Chamber of Commerce meeting that the county now has 199 energy thirsty data centers on the ground with another 117 in the pipeline. They said data centers are a crucial part of Loudoun’s economy, but that concerns about electrical grid capacity are valid.

The Virginia General Assembly passed a bill to build EV charging stations in rural locations beyond interstate highways. The $1.5 million allocated to the effort makes it a pilot project. The goal is to provide more funds over the next five years.

Our Climate Crisis

Temperatures at the north pole rose 68°F above average and beyond the ice melting point in early February. While this is probably not the most extreme weather swing ever observed in the Arctic, it is still at the upper edge of what can happen.

State Farm, the largest insurer in California, is asking state regulators to approve a 22% rate increase after the devastating Los Angeles wildfires, warning that failure to do so could put 2.8 million policies at risk.  The company has already paid out over $1 billion in claims from the fires and expects to pay much more.

Scientists say that rising global temperatures are fueled, in part, by declining cloud cover. It could be a potential climate feedback loop, which leads to more warming.

Surprisingly little is being said about the centrality of war in the creation of global environmental threats and our climate crisis. Armed conflict threatens the fragile ecosystems that sustain us all. Furthermore, the world’s military carbon footprint accounts for an estimated 5.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with the US military far in the lead.

Politics and Policy

The Trump administration’s freeze on climate and energy funding has disrupted businesses, nonprofits and local governments, with rural projects in conservative-leaning states facing stalled reimbursements and financial strain. Federal courts have ordered the administration to restart funding, but agencies have yet to comply, creating uncertainty for grantees.

The Trump administration has taken unprecedented steps to shutter or remake federal offices focused on the environment, causing turmoil and confusion for employees. It plans to close the Environmental Protection Agency’s environmental justice office and remake the Justice Department’s environmental division.

Tesla sales have plummeted 63% in France and 59% in Germany. Elon Musk has inserted himself into alt-right European politics and it appears to be taking a toll on demand. Tesla stock continues to trade at about a bazillion times earnings, but these are flashing warning signals for what lies ahead for the company.

The Trump administration has ordered states to rework plans for using $5 billion in federal funding for EV-charging installations nationwide. This potentially halts plans to put obligated but as-yet unspent dollars to work. Experts say the order is illegal.

President Trump’s halt on federal clean energy funding is stalling billions in investments, with most of the economic fallout affecting Republican-led states that had benefited from the climate incentives. Grants for renewable energy projects, battery factories and grid modernization have been frozen despite court orders to release the funds.

Environmental organizations are gearing up for a wave of legal challenges as the Trump administration moves to weaken climate policies, cut agency staff and roll back environmental regulations.

President Trump’s fossil fuel push is influencing global energy policies. In an effort to avoid Trump’s threat of tariffs, countries including India, Japan and South Korea are agreeing to boost imports of American fossil fuels. Other countries such as Indonesia, Argentina, and South Africa are walking back their own commitments to decease carbon emissions.

American Secretary of State Marco Rubio snubbed the G-20 meeting in South Africa to protest what he said was an attempt to promote diversity, equity and inclusion, and tackle climate change.

Energy

Thermal batteries promise to provide a cheaper, cleaner alternative for roughly 20% of global energy consumption. They convert low-cost, low-value hours of electricity production into energy stored for long durations as high temperature heat, delivering industrial heat and power cost-effectively and on demand, day or night, solving this crucial problem.

The share of electricity from solar and wind is growing twice as fast in the Global South as in the Global North. These countries are endowed with 70% of the world’s renewable energy potential. These resources keep getting cheaper and cheaper, outcompeting fossil fuels on price. When incentives are clear, markets move—and cleantech is moving.

The U.S. solar energy industry has now built more than enough factories to meet the country’s demand for solar panels. Solar cell factories are coming next but may be hindered if Trump kills a key tax credit.

Clean energy installations in the U.S. reached a record high last year, with the country adding 47% more capacity than in 2023. Solar led the way and is expected to do the same this year. Renewables will continue growing this year but at a slower pace. The rate of continued progress will depend heavily on the Trump administration.

Japan is increasing its reliance on nuclear energy, reversing previous plans to reduce its use after the Fukushima meltdown more than a decade ago. This is part of a plan to increase energy from renewables to 40-50%, while energy from coal will drop from 70% to 30-40%.

China’s construction of new coal-power plants reached a 10-year high in 2024 and is undermining its clean-energy progress. It stands in direct conflict with President Xi Jinping’s pledge to “strictly limit the increase in coal consumption.”

Food and Agriculture

Decades of work on adapted apple tree varieties at the University of Maryland could help sow the seeds of future climate-resilient crops. Growers are on the front lines of shifting weather patterns, such as warm winters followed by brutal spring frost, and extended summer droughts, that threaten harvests.

Sheep are grazing solar farms in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, as part of Dominion Energy’s efforts to find agricultural uses for its solar farms. In January, local farmer Marcus Gray moved his herd of 165 sheep to the 1,000-acre solar farm and plans to expand it to 400 sheep.

Hurricane Helene inflicted huge losses on western North Carolina farms and some farmers wonder whether they can or should begin again. Farmers were already confronting a brutal year for agriculture involving a severe drought followed by fields waterlogged by Tropical Storm Debby. Less than two months later, Helene arrived and brought unprecedented destruction.

Livestock account for 12% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with the largest portion coming from methane that cattle release when they burp. Feeding dairy cows a small seaweed supplement can reduce the amount of methane they emit by 80%. Adding seaweed pellets to grazing beef cattle diets cuts methane output by 40%.

Global coffee prices have hit a 50-year high. Even so, many farmers are still struggling to make a profit as they deal with droughts, erratic rainfall and plant diseases exacerbated by climate change.  While large coffee companies pass rising costs to consumers, small farmers often see little of the increased revenue.

Climate Justice

The Women in Renewable Energy (WIRE) Network, is designed to empower women in the renewable energy sector, particularly in island nations where energy challenges are acute. WIRE is fostering mentorship, technical training, and peer learning, equipping women to drive the clean energy transition in their communities.

The Bezos Earth Fund has halted funding for the Science Based Targets initiative, which monitors companies’ decarbonization efforts. This comes amid broader concerns that US billionaires are “bowing down to Trump” and his anti-climate action policies.

Diplomats from the developing world are pushing rich nations to defy US President Trump and make stronger climate commitments. According to the chair of the African group of climate negotiators, “Africa, responsible for less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, remains disproportionately affected by the intensifying impacts of climate change.”

A pipeline company is bringing a $300 million lawsuit against Greenpeace for alleged damages  in the fight over the Dakota Access pipeline nearly a decade ago near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Many environmentalists are convinced the lawsuit is an intimidation tactic, intended to instill fear throughout the broader climate action movement.

Climate Action

The dismantling of US climate policies is climate action in reverse. The rollback of climate protections will have lasting consequences for public health, energy costs, and the nation’s ability to combat climate change. It is locking in decades of damage.

China now eclipses every other country in the world in the green technologies of the future. It has done so through a rush of entrepreneurship and unwavering government support.

Global EV sales in January 2025 still saw an 18% jump compared to the same month last year. Continued robust sales are expected even though some speed bumps lie ahead.

Ten new EV battery factories are on track to go online this year in the United States. If they all open on schedule, our country’s EV battery manufacturing capacity will increase by 90% from the end of 2024.

Peatlands constitute only 3% of Earth’s surface but they store more carbon than all of the world’s forests combined. Few of them are, however, protected in comparison to other natural areas. Increasing the protection of peatlands is a crucial climate action.

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee

Local and Virginia Climate News

Concurrent with deploying new, better buses, Harrisonburg’s Department of Public Transportation revealed a new branding. The goal is to increase ridership. Vice-mayor Laura Dent lauded the effort, “Especially getting towards a more active form of transit. Walkable, bikeable transit-oriented to reduce the cars and the congestion and pollution.”

Secure Solar Futures has provided Augusta County Public Schools with two electric ten-passenger vans on a five-year lease. This has allowed the schools to shorten long bus routes and provide students with a shorter ride to and from campus each school day. It has saved the schools more than $1,000 in fuel in the program’s first month of operation alone.

The Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission is conducting a microtransit feasibility study for the BRITE bus service area. Microtransit provides flexibility and additional coverage to service areas and can either complement existing routes or replace underperforming fixed routes. Enhanced public bus service helps to cut down transportation carbon emissions.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is launching a $20 million pilot program called the Pay-For-Outcomes program that works like it sounds: landowners are paid only when they can prove significant cuts in pollution, to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay.

Virginia counties continue to approve massive, energy hungry data centers with little thought given to where and how they will get the power to serve them. Projections are that data center driven energy demands could triple by 2040. Even as local governments woo data centers, many have become hostile to solar development.

Pittsylvania County is considering a request to rezone 2,200 acres of agricultural land for industrial use. The site would be used for a proposed a 3,500-megawatt gas plant to generate power for a campus of 84 data centers. The gas plant and data centers would create significant noise and air pollution.

Our Climate Crisis

The warming Arctic tundra has shifted from storing carbon in the soil to becoming a carbon dioxide source according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The incoming Trump administrative budget director helped craft a roadmap, known as Project 2025, that describes NOAA as “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.”

Climate shocks are colliding with everyday life as insurers drop home insurance policies nationwide. The consequences are profound because without insurance, you can’t get a mortgage. Communities that are deemed too dangerous to insure face the risk of falling property values, which means less tax revenue for schools, police and other basic services.

Politics and Policy

Near the end of his term, President Biden announced an aggressive new climate goal of slashing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least 61% below 2005 levels by 2035. The incoming Trump administration is sure to disregard it. Mr. Biden, however, said he expected progress in tackling climate change to continue after he had left office. “American industry will keep inventing and keep investing,” he said. “State, local, and tribal governments will keep stepping up.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law a bill that will allow the state to fine the biggest greenhouse gas emitters a total of $75 billion to be paid over 25 years. The money will be used to pay for the damage already done to homes, roads and bridges—and help cover the cost of preparing for increasingly extreme weather in the years to come.

The Montana Supreme Court ruled 6-1 that the state constitution guarantees a stable climate, supporting a group of 16 youth plaintiffs who argued that state support of fossil fuels violated their rights. The decision overturns state laws restricting environmental reviews, with the court citing the “substantial” role of Montana’s greenhouse gas emissions in harming local ecosystems and public health.

The US Department of Energy Loan Programs is racing to get cleantech money out the door as Trump looms. The office helped Tesla get its start and has lent billions to everything from transmission line projects to battery manufacturers. Its future is uncertain under Trump.

Chinese carmakers are exporting inexpensive cars to Mexico and scouting for factory sites as part of a global expansion that, for now, excludes the United States. While Chinese cars are effectively barred from the United States by tariffs that double the sticker price of vehicles, this is still a potentially grave threat to the North American auto industry.

