By Katherine Rapin for Nexus Media News.
Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for Commonwealth News Service reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration
In 2020, artist Nicole Cooper was conducting research for a painting series when she stumbled upon a NASA chart showing temperature rise throughout history. "I had this realization of, 'Look at how fast temperatures are rising - and what are we going to do about it?" she said.
Cooper experienced what she described as an existential crisis, feeling terrified of what would happen in her lifetime and worried that it may already be too late to act.
"I needed to be able to talk," she said, "and express myself about the emotional reaction I was having."
Climate change wasn't something she felt she could discuss deeply with the people in her life, as is the case for most Americans. Though most people acknowledge climate change is real, and about 30% say they are "very worried" about it, just 37% say they discuss the issue occasionally or often, according to a 2022 survey from Yale University.
But talking about climate change is important. Researchers have found it can cause greater acceptance of climate science and, among those who already accept the science, inspire action. That, in turn, has been shown to decrease climate anxiety.
Like so many Americans, Cooper felt scared, stressed - and largely alone. "I was reading a lot of articles, listening to podcasts, but I had no real dialogue about it," she said. Then she heard about the All We Can Save Circles, an initiative created by Katharine Wilkinson, who co-edited an anthology book of the same name. Launched when the book was published in 2020, the Circle is a decentralized, 10-course book club aimed at helping readers develop communities around climate solutions.
Cooper realized she could create a space for the conversations she wanted to have. Using her newsletter, word of mouth and social media, Cooper recruited a group of nine people - some climate activists, others, like her, newer to the conversation - to meet virtually. Over the next six months, they discussed ways they were experiencing the climate crisis and created a shared climate resource list, including ways they could take action in their own communities.
"Coming together with people who had all kinds of emotions and to see them still [taking] climate action - daily, weekly or monthly - that was really inspiring," Cooper said.
Cooper is part of a growing movement of Americans who are seeking out solace - and power in numbers - in climate conversation groups. More than 3,000 people have formed All We Can Save Circles, according to the All We Can Save Project. The Good Grief Network, a nonprofit peer support network modeled on 12-step addiction programs, has more than 50 climate support groups nationwide. Climate Awakening, founded by climate psychologist Margaret Klein Salamon, convenes small group conversations online that anyone can join for free.
These are all aimed at reversing what researchers describe as the "spiral of silence" around climate change.
"We know that humans avoid uncomfortable emotions," said Sarah Schwartz, associate professor of psychology at Suffolk University who researches climate anxiety. She explained that climate change is stressful in ways direct (not being able to breathe the air in your city, for example) and indirect (like constant worry about an uncertain future).
"But when we talk about grief processing [or] trauma - we need to turn towards rather than away from these hard emotions," she added.
Schwartz co-authored a 2022 study that found that collective climate action may mitigate climate distress. But, she said, "If you just jump into action and don't make any space for conversations, support and sitting with the uncomfortable emotions - that's a recipe for burnout."
Conversations, support and collective action all require building community, which is key in addressing challenges that seem insurmountable, Schwartz said. "The role of relationships and social support is huge in the difference between 'we can do something' and 'let's all just hunker down and isolate in our own anxiety and paralysis,'" she said.
According to an internal 2023 survey conducted by the All We Can Save Project, 89% of Circle participants reported feeling an increased sense of community and 90% said they took climate action, such as switching to climate-focused careers, after joining a conversation group.
For Inemesit Williams, former co-leader of the social justice working group at Climate Action Network for International Educators (CANIE), being part of a Circle inspired her to advocate for public transit funding and spread awareness about local bus routes. "I've never owned a car - I've always taken public transit, ridden my bicycle, walked, carpooled," she said. "So that's something I'm really passionate about: transit equity."
Williams, who identifies as "a queer, Black American descendant of chattel slavery," said she was the only participant in her Circle who identifies as Black. It's a problem, she said, that is reflective of the broader lack of diversity among leadership at environmental organizations.
