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A record surge in clean power met all global electricity demand growth in 2025, preventing any increase in fossil fuel generation, according to energy think tank Ember.

Solar led the expansion, recording its fastest growth rate in eight years and meeting around 75% of new electricity demand alone.

Together with wind, hydropower and other low-carbon sources, the solar surge drove clean generation to rise by 887 TWh, slightly exceeding demand growth of 849 TWh and pushing fossil generation down by 0.2%, Ember said in a report published on Tuesday.

Much of this shift was driven by China and India, where rapid clean energy expansion outpaced electricity demand growth, leading to declines in fossil generation in both countries for the first time this century.

IEA slashes pre-war oil demand forecast by nearly a million barrels per day

“We have firmly entered the era of clean growth,” said Aditya Lolla, Ember’s managing director. 

“Clean energy is now scaling fast enough to absorb rising global electricity demand, keeping fossil generation flat before its inevitable decline,” Lolla added. 

China and India lead the way

A key driver of the global shift was a “historic” reversal in China and India, the largest contributors to fossil power growth over the past two decades, Ember said.

For the first time this century, electricity generation from fossil fuels fell in both countries in the same year, tipping the global balance.

In China, fossil generation dropped by 0.9%, its first decline since 2015, as rapid additions of solar and wind outpaced rising demand. In India, fossil generation fell by 3.3%, driven by record increases in solar and wind, strong hydro production and relatively slower demand growth.

This shift helped push renewables to around 34% of global electricity generation in 2025, overtaking coal for the first time in the modern era.

Vivek Mundkur with portable solar pumping system in Pune in 2014 (Photo: Vivek M/Greenpeace)

“China’s rapid expansion of solar and wind is meeting rising electricity demand at home while influencing the global electricity transition,”  said Xunpeng Shi, president of the International Society for Energy Transition Studies.

“As the world’s largest builder of clean power, China’s progress is showing how growing demand can increasingly be met with clean electricity rather than fossil fuels,” Shi added. 

Solar leading global energy supply growth

Reinforcing Ember’s findings, new analysis from the International Energy Agency (IEA) showed on Monday that solar has become the single largest driver of global energy supply growth, beyond the electricity sector.

In its latest Global Energy Review, the IEA found that solar PV accounted for more than a quarter of the increase in global energy demand in 2025, making it the first time any modern renewable source has taken the top spot.

The agency also reported that solar recorded the largest annual increase ever seen for any electricity generation technology.

Q&A: Will subsidy cuts for Chinese clean-tech exports hurt Africa’s solar boom?

Ember’s Lolla said clean energy is “redefining the foundation of energy security in a volatile world,” adding that “it is already helping countries reduce exposure to fossil fuel imports and costs while meeting rising electricity demand”. 

‘Antidote to fossil fuel cost chaos‘

As the war in the Middle East disrupts global oil and gas supplies, the head of UN Climate Change, Simon Stiell, said the current crisis underscores the risks of fossil fuel dependence and the need for more secure, domestic energy sources. 

“Wars don’t disrupt the supply of sunlight for solar power, and wind power does not depend on vulnerable shipping straits,” Stiell said. 

Speaking at the opening of the Green Transformation Week conference in South Korea, Stiell encouraged countries to accelerate the transition to clean energy to regain control of their economies and national security.

Nigerians bet on solar as global oil shock hits wallets and power supplies

“War has once again revealed the soaring costs of fossil fuel dependency,” he said, warning that volatile energy markets are “holding economies around the world in a chokehold.”

“Clean energy is the antidote to fossil fuel cost chaos, because it is cheaper, safer and faster-to-market,” he added.

The post Solar surge kept fossil electricity flat in 2025 as China and India made ‘historic’ shift appeared first on Climate Home News.

The temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz, triggered by the US-Israeli war on Iran, has once again exposed Europe’s dangerous dependence on imported fossil fuels. As geopolitical shockwaves ripple through transport, industry, and household budgets, Spain is better positioned to face this challenge. A decade of sustained investment in renewables has made it a blueprint for coordinated European action towards energy independence.  

The war in Iran and the temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz – through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and LNG flowed – have once again placed energy at the heart of the global political economy over the past month. The recent ceasefire agreement offers some relief, but it does not eliminate the current geostrategic risks. 

As with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, geopolitical instability has quickly spilt over into international oil and gas markets, driving up fossil fuel prices. This surge in fossil fuel prices has been feeding through the economy via multiple channels. It raises transportation and industrial costs, while also pushing up electricity prices, as gas continues to act as the marginal price-setting technology in many countries. The result is rising energy inflation that – if the conflict persists after the recent ceasefire – will spread throughout the entire price structure of economies. 

 The EU has been reminded of this vulnerability in stark terms. In just the first month of the conflict, its fossil fuel import bill rose by more than 7 billion euros.

Exposed EU 

The European Union is particularly exposed. Highly dependent on imports – it sources more than 90 per cent of its natural gas and nearly all of its oil from abroad – the EU has been reminded of this vulnerability in stark terms. In just the first month of the conflict, its fossil fuel import bill rose by more than 7 billion euros. Yet the impact has not been uniform. Differences in energy mixes, domestic generation capacity, and levels of electrification are producing markedly divergent outcomes across countries. 

In economies such as Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands, where natural gas remains central to both electricity generation and final consumption, higher gas prices translate directly into elevated energy costs and stronger inflationary pressures. 

By contrast, countries with more diversified and electrified energy systems are proving more resilient. Among the eurozone’s largest economies, Spain stands out. Its rapid expansion of renewable energy is reducing its exposure to fossil fuel volatility. 

The Spanish exception 

Over the past decade, Spain has invested heavily in wind power and, above all, solar photovoltaics, significantly increasing their share in the electricity mix. This accelerated energy transition (Figure 1) means that, by 2025, 56 per cent of Spain’s electricity generation came from renewable sources – 22 percentage points more than in 2019. 

