“Let’s be realistic.” That’s the advice coming from a growing number of voices in climate circles in the US. In October, billionaire Bill Gates argued that a global temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius is unavoidable and not a “super bad outcome” — a view unlikely to be shared by the millions of people whose homes would be destroyed by the resulting mega storms and rising seas. In November, The Washington Post analyzed social media posts and public appearances to document how Democrats across the country were “going quiet on climate” to focus on affordability — as if one can’t talk about both. In December, one New York Times opinion article applauded abandoning goals that supposedly were “never attainable” anyway, such as cutting global emissions to zero. A second asserted that Democrats must “support America’s oil and gas industry” if they’re to win the presidency in 2028.
Proponents of this strategic shift fashion themselves as paragons of realism at a time when Donald Trump and many others on the right are attacking any form of environmental progress. But “climate hushing,” as the practice has come to be known, rests on a fundamental flaw: It focuses on only one form of climate realism, the political, while ignoring a more important one, the scientific.
Hushers may or may not be right about what’s realistic to expect from current leaders. But gaming out the politics of climate change has to be weighed against what thousands of alarmed scientists have been saying for years: Civilization is hurtling toward irreversible catastrophe, and the only realistic escape route is to phase out fossil fuels as quickly as possible. “Things aren’t just getting worse,” Zeke Hausfather, a co-author of the UN’s latest climate science report, told the Associated Press last June. “They’re getting worse faster.”
Of course political realities matter, but they can be changed; the laws of physics and chemistry cannot. Which means citizens and leaders around the world somehow must find ways to bring their respective political realities into alignment with scientific realities: to create the conditions to elect candidates, pass laws, and implement the many available solutions that scientists say will prevent unfathomable loss and suffering.
An overwhelming majority of the global public — 80 to 89% — wants their governments to take stronger climate action, as Covering Climate Now partners have reported via The 89 Percent Project. Even in the US, a petrostate in all but name, the number is 74%. When a candidate wins an election by 60% or more of the vote, we in the media call it a landslide. A tally of 74% amounts to blowout support for climate action.
People don’t necessarily vote that way, but US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse says it’s wrong to blame the electorate. Democrats keep “getting caught in this stupid doom loop in which our pollsters say: ‘Well, climate’s not one of the top issues that voters care about, so then we don’t talk about it,’” the Rhode Island Democrat said in July 2015. “So it never becomes one of the top issues that voters care about.”
One of the most powerful things anyone can do about climate change is talk about it, says Katharine Hayhoe, lead scientist at The Nature Conservancy. That goes double, she adds, for media professionals who reach large numbers of people. To think that any problem can be solved by hushed silence requires magical thinking, which is anything but realistic.
From Us
The Climate Newsroom. TOMORROW, Friday, January 16, is the deadline to apply for the next cohort of CCNow’s free training program for US journalists and meteorologists. Learn more and apply.
Locally Sourced newsletter. The latest edition of our biweekly newsletter for local journalists explores disappearing traditions and heritage, including food and Indigenous practices, as well as ways that climate change can erase our collective history. Check out the Locally Sourced archive and sign up to get the newsletter every other Tuesday.
WATCH: The Climate Story in 2026. CCNow was joined yesterday by climate experts Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa; Fiona Harvey, environment editor for The Guardian; and journalist and activist Bill McKibben, who shared perspective on the top climate stories journalists should be following in 2026. Watch a recording.
WATCH: Venezuela, Oil, and Climate Change. Last week, CCNow hosted a discussion in the aftermath of the US seizure of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro about what could happen to Venezuela’s oil reserves — and what that could ultimately mean for climate change. Watch a recording.
Noteworthy Stories
International law. The US plan to seize Venezuelan oil violates a landmark climate ruling from the International Court of Justice. Last year, the court determined that all countries must prevent or remedy harm to the climate, regardless of whether or not that country is a signatory to international climate agreements. By Nina Lakhani for Drilled Media…
Coal falls. Coal-generated power has fallen for the first time in 52 years in India and China — by 3% and 1.6% respectively — indicating that coal usage in both countries might peak before 2030. Despite energy use increasing in both countries, renewable energy sources made up the difference. By Lauri Myllyvirta for Carbon Brief…
Indonesia’s floods. In November, deadly floods displaced more than three million Indonesians and killed more than 1,000, highlighting the consequences of rampant deforestation and climate change. By Garry Lotulung for The Revelator…
Why Greenland? The Danish territory, which US president Donald Trump has set his sights on acquiring, is in the fastest warming region of the world, the Arctic. There, melting ice is opening up shipping routes and making access to critical minerals and fossil fuels easier. By Manuel Planelles for El País…
NOAA funding. The US Congress is set to preserve funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the NASA, rejecting Trump’s proposed cuts to the programs in 2025. The House passed the bill, and the Senate is expected to vote on it next week. By Andrew Freedman for CNN…
Research & Events
Monthly Climate Brief. Next Tuesday, January 20, at 12pm US Eastern Time, Climate Central will review 2025’s global weather, including climate records and extreme weather events. RSVP here.
Fourth hottest year. 2025 was the fourth hottest year on record, according to new analysis from Climate Matters, based on Climate Central’s Climate Shift Index. Learn more.
Top papers of 2025. Carbon Brief has compiled a list of the 25 most talked-about climate-related research papers of 2025. Read the list.
Jobs, Etc.
Jobs. Sentient is hiring a project coordinator for its Iowa Reporting Project (remote in Iowa). The Plumas Sun is hiring a disaster-recovery reporter (Plumas County, Calif.). The New York Times is hiring an assistant editor, climate (New York, N.Y.).
Fellowship. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute is accepting applications for its Science Communication Fellowships; apply by February 10. The University of Colorado at Boulder is accepting applications for its Ted Scripps Fellowship in Environmental Journalism; apply by March 1.
Workshop. The Climate Journalism Network Austria is organizing an investigative workshop, “Follow the Carbon, the Money and the Data,” in Vienna, for journalists based in Europe. In a two-day workshop, on April 24 and 25, participants will learn how to trace emissions, examine lobbying at the EU level, and follow financial flows. Apply by January 31.