Southward gas pipeline expansion planned, anticipated to significantly boost air pollution in North Carolina communities
Revamped Insights:
Bye, Bye to a Green Future?
Sound the alarm bells, folks! Everyone's favorite climate change truth-tellers, Inside Climate News (ICN), have been busy dropping some serious truth-bombs about what lies ahead if we don't get our climate act together. Here are the deets from their recent tsunami of climate insights:
- The Economic Elephant in the Room (May 30, 2025): ICN's team of expert mavens put together a report that's giving us all the feels—it's packed with expert analysis warning us about the looming economic doom if we keep ignoring climate change. According to risk gurus from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and the University of Exeter, if we don't do something about emissions, we're looking at losing a whopping 50% of what economists call the 'gross domestic product' (GDP) between 2070 and 2090. Ouch. This ain't just an isolated global issue, no sirree. In the good ol' USA, we're already coughing up about $150 billion a year for the likes of infrastructure damage, agricultural losses, and healthcare costs due to extreme weather events. And guess who's picking up the bill? You guessed it—like pretty much everything else, it's us regular folks. Despite all this, our current administration, led by the one and only Donald Drumpf, is pushing agencies to stop considering the economic effects of climate change when making decisions, unless it's mandated by law. And experts are shouting from the rooftops that this is risky business that could put us all in hot water[1].
- Clean Energy's Downfall (May 29, 2025): Here's another punch to the gut: ICN reports that, this year alone, clean energy project cancellations in the US have totaled over $14 billion. Businesses are fleeing investments left and right, all thanks to the withdrawal of our beloved administration from the climate crusade. This shift towards dirty energy signals a major slowdown in our transition to renewables, and it's throwing the whole sector into chaos[2].
- The Missing Invisible Cost (May 24, 2025): Our buddies at ICN also highlighted a major oversight by the administration—refusing to factor the 'social cost of carbon' into their policy decisions. This omission doesn't bode well for us, as climate happenings like droughts and extreme weather events are gonna get worse, making it even tougher to tackle climate change at the root[4].
In short, these reports show that, if we don't act on climate change now, we're headed for some serious economic and societal trouble. And our current US policies ain't exactly helping matters[3].
- In the realm of environmental science, the refusal by the current US administration to consider the economic effects of climate change in decision-making is raising concerns within the academic community, as this could potentially exacerbate climate-induced issues like droughts and extreme weather events.
- The oil-and-gas industry could witness a resurgence due to the withdrawal of the US administration from clean energy initiatives, as noted in recent reports by Inside Climate News, which suggests a decline in funding for renewable energy projects and a potential slowdown in the transition to clean energy.
- The financial industry should consider the costs associated with climate change and energy policy, such as the 'social cost of carbon'; failing to do so, as the US administration has recently done, could hinder effective climate action and result in environmental challenges and economic losses in the future.