Figure 1. Spanish energy mix (electricity produced, 2019-2025).  
Source: Red Eléctrica (2025) 

At a time of turbulence in fossil fuel markets, countries most reliant on gas for electricity generation are also the most vulnerable to price spikes. Indeed, the sharp rise in gas prices across Europe has driven up the cost of electricity produced from gas by over 50 per cent since the outbreak of the conflict. Spain, however, has largely broken this link between gas and electricity prices. The expansion of renewable energies has reduced the impact of costly fossil-fuel power generation on electricity prices by 75 per cent since 2019. 

The payoff is clear. Throughout 2025, Spain’s electricity prices have been 33 per cent lower than in Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands, and 50 per cent lower than in Italy. While Spain is not immune to geopolitical shocks, its energy system has proven significantly more resilient since the onset of the war in Iran. In March, wholesale electricity prices averaged 52 euros per MWh – roughly half the level seen in Germany and the UK, and just one-third of Italy’s (Figure 2). Among Europe’s major economies, only France, with its nuclear-based system, has posted similar figures. 

Figure 2. European wholesale electricity, €/MWh (average for the past seven days)  
Source: Market data 

Beyond resilience, the energy transition is also creating new industrial opportunities. Electricity prices for Spanish industry are now 20 per cent below the EU average, whereas during the previous expansion (2014–2019) they were 25 per cent above it. This reversal positions renewables as a powerful driver of reindustrialisation, capital attraction, and international competitiveness. 

These gains could be amplified further if the European Union reformed its marginal pricing system, preventing the most expensive technology from systematically setting prices for all others. Such a reform would accelerate the decline in energy costs. A precedent already exists: during the 2022 energy crisis, Spain implemented the so-called “Iberian exception,” which reduced wholesale electricity prices in the Iberian market to levels up to three times lower than elsewhere in Europe. As economist Natalia Fabra has argued, this should now be seen not as a national advantage, but as a blueprint for coordinated European action. Spain is pointing the way, but others can follow. 

 Spain, […] reduced the impact of costly fossil-fuel power generation on electricity prices by 75 per cent since 2019. Throughout 2025, electricity prices have been 33 per cent lower than in Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands, and 50 per cent lower than in Italy.

A new era 

That said, Spain’s energy transition is not without its shortcomings. Not everything shines under the sun. Investment in grid infrastructure – essential for integrating high shares of renewables – has lagged behind. Between 2019 and 2024, Spain recorded the lowest grid spending in Europe, allocating just 0.30 euros to grids for every euro invested in renewables, compared to a European average of 0.70 euros. Addressing this gap will be critical if Spain is to sustain its progress without jeopardising supply security. 

More broadly, a new era in the geopolitics of energy is clearly emerging. The succession of crises – Ukraine in 2022, Iran in 2026 – has exposed the structural fragility of fossil fuel-dependent economies. Far from ensuring energy security, oil and gas leave importing countries vulnerable to price volatility, supply disruptions, and unpredictable risks. 

Renewable energy, by contrast, offers a strategic advantage. It acts as a buffer against external shocks while strengthening economic sovereignty. In this new paradigm, energy security is no longer defined by reliable access to imported fuels, but by the ability to generate clean electricity domestically. As the Ember think tank has shown, scaling up renewables, electric vehicles, and heat pumps could reduce fossil fuel imports by up to 70 per cent. Decreasing exposure to the instability of distant fossil fuel supply chains is therefore essential – not only for energy policy, but for broader monetary, macroeconomic, and social stability.

California Nurses Association members condemn the California State Assembly’s failure to advance A.B. 1900, the California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act, also known as CalCare, at a time when health care is needed more urgently than ever before. CalCare is a comprehensive, high-quality single-payer program that would be many Californians’ only lifeline for care.

WIRT Comments on SROG Miller 1-15 Well Application

CAIA Miller 1-15 Well Drilling Objection with Attachments

 

The Center for Biological Diversity, The Protect Our Communities Foundation and the Environmental Working Group have appealed to the California Supreme Court to overturn the state’s new rooftop solar policy after a lower court approved it a second time. The policy significantly slashes the credit new solar users get for sharing extra solar energy with the grid and has reduced demand for new rooftop solar systems.

“The appeals court ignored the Supreme Court’s order, so we’re asking the state’s highest court to force it to follow the law and stop capitulating to state regulators on this policy that’s devastating rooftop solar,” said Roger Lin, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s illegal to give undo deference to the utility commission. The Supreme Court agreed and ordered a do over. So why did the appeals court rubberstamp the commission’s decision again and basically endorse utility talking points? I’m hopeful another appeal gets this unfair policy thrown out so more Californians can afford rooftop solar, which an essential tool to fight the climate crisis.”

In March the California Court of Appeals upheld the California Public Utility Commission’s December 2022 action for a second time, despite the Supreme Court ruling in August 2025 that the lower court gave the commission too much latitude and needed to revise its ruling.

Friday’s appeal to the state Supreme Court says the lower appeals court again ignored state law, which requires the court to review the commission’s statutory interpretations as it would those of any state agency. Instead, the three-judge panel resurrected the same flawed review standard giving extreme deference to commission decisions. That leaves the agency virtually untouchable, which was what the legislature was trying to prevent when it passed the law in 1998.

“We’re asking the California Supreme Court to provide additional clarity to the lower courts so that both its decision and the Legislature’s intent have real effect in practice,” said Malinda Dickenson, who is representing The Protect Our Communities Foundation.

California’s updated net-metering policy slashes customer credits by up to 80% for electricity generated on rooftops and sold back to the grid, which reduces the financial benefit of installing solar systems. This has crushed efforts to expand rooftop solar in California, including in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods, and led to huge layoffs in the solar industry. It also violates state law, which requires that any policies ensure the rooftop solar market keeps growing.. The net energy metering rollback also goes against the United States’ recent global agreement at COP28 to triple renewable energy by 2030.

