Local Climate News
Renew Rocktown, an emerging local umbrella environmental organization, hosted an Earth Day luncheon that drew together 100 environmental leaders to celebrate past accomplishments. Renew Rocktown development director Everett Brubaker characterized the event as, “A chance to collaborate and build pathways, build relationships, and continue doing the work together.”
The Harrisonburg Public Works’ Urban Forestry Program is working hard to build an environmentally friendly city. The city’s 26% tree canopy is an average nationally but low for our part of Virginia. Because of an emerald ash borer invasion, 1,500 ash trees had to be removed from the city parks alone. The goal is to proactively replant and manage trees.
Virginia Climate News
Students at five Virginia universities rallied on Earth Day to address the climate crisis and demand that their schools do more to reduce carbon emissions.
A bipartisan bill to boost green building materials has glided through the Virginia House of Representatives. The legislation, which passed in a 350-73 vote, would give the Department of Energy a clear mandate to develop a full program to research, develop, and deploy clean versions of building materials such as concrete and asphalt.
Dominion Energy is among the utilities that asked for and received a two-year exemption from a rule aimed at reducing coal pollution from power plants—the Trump EPA granted the exemption. In a separate recent regulatory hearing, Dominion indicated that none of its coal plants would be retired before 2045. This violates the Virginia Clean Energy Act.
Our Climate Crisis
The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere grew at the fastest rate in recorded history last year. This dramatic spike has scientists concerned that Earth’s ecosystems are so stressed by warming they can no longer absorb much of the pollution humanity emits.
Harmful bleaching of the world’s coral has grown to include 84% of the ocean’s reefs and is the most intense event of its kind in recorded history. It’s the fourth global bleaching event since 1998 and it’s not clear when the current crisis, which began in 2023, will end.
About 80,000 homes may be lost to flooding due to rising sea levels in the New York area by 2040. This will make the present housing crisis even worse. Swaths of land in every borough will likely become impossible to develop, helping push the area’s housing shortage to a staggering 1.2 million homes.
Central Asia is getting warmer year after year, running out of water and, consequently, food. Fertile lands are rapidly decreasing while the region’s population is growing.
The Trump administration cut funding to one of our nation’s top climate modeling programs because they claim it creates climate anxiety among young people. But experts say that this will not make us less anxious—it will just give us less information about the threats we might face.
Politics and Policy
Nearly 2,000 top U.S. scientists are sounding the alarm about the Trump administration’s deliberate campaign to dismantle scientific research and suppress scientific findings it doesn’t like.
EPA head Lee Zeldin has justified his rollback of environmental protections by claiming, “We are driving a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion and ushering in America’s Golden Age.” Jewish and Christian faith leaders are pushing back saying that he managed to denigrate religion, science and efforts to address the climate crisis all in one fell swoop.
Texas and other Republican-led states are advancing legislation that could slow or block new renewable energy projects. While Texas leads the nation in wind and solar electricity generation, lawmakers have filed bills to curb new renewable projects. Similar efforts are advancing in Oklahoma, Arizona, Ohio, and Missouri.
President Trump signed a new executive order instructing the Department of Justice to go to court against state climate change laws aimed at slashing planet-warming greenhouse gas pollution from fossil fuels.
A sweeping White House proposal would slash science budgets at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, dismantling key climate research efforts.
The Interior Department is halting an offshore wind project already under construction off the coast of Long Island because of Trump’s animus toward wind energy. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul decried it as “federal overreach,” saying that she “will fight this every step of the way.”
Energy
China has abruptly suspended all LNG imports from the United States. Losing China as a customer completely upends the industry’s plans for rapid expansion at a time when Europe is seeking to wean itself off of LNG in preference to other sources of energy.
Africa increased its renewable energy capacity by 6.7% last year according to an International Renewable Energy Agency report. Egypt, Ethiopia and South Africa were among the countries that built the most clean power.
Market trends have accelerated the shift to wind and solar power in states across the political spectrum. Over the past decade, the costs of deploying wind and solar have fallen by 70–90%. They are now cheaper to deploy than coal, gas, or oil.
