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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
Food waste Athens
Athens

B-Change Blog: Reducing Food Waste Helps the Climate

B-Change: Reducing food waste helps the climate

by Karen Dougherty

Growing up, the mantra I always heard at my dinner table was “eat everything on your plate.” I was constantly reminded about starving children around the world, and that stuck with me. To this day, I hate to waste food, but now I have another reason: preventing food waste helps reduce climate change.

Food Waste and Climate Change

You might be surprised to learn that wasted food is a sizable part of the problem. How big? Food waste makes up around 8% of our total carbon-equivalent emissions (CO2 and other heat-trapping gases). To put it in perspective, that is roughly the same amount as the global tourism industry!

There are two main ways food waste contributes to climate change:

1. Methane emissions

Food makes up almost 25% of the waste in our landfills, and when it decomposes, it releases methane. Although it doesn’t linger as long in the atmosphere as CO2, methane is more damaging while it’s up there. In fact, for 20 years after it is released, methane traps 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide.

 2. Wasted energy and resources

Producing enough food to feed all of us requires a vast amount of energy, money, and natural resources. But because around 1/3 of our food is wasted every year in the United States, we are squandering everything it took to produce, package, and transport that food. We’re also creating unnecessary emissions. This hurts our environment and our economy.

To top it off, we are throwing away lots of our hard-earned money. The EPA estimates that a family of four tosses away an average of $56 worth of food every week, adding up to $2,913 a year!

What Can we do?

1. Cut down on food waste at home

Here are some ideas:

  • When feasible, make more frequent, smaller grocery trips.

  • Plan meals ahead, and only buy what is needed.

  • Make use of your freezer if you don’t plan to use food right away.

  • Be more conscious about using leftovers.

  • Compost if you are able – it can keep waste out of landfills and enrich your garden.

Here’s an interesting fact. One reason people toss food involves confusion about date labels. According to the USDA, here are the common date labels and their meanings:

  • Best if used by/before identifies when the quality and flavor will be highest.

  • Sell by helps stores manage inventory by indicating how long to display an item for sale.

  • Use by indicates the last date the item is expected to be at peak quality.

Notice that none of these are expiration dates. The USDA says food is generally safe to eat beyond these dates, unless it shows signs of spoilage like an “undesirable taste or odor.” The bottom line: the dates stamped on food have to do with quality, not safety.

2. Talk about food waste

Sharing factual information in person or on social media makes a big difference. It’s an easy thing to bring up in conversation with friends and family when you are out for dinner or while cleaning up after at a party. Most people dislike wasting food, but may not realize how much it contributes to climate change.

3. Donate or volunteer

Many communities have nonprofits that “rescue” donated food from commercial kitchens before it is thrown away and distribute it to organizations that feed hungry people. While mostly focused on fighting hunger, these groups are also inadvertently helping solve climate change. You can arrange to donate food or to volunteer your time to help.

Reducing food waste is a win-win

More than half of all food waste occurs at the industrial level, and that sector is largely out of our hands. Nevertheless, we can make simple household changes that add up to make a big difference. Wasting less food at home means buying more efficiently, and also using the food we have for as long as it is safe to do so. Ultimately, reducing food waste is a win-win – it saves us money and helps solve climate change at the same time.

In addition to volunteering for C-Change, Karen blogs about climate change at unheating.com.

 

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Pam Parsons September 2, 2025 0
Clothes Athens
Athens

B-Change Blog: Helping Solve Climate Change by How We Shop

by Karen Dougherty

Here’s a fact that may surprise you: the global fashion industry is a leading contributor to climate change. And because people don’t often make the connection between their shopping habits and rising temperatures, it’s a sneaky culprit.

Our point isn’t to make you feel guilty about shopping – but the more we know about the causes of climate change, the easier it is for us to make behavioral choices. Every single item we buy has to be produced, packaged, and shipped, either to us as individual consumers or to a store. Each step along the way uses energy and resources, emits heat-trapping gas, and creates waste. Just like with every industry, some companies are more responsible than others. The worst offenders are those making high volumes of cheap clothing in the trends of the moment, a.k.a. “fast fashion.” Mass-produced clothing is often made overseas, in locations where exploitation of workers and environmental pollution can make a bad situation worse.

The textiles themselves are also problematic. Natural fibers like cotton require a shocking amount of energy and other resources to produce, but synthetic fabrics have their own set of drawbacks. Even high-quality brands use polyester and nylon, which are made from oil and contain plastic. Synthetic fabrics shed microplastics during manufacturing and throughout the rest of their lifecycle.

The problem continues even after we are finished wearing a piece of clothing. Sadly, donating isn’t as helpful as we think – an estimated 85% of used clothing ends up in landfills, where it releases methane, a potent heat-trapping gas. Further, because of the plastic content, it may live there forever.

Eye-popping facts about the fashion industry:

  • The global fashion industry is responsible for roughly 10% of carbon emissions.
  • The industry emits more heat-trapping gas than all international shipping and flights combined.
  • It takes around 1,000 gallons of freshwater to make one pair of jeans!
  • Every second of every day, a garbage-truck-sized load of clothing is dumped in landfills.
  • The average American tosses 70 pounds of clothing each year.
  • Over 100 billion items of clothing were made in 2020, double the number in 2000.

Industry-wide change is needed

In order to solve our climate problem, the industry needs to adopt system-wide change. Many companies are responding by reducing their emissions, and are using more sustainable fabrics and manufacturing processes. Some are certified as B Corps, meaning they meet a set of environmental and social governance standards. Consumer demand for these options will help force change.

An inadvertent upside of tariffs

There are new economic factors at play that may have the inadvertent effect of slowing fast fashion and overconsumption, which would ultimately reduce industry emissions. Clothing made inexpensively overseas and imported into the United States is facing new tariffs, including the closing of a key loophole that is expected to lead to higher prices and slower shipping times. This may make the trend of over-buying less appealing.

What can we do?

When it comes to clothing – or any consumer product – the formula is fairly simple: buy less, choose sustainable options, use longer, and recycle more.

Here are some clothing-specific ideas:

  • Resist fast fashion and choose quality over quantity
  • Patronize sustainable companies, including B Corps
  • Shop vintage, either through a local consignment shop or an online site
  • Consider a clothing rental company if you plan to only wear an item a few times
  • When it’s time to let go, give some thought about how and where to donate, recycle, or sell

Consumer demand can help motivate companies to change how they operate. We can be a part of the solution by investing in fewer, more sustainably-made pieces of higher quality. It may feel like a small change, but it can really make a meaningful impact.

In addition to volunteering for C-Change, Karen blogs about climate change at unheating.com.

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Pam Parsons August 2, 2025 0
Beef Athens
Athens

B-Change Blog: Eat Less Beef

B-Change Blog: Eat Less Beef

By Karen Dougherty

How many times a week do you typically eat beef? Did you know that dropping that number, even by one, would help solve climate change? It’s true. There is a strong relationship between meat consumption and our rising temperatures. Choosing a meatless meal is great, but even replacing steak with chicken, or ground beef with ground turkey, makes a whopping difference.
 
Why is there so much focus on beef? The main reasons are: methane, land, and resources. Add these together and the impact of beef consumption on heat-trapping emissions is staggering.

Source: Our World in Data


Methane

When we think of heat-trapping gas, carbon dioxide comes to mind first. Rightfully so – it is the biggest offender, and it lingers in the atmosphere for a very long time. But another major culprit is methane. Methane is especially problematic because, although it dissipates from the atmosphere faster than CO2, it has at least 25 times the heat-trapping potency. Methane is responsible for 20-30% of the temperature increases due to climate change, so decreasing its levels is one of the quickest and easiest ways to slow down warming. 
 