Europe’s push for green technology depends on China’s dominance in the production of electric cars, wind turbines and solar panels. This is creating tension as the EU tries to protect its industries from reliance on Chinese goods. In response the EU has imposed tariffs on Chinese imports and China has responded with counter-tariffs, risking a trade war.

China’s carbon dioxide output is likely to hit its peak this year, five years ahead of Beijing’s 2030 goal. The question is what happens next because China has been responsible for about half of all greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere since the start of this century. Will they allow their emissions to plateau or will they seek to drive them down?

A U.S. Department of Energy study on whether LNG exports are in the public interest found that a single LNG project, exporting 4 billion cubic feet of gas a day, would emit more annual greenhouse gas emissions than 141 of the world’s countries each did in 2023. This updated public interest analysis is going to make it much harder for the incoming Trump administration effort to quickly approve pending applications for LNG export terminals.

Energy

What happens when the wind doesn’t blow or when the sun goes down? This persistent critique of clean wind and solar energy now has a definitive answer. “Batteries take over.” The performance of lithium-ion and sodium batteries keeps advancing as costs drop. Together with existing energy sources like nuclear, hydro, and anticipated advances in geothermal technology, there is a clear path towards cleaning our electricity and energy systems.

This year, the U.S. solar industry is set to break installation records and achieve significant manufacturing milestones—including the return of silicon solar cell production to the U.S. for the first time since 2019. US solar panel manufacturing capacity has quintupled.

Duke Energy in North Carolina is demolishing a coal power plant and will build its largest 167 MW/668 MWh grid battery on that spot. The company recently asked for and received regulators’ approval to construct 2,700 megawatts of energy storage by 2031. That’s a massive acceleration from basically zero.

Massive $200bn new liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects could produce 10 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade, close to the annual emissions of all coal plants. LNG developers are planning 156 new LNG terminal projects worldwide to be constructed by 2030.

Sodium-ion batteries, in place of lithium-ion batteries, for electric vehicles and energy storage could lead to lower costs, less fire risk and less need for lithium, cobalt and nickel. CATL, the world’s largest battery manufacturer, announced that mass production will begin in 2027.

Food and Agriculture

Extreme heat is making it increasingly perilous to work outdoors during the day, forcing farmers and fisherfolk worldwide to adopt overnight hours. The transition to a nighttime schedule pushes an already vulnerable population into more difficult work conditions that have significant mental and physical health impacts.

Climate Justice

The Philippines is going all-in on mining transition minerals for green energy. This is putting critical biodiversity in the Philippines at risk and endangering Indigenous lands. The country is positioning itself to be a major economic player in the global mining industry.

Canada’s ambitions to transform itself into a major gas exporter rely on building export terminals on Indigenous coastal territory in British Colombia. Some Indigenous communities are welcoming the billions of dollars of investment as an economic boon. Others are fighting it because they fear it will destroy their Indigenous identity and environmental stewardship.

Climate Action

Former President Jimmy Carter is remembered for his progressive stance on energy conservation and production from the 1970s onward. In a now-famous speech from the Oval Office during his presidency, he told his fellow Americans to waste less and turn down the thermostat in an effort to conserve energy. This is exemplified by the 2017 conversion of his Georgia peanut farm into a 1 MW solar farm.

Join the 2025 Polar Bear Plunge Team to “Keep Winter Cold!”Get ready to plunge with the Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions! We’re partnering with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN)’s 20th annual Polar Bear Plunge and leading a team that will jump into National Harbor on February 8, 2025, for a winter swim. BUTTON: I’m Interested—Sign Me Up!

The youth climate movement is gearing up for the second Trump presidency with a planned change in tactics. They might ease off the mass marches and school strikes, while refining new strategies like focusing on state politics, reducing the use of fossil fuels at a local level, and re-energizing the country to elect climate-conscious leaders.

The international merchant fleet is responsible for about 3% of global carbon emissions and without a quick switch from dirty fuels its pollution is forecast to soar. Some mariners are, therefore, pioneering a comeback for sail-powered cargo ships. Modern tech is spearheading wind’s embryonic revival and the cleanest of the new vessels are almost pure-sail.

There is a legitimate concern that promoting personal solutions to address global climate change lets corporations and governments off the hook. Even so individual and household actions have the potential to produce about 25% to 30% of the reductions in greenhouse emissions needed to avoid the extremely dangerous aspects of climate change.

Google unveiled a first-of-its-kind strategic partnership to “colocate” its data centers with renewable-energy and energy-storage assets. The tech giant and its partners aim to invest $20 billion to build such colocated units by 2030.

Amtrak will put several sleek new high-speed electric trains into service in the Northeast Corridor next spring. They will have an extra car, to carry around 25% more passengers, and will run more often. They’ll also be faster, at up to 160 miles an hour.

A local Habitat for Humanity in Oregon has built about 20 net-zero homes for low-income households. The homes are built on-site by volunteers, with heavy insulation, triple-paned windows, efficient appliances, heat pumps, highly efficient ductwork and solar panels. The end cost is only about $10,000 more than a home that simply meets code.

Heat pumps are the single biggest tool for U.S. households to cut carbon emissions, reduce energy costs, and curb unhealthy air pollution. A host of local, state, and federal policies have been enacted to spur heat pump adoption. Now, advocates are assessing how to keep things going under the incoming Trump administration.

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee

Virginia Climate News

A Circuit Court judge has ruled that Gov. Youngkin’s effort to administratively withdraw Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) was illegal “and therefore void as a matter of law.” The General Assembly passed the law in 2020 requiring the state to take part in the RGGI carbon market that sets a cap on carbon emissions.

Demands for power in Virginia are projected to double in the next 15 years. Lawmakers, utilities, energy regulators and other interested parties, therefore, recently met to discuss how Virginia’s growing power needs may be met in conjunction with the goals of the Virginia Clean Economy Act aiming for zero-carbon emissions by 2050.

Google, which owns three data centers in Northern Virginia, co-hosted a private meeting in Richmond with Virginia energy officials to discuss how electric grid investments can meet data centers’ rising energy needs. The additional amounts of needed natural gas, renewable, and nuclear electricity generation facilities will significantly increase electricity costs for consumers.

Local officials in Southside Virginia have approved about 13,000 megawatts of solar projects, which is nearly half of Virginia’s solar power generation approved by local governments. The percentage of new solar projects that local governments have approved in the past eight years has steadily declined, creating a state-versus-local tension over who approves solar projects.

Now through January 31st:  The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is doing a survey to shape greenhouse gas reduction plans for the 2025 Climate Action Plan.  Let’s do this! Climate Pollution Reduction Grant | Virginia DEQ

Our Climate Crisis

Nearly half of the world experienced extreme drought last year, a rate three times higher than in the 1980s. Climate change is shifting global rainfall patterns, making some regions more prone to drought. The increase in drought has been particularly severe in South America, the Middle East, and the Horn of Africa.

October was one of the driest months in the US. Some regions have swung from one extreme to the next. Hurricane Helene ravaged the southern Appalachians with up to 30 inches of rain at the end of September, creating catastrophic flooding that reshaped the region forever. But the same area hasn’t recorded an inch of rain in October.

The unusually dry weather in the US has been particularly noticeable in the Northeast, where a record-breaking dry spell and abnormally high temperatures have lowered reservoirs and fueled wildfires in New York and New Jersey, states unaccustomed to fighting hundreds of blazes this time of year. New York City and 10 surrounding counties issued a drought warning.

Nearly 20 inches of rain fell on parts of eastern Spain in eight hours, causing catastrophic floods and loss of human life. It’s the deadliest disaster in the country’s recent history and a foretaste of the extreme storms that the region can expect because of global warming.

The world’s warming tropical wetlands have released methane at the fastest rate ever in the past 5 years. This is an alarming sign that the world’s climate goals are slipping further out of reach. More than 150 countries have pledged to deliver 30% cuts in methane emissions from 2020 levels by 2030 but that may not be enough to meet climate goals.

Politics and Policy

Frustration is growing with the COP29 UN climate talks; especially the growing presence and influence of fossil fuel interests. Some are calling for fundamental reform. A letter signed by former U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon, former U.N. climate secretary Christiana Figueres and former Ireland President Mary Robinson calls for a fundamental overhaul of the COP.

After backroom deals, COP29’s late $300bn climate finance deal left many poorer countries outraged. About $1.3tn a year will be needed by 2035 to help poor countries shift to a low-carbon economy and adapt their infrastructure to the impacts of extreme weather and for the world to stay within the 1.5C limit.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain told delegates at the COP29 UN climate conference in Azerbaijan, that his country would aim to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 81% by 2035. Britain is positioning itself as a destination for companies that want to invest in the clean energy transition at a time when US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to roll back clean energy incentives.

At the COP29 climate conference, China has been presenting itself as a stable and reliable global leader, seeking to draw a contrast ahead of a second Trump era. Chinese Premier Ding told delegates, “Regardless of how the international situation or other countries’ policies change, China’s resolve and actions to actively address climate change will not waver.”

Political scientists are finding evidence that climate disasters and global warming create fertile ground for political strongmen to come to power. In the face of physical, economic, and social vulnerability, voters seek safety in the form of authoritarian leaders who promise to take decisive action.

Countries have made little progress in curbing their greenhouse gas emissions over the past year. The climate and energy policies currently pursued by governments around the world would cause global temperatures to rise roughly 2.7 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by 2100. That’s far above the 1.5C target set by the Paris Climate Accord.

Chris Wright, president-elect Trump’s pick for energy secretary, is a fracking executive who downplays the climate crisis. Some Republicans are, however, trying to build a conservative environmental movement, laying out the case for a cleaner future by emphasizing the economy, innovation, and competition with China.

A $6 billion federal program that aims to clean up greenhouse gas emissions in 33 industrial facilities, from steel mills to snack plants, could face big cuts in president-elect Trump’s second term. The planning is in its early stages and money that isn’t committed could potentially be pulled back after Trump takes office.

Energy

Countries are burning more coal, oil and natural gas than ever after promising to start moving away from them at last year’s climate summit. Global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels are on track to reach a record high this year. They will likely decline in the United States and Europe, and slow in China. Yet that is offset by a surge in India and the rest of the world.

New York City is testing an electric-school-bus microgrid with solar power and battery backup. The buses, solar panels, and batteries can modulate when they pull power from the grid, as well as send power back to the grid as needed. The plan is to build out the microgrid to include 10,000 electric buses in the next decade.

The largest offshore wind farm in the US is on budget and on time, with a projected completion date in late 2026. It is being built off the shore of Virginia by Dominion Energy and will generate enough clean energy to power up to 660,000 homes when it is fully operational.