Williams was familiar with most of the members in her Circle and felt comfortable talking about the ways the climate crisis disproportionately impacts communities of color. "I already had a feeling of safety with this group," she said, but added that her experience might be an exception. "You can't really engage in that kind of space if you don't feel like what you have to say is going to be welcome."
Creating that safe space is why psychotherapist Taryn Crosby, who is also Black, co-organized We Outside, a climate conversation specifically for Black women and non-binary people.
"We want to create a space where our experiences are prioritized," she said, adding that generations of trauma in nature due to slavery and lynchings, segregated state and national parks and economic oppression have pushed and excluded many Black Americans from the outdoors.
She said she hopes We Outside helps attendees understand and value their own connections to nature, and prepares them to take part in broader conversations and influence greater climate action.
"Because we haven't felt necessarily welcomed or invited into other climate conversations, we kind of need this to build that muscle," she said. "And that can equip us to have these conversations before mixed company."
Leaders from the All We Can Save Project and Good Grief Network, two of the largest climate conversation networks, acknowledged that the majority of participants are white and said they were currently taking steps - including partnering with Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC)-led organizations and aiming to train more BIPOC facilitators - to diversify their ranks.
"As we think about plans for addressing diversity and inclusion in Circles - across the Project and climate movement broadly - we think partnerships, intentional outreach and relationship-building are vital," said Amy Curtis, learning and community lead of the All We Can Save Project.
Crosby said she hopes initiatives like We Outside will be a starting point for more inclusive conversations about climate change. The goal, she said, is to hold space "where people can be open and curious about the way that they are affected by their environment and nature, and [also] how they affect their environment and nature-ultimately encouraging them to move that into action."
Katherine Rapin wrote this article for Nexus Media News.
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State officials in Maine are highlighting apprenticeships as a way to earn a living wage and contribute to the state's growing green economy.
They'll kick off the first-ever Youth Apprenticeship Week by exposing high school students to the numerous ways they can learn and earn in offshore wind energy development, passive home construction, aquaculture, and more.
Maine Department of Labor Apprenticeship Program Manager Kristine McCallister said about 90% of apprentices choose to stay with their employer after their training is complete.
"Apprentices have a mentor and they're earning wages and they're earning pay increases as they go," said McCallister, "so it's a really great way to attract talent to Maine and to keep talent here."
McCallister said apprentices will earn $300,000 more over their lifetime. The state aims to add 75,000 more workers to the economy over the next five years by growing career training pipelines.
A report by the Maine Labor Climate Council finds the state can create tens of thousands of jobs by building a zero-carbon transportation system.
Workers will be needed to install EV charging stations, electrify school bus fleets, and potentially build a high-speed rail line from Bangor to Boston.
McCallister said new Mainers, like those studying with Portland Adult Education, are using apprenticeships to fill these roles and other clean-energy jobs.
"Those pre-apprentices just graduated and have interviewed with some of our apprenticeship programs," said McCallister, "so we're really hoping they're going to help feed that pipeline as this economy is booming in Maine in terms of the renewable-energy sector."
McCallister said some companies are even offering on-the-spot interviews and job offers this week. All apprenticeship events are listed on the Department of Labor's website.
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Climate watchers are predicting this summer's temperatures may set records, which could aggravate some medical conditions.
A 30-year study of health records from more than 200 countries and territories suggests a connection between stroke and climate change. The online publication "Neurology" reported the growing number of global deaths and disabilities from strokes are linked to -- but not caused by -- climate change.
Dr. Ann Jones, stroke neurologist at Indiana University Hospital, said when the body feels extreme heat and sweat evaporates, hypercoagulation, or blood thickening, occurs, which increases the chance for blood clots. Winter weather can also produce an instinctive response.
"The cold makes us kind of react with our fight-or-flight kind of drive, and it makes our blood vessels close down or vasoconstrict," Jones explained. "That can raise blood pressure up and that can predispose you to stroke."