Cows are a major source of methane.  The unique digestive system of ruminant animals like cows, sheep, and goats is to blame. Methane is a by-product of their digestion, released into the air through their gas. With over 1.5 billion cows on the planet, the problem is immense.
 
There are some cool solutions being studied to reduce the amount of methane coming from cows. One fascinating example is adding seaweed to their diets. It significantly reduces methane emissions. Solutions like these are coming, but aren’t quite ready for widespread adoption.
 
Land
 
Raising animals for food requires a lot of land, and larger animals take up more space. Although it doesn’t seem like it when you fly across the Midwest, farmland is a limited resource. The more land we use for cattle, the less we have for growing crops. Massive amounts of land are also needed just to grow enough food to keep cattle fed.
Did you realize one driver of deforestation in the Amazon is to clear land for cattle? Americans have such an appetite for red meat we can’t fulfill our needs domestically, so we import from other countries, including Brazil.
 
Resources
 
In addition to needing more space, bigger animals use more resources. They eat more, drink more water, and require more energy to raise and process – and to be transported around the country or the world. Slowing our intake of beef would reduce emissions from all these sources.
 
Other benefits
 
I’m a big fan of climate solutions with multiple benefits. If we cut back on red meat consumption, there are other wins for us, namely saving money and improving our health. Beef is generally more expensive than other animal proteins, and a diet high in red meat is linked to increased rates of certain cancers, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.
 
Nobody is going to force us to stop eating beef, but if we choose to make even small changes to our consumption, it could be a win-win for our health, our budgets, and our climate.

In addition to volunteering for C-Change, Karen blogs about climate change at unheating.com.

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Pam Parsons July 2, 2025 0
Hills 360
Athens

Athens Newsletter June 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

After a six-year battle, a controversial mining project near Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp has been halted after the Conservation Fund purchased the land from Twin Pines Minerals for nearly $60 million. The deal protects roughly 8,000 acres, including the 600-acre site initially slated for mining. Scientists had warned such a mine could irreparably harm the ecologically vital swamp, which stores vast amounts of carbon-rich peat that help lock away millions of tons of planet-warming greenhouse gases. The Conservation Fund aims to eventually transfer the land to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, ensuring long-term conservation and public access.

The largest solar panel manufacturer in the Western Hemisphere recently announced it plans to build a new solar recycling business near its Cartersville plant. Qcells will operate EcoRecycle, which would be able to recycle about 500,000 panels annually at its Georgia location. This would allow Qcells to produce more solar panels in the U.S.while importing smaller amounts of raw materials.

Georgia Power tested a 50-50 hydrogen-natural gas blend at a plant near Atlanta, calling it the world’s largest test of its kind. The blend reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 22% compared to pure natural gas. While hydrogen is seen as a potential clean-energy solution, its environmental benefits depend on production methods.

The Atlanta City Council is considering legislation that would require commercial developers and home builders to use more energy-efficient, lighter-colored roofing materials to reflect sunlight, aiming to reduce energy costs and heat-related illnesses.

The Clarke County School District Board of Education voted at its June meeting to hire a sustainability director to implement the recommendations made by the district’s Sustainability Advisory Committee, which will help schools in Athens implement renewable energy and green infrastructure, minimize waste, and reduce their carbon footprints.

Georgia News of Concern

Few states have more to lose from the “Big, Beautiful Bill Act” than Georgia. Our state has become a major hub for clean energy and electric vehicle manufacturing, fueled by federal incentives created by the Inflation Reduction Act. These incentives, including tax credits for solar panels, batteries, and EVs, have spurred significant corporate investment and job creation in towns across Georgia. The act will eliminate many of these incentives to fund corporate and individual tax cuts. Industry leaders warn that this move could jeopardize jobs, increase electricity costs, and hinder efforts to combat climate change.

Georgia’s booming EV sector – featuring major projects from Hyundai and Rivian – could be particularly affected. If electric vehicle tax credits are rolled back as stated in the act, the economies of some Georgia towns will suffer. For example, the EV boom has significantly boosted the economy of Commerce, GA, where the $2.6 billion SK Battery America plant has employed 2,600 workers to produce batteries for the Ford F-150 Lightning.

Solar energy, which has seen rapid growth, also could be devastated by proposed new taxes in the bill. Solarcycle has already paused expansion plans due to uncertainty. Critics argue the bill undermines U.S. competitiveness against China, which dominates the clean energy supply chain.

Ways to Act

Georgia voters voted 2-1 in favor of clean-energy and budget-conscious leadership in the Public Service Commission primary, but the race is far from over. The Democratic primary runoff on July 15 will determine who runs in the general election on Nov. 4. 

Why is this important? This pediatrician testifying before the PSC explains the impact of poor air quality and heat on young people. Georgia’s high-stakes PSC election recently made national news. The PSC determines the future of our power grid, so please research the candidates and vote for two commissioners who will help advance Georgia’s transition to clean energy sources.

Learn how to reduce energy costs, improve home efficiency, and understand utility bills at two free workshops at the Athens library on July 17 and Aug. 14, 6-8 p.m. Register for the workshops here.

Georgia Interfaith Power & Light is hosting a half-day gathering of faith leaders and environmental advocates for a morning of networking, learning, and action on Aug. 16 at Oconee Street United Methodist Church. Speakers and workshop leaders will address topics including clean energy goals in Athens-Clarke County, advocacy opportunities tied to the Georgia Public Service Commission, and how planting and protecting trees, especially in under-forested communities, can advance justice and build climate resilience. Everyone is welcome – register here.

The Big Picture: US and Global Climate News

It looks like America is heading for a King Midas moment. You know the one: the king in the Greek myth who was granted by the gods his wish that everything he touched be turned to gold. For a glorious moment he was thrilled, touching everything around him and amassing greater and greater wealth. And then, a horrible moment of reckoning as he tried to eat food and hug his daughter – and both turned to gold. His gift was really a curse, threatening his very existence and his daughter’s future.
 
Doubling down on fossil fuels parallels that choice – creating fleeting gains but ultimately imperiling our well-being and our children’s future.
 
We’ve said it before, and we will say it again here – we need fossil fuels for the short- and midterm, and finding safer ways to use them makes sense. We can’t power our economy without them for quite a while. But we can, and should, wean ourselves off of them as quickly as feasible. That means building a more modern energy system that is safer, more reliable, and more affordable. And while the U.S. appears to be retreating, other countries are stepping forward, building this new system based on electrification and a suite of clean-energy sources.
 
Amazingly, in what is perhaps a true gift from the gods, several of these sources – industry-scale solar and wind – have gotten so inexpensive that, even coupling them with storage, they are becoming cost competitive with building a new fossil fuel plant. And given that the costs solar and wind in the U.S. had been on track to drop another 60% by 2060, you can see just how lopsided this competition is becoming. The real riches come in the savings from scaling and improving these and other new technologies – and from avoiding the escalating damages we are accruing from using fossil fuels at such high levels.
 
King Midas was released from his curse, but real life isn’t a myth. As we double down on fossil fuels and retreat from the benefits and savings of the new, modern energy system, reversing the damage will be much harder to do.

Notable Quote

“Extreme heat used to be considered the ‘invisible peril’ because the impacts are not as obvious as of other natural perils. With a clear trend to longer, hotter heat waves, it is important we shine a light on the true cost to human life, our economy, infrastructure, agriculture, and healthcare system.”