“From rising costs to wildfires to blackouts to air pollution, California consumers are fed up with the state’s investor-owned utilities,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, senior vice president for California with the Environmental Working Group. “And yet the one government agency that voters created over a 100 years ago to stand up to these monopoly utilities on behalf of consumers is now doing their dirty work, blocking consumers from having access to the technologies needed to solve myriad problems. At its core, that’s what this lawsuit is really all about.”

In its 2025 ruling, the Supreme Court said the appeals court had overlooked the California Legislature’s 1998 direction to limit deference to regulators, rejecting arguments from the utility commission and the three large investor-owned utility companies in California — Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric Company.

For-profit utilities across the country are trying to gut rooftop solar programs because distributed energy resources like rooftop solar threaten the utility business model.

Today the Goldman Environmental Prize, which celebrates grassroots leaders who prove that ordinary people can have an extraordinary impact on the environment, announced its 2026 winners. Among the six women who were awarded the prize this year were members of frontline communities affected by mining and oil and gas drilling, and Alannah Acaq Hurley, Executive Director of United Tribes of Bristol Bay, was one of them. 

Hurley was recognized for her extraordinary work to stop the Pebble Mine in Alaska. Earthworks and our supporters spent more than a decade advocating alongside Tribal Nations and local groups to stop the destructive project. Our staff is delighted to see Hurley receive this recognition for her extraordinary leadership and her coalition’s victory.

This award is so well deserved! Alannah has been a fearless leader in the fight to protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay from the proposed Pebble Mine. She brings joy, community and a real strength of spirit to the work. The world is a better place because of her, and her work to protect the world’s largest wild salmon fishery—an ecological and economic powerhouse that sustains local communities and supplies the world with a bounty of healthy seafood. I had the great honor to attend an event at the White House rose garden, where Alannah joined President Biden on stage to celebrate Bristol Bay protections. I was so inspired by her passion for the region and her commitment to the people she was there to represent.

— Bonnie Gestring, retired Northwest Program Director, Earthworks

Additional Goldman Prize winners this year were honored for their efforts confronting extractive industries. Theonila Roka Matbob’s efforts compelled Rio Tinto to finally take responsibility for massive environmental contamination at the Panguna mine in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. Yuvelis Moralis Blanco was awarded for organizing to prevent fracking in Colombia. 

Learn more about Alannah Acaq Hurley and the other 2026 Goldman Prize winners.

Alannah Acaq Hurley in Dillingham, Alaska. January, 2026. Image courtesy of Goldman Environmental Prize.

The post Earthworks celebrates Alannah Acaq Hurley, Goldman Environmental Prize Winner appeared first on Earthworks.

The wars being waged right now in Iran, Lebanon, Palestine and Ukraine are not abstract. They are children pulled from collapsed buildings. They are families who fled their homes carrying nothing. They are entire neighborhoods reduced to dust by weapons manufactured far away, financed by governments that call themselves defenders of democracy. 

Ceasefires come and go, are announced and broken. But ceasefires are not peace – they are pauses in the same ongoing violence. What we are demanding is something far more urgent, far more real: a complete and permanent end to these wars.

As someone born and raised in Puerto Rico, an island that knows what it means to live under the shadow of militarization, colonial extraction, and disaster without accountability, I feel a deep, bone-level solidarity with the people of Palestine, Lebanon, Iran and Ukraine. We may be separated by oceans and languages, but we share the same wound: the wound of being considered expendable by empires that never asked for our consent.

The people of Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Ukraine and other war zones are not symbols or numbers. They are neighbors, parents, scientists, teachers, humans with lives and dreams. Their suffering demands that governments act, that arms supplies stop, and that the international community treat civilian life as non-negotiable – wherever those lives are lived.

Here in Puerto Rico, I learned that when the hurricane comes, whether it is María or military occupation or economic austerity, it is always the women, the children, and the poor who suffer most. The same is true in all of Palestine, in southern Lebanon, in Iranian cities and Ukrainian villages. And when the fighting drives up food prices and energy costs worldwide, it is working people, families already in debt, communities already stretched thin, who absorb that blow. 

This is the deal we were never asked about. That’s enough. Governments must stop hiding behind strategic interests and geopolitical calculations and start protecting the people whose lives hang in the balance. A permanent end to these wars is not a radical demand. It is the bare minimum of human decency.

Solidarity is not sympathy from a distance. It is the recognition that our struggles are connected, that no one is free while others are bombed into hunger and displacement. From Bayamón to Beirut, from San Juan to Kyiv, we stand together in demanding what should never have been in question: peace, dignity, and the right to a future.

Join the global call at https://350.org/they-profit-we-pay-fix-it-now/

The post End the War appeared first on 350.

Gulf and environmental groups sued the Trump administration today over its approval of BP’s new ultra-deepwater oil drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico. The project endangers the health of Gulf residents, ecosystems and industries like fishing and tourism.

Kaskida is BP’s first completely new oilfield approved in the Gulf since the U.K.-based company’s Deepwater Horizon disaster, which occurred 16 years ago today. BP’s infamous accident killed 11 people, wiped out horrific numbers of marine animals, and caused billions of dollars in damages to the Gulf, including by eliminating thousands of local jobs, including in fishing and tourism. BP’s Deepwater Horizon remains the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Kaskida will be at greater depths than Deepwater Horizon, in riskier waters. BP will drill for oil as far down as six miles below the sea floor, deeper than the height of Mount Everest.

The groups are challenging the approval of BP’s development proposal because legally required information is either missing or significantly flawed. For instance, BP failed to demonstrate it has the experience, expertise and certified equipment to conduct safe drilling under extreme conditions at Kaskida’s location, where a “loss of well control” incident (which caused BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster) is six to seven times more likely compared to typical deepwater oil wells.

BP’s proposal also underestimated the volume of a worst-case oil spill by at least half-a-million barrels of oil, which the Interior Department unfortunately adopted in its environmental analysis. And BP did not show in its proposals that it will have the necessary containment capabilities in case the company needs to stop a blown-out well from spilling 4.5 million barrels of oil or more across the Gulf.