Sodium-ion batteries have emerged as a promising cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternative to lithium-ion batteries. The biggest limitation of sodium-ion batteries is their size and weight meaning that their most likely use will be for stationary applications such as grid batteries.

The US government unveiled a nuclear expansion plan to meet growing energy demand. It would add 15 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2035, with a goal of reaching 200 gigawatts by 2050. New nuclear plants may include modular and microreactors rather than traditional large stations. Increased reliance on nuclear power also raises health and safety concerns.

Food and Agriculture

Climate change is worsening an ongoing drought, the worst in a century, pushing 27 million people in southern Africa to the brink of starvation. An unprecedented dry spell, in the middle of what should have been the region’s rainy season, wiped out more than half the harvest in some countries.

In Greece, the chestnut harvest is expected to drop 50% following 13 months of drought and severe heat. This is Greece’s warmest winter and summer on record and is the latest sign of the impact of climate change on crops across southern Europe. Drought conditions in Spain, Portugal and France already bode ill for yields of various crops in those countries.

Climate Justice

Extreme weather’s global economic toll was $2 trillion in the past decade, with the U.S., China, and India bearing the highest economic losses. Some small island nations suffered the most economic damage per capita, underscoring the vulnerability of poorer, climate-exposed regions.

Indigenous nations are collaborating to bring back bison to North America’s grasslands, re-establishing ecological and cultural connections nearly erased by colonization. These animals are ecological engineers, reshaping the landscape to its natural balance, boosting biodiversity and contributing to climate resilience.

A new generation of lithium-ion battery called LFP is becoming increasingly popular among automakers due to its advantages on cost, safety, and materials. They do not contain materials like nickel, manganese, or cobalt. Mining these minerals takes a heavy environmental toll and the exploitation of workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Myanmar.

Climate Action

The Inflation Reduction Act is giving American families $8.8 billion for energy upgrades on their homes. One program assists with whole-house energy-saving installations and another helps renters and homeowners transition to electric appliances. Check out this savings calculator to help determine what upfront savings and tax rebates and incentives are available. 

New York City will revive its congestion-pricing program, but at a reduced rate of a $9 toll for most vehicles to enter Midtown and Lower Manhattan. The plan will reduce traffic and clear the air on New York City streets, while raising roughly $1 billion each year to support the city’s ailing subways, buses and two commuter train lines.

Heat pumps used to struggle in the cold but new advanced models can be more than 100% efficient even in subzero temperatures. They can be three to four times more efficient than traditional heaters, slashing a home’s energy costs and carbon emissions.

Katharine Hayhoe, the chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy, is deeply concerned about the results of our national election because global warming is a present crisis. As a Christian, she gives this post-election advice: fight fear, embrace hope and work together. She points to the example of many characters in the Bible who persevered against great odds.

Rural India has notoriously unreliable electricity with frequent power blackouts. Now refurbished EV batteries are providing stable electricity for tailors and other small businesses, allowing them to increase income and productivity.

A project off the coast of Newport, Oregon, aims to convert the power of waves into energy and help catch up to Europe in developing this new technology. The buoy-like contraptions, located several miles offshore, will deliver up to 20 megawatts of energy—enough to power thousands of homes and businesses.

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee

Area Climate News

The Friendly City Food Co-op received the 2024 Valley Treasure Award from the Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley.  The award was a recognition of the co-op’s effect on the local community and beyond by offering a wide variety of organic foods from local farmers and producers. This supports the local economy and cuts down on greenhouse gas emissions.

Harrisonburg City Schools are celebrating Farm to School Week by recognizing an initiative to bring more natural foods into schools. In partnership with Vine and Fig Educational Outreach Program, a local nonprofit dedicated to educating local youth about food and gardening, they will hold several events to promote education around nutrition. These will include honoring cafeteria staff and visiting local farms.

The Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission has begun a Rural EV Charging Infrastructure Study as part of its Rural Transportation Program. The study will help strategically plan for infrastructure development by identifying optimal locations for EV charging stations, assessing grid capacity, and developing implementation strategies.

Brooke Imber, who teaches art at Keister Elementary School in Harrisonburg, received an International Society of Arboriculture Gold Leaf Award for creating a school garden called the mindfulness meadow. She accomplished this with a $30,000 grant from the Virginia Department of Forestry and $5,000 from the Harrisonburg Education Foundation along with input from students.

Our Climate Crisis

The concentration of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere reached the highest level ever last year according to the World Meteorological Organization. The increase is linked to continuing stubbornly high rates of fossil fuel consumption. The UN reports that countries essentially made no progress in cutting emissions and tackling global warming last year.

Climate change affects where water goes. It helps to cause extreme floods and droughts. 2023 was the hottest year on record compounded by severe droughts, but it also brought devastating floods across the globe. Less recognized is that rivers dried up at the highest rate in three decades in 2023, putting global water supply at risk.

Rising costs from more frequent storms, droughts, wildfires and other extreme weather events related to climate change are confronting the U.S. with fiscal risks. It poses risks to homeowners in disaster-prone areas through soaring insurance costs and declining property values. It is also exacerbating the many financial strains on the federal government at a time when our national debt exceeds $35 trillion.

Biodiversity is declining faster than at any time in human history and the biggest drivers are habitat loss on land, overfishing the ocean, and climate change. In response, delegates from around the world are meeting in Colombia in what is expected to be the biggest United Nations biodiversity conference in history. The theme of the conference is “Peace With Nature.”

Politics and Policy

Clean energy is booming in the US but the upcoming presidential election could change that.  Donald Trump has suggested he would gut the funding, which is expected to pour as much as $1.2 trillion into technologies to fight climate change. He said, “My plan will terminate the Green New Deal, which I call the Green New Scam.”

While viewing the storm damage in Southwest Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin asserted that blaming Hurricane Helene and the future unpredictability of weather on climate change was a distraction.

BP is preparing to drop an ambitious target to cut its oil and gas production by 40% by 2030 as it battles to close a valuation gap with rivals in the energy industry. Investors are pressuring BP to increase its oil and gas production and stop investing in any more “ill-conceived” wind projects.

Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has promised a strong shift toward renewable energy and climate action, breaking away from her predecessor’s fossil fuel-centered policies. The goal is that renewable energy will have a 45% share of total electricity production by 2030.

Dominion Energy filed an update to its long-term electricity generation plan showing the majority of energy it expects to produce will come from renewable sources but also an increased reliance on natural gas. The revised 15 year plan drops the proposed target of using  renewable energy from 95% to 80%.

Energy

Global renewable energy capacity is set to contribute almost half of global electricity demand by 2030 according to the International Energy Agency. India and China are leading the way. China will be responsible for almost 60% of all new renewables added in this time frame.

Federal regulators gave a huge 2.8 gigawatt offshore wind project the green light to start construction off the coast of New Jersey. When completed as planned in 2028-2029 it will be one of the largest clean energy projects in the US. It still faces legal hurdles from offshore wind opponents.

The US Department of Energy hopes to meet its grid decarbonization goals by tripling our current 100 gigawatts of nuclear power to 300 gigawatts by 2050. But is that even possible? The most recent expansion of nuclear generation by Georgia Power cost more than twice its original budget and took 15 years to build, causing the original contractors to go bankrupt.

The last operating coal power plant in the UK closed last month, ending more than 140 years of coal-fired electricity. It was able to end its reliance on coal by setting legally binding greenhouse gas emissions targets, regulating air pollution, and encouraging the expansion of renewable energy.  

Five of our country’s 10 largest coal-fired power plants now have retirement dates. Coal generated 16% of the country’s electricity last year, down about half from a decade ago. It has lost market share because of rising costs. In some cases, state regulators have allowed coal-fired plants to stay open and pass high costs along to consumers.

US electric utilities are planning a huge expansion of fossil gas-plants to meet booming power demands. This is incompatible with climate goals. Most are well off track to meet the Paris Accord goal of cutting electricity-sector emissions by 80% by 2030. The growth in demand is driven by new data centers, factories, and EV cars. Utilities have been slow to develop clean energy capacity.

Building a green hydrogen production hub in Mississippi has hit headwinds. Hy Stor Energy, the company building the hub, has abruptly canceled its order for electrolyzers, an essential component of making hydrogen from renewables. A series of unanticipated complications have made it necessary to extend the time needed to develop the hub.

Amazon has signed an agreement with Dominion Energy to explore the development of Small Modular Reactors, a kind of nuclear reactor with a smaller physical footprint. The project would be near Dominion’s existing nuclear power facilities at Virginia’s Lake Anna.

Food and Agriculture

An analysis by the World Resources Institute finds that one-quarter of the world’s crops are grown in places facing high levels of water stress. These challenges could contribute to increased levels of food insecurity as climate change puts more stress on water resources. One out of every 11 people in the world already doesn’t get enough food to maintain basic health.

A changing climate takes a toll on harvests in Kenya because farmers can no longer depend on regular weather patterns. They end up planting blindly, guessing, and taking risks. Now with a basic cellphone, they can receive weekly text messages from a nonprofit called Tomorrow Now that gives them insights into the week’s weather and advice on the best farming strategies.

A Kansas State University study has shown soil treated with manure or compost fertilizer stores more carbon than soil treated with chemical fertilizers or no fertilizer. This underscores the benefits of sustainable farming by highlighting how organic compost and manure not only support the health of the soil but also directly fight rising global temperatures through carbon sequestration.

Dominion Energy is pursuing agrivoltaics—combining solar installations with agriculture. Smaller solar installations are planted with native pollinators and then include honeybee hives at the site. Larger sites include sheep grazing, and they are looking into planting crops between rows of solar panels in the future.

Warmer winters, followed by snap freezes, are making it more challenging to grow conventional fruit crops such as apples and peaches. Some fruit growers are, therefore, experimenting with growing pawpaws, North America’s largest native fruit, because of its low maintenance and adaptability.

Climate Justice

Researchers estimate tens of millions of Americans may ultimately move away from areas of our country affected by climate disasters. The South stands to be especially transformed as extreme weather and flooding make the region less comfortable and more expensive. It will leave behind large swaths of coastal and other vulnerable land where seniors and the poor are very likely to disproportionately remain.

The Lancet, a leading scientific journal, just published a survey of US youth, which found that 85% have climate distress and are concerned about how climate change is impacting their lives and futures. Almost 40% indicated that anxiety about climate change negatively affects their daily life.

Climate Action

Energy efficiency upgrades can save the average Virginia household $729 annually on utility bills. They are generally the lowest-cost way to lower electricity demand and reduce costs. It also decreases pressure on the grid, minimizing the chance of electric service disruptions.

Cities are turning to sheep to graze and maintain urban landscapes sustainably, and people love it. Urban sheepherder Zach Richardson and his Chew Crew flock in Nashville sometimes become a tourist attraction. Nashville Parks’ staff say that it’s a cheaper and more environmentally sustainable way to care for their greenspace.