– Jérôme Haegeli, chief economist, Swiss Re Group

News of Concern

It appears that the world is on track to blow past our stretch goal of keeping the global surface temperature increase to 1.5°C, the number agreed upon by most countries 10 years ago in the Paris Agreement. And indeed, we’re feeling it right now. Summer has just begun in the Northern Hemisphere – already, Alaska issued its first-ever heat advisory and 40 states sweltered under a record-breaking heat dome of excessive heat and humidity.

We’re in uncharted territory now. Earth’s atmosphere hasn’t held this current level of carbon dioxide in millions of years, and it’s still climbing – at an alarming rate. It’s so hot, even the oceans are experiencing heat waves. The water off the usually chilly coasts of Ireland is so warm – up 7.2°F from normal – that algae is blooming and octopi (a warm water species) are raiding crab pots and gobbling mollusks, posing a risk to shellfish fisheries. And the warmer water is making sonar less reliable, putting our submarines and sailors at risk as they navigate deep in the sea.

But instead of embracing efforts to slow emissions increases, new federal policy is accelerating their rise, with Secretary of Energy Chris Wright saying the Trump administration sees climate change as “a side effect of building the modern world.” The Energy Department is canceling $3.7 billion for clean-energy projects that aimed to reduce emissions, pivot from fossil fuels, and capture carbon from the atmosphere. The EPA plans to roll back rules on air pollution from fossil fuel power plants. And in a move that surprised utilities and regulators, the administration is forcing aging fossil fuel plants that were scheduled to close to keep running – a decision that is expected to cost taxpayers billions of dollars.

That’s far from the only hit to our wallets. Our grid is woefully inadequate for our burgeoning electricity demands and costs are rising rapidly, up 6.2% versus last year. It will only get higher as we scramble to find enough energy sources to power AI, data centers, electrification, and our greater use of air conditioning as temperatures ratchet up.

Meanwhile, natural gas turbines are facing severe supply chain constraints, pushing new plants out five years and tripling their costs, and international conflict is causing oil and gas pricing to be very volatile. On top of energy costs going up, HVAC equipment is as well, in part due to tariffs.

Even more financial stress for taxpayers and homeowners is ahead as our costs of repairing and rebuilding from disasters caused by climate change have skyrocketed and our insurance premiums leap to mirror the increased risk. In the past year, the U.S. spent almost $1 trillion on disaster recovery – an amount equivalent to 3% of our GDP. And experts say our GDP will lose another $1 trillion in climate costs to public health, households, and the economy by 2035.

And if we want to step outside of our homes to enjoy the outdoors … well, that’s getting more fraught, too. Higher temperatures have led to a tick explosion, allowing them to expand into new territory like the Canadian north, and to have a longer biting season. Ticks carry a wide range of debilitating diseases so we all need to enhance our precautions.

News of Hope

But even as American energy policy shifts to promote fossil fuels, the energy transition is still accelerating, with clean-power sources providing the majority of our electricity in the U.S. for the last three months running. And Texas – a deregulated energy state where market forces, not regulatory favoritism, have made the state the top producer of renewable energy – has figured out how to use battery storage to keep the lights on and air conditioning humming on even those hottest Lone Star days, with blackout risks diminishing to under 1%.

We see hope in the coalitions that are forming to push forward with climate action. States are bonding together to support the domestic growth of electric vehicles. Pension funds and insurance companies are uniting to prevent investors’ portfolios from contributing to deforestation. And neighborhoods are coming together to decarbonize en masse, moving from natural gas to electrical appliances and HVAC, driving down their electricity costs and making the air cleaner for their families.

Electrification is key to this developing new energy system. Electric appliances, heat pumps, and even cars are much more efficient than their fossil fuel counterparts. That means electrical versions take a lot less energy to provide the same utility. (Think about it: your car gets hot when you drive it – that’s a whole lot of wasted energy – while an electric car stays cool.) Globally, heat pumps and EV sales are skyrocketing. Electric vehicles now comprise 20% of car sales, with EV penetration tripling since 2021. Even in the U.S., EV sales are still growing, and our charging network is finally improving as well. We added 10,000 new chargers in the past year, and they’re not just for Teslas. And as new models hit the market for about $29,000, EVs are becoming way more affordable here.

Intriguingly, new technology developed in China could make our EV cars last a lot longer by enabling us to reenergize spent lithium batteries. Remember, EVs are basically batteries and computers on wheels – there are few other maintenance costs. So if we can revive their spent lithium-ion batteries, not only will we reduce our waste but it will extend the life and value of our cars.

Another ray of hope? Thanks to attribution science, we now can now identify and measure climate change’s influence in individual extreme weather events. This data can help us be better prepared – and it may alter the legal landscape around climate change as well. The first wrongful death suit targeting fossil fuel companies was just filed in the United States and a landmark ruling in Germany said that corporations can be held liable for their contributions to global warming. Such actions are opening up the fossil fuel industry to punitive action for climate damages. The fossil fuel industry is concerned. In a counterpunch, the Trump administration announced it is suing four states that are litigating against or charging “superfund” fees to fossil fuel companies for their role in climate harm.

We leave you today with what might be a worldwide gamechanger. Rice – the primary food for 50% of the world’s population – is a major contributor to global warming, due to its water-intensive nature and its high methane emissions (10-12% of global levels). Scientists in Chile may have figured out how to make rice less thirsty, a discovery that has vast potential for reducing water use as well as methane emissions. We do love a win-win story and we’re crossing our fingers while we watch this one play out.

 

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Pam Parsons June 2, 2025 0
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Athens

Athens Newsletter April 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

Atlanta-based railroad company Norfolk Southern has introduced RailGreen, the world’s first freight rail “carbon insetting” service, enabling customers to purchase biofuels to reduce supply chain emissions. This initiative allows customers to pay slightly more for shipping to ensure more biofuels (from vegetable oil, for example) or zero-emissions fuels are used by the trains, which could help companies meet their own sustainability and emissions goals. It’s an innovative approach in the rail sector that mirrors successful programs in maritime and truck shipping.
 
Solar farms are becoming more common in Georgia, and they are boosting local economies in some of the poorest counties. One innovative company, Silicon Ranch, is reaping the benefits of producing solar energy while still using the land to raise sheep. This is part of a trend called “agrivoltaics,” which keeps the land in food production while providing substantial amounts of energy. This innovative approach uses regenerative farming so it is good for the land and good for our state’s economy. Silicon Ranch has created more than 6,500 jobs, invested more than $4 billion in the state, and will generate $250 million in tax revenue.
 
New fast-charging EV chargers are coming to Brookhaven at no upfront cost to the city. Sona Energy Solutions will own and operate the chargers, with the city receiving 10% of the net revenue as well as a discount for charging municipal vehicles.

Georgia News of Concern

Georgia’s recent legislative session ended with little progress on climate and environmental protections. Despite significant bipartisan support, two bills to restrict mining that would harm ecologically sensitive areas of the Okefenokee Swamp (a major carbon sink) stalled for the fourth year, leaving the fate of a proposed titanium mine in the hands of state regulators.
 
Bills aimed at mitigating data centers’ strain on Georgia’s power grid failed, despite rising electricity costs and Atlanta’s newfound status as the nation’s top data center market. And the push to expand community solar options was derailed after losing bipartisan support.

A recent investigation shows how Georgia Power’s own plans limit growth of renewable energy in our state. By removing incentives to expand or keep the net-metering solar program that encouraged rooftop solar, the utility and the Public Service Commission (PSC) that regulates it have failed to help Georgians capitalize on an abundant, cheap source of clean energy. As a result, Georgia ranks 43rd in the nation for rooftop solar. 