The groups — Healthy Gulf, Turtle Island Restoration Network, Habitat Recovery Project, Sierra Club, and Center for Biological Diversity — are being represented by Earthjustice.

“The Trump administration has teed up the entire Gulf region for a Deepwater Horizon sequel with its approval of BP’s extremely risky ultra-deepwater drilling project,” said Earthjustice senior attorney Brettny Hardy. “The greenlighting of BP’s project sets a dangerously low bar for oil-and-gas companies that want to drill in our public waters. We’ll see the Trump administration in court over its unlawful and insulting approval of Kaskida.”

“Once again, BOEM has approved a deep water well in the Gulf of Mexico. Marine wildlife and communities along the Gulf coast were devastated by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill 16 years ago,” said Joanie Steinhaus, ocean program director for Turtle Island Restoration Network. “This project is a threat to our fragile ocean ecosystem, will inflame climate change and threatens the health of coastal residents. BP has not adequately demonstrated the capacity to operate and handle an oil spill in the high-pressure, high temperature conditions of this project.”

“Kaskida is emblematic of a new era in offshore oil extraction: corporate hoarding of risky, ultra-deep water leases in an attempt to monopolize the future of oil production, with little to no oversight from the Trump Administration. We, as citizens of the Gulf South, are not standing for it,” said Martha Collins, Healthy Gulf executive director. “BP has shown how they handle oil spills on this anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster — their risky drilling and inexperience at this great depth will ensure their continued legacy of the Gulf never being the same again.”

“Offshore drilling is one of the riskiest kinds of oil extraction, but the Trump administration is ignoring the law to allow Big Oil CEOs to endanger coastal communities for the sake of corporate profit,” said Devorah Ancel, senior attorney at Sierra Club’s Environmental Law Program. “This permit would allow BP to develop multiple ultra-deep high-pressure wells, which is already exceptionally risky, and with BP’s track record in the Gulf, coastal ecosystems face extraordinary danger. We’re suing the Trump administration to ensure the coastal communities that would suffer the consequences of BP’s actions get their day in court.”

“It's appalling that the Trump administration has authorized this deepwater drilling project without having information critical to preventing harm to marine life,” said Rachel Mathews, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This will put Rice's whales, sea turtles and other Gulf wildlife at terrible risk. Ultra-deepwater drilling is ultra-dangerous, full stop.”

Background

The Trump administration’s approval of Kaskida follows a series of actions that prioritize the oil-and-gas industry in the Gulf at the expense of communities and ecosystems.

Last month, the White House illegally exempted federally authorized Gulf oil-and-gas exploration, development and production from needing to comply with certain requirements of the Endangered Species Act, even though no Gulf projects have been rejected due to the Act, and the oil industry is not facing any burdensome requirements under the law that are slowing or halting offshore drilling activities. The U.S. is also already producing more oil than any nation in history, is the world’s top producer of gas, and is a net exporter of both.

The administration has also proposed weakening “well control” rules developed to tighten up safety protocols in the wake of Deepwater Horizon. It has sought to roll back “financial assurance” requirements that require the weakest oil and gas companies to backstop their obligations to clean up the mess they leave behind, rather than forcing American taxpayers to foot the bill. And, it is now consolidating two federal agencies involved in offshore drilling oversight that were intentionally separated after Deepwater Horizon to root out industry influence over regulators. The White House has proposed a budget cut for the new agency of more than 30% in funding and staff that address safety and manage operations.

While such measures may boost oil industry profits, they have done little to nothing to alleviate energy prices or inflation.

In the 16 years since BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster, the oil industry has set its sights on deeper and riskier Gulf waters. In the three most recent oil-and-gas lease sales, 90% of company bids are going for deep or ultra-deepwaters, even though the likelihood of uncontrolled oil spills arising from offshore drilling operations increases exponentially with depth. Meanwhile, the oil industry is sitting on millions of acres of leases (nearly 80% of all leases the industry is in possession of) in the Gulf that haven’t begun producing oil or gas.

Maasai people have protested in one of Tanzania’s most important tourism destinations over their eviction in the name of conservation, to highlight UNESCO’s complicity in the persecution of Maasai people. #

Dear Councillors Fletcher, Chernos Lin, Colle, and Pasternak, On Dec. 5, 2025 we sent out a bulletin to our supporters expressing our disappointment with respect to the City of Toronto’s Infrastructure and Environment Committee’s decision to delay action on reducing gas burning at the Portlands Energy Centre. Specifically, we were disappointed by the Committee’s decision

The post An Open Letter to Councillors Fletcher, Chernos Lin, Colle and Pasternak appeared first on Ontario Clean Air Alliance.

This article Cooperation is more powerful than coercion was originally published by Waging Nonviolence.

This article was first published on Meditations in an Emergency.

What is power? It is at its most essential the ability to influence an outcome on any or all scales, to protect one’s own interests at a minimum and to influence, even control others at a maximum. 

Violence is constantly misunderstood as power, and it certainly looks like power, and in some respects it is power, but a limited kind of power to harm and destroy. The threat of violence is often used to coerce — but also often has negative consequences, including the loss of other kinds of power, the powers that come with relationship, connection, alliance, trust. Violence isolates and alienates; it makes enemies, it stirs up dangers that linger. Friends are another kind of power built through another set of skills.

Botanist David George Haskell’s new book “How Flowers Made Our World: The Story of Nature’s Revolutionaries” describes a kind of power often ignored or dismissed, just as flowers themselves are. He writes, “When flowers arrived, they upended and transformed the planet. They were late arrivals on the world stage, appearing about two hundred million years ago, long after the evolution of complex animals and other land plants. By one hundred million years ago they were the foundation of most habitats on land.” 

