Gavin Newsom: “We are in the Great implementation.”
It’s a mistake for Democratic politicians not to talk about climate change, and the reason they don’t is “because they don’t know how to talk about it”, the California governor, Gavin Newsom, said on Wednesday in an interview with the Guardian and the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now.
Commenting on Covering Climate Now and the Guardian reporting that 80% to 89% of the world’s people and 74% of Americans want their governments to take stronger climate action, Newsom condemned the “climate hushing” most Democrats have practiced since Trump returned to the White House in 2025. “I talk about [climate change] all the time,” he said. He agreed that Democrats must be “laser-focused” on voters’ affordability concerns, but the key is to “connect the dots” between those concerns and the economic impacts of extreme heat, droughts, floods, and other consequences of overheating the planet.
Britain’s new energy secretary said Wednesday that cutting energy bills is her top priority and that the UK government’s quest for more clean power has been driven by affordability concerns rather than fighting global warming.
“The sprint to clean power, by the way, wasn’t about climate, it was about affordability,” Miatta Fahnbulleh said in an interview at the Bloomberg Green summit in New York. Lowering energy bills will be a key test of her time in the job, she said.
The Labour Party campaigned in 2024 on a promise that its clean energy plans would eventually cut household bills by as much as £300 ($397) a year. Bills have instead risen since it took office. The government argues that building more homegrown renewable power will ultimately lower prices by reducing Britain’s exposure to volatile global gas markets.
Not related to “don’t say climate” but this is interesting news in today’s Wall Street Journal:
“Justice Alito Won’t Participate in Supreme Court Case on Climate Change”
“Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito will sit out a major case on climate change, a surprising about-face for the conservative justice after he resisted calls earlier this year to recuse himself over his energy-stock ownership.
Alito’s decision means that only eight justices will hear a dispute about whether local governments can sue fossil-fuel companies over damages allegedly caused by climate change. The closely watched case will be argued on Oct. 5, the first day of the high court’s new term.”
The article says he’s not explained why he recused after ethics advisers said he wouldn’t need to since he doesn’t own stock in the specific companies in the suit. It also mentions the 8-member decision could be interesting since Thomas and Gorsuch are skeptical of federal ability to overrule a state issue.