Time to vote: Pick your favorite headlines from 2036
Let's manifest a better future.
Last month, I asked you what you want the world to look like in 10 years — and to send me the headlines you’d like to see a decade from now.
Thank you to everyone who joined the fun! Nearly 60 people submitted more than 100 headlines. There were so many satisfying and creative ideas; narrowing down the list to a dozen of my favorites wasn’t easy. But I did my best:
Last U.S. coal plant shut down ahead of schedule due to spiraling maintenance costs
Exxon declares bankruptcy, CEO Darren Woods faces climate damages trial
Data centers were supposed to house the ‘technology of the future.’ Now, abandoned warehouses are providing critical shelter for bats and raccoons
For the first time in 25 years, teens spend more time in nature than on their devices
Asthma rates hit record lows as pollution disappears
With 100% of new car sales now electric, buyback program for legacy gas-powered cars ready to scale
Solar has now been the largest source of new power worldwide for 15 years straight
Clean air milestone: Last natural gas appliance replaced with cheaper, cleaner heat pump
It’s official: More people bike in L.A. than Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Paris combined
Gen Alpha can’t believe we once cleared rainforests for burgers
U.S. beats Australia, offers free clean energy during all daylight hours
Central Arizona Project canal is completely covered and powered by solar panels, with Colorado River water still flowing in it
Now it’s time to vote: Click here and choose the three you like best. The people who submitted the three winning entries will get yearlong paid subscriptions to Climate-Colored Goggles, free of charge.
More importantly, I will announce the winners and tell everyone how awesome you are. That is, assuming you want me to!
OK, stay tuned for the results.
Get ready for big news on the Colorado
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U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum says the Trump administration’s plan for divvying up water shortages along the Colorado River will arrive next week. Details here from my former L.A. Times colleague Ian James.
My extremely non-urgent question: Will the details drop before or after Tuesday, 7/28 at 4 p.m. PT? That’s when I’m hosting a Zoom conversation with Utah journalist Zak Podmore about his excellent book, “Life After Dead Pool: Lake Powell’s Last Days and the Rebirth of the Colorado River.”
Zak holds the increasingly popular view that Westerners be better off without Lake Powell, one of two gigantic reservoirs along the Colorado (along with Lake Mead). I’m excited to ask him about his reporting, and to hear your questions!
If you can’t join Zak and me on Tuesday, I’ll send out the video afterward — but only to Climate-Colored Goggles paid subscribers. Subscribe here if you’re interested!
A few other Colorado River headlines:
California keeps stepping up to protect the reservoirs — with financial support from the federal government, anyway. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will pay Southern California water users up to $65 million to leave up to 200,000 acre-feet in Lake Mead. (Lila Seidman, L.A. Times)
Colorado announced a state-run conservation program. Don’t go looking for any guarantees about how much Colorado River water the state will conserve, though. (Heather Sackett, Aspen Journalism)
The Trump administration says the razorback sucker, a fish native to the Grand Canyon, is no longer endangered — it’s just “threatened” now. Conservationists disagree. (Shaun McKinnon, Arizona Republic)
In other news
The energy transition:
Several of the world’s largest solar projects are getting built and planned in California’s Central Valley as farmers stare down the reality of dwindling water supplies. (Blanca Begert and Ian James, L.A. Times)
Enhanced geothermal is so hot, even the leading old-school geothermal company, Ormat Technologies, is getting in on the game with a project in Nevada. (Maria Gallucci, Canary Media)
U.S. electric vehicle sales in the first half of 2026 were down 23.8% from the first half of last year. Thank you, President Trump and Republicans in Congress. (Dan Gearino, Inside Climate News)
MAGA nonsense:
The Trump administration declared that when species are listed as “threatened,” it will no longer be illegal to kill them. (Jake Spring, Washington Post)
Trump didn’t just slash 91% of Bears Ears National Monument — he eliminated the first-of-its-kind tribal commission that helped manage the monument. (Anna V. Smith, High Country News)
The president claims we have an energy emergency. He is also doing everything in his power to make sure you use as much energy as possible, obliterating a decades-long bipartisan consensus on efficiency. (Brad Plumer, New York Times)
Words and deeds:
A federal judge blocked California’s “Truth in Recycling” law, agreeing with industry groups that it might violate companies’ free speech rights. (Susanne Rust, L.A. Times)
Politico has one of the world’s largest climate reporting teams. Meanwhile, its parent company is controlled by a private equity firm with major investments in natural gas. The company is also run by a guy determined to steer the political discourse toward the right. (Amy Westervelt, Drilled)
The World Cup’s new hydration breaks have media companies “salivating” as they think about all the money they can make selling TV ads during future soccer matches, ESPN reports — in a story that doesn’t mention why hydration breaks are now necessary. (Spoiler alert: climate change!)
Last but not least: California officials say the state’s investor-owned utilities can no longer shut off power to customers for nonpayment when temperatures exceed 90 degrees, CalMatters’ Alejandro Lazo reports. That still feels pretty high to me! The previous threshold, if you can believe it, was 100 degrees.
Fun idea! How did I miss this? Here’s another: Sea otters return to Northern California coast as kelp forest flourishes
My God, those headlines were GOOD. It was so hard to choose. Thank you for the feelings of Hope.