Scorching summer days have become the norm in the United States and in Europe, often leading to brown or blackouts and even deaths, with initial reports stating that this year’s heatwaves in Europe may have killed more than 10,000 people.
In the U.S., Americans were blasting air conditioners and fans, attempting to keep cool. And the U.S. electric grid stood up to the challenge thanks to the help of clean-energy sources.
Cabell Eames, chief strategist for Castling Strategies, which supports climate, clean-energy and resilience advocacy statewide, said this is an exciting and essential finding for the country’s energy policy.
“What we’re seeing now is that solar and battery storage and other renewable resources are increasingly stepping in during those critical afternoon hours when electricity demand is at its highest,” Eames said. “They’re helping keep the lights on while reducing pollution at that very moment when people are most vulnerable to poor air quality. This is evidence that clean energy isn’t just reducing emissions — it’s becoming part of the reliability strategy.”
Meanwhile, Massachusetts officials held their first environmental justice summit in Worcester last month, focusing on “expanding language access, supporting engagement with the state’s Indigenous tribes and pursuing litigation to preserve environmental protections,” according to the Bay State Banner.
Dr. Gaurab Basu, a physician and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, said he is struck by the importance of democracy in the overall strategy to reduce negative climate practices in order to move toward a more equitable, environmentally just future.
“Climate solutions are intertwined with healthy democratic processes, and we need this discussion, this community organizing, bringing voices to the forefront, working through thorny and hard issues,” Dr. Basu said. “We’ve got to bring everyone forward together and recognize the ways in which people have been left behind and how people are just disproportionately harmed.”
And a group of scientists recently published an article on free-ranging cats, stating that these felines have been munching on much more than birds and small rodents.
“The data surprisingly said that at least 7% of the [cat] species eat insects like beetles and even little crustaceans and centipedes and slugs and millipedes,” said Beth Daley, executive editor and general manager of The Conversation, U.S.
But could they be eating endangered species or affecting the population of certain types of critters? Not quite, Daley said.
“The researchers did not find like, ‘Wow, cats are eating mosquitoes, and that’s going to reduce the mosquito population.’ But it’s an interesting take on looking at these domesticated animals that we take for granted every day. And I think there’s more research to be needed, like exactly more specifically what they’re eating. And I know those researchers are continuing to look at that,” Daley said.
All that and more on this week’s environmental news roundtable!
Guests
- Beth Daley, executive editor and general manager of The Conversation, U.S.
- Cabell Eames, chief strategist for Castling Strategies
- Dr. Gaurab Basu, a physician and assistant professor of global health and social medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Stories discussed in this week’s roundtable
- Boston Globe: What two continents’ heat waves tell us about the climate crisis
- Canary Media: Clean energy helped the grid avoid heat-wave catastrophe
- Earth.org: Ongoing European Heatwave, Most Severe Ever Recorded, ‘Virtually Impossible’ 50 Years Ago: Study
- CNBC: New York becomes first U.S. state to impose AI data center ban
- The Bay State Banner: Massachusetts officials come together to address environmental justice at first joint summit
- Commonwealth Beacon: Healing or harming? Boston hospitals struggle with emissions.
- The Conversation: Beyond birds and mice, free‑ranging cats eat a surprising number of insects