He expanded on the subject in a “Wonder Cabinet” podcast interview, declaring “We often think of power and revolution as about control, authoritarianism, and violence. Might makes right. But that’s not the only way in which revolution and power and transformation take place. Flowers offer a different narrative. They changed the world in revolutionary ways through cooperation, through collaboration, often mediated by beauty, by sensory experiences. So a flower is quite literally speaking to the sensory system of a bee or of a hoverfly or of a bird to draw that animal into establishing a cooperative relationship, a reciprocal relationship. And we’re just the latest animal to become enchanted by the flowers and to become loyal collaborators with the flowers.”

Flowers, as he unpacks, developed the power to influence others’ behavior by building symbiotic relationships: “I’ll feed you fruit if you scatter my seeds; I’ll give you nectar and pollen in return for pollination; I’ll let you domesticate me and provide you with your daily bread and you’ll plant and tend me across countless fields for countless generations.” In an earlier book, “The Botany of Desire,” Michael Pollan speculated that plants had domesticated us as much as we had domesticated them, since we serve their needs so that they may serve ours, from the most practical issue of bodily sustenance to the most poetic one of bouquets and beauty. That’s flower power.

A hawk moth on a morning glory I witnessed a few summers ago in Santa Fe. (Rebecca Solnit)

But as Jonathan Schell reminded us in his landmark book from 2003, “Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People,” violence as military attack is often deployed because politics — the art of persuasion, the building of alliance, the finding of common ground — has failed. Violence itself often fails too. Schell came of age as a young writer who went to Vietnam at the height of the U.S. war there and perceived that for all its superior military might, the U.S. could not conquer the people of that country. Because the U.S. or some of its leaders didn’t learn that lesson, the same mistake was made in Afghanistan, Iraq, and is being made now in Iran. 

People who have violence at their disposal often confuse it with power, and while it can achieve some things it fails at others. I think of the abusive spouses who think they can coerce love but often can only extort a reluctant simulation of the same by someone whose motivating feeling is fear rather than love and whose desire is often to escape.

Something that’s struck me about the Trump administration throughout its second term is its profound misunderstanding of power. Over and over again, Trump and his minions demonstrate that they think they have a monopoly on power and that history will unfold as their actions without any reactions, a literally inconsequential view, as in, “There will be no consequences other than the ones we impose.” It’s a version of reality so simple I would not accuse a toddler of holding it; toddlers know well there will be reactions and consequences, because they know others have power.

But the Trump administration’s thugs, for example, went into Minneapolis thinking they were a conquering army that would terrorize and intimidate the populace into subjugation and found that the populace was fearless in its defiance. It was a defiance motivated by a kind of moral beauty — solidarity, care, loving thy neighbor — that this administration has trouble imagining, especially when that solidarity reaches across differences of ethnicity and religion, as it did in Minneapolis. In this sense love is a power, or a motivating force to exercise the power of solidarity with the oppressed and the power of noncooperation with the oppressors. The abominable JD Vance doesn’t understand these forces; he had earlier misinterpreted Catholic theology to claim that, “We should love our family first, then our neighbors, then love our community, then our country, and only then consider the interests of the rest of the world.” Catholic theologians smacked him down then, and they haven’t stopped since. 

Speaking of the Catholic church, this week The New Republic described this extraordinary situation:

Days after Pope Leo XIV delivered his State of the World speech, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby summoned Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s U.S. representative, to a closed-door Pentagon meeting for a bitter lecture. ‘The United States,’ Colby said, according to a blistering new report by The Free Press, ‘has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world. The Catholic Church had better take its side.’ One U.S. official present at the meeting brought up the Avignon papacy, a period in the 14th century in which the French monarchy bent the Catholic Church into submission, ordering an attack on Pope Boniface VIII that led to his downfall and subsequent death and forcing the papacy to relocate from Rome to Avignon, a region inside France.

Yes, these idiots reportedly threatened the head of this ancient institution, on the basis that the pope had better not dare oppose their power. But unless it wants to use violence against the pope and the Vatican, the Trump administration has very little power in that situation. And if it did use violence, the blowback would be profound, domestically and internationally.

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The power the administration constantly squanders without understanding the consequences is soft power. Take for example, the fact that when Trump wanted European countries to help him reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which was only closed because of his feckless unforced mistake of a war, heads of state laughed at him because he’d destroyed the U.S.’s once-good relationships with a number of their countries with his threats against Greenland, his waffling on support for Ukraine and NATO, and his tariffs.

USAID created soft power around the world while also doing actual good in saving lives and preventing suffering; dismantling the organization was one of many actions this administration took that weakens this country in the long run and, really, the short run — that with all that macho strutting and bullying, they don’t understand that they are weak and making this country weak says more about the epic incomprehension. This should remind us that knowledge is power, and understanding is power; stupidity is a weakness of theirs evident in the attack on Iran. The heroic uprising against the regime was undermined, not strengthened, as the Trumpists thought, by this attack. They strengthened the regime instead. And Iran has seized control, for now, of the Strait of Hormuz and is demanding huge tolls from ship traffic there.

The war has had catastrophic impacts around the world on the price and availability of fossil fuel and fertilizer (aka nutritional supplements for flowering plants), and that in turn has sacrificed more U.S. soft power and good will and created more suffering. The fact that this fossil-fuel crisis is pushing both nations and individuals to speed the transition to renewable energy is another consequence the fossil-fuel-allied regime did not foresee. Likewise, the Trump administration has exercised its power to sabotage climate efforts and renewable energy in ways that make this country weaker in the long term, but Trump is on his way out and clearly does not care about the long term in any way other than in masturbatory monuments to himself and illicit wealth for his family. In a similar way, Netanyahu has devastated Israel’s relationships with its neighbors and much of the world, because he apparently only cares about his own fate and not about his country’s, let alone the lives of those he has slaughtered in Gaza and Lebanon.

While the primitive machismo of the Trump administration sees violence and the ability to inflict harm as power, and asserts that because it is powerful it does not need alliances and good relationships internationally, these things have not made it and our country strong, but weak.

