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The Fight Over the Endangerment Finding

Guardrails for a Warming World: The Fight Over the Endangerment Finding

by Nancy Ylvisaker

The Trump administration has threatened to roll back a crucial finding that determined that greenhouse gases endanger human health and can be regulated under the Clean Air Act. Issued in 2009, the Endangerment Finding gives the government the authority to regulate and limit power plant emissions and methane leaks and to set fuel-efficiency standards for automobiles. A rollback would have massive implications for climate regulations – and our safety.

In the following blog, author Nancy Ylvisaker details the risks inherent in rolling back the Endangerment Finding. A past board member for C-Change Conservations, Nancy is deeply engaged in conservation advocacy, serving on the boards of the Nature Conservancy in Missouri, Center for Plant Conservation, Coastal Mountains Land Trust, and the Conservation and Science Mission Council of the Missouri Botanical Garden. She is the current Conservation Chair of the Garden Club of America. Professionally, she worked in finance at J.P. Morgan and Merrill Lynch in NYC for many years.

In addition to sharing Nancy’s thoughtful blog, C-Change Conversations responded directly to the EPA, joining a wide range of health organizations and nonprofits that submitted public comments in opposition to rescinding the Endangerment Finding. Karen Florini, C-Change Conversation’s strategic advisor, wrote the official response outlining our position. You can read it here.

When parents imagine the future for their children, it’s often in everyday terms: clean air to breathe, safe water to drink, a stable world to inherit. In the United States, one of the most important legal tools designed to protect that future is something most people have never heard of – the Endangerment Finding.

Issued in 2009 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Endangerment Finding declared that greenhouse gases (GHG) – including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide – “endanger public health and welfare.” It arose from a Supreme Court case two years earlier (the landmark Massachusetts v. EPA case, 549 U.S. 497) in which the Supreme Court ruled that if greenhouse gases threaten the public, the EPA is obligated under the Clean Air Act to regulate them. The Endangerment Finding was the government’s formal acknowledgement that climate pollution meets that test.

For more than 15 years, the finding has served as the legal foundation of U.S. climate policy. It gave the federal government the authority to set climate pollution standards for cars and trucks, tighten limits on power plant emissions, and regulate methane leaks. In doing so, it helped push technological innovation, lower consumer costs, and reduce greenhouse gases, even as the population and economy grew.

Today, however, there is a push to demolish that foundation. In July 2025, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin issued the agency’s proposal to repeal the Endangerment Finding. A Department of Energy (DOE) report released with the proposal argued that:

1. Reducing emissions in the U.S. would have little to no effect on global climate change.
2. The impacts of greenhouse gases are uncertain or far in the future.
3. Enforcing limits on emissions would cause economic harm.
4. Higher carbon dioxide levels might benefit agriculture.
5. It isn’t clear that climate change harms human health and welfare, or that the
    harms aren’t outweighed by the benefits, and therefore the EPA doesn’t have the 
    authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

Many scientists responded swiftly to the DOE report and the proposed repeal of the Endangerment Finding, saying the report misrepresented decades of research and that the harms of greenhouse gases – from health impacts to economic losses – are already evident and will grow exponentially as temperatures continue to rise. Further, arguing that cutting emissions in the U.S. won’t make a difference to global climate change ignores that the U.S. is the world’s second-largest annual emitter behind China and cumulatively has produced 70% more emissions than China, according to the EPA. And critically, supporters point to the Endangerment Finding’s success in bending emissions trends down while encouraging innovations that have benefited both consumers and industry.

What the Endangerment Finding has Achieved

With its mandate to reduce emissions, the EPA previously focused on the two top sources in the United States – transportation and electricity generation, which together account for about 55% of emissions (EPA’s GHG Inventory). Within a decade, new regulations made a difference. Since 2007, when emissions peaked in the U.S., to 2022, emissions have declined by 17.8% according to the Center for Climate & Energy Solutions, despite the population expanding by 10.5% and economic growth of 30.1% (Macrotrends).

A. Transportation: Gains at the Gas Pump, Profits to Corporate Bottom Lines

After the Endangerment Finding was instituted, the EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration tightened Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards and set GHG emissions for new cars and light trucks. Automakers responded with more efficient engines, hybrid systems, better aerodynamics, and lighter materials. The results were dramatic:

● New vehicle emissions fell by 40%. Whileartially offset by Americans’ turn to SUVs and trucks, emissions still remained 30% lower.
● Average fuel economy rose from just under 20 MPG in the early 2000s to 25 MPG
even with the SUV boom.

Analysts estimated drivers would save $6,000 to $8,000 in fuel costs over a car’s lifetime – hundreds of billions of dollars when measured across the American fleet, many times more than compliance costs, which were pegged by the EPA at $1,000 to $1,800 per vehicle.

Nor did cleaner cars mean weaker car companies. The industry innovated and adapted, and even under the tougher rules, and the pandemic in 2020-2021, automakers have continued to thrive.

B. Energy Generation: Lowering Smokestack Pollution

The electricity sector tells a similar story. Since 2005, power plant CO2 emissions have fallen by a third, even as the grid has worked to keep pace with higher consumer demand and a digital economy hungry for electrons. Nor has there been sticker shock from cleaner air: according to the EPA, electricity prices closely tracked inflation through 2024 (although that changed in 2025 with large natural gas exports and AI growth).

                                                                                                                             Source: EPA

Clean Energy: A Competitor for the Record Books

The Endangerment Finding rules have also worked in favor of clean energy. Fifteen years ago, skeptics could plausibly wonder whether wind and solar would ever compete on cost. That debate is over. The cost of new onshore wind and utility solar has fallen by more than 70% and 90% respectively in 20 years, and according to Lazard, they are now the most cost-effective forms of new-build energy generation on an unsubsidized basis (i.e., without tax subsidies).