Jones noted an ischemic stroke involves a clogged artery preventing blood from flowing to brain tissue. A ruptured artery during a hemorrhagic stroke causes blood to travel outside the artery wall into the brain tissue.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported almost 43% or 3,500 per 100,000 Hoosiers died from a stroke in 2021. Indiana ranks 34th in the nation for the rate of strokes.
The Yale Center on Climate Change and Health found heat can increase the risk of a stroke. Recent global burden-of-disease studies found 2 to 5 million deaths per year are linked to extreme temperatures globally. And climate change can also indirectly impact health through poor water quality, air pollution and increased spreading of infectious diseases.
Jones maintained good health is a start toward prevention and recommends the Mediterranean diet; consuming less red meat for optimal well-being and getting 30 minutes of exercise five times per week.
"Some things are out of our control," Jones acknowledged. "But just taking care of yourself in the ways that we can; focusing more on vegetables, fish, and staying hydrated, working on blood pressure with that reduced goal of less than 130 over 80."
The study indicated more research could identify the impact of temperature change on stroke as a way to address health inequalities including the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and industrial processes.
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By Annie Ropeik for Energy News Network.
Broadcast version by Kathryn Carley for Maine News Service reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration
Overnight in early July last year, Vermont solar installer Bill Chidsey got a call that a grocery store he worked with in his village of Hardwick was flooded. He arrived to find feet of water in the Buffalo Mountain Market's utility room, spilling over from the rising Lamoille River in a record-breaking rainstorm.
"The grocery store survived by an inch," Chidsey said. "If it had rained fifteen more minutes, they'd have lost four compressors."
He's now helping the co-op build a net-zero energy system that will use solar power and recycled waste heat from the store's refrigerators. But it's going to be a long project - just one of countless examples Vermont has seen since last year of how sustainable rebuilds in the wake of a flood don't happen quickly.
"I think we're just getting started with this," Chidsey said.
Advocates, utilities and state agencies have seen slow progress and mixed success since July 2023 in trying to replace flood-damaged home and business energy systems with more efficient, cost-effective, low-carbon technology. Now, they hope to redouble these efforts as part of a long-term recovery - both to keep people affected last year from falling through the cracks, and to be more resilient in the next storm.
"We consider that we're now about to start 'phase two,' where we hope to go back and talk about energy systems," said Sue Minter, who leads Capstone Community Action in central Vermont. "In the emergency - with winter and nowhere else to go, and oh, by the way, no contractors available, labor shortage, material shortage, crisis - we couldn't do the transition work, but that doesn't mean we won't."
Lessons from storm Irene
More than a decade ago, Minter was the deputy secretary of Vermont's Agency of Transportation when the 2011 Tropical Storm Irene - comparable in its severity to the 2023 floods - washed out hundreds of miles of roads and bridges across the state.
As the state's Irene Recovery Officer, Minter spent the next two-plus years grappling with federal regulators and pushing through new policies and programs to rebuild "stronger, with resilience in mind," she said. This included allowing easier upsizing of culverts and clearing development out of floodplains.
Many places with these post-Irene resilience upgrades and reforms saw less damage in the July 2023 floods as a result, Minter said. Vermont officials even came to a recent meeting of the Maine Climate Council, after a pair of weather disasters there, to talk about their approach to flood-resilient infrastructure.
"When you know you're in an emergency, and you know everything has been destroyed, you also know it's an opportunity to innovate ... to rebuild differently," Minter said.
Vermont, often called a potential haven for future climate migrants, is nonetheless seeing more frequent and intense rain and floods as one of its top impacts from human-caused climate change. The state also relies heavily on pricey, carbon-intensive heating oil.
After last year's floods, Vermont leaders wanted to seize the moment to help affected residents make future-looking energy and efficiency upgrades on a widespread scale.
"They're ripping out drywall, they're having to update systems - this is the time to make sure that you do it properly," said Efficiency Vermont supply chain engagement manager Steve Casey.
Making emergency rebates accessible
Efficiency Vermont, a statewide energy efficiency utility, created an emergency flood rebate program for affected homeowners and renters, reallocating $10 million in pandemic aid already set aside for low-income weatherization projects.
