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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Yet another heat dome broils much of the U.S., so hot even corn is sweating (literally); Senate Democrats propose classifying extreme heat as a disaster to free up federal funding; Oregon grapples with the first mega-fire of 2025; PLUS: Analysis finds U.S. spent nearly $1 trillion on climate damages last year… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
Green News Report
with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen
7/22/2025
‘Green News Report’ – July 22, 2025 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... · · · · · ‘Green News Report’ – July 22, 2025 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): E.P.A. says it will eliminate its scientific research arm; US to withdraw from UN scientific and cultural agency UNESCO again, White House says; Trump radically overhauls EPA mission and scope in first six months; Dismantling of EPA’s scientific arm fulfills key chemical industry goal; Weather extremes caused by climate change are driving up food prices: report; US wetlands ‘restored’ using treated sewage tainted with forever chemicals… PLUS: Texas flood protest goes to D.C.: ‘No more kids lost to climate disasters’… and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- Another heat dome broils much of the U.S.:
- Extreme heat is about to return — here’s where it will be the worst (CNN):
When overnight temperatures don’t cool down enough to offer relief for overheated bodies, people are at greater risk for heat-related illnesses. Nighttime temperatures are taking the hardest hit from climate change, warming faster than daytime highs.
- Heat dome map shows dangerous temperatures across U.S. Corn Belt, parts of the South (CBS News):
[H]igh humidity is also expected. The common phenomenon is known as corn sweat, which occurs when extreme heat beats down on corn crop and causes it to perspire and increase the humidity in the air.
- Climate change intensifies midsummer U.S. heatwave for millions (Climate Central)
- Senate Democrats move to classify extreme heat as a disaster:
- After Las Vegas’ hottest summer ever, Rosen seeks to classify extreme heat as major disaster (KLAS-Las Vegas)
- VIDEO: The June heat dome broke records. Lawmakers are now trying to classify extreme heat as a disaster (CBS News):
“Last year, more than 500 people died in one single county in Nevada from heat-related illnesses,” Rosen said in a statement. “Current federal policy ignores the physical and health risks that such extremely high temperatures have on our communities, which is why I’m introducing a bill to change that. By classifying extreme heat as a major disaster, our communities will be able to receive the federal funding needed to respond and prepare for future extreme heat events.”
- Trump’s War on OSHA Could Spell the End for Biden-Era Heat Protections (Truthout)
- Oregon grapples with first mega-fire of 2025:
- Firefighters gain control over Cram Fire in central Oregon, now 73% contained (KATU-Portland)
- Oregon wildfire burning over 95K acres could reach rare megafire status (NBC News):
The Cram Fire in central Oregon, already the country’s largest in 2025, could be the first this year to grow to at least 100,000 acres — a phenomenon that is becoming more common…Oregon saw six wildfires reach megafire status last year, federal data shows. The phenomenon is considered rare, but it has grown in frequency as wildfires in general become more widespread and intense.
- Oregon’s Cram Fire nears 100K acres, now largest in the nation (Axios)
- Trump Admin. cuts and mass layoffs leave fire crews under-staffed, under-equipped:
- As US wildfires rage, Trump staff cuts force firefighters to clean toilets, critics say (Reuters):
Accounts from firefighters in Oregon and New Mexico, as well as a fire chief recruiting support staff in the Pacific Northwest, said the vacancies have led to personnel held back from supporting frontline firefighting because of administrative duties. The crew leader on an Oregon blaze said her team went hungry for several days, ran short of medical supplies, and had to scrounge for chainsaw fuel after support staff quit the agency during two rounds of “fork in the road” buyouts.
- National Fire News (National Interagency Fire Center):
So far this year, there have been 41,069 wildfires reported in the United States and a total acreage of 2,892,545. This is higher than the 10-year-average number of fires, but lower than the average number of acres burned.
- US smacked with 15 billion-dollar weather disasters so far in 2025
- U.S. socked with 15 billion-dollar weather disasters during the 1st half of 2025 (Yale Climate Connections):
Globally, only four billion-dollar weather disasters occurred outside of the U.S. during the January-June period, giving a total of 19 billion-dollar weather disasters for the planet. The damage wrought by these was $134 billion, with an unusually high 60% of the total being insured damages. The U.S. was responsible for 92% of these insured damages, primarily because of the of the Los Angeles wildfires of January.
- Natural Catastrophe and Climate Report 2025: Preliminary Overview [PDF] (Gallagher Re)
- Trump admin ends extreme weather database that has tracked cost of disasters since 1980 (CNN, 5/8/2025)
- Climate damages cost U.S. economy nearly $1 trillion last year:
- Climate Change Will Bankrupt the Country (The American Prospect):
Climate-fueled disasters cost America almost a trillion dollars over the last year, far more than economists predicted… undoubtedly most of it must be counted as damage, as it involves spending to replace structures or infrastructure that otherwise would have gone to productive business, particularly in the context of a low-unemployment, high-interest-rate economy. As the Bloomberg analysis argues, disaster spending is “crowding out consumer discretionary spending elsewhere in the economy and putting pressure on local governments to prioritize disaster repair over other infrastructure projects.”