And the grid itself is evolving. Grid-scale battery storage, nearly absent a decade ago, is now firming solar output in the afternoon and pushing clean power into the evening peak. According to IRENA, the International Renewable Energy Agency, in 2024 90% of new power capacity was coming from renewable sources. Utilities have learned that a cleaner grid is not an unreliable grid; it is a different grid – more digital, more efficient and flexible, incorporating advanced forecasting, sophisticated demand response, and local networks. And with AI’s sophisticated, almost instant ability to manage information comes the potential for almost seamless integration of energy sources, whether gas, solar, hydro, oil, or wind.

The New Energy Reality: It All Works Together

Tighter standards have not strangled the American energy sector as some have feared. U.S. oil and gas production reached record levels even as vehicle and power plant rules tightened since greenhouse gas standards for methane emissions were put into place in
2016. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, U.S. gas production has increased by more than 40% (EIA Dry Natural Gas Production) and oil production by just below 50% (U.S. EIA Field Production, Crude Oil.) And oil and gas companies have continued to post strong profits. While there were large declines in 2014-2015 due to the OPEC shale supply war, and in 2020 due to COVID, profits rebounded hugely, normalizing in 2023 and 2024. Profitability remains above historic averages, and in 2024 alone, profits of the five largest oil companies in the U.S. exceeded $75 billion.

The Costs of Delay: Billion-Dollar Disasters

Endangerment Finding regulations are framed by some as a choice between costs now weighed against uncertain benefits later. But the cost-benefit ledger is already unbalanced, and becoming more so as clean energy surges, helping lower emissions.

Insurance Markets, Priced to Risk, are Flashing Red

Insurance markets reflect the scale of increasing costs. In markets exposed to growing risks of fire, floods, and drought, premiums have jumped steeply. After the January 2025 Los Angeles County fires, State Farm reported $1 billion in payouts and received a 17% rate hike; Allstate, a 34% hike (CA Dept. of Insurance 2025). In Colorado, the average insurance premium increased by 60% between 2017 and 2023. In some places, major carriers have simply stopped writing new policies altogether.

As noted by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in February 2025, banks and insurance companies are “pulling out of coastal areas, areas where there are a lot of fires… So what that’s going to mean is if you fast-forward 10 or 15 years, there are going to be regions of the country where you can’t get a mortgage.”

According to scientists, insurers, and economists, if we do not continue to reduce greenhouse gases, projected losses and costs will be multiples of what we see today.

Threat to our Food System and our Security

Among the arguments for repeal of the Endangerment Finding is that CO2 enhances plant growth, so higher emissions would increase agricultural output. It’s accurate that CO2 is used to stimulate plant growth in greenhouses, and modest increases in CO2 appear to stimulate growth of some food crops under ideal conditions. But higher CO2 levels also decrease protein and nutrient content in most grains and any benefits of yield increases are overwhelmed by severe heat, drought, and irregular rainfall. Corn, the nation’s most valuable crop, cannot germinate if soils are too hot – earlier and longer heat waves are already cutting into yields.

Cornell University estimates that global warming has decreased agricultural yields by 20% since 1961. The U.S. “breadbasket” states, which produce a third of the world’s corn and soybeans, will face even greater harvest losses by mid-century, and global yields could decrease up to 24% by 2100, according to a study in Nature.

Food and water insecurity will become a national security issue as well, sparking conflict and refugee crises. Former Department Of Defense Secretary James Mattis in 2021 stated: “Climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today.”

Our oceans, too, tell a cautionary tale. They have absorbed more than 90% of excess heat, and are now warmer and more acidic than at any time in modern history. Coral reefs – nurseries for a third of the ocean’s fish – are bleaching at record rates, 50% of oxygen-producing kelp forests have disappeared, and algal blooms create massive dead zones for fish. Seas that are 8-9 inches higher than 140 years ago are pushing tides further inland, threatening ports, bases, and neighborhoods. Saltwater intrusion from rising tides also compromises groundwater and agriculture.

Health Consequences that Hit Close to Home

Scientists and physicians say health burdens stemming from GHG emissions are profound and rising. While not a greenhouse gas, up to 25% of air pollution’s particulate matter (PM) is composed of black carbon, which is produced by incomplete combustion of GHG. The fine particulate matter generated by burning fossil fuels (PM 2.5), is especially dangerous to human health because it lodges deep in the lungs, causing irreversible damage. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that air pollution claims more than four million lives a year.

Heat adds another burden. The Lancet, a major medical journal, estimates extreme heat contributes to almost half a million deaths annually, a toll projected to triple by mid-century. Vector-borne diseases – dengue, malaria, and West Nile – have all moved northward in the United States. By 2080, The Lancet’s Countdown on Health and Climate estimates that 60% of the global population could be vulnerable.

The Economy-Wide Toll

Experts warn that these impacts will threaten economic prosperity. Insurer Swiss Re projected U.S. GDP losses of up to 18% by 2050. BlackRock and the Rhodium Group estimated that without action on emissions, global output could fall by 25% in the second half of this century. These forecasts include reduced labor productivity, storm losses, higher health costs, and damage to infrastructure. For investors and insurers, climate change is not a distant problem but a systemic risk already shaping markets.

Swiss Re’s Projection of Impact of Drought on Global Productivity

Source: Swiss Re

The Endangerment Finding has become a symbol in a polarized debate, but it was designed by Congress as a practical tool. Supporters argue that it has worked: emissions are down, technology has advanced, industries have adapted, and consumers have saved money. Critics contend that it imposes costs and extends environmental law beyond its original intent.

The choice before policymakers is whether to maintain the guardrails or remove them. Repealing the Endangerment Finding would not alter the physics of greenhouse gases, or stop the rising costs of emissions. What it would do is strip away the EPA’s ability to respond. Scientists and conservation organizations argue this will leave the country unprepared as harms accumulate.