Vice President JD Vance has a playground bully’s understanding of power, as has been clear at least since he went to Europe in 2025 and went out of his way to insult and patronize the world leaders he met with there. It too sacrificed the long-term power of having the trust and support of European heads of state and diplomatic leaders. Vance said this week in response to the Iranian refusal to give up the right to enrich uranium, “You know what? My wife has the right to skydive, but she doesn’t jump out of an airplane because she and I have an agreement she’s not gonna do that, because I don’t want my wife jumping out of an airplane.” This stunningly idiotic analogy seems intended to mean that Iran is like his wife, someone who has to agree to his wishes, but he has instead shown that he doesn’t understand analogies, power, Iran and, possibly, wives.

Previous Coverage

What we can learn from the playbook that defeated Orbán

Last week Vance went to Hungary to try to stump for Viktor Orban, the authoritarian president there who as I write, has just lost the election after 16 years as prime minister, during which he worked hard to spread authoritarianism around the world, including in the U.S. The vice president’s efforts were said to have been the opposite of helpful. Only yesterday, the inexperienced Vance failed to gain anything in his negotiations with a far more skilled Iranian negotiating team. The Trump administration appears to have lost this war — had it won, it would be dictating terms, rather than unsuccessfully negotiating to return to the status quo of an open Strait of Hormuz. And of course the main justification after the fact for the war is Iran’s alleged pursuit of nuclear arms, but speaking of soft power and the power of cooperation, Trump sabotaged the deal the Obama administration struck with Iran. Soft power trumps the power of violence, over and over.

And then there’s the case of congressman and California gubernatorial candidate Eric Swalwell, exposed Friday by a detailed account in the San Francisco Chronicle of his alleged manipulation and sexual abuse of a staffer and by another report at CNN detailing accounts of sexual misconduct by more women. It’s a sordid story or several of them, and one that is only too familiar. Two things are most striking to me. One is his apparent gambling on getting away with exactly the kind of actions that have in recent years terminated a lot of men’s reputations and careers and sent some to prison (even if some have bounced back or escaped the most serious consequences).

The other is that while espousing Democratic and presumably lower-case democratic values, he allegedly used the power differential to bully and coerce young women, and counted on that inequality to keep them silent. Now he looks likely to pay for his abuse of power with a permanent loss of it. The term democratic values in the sense I just employed it means a world in which the rights and voices of young women matter even when they’re in conflict with a powerful man, a new world just emerging thanks to feminism. The soft power Swalwell had as allies, supporters and endorsers building possibilities of further political power is fast draining from him. By using coercive power, he has lost cooperative power.

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The lesson flowers offer is that when you treat others well, when you meet their needs, you can enter into relationships that serve you as well as them. When you use violence or otherwise exploit and coerce to get what you want, you create adversaries, not allies, and they too often turn out to have power. In a world of increasing equality over the past few centuries, cooperative power matters more, and violence, as Schell points out, has become an increasingly weak way to get what you want.

We are increasingly coming to understand nature itself — Haskell’s book is a fine exploration of this — as orchestrated by cooperation and symbiosis, not the Social Darwinist’s vision of brutal competition for scarce resources. Haskell’s is only one of many splendid books about this new vision of nature to appear recently. Forestry scientist Suzanne Simard, whose book “Finding the Mother Tree” was a hugely impactful account of how forests are essentially communicating cooperatives, a deeply interwoven whole, not a collection of lone competitors, has just come out with a new book I’m excited to start reading, “When the Forest Breathes: Renewal and Resilience in the Natural World.”

It is all connected. In my most recent book I quoted the scholar Judith Butler who has another explanation of why violence should not be conflated with strength or power: “In my experience, the most powerful argument against violence has been grounded in the notion that, when I do violence to another human being, I also do violence to myself, because my life is bound up with this other life.”

This article Cooperation is more powerful than coercion was originally published by Waging Nonviolence.

This Earth Day, we’re bringing it back to basics with Environmentalism 101.

If you care about the environment, climate change, public health, and protecting the places and people you love, this is for you. 

We’ve compiled books, movies/documentaries, and podcasts that can help you learn more about environmental issues, better understand the systems behind them, and find inspiration for action.

Whether you’re just getting started or looking to deepen your knowledge, these are resources to help you grow as an environmental advocate.

Books

Want to build a stronger foundation in environmental issues? Start with a good book.

Silent Spring

Written by Rachel Carson, this groundbreaking book exposed the environmental harm caused by pesticides, especially DDT. It helped spark the modern environmental movement by revealing how human actions were damaging ecosystems and public health.

Braiding Sweetgrass

In this blend of science and storytelling, Robin Wall Kimmerer weaves Indigenous wisdom with ecological knowledge to show a more reciprocal relationship with the natural world. The book emphasizes gratitude, respect, and interconnectedness as essential to environmental stewardship.

The World Without Us

Alan Weisman imagines what would happen to Earth if humans suddenly disappeared, exploring how cities, infrastructure, and ecosystems would change over time. It highlights both the resilience of nature and the lasting impacts of human activity on the planet.

What if We Get it Right?

In this forward-looking work, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson explores hopeful and actionable visions for addressing the climate crisis. The book centers optimism, creativity, and justice as key ingredients for building a sustainable future.

All We Can Save

​​Edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine Wilkinson, this anthology brings together essays and poems by women leading climate work. It offers a powerful, collective vision for climate action rooted in equity, resilience, and community.

Movies

Sometimes a film can make an environmental issue feel real in a way nothing else can.

The Plastic Detox

This documentary explores the environmental and health impacts of plastic pollution while following individuals attempting to reduce plastic use in their daily lives. It highlights both the scale of the problem and practical solutions for creating a more sustainable future.

The Story of Stuff

This short film breaks down the lifecycle of consumer goods, from extraction to disposal, revealing the hidden environmental and social costs of mass consumption. It encourages viewers to rethink their habits and advocate for more sustainable systems.