Improving efficiency and adding more rooftop solar could save ratepayers $300-$400 per solar home in Georgia. Georgia Power’s load factor is well below the national average, which means less energy efficiency and higher costs for consumers – the cost of electricity has jumped by more than $44 per month since 2023.

As Georgia continues to recover from Hurricane Helene’s devastation, experts warn that recent budget cuts and staff reductions at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which houses the National Weather Service, could weaken hurricane forecasting accuracy ahead of the summer storm season. Meteorologists say deteriorating monitoring systems—including satellites, flood gauges, and weather stations—will also make forecasting storms more difficult. Emergency managers also face frozen federal disaster grants, which will likely complicate recovery and preparedness efforts.

A prominent Georgia-based environmental philanthropy, the Ray C. Anderson Foundation, has announced it will wind down operations by 2030 after distributing its remaining funds to climate and sustainability initiatives. Since 2012, the foundation has granted more than $36 million to projects like The Ray, an 18-mile stretch of I-85 that has served as a laboratory for renewable energy, biodiversity, and traffic safety solutions research. Carpet company mogul Ray Anderson’s story was documented in the film “Beyond Zero,” which provides a roadmap for business leaders who want to reverse climate change. 

Ways to Act

A Yale study recently found that 68% of Georgians want a clean energy transition (two points higher than the national average). It’s important for us to participate in the regulatory process in order to make that transition happen. Here are some ways we can do that:

The Big Picture: U.S. and Global Climate News

In its first 100 days, the Trump administration has taken a wrecking ball to cleantech and climate action, even to the point of stopping new, shovel-ready, clean-energy projects, shutting down weather forecasting that millions use to stay safe, and dismissing the experts who compile the Congressionally-mandated “National Climate Assessment,” which is used by states and companies to help prepare for climate-related disasters.

The cost has already been substantial – over $8B in clean energy projects have been cancelled – and the chaotic policy swings have frozen many cleantech manufacturers’ process of reshoring jobs in the United States. 

The administration claims this approach will tamp down on climate anxiety and provide energy “security.” But how can an energy system be considered secure when it causes greater insecurity across our economy and our lives as climate change impacts our infrastructure, health, and insurance costs, and makes it much harder to grow enough food, have clean water, and work or recreate safely outside?

Energy “security” means updating and upgrading our current system so it can meet today’s and tomorrow’s energy needs – safely, affordably, and reliably. It means using fossil fuels when we must, but pushing forward cleaner alternatives when we can.

And to reach energy security we should be investing more, because the real excitement (and hope) lies in what is coming – the innovation already in the works and just being dreamed of. Whether it’s ways to harness solar power, methods to capture carbon, or sensors that enable farmers to better forecast long-term weather patterns and risks, we need to create new tools to help us succeed in this different, more dangerous world.

Investment in cleantech makes economic sense, moral sense, and – because most clean-energy projects are in conservative areas and drive energy costs down – political sense.  

Why are we going backward?

Notable Quote

“What we’re saying is, ‘Don’t just put a partisan hat on.’ Let’s put a ‘What-is-best-for-the-country’ hat on.”

– Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah), signer of a letter to the Senate majority leader asking for  protection of some clean-energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act

News of Concern

Nearly half of Americans live with dangerous levels of air pollution.             Source: Leo Visions/Unsplash

At a time when carbon dioxide levels are jumping off the charts, and when we are experiencing weather-related disasters every four days, our scientific institutions that monitor and study the climate are being shut down and muzzled. States and NGOs are fighting back with legal challenges but in the meantime we’re left with a vacuum of information and guidance. 

Following up on campaign pledges, President Trump is moving so briskly and forcefully to dismantle climate action and to bolster support for fossil fuels in this country, it’s hard to keep track. Of all of his executive orders since taking office, a fifth, or 20, have been in the environmental area. 

Some of the President’s most recent steps:

  • Bolstered coal production by exempting a third of coal-fired capacity from the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule. Energy from coal is almost double the cost as that from renewable sources and burning coal is highly polluting.   

  • Sped up environmental reviews that generally take 12 months to just 14 days for oil, gas, and mining projects. Importantly, these sped-up reviews do not extend to renewable projects.

  • Announced plans to fast track permits for mining, drilling, and fossil fuel production on public lands

  • Disclosed planned tariffs of up to 3,521% on solar panels from four countries in Southeast Asia

  • Moved to block states from implementing policies that reduce fossil fuel use and mitigate climate impacts

All of this is counterproductive because most of the energy ready to be deployed most quickly and cheaply onto the grid is in renewable energy and battery projects. And while the administration pays lip service to supporting fossil fuels on one hand, its trade policies have set off dizzying market losses for oil and gas companies, putting drilling plans on hold. In fact, the oil and gas industry’s drop in market value has been the largest decline of any sector, and gas prices have increased since President Trump took office. 

In another area where things are not as straightforward as expected, action to curb air pollution is exacerbating climate change. More specifically, China’s efforts to clean up its air pollution have taken reflective particulates – which help reflect solar energy back into space – out of the air. This has sped up anticipated temperature increases since 2010. It’s a poignant reminder of how complicated our climate system is and how important research and scientific investigation is to understand it. 

Recent reports about our air and soil have left us feeling rather breathless. The sky above us is too dirty and the ground below us is too dry. About half of Americans are living with dangerous air quality year round, increasing our risks of asthma attacks, higher blood pressure, cardiac disease, lung cancer, and premature death. And across the globe, the decrease of moisture in our soil may indicate an “irreversible shift” in our water supply that will make droughts more severe and more frequent, devastating food production and forcing millions of people to migrate away from arid regions. 

The longer we wait to take action, the greater the cost and pain will be – for our economy, our health, and our planet. 

News of Hope

The IRA was designed to benefit millions of Americans.                               Source: Yale Climate Connections

As Congress wrestles with the impending budget bill, what will win out when it comes to clean energy – economic sense or partisan brinkmanship? There’s growing pushback from Republican leaders who want to preserve IRA tax credits and project funding. Four U.S. Republican senators recently urged their GOP peers to consider the economic benefits of building out and utilizing clean energy in their districts. About 73% of IRA investments were allocated to states that voted for President Trump – and, as the chart above shows, the payoff will be galaxies beyond “just” lowering our carbon emissions. 

While we wait to see how that plays out, we were heartened when a federal judge ordered the immediate reinstatement of frozen funding for both the IRA and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.   

Now, here’s some undeniably hopeful news – we passed some big clean energy milestones recently. These are:

We also received good news in our transportation sector – the sector where the U.S. emits its largest portion of greenhouse gases. Electric vehicle sales accelerated in the first quarter of 2025, with almost 300,000 sold – 11% more than in the first quarter of 2024. And globally, EV sales were up 29% in March. Impending tariffs may play a role as the year goes on, but these numbers are clear evidence that more and more drivers are happy with EV technology – and that’s only going to improve as new battery designs drive costs down.

And as always, there were announcements of some very cool innovations. One really piqued our interest: Researchers at Cornell University are working on a solar “morphing skin” that would wrap around large buildings. Not only would these skins have the potential to generate 10-40% more energy than solar panels, they would be more eye-pleasing and could reduce the need for vast swaths of land for arrays. 

From sun-drenched fields in Indiana to windswept plains in Missouri, solar and wind can be so important to a community. We loved these tales of evangelical groups embracing solar as a “mandate” to protect nature and of a funeral director who helped rescue his town through the power of wind. Stories like these remind us that we’re far from alone in caring for the future of our families and neighbors – they give us hope to weather the storm.