The Endangerment Finding will not solve all of our climate ills. But it reflects an underlying promise between government and citizens: when there is a clear threat, the government will respond. Its repeal would mark a retreat from that promise. The decision now rests with policymakers – what they choose will shape not only the trajectory of U.S. regulatory and climate policy, but the health, security, and prosperity of future generations.

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Pam Parsons November 21, 2025 0
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Press

How to Talk to Parents About Climate Change at Thanksgiving

by Rebecca Fishkin

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Pam Parsons November 19, 2025 0
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C-Change Blog

Reframing the Climate Conversation

It can be tough to talk with skeptics about climate change, even when (sometimes especially when) they’re your friends and family. On a recent episode of the “Future of Sustainability” podcast (you can listen here), host Michael Hanf interviewed C-Change Conversations Founder and President Kathleen Biggins about strategies for productive communication that gets past partisanship to build consensus. In addition to the podcast, “Future of Sustainability” wrote the following blog about C-Change’s approach.
 

Reframing the Climate Conversation
for Consensus and Action

The Future of Sustainability
November 4, 2025

When Kathleen Biggins founded C-Change Conversations in 2014, she was not aiming to build a traditional environmental nonprofit. Instead, she set out to bridge one of the deepest divides in American public discourse: climate change. What began as a group of volunteers worried about the lack of informed dialogue has evolved into a respected organization that has reached more than 23,000 people across 33 states and beyond, equipping communities with a science-based but accessible framework for understanding climate risk.
 
Biggins’ central insight is deceptively simple: climate change is not just an environmental issue. It is a risk-management challenge that affects health, household budgets, business competitiveness, and national security. By shifting the narrative from polar bears and politics to economics and everyday life, C-Change Conversations has carved out a distinctive and effective role in the crowded climate communication space.

A Taboo Topic Made Tangible

In the early days, Biggins and her colleagues confronted a cultural barrier as much as a scientific one. “It wasn’t welcome discussion at dinner parties or even at lunches,” she recalls. “It was really something that was a little bit taboo to bring up.” Yet the risks were too significant to ignore. From rising insurance costs to food price volatility, climate impacts were already shaping households and markets.

The organization’s flagship program, the C-Change Primer, was designed to break through this silence. Structured like a risk assessment, the presentation asks audiences to consider three questions:

  1. How likely is the risk?
  2. What are the consequences if it happens?
  3. How difficult or costly is it to avoid?

By applying this framework, familiar to business leaders, investors, and policymakers alike, C-Change reframes climate change as a practical challenge that demands rational analysis rather than ideological positioning.

Meeting People Where They Are

Biggins emphasizes that different audiences connect with different aspects of the issue. For investors, the conversation often centers on stranded assets, shifting competitiveness, and insurance exposure. For civic groups, the focus may be on family health, household budgets, or community safety. “For some audiences, it’s their family’s safety and household pocketbook issues. For others, it is the big economy and competitiveness,” Biggins explains.

The method is deliberately apolitical. Instead of moralizing or prescribing specific policy solutions, C-Change provides credible data, local projections, and economic analysis, then leaves space for dialogue. This neutral ground has proven especially powerful in conservative communities, where skepticism can be high but concern for children’s futures, jobs, and national security resonates across party lines.

From Division to Dialogue

Perhaps the most striking element of C-Change’s approach is its commitment to respectful engagement. Biggins recalls one event in rural Virginia where a local resident approached her before she spoke, declaring that climate change was a hoax. Rather than dismissing him, she offered ten minutes for him to present his view. “My inclination was to treat him with respect and kindness and then do my thing,” she says. The result: the audience heard both perspectives, but also received a fact-checked, science-based framework that invited them to reflect rather than react defensively.

This approach reflects Biggins’ broader philosophy: the goal is not to win arguments, but to open doors. By focusing on risk, stewardship, and tangible local impacts, C-Change seeks to build the social will that can ultimately unlock political will.

Agency Over Apathy

One of the greatest challenges in climate communication is overcoming paralysis. People may accept the science but feel powerless to make a difference. To counter this, C-Change highlights local and personal actions, ranging from supporting community initiatives like urban tree canopies or electric school buses, to modeling change through personal choices such as installing solar panels or driving electric cars.

“Personal action is contagious,” Biggins notes. “If you put solar panels up, your neighbor is more likely to put solar panels up. If you drive an electric car and say, ‘this is the best thing since sliced bread,’ you can begin to move those around you.”

A Shifting Landscape

Over the past decade, Biggins has seen the climate conversation evolve, but not in a straight line. From outright denial, to reluctant acceptance, to concerns about cost, the narrative has shifted in fits and starts, influenced by politics, media framing, and economic realities. What remains constant is the need for organizations like C-Change to depoliticize the issue and ground it in shared values and credible evidence.

Globally, momentum remains strong. Europe and China are accelerating investments in clean energy but in the U.S., cultural and political headwinds persist. Biggins remains pragmatic but hopeful: “Nobody wants to sacrifice their children’s future. If you can help people understand their responsibility not as partisans, but as human beings who care for the next generation, you create a way forward.”

Building the Next Phase of Dialogue

As climate impacts become more visible, the demand for clear, credible, and nonpartisan communication will only grow. C-Change Conversations offers a model for how grassroots, volunteer-driven initiatives can influence national discourse: not by shouting louder, but by listening more carefully, framing more thoughtfully, and equipping communities to see climate change as the defining risk management challenge of our time.

In an era of polarization, Biggins and her colleagues have built something rare: a framework for consensus. Their work demonstrates that with the right tools, the climate conversation can move beyond denial and despair toward dialogue and determination.

  >> Listen to the full interview on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.

