A Compendium of Good News

We don’t lack for bad news these days. Still, there are also good things happening. I’ve been putting together a list of things that are good news for the environment.  So put on your happy face!  Remember, as my grade school teachers used to say, it takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown.

The sun shines bright over Texas. Solar will overtake coal on the Texas grid for the first time this year, a tribute to the explosive growth of solar power in the Lone Star State.

What if they tried to sell off the Arctic wilderness and nobody came?  The Trump Administration set up a huge auction for oil leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve.  They only got bids on two small tracts, totaling a measly $3.7 million.

Renewables are beating coal globally. Wind and solar have supplanted coal as the world’s greatest source of power.

Solar just beat coal last month in the U.S.  In May, solar produced a greater share of U.S. electricity than coal, the first time this has happened for a whole month.

EVs are surging globally.  In part due to the Iran War, EVs are expected to be 28% of all new cars this year and 50% by 2030.  This will surprise US readers, where auto technology is lagging behind.

Progress on toxics.  France has banned PFAS. Maybe the US will catch up someday.

Agreeing to be agreeable on blue water.  The High Seas Treaty (officially the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement) has entered into force.

Batteries take off.  Utility grid storage surged an amazing 50% in 2025.  The amount of new grid storage globally was ten times that installed only four years earlier.  China and the US accounted for much of the surge.

“How much is that in metric?”  In the EU, solar and wind overtook fossil fuels as sources of power.

Reaching deep for power.  The Republican House passed a package of bills to expand geothermal power.

Don’t get me wrong. Bad news is plentiful too. But the fact that we’re still making progress in important areas is one reason not to give up.