CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL.

• California has opened the door to plug-in solar. Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation making it easier for residents, including renters, to use small solar systems without utility interconnection fees. California is the 10th state to do so.  He also signed a measure supporting electric-appliance incentives as an alternative to replacing aging gas service lines. More from Sammy Roth here.
• New York is legislating for electric, battery-powered lawn equipment, climate research, and school energy upgrades. Hochul signed laws 9/28/26 creating electric-landscaping rebates, authorizing financing for the Governors Island Climate Exchange, and extending schools’ clean-energy repayment window from 18 to 25 years. The separate SUNNY balcony-solar bill still awaits her signature.
• Project Drawdown is supporting climate scientists as federal support retreats. Its first three Climate Science Serving America visiting scholars will work on food-system emissions, community-led conservation and cleaner energy systems. 
• Oilfield drilling techniques could be useful in nuclear-waste disposal. Deep Isolation received a Texas permit for a full-scale demonstration of deep-borehole technology, with Halliburton among its partners. The pilot uses no radioactive material and will test operations that could support future disposal projects. 
• A wind- and solar-powered robot vessel is taking climate measurements around Antarctica. The Saildrone mission, involving NOAA and U.S. university researchers, will help measure the Southern Ocean’s carbon uptake. Each deployment is expected to cover about 22,000 kilometers, including waters difficult to study from crewed ships. 
• An underwater umbrella for a coral? It’s more than a cute idea. Researchers in the Florida Keys found that temporary shade structures reduced bleaching in two brain-coral species. The small experiment suggests a way to protect valuable individual colonies during heat stress; it does not establish protection for entire reefs. 

• AI’s climate footprint extends beyond the electricity powering data centers. DeSmog examined company announcements and industry presentations and found that Aramco, Chevron and ExxonMobil are using AI to increase oil and gas production. A technology promoted as a climate solution is also helping extract more fossil fuels. 
• Buying solar power does not erase a growing commitment to gas. Meta is backing a 144-megawatt Texas solar project, while planning gas generation for some data centers. The solar project’s capacity is less than half that of the gas plant planned for its El Paso facility.

• The oil industry is helping shape the rollback of rules meant to control its pollution. Reporting on industry pressure to weaken methane protections documents their repeated meetings with EPA officials and efforts affecting both emissions fees and restrictions on wasteful gas flaring. 
• The coal industry asked Washington to keep aging plants running—and the administration delivered. A previously unreported lobbying letter proposed using emergency powers to prevent planned retirements. Two months later, Trump’s Energy Department began ordering coal plants to stay open. 
• “Dig, Baby, Dig” is putting vulnerable wildlife in the path of accelerated mining. An investigation into Trump’s critical-minerals push found shortened public-review periods and threats to dwindling sagebrush habitat. The administration has approved fast-tracking for 10 lithium-mining projects since last year. 
• Trump announced a $50 billion-plus Alaska gas investment from South Korea. They say they haven’t agreed to one. Korean officials disputed his characterization of financing for the Alaska LNG project, saying the countries had agreed to begin reviewing the proposal—not commit the money. 

September set another heat record. The contiguous U.S. experienced its warmest and most humid September on record, with unusually warm nights contributing. July and August broke records as well and October is off to a toasty start. El Nino played a role.

Hot! Droughts! Excessive Rain! Floods! That’s David Houle’s weather forecast for Planet Earth for the next 18 months, as detailed in his post on Evolutionshift and CCR. He combines and summarizes several columns he wrote about the Super El Niño and what it will mean for Earth in the near future. Read the blog here.

• California’s coastal waters could stay unusually high for months. An El Niño-driven Kelvin wave moving up the Pacific coast could temporarily raise sea levels by up to a foot, increasing the reach of high tides and worsening flooding and erosion when storms arrive.
• October heat and Santa Ana winds are bringing fire danger—and preventive blackouts—to Southern California. SDG&E began shutting off power on October 2 to reduce ignition risks. Nearly 35,000 customers were identified as potentially affected through October 5, while heat warnings extend through October 8. 
• The average person in the United States breathed in four times more fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from wildfire smoke each year during 2020–2025 than they did between 2006–2019.

UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell warned the world about troubling new data about climate change’s impact on pregnancy and childbirth.

• Almost three-quarters of health-care professionals, 73% to be precise, reported that heat-linked cases or complications have increased over the past five years.  
• More than four in five respondents [(81%] – are either concerned or very concerned that extreme heat will increasingly put maternal, fetal and newborn health at risk without more action.
• Nearly all respondents have cared for a pregnant woman [98%] or baby [99%]) whose health they consider was affected by extreme heat

UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell warned the world about troubling new data about climate change’s impact on pregnancy and childbirth.

• Almost three-quarters of health-care professionals, 73% to be precise, reported that heat-linked cases or complications have increased over the past five years.  
• More than four in five respondents [(81%] – are either concerned or very concerned that extreme heat will increasingly put maternal, fetal and newborn health at risk without more action.
• Nearly all respondents have cared for a pregnant woman [98%] or baby [99%]) whose health they consider was affected by extreme heat

The 10th annual Copernicus Ocean State Report, released Wednesday by a team of more than 100 international scientists, provided the latest reminder that, as one United Nations official said, “the ocean is one of the clearest indicators of the profound shifts” that the climate crisis is causing. Report here. More information here.

