It's Impossible to Keep Up!
One of the things that most surprised me when I really started digging in and learning about climate is just exactly how much is happening. I’ve written here before about how many different aspects of climate there are—it’s about much more than EVs and solar panels (although those are important, too). Progress is being made in almost all of those different aspects.
A few years ago, certain industries were described as “hard to abate” sectors, like steel-making, aluminum production, or aviation. Today, efforts are well-underway in all of those different areas and there’s cause for optimism. As a former climate doomer, I’m happy to tell you there are lots of reasons to be optimistic.
In the last month, here’s a small sampling of climate-related news solar power is still getting cheaper, California was entirely powered by batteries a few times, a company called Quilt that makes beautiful heat pumps went public, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) put out new regulations related to the power grid, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued new rules for power plants, and that’s just to name a few.
It feels quite impossible to keep up with all of these developments, and I’m only talking about the positive things. There’s just as much scary and alarming news out there too.
When I started this newsletter, it was to share what I’m learning as I dig deeper into what’s happening with the climate and efforts to slow down climate change, but there’s just so much! Even deciding what to tell you about is difficult. I’d love to know what you’d like to learn more about. Some of the topics I’m interested in include:
Energy transmission (how we move power from one place to another)
Weather and how (or if) individuals can protect themselves
How community solar projects work and what the Solar for All program is about
Why hydrogen matters
What can be done with all the plastic
What happens to lithium ion batteries
There are plenty more, too. I listen to 4-5 climate podcasts each week, and just about every episode of all of them sends me down some rabbit hole or another, or makes me wish I had time to explore more. But, tell me: what do you want to know? What questions do you have? What kinds of solutions are you looking for?