California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 130, a housing development bill that includes a controversial six-year pause on building code updates. While aimed at addressing the state's housing crisis, this provision concerns climate advocates since buildings account for 25% of California's carbon pollution.

The pause blocks scheduled updates that would advance electrification efforts, including requirements for heat pumps and all-electric construction. California's building codes have historically driven decarbonization—80% of new utility connections in 2023 were electric-only. The moratorium also prevents local governments from implementing stricter "reach codes," though 74 jurisdictions already have all-electric requirements.

The law includes exceptions for health/safety emergencies and greenhouse gas reduction strategies in local general plans. However, advocates argue building codes don't significantly drive housing costs—a 2015 study found no statistical relationship between energy codes and construction expenses. All-electric homes typically cost $3,000-$10,000 less to build than gas-equipped homes.

The Building Decarbonization Coalition estimates the pause could cost households tens of millions in lost utility savings, while supporters claim it will provide market stability for developers.

Ecuador's environmental reputation is under threat as President Daniel Noboa dismantles green protections despite the country's historic vote to block oil drilling in Yasuni National Park just two years ago.

Noboa has eliminated Ecuador's independent Environment Ministry, folding it into the Ministry of Energy and Mines—a move critics call "putting the wolf in charge of the sheep." His administration is pushing an "anti-NGO" law requiring 71,000 organizations to re-register with government oversight, potentially forcing many environmental groups to close.

The government approved legislation allowing private entities to co-manage conservation zones, weakening Indigenous land rights. Ecuador also signed an oil deal with Peru targeting sensitive Amazon areas for drilling by January 2026, despite Indigenous opposition and pipeline safety concerns.

Environmental advocates warn these changes represent "a machine gun of extractivism" that prioritizes resource extraction over ecosystem protection. The rollback comes as Ecuador faces illegal mining surges and threatens to undermine the country's constitutional "rights of nature."

Indigenous leaders fear widespread deforestation, river contamination, and destruction of ancestral lands as Ecuador abandons its pioneering green leadership role.

The Trump administration is proposing to repeal the EPA's 2009 "endangerment finding"—a pivotal scientific determination that greenhouse gas emissions threaten public health and welfare. This 200-page document, based on extensive scientific evidence, detailed how severe heat waves, storms, and droughts contribute to higher rates of death and disease.

The endangerment finding emerged from a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that gave EPA authority to regulate greenhouse gases, but only if the agency could demonstrate these emissions endangered public health. Once established, this finding became the legal foundation for America's first federal limits on greenhouse gases from cars and power plants under Obama, enabling regulations that promoted electric vehicles and renewable energy.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin now claims these science-based protections have created costly regulations that "strangle" the economy. By eliminating the endangerment finding, the EPA would essentially strip itself of climate regulatory authority—a dramatic reversal of the agency's mission from environmental protection to reducing business costs.

This represents an unprecedented departure from decades of bipartisan environmental action dating back to Nixon's EPA creation. Critics argue it abandons the government's traditional public health role, shifting climate risks to individuals and states as extreme weather disasters intensify nationwide.

Author Michael Grunwald argues in Canary Media that while climate progress on energy is being rolled back under Trump, food and agriculture—representing one-third of climate emissions—have seen virtually no progress at all. Despite receiving only 3% of climate finance, the food system drives major environmental problems including deforestation (losing a soccer field of forest every six seconds), biodiversity loss, and water pollution.

Drawing lessons from energy's two-decade transition, the author advocates for massive public investment in food climate solutions. Just as government funding helped develop solar panels and electric vehicles, similar investment is needed for alternatives like cultivated meat, methane-reducing cattle feed, and precision agriculture technologies.

The key lesson: let governments invest broadly in multiple solutions rather than picking winners, as Obama's 2009 stimulus did with clean energy. While many projects failed (like Solyndra), successes in solar and batteries transformed entire industries.

Grunwald emphasizes that climate change isn't pass-fail—every fraction of a degree matters. Though we likely won't meet 1.5°C targets, slowing the rate of deterioration through better food technologies and policies can help us "eat less of the earth."