Climate scientist Marika Holland has received an $800,000 MacArthur “genius” grant. Her research helps explain how sea ice and the climate influence each other—and what disappearing ice means for wildlife. Her projections helped inform the decision to protect emperor penguins under the Endangered Species Act. Meet the scientist behind the models. 

• US states and cities sue over Trump EPA’s repeal of emissions rules. Twenty-one states, led by New York, are challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s power plant rule. They argue that “gutting one of the country’s most significant climate protections” will set the nation back decades and worsen the climate crisis.
• Who should pay for climate damage: communities or the companies accused of concealing the risks? The Supreme Court’s scheduled October 5 hearing in Boulder’s case against ExxonMobil and Suncor could shape climate-accountability lawsuits nationwide. This explainer lays out the stakes: whether federal law blocks the claims, whether the Court should intervene at this stage, and what Justice Samuel Alito’s last-minute recusal means. The case concerns whether the lawsuit can proceed—not a final determination of the companies’ liability.
• A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction last Friday to halt construction on the border wall in Texas’ expansive Big Bend sector, including the national and state parks.

Canada to fast-track oil pipeline designed to diversify economy away from U.S.
By David Ljunggren
Reuters, 10/1/26
Canada plans to accelerate review of the proposed Pacific Link pipeline to its west coast, seeking new export markets as U.S. tariffs strain trade. Ottawa aims to finish the federal review by September 2027. More here.

Households will pay more for energy because of federal policy changes, think tank says
By Jennifer McDermott
Associated Press, 10/2/2026
Households in the contiguous United States will pay thousands of dollars more for energy through 2040 because of federal policy changes since President Donald Trump returned to office such as canceling new clean energy projects, according to modeling released Friday by a nonpartisan think tank. The Energy Innovation analysis found that households will pay an average of $6,500 more for energy, cumulatively through 2040. In five states, households will pay roughly $9,000 more: Oregon, Mississippi, South Dakota, Virginia and Wyoming. More here.

Study of Groundwater Near Fracking Sites Finds Low Radium Levels, but Raises Concerns About Increased Salinity
By Jon Hurdle
Inside Climate News, 9/30/26
Testing of 91 private wells and springs, mostly in Pennsylvania’s Washington County, found radium below regulatory limits. Researchers nevertheless flagged salinity concerns and emphasized that limited sampling prevents broad conclusions about fracking’s effects. More here.

New Jersey’s Middlesex County Sues Big Oil Over Escalating Climate Impacts
By Dana Drugmand
Inside Climate News, 10/2/26
The county is seeking compensation from major oil companies and the American Petroleum Institute for climate-related costs, alleging that they misled the public about fossil fuels’ risks. It joins other state and local governments pursuing climate-accountability cases. More here.

• Repair or replace? A practical guide to deciding when to keep your car and appliances—and when replacement makes more sense. 
• What do Americans actually think about climate change? Explore Yale’s updated public-opinion tool to compare views across groups and over time. 

• Help turn climate concern into votes. Join Bill McKibben and GrayPAC’s Michigan canvass, October 23–27. 
• Press COP31’s leadership for stronger climate commitments. Send a message to leaders from Australia and Türkiye calling for ambitious national plans and a faster expansion of clean energy. 

Q: What is making this year’s El Niño so powerful—and is climate change to blame?

A: Two ingredients have combined: an unusually hot pool of Pacific Ocean water and strong winds pushing that heat eastward. During La Niña, trade winds push warm surface water toward Australia and Indonesia, building a deep reservoir of heat. By late 2025, that reservoir was warmer than usual, partly against a backdrop of decades of global warming. But stored heat alone doesn’t explain this El Niño’s strength.

Repeated bursts of winds blowing eastward helped release that heat across the Pacific. These winds generate underwater pulses called Kelvin waves, which deepen the warm-water layer as they travel toward South America. That thicker layer makes it harder for cold water from below to cool the surface, helping El Niño intensify.

Climate change makes the consequences more dangerous, even though its influence on El Niño’s strength remains unsettled. Historical records are limited, and climate models disagree about whether warming consistently strengthens these events. What is clearer: El Niño now operates in a warmer world, amplifying the potential for extreme heat, heavy rainfall, drought, and wildfire. Read more about what’s driving this El Niño. 

The war’s disruption has reached beyond gasoline to plastics. As nations met this week in Bangkok for informal meetings on a United Nations plastics treaty, more than 70 developing countries supported addressing all causes and drivers of plastic pollution, environmental advocates said. Environmental advocates see the economic upheaval caused by the war in Iran as an opportunity for negotiators to leverage another market incentive to reduce reliance on plastics. Interrupted Middle Eastern shipments have unsettled the supply and price of fossil-fuel feedstocks, strengthening the case for reducing dependence on virgin plastics and addressing production, not just waste.