Climate Crisis
Although the world is experiencing severe global crises, there are new efforts underway to create a more effective means of coping with them.
The crises are clear enough. They include vast slaughter in horrific wars, worldwide climate catastrophe, massive population displacement, and deepening poverty.
Moreover, these disastrous situations are likely to worsen in coming years. Modern wars are fought with increasingly devastating weapons, and preparations for nuclear war have escalated to the level of global annihilation. Similarly, time is running out for saving the planet from an environmental cataclysm, which will surely lead to heightened displacement and poverty.
Vermont, New York, Washington, New Jersey and Maine have the best combination of relatively low environmental risks and robust environmental policies, according to a report released this week.
West Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Florida and Mississippi ranked lowest on the 50-state scorecard produced by the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation that advocates for health care improvements.
Ohio ranks 31.
Researchers at Northeastern and Yale universities ranked states based on risks from extreme heat, flooding, poor air quality, natural hazard risks to health care facilities and greenhouse gas emissions by the health care sector. The authors of the report also analyzed states’ clean energy policies and climate change mitigation efforts.
Hurricane Betsy hit New Orleans on September 9, 1965, days after I had begun my senior year in high school. Those were the old days when school didn’t start until after Labor Day. The night the hurricane came, our whole family stayed, along with others, in the city’s central business district on the 4th floor of the old California Company building on Loyola Avenue, a stone’s throw from the central library and not much more to City Hall. My brother and I had to sit in to play hands of bridge to help make up foursomes among the adults. Our house didn’t flood, but the streets had enough water that, when we returned, I could paddle my 14-foot pirogue around the neighborhood and up Paris Avenue. It took a week for the water to subside and power to return. Having a gas stove was a lifesaver, which is part of the reason I still hang onto one now.
Two leading science and environment groups are going to court to challenge the Trump administration’s use of a secretively convened group of climate skeptics to prepare a now widely disparaged report in its attempt to undo the Endangerment Finding. The longstanding finding provides scientific support for commonsense emission standards to reduce climate pollution and protect people from the more powerful floods, more extreme heat waves, more frequent fires and other deadly hazards made worse by climate change. Millions of Americans are experiencing the clear and present danger of climate change in their lives as well as rising insurance costs and other impacts that are making daily life less safe and less affordable.
US Solar Cell Manufacturing Grows Despite Cloudy Days Ahead
The US doubled its solar cell manufacturing capacity and added 8.6 gigawatts in the first quarter of 2025, marking the third largest quarter for new solar manufacturing capacity on record.
According to a report recently issued by Wood McKinsey for the Solar Energy Industries Association(SEIA), new solar generating capacity totaled 10.8 gigawatts. That's 7 percent lower than installations for the first quarter in 2024, 43 percent lower than installations for the fourth quarter of last year. It's still the fourth largest quarter of deployment on record according to the same report.
The top five states for solar growth this quarter include Texas, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
Despite growing demand for energy, the solar industry faces a rocky road over the next few years, particularly if the Senate concurs with the renewable energy tax credit cuts that have already been passed by the House.
Tariffs Fail to Charge Confidence in Battery Prices
Recent tariff actions by the Trump administration have caused a sharp increase in battery prices according to the Q2 storage pricing insights report from ANSA, a solar and storage company.
This battery price spike is the sharpest single jump in battery energy storage prices since 2021, including the time period of the post-pandemic supply chain disruptions.
As of 2024, China currently accounts for approximately 60 percent of the world's lithium ion battery exports that are used in electric vehicles, as well as stationary battery storage systems.
In 2018, the first Trump administration imposed tariffs on batteries from China, In January of 2020, those tariffs on lithium ion batteries rose from 7.5 percent to 15 percent. In May of 2024, they increased to 25 percent.
April of this year, Trump announced a 125 percent additional tariff on products from China, which raised the tariff on batteries imported from that nation to about 150 percent.
“I was so scared. I didn’t know if I was going to make it to the next day,” recalled Luz Drada, an advocate and program coordinator with Moms Clean Air Force, recounting the harrowing experience of her high-risk pregnancy at Maternal and Child Health in a Dangerous Climate, a forum held in Washington, DC, exploring the intersections of global warming, air pollution, and maternal health disparities.
“You are not alone. Far from it. If you are concerned about the climate crisis and want your national government to do something about it, you are part of an enormous global majority.”