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Pam Parsons November 5, 2025 0
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Curated Climate News

October 2025

Dear Friends,

Notice things are getting a lot more expensive? Rising energy costs are a big reason for that. They permeate the entire market – driving up costs for just about everything. Historically, the pain has come from our gasoline pumps and was caused by far-off petro states that limited our supply. Today, it’s coming from our electricity meter, and is caused by a surge in energy demand, outdated energy policy, an antiquated grid system, and climate change impacts right here in the United States. And it’s about to get much, much worse.

What’s been driving up the costs of electricity so far? Mainly the costs of getting the energy to us – transmitting and distributing it over the poles and wires that are increasingly old, rickety, and vulnerable to climate-enhanced storms and fires. The costs of generating the energy haven’t been the problem, but that’s now changing.

New energy-intensive AI centers (a single center can consume the same amount of energy as a midsized city) are beginning to drive up demand in ways our old grid simply can’t meet. It appears we are cruisin’ for a bruisin’, as they used to say – forced to endure higher costs and more black and brownouts as our old system struggles to meet the moment.

For many, it feels we have no choice but to double down on fossil fuels, locking in higher costs and emissions. The Trump administration is also supporting new, large-scale nuclear plants, which can provide emission-free energy but come with a significantly higher cost (the last one built cost $17B) and can take more than a decade to construct. In short, we are using expensive 1950s technologies to meet our modern challenge.

But what if we break the paradigm?

Our electricity system usually has tons of energy in it, so much that we often throw it away. It’s just at peak demand times that we can run out. Instead of making more energy for those short peak hours, what if we spent more on smoothing out the flow? One way to do that is to design AI centers that can work at less than 100% during those peak demand hours. Another solution? Use more batteries (including repurposed batteries from old EVs) to create backup microgrids for data centers. Batteries and other energy storage solutions are an important part of the paradigm shift: they are turning electricity from something that is “perishable” and has to be used immediately once it’s been created to something that can be saved and used when needed.

What if we also took some of the load off the grid instead of adding more power to it? In Australia, about a third of all households have solar. It costs them about $5,000 to install – a fifth of the cost for a comparable system in the U.S. – and their subsequent electricity costs are negligible. Australian homeowners can apply for a solar permit on their phones and get it 24 hours later. Instead of drastic cuts to programs that make home solar more affordable, what if the administration helped make home solar as cheap and easy to install here?

Homeowners with home batteries and electric vehicles could also play a role in meeting those peak periods. They could store energy when it’s cheap and sell it back to the grid when demand and prices are high. In other words, utility customers could actually earn money instead of having to spend it to build another fossil fuel plant.

And, instead of canceling federal support for new high-speed transmission lines, what if we build more of them, mimicking what China and the EU have successfully done – creating “energy highways” that bring cheap solar and wind energy to expensive energy markets?

We have these and many other new tools to build a modern energy system that meets today’s needs without sacrificing tomorrow’s hopes. What if instead of using yesterday’s playbook, we wrote a new one?

Sincerely,
Kathleen Biggins
Founder and President

Notable Quote

“Wind and solar are finally growing fast enough that not only do they offset some of the demand growth, but they actually offset more than 100% of the demand growth. That’s the tipping point at which we can start to see fossil fuel use decline.”

— Daniel Cohan, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University

News of Concern

It wasn’t our imagination – October really was warmer than usual, nearly 5°F above normal in most parts of the country. Not only were more than 5,000 heat records broken, it was also the second driest October on record, worsening droughts and exacerbating fire conditions. And in what feels like a vicious circle, increased droughts and wildfires are likely part of the reason that our carbon dioxide levels jumped a record amount from 2023 to 2024 according to new analyses.

The longer we take to correct our course, the harder it will be to endure the changes ahead. Scientists warn that we’ve hit a crucial climate tipping point – the widespread death of our coral reefs. Crossing a tipping point means we have created a new normal, and that we can not reverse the change within human timescales. And other climate effects on our oceans are also unnerving, from increased sea levels causing record-breaking storm surges to melting glaciers and ice sheets enabling extensive methane leaks from cracks in the Antarctic seabed. Because methane is considered a super polluter (a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2 over the short term), this emerging consensus that natural methane leaks are increasing is of real concern.

Trying to hide from our new reality doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t erase the risk, it just hampers our ability to understand and prepare for it. That’s why the Trump administration’s actions to dismantle monitoring of climate change impacts is shortsighted and dangerous. One example? They stopped using the Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters Database that shows how much we are paying for these more frequent and ferocious natural disasters. Fortunately, the nonprofit Climate Central has resurrected the database – less fortunately, the report on the first half of 2025 was sobering: it’s been the most expensive first half in 45 years, with more than $100B in losses so far.

Still, the administration is moving its pro-fossil fuel agenda forward with a vengeance. The Department of Energy canceled more than $700 million in battery and manufacturing awards, and indications are that there are more cuts to come. And it’s red states like Kentucky and Missouri that will lose out the most, as plans to build landmark manufacturing plants are canceled.

Wielding tariff threats and oil-rich muscle, President Trump also upended global consensus and action on emissions regulations for maritime shipping, blocking an accord to impose fees on carbon pollution. The shipping industry burns a massive amount of fuel, accounting for about 3% of global emissions. The International Maritime Organization has set a net-zero target by 2050, but every delay in implementing changes pushes that goal farther from reach.

And in a good news/bad news story, climate change is propelling disaster recovery into a booming business. The country spent almost $1 trillion for recovery over the 12 months ending in June, money that most everyone would prefer to spend on goods or services of their choosing. In the 1990s, the annual average was closer to $80 billion in current dollars. Government spending on disasters, and companies leading the recovery, now make up a major, and growing, slice of the U.S. economy. 

