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Bahamas Seeks Help to Pay off Debt Brought by Huge Storms, Result of Climate Change

News Feed
Wednesday, September 25, 2024

NEW YORK (AP) — The Bahamas is stuck in a financial pickle, much of it because of the whims of climate change, bureaucracy and the fossil fuel industry, said its prime minister, who adds that he is tired of promises of help but little action.Like many other countries in the Global South, Bahamas has a lot of debt from warming-connected weather disasters its leaders say it did little to cause.In October 2016, a powerful Category 4 Hurricane Matthew slammed into the Bahamas, causing more than $7 million in damage. Then in 2019 Hurricane Dorian, the strongest storm to hit his country on record, caused $3.4 billion in damage. By comparison the country’s annual revenue is only $2.8 billion to $2.9 billion a year, Davis said. So just four days wiped out more than a year’s worth of revenue.The country is now in debt by about $10 billion.Its leaders are seeking more help, more money, from the Global North and oil companies themselves, Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis said in an interview with The Associated Press. Climate finance — which is about the annual $2.4 trillion need for developing nations dealing with climate change and shifting to a greener economy — is a key issue this week at the United Nations and in November in international climate negotiations in Azerbaijan.But when Bahamas tries to get financial aid from already established funds, the country is told it's too well off. That's something other countries, especially small island nations, have complained about.Research shows that, generally, climate change has made the most powerful storms stronger and wetter. The Bahamas produces less heat-trapping carbon dioxide in one year than the United States does in four hours, according to figures from the Global Carbon Project, which tracks national emissions. Barbados prime minister calls for dramatic changes in debt relief Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who has been a leader in the call for changes in the climate financial system, earlier this week told a climate week session that 70% of the world's poor live in countries considered middle income and the system of financial help doesn't work for them, calling on dramatic changes in multi-national bank lending and debt relief.“We have seen some changes. We have seen some initiatives taken, but the problem is that the temperatures are moving faster than we are making changes,” Mottley said. "If that is the case we will have a bigger problem than we anticipated.”One of the biggest sticking points in international climate finance negotiations is not just how much is paid, but who pays it. Rich nations say the need is so big that all the money can't be grants from developed nations, and must include investments from private industry, including the banking sector.Both Davis and Mottley said they understand rich governments don't have enough money by themselves, so private help will play a role. But they add a catch. It should be as part of a “polluters pay” system that especially targets companies such as the fossil fuel industry that are heavily responsible for the climate change problem.“Some of the oil producing companies ought to pay at least 2% of their profits into a fund to help us in the global South,” Davis said. But he said he doubts that they'll do so willingly, so the Bahamas attorney general is pushing later this year to ask an international court to make the firms pay. Rising water, shrinking land Bahamas like other island nations is watching its land shrink and sink because of sea level rise, Davis said. There are 700 islands but they are only ten feet (three meters) above sea level.“We are standing on ground that is quickly disappearing,” Davis said.Still, Davis said even though many islands will be under water in 50 years or so, he refuses to see parts of his country “wiped off the map," adding how important sovereignty is for island nations that may get submerged, an issue that will be discussed in a special United Nations General Assembly sea level rise summit Wednesday.“I’m optimistic because I believe in human ingenuity. I believe that once we come together, you could defeat this existential threat to humanity,” Davis said. “Over the years, humankind has overcome many, many challenges. And this is just another one.”The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Sept. 2024

Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis tells The Associated Press that his nation is in a financial pickle

NEW YORK (AP) — The Bahamas is stuck in a financial pickle, much of it because of the whims of climate change, bureaucracy and the fossil fuel industry, said its prime minister, who adds that he is tired of promises of help but little action.

Like many other countries in the Global South, Bahamas has a lot of debt from warming-connected weather disasters its leaders say it did little to cause.

In October 2016, a powerful Category 4 Hurricane Matthew slammed into the Bahamas, causing more than $7 million in damage. Then in 2019 Hurricane Dorian, the strongest storm to hit his country on record, caused $3.4 billion in damage. By comparison the country’s annual revenue is only $2.8 billion to $2.9 billion a year, Davis said. So just four days wiped out more than a year’s worth of revenue.

