Weekly Climate Solutions Digest
Welcome
Morning light tilts a bit lower now, and you can hear geese testing their V in the cool air. Monarchs drift over goldenrod like slow sparks, while in the south wildflowers begin to fan open. Balance feels possible in this equinox week.
Our stories share a theme of connection, the way good ideas become networks. California builds places for electric trucks to refuel, New England lines up plug-in solar, Chicago commits to clean power at city scale, and Texas shows how solar and batteries steady a summer grid. A town proves that geothermal can be shared, a judge lets offshore wind keep moving, and a new recipe for hydrogen points to cleaner freight. Partnerships lower energy costs for essential businesses. A federal program opens doors for mobile home owners to upgrade heat and comfort. And out at sea, nations agree to care for the water that links us all.
Progress this week is practical, braided, and near at hand. Like migration, it works because we travel together.
With that spirit in mind, here are the top climate solutions moving from ideas to action.
Top Climate Solutions Of The Week
- EV Realty raised $75 million to build electric truck charging hubs in California, enabling lower-cost short and regional hauls and accelerating the diesel-to-electric shift in freight.
- Lawmakers in New Hampshire and Vermont are advancing plug-in balcony solar legislation so renters and homeowners can plug 300-800 W kits into standard outlets, cutting bills with ~$2,000 systems that pay back in 4-5 years.
- Chicago switched all city-owned buildings to clean power, sourcing about 70% from a huge central Illinois solar farm and showing how municipal procurement can scale renewables fast.
- Texas set new records as solar hit 29.9 GW and batteries delivered peak discharges, helping keep the grid stable through summer peaks and undercutting the need for new gas plants.
- West Union, Iowa's 132-borehole district geothermal system has heated and cooled downtown buildings since 2014, cutting HVAC costs about 25% per square foot and spurring copycat projects.
- With 60 ratifications, the high seas treaty empowers countries to create marine protected areas and require environmental assessments across international waters, arming policymakers to curb overfishing, deep-sea mining, and pollution.
- In the southern Philippines, an 8.4 MW no-upfront-cost solar deal will deliver about 13 million kWh a year to malls and farms, lowering bills and avoiding roughly 9,600 tons of CO2 annually.
- A federal judge allowed construction on the $6.2 billion Revolution Wind project to resume, clearing a path for offshore wind power off Rhode Island while litigation continues.
- Brookhaven scientists built a high-entropy intermetallic catalyst for hydrogen fuel cells that beat DOE current-density targets and survived 90,000 cycles, boosting prospects for zero-emission heavy trucks and buses.
- Ulster County, NY launched a program to help low-income and mobile-home residents replace old HVAC with efficient heat pumps, stacking incentives and tax credits to cut bills and emissions.
Taken together, these moves show how policy, science, and community projects knit into real momentum.
If you are struggling...
Maybe you feel tired, angry, anxious, or numb. The headlines stack up, your jaw clenches, and it seems like nothing will change. If that is you, take a breath. Your sensitivity is not a flaw, it is information.
The mind that worries is also the mind that can scout the horizon. Your anxiety can be a form of futurism: the same awareness that spots risk can notice openings, too. To meet those openings, try possibility thinking that prepares for what might go right. Do your premortem, then sketch the pre-launch. If a good break arrived tomorrow, what would you need ready. Who would you call. What would you say yes to.
If you have resources, relationships, or a platform, treat them like a living tool. You can use your privilege like a pollinator, moving what you carry to where it can take root. Leadership does not have to be loud. It can look like sending the agenda, offering a ride, bringing water, or saying, I have this part, who has the rest.
When the world feels heavy, scale the day. Rest, drink water, touch something green. Then choose one small act that grows the future you want. Repeat tomorrow. The point is not to do everything, it is to keep moving toward what is possible.
For people and planet,
Bri Chapman
brichapman.com