News of Hope

Fortunately, despite the administration’s dismissal of clean energy’s ability to meet the moment, investors are pouring funds into renewables as they recognize that we won’t be able to meet the energy challenge without it. Companies, too, are pressing ahead with solar, wind, and battery projects, striving to make as much headway as possible even as the Trump administration creates barriers with its plans to cut tax credits and permits for clean-energy ventures.

The rest of the world is certainly pushing forward. Renewable energy has surpassed coal globally as the main source of electricity and is projected to more than double by 2030, driven by solar’s meteoric growth.

And that global commitment to building a lower-carbon world really does matter – recent reports show the efforts that began 10 years ago in Paris are actually paying off. While we’re on track to add almost two months of dangerous heat days annually, without the carbon-lowering work we’ve already done, that number would be closer to four months. If that’s not clear proof that we all have to work together, we don’t know what is.

Another emerging feel-good story is the rapid growth of electrification – electrifying things that use high levels of fossil fuels, like cars. Electric vehicles sold like gangbusters in the U.S. in the third quarter of the year. That momentum is expected to slow as federal incentives expire, but EVs are still projected to make up 25% of traffic on our roads by 2030. It may be short of the high trajectory we were on but it’s another clear illustration that while new federal policies may slow down our transition, economic benefits will continue to drive it forward.

Let’s wrap up with a hat tip to the winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Three scientists from Japan, Jordan, and the UK were recognized for breakthroughs in basic science that have direct implications for carbon capture, clean water, and energy storage – climate solutions that could save our future. It’s such a potent reminder that investing in science is critically important for innovation, economic competitiveness, and solving our real-life challenges.

Notable Read

Sometimes what we really need is a feel-good story – and The New York Times’ “50 States, 50 Fixes” is just that! The series takes a look at human ingenuity and action, large and small, that can make a difference. It’s a terrific read that will leave you inspired and hopeful. 

Notable Graph

Economic experts say there’s no ambiguity here – without wind and solar, the U.S. is unlikely to meet our power needs. That reality is driving investment and business interests, even as the Trump administration’s focus is on increasing fossil fuel use. Read more here.

Notable Video

Source: CNN

Hurricane Melissa left a path of unspeakable devastation across the Caribbean, where low-lying island nations are ill-equipped to handle the catastrophe of storms supercharged by climate change. Deadly winds and torrential rain are only part of the problem – storm surge also causes mass destruction. This CNN video illustrates what a storm surge of more than 10 feet – as occurred in Jamaica and Cuba – actually looks like.

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Pam Parsons November 3, 2025 0
Heat pumps 360
B-Change Blog

B-Change Blog: Heat Pumps as a Climate Solution

by Karen Dougherty

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Pam Parsons October 29, 2025 0
QNL 360
Quarterly Newsletter

October 2025

Dear Friends,

Blink and you miss it – how can it already be autumn? Well, there were no summer doldrums for us here at C-Change and we’re keeping busy as we head into the end of 2025. From continued joint programming with Glenmede (a boutique wealth management firm) about climate risks to investments to multiple forays into the Deep South to training a roster of new presenters to help us extend our reach, we’ve had great momentum these past few months.

Right now, our work is more important than ever. It’s always eye-opening on my travels to learn just how much skepticism about climate change is still out there, although the tune does sound a bit different these days. Once upon a time, the lyrics were “it’s not real.” Today, the refrain – sung by none other than Secretary of Energy Chris Wright – is that climate change is real, but just an acceptable “side effect of building the modern world.”

Indeed, the Trump administration’s anti-climate action and anti-renewables stance is loud and impactful. Wind and solar are moving to the front lines of a culture war. This is a real shame, as they are the cheapest and fastest new energy to bring online – and at a time when our energy cost and demand are skyrocketing, we could really use that sort of juice on our grid. Preventing the growth of these power sources will stress our wallets and our communities, and it will leave our country behind as the global economy speeds toward cleaner-energy forms.

That’s why we’re going to keep working so hard to help people understand the risks – economic, health, safety – that we face if we turn our backs to the global realities of climate change and ignore the solutions we have to address it. As we always say, it’s not a political issue, it’s a human one.

And you can help by connecting us with your human network. Think about where we could speak in your community to help your family, friends, and coworkers feel connected and informed – and to build a safer future for our kids and grandkids. Please reach out and let’s make those connections.

Sincerely,
Kathleen Biggins
Founder and President
 

Cimate Week NYC

Climate reporter (and our spring benefit speaker) David Gelles invited us to attend the New York Times’ Climate Week event in September. Multiple team members attended that event and others during the weeklong showcase of the best and brightest in the world of climate.
 
It was exhilarating and sobering. Highlights included the point-counterpoint of Secretary Wright, who touted the Trump administration’s vision of climate and energy and extolled the economic potential of gas and oil, and California Governor Gavin Newsom, whose approach to powering the fourth-largest economy in the world relies heavily (and successfully) on renewables and storage.
 
We also had the chance to meet many entrepreneurs showcasing innovations that can help address the climate challenge. From new heating and cooling systems, new fast-charging batteries, or even “petrochemical” substitutes made from farm waste like corn husks and leaves – the number and variety of inventions are mindblowing.
 
We left feeling renewed and recharged for the work we’re doing – and we encourage you to try to attend in 2026.

Support for the Endangerment Finding

The Trump administration has threatened to roll back a crucial finding that determined that greenhouse gases endanger human health and can be regulated under the Clean Air Act. Issued in 2009, the Endangerment Finding gives the government the authority to regulate and limit power-plant emissions and methane leaks and to set fuel-efficiency standards for automobiles. A rollback would have massive implications for climate regulations – and our safety.

C-Change submitted a lengthy, science-based public comment to the EPA last month in hopes that we can add to the voice of climate reason as the agency determines next steps.

