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Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen 5/5/2026

‘Green News Report’ – May 5, 2026  |  With Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen   · · · · ·   ‘Green News Report’ – May 5, 2026  |  With Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): AI boom sparks rare warning of ‘significant risk’ to the electric grid; Paraquat banned in 70 countries. Plants in the South release it into the air; Soil at DC public golf course where White House debris was dumped contains toxic metals; US Justice Dept sues to block Minnesota’s climate change lawsuit … PLUS: Bayer thanked Zeldin for removing cancer warnings about Roundup, documents show … and much, MUCH more! …

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…

• Iran War is ‘terminated’ as stalemate drags on:
• US tries to force open the Strait of Hormuz as the UAE comes under attack in a test of Iran truce (AP)
• Iran threatens painful response if US renews attacks (Reuters)
• Trump says Iran war ‘terminated,’ as war powers deadline arrives (Reuters)
• US says ceasefire with Iran is holding despite attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and against the UAE (AP)
• Hegseth says battle for Hormuz is ‘separate and distinct’ from the Iran war (Politico)
• Nearly half of Americans cutting back on expenses:
• VIDEO: Americans are increasingly bleak about their own finances, most say using the US military against Iran was a mistake: ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll (ABC News):
  Some Americans say they are changing their behaviors because of higher gas prices. Over 4 in 10 have cut back on driving (44%) or cut other household expenses (42%) because of high gas prices. Fewer, 34%, say they have changed travel or vacation plans, while 15% have considered buying an electric vehicle.
• Americans cut spending due to higher gas prices and see no relief in sight, CNBC survey finds (CNBC)
• Oil/gas prices could remain elevated until 2028:
• Goldman Sachs Predicts $100 Oil Through the End of 2026 if Flows Don’t Normalize Soon. Here’s What That Means for Oil Stocks. (Yahoo Finance):
  If the Strait of Hormuz doesn’t normalize by the end of July, Brent will likely end the year over $100 a barrel, according to a new prediction by Goldman Sachs.
• Goldman Sachs expects elevated oil prices into 2027 (MFA Oil)
• Wild Oil Price Forecasts: Some Predict $350 if Strait of Hormuz Is Blocked (Oil Price, 10/9/2024)
• ‘The damage is done’: global oil crisis has changed fossil fuel industry for ever, IEA chief says (Guardian)
• Experts forecast falling crop yields through 2027:
• Iran war fertiliser squeeze could spell trouble for next year’s grain harvests (Reuters):
  Agricultural bodies, including the International Grains Council, are already cutting their forecasts for the next harvests, ?however. And the United Nations, which is trying to ?negotiate shipping access for fertiliser through the Gulf, has sounded ?the alarm over food security in developing nations.
• Billions of meals at risk due to Iran war, says fertiliser boss (BBC)
• Rising CO2 leves reduce nutritional content in food:
• Carbon pollution: The invisible force making food less nutritious (gift link, no paywall, Washington Post):
  Many of humanity’s most important crops – including wheat, potatoes, beans – contain fewer vitamins and minerals than they did a generation ago. The invisible culprit behind this damaging phenomenon? Carbon dioxide pollution. Surging concentrations of carbon in the atmosphere, caused largely by burning fossil fuels, have produced potent changes in the way plants grow – from increasing their sugar content to depleting essential nutrients like zinc. Experts fear the degradation of Earth’s food supply will cause an epidemic of hidden hunger, in which even people who consume enough calories won’t get the nutrients they need to thrive.
• Climate change is getting so bad that it’s making food less nutritious (Futurism)
• Less Nutritious Crops: Another Result of Rising CO2 (Hopkins-Bloomberg Public Health Magazine, 9/24/2024)
• Iran War really does appear to be fueling renewable energy boom:
• Warnings on Permanent Oil Demand Destruction Begin Pouring In (Oil Price International)
• Oil Market Report – April 2026 (IEA):
  Oil demand is expected to contract by 80 kb/d this year, as the Iran war upends our global outlook. This is 730 kb/d less than in last month’s Report and a forecast 1.5 mb/d 2Q26 decline would be the sharpest since Covid-19 slashed fuel consumption…[D]emand destruction will spread as scarcity and higher prices persist.
• Demand destruction: How the Iran war could rattle or break the US economy (CNN):
  In practice, that’s not far off: It means that the magnitude of a price shock can be so large, so persistent and so painful that spending behaviors shift – sometimes to the point where they permanently alter the course, the structure and the stability of a sector or an entire economy.
• India rethinks energy security amid Iran War (Foreign Policy)
• ‘Tipping point’ to electric vehicles reached in Europe and China (Tech Explor)
• Rooftop solar demand surging in europe
• Solar panels fitted every three minutes in UK since Iran conflict (The Times of Longon)
• How Pakistan’s people-led solar boom is easing impact of Middle East energy crisis (Guardian)
• One year after Spain’s blackout, its shift to renewables and grid evolution power on (Guardian)
• Iran war is supercharging the clean energy transition, UN climate chief says (Reuters)
• Fight Iran energy shock with solar panels and heat pumps, climate chief tells EU (Politico):
  The European Union can only protect itself from the worsening Iran energy crisis by “fast-forwarding” its transition away from fossil fuels, Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said Thursday. The bloc’s climate chief insists the EU must speed up the switch to cleaner energy sources and the electrification of its economy as the blockade in the Persian Gulf continues to threaten supplies and drive up prices of oil and gas…”We have an opportunity to really push the frontier here and to make sure that there is a double whammy, in the sense that we embark much more actively on getting these products but also making them in Europe, which would have a very positive economic effect,” he said.
• VIDEO: UNFCCC Chief Simon Stiell – ‘Immense irony’ in Iran War (COP31-IEA High-Level Energy Transition Dialogue)

‘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

• AI boom sparks rare warning of ‘significant risk’ to the electric grid (E&E News)
• Paraquat banned in 70 countries. Plants in the South release it into the air (The Lens)
• Soil at DC public golf course where White House debris was dumped contains toxic metals (NY Times)
• Trump Admin orders rapid end to some hunting rules on federal lands (NY Times)
• US Justice Dept sues to block Minnesota’s climate change lawsuit (Reuters)
• Top US nuclear regulator is rewriting its rules for new era of reactors (Canary Media)
• Trump speed-up of meat processing would harm workers and the environment (Grist)
• Amid fertilizer pollution, Iowa to invest $100 million in water treatment (Inside Climate News)
• Bayer thanked Zeldin for removing cancer warnings about Roundup, documents show (Investigate Midwest)
• Oil industry event teaches judges ‘healthy skepticism’ of climate science (Pro Publica)
• It’s the Age of Electricity and America isn’t ready (NY Times)
• Stop emissions, stop warming: A climate reality check (Dr. Andrew Dessler, Climate Brink)
• How to electrify your life when you rent (The Verge)
• 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)