The country is now in debt by about $10 billion.

Its leaders are seeking more help, more money, from the Global North and oil companies themselves, Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis said in an interview with The Associated Press. Climate finance — which is about the annual $2.4 trillion need for developing nations dealing with climate change and shifting to a greener economy — is a key issue this week at the United Nations and in November in international climate negotiations in Azerbaijan.

But when Bahamas tries to get financial aid from already established funds, the country is told it's too well off. That's something other countries, especially small island nations, have complained about.

Research shows that, generally, climate change has made the most powerful storms stronger and wetter. The Bahamas produces less heat-trapping carbon dioxide in one year than the United States does in four hours, according to figures from the Global Carbon Project, which tracks national emissions.

Barbados prime minister calls for dramatic changes in debt relief

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who has been a leader in the call for changes in the climate financial system, earlier this week told a climate week session that 70% of the world's poor live in countries considered middle income and the system of financial help doesn't work for them, calling on dramatic changes in multi-national bank lending and debt relief.

“We have seen some changes. We have seen some initiatives taken, but the problem is that the temperatures are moving faster than we are making changes,” Mottley said. "If that is the case we will have a bigger problem than we anticipated.”

One of the biggest sticking points in international climate finance negotiations is not just how much is paid, but who pays it. Rich nations say the need is so big that all the money can't be grants from developed nations, and must include investments from private industry, including the banking sector.

Both Davis and Mottley said they understand rich governments don't have enough money by themselves, so private help will play a role. But they add a catch. It should be as part of a “polluters pay” system that especially targets companies such as the fossil fuel industry that are heavily responsible for the climate change problem.

“Some of the oil producing companies ought to pay at least 2% of their profits into a fund to help us in the global South,” Davis said. But he said he doubts that they'll do so willingly, so the Bahamas attorney general is pushing later this year to ask an international court to make the firms pay.

Rising water, shrinking land

Bahamas like other island nations is watching its land shrink and sink because of sea level rise, Davis said. There are 700 islands but they are only ten feet (three meters) above sea level.

“We are standing on ground that is quickly disappearing,” Davis said.

Still, Davis said even though many islands will be under water in 50 years or so, he refuses to see parts of his country “wiped off the map," adding how important sovereignty is for island nations that may get submerged, an issue that will be discussed in a special United Nations General Assembly sea level rise summit Wednesday.

“I’m optimistic because I believe in human ingenuity. I believe that once we come together, you could defeat this existential threat to humanity,” Davis said. “Over the years, humankind has overcome many, many challenges. And this is just another one.”

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Where climate meets community

MIT’s Living Climate Futures Lab takes a human-centered approach to investigating a global challenge.