Energy demands from artificial intelligence is projected to quadruple by 2030 and consume more electricity in the U.S. than all major industrial manufacturing sectors combined. This is a flashing light warning us about the environmental cost of poorly managed growth.
Food and Agriculture
Solar-powered irrigation is quietly transforming small farms across Africa, helping farmers boost yields, cut costs, and ditch dirty diesel. While upfront costs remain high, financial support and falling tech prices are making renewable energy solutions more accessible and economically viable for farmers, helping them to become less dependent on unpredictable weather patterns.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture canceled a $3.1 billion grant program that sought to advance climate-friendly farming practices.
It requires about 31 acres of corn ethanol to produce the same amount of energy generated by one acre of land covered in solar panels. Solar energy expansion is often viewed as a threat to US food security, yet an area the size of New York State is currently devoted to corn crops that are farmed for fuel rather than for food.
Climate Justice
Pope Francis made climate justice a pillar of his legacy as he called for urgent action on global warming and spotlighted its disproportionate impact on the poor. His 2015 encyclical Laudato si’ was a watershed moment, aligning Catholic doctrine with climate science and influencing key international talks like COP21 which produced the Paris Climate Agreement.
“Mobility for Africa,” a Zimbabwean start-up, is making EV tricycles available to women in rural Africa. Being able to lease or buy an EV tricycle has been an economic gamechanger for many rural women entrepreneurs.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline is pressing to build a 31-mile extension into North Carolina. Opponents are organizing against the plan because of environmental concerns and the pipeline company’s history of construction violations and safety issues.
Seven Indigenous nations in Michigan have walked away from federal talks over a proposed oil pipeline tunnel, citing a lack of meaningful engagement and treaty violations. The Army Corps of Engineers recently fast-tracked permitting under President Trump’s energy emergency order.
A lithium mining boom in Chile’s Atacama Desert is depleting water resources and transforming the lives of Indigenous communities, who now face worsening drought, ecological loss, and cultural disruption. Lithium is a key ingredient in batteries that power electric vehicles and store renewable energy.
Rethinking our relationship with nature is key to solving the climate breakdown, according to a new United Nations report. A shift in values and collective mindset—not just new technologies—is essential to confronting the environmental crises threatening our planet.
Climate Action
Two-thirds of attendees at the Hands Off rally in Washington, D.C., named climate change as one of their top motivations for participating. Studies show that protests sway public opinion toward the climate cause, without appearing to backfire, even when disruptive tactics are used.
A Jesuit priest in Germany says he prefers going to prison rather than paying a 500-euro fine for participating in a climate activists’ street blockade in the southern German city of Nuremberg.
With the first U.N. climate talks in the Amazon approaching later this year, thousands of Indigenous people marched in Brazil’s capital last month. They are demanding that the state guarantee and expand their rights to traditional lands as part of the solution to the world’s climate crisis.
A new study has found that 90% of American Christian leaders believe in the reality of human-induced climate change but are typically silent in their beliefs. Rank-and-file Christians are, therefore, hesitant to even discuss climate change with their fellow churchgoers.
Paris has undergone a major physical transformation over the past 20 years, trading automotive arteries for bike lanes, adding green spaces and eliminating 50,000 parking spaces. Part of the payoff is clean air because pollution fell substantially.
Nepal’s rapid embrace of electric vehicles is bringing cleaner skies and contributing to longer life spans. More than 70% of four-wheeled passenger vehicles – largely cars and minibuses – imported into the country last year were electric, one of the highest rates in the world.
Municipal politicians across Canada are urging federal party leaders to embrace climate-related actions they say would improve the country’s resilience to environmental calamities.
Electric hydrofoil ferries cut through the water with very little resistance, allowing them to travel faster than the diesel ferries, while using much less energy and creating 98% fewer carbon emissions.
Global EV sales surged in March as the EV market continues its robust growth despite the tariff turmoil. Year-over-year sales jumped 29% and marked an impressive 40% month-over-month leap from February.
A growing number of evangelical churches in Indiana are embracing renewable energy and environmental stewardship. They are installing solar panels, planting native gardens, and hosting events like the Indy Creation Fest to promote environmental stewardship.
Earl Zimmerman is a member of the steering committee of the Climate Action Alliance of the Valley.
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