- US Spending on Climate Damage Nears $1 Trillion Per Year (Insurance Journal, no paywall):
The new report, “The Climate Economy: 2025 Outlook,” draws on data from dozens of public sources to demonstrate the volume of disaster-related spending, which represents $18.5 trillion globally since 2000. The biggest drivers of this trend in the US are insurance premiums — which have doubled since 2017 — post-disaster repair spending and federal aid…Insurance is a “hidden burden of the climate economy,” write Stevenson and Eric Kane, director of ESG research for Bloomberg Intelligence.
- AUDIO: TAP’s Ryan Cooper on The BradCast (The BradBlog):
“This is the real irony of what is happening here,” Cooper explains today. “President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act was expected to cost about a trillion dollars in spending over ten years…a really big policy. But economic analysis now indicates that repealing that and replacing it with coal subsidies and whatnot [as the Trump/GOP law does] isn’t going to boost GDP, it’s going to reduce it. It’s going to hurt economic growth.” And, of course, the climate…”Now that solar panels and batteries have gotten so cheap, this is the best way to drive economic growth. So we’re cutting off our nose to spite our face. We’re allowing China to monopolize the industries of the 21st century, while the American auto industry is going to be stranded, using obsolete technology, while China takes over the rest of the world with dirt cheap electric vehicles. So much for America First.”
- VIDEO: U.S. Climate Disaster Recovery Costs Soar (Climate Crisis 24/7)
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…
For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Daily Headlines page
- E.P.A. says it will eliminate its scientific research arm (NY Times)
- US to withdraw from UN scientific and cultural agency UNESCO again, White House says (CNN)
- Texas flood protest goes to D.C.: ‘No more kids lost to climate disasters’ (Guardian)
- Seabed-mining firm faces legal questions over controversial Trump policy (NY Times)
- Trump radically overhauls EPA mission and scope in first six months (Bloomberg Law)
- Dismantling of EPA’s scientific arm fulfills key chemical industry goal (Inside Climate News)
- Weather extremes caused by climate change are driving up food prices: report (Inside Climate News)
- Former BP spokesperson is now EPA Region 6 Chief of Staff (Inside Climate News)
- Iowa agriculture runs on 110 billion pounds of manure, impairing its water (Inside Climate News)
- West Virginia factory’s PFAS pollution could trouble Louisville’s drinking water (Louisville Public Media)
- White House says MAHA won’t restrict pesticide use (Politico)
- After devastating winter losses, another threat looms for U.S. beekeepers (NY Times)
- US wetlands ‘restored’ using treated sewage tainted with forever chemicals (Guardian)
- Trump exempts scores of plants from Biden’s pollution rules (Bloomberg)
- E.P.A. delays required cleanups of toxic coal ash landfills (NY Times)
- Interior to put wind and solar projects through stricter review (NY Times)
- 10 Ways to Keep Your Home Cool This Summer (Bloomberg, no paywall)
- David Attenborough’s ‘Ocean’ is a brutal, beautiful wake-up call from the sea (AP)
- What’s missing from the U.S. debate on electric vehicles (CSIS)
- A guide to the 4 minerals shaping the world’s energy future (Grist)
- Wall Street Journal: Clean energy transition is unstoppable (This Is Not Cool blog)
- Can we avoid the enshittification of clean-energy tech? (David Roberts, Volts)
- Stop emissions, stop warming: A climate reality check (Dr. Andrew Dessler, Climate Brink)
- The Climate Fight Will Continue (This Is Not Cool blog)
- Who Will Care for Americans Left Behind by Climate Migration? (Pro Publica)
- Is the Atlantic Overturning Circulation Approaching a Tipping Point? (The Oceanography Society)
- How Oil Companies Manipulate Journalists (Drilled)
- Abrupt reduction in shipping emission as an inadvertent geoengineering termination shock produces substantial radiative warming (Nature)
- How To Spot 5 Of The Fossil Fuel Industry’s Biggest Disinformation Tactics (Guardian)
- The Oceans We Knew Are Already Gone (The Atlantic)
- Plug-in hybrids vs. electric cars: We did the math on which is better for you (Washington Post)
- How to electrify your life when you rent (The Verge)
- Complete Series: Farmers Under Attack for Supporting Clean Energy (This Is Not Cool blog)
- Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here’s How to Get Started (Inside Climate News)
- Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)
- Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)
- Exxon’s Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)
- Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)
“Recent analysis on Arctic sea ice conditions paints a grim picture. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, the summer sea ice minimum extent has dropped to its smallest size in recorded history.” (Happening Now: Arctic Sea Ice Sets Record Low)