All incoming first-year students at UC San Diego—no matter their major—will be required to take a climate class. They will have more than 40 courses to choose from, which will equip them with a strong understanding of climate change and how they can contribute to meaningful solutions.

Cement production accounts for nearly 7% of energy-related emissions, presenting one of the knottiest problems for reducing carbon emissions. A cement plant in Norway is now investing in technology to capture the carbon dioxide emitted in the production process.  A startup company in England is also developing a way to produce low-carbon cement from slag.

Nearly every household in American has a car. How can we break free? Nearly 70% of federal transportation dollars goes to highways while a meager 20% goes to public transit and almost none to walking and biking. Living without a car depends on creating walkable neighborhoods, mixed zoning that allows small groceries and convenience stores, and the availability of reliable public transit.

Electric vehicle sales have hit another record in the third quarter of this year, accounting for 8.9% of the total auto sales. With improving infrastructure, far more choices, and excellent deals to be had, a 10% share is well within reach.

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee

Area Climate News

Harrisonburg will add three new electric school buses to its fleet. It will own five electric buses after this purchase and has enough space to hold up to 10 in the transportation department’s garage. It plans to add infrastructure to support more electric buses in the future.

At the request of Harrisonburg’s Mayor Deanna Reed, leaders of eight local environmental groups met with her last month. She wanted the group to identify actionable items the city could accomplish in a reasonable amount of time. Four possible actions related to housing/zoning, transportation, energy, and conservation/resilience were identified. The Mayor then proposed follow-up meetings focused on defining and planning specific actions.

Valley Friends Meeting in Dayton is a national Interfaith Power and Light Certified Cool Congregation at the 80% and above reduction level. They achieved that by first replacing their old oil furnace with an energy efficient electric heat pump. They then added a solar panel installation to their roof to reduce their carbon emissions by 93%.

Our Climate Crisis

Hurricane Helene, which killed more than 100 people and caused catastrophic damage, was made worse because of global heating. Drawing energy from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, it quickly accelerated to a category 4 storm before making landfall in the Florida panhandle. It then raced inland where it stalled over western North Carolina and quickly dropped more than two feet of rain over the Asheville area.

Much of our nation’s infrastructure, from highways to runways, has suffered as temperatures reached the hottest in recorded history this year. Bridges face particular risks. A quarter of them were built before 1960 and already in need of repair. Now extreme heat and increased flooding linked to climate change are accelerating their disintegration.

Coastal flooding is getting more common in most parts of the United States, as climate change causes sea levels to rise. In the last 25 years, the number of days with high-tide flooding has increased by a whopping 250% or more in many regions, including along the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Mid-Atlantic and the Pacific Islands.

Global temperatures this summer climbed to the highest levels on record. Temperatures between June and August were 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the preindustrial average—just edging out the previous record set last summer.

Politics and Policy

The US presidential debate took place against a backdrop of wildfires and floods. Donald Trump flat out ignored the question about fighting climate change. Kamala Harris slammed Trump for having called climate change a “hoax” and touted the Biden administration’s investments in renewable energy. Conversely, she also applauded our record domestic gas production and reiterated her support for fracking.

After a sluggish start this year, environmental groups raised over $11 million in July, more than double their fundraising at the same time in the 2020 presidential election. The shift came as Harris replaced Biden on the ticket, energizing climate advocates to focus on swing states and key congressional races.

Major automakers are now walking back aggressive electrification goals they set just a few years ago in response to a perceived slowdown in EV interest and sales. To be clear, EV sales are up overall, and the transition away from internal combustion is still happening, just with a little less momentum than once predicted.

Various states and cities started adopting climate goals nearly 20 years ago, setting themselves on a path toward reducing emissions and rolling out clean energy. Whether they’re actually on track to meet those goals is now up for debate. Advocates across the country are now suing states and municipalities they say are failing on their climate commitments.

Donald Trump announced his intention to pull back unspent funds from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a key climate law, should he win the 2024 election. The IRA is funneling billions into renewable energy projects, electric vehicles, and cleaner industry across the U.S.—including a lot of Republican-led states that could really use the cash.

Over the course of the past year, the Orange County, Virginia board of supervisors shot down multiple attempts to bring renewable energy solar installations to the area. No matter the size or location, they claim solar projects would harm the county’s rural character and agritourism industry.

After vetoing similar legislation earlier this year, the Youngkin administration is launching a green bank, with $10 million in seed funds, to fund clean energy initiatives in Virginia. Because it has no legislative guardrails, environmental groups fear that the fund will be used for Youngkin’s pet projects. 

Energy

The Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, the site of the worst nuclear accident in US history, is preparing to reopen. The plant operator has signed a 20-year deal with Microsoft to purchase clean energy to power its power-hungry and rapidly expanding data centers for artificial intelligence.

The United Kingdom will shut down its last operational coal-fired power plant this month. This major milestone was made possible by the U.K.’s embrace of wind power, both on- and offshore. Over the last decade, this form of renewable energy has surged in the U.K., from generating around 8% of the country’s electricity in 2013 to 29% in 2023.

Data centers threaten to overwhelm the local ecosystem in Prince Williams County, Virginia. They already occupy 8 million square feet of space in the county. If all the proposed new data centers are built, that number could balloon to 80 million. Some predict that the amount of electricity these centers would need is enough to power five New York Cities.

Texas has become a clean energy juggernaut and plans to build the most clean energy of any state. It intends to build 35 gigawatts of clean energy over the next 18 months, more than the next nine states combined. Texas, however, still lags behind California and plenty of other states in terms of how clean its grid actually is.

Food and Agriculture

Virginia farmers struggled with drought and an incredibly long hot spell during a tough growing season this year. Beyond the drought and the heat, climate change brings weather weirding and instability including warm winter weather followed by cold snaps.

Some restaurants are forging stronger bonds with regional food systems and regenerative farms in response to our growing ecological and climate crisis. The switch to regional sourcing comes from the stark realization that many staples used in most restaurants have wreaked havoc on the ecosystems and livelihoods of people in other countries.

Cows belch methane at alarming rates but can also help farms capture more carbon in soil. Farms with a mixture of arable crops and grazing livestock store about a third more carbon within their soil and also increase biodiversity.

A 485-megawatt solar project in Spotsylvania Virginia is running smoothly today while playing host to a flock of sheep, creating new opportunities for local farmers while pumping out clean kilowatts. It almost died because fierce opposition from local residents who, it turns out, were enabled by fossil industry stakeholders.

Solar farms fight climate change and can help with another global crisis—the collapse of nature. Planting pollinator friendly plants on solar farms can decrease erosion, nourish the soil and store planet-warming carbon. They can also attract insects that improve pollination of nearby crops.

Restoration Bioproducts is opening a biochar production facility in Sussex County, Virginia. The facility heats waste wood to high temperatures in an environment without oxygen to transform the material into syngas—a combustible gas that can be used for fuel—and biochar, a charcoal-like substance commonly used to improve soil health and as an animal food additive.

Climate Justice

Productive uses of solar powered mini-grid electricity in Africa are making farmers richer and energy cheaper. Mini-grids allow rural entrepreneurs to utilize clean electricity to support their businesses and increase their incomes. They also boost revenues for rural utilities struggling to achieve profitability and maintain reliable energy services because of limited demand.

Virginia solar developers are again asking regulators to force Dominion Energy to suspend its rules that hold up mid-size projects for governments, schools and nonprofits. Under Dominion’s newer requirements for connecting solar projects, some projects could be facing up to 3.5 years of delay before coming online, with ballooning costs.

The Environmental Protection Agency, in a new initiative called the Green Bank for Rural America is channeling $500 million to nonprofit lenders, with priority given to those in the Appalachian mountain region. The funds will support community solar arrays, apprenticeships in renewable energy fields, electrified public transit, and other projects.

Climate Action

Textile waste in the US amounts to just under 6% of all municipal solid waste and is growing with the explosion of so-called “fast fashion.” That’s why no-frills Maine congresswoman Chellie Pingree is seeking to bring the fashion and textile industries into the fold of climate change discussions. It’s her effort to fight climate change one darned pair of jeans at a time.

School bus fleets are the largest mass transit system in the US and due for an upgrade. The first all-electric school bus fleet to serve a major school district started ferrying kids to class in Oakland, California this fall. The 74 buses also act as giant batteries when they’re not moving. They’re plugged in and supplying enough electricity to the local grid to power about 400 homes.

The United States Postal Service’s new EV mail truck is making its debut to rave reviews from carriers. Within a few years, the fleet will have expanded to 60,000, most of them EVs, serving as the Postal Service’s primary delivery truck.

The US Department of Energy announced $38.8 million in funding for research and development of high-impact technologies and practices aimed at decarbonizing buildings. This includes next-generation retrofits for building envelopes, lighting, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.

A British science agency will provide about $75 million for researchers to examine solar geoengineering ideas for artificially cooling the planet. This includes outdoor experiments of injecting particles into the air to deflect some of the sun’s radiation back into space with the goal of reducing the Earth’s temperature.

At Climate Week NYC, tech giants and real estate firms announced a new initiative asking steelmakers to deliver a total of 1 million metric tons per year of ​“near-zero emissions” steel to North America by 2028.

EV charging stations aren’t just better for the environment, they’re also cash cows for nearby businesses. The 15-60 minutes that people wait to charge their car gives them time to grab a drink, a bite to eat, or do some quick shopping.

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee

Area Climate News

The JMU Center for the Advancement of Sustainable Energy is hosting a local tour as part of The American Solar Energy Society’s National Solar Tour. The tour will take place on Saturday, October 5th from 1pm to 4pm. Click here for more information and to register.

The JMU Environmental Management Club is organizing a climate march on Friday, September 20^th from 1:00pm to 3:00pm. Marchers will meet in front of Wilson Hall on JMU’s campus, march to the Rockingham County Courthouse in downtown Harrisonburg, listen to a few speakers, allow time for an open mic, and return to campus. People from the community are invited to participate.

Steven David Johnson is a conservation photographer and a professor of visual and communication arts at Eastern Mennonite University. He described his conservation photography as “nature photography, PLUS.” The “plus” part is environmental advocacy, and an ecosystems approach. His photographs have appeared in the Nature Conservancy and Virgina Wildlife magazines as well as the children’s magazine Ranger Rick.

Shenandoah Valley Faith & Climate and Climate Resilience Trainings organized a viewing of The Grab, a documentary film at Court Square Theatre in Harrisonburg on Sunday, August 18. The film exposes how governments, private investors, and mercenaries are reacting to our climate crisis by seizing food and water resources at the expense of entire populations. The group of 22 people then met in an outdoor setting to discuss the film and propose concrete actions.

