This month’s good climate news
Fighting for the planet isn’t easy. These wins prove it’s worth it.
Pioneering 10-state climate program slashes energy bills
As the Trump administration moves to gut federal climate protections and block clean energy projects, a multi-state climate initiative in the U.S. is helping reduce energy costs, clear the air and cut the climate pollution that’s turbocharging dangerous weather events like this summer’s deadly floods in central Texas.
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, has slashed energy bills for 8 million families and 400,000 businesses across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. The program has racked up a total of $20 billion in savings, $9 billion invested in communities and a 46% reduction in power plant pollution across the region.
Climate experts restore initiatives killed by Trump administration
In June, the Trump administration took down Climate.gov, a public trove of climate science created by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The popular website expanded public climate literacy by tracking rising temperatures, shifting weather patterns and extreme weather linked to climate pollution for over a million monthly visitors.
Now, the team of experts behind Climate.gov have relaunched the site under a public domain, Climate.us.
“At a moment when critical climate information is being deleted or distorted, we are stepping up to rescue key climate resources,” the new website states.
Meanwhile, less than two weeks after the Trump administration dissolved a government panel created to investigate the financial risks of climate change, former panel members announced they, too, will continue their work outside of the government’s reach.
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Swimmers race in once-contaminated Chicago River
On a sunny September afternoon, while music played and spectators cheered, nearly 300 swimmers splashed into the Chicago River for an open swim race.
Lifelong Chicagoans marveled at the sight. Long treated as a dumping ground for human and industrial waste, the Chicago River’s pollution has been a running joke for city residents for the better part of a century. (The river's last sanctioned swim race was in 1927.)
A city river clean enough for swimming is the culmination of decades of clean-up efforts between local agencies and environmental and community groups. It all started with the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, which empowered citizens to hold local polluters accountable (and stop granting them a free pass).
Companies worldwide step up to curb pollution
Companies around the world have been quietly raising their climate ambitions.
A public tracker that annually reports these commitments observes that companies collectively worth over $36 trillion in annual revenue have now published targets to drive down planet-warming pollution from their operations and suppliers.
Companies in Japan and the U.K. are leading the global pack. Over 90% of companies headquartered in each country are now tackling climate pollution.
Even despite political headwinds, over two dozen companies in the U.S. have announced new climate targets since last year.
Chunk takes prize for fattest bear
A gloriously plump brown bear known as “Chunk” has been crowned the winner — at 1,200 pounds — of the 11th annual Fat Bear Week. A record 1.6 million votes were cast this year in the popular online competition that raises awareness of the bears’ annual feeding season at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska.
