Good people are working to address the climate crisis… just not in the Trump administration. The dominance of the president and his minions runs throughout the federal government to promote energy solutions that make climate change worse. More specifically, discussion about loosening the regulatory environment blocks needed conversations about addressing the climate crisis.
Since January 2025, the Congress held hearings that mention climate change. However, they hear mostly from industry representatives. Which industries? Groups like the American Petroleum Institute and U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Industry is urging Congress to create a more predictable, streamlined regulatory environment, emphasizing faster permitting, lower compliance costs, and clearer rules. They argue current regulations hinder investment, energy development, and competitiveness. They often frame climate policy in economic and security terms rather than scientific urgency. They do not address climate change, nor will they.
Few people I know don’t see the urgency of addressing the climate crisis.
Absent action by our federal government, there are voices we should recognize, beginning with Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist. Global warming exists and Hayhoe doesn’t accept it on faith. According to her website, she crunches data, analyzes models, and helps engineers and city managers and ecologists quantify the impacts. She is everywhere on social media and tells the scientific truth about where our priorities should be.
Another person to follow is Bill McKibben, a prominent American environmentalist, author, and co-founder of the grassroots climate campaign 350.org. He is also founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 for action on climate and justice, according to his website.
There are others, yet Hayhoe and McKibben are in the middle of what is currently happening regarding the climate crisis. Follow them.
Blog for Iowa also recommends the handy climate change BS guide I first posted in 2015, “Is That Climate Change Article BS?” It’s a bit dated, yet still has good advice:
- Skip climate articles by people who think the problem is hopeless or intractable — because it most certainly is not.
- Skip articles written by George Will and his ilk.
- Skip articles — especially longer climate essays — by authors who don’t explicitly tell you what temperature target or CO2 concentration target they embrace and how they’d go about attaining it.
- Skip articles embracing Orwellian terms like “good Anthropocene.”
“One of the most important things we all need to know when it comes to climate action is this: we are not alone.,” Katharine Hayhoe recently said. I invite readers to follow Hayhoe and McKibben on social media if you are not already.
Journey Home 