Notable Graphic


Because renewable energy is cheaper than fossil fuels in many parts of the country, congressional cuts to the Inflation Reduction Act could significantly increase energy bills for households and businesses across the country. This chart shows the states that are projected to be the most affected by rate hikes.

Notable Video


Climate change is causing shifts in weather that we’re just beginning to understand. AccuWeather took a look at two recent reports: a National Geographic investigation on how tornadoes might be affected and a New York Times story about how increasingly rapid temperature swings affect us.

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Pam Parsons April 2, 2025 0
Cliff Athens
Athens

Athens Newsletter May 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

Georgia’s clean-energy economy is booming – and our citizens are benefiting. The Georgia Chamber of Commerce and Chambers for Innovation & Clean Energy shared highlights from a new report, including the fact that 82,163 Georgians were employed in clean-energy jobs in 2024. In addition, clean-energy projects have generated $36.7 million in tax revenues and $23.6 million in income to farmers, ranchers, and private landowners. 

Georgia News of Concern

A spending bill supported by President Trump seeks to roll back federal clean-energy incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The bill, which is currently being debated in the Senate, could increase costs for consumers and harm Georgia’s electric vehicle and battery industries. 

Sea level rise is threatening one of the last surviving Gullah Geechee communities. Sunny day flooding has become increasingly common on Sapelo Island, where UGA researchers are exploring nature-based strategies to protect historic Hogg Hummock. Climate change is driving sea level rise everywhere, but a study using NOAA and NASA data found that sea levels along Georgia’s coast are rising at some of the fastest rates on Earth due to ocean circulation patterns and land subsidence.

Coastal Georgia is bracing for another hurricane season, which began on June 1 – and NOAA just predicted an above-average season with at least three to five major hurricanes. Research has shown that human-caused climate change is heating the water in the tropical region of the Atlantic where hurricanes form. Higher temperatures also produce wetter storms, as we observed with Hurricane Helene last fall. UGA estimates that Helene caused $5.5 billion in damage to Georgia’s agriculture and forestry industries.

Ways to Act

Georgians will finally have the opportunity to vote for two Public Service Commissioners after a three-year delay caused by legal battles over the fairness of statewide voting. This is the only statewide race in Georgia this year. The Public Service Commission (PSC) is the state’s top utilities regulator. Its five commissioners set the rates for our electricity, gas, and internet. The PSC is also responsible for long-term energy infrastructure planning in Georgia, so it determines whether the state moves toward cleaner energy sources or remains reliant on fossil fuels.

For PSC District 2 (East and Southeast Georgia), Republican incumbent Tim Echols is facing a primary challenge from Lee Muns. In the Democratic primary, Alicia Johnson is running unopposed.

For District 3 (DeKalb, Clayton, and Fulton counties) Democrats Peter Hubbard, Robert Jones, Keisha Sean Waites, and David Blackman will face off in their primary. (David Blackman’s eligibility has been challenged. The ruling of a pending hearing on this matter may affect if votes cast for him will be counted.) If needed, a primary runoff will be held July 15. The winner will face Republican incumbent Fitz Johnson on Nov. 4.

Most of these candidates recently participated in a non-partisan forum, where they discussed their backgrounds and answered policy questions from constituents.

All registered Georgia voters are eligible to vote for both Public Service Commission races on the ballot. Early voting began on May 27 and will continue until June 13. Primary election day is on June 17. More information on when and where you can vote can be found on the Georgia Secretary of State’s website. 

The Big Picture: U.S. and Global Climate News

When you drive near a cliff’s edge at night, do you turn off your lights and hit the accelerator?

Sounds reckless and frightening, but that’s what we are about to do.

This cliff is climate change, a descent to an increasingly inhospitable world that will bring pain and financial damage. Just at the time when we should be most cautious, the administration is “turning off the lights” by shutting down the science that illuminates the dangers and gives us critical information to prepare for or avoid the damages ahead. At the same time, federal departments and agencies are increasing our speed toward danger by deregulating greenhouse gas emissions and by rolling back clean energy.

It doesn’t make sense – economically or politically. It’s one thing to deny climate change when it is in the far-off future; it’s another thing when it is impacting constituents’ pocketbooks and safety right now. Especially when, in contrast, the clean-energy transition holds so much promise for economic gain.

Let’s get away from hyperbole and focus on the key facts:

Climate change is inflationary. It is driving up the costs of food, insurance, infrastructure, health care, and energy.

Climate change is disruptive. Human productivity declines as heat increases, and more  frequent natural disasters endanger supply chains, manufacturing centers, and markets. 

Climate change policy, now threatened by the administration, benefited red and blue states alike across the nation and was successfully reshoring manufacturing and creating jobs and economic opportunity – with most of the investment in red-leaning districts.

Electricity demand is exploding due to AI, data centers, and electrification. Fossil fuels cannot meet the moment – natural gas plants have tripled in cost since 2022 and face severe supply chain shortages, limiting significant expansion until 2030. They are predicted to handle only 16% of the increased load. Disinvesting from renewables, which are now cheaper, more stable, and quicker to build, will make it more difficult to meet that demand.

Pretending dangers don’t exist won’t make us safer. Thwarting new technology that can provide cleaner, cheaper, safer energy won’t make us richer. 

It’s up to us – conservatives and liberals alike – to demand that the headlights get turned back on, that we slow our trajectory toward the edge, and that our government is working to ensure our economic future, not venerating our economic past.

Notable Quote

“The [administration’s] decision [to say the costs to the economy from climate change is zero] is like Alice in Wonderland’s Humpty Dumpty, who said ‘Words can mean whatever I choose them to mean.’ So, yes, it is possible to have policies that assume climate change will have no impacts, but that does not make it so.”

— Michael Greenstone, an economist at the University of Chicago

News of Concern

The Trump administration’s retreat from climate action is markedly out of step with the rest of the world and doesn’t jibe with the majority of Americans, who are embracing clean energy as critically necessary. Yet it is plowing ahead with policies that will drive up costs and make us collectively less safe. In the past month, the federal government:

These moves are happening at a fraught time, when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) warns that the looming summer heat and our increased power demand will cause significant strain on our grid, a network that is rickety at best. We have plenty of energy waiting in the queue to get on the grid (more than double our current generation capacity) if we could speed up permitting and expand transmission. That said, almost all of it – 95% – is in renewables and batteries, energy forms the administration does not favor.

It’s not only blackouts we have to worry about. Our electricity costs are rising because utilities are spending billions to harden their energy networks from more ferocious and frequent natural disasters. In a one-two punch, demand is also rising rapidly, fueled primarily by the insatiable hunger of AI and data centers – and ratepayers will be on the hook for much of the cost. One of the best ways to mitigate these increases? You guessed it:  the faster we move toward renewables, the faster and more we will save, according to the venerable International Energy Agency (IEA).

It’s important to realize that we have to upgrade our grid no matter what type of energy we support. As we saw from the recent widespread outage in the New Orleans area (which uses renewables for just 2% of its power generation) and the colossal blackouts in Spain and Portugal (which were using clean energy for 69% for their power generation), traditional grid-management techniques are not up to the task. We have developed new tools to balance and optimize our grids – if we prioritize and invest in them.

There’s one more concern we’d like to share before moving on to the greener pastures. Despite pledges by dozens of countries to end deforestation, the world lost a Panama-sized swath of tropical forest last year. Tropical forests absorb a lot of carbon: losing them will make it harder to stay at safe temperature levels. Experts call it a wake-up call – but are we listening?