Our Climate Crisis

While we have become preoccupied with severe summer heat and drought, winter is actually warming considerably faster over most of the earth. Here in the central Shenandoah Valley winter is warming about 1.8 times faster than summer. Our summer temperatures are warming about 0.36 degrees per decade while our winter temperatures are warming about 0.64 degrees per decade.

Vermont keeps flooding and experts say the state could see catastrophic events like these for the foreseeable future. Climate change is fueling stronger, more persistent storms and a combination of factors leaves the state susceptible. Among them are random, short-term natural weather patterns fueled by a warming atmosphere, water saturated soil, and mountainous terrain.

Politics and Policy

The US is now pumping more oil than any country ever has even though President Biden had campaigned on a pledge of “no more drilling.” No president since 2008 has slowed the U.S. oil boom. While Donald Trump argues that Biden and Harris have waged “a war on energy,” the Biden administration actually gave more permits to drill on federal lands than the Trump administration had, partially because a federal judge blocked efforts to pause permits.

Kamala Harris brings hope for a new chapter in climate action if she wins the presidential election. At a campaign event in North Carolina she said, “When we invest in climate, we create jobs, we lower costs, and we invest in families.

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz quietly emerged as one of the nation’s most forceful advocates for tackling climate change. As governor of Minnesota, he signed a law requiring the state to get all of its electricity from wind, solar and other carbon-free sources by 2040.

World leaders are worried about the US climate role if Donald Trump wins the presidential election. They are, therefore, strategizing to maintain climate initiatives and international agreements in his potential second term. “He will be a domestic and international climate wrecking ball. It would be malpractice to be unprepared,” says climate advocate Alden Meyer.

The U.S. Congress has 100 representatives and 23 senators who are climate deniers. Together, they wield significant influence on public perceptions of climate change as well as on the speed and direction of climate policy in the United States. They have received $52 million in lifetime campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry.

Eighteen House Republicans recently wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson, warning him against fully gutting IRA clean energy incentives as their party works to repeal the law. They’re concerned that doing so could upend energy projects already under construction and jeopardize billions of dollars of investments, including some in their districts.

The 2024 Democratic Party platform makes the case that addressing climate change is not only vital for the environment but also crucial for economic growth. Framing climate action as an economic win could attract voters wary of environmental regulations. This is in sharp contrast to Republican arguments that addressing climate change will hurt the middle class.

Energy

Supercharged by the IRA climate law, public and private clean energy investment in the US soared in the first half of this year—hitting $147 billion, more than a 30% jump from the first half of 2023. The yearly total grew from $78 billion in 2018 to $247 billion in 2023. Clean energy jobs grew at more than twice the rate of overall US employment.

Wind generated more electricity than coal across the US in March and April, outstripping the dirtiest fuel for two consecutive months for the first time. From 2000 to 2024, total coal capacity in the United States dropped by nearly half, while wind capacity increased by more than 60 times. Natural gas capacity nearly tripled during that time as it started to replace coal.

Solid-state batteries—which pack more energy into each unit of volume than current lithium-ion batteries—have long felt just out of reach. Samsung has now announced that it will produce solid-state batteries for use in high-end vehicles by 2027. The vehicles would be able to travel more than 600 miles before needing to be recharged.

Startup company Solarix plans to invest $63 million to build a solar panel manufacturing facility in Bedford County outside of Lynchburg. The company hopes to support Virginia’s renewable energy needs and reduce reliance on solar panels from other countries. CEO Carlos Class said, “As a 100% American-owned and managed company, we are immensely proud to contribute to our nation’s energy independence.”

United Airlines is starting to use a small percentage of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for its operations around the world. It recently purchased up to 1 million gallons for flights at the Chicago airport, a meaningful expansion of SAF use in the U.S. Despite this progress, only 0.1 percent of United’s overall fuel use currently comes from SAF.

Despite its efforts to expand renewable energy, India is relying on its coal-fired plants in response to major energy demand from its growing population and greater cooling needs because of extreme heat. It also has plans to add more coal plants. The country’s coal demand rose nearly 10% in 2023, the biggest jump by percentage for any country.

Northern Virginia will benefit from tens of millions of dollars in federal funding for grid battery energy storage for data centers. Clean energy advocates hope this program can help address the rising energy demand from data centers without the need for new energy generation from fossil fuels.

Dominion Energy’s wind farm project, off the coast of Virginia, will be the largest U.S. offshore wind project when completed—it is expected to be operational in 2026. The project has helped to build out the weak US supply chain and jump-start the flagging offshore wind industry.

Generative A.I. can do a lot but also needs a lot of energy. A query to ChatGPT requires nearly 10 times as much electricity as a regular Google search. Data centers account for about 1-2% percent of total electricity demand, which is estimated to increase to 3-4% by 2030. Yet some make the case for A.I. as a green technology that, if used wisely, could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5-10% by 2030.

Climate Justice

Progress toward expanding global food access is backsliding—a big reason is our warming world. About one in 11 people worldwide went hungry last year, while one in three struggled to afford a healthy diet. Governments are increasingly challenged to achieve the goal of eradicating hunger.

Psychiatrist Lise van Susteren began thinking about climate anxiety and mental health almost 20 years ago. She has helped organize two professional organizations, surveyed thousands of children and concluded that it’s perfectly normal to be freaked out. “On a good day, I’m angry,” she says . “Being angry is actually one of the healthiest emotions that you can have.”

Appalachian Community Capital in Southwest Virginia  is using half a billion dollars in funding from the EPA to launch the Green Bank for rural America. It will leverage that money to fund more than 2,000 green energy projects, creating 13,000 jobs. Projects will be prioritized in Appalachia as well as other rural areas, including those with communities of color and Native populations.

Climate Action

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says up to 31% of all food gets wasted. Food waste is estimated to cause between 6 to 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Jonathan Foley, executive director of Project Drawdown, calls it, “One of the biggest — and dumbest — environmental problems we have today.”

Virginia is receiving two federal grants to capture climate changing emissions. The funds, about $150 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, are focused on capturing methane from mined lands and on promoting natural solutions to capture carbon. This is part of a collaborative effort going to The Nature Conservancy’s operations in Virginia.

A big challenge in the clean energy transition is mining the minerals needed to manufacture the batteries for EVs, electric grid batteries, and other applications. Even so, mining for these minerals does not even get close to our extraction of fossil fuels. An analysis lays out a path from extraction to circularity where we may even avoid mineral extraction altogether by 2050.

A huge EV battery recycling facility came online in Ohio and another wing of the facility is slated to be operational by 2026. At full scale, the recycling plant will be able to churn out enough battery-grade metal salts to power 250,000 new electric vehicle batteries every year.

Loam Bio, an Australian start-up is hoping fungi can pull carbon dioxide from the air and stash it underground. As they sow their crops, farmers are adding a pulverized dust of fungal spores. The fungus latches on to the crop roots, takes carbon that is absorbed by the plants from the air and locks it away in the soil.  

Using sheep to mow and maintain solar installations is a booming business in Texas. One company is scrambling to get 6,000 sheep to maintain 10,000 acres of solar fields. Using sheep as a vegetation maintenance crew is a win-win. It is a profitable business that reduces the cost of maintenance, while improving the soil and increasing biodiversity.

The Chinese company COSCO Shipping has launched what it calls the “world’s largest” river-to-sea fully electric container ship. It can save 8,600 pounds of fuel for every 100 nautical miles traveled, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 12.4 tons. This is good news because shipping is currently responsible for 3% of global emissions annually and could easily triple by 2050 if nothing is done.

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee

Active Hope is not wishful thinking. Active Hope is not waiting to be rescued by the Lone Ranger or some savior. Active Hope is waking up to the beauty of life on whose behalf we can act. We belong to this world. –Joanna Macy & Chris Johnstone.

Area Climate News

The Climate Action Alliance of the Valley is a 2024 Clean Virginia Community Giving Program recipient. The $75,000 grant will help fund their Climate Justice Outreach and Engagement effort, which is an ongoing collaboration with CHP Energy Solutions. In 2023, they were able to work with four local nonprofits to parlay a $35,000 grant into more than $250,000 of weatherization and energy efficiency investment in more than 20 energy-burdened homes.

Harrisonburg will apply for an Environmental Protection Agency grant aimed at helping disadvantaged communities reduce pollution and make neighborhoods more resilient to climate change. The city will be the lead applicant along with Church World Service and the Northeast Neighborhood Association. Other groups and organizations may still be added as partners after the grant has been awarded.

The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation will be expanding the Virginia Breeze bus lines with a new east-west route connecting Harrisonburg and Virginia Beach in 2025. This bus route called the Tidewater Current will be the fifth Virginia Breeze route. Another route serving Harrisonburg is the Valley Flyer traveling from Blacksburg to Washington, D.C.

Our Climate Crisis

June 2024 marked the 12th month of average global temperatures reaching 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. It was also warmer than any previous June in the data record at 0.14°C above the previous high set in June 2023. The extreme heat is wilting and burning forests, making it harder to curb climate change. 

Another year of heat and floods has spurred China to make adapting to extreme weather a policy priority. This summer has begun with a massive emergency response effort in multiple provinces to prevent extreme heat and flooding, now routine, from turning into a political and humanitarian crisis. China is now building two-thirds of the world’s wind and solar projects.

Hurricane Beryl, which hit Houston as a Category 1 hurricane, knocked out power to more than 2 million people and dumped nearly a foot of rain in parts of the city. The flooding and destruction are expected to drive up insurance costs in a city that already pays more than twice the national average. Climate change is making such severe weather events more common.

Politics and Policy

A Trump appointed federal judge reversed the Department of Energy’s freeze on new liquefied natural gas export approvals, handing a win to the oil industry and a coalition of 16 Republican-led states that had challenged the Biden administration plan. The U.S. is the largest LNG exporter in the world and has plans to more than triple its export capacity.

Despite record-breaking heat and rising public concern, the Republican National Convention focused on expanding fossil fuel use while dismissing climate science. Former President Trump joked, “Global warming is fine. In fact, I heard it was going to be very warm today. It’s fine.”

The Biden administration is awarding nearly $2 billion in grants to help restart or expand electric vehicle manufacturing and assembly sites in eight states including Virginia. The grants cover a broad range of the automotive supply chain, including parts for electric motorcycles and school buses, hybrid powertrains, heavy-duty commercial truck batteries and electric SUVs.

The United Kingdom’s new Labor government has confirmed a legislative agenda with the environment “front and center.” This recognizes the urgency of the global climate challenge, the job opportunities that can come from leading the development of new technologies of the future, and as ways to reduce the cost of living.

JD Vance, Donald Trump’s newly selected running mate, has come under scrutiny for his climate skepticism. He is a staunch supporter of the oil and gas industry and an opponent of renewable energy. He has only held such views in recent years, a shift that coincides with his bid to have Trump choose him to be his running mate.

