Evan George
@evanlgeorge.bsky.social
Writer, editor, strategist on climate policy & environmental law. Communications Director at the UCLA Emmett Institute. I write The Drain column, a weekly roundup of climate and environmental news.
There's long been lots of playlists for rainy weather, but unfortunately, we now have them for orange smoke days too. If you're looking for music that will inspire, depress, console and reflect, I've now got 480+ songs on the Drain climate playlist. Here's the ones inspired by wildfires. 🔥🧵
Yes, talking about climate change is a political winner. And @leahstokes.bsky.social has a new newsletter about it called Electric Era, on building an electrified, abundant clean energy future. electricnotes.news/p/yes-democr...
Yes, Democrats Should Talk About Climate.
Talking about Climate Change is a Political Winner.
electricnotes.news
"Aramco is a supervillain": I wrote about the Saudi Aramco ads plastering the World Cup, and how they're part of Mohammed bin Salman's master plan to make you love Saudi Arabia and stay hooked on its oil — with help from FIFA and Trump: www.climatecoloredgoggles.com/p/world-cup-...
'Aramco is a supervillain': How the Saudis weaponized soccer
Mohammed bin Salman has a master plan to make you love Saudi Arabia. Trump and FIFA are helping.
climatecoloredgoggles.com
Why are wildfires getting worse? UCLA researchers point to climate change and fuel buildup. “These high-severity, forest-replacing fires used to be uncommon, and now it’s the dominant fire type.” h/t @ahewitt.bsky.social newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/why-...
Why are wildfires getting worse? UCLA researchers point to climate and fuel buildup
A UCLA-led study finds California's forests are burning more severely than at any point in the last 40 years — a change linked to both climate change and forest management.
newsroom.ucla.edu
ExxonMobil’s executive counsel is joining the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and is "poised to help lead the Trump administration’s efforts to protect companies like Exxon from climate lawsuits."
DeSmog@desmog.com · 4w ago🚨New🚨 A 17-year veteran of Exxon will be joining the Justice Department team that's suing states over lawsuits and laws that hold fossil fuel companies — including Exxon — accountable for climate change. What could go wrong?
Trump 2.0 has now killed or downsized 216 major clean energy projects. A new report from E2 says that’s fired nearly half a million jobs - many of them auto jobs. h/t @danmccarthy.bsky.social e2.org/releases/can...
Clean Energy Cancellations Cost U.S. 470,000 Jobs, Hundreds of Billions in GDP | E2
One year after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) was signed into law—rolling back tax credits and programs related to clean energy manufacturing and renewable electricity—a new economic analysis ...
e2.org
In the U.S., 65% say global warming is important to them; 76% are interested in news about how climate affects cost of living; BUT only 39% of Americans say they hear about global warming in the media at least once a month: @yaleclimatecomm.bsky.social climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications...
Climate Change in the American Mind: Beliefs & Attitudes, Spring 2026
This report is based on findings from a nationally representative survey – Climate Change in the American Mind – conducted jointly by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Ma...
climatecommunication.yale.edu
As some US news outlets retreat from climate coverage, hundreds of news orgs in Japan are headed in the opposite direction, @coveringclimatenow.org says, and 136 outlets joined a public awareness project called “I am one of the 89% who want to stop global warming.” www.un.org/en/climatech...
UN and media in Japan team up to turn silent majority into a collective voice to stop global warming | United Nations
un.org
Good news: The Ninth Circuit just upheld an important air pollution rule, and it did so in a way that continues to build momentum for efforts to move away from fossil-fuel-powered appliances. Excuse the wonkiness but limiting EPCA preemption is a huge win for clean air. 🧵⬇️
Aramco's sponsorship deal with Fifa has featured prominently at matches in Houston. But 100 miles away in Port Aurthur, "residents say the firm’s refinery is exposing them to poisonous gases and long-term health problems." www.theguardian.com/football/202...
‘This is a hellhole’: Aramco makes its presence hurt in the shadow of the World Cup
The oil giant’s sponsorship deal with Fifa has featured prominently at matches in Houston. But 100 miles away in another Texas city, residents say the firm’s refinery is exposing them to poisonous gas...
theguardian.com
PG&E is the first investor-owned utility in California to propose a tariff specific to large-load customers like data centers, so the proceeding is attracting attention from ratepayer advocacy groups. Here's how they say the CPUC can ensure that ratepayers benefit. legal-planet.org/2026/06/29/a...
A Tariff on Data Centers Could Help Them Pay Their Fair Share - Legal Planet
California could design a rate structure for large load customers to join the electric grid without burdening ratepayers.
legal-planet.org
A lot of people ask us: "What's the #1 climate solution?" 🌍 Our answer is always the same: there isn't one. Our reasoning is simple: meaningful climate action requires nearly all of them, working together, across every sector. Dig into the full dataset → drawdown.org/explorer #ProjectDrawdown
If you follow decarbonization, you'll be interested to know the California Public Utilities Commission has released its long-awaited proposed decision on its plans to implement the SB 1221 pilot program, and that proposal is…disappointing. @denisegrab.bsky.social legal-planet.org/2026/06/24/c...