The MIT Living Climate Futures Lab (LCFL) centers the human dimensions of climate change, bringing together expertise from across MIT to address one of the world’s biggest challenges.The LCFL has three main goals: “addressing how climate change plays out in everyday life, focusing on community-oriented partnerships, and encouraging cross-disciplinary conversations around climate change on campus,” says Chris Walley, the SHASS Dean’s Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and head of MIT’s Anthropology Section. “We think this is a crucial direction for MIT and will make a strong statement about the kind of human-centered, interdisciplinary work needed to tackle this issue.”Walley is faculty lead of LCFL, working in collaboration with a group of 19 faculty colleagues and researchers. The LCFL began to coalesce in 2022 when MIT faculty and affiliates already working with communities dealing with climate change issues organized a symposium, inviting urban farmers, place-based environmental groups, and others to MIT. Since then, the lab has consolidated the efforts of faculty and affiliates representing disciplines from across the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) and the Institute.Amah Edoh, a cultural anthropologist and managing director of LCFL, says the lab’s collaboration with community organizations and development of experiential learning classes aims to bridge the gap that can exist between the classroom and the real world.“Sometimes we can find ourselves in a bubble where we’re only in conversation with other people from within academia or our own field of practice. There can be a disconnect between what students are learning somewhat abstractly and the ‘real world’ experience of the issues” Edoh says. “By taking up topics from the multidimensional approach that experiential learning makes possible, students learn to take complexity as a given, which can help to foster more critical thinking in them, and inform their future practice in profound ways.”Edoh points out that the effects of climate change play out in a huge array of areas: health, food security, livelihoods, housing, and governance structures, to name a few.“The Living Climate Futures Lab supports MIT researchers in developing the long-term collaborations with community partners that are essential to adequately identifying and responding to the challenges that climate change creates in everyday life,” she says.Manduhai Buyandelger, professor of anthropology and one of the participants in LCFL, developed the class 21A.S01 (Anthro-Engineering: Decarbonization at the Million-Person Scale), which has in turn sparked related classes. The goal is “to merge technological innovation with people-centered environments.” Working closely with residents of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Buyandelger and collaborator Mike Short, the Class of 1941 Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, helped develop a molten salt heat bank as a reusable energy source.“My work with Mike Short on energy and alternative heating in Mongolia helps to cultivate a new generation of creative and socially minded engineers who prioritize people in thinking about technical solutions,” Buyandelger says, adding, “In our course, we collaborate on creating interdisciplinary methods where we fuse anthropological methods with engineering innovations so that we can expand and deepen our approach to mitigate climate change.”Iselle Barrios ’25, says 21A.S01 was her first anthropology course. She traveled to Mongolia and was able to experience firsthand all the ways in which the air pollution and heating problem was much larger and more complicated than it seemed from MIT’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus.“It was my first exposure to anthropological and STS critiques of science and engineering, as well as international development,” says Barrios, a chemical engineering major. “It fundamentally reshaped the way I see the role of technology and engineers in the broader social context in which they operate. It really helped me learn to think about problems in a more holistic and people-centered way.”LCFL participant Alvin Harvey, a postdoc in the MIT Media Lab’s Space Enabled Research Group and a citizen of the Navajo Nation, works to incorporate traditional knowledge in engineering and science to “support global stewardship of earth and space ecologies.”"I envision the Living Climate Futures Lab as a collaborative space that can be an igniter and sustainer of relationships, especially between MIT and those whose have generational and cultural ties to land and space that is being impacted by climate change,” Harvey says. “I think everyone in our lab understands that protecting our climate future is a collective journey."Kate Brown, the Thomas M. Siebel Distinguished Professor in History of Science, is also a participant in LCFL. Her current interest is urban food sovereignty movements, in which working-class city dwellers used waste to create “the most productive agriculture in recorded human history,” Brown says. While pursuing that work, Brown has developed relationships and worked with urban farmers in Mansfield, Ohio, as well as in Washington and Amsterdam.Brown and Susan Solomon, the Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Studies and Chemistry, teach a class called STS.055 (Living Dangerously: Environmental Programs from 1900 to Today) that presents the environmental problems and solutions of the 20th century, and how some “solutions” created more problems over time. Brown also plans to teach a class on the history of global food production once she gets access to a small plot of land on campus for a lab site.“The Living Climate Futures Lab gives us the structure and flexibility to work with communities that are struggling to find solutions to the problems being created by the climate crisis,” says Brown.Earlier this year, the MIT Human Insight Collaborative (MITHIC) selected the Living Climate Futures Lab as its inaugural Faculty-Driven Initiative (FDI), which comes with a $500,000 seed grant.MIT Provost Anantha Chandrakasan, co-chair of MITHIC, says the LCFL exemplifies how we can confront the climate crisis by working in true partnership with the communities most affected.“By combining scientific insight with cultural understanding and lived experience, this initiative brings a deeper dimension to MIT’s climate efforts — one grounded in collaboration, empathy, and real-world impact,” says Chandrakasan.Agustín Rayo, the Kenan Sahin Dean of SHASS and co-chair of MITHIC, says the LCFL is precisely the type of interdisciplinary collaboration the FDI program was designed to support."By bringing together expertise from across MIT, I am confident the Living Climate Futures Lab will make significant contributions in the Institute’s effort to address the climate crisis," says Rayo.Walley said the seed grant will support a second symposium in 2026 to be co-designed with community groups, a suite of experiential learning classes, workshops, a speaker series, and other programming. Throughout this development phase, the lab will solicit donor support to build it into an ongoing MIT initiative and a leader in the response to climate change.

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Climate Change Boosted Hurricane Melissa's Destructive Winds and Rain, Analysis Finds

An analysis from World Weather Attribution reports human-caused climate change intensified the winds and rainfall unleashed by Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean

Human-caused climate change boosted the destructive winds and rain unleashed by Hurricane Melissa and increased the temperatures and humidity that fueled the storm, according to an analysis released Thursday.Melissa was one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes to make landfall and brought destructive weather to Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic and Cuba, causing dozens of deaths across the Caribbean. Roofs were torn off of homes, hospitals were damaged, roads were blocked by landslides and crop fields were ruined.The rapid analysis by World Weather Attribution found that climate change increased Melissa’s maximum wind speeds by 7% and made the rainfall 16% more intense. The scientists also wrote that the temperature and humidity in which the storm intensified were made six times more likely due to climate change compared to a pre-industrial world.Rapid attribution analyses are a type of research that study factors influencing an extreme weather event and explore what the event would have been like in a world without climate change. They are typically published days or weeks after an extreme weather event.Melissa slowly tracked across the region and drew in enormous amounts of energy from abnormally warm ocean water. The analysis reported ocean temperatures in Melissa’s path through the Caribbean were about 1.4°C (2.5°F) warmer compared to a pre-industrial climate.“Warmer ocean temperatures are effectively the engine that drives a hurricane … the warmer the ocean temperatures, the greater the wind speed a hurricane can have,” said Theodore Keeping, a climate scientist who works for WWA and contributed to the analysis.Melissa is the fourth storm in the Atlantic this year to undergo rapid intensification, which is when a tropical cyclone’s maximum sustained winds increase by at least 30 knots (about 35 mph or 56 kph) in 24 hours.“A hurricane this rare would actually have had wind speeds about 10 mph (16 kph) less extreme” in a pre-industrial climate, said Keeping. He said research links hurricane wind speeds to economic damage and there would have been less destruction caused by Melissa if the winds were slower.Scientists have linked rapid intensification of hurricanes in the Atlantic to human-caused climate change. Planet-warming gases released by humans, such as carbon dioxide, cause the atmosphere to hold more water vapor and increase ocean temperatures. Warmer oceans give hurricanes fuel to unleash more rain and strengthen more quickly. “It’s like basically taking a sponge and wringing it out, and climate change is making that sponge even larger,” said Brian Tang, a professor of atmospheric science at University at Albany.Tang, who was not involved in the WWA research, said the methodology of the study released Thursday seems robust, and one of the more novel aspects of the analysis was the connection the scientists drew between wind speeds and increase in damage, which he said is a challenging area of research.Andrew Dessler, professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University, who was not involved in the WWA research, said the findings of the rapid analysis are in line with existing research about climate change and tropical storms in the Atlantic. “This is completely consistent with our expectation of what’s going to happen in the future,” Dessler said.Rapid attribution analyses help fill the need for an explanation about the influence of climate change shortly after a catastrophic weather event occurs, said Dessler. He said such analyses are “very valuable as a quick look” before the scientists are able to do more time-consuming calculations. Dessler said one of the scariest aspects of Melissa was the storm's peak sustained winds of 185 mph (298 kph) winds. “That’s pretty rare to have a storm that strong. And I think that, to the extent that this is a harbinger of the future, it’s not good,” he said.The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

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UN Climate Summit Kicks off in Brazil's Amazon With Hopes for Action Despite US Absence

World leaders are gathering in a coastal city in the Brazilian Amazon for the U.N.'s annual climate summit

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — World leaders descending on the United Nations annual climate summit in Brazil this week will not need to see much more than the view from their airplane window to sense the unfathomable stakes. Surrounding the coastal city of Belem is an emerald green carpet festooned with winding rivers. But the view also reveals barren plains: some 17% of the Amazon's forest cover has vanished in the past 50 years, swallowed up for farmland, logging and mining.Often called the “lungs of the world” for its capacity to absorb vast quantities of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that warms the planet, the biodiverse Amazon rainforest has been increasingly choked by wildfires and cleared by cattle ranching.It is here on the edge of the world's largest tropical rainforest that Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva hopes to convince world powers to mobilize enough funds to halt the ongoing destruction of climate-stabilizing tropical rainforests in danger around the world and make progress on other critical climate goals.Organizers are hoping this year's Conference of Parties — known less formally as COP30 — will yield commitments of money and action to support the goals laid out at previous such meetings, billing it as the "Implementation COP." But they'll have to overcome reduced participation from the world's biggest emitters as the heads of the world’s three biggest polluters — China, the United States and India — will be notably absent.These tensions are on display as a preliminary leaders’ gathering gets underway on Thursday before formal U.N. climate talks kick off next week. US absence looms over leaders’ meeting That leaves the rest of the summit’s leaders — including U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron — to confront not only the consequences of an intensifying global climate crisis but a daunting set of political challenges.“Trump’s stance affects the whole global balance. It pushes governments further toward denial and deregulation,” said Nadino Kalapucha, the spokesperson for the Amazonian Kichwa Indigenous group in Ecuador. “That trickles down to us, to Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, where environmental protection is already under pressure.”Trump’s close ideological ally, President Javier Milei of Argentina called human-caused climate change a “socialist hoax,” threatened to quit the Paris Agreement and pulled Argentine negotiators out of last year’s summit in Azerbaijan as part of what he described as a reassessment of climate policy. Brazil illustrates climate dilemma He's expected to launch on Thursdays an initiative called the Tropical Forests Forever Fund, which aims to support more than 70 developing countries that commit to rainforest preservation. The official COP website describes the initiative as a “permanent trust fund” that would generate about $4 from the private sector for every $1 contributed.“We will go past the negotiation of rules to implementation,” Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira told reporters late Wednesday. “It will be the moment when global leaders face with honesty the challenge of climate change.”“I don’t want to be an environmental leader,” Lula said Tuesday. “I never claimed to be.” Logistical headaches for Brazil A town of 1.3 million inhabitants, Belem had just 18,000 hotel beds before its preparations to host the conference, which typically draws tens of thousands of delegates, environmentalists, company executives, journalists and other members of civil society. Foreign officials and journalists scrambled to reserve rooms as prices surged to surreal heights. Some booked spots on one of a few docked cruise ships brought into a nearby port for the occasion. Public schools, military facilities and even the local Internal Revenue Building have been outfitted with air-conditioning and bunk beds to become makeshift hostels. The more adventurous or frugal participants can pay $55 a night to crash in hammocks in a facility that normally caters to cats.“Some two-legged creatures deserve our generosity, too,” Eugênia Lima, the 59-year-old owner of a local cat hotel that stopped accepting feline guests to seize on spiking demand during COP30. “I am very proud that the world will be looking at us this month.” Belem's by-the-hour "love motels" have also cashed in, luring civil servants and climate scientists to rooms that would otherwise host prostitutes or couples in need of privacy. Usually $10 an hour, most love motels are charging COP30 guests $200 per night. Activists find a forum for protest Large-scale marches, sit-ins and rallies are essential aspects of annual U.N. climate talks, but the previous three summits have taken place in autocratic nations that outlaw most forms of protest. Egypt, the UAE and Azerbaijan complied with U.N. rules that facilitate pre-approved protests within a walled-off part of the venue not subject to local laws.Brazil is a different story. Even before the start of the leaders' summit, on Wednesday demonstrators were reveling in their much-missed freedom. Youth activists, Indigenous leaders and climate campaigners sailed into Belem on vessels outfitted with giant protest banners.“Action, justice, hope" read one sign strung between the sails of a boat belonging to environmental group Greenpeace. “Respect the Amazon” read another. Dozens disembarked after multi-day river journeys to rally along the coast."Being able to protest and dialogue is a great thing about this COP," said Laurent Durieux, a researcher at the U.S.-based International Relief and Development organization who arrived by boat from Santarem, a city 1,200 kilometers (1,000 miles) west of Belem.“Brazil has a long history of social struggle and that is part of this event."The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.orgCopyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

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William follows in mother Diana's footsteps with Rio statue photo

The Prince of Wales posed beneath the Christ the Redeemer statue 34 years after his mother did.

William follows in mother Diana's footsteps with statue photoDaniela Relph,Royal correspondent, Rio de Janeiro and Hafsa KhalilPA MediaThe Prince of Wales has followed in his mother's footsteps with a visit to the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.Prince William stood in the same spot that Diana, Princess of Wales, was photographed in 34 years ago.He is on the third day of his five-day visit to Brazil, where he will be presenting the Earthshot Prize, the annual award from the charity he set up.The star-studded event will be held in Rio's Museum of Tomorrow on Wednesday evening, where Kylie Minogue and Shawn Mendes will perform as five projects win £1m.Associated PressPrincess Diana pictured in front of the Christ the Redeemer statue in 1991The prince is also scheduled to give a speech at COP30, the UN's annual climate meeting.On a picture perfect day, the future king stood alone in a moment of reflection as he took in the views of Rio de Janeiro from the top of Mount Corcovado where Christ the Redeemer stands.The iconic and imposing statue is one of the largest Art Deco sculptures in the world, standing at 30 metres tall and reaching 28 metres wide with its outstretched arms.It has become a symbol of hope and resilience and is said to protect the people of Rio. Princess Diana posed in the same spot in April 1991 during her six-day tour of Brazil with the now King Charles III.During Prince William's walkabouts in Rio, dozens of people spoke to him about his late mother, who died in August 1997. "The prince has loved meeting so many people from across Rio over the last few days," said a spokesperson for the prince. "He's been incredibly struck by the number of people who fondly remember his mother's visit to this beautiful city."At Christ the Redeemer, Prince William also had some time away from the cameras in the chapel that sits beneath the statue.Security has been high throughout his trip.Public access to the statue was temporarily suspended to allow him to visit the site and meet the 15 Earthshot Prize finalists ahead of the evening's awards ceremony.ReutersThe Prince of Wales spoke to the Earthshot Prize finalists before Wednesday evening's ceremonyThe shortlist this year includes the city of Guangzhou in China and its electric public transport network, Lagos Fashion Week in Nigeria, nominated for its work reshaping the fashion industry, and Barbados for its environmental leadership.The prize annually awards a £1m grant in five different categories to projects that aim to repair the world's climate.UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will join the prince for the ceremony before they both head to Belem in the Amazon rainforest for COP30, where world leaders will discuss how to limit and pepare for further climate change.Prince William's first day in Brazil involved football in the Maracana Stadium and barefoot beach volleyball on Copacabana.On Tuesday, focus shifted to the environment - his reason for visiting the country.The prince criticised criminals for their involvment in the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest during a speech at the United for Wildlife conference.He also travelled to the small island of Paqueta, where he met locals, learnt about mangrove conservation and planted tree saplings.

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Democrats Win Big Over GOP Incumbents in 2 Statewide Georgia Utility Regulator Races

Democrats have won blowout victories in two races for the Georgia Public Service Commission

ATLANTA (AP) — Two Democrats romped to wins over Republican incumbents in elections to the Georgia Public Service Commission on Tuesday, delivering the largest statewide margins of victory by Democrats in more than 20 years.Wins by Democrats Peter Hubbard and Alicia Johnson over Republicans Fitz Johnson and Tim Echols are the first time Democrats have won statewide elections to a state-level office in Georgia since 2006. The victories could juice Democratic fundraising and enthusiasm next year, when Georgia’s ballot will be topped by Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff’s reelection bid and an open governor’s race.Both Hubbard and Johnson won nearly 63% of the vote in complete but unofficial results compiled by the Georgia Secretary of State. Results aren't official until certified, and turnout was only 30% of last year's presidential election. But such large victories in a swing state where Democrats have been able to eke out only the narrowest wins suggest discontent over high electricity bills could be a potent political issue nationwide.“The people of Georgia came out very strong and said, ’You know what? We’re not putting up with it no more,’” Democratic Party of Georgia Chair Charlie Bailey said. “We’re ready to turn the page on this 22 years of Republican rule in our state that has made the American dream less attainable now than it was 22 years ago.”Georgia wasn't the only state where electricity prices are a political issue this year. They were debated in governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia. Nationwide, electric prices for residential consumers went up 5.2% from July 2024 to July 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.“I think that we decisively won this election, flipped two seats to the Democrats on this all-Republican Public Service Commission because they were not centering the people in their decision making,” Hubbard told The Associated Press, saying commissioners have been “rubber-stamping” the plans of Georgia Power Co., the state’s only privately owned utility.Georgia's Public Service Commission had been made up of five Republicans, and a three-member GOP majority will remain after Hubbard and Alicia Johnson take office in January.“Georgia Power has always worked constructively with the elected members of the Georgia Public Service Commission, and we will continue to do so,” said Matthew Kent, a company spokesperson.Alicia Johnson will become the first Black woman elected to a partisan office statewide in Georgia. Multiple Black women have won nonpartisan elections to statewide courts after being appointed by governors. Environmental groups backed Democrats Environmental groups led by Georgia Conservation Voters spent more than $3 million to elect Hubbard, a green energy advocate and Johnson, a health care consultant, because they see the current commission as too friendly to utility plans to keep burning climate-changing fossil fuels to generate power.Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and other Republicans pledged to spend millions of their own, urging Republicans to reject green energy and vote on party loyalty. The GOP sees Tuesday’s results as a fluke, driven by unusual off-year elections following a court case that took place as elections in Atlanta and other cities drew Democrats to the polls.“Voters have chose a different direction in this election, but I'm certain the underlying policies offered by the Democrats don't reflect the preferences of the majority of Georgians,” said Fitz Johnson, who was appointed to the commission in 2021 by Kemp. Hubbard must run for reelection in 2026 and Fitz Johnson pledged to challenge him next year.Hubbard pledged aggressive action to cut rates in the next year.“I intend to ask hard questions of Georgia Power Co. about why they’re constantly pushing what is lucrative for their shareholders,” Hubbard said. Focus on costs yields Democratic blowout Echols said Democrats were effective in appealing to voters unhappy with bill increases from Georgia Power, which serves 2.3 million customers. The unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co. has raised bills six times in recent years because of higher natural gas costs and construction projects, including two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta. A typical Georgia Power residential customer now pays more than $175 a month, including taxes.“The Democrats, really, I think, did a good job focusing everything on that power bill,” Echols, who had served on the commission since 2011, said in an election-night webcast.Republicans touted a three-year freeze in base rates they enacted in July. They tried to flip the cost argument, claiming Democrats would try to shutter natural gas plants, drive up power bills with environmental mandates and unfairly subsidize poorer customers.Ed McElveen of Stone Mountain, said he backed Republican incumbents. “I wanted somebody who knows what they’re doing,” McElveen said.But even some voters who aren't Georgia Power customers voted Tuesday to express their discontent.“I’ve heard a lot of bad things about Georgia Power,” said Angela Ford, also of Stone Mountain. She gets her electricity from a cooperative.The breadth of the Republican defeat was stunning. Turnout lagged in key Republican areas during early voting. GOP hopes for a comeback grew as Election Day turnout soared, but Democrats scored a blowout win among those who voted Tuesday as well. They made deep inroads into Republican territories, for example, winning the Augusta suburb of Columbia County, which Trump carried 62% to 37% last year.Associated Press writer Charlotte Kramon contributed to this report.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

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Follows the construction of the first net-zero, passive house built in the Greater Tetons-Yellowstone region near Jackson, WY, while explaining the Passive House building approach for designing and constructing more sustainable buildings and exploring the many associated climate and energy performance benefits. Features the home’s designers – Lindsey Love and Lindsay Schack, co-founders of a sustainable architecture and design firm based out of Bozeman, MT and Driggs, ID – along with building and climate experts.

Energy
Solutions
Climate

Rise and Fall

A film to provide an awareness of climate change and the individual measures we can take to combat it. The production process of Rise and Fall began as your stereotypical documentary meant to showcase various aspects of the Earth and Ocean Sciences Department at UNCW. Still, as the interview process was underway, it was quickly decided to move in another direction. It is an essay film about the science of climate change, what we can do in our day-to-day lives to combat it, and its impacts. Without using talking heads, the images of the natural world provide a sensual look at what will be affected by climate change.

Climate
Nature
Documentary

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