Climate roundup: Earth Day in the collapse

Living in the United States continues to be an absolute environmental nightmare.

More absurdly worded executive orders–which, again, are not laws, but they are sometimes carried out (by both government and non-government bodies) as if they are.
Revealed: NATO downplays climate and gender language to appease Trump (Politico, April 17, 2025)
Earth Day 2025: How the Trump administration’s policies will impact global decarbonization (ABC News, April 22, 2025)

More absurdly unqualified leaders making extremely bad decisions:
Trump officials quietly move to reverse bans on toxic ‘forever chemicals’ (Guardian, April 5, 2025)
Trump Announces ‘Termination’ of ‘Illegal DEI’ Settlement Over Raw Sewage in Poor, Majority-Black Alabama Communities (Inside Climate News, April 11, 2025)
Climate science isn’t giving your kid anxiety (HEATED, April 16, 2025)

And behind the scenes, DOGE continues to cut funds (and sometimes reinstate them), cut staff (and sometimes reinstate them), and effectively curtail free speech.
Leaked Memo Reveals Insane Ban on Words Agriculture Department Can Say (The New Republic, March 31, 2025)
A deadly disease is killing millions of bats. Now Trump funding cuts threaten a promising Canadian treatment (The Narwhal, April 10, 2025)
This Defector series by Sabrina Imbler interviews civil servants who lost their jobs in DOGE’s purge of federal agencies, including EPA, NOAA, and USFWS.

This link roundup is by no means comprehensive. Just a few of the stories that demontrate the real-world impacts of these surreal decisions.

The what is more important to me than the why, but the why is still interesting to think about. Here are a couple of theories attempting to make sense out of the senseless.
What the Technofascists and Religious Fanatics Have in Common: End Days Theology (Drilled, March 17, 2025)
DOGE is About Sex (Cartoons Hate Her, March 14, 2025)

Climate and law

At least we can make it expensive for them?

Judge blocks Trump administration from terminating $14 billion in ‘green bank’ grants (AP News, March 18, 2025)

Climate Groups Sue Hochul Administration Over Climate Law Backtracking (New York Focus, March 31, 2025)

Judge orders federal agencies to release billions of dollars from two Biden-era initiatives (AP News, April 15, 2025)

Climate impacts

Meanwhile:

The great Mississippi tops list of most endangered rivers amid fears over Trump rollbacks (The Guardian, April 16, 2025)

Big Banks Quietly Prepare for Catastrophic Warming (Scientific American, March 31, 2025)

Wildfires Are One of Hurricane Helene’s Lasting Legacies (Wired, March 15, 2025)

More than 150 ‘unprecedented’ climate disasters struck world in 2024, says UN (Guardian, March 18, 2025)

“Make America Healthy Again” is dead (HEATED, March 18, 2025)

Ghost forests are growing as sea levels rise (Ars Technica, April 20, 2025)

Climate Central released a new Coastal Risk Finder tool. You can check the probability of flooding in a particular area in a given year, and see how that probably changes in different pollution scenarios. Because Climate Central is primarily a resource for news media and meteorologists, it also includes quick stats on how many people are likely to be affected in that area and what you can do to prepare.