A right-wing policy think tank sponsored by The Heritage Foundation recently touted Project 2025, a policy blueprint that seeks to fundamentally restructure the federal government in a Republican administration. It would undermine our country’s extensive network of environmental and climate policies and alter the future of American fossil fuel production, climate action, and environmental justice.

We’re saying goodbye to the first climate president ever as Joe Biden has dropped out of the 2024 presidential race. He has done more to support clean energy than any president before, giving the U.S. a fighting chance to cut emissions at the speed climate change demands.

Kamala Harris has captured the support of a key coalition of progressive, youth-led and environmental justice-focused climate advocates, with the Green New Deal Network endorsement of her candidacy. It’s a boost for Harris from members of a voter segment that will be key to victory in November. On the other hand, it’s fodder for the Trump’s campaign strategy of painting Harris as a radical leftist who will block U.S. oil and gas development.

Speaking at the Inter-American Development Bank, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that $3 trillion in new capital is required each year to combat climate change. “Neglecting to address climate change and the loss of nature and biodiversity is not just bad environmental policy. It is also bad economic policy,” she said.

Energy

The US has become one of the world’s leading oil exporters, elbowing aside classic petrostates like the UAE and Kuwait. No country in history has extracted as much oil as the US has in each of the past six years, and US gas production now tops the global charts, having surged 50% in the past decade. Louisiana has become ground zero for exporting oil and gas.

Renewable energy sources accounted for 29.1% of electricity generation globally in 2022. The other 70.9% came from fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and pumped storage. Last year, however, renewables accounted for nearly 86% of new electricity capacity worldwide.

Google’s greenhouse gas emissions have surged nearly 50% over the past five years due to the energy demands of its growing AI technologies. The environmental cost of AI cannot be ignored even as it promises transformative benefits for various sectors, including healthcare, transportation, and climate modeling. The huge surge in emissions raises serious questions about the sustainability of tech-driven solutions and the industry’s role in climate change.

Electrical grid reliability is becoming an increasing challenge in the US in what is being described as a “hyper-complex risk environment.”This includes: 1) rapidly increasing electrical demand from data centers, electric vehicles, and electrification in general, 2) increasing extreme weather events related to climate change, 3) the increasing adaptation of wind and solar energy, which is intermittent, and 4) the inertia of the regulatory environment.

Dominion Energy acquired a second offshore wind project area that could put the utility closer to achieving renewable energy goals of the Virginia Clean Economy Act that seeks to decarbonize the electric grid by mid-century. The 40,000-acre lease area off the coast of North Carolina adjacent to Virginia could produce 800 megawatts of electricity.

Fervo Energy has landed a massive contract for providing geothermal power to the California grid. The company uses a fracking technique to break up rocks, drive water through them horizontally, and collect the resultant steam to drive turbines at the surface. They believe this method can change the geothermal landscape because it could work in many locales—not just those where hot rocks are close to the surface like in Iceland and New Zealand.

Battery installations in the U.S. are on track for the best year ever. Overall storage installations—meaning utility-scale, home, and commercial projects—grew 84% in the first quarter. Grid battery installations grew even faster. It is projected that the U.S. grid battery fleet will nearly double in 2024.

Climate Justice

Researchers estimate that global income will be reduced by 19% because of the carbon we have already emitted. This is due to falling agricultural yields, labor productivity, and harm to existing infrastructure. Poor countries least responsible for climate change are predicted to suffer income loss that is 60% greater than the higher-income countries.

Facing gentrification and climate change, an historic African American community outside Charleston, S.C., is embracing conservation as a way to preserve its historical character. Community leaders are considering forestry projects, land trusts and greenbelt initiatives, which prohibit development. Sustainable forestry also offers landowners a way to make money from their family’s land without selling to a developer.

Textile waste is an urgent global problem. Only 12% is recycled worldwide and only 1% of castoff clothes are recycled into new garments. The problem is especially pressing in China, the world’s largest textile producer and consumer, where most textile waste ends up in landfills. Cheap unrecyclable synthetic clothes, produced from petrochemicals that contribute to climate change, air and water pollution, account for 70% of domestic clothing sales in China.

Climate Action

A half-mile-long, 1.3 megawatt pilot project of covering an irrigation canal with solar panels on tribal land in Arizona shows the benefits of covering the thousands of miles of such waterways in the US. Studies suggest this has the potential to help canals do their jobs better; an over-the-canal design can prevent water from evaporating and inhibits algae growth.

Elizabeth Bagley, the managing director of Project Drawdown, makes the case for discussing climate change with kids and shares tips for approaching the topic in a way that inspires hope instead of fear. She writes, “Talking to children about climate change is not just about educating them on the science. It’s about empowering them to be part of the solution.”

Weatherizing your house—caulking, sealing, and installing insulation—is an important strategy not only for getting greater value out of heating and cooling systems but also for contending with increasingly prevalent extreme temperatures. If you are considering switching to an energy efficient electric heat-pump system, weatherizing your house first can reduce the size of a heat pump needed, saving you thousands of dollars upfront and costing less to run.

Our food systems account for one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. “There isn’t a single silver bullet solution that addresses climate change in the food system,” writes Jonathan Foley, a climate scientist and the Executive Director of Project Drawdown. “Vegan diets won’t solve it alone. Neither will regenerative agriculture or improved fertilizers. Instead we must use a whole portfolio of solutions and deploy them in tandem.”

Self-installed, plug-and-play solar panels are popping up in yards and on balcony railings across Germany, driven by bargain prices and looser regulations. More than 500,000 of the systems have already been set up and in the first six months of the year, enabling the country to add nine gigawatts of photovoltaic capacity.

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee

Beliefs do not change our actions. Actions change our beliefs. Do you believe there is nothing you can do to make a difference? Logical. Do you fear the future? Understandable. Do you feel stressed about climate change? Sensible. However, stress is your brain telling you to act. Stress is a signal; it is urging you to do something. Not only do actions change your beliefs, your actions change other people’s beliefs. —Paul Hawken

Our Climate Crisis

More than 1.5 billion people — almost one-fifth of the planet’s population — endured at least one day this year when the heat index topped 103 degrees Fahrenheit, the threshold the National Weather Service considers life-threatening. It was much worse in some major cities around the world such as Bangkok and Delhi. Heat is the deadliest form of extreme weather.

Amid what will likely be a record-breaking hot summer in the U.S., health experts are stepping up warnings about the risks that extreme temperatures pose to children. From how they sweat to how they breathe, young people process high temperatures differently than adults. Recent studies also show heat’s negative effects on learning, sleep and mental health.

Flooding has gotten increasingly severe in an era of extreme weather and now costs the U.S. economy an estimated $179.8 to $496 billion per year. Florida and Louisiana are grappling with insurers fleeing their states amid rising hurricane-related hazards like inland, coastal and storm surge flooding. Homeowners are being squeezed by increasing insurance prices.

Local Climate News

A short video about JMU ISAT professor Wayne Teel’s ebike commute won first place in the EPA’s EV Transportation Video Challenge in the Personal Mobility category. (Scroll down on the linked website to see the video). Local filmmaker Wade Puffenbarger interviewed Wayne about his daily 8 mile ebike commute from Keezletown to the JMU campus. Wayne says that traffic planners underestimate the potential sea change ebikes could bring to personal transportation in the U.S. if safer routes to common destinations become available to people on bikes.

Charlottesville Area Transit plans to convert to a zero-emission electric and hydrogen-electric fuel cell public transit fleet by 2040. The transit agency, serving a city of 45,000, is matching the zero-emissions goals of larger counterparts in New York, Chicago and San Diego. The Charlottesville based Community Climate Collaborative (C3) is celebrating this as a win in its advocacy for clean energy in the city.

An energy company with a rocky 1.8 MW solar facility at The Village at Orchard Ridge retirement community in Winchester, Virginia, had challenges with mowing without breaking equipment or the solar panels.  It therefore contracted with a farmer to maintain the landscape with grazing sheep and pigs.

Politics and Policy

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is circumventing the state legislature to upend climate policy. While climate advocates are confident that Youngkin’s moves will be tossed by courts or reversed by the next governor, that could take years. In the meantime, Youngkin has withdrawn Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and rolled back clean car standards. He’s also locking in place new gas-powered electric power plants for decades to come.

As California grapples with a budget shortfall, Governor Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers have proposed slashing hundreds of millions of dollars for clean alternatives to help with grid emergencies. The much larger pot of money directed to fossil-fueled power plants and backup generators—which don’t fit into the state’s clean energy plans—keeps flowing.

New York City, the most heavily congested city in the United States, had a plan to charge drivers entering lower Manhattan a $15 toll. This was expected to raise $1 billion a year for public transportation while also reducing air pollution. Similar schemes have been adopted in other major cities, including London, Singapore, and Stockholm. Gov. Kathy Hochul then abruptly derailed the plan because of feared political pushback from suburban voters.

Green parties in the European Union have lost significant ground in the latest elections, prompting concerns about the future of the Green Deal and climate policies. They dropped from fourth to sixth place in the European Parliament, with their vote share nearly halved in Germany. Conversely, a Green-Left coalition appears to have narrowly beaten the far-right for first place in the Netherlands.

Donald Trump delivered a campaign-style energy address during a day of meetings with congressional Republicans. He hit on his trademark themes like “drill baby drill” and pledged to reverse Biden administration policies he said hamper fossil fuel development and favor electric vehicles.

Energy bills in the United Kingdom were £22bn higher over the past decade than they would have been if successive Conservative governments had not cut the “green crap” by rolling back climate policies for areas such as insulating homes, new home building standards and onshore wind and solar growth. This also raised net gas imports by a third, making the UK more reliant on gas imports and leaving customers more exposed to high gas prices.

The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned the Chevron doctrine, thereby gutting federal environmental protections. This could send a “convulsive shock” to decades of federal environmental, financial, and healthcare regulations.

Energy

The International Energy Agency reports that global investment in clean energy will hit $2 trillion this year, with solar power receiving the most funding. For every dollar going to fossil fuels today, almost two dollars are now being invested in clean energy.  This massive influx of capital into clean energy sectors underscores the growing recognition of the economic and environmental benefits of renewable energy.

West Virginia is attracting diverse energy producers including green energy investments that leverage federal incentives to support former mining communities. “We embrace all forms of energy and want to continue to be one of the world’s leaders in providing power for making people’s lives better and producing more products and equipment,” says West Virginia Secretary of Economic Development Mitch Carmichael.

Fossil gas production in the U.S. rose by 40% from 2015 to 2022 but methane emissions from gas extraction fell by 37%, according to a study of Environmental Protection Agency. This is both bad news and some good news. If oil and gas extraction isn’t about to disappear, then making it as clean as possible is at least a partial win for the climate.