Partnering with Glenmede

Partnering with industry experts to explain and analyze ramifications of climate change adds a great deal of value when we talk with audiences. Our ongoing partnership with Glenmede is a perfect example – in July, we presented jointly in Stone Harbor, NJ. Kathleen presented on climate risks to our lives and economy, and Glenmede’s Mark Hays, managing director and director of sustainable investing, shared tools and approaches that help investors protect their investments and profit from the cleantech transition.

On the Road in the South

Our hats are off to the institutions and organizations that are working to educate their communities about climate change, especially in areas where climate-change pushback or denial is still strong. When they ask us to bring our expertise to town, we are thrilled to hit the road. 

Thanks to welcoming hosts with excellent outreach skills, our recent events in Jacksonville, FL, and Memphis, TN, were hugely successful. Kathleen presented to more than 800 people during these trips, including a whopping audience of 600 people at the Memphis University School. Other presentations in Memphis included the Hutchison School and the Little Garden Club of Memphis. In Jacksonville, she presented to the Late Bloomers Garden Club and at a public event hosted by the St. John’s Riverkeeper. We hope the audiences feel more empowered to meet the challenges ahead and we’re grateful for the chance to share our knowledge.

Dallas Hetherington Returns to Princeton

Dallas Hetherington was invited back to Windrows, a 55-plus luxury living facility in Princeton, to deliver our Health Primer and outline climate change’s many impacts on our ability to stay safe and healthy. Kudos to Dallas for his great work. 

New Primer Presenters

We are thrilled that we’ll be welcoming new presenters in 2026! We’re still wrapping up the process, but one new presenter – Karen Florini – has already hit the ground running, presenting to the Trowel Garden Club of the Washington, DC, area in September and delivering a Primer presentation on climate change and poverty at Villanova University this month.
 
We’re so excited to get the whole crew on the road – stay tuned for a formal introduction!

C-Change Athens

C-Change Athens affiliate members met with the new Athens-Clarke County Energy Program and Conservation Coordinator to learn about what the office is doing to reach the city government’s goal of 100% clean and renewable energy by 2035 and to discuss ways to educate the community about the clean-energy projects already underway.
 
Affiliate member Helen Kukendall has launched an Athens C-Change social media campaign aimed at expanding our reach and sharing local climate and clean energy news with Athens area residents.
 
The Environmental Defense Fund recently featured affiliate member Ramsey Nix in an article about her clean school bus advocacy with the Clarke County School District.
 
The Athens affiliates are focused on educating community members about the upcoming Georgia Public Service Commission election. These commissioners regulate utilities and determine the future of Georgia’s energy mix.

New Tool for Climate Central

When we talk with an audience about climate change, the information resonates better when people can connect with the impacts. This new tool from Climate Central shows the many ways that climate change is impacting specific locations. Enter your city and explore the data – you might be able to use this tool to start a productive climate conversation with people in your community.

Upcoming Events

Oct. 17, Villanova, PA: Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
Nov. 5, Emmaus, PA: Emmaus Garden Club
Nov. 10-11, Richmond, VA:
     The Women’s Club: Garden Club of Virginia
     St. Catherine’s School
Nov. 12-13, Connecticut:
     Connecticut Valley Garden Club (Hartford)
     Farmington Land Trust (Farmington, public event)
     Miss Porter’s School (Farmington)

 

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Pam Parsons October 16, 2025 0
Athens CNN Web
Athens

September Curated Climate News

U.S. & Global Climate News

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Pam Parsons October 11, 2025 0
CCN Sept. 2025 – 1
Curated Climate News

September 2025

U.S. & Global Climate News

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Pam Parsons October 7, 2025 0
Gelles Video 250
An Interview

C-Change Interviews New York Times Climate Reporter and Author David Gelles

From Headlines to Bottom Lines: An Inside View from New York Times Climate Reporter David Gelles
Offering unique insight about how climate change will impact our lives, this discussion delves into the economy, insurance, personal safety, migration, and more. C-Change Conversations Founder and President Kathleen Biggins and New York Times Climate Reporter David Gelles talk about what we are likely to face in a “3-degree world” and how we can still navigate to a safer future. Gelles, a bestselling author, also provides a fascinating overview of his new book, Dirtbag Billionaire: How Yvon Chouinard Built Patagonia, Made a Fortune, and Gave It Away.
You can get a copy of David’s book and create climate action at the same time! Here’s how:
  • Make a donation of $50 or more to C-Change between now and November 1st, and we’ll automatically send you a free copy of Dirtbag Billionaire.
  • Host a book club discussion. Let us know that you’re planning an event and we’ll send you up to five free additional copies to help spark a meaningful conversation in your community. (If you need more books, we can work with you to provide what you need at a reduced cost.) To order books, contact Nicole at nicole.curnan@c-changeconversations.org. Note: David is interested in joining us for an online book discussion event in early 2025 – details forthcoming.

“Dirtbag Billionaire is a powerful reminder that business,
at its best, can be good.
David Gelles captures the complex, often
conflicting pressure founders face – and the
courage it takes to lead with conviction.
It’s an inspiring call to dream big,
do the right thing, and use succes as a lever
for lasting imact. I couldn’t put it down.” 

–Sali Christeson, founder and CEO of Argent

DONATE

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Pam Parsons September 12, 2025 0
CNN wires Athens
Athens

Athens Newsletter – August 2025

Dear Friends,

Since we began compiling this digest of local and statewide climate news in Georgia, we’ve both weathered storms and basked in the glow of progress. Cleantech has given us high hopes through high-paying jobs and economic growth across our state. At the same time, we’ve been deeply concerned about how climate change is affecting our ability to stay safe and thrive.
 
We all agree that we need reliable, affordable energy, but our economic future also depends on a stable climate. We need to be clear-eyed about the risks if we want our wonderful Peach State to thrive. As a group of citizens concerned about the economic, health, and national security impacts of climate change, we hope to build consensus across the political spectrum about the urgent need to address it. We welcome your support and ideas. Please reach out to us!
 