FernGully: The Last Rainforest

Set in a magical rainforest, this animated film follows a fairy and a human who work together to stop destructive logging and save their home. It delivers a strong environmental message about conservation and the importance of protecting ecosystems.

Erin Brockovich

Based on a true story, this 2000 movie starring Julia Roberts follows a determined legal assistant who uncovers a major case of water contamination affecting a small community. Her persistence leads to a landmark legal victory against a powerful corporation.

Gasland

This documentary investigates the effects of fracking on communities across the United States. Through personal stories and striking evidence, it raises serious concerns about environmental damage and public health risks.

Podcasts

Want to learn on the go? Podcasts are a great way to stay informed and inspired.

Cleaning Up Dirty

This podcast from Clean Air Action focuses on exposing environmental injustice and pollution, highlighting the communities most affected and the fight for accountability. It combines storytelling with advocacy to push for cleaner, healthier environments.

Drilled

An investigative true-crime style podcast about climate change, examining the history of fossil fuel companies and their role in spreading misinformation. It uncovers the people, politics, and strategies behind decades of climate denial.

Sustainable(ish)

A practical and approachable podcast that explores how individuals can live more sustainably without aiming for perfection. It emphasizes small, realistic lifestyle changes that collectively make a meaningful impact.

Dismantled

A podcast that dives into breaking down systems of environmental harm and injustice, often centering frontline voices and grassroots activism. It explores how communities are working to challenge and rebuild inequitable structures.

The Energy Gang

A lively, expert-driven discussion on the latest news and trends in energy, climate policy, and clean technology. The hosts analyze complex topics with insight and humor, making the energy transition accessible and engaging.

Outrage + Optimism

A podcast that blends candid conversations about the climate crisis with a focus on solutions and hope. Hosted by influential climate leaders, it explores how urgency and optimism can work together to drive change.

The energy shocks rippling from the war in Iran have prompted countries, from Cambodia to Peru, to embrace remote work. Leaders in Europe are now joining the push as they look to curb consumption of oil. 

Read more on E360 →

Over the past two decades, oil and gas pipelines have emerged as potent political symbols. In 2019, Jason Kenney ran a successful provincial election campaign in Alberta with the slogan “Jobs – Economy – Pipelines.” In 2025, oilsands producers bought...

Jika sebelumnya aktivitas ini dilakukan secara konvensional, kini kehadiran platform digital membuat semuanya terasa lebih cepat, praktis, dan mudah diakses kapan saja.

Fenomena ini berkembang seiring meningkatnya penetrasi internet dan penggunaan smartphone. Banyak pengguna kini beralih ke sistem online karena dinilai lebih efisien. Hanya dengan beberapa langkah sederhana, pemain sudah bisa mengakses layanan tanpa batas ruang dan waktu. Hal ini menciptakan perubahan perilaku yang cukup signifikan di kalangan pengguna digital.

Pengguna yang Semakin Modern dan Praktis

Berdasarkan berbagai pengguna, platform togel digital menawarkan kemudahan yang tidak bisa ditemukan pada sistem lama. Proses registrasi kini berlangsung cepat dan tidak berbelit. Pengguna hanya perlu mengisi data dasar, lalu akun bisa langsung digunakan.

navigasi sistem terasa mudah dipahami. Selain itu, layanan pelanggan biasanya tersedia selama 24 jam, sehingga pengguna bisa mendapatkan bantuan kapan saja saat dibutuhkan.

Tidak hanya itu, kecepatan transaksi menjadi salah satu keunggulan utama. Deposit dan penarikan dana dapat diproses dalam waktu singkat. Inilah yang membuat banyak pengguna merasa lebih nyaman dan memilih beralih ke platform digital.

Peran Teknologi dalam Meningkatkan Sistem

Di balik kemudahan tersebut, teknologi memegang peranan penting. Platform modern kini menggunakan sistem keamanan berlapis untuk melindungi data pengguna. Enkripsi tingkat tinggi menjadi standar utama dalam menjaga informasi pribadi tetap aman.

Selain itu, beberapa platform juga mulai mengadopsi sistem berbasis algoritma untuk memastikan transparansi. Teknologi ini membantu meningkatkan akurasi sistem serta mengurangi potensi kesalahan.

Penggunaan server yang stabil juga menjadi faktor pendukung. Dengan sistem yang kuat, gangguan teknis dapat diminimalisir sehingga pengguna bisa menikmati layanan tanpa hambatan berarti.

Kredibilitas Platform Menjadi Faktor Penentu

Seiring meningkatnya jumlah platform yang tersedia, pengguna dituntut untuk lebih selektif dalam memilih layanan. Kredibilitas menjadi faktor utama yang harus diperhatikan. Platform yang terpercaya biasanya memiliki sistem yang transparan, informasi yang jelas, serta layanan yang konsisten.

Selain itu, reputasi juga berperan penting. Platform yang sudah dikenal luas cenderung memiliki standar operasional yang lebih baik. Hal ini memberikan rasa aman bagi pengguna dalam menjalankan aktivitasnya.

Pengamat industri digital menilai bahwa kepercayaan pengguna tidak dibangun secara instan. Dibutuhkan konsistensi layanan, kualitas sistem, serta komunikasi yang baik untuk mempertahankan reputasi di tengah persaingan yang ketat.

Perubahan Pola Perilaku di Era Digital

Transformasi digital tidak hanya mengubah sistem, tetapi juga memengaruhi pola perilaku pengguna. Akses yang mudah membuat aktivitas ini menjadi lebih cepat dan intens.

Di sisi lain, kemajuan teknologi juga membuka peluang untuk edukasi digital. Pengguna kini memiliki akses luas terhadap informasi.

Penutup

Togel digital telah berkembang menjadi bagian dari ekosistem hiburan modern yang menawarkan kemudahan dan kecepatan.

Due to their shared history, there are many links between the Egyptian and Sudanese peoples, including on the revolutionary left. So it is fitting that...

The post Spring remembers the late Sudanese revolutionary Muzan Alneel first appeared on Spring.

