Not Even Trump Can Save Coal

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LISTENING: to them new york anthems
FEELING: sleepy
SEEING: gray clouds creeping

It's a good time to be a New Yorker, y'all. I'm feeling aliiiiiive! We got Zohran Mamdani in the mayoral seat. Knicks is up! (I'm writing this ahead of game four, so let's hope they're still up by the time you receive this in the morning.) I leave for a little vaca for my girl's wedding weekend. Hello, Columbia River Gorge! Now, let me pass some of these good vibes onto y'all.

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That's out of the way, so onto the news. I just read this Yale E360 article that, for the first time ever, solar provided more electricity in the U.S. than coal. May, my favorite month of the year, marked a new future for this country. It's wild to imagine that some coal plants are still running, but they are. Over 200 are still chugging along, many built in the '70s or '80s.

The analysis by global energy research group Ember found that solar supplied 12.8 percent of the U.S. electricity supply in May 2026. Coal was not far behind at 12.2 percent. This is a big deal. President Donald Trump has been doing everything he can to keep coal alive — despite the ugly realities that this dirty fuel has killed nearly half a million people from 1999 to 2020.

Just last week, Trump gave $700 million in taxpayer dollars to the industry using the wartime authority of the Defense Production Act. This investment is meant to keep coal plants up and running across 10 states, turn on an export terminal in Oakland, and restart another plant in Maryland, per the Guardian. The president's staunch support for the industry also made last year a slow one for retiring coal plants. Nine plants were meant to retire last year, but the federal government delayed their closures with emergency orders, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Well, take that, oil and gas goons! Not even your precious subsidies and eMeRgeNciEs can stop clean energy from taking over. The American people are already over the high gas prices. Once they realize how much cheaper solar and wind are, it's a wrap. In New York, the state senate recently passed the SUNNY Act, which will legalize plug-in solar panels people like me can hang on their balcony.

I know what my big investment will be next year — and I cannot fucking wait. 🌀

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Rest in Power

While we can't say for certain that climate change led to these specific weather events (we need attribution studies for that), we do know that the Earth's rising temperatures are already creating more frequent and/or stronger disasters like these.

In the first five months of this year, Sri Lanka has recorded over 50 drowning deaths due to floods.

New York got hit with some wild rainstorms last year that brought down trees and power lines. At least one man died.

Currently Reading

I'm a big fan of Yale Climate Connections, and I so enjoyed reading this piece by Pearl Marvell on a backpack that could help farmers in extreme heat. Solutions journalism, baby!

I've been working on a story about the Voting Rights Act and why its dismantling is a climate story. Reporting and writing that led me to this TIME article by Philip Wang. It's a must-read.

I missed this Bill McKibben feature in the New Yorker last month, so sharing it with y'all in case you did, too. It's about Elon Musk's ugly new data center in Memphis — and the people trying to stop it.

Poetry

THE WHALE IN THE SKY

the clouds roll gray and loud
like a whale in the sky

but the water doesn't erupt from its spout
the floods crash down,
forcing those who live on land
to sprout fins and scales

even the trees get up and run
many die in their attempt to escape
so do the people whose homes lie below ground
basements flood like tidal zones
the deep end is all around

I learned to swim this year
will the freestyle save me then?
or is the backstroke the path to survival?

maybe I should ask the whale—
the one in the sky
new research says they talk like us
so maybe I'll click at the clouds
and bellow real loud

I want to be brave, I'll say
teach me how

-ylf-

- Yessenia xx