The new program offered up to $10,000 per household to repair or replace flood-damaged energy systems and other appliances, on top of existing funding for efficient electric heat pump water heaters and electrical panel upgrades. Similar rebates for damaged businesses were just raised to a $16,000 cap.
But uptake on this funding has been slow. As of January, only 155 households had received flood rebates of $5,100 apiece on average, according to state legislative testimony from Efficiency Vermont director Peter Walke.
It's partly because the initial $10 million was "an overshoot to ensure we wouldn't run out of funds," allocated quickly "without knowing what the actual need would be," said spokesperson Matthew Smith.
But people also ran into myriad barriers to using the money quickly.
Some lacked up-front cash to pay for upgrades that would be rebated later. In response, Efficiency Vermont has begun offering a 100% cost-coverage program for the lowest-income clients, where contractors are paid directly by the state. That program had paid out nearly $92,000 to 10 people as of January, per Walke's testimony, with 58 more in the pipeline.
"The households that are still in significant need at this stage were vulnerable households to begin with," Casey said. "We do have this repeating situation where flood events kind of just exacerbate some vulnerabilities for certain households."
'Life and safety first'
The timing of the 2023 floods was another complicating factor. The upcoming heating season loomed in the months after the disaster, and limited housing stock meant people couldn't relocate from damaged homes, unlike after Tropical Storm Irene, said Sue Minter.
"In 2023, July, people had to get into their homes as quickly as possible," she said. "You always have to have life and safety first."
The repairs and retrofits needed most urgently were not simple. Many people's water and space heating systems and electrical panels were in basements, "the first place to flood," said Casey.
Parts of Vermont are trying to change this norm - Waterbury, for example, requires basements to be above flood elevation in new or substantially improved home construction, among other flood protections.
Chidsey, the solar installer in Hardwick, said he and his electrician have tried to shift to putting electrical panels on the outside of homes, with any indoor subpanels out of the basement. Ideally, he said, the cellar becomes "just a hole in the ground that holds up the house, because water comes in often now."
But moving HVAC infrastructure out of a vulnerable basement, whether to meet a local requirement or voluntarily, isn't easy, especially after major damage, Casey said. People may not have a ready space for that equipment on the first floor, or may need mold remediation before taking on serious flood-proofing.
It means that the advocates working to facilitate upgrades have had to take a long view.
'The promise that we'll be back'
Last fall, Efficiency Vermont, Capstone, the state's utilities and a range of other partners stood up a new system of Vermont Energy Recovery Teams, who went into damaged homes to help people plan and prioritize repairs before winter, including coordinating holistically across contractors and funding sources.
Some homes were able to switch straight to heat pumps as a cheaper, cleaner method of water and space heating, officials said. But for many, a replacement oil or gas system was the simplest short-term option.
Efficiency Vermont does not normally offer incentives for installing fossil fuel systems, but made exceptions for high-efficiency Energy Star-rated models as part of its flood recovery rebate program.
"In every case, we looked for something that was more efficient than what they had before," said Vermont Gas energy innovation director Richard Donnelly, who was part of many recovery team home visits.
In each of those visits, the teams would take note of residents' long-term needs and goals for decarbonization, resilience, comfort and lower energy burdens, with an emphasis on heat pumps.
"We left off with sort of the promise that we'll be back," said Vermont Gas CEO Neale Lunderville - that "there's money available for some of these technologies, that we can help you with the same process."
The recovery teams are now under the umbrella of GreenSavingSmart, a pilot energy and financial coaching program for low-income residents run by the Vermont Community Action Partnership. They'll soon begin revisiting last fall's clients to facilitate a new round of resilient improvements.
"In the grand scheme of things, it's a hopeful pathway to allow these households to have - once they're fully made whole and recovered from all of this - a lower energy burden and cost burden than the situation they were in to begin with," said Steve Spatz, an account manager on the supply chain team at Efficiency Vermont. "It really is an opportunity to ... upgrade the conditions for the household."
Annie Ropeik wrote this article for Energy News Network.
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