News of Hope

In a world of unintended consequences and irony, the president’s actions on tariffs – coupled by OPEC’s response – are creating headwinds for domestic oil and gas production, despite his avowed goal to boost fossil fuels. It’s a reminder that oil and gas are impacted by global markets and that they are much more volatile than homegrown renewable energy. In fact, oil prices are so low that producers are hesitating to explore and drill, and drillers are warning we may have reached “peak shale” domestically.
  
More good news? For the first time in modern history, China’s annual CO2 emissions appear to be trending downward, even as its economy and energy usage is growing. This decline is driven by its huge pivot toward clean energy. As the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter (China still depends on coal for much of its energy), this is critically important, and has happened much more quickly than experts expected.
 
Back home, we have only to look at Texas to see how effective renewables are in powering the grid. The Lone Star State is a prime example of how solar and wind not only can keep the power on during extended heat waves, it is a model of how rural areas can benefit economically from a “crop” that is easy to raise. Texas businesses are investing in renewables not because they are anti-carbon or green, but because they are good for the bottom line. And ratepayers seem to agree as legislation that would have restricted renewables (and raised electricity rates) appears to be dead in the GOP-led state House of Representatives – and legislation supporting rooftop solar appears to have passed.
 
The administration has cherry-picked one form of clean energy – and it’s one that the Biden White House also favored. President Trump has declared that nuclear power will play an important role in our energy future. While we fervently hope that safety isn’t sacrificed as projects are fast-tracked, new nuclear designs do hold a great deal of promise. It’s particularly timely as China races toward becoming the world leader in nuclear energy, with 55 reactors built and 23 more in the works. The U.S., by comparison, has 94 reactors – but it took us 40 years to build what China has done in 10 years.
 
In another positive turn, the administration has lifted its ban on the major New York offshore wind project that is a critical part of the state meeting its clean-energy standards. It’s too soon to say if this about-face signifies a softening of Trump’s resistance to wind, but 17 states and the District of Columbia filed lawsuits in May against the administration to try to move forward with a multitude of wind projects around the country.
 
In another clean-energy win, schools from Utah and Kentucky to Massachusetts have been able to use IRA tax credits to switch to geothermal energy to heat and cool their facilities. Geothermal is more expensive upfront, but once built provides cooling and heating three to four times more cheaply than using fossil fuels. Geothermal energy can power schools safely and for much less money, freeing up funds for salaries and facility upgrades. 
 
And we were bolstered to learn that voices against clean energy in the United States are being met with some resistance internationally. Despite U.S. pressure, the heads of the central banks and regulators that make up the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision rejected a proposal to dissolve a task force overseeing climate work, stressing the importance of addressing the financial dangers we face as temperatures rise.
 
Finally, this series on clean-energy jobs in rural America just warms our hearts. These tales of how real people are benefiting from the energy transition show the power of clean technology – not just in keeping our lights on, but in helping our neighbors and communities grow and thrive. Pour a cup of tea and enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Pam Parsons April 1, 2025 0
columbia-masthead
Athens

Athens Newsletter – February 2025

Dear Friends,

It has been two years since C-Change Conversations Athens began compiling this digest of local and statewide climate news in Georgia. It has been an exhilarating time. Clean tech has exploded, bringing high-paying jobs and economic growth to our state, bringing us hope. At the same time, we’ve also shared concerning news about how climate change is affecting our state.

We all agree that we need reliable, affordable energy. But our economic future also depends on a stable climate and 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 would love to hear from you.

We welcome questions and ideas. Please reach out to us!

Sincerely,
The C-Change Conversations Athens Team

News of Concern

Data centers are straining the power grid, and Georgia Power projects they could triple the state’s energy consumption over the next decade. In response, Georgia Power, the state’s largest utility provider, intends to grow its grid by 50% by 2030. That increased capacity will come from more renewable energy and upgrades to aging nuclear units and hydropower dams, but it also keeps two of the country’s largest coal power stations running past their planned retirements and expands methane gas production. Burning coal contributes more pollution than other fossil fuels and it is less efficient. The Public Service Commission will vote on Georgia Power’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) on July 15 after months of public hearings. (For more information about how to weigh in, please keep reading below under “Ways to Act.”)

Many clean energy projects in Georgia are on hold after President Trump’s order to freeze federal funding. Among the projects affected are at least $1 billion worth of upgrades to Georgia’s electric grid, EV charging, and battery installations in Athens, and clean energy workforce training in Norcross. The funding remains frozen despite two federal judges’ rulings that it be released. Georgia has been a magnet for clean domestic energy technologies since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. Seeking the law’s generous tax credits, manufacturing companies that supply batteries, electric cars, and solar cells have flocked to the state. The future of the law is now unclear.

Climate change is helping to drive up car insurance costs in Georgia. The rates climbed by 21% last year, according to a report by Insurify, in part because of “significant losses from severe weather events.” For example, an estimated 16,800 vehicles in Georgia were damaged during Hurricane Helene.

Ways To Act

You can ask the Georgia Public Service Commission to prioritize investments in clean, renewable energy production, battery storage, and energy efficiency programs during its public hearings about Georgia Power’s 2025 IRP on March 25–28, May 27–30, and June 23–25 (9:30-10:30 a.m. in Room 110, 244 Washington Street, Atlanta). You can also submit public comments through the online portal.

In recent weeks, the Georgia General Assembly passed legislation (SB 34) that would force Georgia Power to charge data centers for the cost of the energy infrastructure they require. In addition, a bipartisan group of legislators has introduced the Georgia Homegrown Solar Act of 2025 (SB 203) that would allow Georgia Power customers to buy a portion of their energy from a nearby solar farm instead of installing solar panels on their own roofs. This could lower energy costs for customers and help Georgia transition to clean energy. Please consider calling your state senator to ask them to support SB 34 and SB 203.

The Okefenokee Swamp is Georgia’s largest carbon sink. Mining Trail Ridge would drain peat beds on the east side of the swamp and release an estimated 86 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. Take action to support House Bill 561 to prevent future mining on Trail Ridge and House Bill 562, a five-year moratorium to prohibit mining permits in the Okefenokee. And remind legislators that 92% of voters support protecting the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and its wildlife.

Wade Davis, University of British Columbia professor of anthropology and the BC leadership chair in cultures and ecosystems at risk, will give the 2025 Odum Environmental Ethics Lecture as part of UGA’s third annual Humanities Festival. Davis’s talk is based on his 2009 book The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World. This free lecture will take place on April 2.

The Big Picture: U.S. and Global Climate News

What’s more important? Political fervor or economic reality? Culture war rhetoric or constituents’ wellbeing? We are about to find out.

The new administration is moving at breathtaking speed to bolster fossil fuels, roll back federal policies and departments, and blunt the clean-tech transformation. Fortunately, the transition is happening on such a big scale and on so many different levels – globally, locally, and increasingly individually – that this gumming up of the process cannot stop it. Unfortunately, these reversals in national support will slow down the transition, drive up energy costs, and handicap the United States in the new-energy race.

Let’s cut to the chase: we need an affordable, reliable, and safe energy system. Historically, fossil fuels have been our only choice, and they still provide almost 80% of our energy in the United States. But the new kids on the block (wind, solar, and batteries) are now outcompeting them, providing much cleaner energy that, when coupled together, can be pretty darn reliable and handle increasingly larger parts of the load – all at a much cheaper price. That’s why in 2025, 93% of new power generation in the U.S. is expected from wind, solar, and batteries, while only 7% from natural gas, and none from coal.