Sincerely,
The C-Change Conversations Athens Team

Georgia News of Hope

Americus, GA, is attracting economic development by embracing clean energy projects. Three solar companies have collectively invested $736 million in the region and will create more than 2,000 jobs in what could become the largest solar array east of the Mississippi.

Electric vehicle company Rivian will establish an East Coast headquarters in Atlanta. The company plans to hire 500 employees for this location by late 2026. This move supports its upcoming $5 billion Georgia factory and marks one of Atlanta’s largest office investments this year.

Kia Georgia is installing a 3.2-million-square-foot solar panel canopy at its West Point plant to generate clean energy and protect thousands of vehicles from hail damage. The project is expected to produce enough electricity to cover 20 to 30% of the factory’s needs.

An Augusta-based golf cart manufacturer sent two electric vehicles to Pope Leo XIV to use during international visits. The new pope has spoken out about the urgent need for climate action.

An Emory University nursing professor has helped develop a sensor patch to protect farm workers from the dangerous effects of extreme heat. The patch connects to a smartphone and monitors vital signs like heart rate, skin temperature, and hydration to provide real-time alerts to prevent kidney damage and heatstroke. Farm workers are 35 times more likely than others to die from heat-related causes.

The Firefly Trail secured a second major grant of $2.9 million to finance the construction of a 4.5-mile paved section from Maxeys to the Greene County line. This grant advances a plan to create a 39-mile recreational trail from Athens to Union Point along a former railroad corridor that will allow people to explore surrounding rural areas by bike or on foot.

Georgia News of Concern

Many Georgians were shocked by their power bills this summer. Recent rate hikes combined with higher summertime usage pushed the average household Georgia Power bill to $266 in July. Athenians spend a higher percentage of their income on energy than the state average – and more than double what the average American pays. In some of the lowest-income neighborhoods in Athens, residents are spending nearly 30% of their income on energy bills. And a program that would have provided free rooftop solar leases to hundreds of low-income homeowners lost its funding just one day after its launch in August when the Trump administration canceled the “Solar for All” grant.

As energy demand continues to increase, Georgia Power proposed a historic 10,000-megawatt expansion of the utility’s power generating capacity. The bad news is that the plan relies heavily on building and purchasing new gas-fired power plants, locking customers into decades of gas dependency that exposes them to volatile fuel prices and contradicts climate goals. The Georgia Public Service Commission will hold public hearings in October and December before voting to approve this expansion.

Sweltering summer heat in Savannah forced its city council to set a temperature limit for operating horse-drawn carriages that carry tourists through historic downtown. Before the August vote, carriage horses had been working in temperatures up to 95°F or a heat index of up to 110°F. That threshold will drop to 85° or a heat index of 91° next summer.

A new study revealed that 72% of Georgia’s coastal marshes have experienced belowground biomass loss since 2014, a critical indicator of marsh failure caused by increased flooding pressure from sea-level rise. Marshes defend against coastal flooding, filter water, and store carbon.

Ways to Act

Athens is one of the few cities where the U.S. Postal Service has deployed its electric mail trucks. The next-generation vehicles stay quiet and cool, and drivers rave about them. Despite local and national excitement about its plan to create a mostly electric fleet, the Postal Service is facing congressional efforts to strip its $3 billion in federal EV funding. Canceling the program would waste millions already spent and squander a critical opportunity to reduce air pollution from the government’s largest fleet, especially since the mail trucks’ short, stop-and-start routes are considered an ideal application for EV technology.

An $80 million federal grant to Blue Bird Corporation’s bus manufacturing facility in Fort Valley, GA, is also threatened. Approved in 2023, the funding is crucial for expanding the plant and increasing the manpower needed to meet the growing demand for electric school buses. Please reach out to your senators and representatives to express your opposition to efforts that would strip funding for electric postal trucks and buses.

Third Act Georgia will present Sun Day Sunday on Sept. 21 in Winterville’s Marigold Auditorium. The free events will feature the Sun Day Choir, local sustainability experts, demonstrations of solar products, tables with information on renewable energy, free children’s books, and free sundaes.

TheBig Picture: U.S. and Global Climate News

When is winning really losing? It’s when the results of victory cause the opposite impacts than desired, harm supporters more than opponents, and boost your biggest competitor.

The Trump administration’s stance on energy is indeed a losing proposition. It purports to provide cheaper and more secure energy, but in fact drives up costs and limits supply at the exact time that our demand and electricity prices are soaring.

Producing new electricity from utility solar in America today costs as little as $38 a megawatt hour: the most efficient natural gas plant provides the same amount of energy for $107. Solar and battery projects can come online in two years; natural gas plants typically need a five-year runway, in large part due to a shortage of turbines. In short, thwarting new clean energy is making us less energy secure. Consumers will pay for it – experts predict policy changes will make electricity prices rise up to 18% over the next decade, or $192 per average household on an annual basis, and increase the risks of blackouts.

In the big picture, who is being harmed the most? Rural and “Red” America. About 80% of the job and economic growth from clean-energy investment was planned in Republican-leaning districts. That investment has already dropped by a third over the first half of this year versus a year ago. And while anti-wind action has harmed offshore projects, it has impacted the country’s “windbelt” the most – the highest losses are in Texas, with Idaho, Iowa, and Nebraska not far behind.

On the international front, the United States’ reversal is allowing China to extend its lead in this lucrative sector, which provided 10% of China’s GDP growth last year. China is becoming the “one-stop shop” for clean energy. And increasingly, its clean-energy products are superior to fossil fuel versions. For example, China produces EVs that can charge in five minutes, run for 600 miles, and cost significantly less than combustion engine cars. China is also exporting solar and wind technology around the world, enabling developing countries to manufacture “homegrown” electricity that is more secure and less expensive than fossil fuel imports.