CPUC Proposed Decision Risks Derailing Gas Transition - Legal Planet
California passed a promising Neighborhood Decarbonization Program. The CPUC’s plan for implementing SB 1221 sets it up to fail.
legal-planet.org
Got my mind blown by @gaslitdoc.bsky.social, which shows IRL effects of the US becoming the world’s LNG producer. Jane Fonda tours oil fields, gas terminals and plastics plants to meet heroic folks fighting back and takes friends Maggie Rogers & Connie Britton along. Worth dragging friends & fam to.
Love that @evanlgeorge.bsky.social collated a Climate Playlist. More than 400 songs, 30 hours of music. legal-planet.org/2026/06/18/b...
Think No One Writes Climate Songs? Here are 400 - Legal Planet
Just in time for summer, the Drain's Climate Playlist is now 30 hours of music with environmental themes from pop to folk to rap.
legal-planet.org
Excited to share the cover and an early endorsement from @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social for my forthcoming book, "The Carbon Wave." It's out Sept. 1! Preorders help the book travel further. The book is on sale this week with free shipping at Bookshop. Order your copy today! bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
👀The Home Energy Choice Act (AB 2313) is before the California Senate's energy committee next Tuesday. It’s the “biggest no-brainer of the state legislative session” according to @earthjustice.org @righttozero.bsky.social earthjustice.org/experts/matt...
Californians Deserve to Choose the Energy Source for their Homes — a New Bill Would Give Them the Freedom and Funds to Do So
The Home Energy Choice Act (AB 2313) is the biggest no-brainer of the state legislative session
earthjustice.org
Climate.us is officially live! After NOAA ended Climate.gov’s day-to-day operations in 2025, former team members built Climate.us to carry that work forward. Their explanations and graphics have always stood out to me as clear, accessible, and transparent. I’m really looking forward to this reboot.
Climate.us Home
independent, nonprofit, and immune to politics
climate.us
Good reporting from @gustavoarellano.bsky.social on the warehouse fire. He quotes our Prof. Ann Carlson on the lasting legacy of Mothers of East Los Angeles. "And yet the Eastside continues to have to fight for the basic right of being able to live in clean neighborhoods," Arellano writes.
Col. Gustavo Arellano@gustavoarellano.bsky.social · last mo.MY LATEST @latimes.com ESSENTIAL CALIFORNIA NEWSLETTER: The Boyle Heights fire is latest pollution crisis to affect L.A.'s Eastside. Share, porfas!
There's a serial killer on the loose this summer. It's called extreme heat.
San Francisco Film Patrons Are Found Dead on Side of Highway
nytimes.com
This 3,650 MW project, a big piece of our energy future here in the West, just came on line.
LCV – League of Conservation Voters 🌎@lcv.org · 2mo ago🚨 BIG NEWS: The largest wind project in the U.S. just came online in New Mexico. The SunZia Wind Project features 916 turbines that will power homes in Arizona and California via a high-voltage transmission line. This is a huge victory for our environment and lower costs!
There are lots of good reasons to be skeptical of geoengineering deployment and to research the myriad governance issues around it. So the hyperbole of OpEds like this that argue for all out bans is becoming rather tiresome. Good on the Guardian for exploring the topic.
Michael E. Mann@michaelemann.bsky.social · 2mo ago‘Termination shock’: trust our expert warnings on geoengineering’s planetary risks | New op-ed in @theguardian.com by Ray Pierrehumbert (@climatebook.bsky.social), Julia Slingo, @valmasdel.bsky.social & yours truly: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Think no one writes climate songs? I found 419 of them (!) for 30 hours of environmental music. My summertime Climate Playlist spans from the 1960s to new releases this month. In fact, a huge number of these tracks are from the last 5 years. And they're not downers. legal-planet.org/2026/06/18/b...
Think No One Writes Climate Songs? Here are 400 - Legal Planet
Just in time for summer, the Drain's Climate Playlist is now 30 hours of music with environmental themes from pop to folk to rap.
legal-planet.org
Laying off 2 climate journalists and killing the Climate Desk is a step backward for NPR. The good news: local public radio stations are still doing climate journalism. These 33 local climate reporters are still at it. @coveringclimatenow.org @sammyroth.bsky.social legal-planet.org/2026/06/16/n...
NPR Cut Its Climate Desk. These 33 Local Climate Reporters Are Still at It - Legal Planet
Laying off 2 climate journalists is a step backward for NPR. The good news is that local radio stations are still doing climate journalism.
legal-planet.org
It’s worse than I previously reported: NPR not only fired its chief climate editor and ended the Climate Desk as a standalone team but has also laid off longtime energy correspondent Jeff Brady. By my count, NPR reduced the climate team by 22% and the science desk by 50%.
Not believing in science really comes back to bite you, doesn’t it?
Headed to London Climate Action Week? Here's a roundup of recent developments and news that explain why #methane pollution is a focus of the event. stopmethane.substack.com/p/methane-ne...
Methane News Ahead of London Climate Week
Global attention to methane pollution is growing thanks to several international meetings. Here’s a roundup of recent news developments on methane.
stopmethane.substack.com
My article, State Climate Superfunds, has been years in the making, and I'm so thrilled it is now published with Columbia Law Review: columbialawreview.org/content/stat...
STATE CLIMATE SUPERFUNDS - Columbia Law Review
Introduction On a summer day in July 2023, the skies over Vermont turned apocalyptic. A massive thunderstorm dumped two months of rainfall over the state in about twenty four hours, leading to flash f...
columbialawreview.org