November 2025 Edition
Local & Global Climate News We Can Be Grateful For !!
The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
conducts scientific studies on public opinion and behavior; informs the decision-making of governments, media, companies, and NGOs; and educates the public about climate change since 2005. I first learned about them in 2016 when I began volunteering with Citizens Climate Lobby and have been following them ever since. I consider them the ‘gold standard’ on climate research. Here is a summary of their latest findings:
- 79% of U.S. registered voters support the United States’ participation in the Paris Agreement and 65% opposed President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Agreement.
- In a survey of 31 countries and territories worldwide conducted in partnership with Data for Good at Meta, we found that support for participation in the Paris Agreement ranged from 96% in Costa Rica to 74% in the United States.
- Many people in the Global South are still not aware of climate change. However, people worldwide say climate change is affecting hazards like heat waves, floods, and storms and say climate change is making them worse.
- Messages that emphasize the harms of climate change from extreme weather, and the threat to our children’s future, are effective across many countries and audiences.
- Majorities in many countries are alarmed about climate change, especially in Latin America
- Majorities of registered voters support a range of policies to reduce carbon pollution and promote clean energy. And majorities of registered voters want corporations and industry, government, and citizens to do more to address global warming.
- However, The 2024 U.S. election was not a referendum on climate change — Americans’ understanding that global warming is happening and a serious problem, and their support for climate action, did not change before, during, or after the election.
For more in-depth analysis and to get on their mailing list, go to https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/
Blue Dot Living – Buy Less, Buy Better https://shop.bluedotliving.com/
Subscribe to their newsletter (BuyBetter Marketplace) for actionable advice on living more sustainably: eco-friendly products from ethical brands; sustainable shopping tips for a greener lifestyle; zero-waste alternatives to everyday items.
The Appalachian Voices Newsletter:
Time is running out for homeowners, renters and businesses to take advantage of these clean energy tax credits. Some of them include:
- 30% federal tax credit for the cost of installing solar panels
- Up to $2,000 for high-efficiency heat pumps and water heaters
- Up to $1,200 for insulation
Virginia residents can stack federal tax credits with state and local energy incentive programs. Visit Virginia Energy Connect, a new online hub where users can quickly identify relevant opportunities and understand application requirements.
The Virginia Mercury Newspaper:
Can farmland thrive with solar? This Virginia nonprofit is finding out.
The agrivoltaics demonstration project is experimenting with growing crops under solar panels to determine what works and help educate a wary public. More than a decade ago, residents of Loudoun County, Virginia, banded together to buy up treasured open space before it became a strip mall and housing development, donating the land to the Piedmont Environmental Council instead. The nonprofit has maintained it as a unique blend of cattle pasture, a nature preserve, and a community farm that donates its yield to a local food pantry. Now, a small corner of the farm has become what organizers say is a first for the state: a crop-based agrivoltaics demonstration project. They hope the combination of solar panels and vegetable farming will showcase how much-needed renewable energy can complement, not harm, agricultural lands, at a time when data centers are demanding more and more electricity.
For the whole story, go here:
https://virginiamercury .com/2025/10/15/can-farmland-thrive-with-solar-this-virginia-nonprof
it-is-finding-out/
Ember (a global energy think tank that accelerates the clean energy transition with data and policy):
Solar electricity every hour of every day is here and it changes everything.
Batteries are now cheap enough to unleash solar’s full potential, getting as close as 97% of the way to delivering constant electricity supply 24 hours across 365 days cost-effectively in the sunniest places.
Charlottesville Climate Collaborative:
Tenaska Gas Plant Planning Approvals Deferred – Keep the Momentum Going!
Thanks to the persistence and unity of Fluvanna residents and community partners, the Fluvanna County Planning Commission voted recently to defer their decision on Tenaska’s Special Use Permit for a new gas plant until next January. Delaying the process allows more time for community members to organize, gather data, and study potential health impacts, a step that was critical in Pittsylvania County’s recent stunning success in shutting down a gas proposal at the local level.
What’s Next
- Health and Data Research: Fluvanna Horizons Alliance members are gathering data to study local health impacts of Tenaska’s proposal.
- Keep Showing Up and Speaking Out! When the next hearing is scheduled, residents will again have the opportunity to speak and submit comments. Continue writing to members of the Fluvanna and Albemarle Board of Supervisors and Fluvanna Planning Commission to demand transparency in the decision making process.
TIME 100 Climate (11/10/25 Issue of TIME magazine)
Is the 2025 list of the most influential leaders driving business climate action. It includes some familiar names like Gavin Newsom (two thirds of California’s energy comes from clean sources – making it the largest economy in the world to hit such a milestone), Kathy Hochul (instituted NYC congestion pricing policy), Pope Leo XIV (built a solar farm and instituted a 135 acre ecological training center) and many unknowns such as Douglas McMaster (owner of Silo, the world’s first zero-waste restaurant), Charlot Magayi (founder of $10 Mukuru Clean Stoves which cut household air pollution by 90%), and Elizabeth Wathuti (Founder & CEO Green Generation Initiative, a youth led climate focused organization in Africa). It is truly inspiring and encouraging to read what these incredible people are doing for our planet.
NOTE: I’m happy to lend my copy of the magazine to anyone who wants to read it.
Hope this newsletter gives you hope and inspires you to take action!
For the planet,
Ellie Syverud