And in a stunning role reversal, CO2 emissions in the U.S. rose 4.2% in the first half of 2025, while China’s fell 2.7%. As the U.S. leaves the Paris Agreement and disparages climate action, China is positioning itself as a climate leader, announcing a partnership with the EU to lower climate heating and calling the Paris Agreement the “cornerstone of international climate cooperation.”

It doesn’t feel good to be a loser – to pay more for less. We want our country to be the winner, to build the energy systems of the future, to save money, and to provide a healthier, more economically secure world for our kids and grandkids.

Don’t you?

News of Concern

The administration is working hard to create cover for its unraveling of climate science and action, including a recent DOE report that scientists say is filled with “error, bias, and distortions.” In one glaring mistake, the report states that Arctic melting is minimal, shrinking 5% since 1980. The actual number is 40%. The AP and other news outlets have debunked much of the report’s information, but the administration’s misinformation campaign is incredibly effective, and dangerous, because many people believe that narrative – and that belief precludes them from taking action to stay safer.
 
And we all need to get ready for climate change, as was so clearly evidenced by the tragic flooding in Texas in July. The flooding was made worse because of two climate impacts. First, warmer ocean waters and a warmer atmosphere enable more water vapor to be held in the atmosphere – for every degree Celsius increase, the atmosphere holds 7% more vapor, and that means floods will continue to get more dangerous. Second, the ground was parched from a drought exacerbated by higher temperatures, and the soil could not absorb enough of the flooding to slow it down. These one-two punches are becoming more frequent in our country and all around the world.
 
We’re also seeing a one-two punch when it comes to protecting ourselves from supercharged weather events. Hail, for example, is getting larger as the climate warms up, causing $20-$35 billion in losses annually, according to insurance experts. But impacts fueled by climate change are making it increasingly difficult to get affordable insurance, especially in the Midwest, where premiums are skyrocketing. As noted above, our electricity rates nationwide are also soaring – in large part due to the cost of making our grids more resilient to wildfires, storms, and heat waves. Almost 40% of recent cost increases are from upgrading and hardening our grid – and making repairs after extreme weather events is driving up costs as well. This affordability challenge will only get worse as energy-hungry AI centers come online – a single center can require as much electricity as an entire mid-sized city.
 
Costs are also being driven up by the administration’s action to keep inefficient coal plants online. Coal only provides 15% of our electricity, but it is the most expensive fossil fuel. Keeping these plants running instead of replacing them with cheaper (and cleaner!) fuel sources will cost utility customers billions of dollars.
 
But there are things happening that are perhaps even more concerning than these direct hits on clean technology. The administration is dismantling much of our scientific expertise, limiting our ability to measure climate change impacts to help farmers, businesses, communities, and families prepare for climate changes. And in a move that would handicap future administrations’ ability to regulate greenhouse gases, the EPA wants to rescind a landmark finding that declared CO2 and other emissions are a danger to our health and welfare.
 
We know climate change affects our health, but we don’t yet know how to put a cost on how it impacts our happiness and mental health. For many of us, summer has always been an idyllic state of mind as much as a season of outdoor pleasures. But in many places it has become so much more hot and sticky – so much so, scientists have created a new metric to measure “stickiness.” Even the Steve Miller Band, musical mainstays of the summer stage, canceled its 2025 tour because of the risk of extreme weather.
 
It’s giving us the summertime blues, literally and figuratively. And we have to wonder, what we’re gonna do…

News of Hope

However, at the same time that the U.S. government is trying to minimize action on climate change, the highest court in the world just elevated the issue in a powerful way heard around the world. By recognizing that a healthy climate is a human right, and claiming that countries have a legal obligation to protect the environment from greenhouse gases, the International Court of Justice is holding countries accountable to action – a much-needed bolstering in the drive to lower emissions.
 
It’s a global issue that needs global action, and a recent move by the European Central Bank could have far-reaching impacts. By integrating a “climate factor” into its financing operations, the bank is doubling down on holding companies accountable for their carbon footprints and upping the motivation for creating cleaner products and processes.
 
More good news – about 90% of the world’s new renewable energy is now cheaper than power from fossil fuel generation. The world saved almost $500B in energy costs in 2024 using renewables versus fossil fuels. And momentum is growing, with the EU spending 63% more on renewables in the first half of 2025 than a year ago, even as the U.S. investment declined.
 
And climate action is moving forward, even if it’s in a whisper instead of a roar. Banks are quietly pulling funding from fossil fuels lending and investors are piling into renewable energy, even though they are doing it quietly and withdrawing from associations that could spark the administration’s ire.
 
We also saw great hope in a recent test of a critical concept in California. The state successfully tried out a two-way grid in July, drawing power from more than 100,000 residential batteries to provide electricity. This model holds great promise, especially as the demand surge from AI and electrification is challenging our existing system. If end users can store and sell energy back to the grid during peak usage periods, it changes the equation dramatically – we’d no longer need to build the same quantities of new power generation facilities.
 
Adaptation is key to protecting ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities. Two cool new gadgets really got us excited. They’re both sensors designed to keep us safe – a pinecone-sized device could give people a leg up on staying safe from wildfires and a patch that farm workers would wear to monitor vital signs while working outdoors in extreme heat. Ideas like this can change our world one person at a time, making it possible for us to have a healthier future – imagine that.

Notable Graphic

As climate change supercharges our weather, our risk of loss increases – and that is making insurance premiums much more expensive. The national average for home insurance is up 9% since 2023 and, as this graphic shows, it’s particularly high across the Midwest and South.

Notable Quiz

This month, instead of watching a video, we hope you’ll take this interactive, eye-opening New York Times quiz. You’ll learn a lot about what you need to do to keep yourself and your loved ones safe if you’re faced with a climate disaster.

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Pam Parsons September 5, 2025 0
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