While renewables aren’t perfect, their economic advantage is causing a tsunami within the energy sector. The stark reality is that we need this record-breaking growth to continue, in part because renewables are so much quicker to bring online than new natural gas or nuclear that they can more immediately meet the burgeoning power demand for AI and electrification. Other forms of clean technologies, like new nuclear and long-term storage, hold great promise – and need policy support as well. Tellingly, our economic nemesis, China, continues to provide aggressive policy support and investment to dominate these new technologies, spending more than the U.S., UK, and EU combined last year.

Another economic reality? The clean-tech transition has reshored manufacturing jobs and created investment opportunities across the United States, attracting $1 trillion in investment. Importantly from a political perspective, 60% of projects and 85% of dollars are in conservative districts. 

In the short run, the administration’s moves may score with the political base. But in the long run, they cause economic pain for all of us – squelching job growth, driving up energy costs, hampering reliability as demand is soaring, and exposing all of us to higher costs from climate impacts. Political fervor or economic reality? The winner of this race sets the pace for our future.

Notable Quote

“As Republicans, we should take a thoughtful approach and seek to refine and improve the IRA’s energy provisions in a way that promotes market certainty and continues to incentivize a comprehensive energy strategy. As a surgeon I would say, use a scalpel, not a sledgehammer.”

– Congresswoman (IA) Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Conservative Climate Caucus chair

News of Concern

Local jobs and growth are the most important drivers of any administration’s success, which is why the pushback against clean tech is such a lose-lose scenario. Red states – including Georgia, North Carolina, Montana, and Nevada – actually have the most to lose from the administration’s federal funding freeze on clean energy. The private investment bonanza and “once-in-a-generation manufacturing boom” promised to workers in these states is in jeopardy. Where is the economic sense in that? 

This energy policy whirlwind has been set against the backdrop of the hottest January on record across the globe – except in the U.S., where a polar vortex is misbehaving and plunged most of the nation into a deep freeze (except Alaska, which experienced record highs). Our heads are spinning – global warming could perversely be causing extreme cold as well as extreme heat, and a growing body of research predicts this pattern could worsen in a warming world.

It’s only going to get worse as it gets warmer. The administration’s proposed cuts to FEMA will mean fewer dollars in aid when weather-related disasters occur – and these disasters tend to happen more in Republican states, which get more relief funding than Democratic states. Again we ask: which is more important – politics or economics?

Saying it isn’t real doesn’t keep you safe. In West Virginia, only 57% of residents believe climate change is happening but experts say the devastating flooding the state experienced in February was made more extreme by warming temperatures, and that it is likely to happen again. On the federal level, the new administration has changed policy to enable roads, bridges, and federal buildings to be built without factoring in the new threats from climate change, putting billions of infrastructure dollars at risk. We can’t make ourselves safer unless we accept the realities and plan for them.

What do we gain through the scuttling of offshore wind projects, when costs have come down so fast and job opportunities have supported so many people in (again) primarily Republican districts? What gains will balance out the $1 billion that taxpayers will lose from the shut down of EV chargers on federal property?

One last note before moving on to more hopeful news: we are worried about chocolate in our warming world. Last year, 71% of cocoa-growing regions in West Africa were threatened as they experienced six extra weeks of extreme heat (above 89.6°F). Can you imagine Valentine’s month without chocolate? Heartbreaking.

News of Hope

Fortunately, while the administration pulls back on the reins of climate action, the rest of the world is spurring it on. Leaders of almost every country are pushing forward on climate goals. Leaders of most faiths are rallying as “good stewards of the Earth.” Philanthropies are pledging continued support for climate action. And states – even conservative ones – are staying the course toward net-zero. Because they can all see the economic pain of failure and the gain of successfully transitioning to a lower-carbon economy. 

Those gains are spurring global investment in our low-carbon energy transition – to the tune of more than $2 trillion for the first time last year. Even the Middle East is transitioning as major solar projects are on track to make renewables 30% of total capacity in five years in seven countries. There’s simply no denying – even by oil-rich countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia – that renewable energy makes financial sense.

Back home, simpler transitions – how we heat and cool our homes, for example – are gaining traction. Heat pump sales are soaring as we realize that turning to cleaner energy doesn’t have to mean sacrificing comfort or convenience. Heat pumps are simply more efficient and less polluting than fossil fuel furnaces, so they just make more sense.

Energy innovation continually astounds us, and here’s one project that caught our fancy. JetWind Power is using windmills to harness the air turbulence created by jets as they land and take off and using it to power nearby car chargers. These are the ideas that bring us hope when times feel tough. If we think it, we can do it – and we’re truly thankful for all of the minds that are pushing the boundaries to create climate solutions. 

Notable Graphic

Whether you tune in for the game, the commercials, or the munchies, the Super Bowl is a big event in the United States – and climate change is becoming a player. This graphic shows how much warmer Super Bowl Sunday has become since 1970. And in fact, all 30 NFL cities are seeing two weeks more of extremely hot days, which imperils the health of the players as well as our joy in the game.

Notable Video

If you were watching the Super Bowl, you might have caught this compelling ad about the importance of climate action. Created by Science Moms, a nonpartisan group of mothers who are also climate scientists, the commercial is a touching plea for all to recognize how climate change will impact our children’s health and future. We were moved and thrilled to see a climate change message on such a national platform.

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Pam Parsons March 21, 2025 0
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Athens

Athens Newsletter January 2025

Dear Friends,

It has been two years since C-Change Conversations Athens began compiling this digest of local and statewide climate news in Georgia. It has been an exhilarating time. Clean tech has exploded, bringing high-paying jobs and economic growth to our state, and providing lots of fodder for our news of hope section. We’ve also shared concerning news about how climate change is affecting our state.

We all agree that we need reliable, affordable energy. But our economic future also depends on a stable climate and 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 would love to hear from you.

Sincerely,
The C-Change Conversations Athens Team

News of Hope

hyundai
Hydrogen-fueled delivery trucks arrive at the Port of Brunswick, GA, in September, 2024. Hyundai Motor Group will use the zero-emissions fleet to deliver supplies between the port and its new factory 50 miles west of Savannah. Source: Hyundai Motor Group

News of Concern

Jimmy Carter accepts the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo City Hall in 2002. Carter recognized the problem of global warming early on. Source: The Carter Center

As we mourned the loss of Georgia’s own Jimmy Carter, we were reminded of his environmental legacy and forward-thinking approach to energy. Carter was among the first world leaders to heed scientific research that burning fossil fuels results in carbon dioxide pollution that warms the planet. He pushed legislation to encourage the research and use of alternative fuels and even installed solar panels on the roof of the White House. Carter’s environmentalism was rooted in a childhood spent hunting and fishing in the woods and his words and actions continue to inspire conservationists today:   

       Future generations of conservation leaders must remember that we are stewards
       of a  precious gift,  which is not an unpleasant duty but rather an exciting challenge.
       We must safeguard our land so that our children and grandchildren can enjoy
       freshwater, clean air, scenic mountains and coasts, fertile agricultural lands, and
       healthy, safe places to live and thrive.

Atlanta-based Coca-Cola recently abandoned its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and lowered its recycling targets. Environmental groups that perform trash audits have found the company to be the top plastics polluter globally.

Ways To Act

Research now confirms that the Planetary Health Diet can lower your risk of premature death by 30% and lower your carbon footprint. More information on the diet can be found here. 