The hotly contested Mountain Valley Pipeline was given the go-ahead by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to start operating, six years after construction began at more than double its original estimated cost. The environmental group Appalachian Voices put out a statement saying that by allowing the pipeline to proceed despite all the hazards it poses, the system meant to protect our communities, land and water has failed.

Construction has begun on a 73-acre hub facility for offshore wind in Brooklyn. It will receive and ship out the enormous wind turbines that will be installed in the Atlantic Ocean. When completed it will be one of the largest dedicated hubs serving offshore wind, a crucial energy industry that’s slowly emerging in the United States.

Despite past failures, the Biden administration is betting big on nuclear power. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is emphasizing the need to triple nuclear energy output by 2050 to meet climate targets.

Dominion Energy officials say their $1.2 billion plan to extend the life of two half-century old nuclear power plants in Virginia is on schedule and on budget, although the process is more complicated than they anticipated.

AI-enabled activities such as ChatGPT or AI-enhanced internet searches take a lot more data processing than a regular internet search or scroll. This involves more data centers—and more electricity to power them. Analysts predict that data centers could account for as much as 9% of U.S. energy demand by 2030. New solar and wind energy will meet about 40% of that new power demand while the rest will come from a vast expansion in the burning of natural gas.

Climate Justice

Indigenous communities seek to make the drive toward clean energy work for, not against, them. Rather than clean energy as a new type of ‘clean’ colonialism, there’s another path toward making the energy transition more just, sustainable and equitable through partnerships with Indigenous communities.

A recent study shows that almost 3 million Americans live in coastal communities with critical infrastructure at risk of monthly disruptive flooding due to sea level rise. Sea level along the coastline is projected to rise, on average, around 10 to 12 inches by 2050. The burden will not be equal: more than half the critical assets facing frequent flooding are located in communities already disadvantaged by historic and current structural racism, discrimination and pollution.

Dominion Energy has plans to build a new natural gas peaker plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia, where an old coal plant once operated. The minority community in that location has dealt with the environmental and health impacts of the coal plant for the past 80 years. Residents don’t want this plant and are doing what they can to stop it.

Climate Action

Henry County, Virginia, is looking toward a greener future by reducing energy consumption, with the goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050. County staff, in conjunction with researchers from George Mason University, are spearheading the Local Energy Efficiency Action Plan, which seeks to establish paths for the county to optimize commercial, residential and governmental energy usage.

Purchasing electric equipment like lawnmowers and leafblowers can be key in encouraging homeowners to take on bigger electrification projects down the line. A recent study shows that people who already have electric lawn equipment are 84% more likely to want to electrify their cooking appliances, and 33% more likely to want to electrify their home and water heating.

Hundreds of sheep have arrived at Dominion Energy’s 500 acre solar farm in Hampton Roads to weed and mow the landscape. “If you think about it—it’s a really perfect pairing for solar farms because sheep and solar farms are both environmentally friendly alternatives to their traditional counterparts,” said Tim Eberly, spokesman for Dominion Energy.

The Environmental Defense Fund, entering controversial territory, will spend millions of dollars to research the impact of geoengineering to reflect sunlight into space. While they do not presently support geoengineering because of the risks, they seek to persuade environmentalists of the necessity of research.

Americans believe recycling is one of the most effective ways they can fight climate change, when experts say it’s unlikely to make much of a difference. Recycling plastics is especially problematic because only 9% of the plastics ever produced have gone on to be recycled. We need to consider if recycling should even be the goal, rather than solutions such as reducing, reusing, refilling, and repairing, which are much better for the environment.

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee

A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic [living] community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.  —Aldo Leopold

Our Climate Crisis

From flooding in Brazil and Houston to brutal heat in Asia, extreme weather seems nearly everywhere in the past month. It’s unprecedented to have so much of the world with its weather in overdrive at the same time. Katharine Hayhoe, chief scientist for the Nature Conservancy, comments, “Climate change is loading the weather dice against us in every part of the world.”

One of the most rapid sea level surges on Earth is besieging the American South. Sea levels across the region are at least 6 inches higher than they were in 2010—a change similar to what occurred over the previous five decades.

The severe thunderstorms and high winds that recently swept through Houston and the Gulf Coast left all the destructive traces of a hurricane. As our planet warms, severe storms of all kinds are likely to deliver even bigger payloads of rain because warmer air holds more moisture. The resulting heat energy released into the atmosphere feeds thunderstorms.

The climate refugee crisis is here. Catastrophic flooding in southern Brazil recently forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. This is not a one off. Floods in Pakistan in 2022 displaced an estimated 8 million people. Floods in Ethiopia in 2023 and Kenya this year forced hundreds of thousands more from their homes.

Local Climate News

An informal Creation Care/Green Team mixer is being planned at the outside pavilion at Harrisonburg Mennonite Church on Saturday, June 22, at 7 pm. This mixer is an outgrowth of the Ecumenical Earth Day Worship Service, and is open to all creation care groups, green committees, and interested individuals. It will be helpful for planning purposes if you RSVP to Steve Pardini at: pardini.steven@hotmail.com.

Local nonprofit GiveSolar launched a National Solar Seed Fund Campaign at the beginning of this year. This is an effort to scale the solar programs of Habitat for Humanity and make them available to all appropriate Habitat homes nationally.  The campaign has now received a $500,000 donation from the EPA Solar for All grant designed to help low-income households to access solar. To date, the campaign has raised $614,580 toward its goal of raising $1M by July.

The Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission and RideShare joined the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation in promoting May as Bike Month—a time to celebrate the joys and benefits of cycling! This promotes biking as a viable and eco-friendly mode of transportation.

The declining number of fireflies in our region is likely due to rising temperatures, housing and commercial development with closely cut lawns, and the use of pesticides. To have more fireflies in your yard and to help the insect population thrive, Virginia Tech entomologist Eric Day recommends that homeowners stop spraying their yards with pesticides and herbicides, tolerate weeds, and mow less.

Community Climate Collaborative—also known as C3—based in Charlottesville, is helping businesses reach carbon neutral emission goals. It involves energy efficiency measures such as sealing up buildings, upgrading lights or replacing appliances using fossil fuels with modern ones. Upgrades can be funded through C-PACE, an innovative way to finance clean energy and resiliency projects on commercial, multifamily, and nonprofit buildings.

Politics and Policy

During Trump’s dinner meeting with Big Oil executives at Mar-a-Lago last month, he asked them to raise $1 billion for his campaign as he outlined his pro-fossil fuels agenda for a second term. Industry officials have already begun drafting the text of executive orders to start reversing the Biden administration’s green policies on day one of a Trump presidency.

In an effort led by Gov. DeSantis, Florida—perhaps the most vulnerable state to sea-level rise and extreme weather—has stripped the term “climate change” from much of state law. The state will, instead, make energy affordability and availability its main focus.

The Vermont state Senate recently passed legislation that would require all utilities to provide 100% clean energy by 2035. This puts Vermont on track to be among the first states to fully decarbonize its power grid. This new standard will underpin other parallel state climate efforts such as electrifying its home heating sector.

In a win for Governor Youngkin, the budget deal he cut with General Assembly negotiators dropped a measure to renew the state’s membership in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Democrats claimed that Youngkin insisted the RGGI language come out “under threat of veto” but environmentalists fault them for folding without a fight.

The U.S. Interior Department announced that it will end new coal leasing in the Powder River Basin, which produces nearly half the coal in the United States. This is one of the biggest steps yet to keep fossil fuels in the ground with major implications for U.S. climate goals.

President Biden announced major tariffs on Chinese clean technologies that they fear will flood the U.S. market and undermine our emerging clean manufacturing. He imposed tariffs of 100% on Chinese EVs, 50% on Chinese solar cells, and 25% on Chinese lithium-ion batteries. The Washington Post editorial board claims that this will slow progress against climate change and provide next to nothing in return. Economist Paul Krugman, however, sees it as unfortunately necessary given the fragile state of our U.S. green energy transition.

Energy

Across the U.S., power companies are increasingly using giant grid batteries the size of shipping containers to address renewable energy’s biggest weakness: the fact that the wind and sun aren’t always available. Over the past three years, battery storage capacity on our grids has grown tenfold. This year, it is expected to nearly double again, with the biggest growth in Texas, California and Arizona.

New York–based startup Voltpost has announced the commercial availability of its curbside EV charging station technology package—creating modular, street-proofed systems, utilizing power from streetlights, that it hopes to deploy in cities later this year. Tapping the power already at light posts is a workaround to the high costs of installing underground electric cables for chargers in urban settings.

The surge in data center power demand in the U.S. is expected to double from 2022 levels by 2030 and reach up to 7.5% of total energy consumption—equivalent to the energy consumption of nearly a third of American homes. Virginia has the biggest data center market in the world and the exponential increase in power demand has created a huge challenge for the goal of decarbonizing its electric grid. Some Virginia lawmakers have tried to hold data centers accountable for their impact on the environment but their proposed legislation was postponed until 2025, effectively killing it.

China has a huge lead over other countries in building the technologies of the energy transition. Around $200 billion was invested in clean technology manufacturing worldwide in 2023—a 70% increase from 2022. China alone accounted for three-quarters of this investment.

Climate Justice

Norfolk, Virginia, is experiencing a double-whammy effect of climate change. Not only are storm related deluges more intense, but sea levels are rising faster here than anywhere else on the East Coast.  One climate resilience project—a winding “blue greenway”—aims to reimagine a neglected, flood-prone poor neighborhood along the city’s neglected east-side waterfront.

Virginia was all in on midsized solar installations on schools, hospitals, churches, and municipal buildings until Dominion Energy dramatically raised prices and changed the rules on interconnection fees. This now makes many of these projects economically unviable. Dominion denies that it is putting up barriers in order to maintain its market share in solar energy.

Internal oil company documents released before a congressional hearing reveal that oil executives promoted natural gas as green even when they knew it wasn’t. This evidence could end up supporting state attorneys general who are suing the fossil fuel industry. Oil companies are currently facing around 30 lawsuits for deceiving the public about the consequences of burning fossil fuels.

New coal mines continue to open each year, and oil and gas companies are still exploring new parts of the world. People—especially Indigenous communities—are, however, increasingly saying no to new fossil fuel developments on their land. And they’re using courts and legislatures to fight back and achieve some significant victories.

The new United Nations “loss and damage fund” to assist developing countries with climate related damages had its first board meeting where it sought to finalize operations and its partnership with the World Bank. The big question is who will pay. Former U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said that the world will “never see a dime” from the U.S. for anything that sounds like an admission of liability or smacks of compensation.