New analysis from Carbon Tracker finds that accelerated battery electric vehicle adoption in Colombia could save around US$40 billion in fossil fuel import costs through to 2050. It would also reduce pollution-related health costs and avoid climate-related economic damage.

London, 20 April, 2026 – Colombia’s continued reliance on internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles is creating long-term economic liabilities and increasing exposure to imported refined fuels, according to a new report from Carbon Tracker. Transport accounted for 75% of Colombia’s oil consumption in 2023, with over 25% imported. Under a business-as-usual pathway, Colombia could spend up to US$226bn on fuel import for road transport through to 2050.

By contrast, an accelerated transition to battery electric vehicles (BEVs) would avoid 600 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) in fossil fuel use through to 2050 and deliver around US$40 billion in fuel import savings.

The report argues that continued ICE vehicle sales lock Colombia into decades of higher fuel demand, health costs and climate-related economic damage. Carbon Tracker estimates that every new petrol and diesel vehicle sold today adds substantial lifetime costs: nearly US$6k per passenger car, US$120k per medium-duty truck, US$278k per heavy-duty truck and US$350k per bus.

The analysis also points to the pressure on public finances. Carbon Tracker estimates fossil fuel subsidies at around US$6.8bn in 2025, compared with US$6.3bn in government revenues from fossil fuel sales, leaving a shortfall of US$0.5bn.

At the same time, the report finds that the global automotive market is shifting rapidly in ways that de-risk BEV adoption. China’s manufacturing expansion has helped cut battery costs by more than 80% since 2013, while expanding model availability and strengthening supply chains. For emerging economies such as Colombia, this is improving access to lower-cost electric mobility.

Carbon Tracker argues that Colombia is well placed to move faster in BEV adoption. The report highlights three key advantages: a relatively low (car ownership per capita), an electricity system primarily (72%) dependenton (clean) hydropower, and limited exposure to legacy domestic automotive manufacturing. Electricity also remains cheaper than petrol or diesel for road transport, lowering the lifetime ownership cost of BEVs compared to ICE cars for consumers.

Alongside the economic case, the report finds that an accelerated BEV transition could generate health cost savings from lower levels of harmful air pollution. It also estimates that lower vehicle fleet emissions could avoid up to c US$35bn (present value) in climate-related economic damages through to 2050.

Ben Scott, report author and Head of Energy Demand at Carbon Tracker, said:

“Colombia has a clear opportunity to avoid deeper dependence on imported transport fuels and the long-term costs associated with continued ICE vehicle sales. The country has structural advantages that support transition to BEVs, while providing an opportunity to phase down fuel subsidies, reducing pressure on public finances.”

The report calls on the Colombian government to develop a joined-up economic and industrial strategy that positions BEVs as a key sector in a modernised, low-carbon economy. It recommends strong supply-side regulations, co-ordinated fiscal reform, and targeted charging infrastructure rollout.

Read the full report here. Lea la versión en español y descargue el informe.

 

Notes to editors

Leapfrog to Electric: Colombia. The Economic Benefits of Pro-Electric Vehicle Policy can be downloaded, free at [Link]. This report was produced in association with Polen Transiciones Justas.

Spokesperson: Ben Scott, Head of Energy Demand, Carbon Tracker

For more information and to arrange interviews please contact:
media@tracker-group.org

About Carbon Tracker

Carbon Tracker is a not-for-profit independent financial think tank that seeks to promote a climate-secure global energy market by aligning capital markets with climate reality. Part of the Tracker Group, Carbon Tracker’s research on the carbon bubble, unburnable carbon and stranded assets started a new debate on how to align the financial system with the energy transition to a low-carbon future.

The post Colombia could save US$40 billion in fuel import by accelerating electric vehicle adoption appeared first on Carbon Tracker Initiative.

Now that science has seen the light, waves of possibility spread out over farm fields and high-tech labs.

On April 8, dairy producers and advocates from CalCAN and the California Dairy Campaign met with more than twenty legislative offices...

The post Dairy Producers Show Policymakers that AMMP Funding is Critical to Meeting Methane Reduction Goals and Staying Viable in California appeared first on CalCAN - California Climate & Agriculture Network.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Date: April 17, 2026 
Contact: Andy Moderow | 907-360-3622 | andy@alaskawild.org 

Trump Administration Moves Forward with Arctic Refuge Lease Sale, Ignoring Public Opposition and Threatening Indigenous Communities

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Trump administration announced plans to hold a new oil and gas lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, advancing efforts to industrialize one of the nation’s most iconic and ecologically significant landscapes.

The coastal plain of the Refuge is often called the biological heart of the Arctic Refuge. On top of critical polar bear habitat, it is the calving grounds of the Porcupine Caribou herd, which the Gwich’in people rely on for their culture, food security, and way of life.

Despite this, and despite consistent polling showing that a strong majority of Americans oppose drilling in the Arctic Refuge, the administration is moving forward with a plan that prioritizes oil industry interests over people, wildlife, and long-term economic stability.

“For decades, the American people have recognized that the Arctic Refuge is not an industrial zone for oil development, and this sale simply runs counter to common sense,” said Andy Moderow, senior director of policy at Alaska Wilderness League. “Any oil and gas company that is even thinking about buying these leases should know that, if they do, they will be sending a clear message to the American people—that no place in Alaska is too sacred to drill in a quest for corporate profits. We urge companies to take a pass on the Arctic Refuge lease sale, and we look forward to rightfully restoring protections for this landscape in the years to come.”

Previous lease sales in the Refuge have struggled to attract interest, underscoring the growing financial and reputational risks associated with Arctic drilling. Major banks and insurers have distanced themselves from such projects, and energy markets continue to shift toward cleaner alternatives.

Alaska Wilderness League will continue to stand with the Gwich’in people and partners across the country to oppose drilling in the Arctic Refuge and protect America’s public lands and waters for future generations.

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Photo: Florian Schulz / www.florianschulz.org