The Big Picture: U.S. and Global Climate News

The new year started with a bang. The heartbreaking and apocalyptic destruction of Los Angeles from a climate-enhanced winter wildfire juxtaposed against a new president who vows to increase production of fossil fuels, pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement climate accord on day one, and has frozen federal funding supporting clean energy.
 
Unlike it did in 2016, the new administration does not deny that climate change exists. It simply does not deem the threat significant enough to override or influence other important policy goals, such as lowering inflationary pressure, marginalizing Russia’s geopolitical sway, increasing domestic manufacturing, and producing more energy to stabilize the grid. Calling fossil fuels the “gold beneath our feet” and dismissing the promise of clean energy to meet those policy objectives, President Trump clearly enunciated a direction that differs from the past four years, one that may seem seductive at first sight but is fraught in the long term.
 
The new administration’s actions won’t change economic reality: the costs of moving to a lower-carbon economy are much less than the costs of climate change’s damages. In almost every corner of the world, new power generation from renewable energy sources is much less expensive than from the lowest-cost fossil fuel provider (utility solar was 56% less expensive and wind was 67% cheaper on a global average for 2023). Innovation will disrupt legacy players even more, and the economic potential of the energy transition will only increase.
 
It’s going to be a wild ride as political aspirations and promises bump up against economic reality. There are conservative approaches to lessen the climate threat, but we need to start with a clear-eyed recognition of the problem. Stick with us as we guide you through the new challenges and opportunities ahead. 

Notable Quote

“Here is the reality: The very metabolism of the Earth has been thrown off by an atmosphere choking on greenhouse gasses, and it will take more than political bickering to set things right. Another reality: Fixing the problem first requires understanding – and, even more fundamentally, accepting – the science. Only then can we implement policies and put in place protocols that help us both reduce the likelihood of more such crises and minimize the death and destruction when they ultimately do occur.”

 – Jeffrey Kluger, Time magazine

News of Concern

Hotter temperatures mean cooler chilis. Source: Canva

This month, NASA, NOAA, and other scientific organizations confirmed that 2024 was the hottest year on record with average global temperatures about 1.47°C above mid-19th century averages. Sea surface temperatures also broke heat records last year. This news, coupled with the inferno in California, was yet another wakeup call, fast on the heels of the supercharged hurricanes that wrought devastation in the fall. And while incidents like these may not necessarily be caused by climate change, they are usually “enhanced” by it – for example, foliage in the Los Angeles area was 25% drier due to climate change, enabling the fires to burn more quickly and ferociously. And Los Angeles’ destruction won’t be the last – three-fourths of the world has gotten drier due to climate change, which means one in three people live in “moisture-deprived areas” at risk not just of fire, but of drought, crop failure, and dust storms.
 
The personal and economic loss from the Los Angeles fires is yet another reminder that our insurance system is not built for such disasters. This article (published before the fires as well as before Hurricanes Helene and Milton) shows the magnitude of areas that are being underserved or dropped from coverage. Our once-great system that protected our homes and livelihoods no longer works – we’re building in places that we can’t afford to protect and our rates have become so high that many can’t afford policies (if they’re even available). To stay safe, we have to build safe, but costs are prohibitive and locations that are resistant to climate change are becoming scarcer.
 
There are even more troubling climate signals worldwide. Scientists who studied 2023’s high heat say it may have been caused in part by a decline in low clouds over the ocean, which lead to higher absorption of solar radiation. Recent satellite data shows that methane emissions (which trap 80 times more heat than CO2 in the short run) from landfills may be much higher than we thought. And whether we like it or not, what’s happening to polar bears and glaciers are a harbinger for all life on Earth as the Arctic heats up faster than any area of the world.
 
We know these hotter temperatures put our health at risk in the long term, but we’re also getting ill now. Flesh-eating bacteria [paywall] that thrive in the warm waters that come ashore during hurricanes. Increased food spoilage and food-borne illnesses. Unbreathable toxic wildfire smoke. The cost on our well-being – and on our wallets – is ratcheting up.
 
This heat is also dulling the spice in our lives – literally. Chili peppers are getting blander, as are coconuts and cabbage. And to be honest, we’re bitter about it – much like our coffee is tasting, too.
 
And even though we are creating more and more of our energy from renewable sources (you’ll read more below), the conundrum of how we meet our power demand while not increasing our fossil fuel usage remains, perhaps, the biggest challenge of our time. Off-the-charts power demand from AI, increased electrification, and climbing cooling needs are straining our grid to its breaking point.
 
At some point – and soon – something has to give.

News of Hope

Bamboo absorbs carbon and provides climate-friendly materials. Source: Canva

While we are indeed looking at a bumpy road for a while, we also have positive news to keep us moving forward. Carbon-free energy made up 96% of new power on the U.S. grid in 2024. It’s remarkable progress … although, yes, it does come with an asterisk. Most of our electricity still comes from gas, and we used almost 4% more in 2024. But there’s a mind-boggling amount of renewable energy – 2.6 terawatts, or about double our grid’s current capacity – in the queue. If we can find a way to integrate enough of that clean energy, our system will become both more secure and economic.
 
While solar power remains king of the renewables, we’re ready to put our money on geothermal energy as second in command. The International Energy Agency (IEA) says geothermal has the next-highest clean power potential after solar, thanks to next-gen technologies that could harness heat from deeper inside the Earth. Scientists and business leaders alike are racing to make this vision – one that could provide 140 times the world’s current power demand – an economic and engineering reality.
 
Despite the current uncertainty about incentives for electric vehicles in the United States, sales were strong last year – and experts say they will likely remain so as battery costs continue to decrease, technology keeps improving, and new models that appeal to skeptics come onto the market. Other countries have embraced EVs in force – Bloomberg predicts EVs will make up 50% of the global market share by 2030 – and U.S. automakers do not intend to be left behind.
 
Even with a pin stuck in federal climate policies, states and cities have made big strides in lowering carbon emissions, and most have no plans to stop now. Case in point: Chicago, where all city municipal buildings – more than 400 of them – now run on 100% clean power. This transition is largely powered by solar and is predicted to reduce emissions equal to taking 62,000 cars off the road. Now that’s what we call driving change!
 
There’s also change afoot on the legal front. Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by oil and gas companies to block a Hawaiian lawsuit that seeks billions for damages wrought by climate change disasters. It’s a vital precedent for future and impending legal proceedings. So is the decision of the Montana Supreme Court, which upheld a landmark case won by young climate activists who said state policies violated their right to a clean environment. Similar cases are on dockets in other states, including Florida, and around the world, as a younger generation raises its voices against policies and polluters that could put their future at risk.
 
Finally, let’s take just a moment to remind ourselves about the myriad, lower-tech ways that nature can help us reduce our carbon footprint. Consider bamboo – its forests absorb vast amounts of carbon and it can be used as fuel, building materials, and even food. Just imagine the potential of bamboo if, instead of fearing it as an invasive species as gardeners have been taught, we embrace its potential as an ally in lowering emissions. The possibilities could be endless – what a soothing thought.

Climate Quiz

We had fun challenging ourselves with this short New York Times quiz about climate costs and impacts. Take a minute to test yourself!

Notable Graph

Here it is in color – temperatures are rising fast, but so are the solutions that not only can mitigate our risks, but can reap economic benefits as well. We’ll be watching closely in 2025 and hoping cool heads prevail.

Notable Video

Source: Oilfield Witness

What if we could see emissions polluting the air? Would we care more? Take a look at a typical natural gas venting episode in Florida. Infrared optical gas imaging captures what our naked eyes can not.

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Pam Parsons January 21, 2025 0
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