Last week we celebrated Earth day with the theme “Our Power, Our Planet.” Earth Day started in 1970 when 20 million Americans demonstrated for environmental protection. This led to the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Earth Day participation has grown to almost 1 billion people in 2026. If you missed it, don’t worry. Activities to save the Earth happen every day! We will highlight some of them in this column.
Katharine Hayhoe reports on the growth of the clean energy transition this week. Global investment in clean energy grew by 8% in 2025 to a record $2.3 trillion. While this is not enough (The investment in 2021 was 27%.), it is very encouraging that despite federal policies working against the transition, investment grew and it outpaced fossil fuel investment.
We can help speed that growth. State and federal policies that favor clean transition investment are meeting strong backlash from Big Oil. We need to write to our local government agencies to support clean air and clean water when we learn of efforts to derail good environmental protections. For example, the Bay Area Air District is considering limits to the policies they passed to stop sales of gas water heaters in their meeting next week. Valid exceptions to the rule are being considered for low-income and complicated installations, but oil-interests are working to use this opportunity to remove the foundation of the policy. Gas water heaters and furnaces add more polluting nitrogen oxides to the air than all the cars and trucks in California. Postcards to oppose weakening the restrictions, to support reducing air pollution and to increase safety for the future are available at the church. You can also write to the Board HERE.