Small island nations won a big climate victory when the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea unanimously ruled that governments that signed on to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea have an obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This includes several of the world’s top emitters: China, India, the European Union, and Russia. The United States, also a big polluter, is not a party to the convention.

Climate Action

A growing number of ecological innovators around the world are reimagining landscapes, communities, and the way we live. Individuals and organizations are embarking on a hands-on rethinking of the future in projects that range from “ecovillages” in sub-Saharan Africa to regenerative agriculture coworking spaces in Europe, to permaculture projects in Barbados.

The Ulkatcho First Nation in remote British Columbia is installing what will likely be the largest off-grid solar project in Canada. It will provide 64% of their electricity which is currently entirely generated by diesel. Corrine Cahoose, one of their elected councilors, said, “We have to be the stewards of the land. We have to protect in every way, and this project is one of the ways.”

The Bezos Earth Fund, launched in 2020, aims to give away $10bn of the Amazon founder’s $200bn personal fortune to combat the climate crisis and biodiversity loss by the end of the decade. Some in the climate and environmental community are concerned about the level of influence this gives Jeff Bezos over critical environmental institutions. They claim that the projects do not address the key issues of the climate crisis.

Is buying carbon offsets for air flights worth it? Many of them don’t work and some might even be harmful. Better alternatives include flying less and choosing an economy seat when you do fly (premium seats contribute about four times more emissions). And, when you fly, you can donate $1,000 per ton of carbon emitted to your favorite environmental organizations.

The race is on to build California’s 220 mph high-speed bullet train network. When completed, the train network will be a major convenience for people traveling around California as well as a major win for our planet. According to one study, the trains will produce only one-seventh as much greenhouse gas emissions as commercial air travel.

Heating water gobbles energy, leading to higher utility bills and more planet-warming emissions. It’s responsible for more than 10% of annual residential energy use—the biggest share after air conditioning and heating. One way to cut down our energy consumption is to wash our laundry in cold water because heating water consumes about 90% of the energy it takes to operate a washing machine. Also limit taking long, steamy hot showers.

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee

Think about [climate] anxiety as a catalyst—born from empathy. What is it telling you to do?   —Debbie Sturm

Our Climate Crisis

The ocean has been breaking temperature records every day for more than a year by wide margins. The oceans have absorbed the vast majority of the planet’s warming from greenhouse gases but these massive increases are beyond what scientists would expect to see even considering climate change.

Throughout Virginia, scientists are documenting significant warming of water temperatures from inland freshwater streams and rivers, which has huge cascading effects on ecosystems. The rising water temperatures are a result of global climate change as well as localized changes in the environment, like loss of shading from trees that have been removed along streams.

In the past year, anomalously warm ocean temperatures have left a trail of devastation for the world’s corals, bleaching entire reefs and threatening widespread coral die back. The world is now experiencing its fourth global bleaching event, the second in the last decade.

Global levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide rose to 419 parts per million in our atmosphere in 2023, around 50% more than before the Industrial Revolution. Carbon dioxide levels are currently rising at near-record rates—last year had the fourth-highest annual rise.

We’re bending the curve in global greenhouse gas emissions and may be at near peak emissions. Even so, we’re still adding to the total amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We will need to bring down emissions rapidly in the next decades to avoid the worst of global warming.  

Local Climate News

About 200 enthusiastic members of eight different congregations gathered on a chilly Sunday morning for an outdoor Ecumenical Earth Day Worship Service at Turner Pavilion in downtown Harrisonburg on April 21. Participants were thrilled by their joint energy on such a cold morning and are already talking about doing it again next year.

Climate STARR (Strategies for Climate Trauma, Action, Resilience, and Regeneration) is a three-day in-person training at Eastern Mennonite University June 10-12. It will provide individuals, communities, and climate action organizations who encounter climate angst and fatigue (or experience it themselves) a space to pause, reflect, and gain new skills for living and leading in uncertain times. As a climate activist, you will want to consider registering for the training to enhance your skills and expand your climate network.

Eastern Mennonite University, in partnership with the JMU Center for the Advancement of Sustainable Energy, is hosting a Solar Solutionary Camp for rising 8^th and 12^th graders June 10-14. Students will be challenged with ensuring access to electricity for the nearly one-billion people who lack it today while keeping climate change below 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming.

Politics and Policy

The Biden administration issued new rules ordering power companies to cut pollution from coal plants. This is a major plank in Biden’s efforts to fight climate change, amid complaints from progressive green voters who say he’s done too little to curb fossil fuels. Many of the progressives who helped send him to the White House in 2020 are expressing frustration at his approval of several high-profile oil and gas projects as well as his handling of the war in Gaza.

Marking a major step in US climate change mitigation efforts, the Environmental Protection Agency has set regulations aimed at slashing pollution from heavy-duty trucks. They aim to cut 1 billion tons of CO2 by 2055.

The Department of Energy released its first ever federal blueprint to decarbonize America’s building sector, which accounts for more than a third of the harmful emissions jeopardizing our air and health. The comprehensive plan would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings by 65% by 2035 and 90% by 2050.

The European Union has been backpedaling on its environmental promises, yielding to agribusiness and far-right demands. In particular, they scrapped initiatives aimed at reducing pesticide usage, protecting nature, and curbing toxic chemicals.  

The Biden administration has approved the construction of a new deepwater oil export terminal off the Texas coast that will be the largest of its kind in the United States. Environmentalists claim it will lead to “disastrous” planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. The administration, in turn, claims that it will not substantially increase oil production.

The Biden administration announced $34.7 million in grants to three Virginia projects that will help strengthen transportation infrastructure against the effects of climate change. The projects will address flooding and facilitate emergency evacuations due to extreme weather events in Virginia’s Tidewater and Chesapeake region.

Ranting against wind power during a fundraising dinner with oil and gas industry executives, former president Trump claimed that the renewable-energy source is unreliable, unattractive and bad for the environment. “I hate wind,” he told the executives over a meal of chopped steak at his Mar-a-Lago Club and resort in Florida.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is shaping his independent run for president on a climate platform designed to appeal to supporters of both Biden and Trump. He’s staking out some positions well to Biden’s left—such as calling for a permanent ban on natural gas exports, while criticizing the size of Biden’s subsidies for green energy. He’s adorning these positions with the anti-big-government rhetoric and conspiracy theories that he promoted during the Covid pandemic.

Energy

Massive data centers in Northern Virginia, processing nearly 70% of global digital traffic, are gobbling up electricity at a rate that power grid operators say is unsustainable. Therefore they’re planning several hundred miles of new transmission lines to coal-powered electricity plants in West Virginia that had been scheduled to go offline. Those coal plants will now keep running to fuel the increasing need for more power.

Global renewable energy capacity increased by 36% last year but that is only half as fast as necessary to meet our global climate commitments. Rising energy demand and weak electric grid infrastructure underlie our continued dependence on burning fossil fuels for energy.

Natural gas prices have plunged as the world grapples with an oversupply after a warmer-than-expected winter. The recent heyday in liquefied natural gas boosted prices and profits, spurring a huge wave of investment in the sector.

The Virginia State Corporation Commission approved more than a dozen new solar projects that will significantly expand Dominion Energy’s growing clean energy capacity. They will include four solar projects that will be owned by Dominion Energy and 13 independently owned solar projects.

An old on-demand gas plant in California is being replaced by a billion-dollar, 680-megawatt grid battery—one of the biggest batteries in the U.S. The big advantage of this giant grid battery is that it can supply power instantaneously. The old 800-megawatt gas plant took 12 hours to be fired up before coming online.

Electric vehicles, with an average equivalent of 106 miles per gallon, blow past the energy efficiency of hybrid cars. That number could more than double in the next decades to more than 200 miles per gallon. This growth in efficiency could help ease the strain that electric vehicles are expected to place on the grid and extend battery range.

Energy developers are more eager than ever to build new solar, wind, and battery projects in the U.S. but the interconnection queue is getting longer and longer. It is now taking about five years to get through the queue, which, as a result, is now more than twice the size of the entire U.S. power capacity.

Climate Justice

Installing solar panels on school buildings and big-box stores could provide one-fifth of the power that disadvantaged communities need, bringing renewable energy to people who can least afford it. Research has found that marginalized neighborhoods generate almost 40% less renewable energy than wealthy ones.

The Environmental Protection Agency selected 60 organizations that, under its Solar for All program, will receive a combined $7 billion in grants to bring residential solar to low-income neighborhoods. The funding will flow into state, municipal, and tribal governments as well as nonprofits for low-income solar and battery storage installations and to support existing ones.

The Department of Energy aims for 5 million households around the country to sign up for community solar by next year. Subscribers will pay a monthly charge and then receive a credit on their utility bills—usually larger than the fee they pay—for the power generated by their fraction of a solar array. Community solar has gained bipartisan support because of its benefits to low-income households now burdened by disproportionate energy bills.

Having lost many of their cattle due to drought, traditional herders in Kenya are trying out milk-producing camels that are more resilient to climate change. Jonathan Lati Lelelit, the governor of Samburu, a county about 240 miles north of Nairobi, comments, “We have so many other things to do with the little money we have. But we have no option.”

Climate Action

Rising global temperatures are giving new urgency to geoengineering—trying to engineer our way out of our climate crisis. Lots of resources are being poured into direct air capture systems designed to suck carbon dioxide out of the air and store it underground. Critics say such efforts are dangerous distractions from the more urgent task of rapidly reducing the use of fossil fuels.

The Virginia Department of Transportation selected 18 different sites to receive electric car chargers under the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This first $11 million tranche of funding focuses on electric car chargers for interstates, while the next rounds will add charging stations along state highways and for freight carriers. Virginia is set to receive about $106 million total funding over the next five years.

Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions dropped by 10% last year as renewable energy grew in importance. This puts Europe’s biggest economy on course to meet its target for cutting emissions by 65% by 2030. It aims to cut its emissions to net zero by 2045.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of a group of older Swiss women who claimed that the Swiss government had violated their rights by failing to combat climate change and meet emissions targets. The landmark case sets a legal precedent in the European Union against which future lawsuits will be judged.

America’s first fully battery-powered tugboat is being put into service at the Port of San Diego. Waterfronts are incredible sources of pollution and carbon emissions. Port officials are working to decarbonize not just tugs but also diesel cranes and trucks.

The apparel industry is responsible for somewhere between 8 and 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and about 4% of solid waste in the United States. Jeans contribute to this industry but are not all equal polluters. Chief among ways to mitigate the environmental impact of the jeans you wear is buying jeans made from organic and recycled cotton.

The “Green Islam” movement in Indonesia seeks to kindle an environmental awakening through Islam. Top clergy have issued fatwas, or edicts, on how to rein in climate change. Neighborhood activists are beseeching friends, family and neighbors that environmentalism is embedded in the Quran.

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee