Karin Kirk

4 weeks ago | yaleclimateconnections.org | Karin Kirk

When former President Joe Biden left office, the Department of Energy was overseeing more than $300 billion in public and private investments in clean energy under the Inflation Reduction Act. Nearly three-quarters of these investments were slated to flow to states that voted for President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, a Yale Climate Connections analysis shows.

Jan 14, 2025 | bozemandailychronicle.com | Karin Kirk

Anderson was a witness for the state in Montana’s youth climate trial, and his role was to downplay the impacts of Montana’s climate-warming pollution. But he got his math wrong, repeatedly. He confused Montana’s emissions with that of the entire Mountain West region. He claimed he used 2022 greenhouse gas emissions data, even though data had only been released through 2020. When pressed, he said he didn’t remember where he got his numbers from.

Jan 3, 2025 | yaleclimateconnections.org | Karin Kirk

The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a Yale Climate Connections review of campaign donations. The industry gave an additional $2 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign, bringing the total spending on the winning candidates to over $26 million, 88% of which went to Republicans.

Oct 29, 2024 | yaleclimateconnections.org | Karin Kirk

Plenty of people enjoy the thrill of driving a fast car, but I’ve never been one of them. I appreciate the enticing pull of acceleration, but the downside of pollution ruined all the fun. In fact, pretty much every time I drove a car it was with pangs of guilt. But now that’s changed. My car runs on sunshine. After years of saving money, my husband and I bought an electric vehicle and had solar panels put on our roof.

Oct 23, 2024 | billingsgazette.com | Karin Kirk

I got a postcard the other day, and I’ll bet you got it, too. It said we need to “unleash American energy,” a phrase that is as wrong as it is tiresome. American energy has been unleashed. The U.S. is producing more energy than it ever has. Furthermore, we’re producing more energy than any nation on Earth. The leashes are off, the energy industry is galloping forward. Montana can’t say the same, though. The galloping horse of the energy economy has taken off without us.