this post was submitted on 21 May 2026
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Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.

As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades: Graph of temperature as observed with significant warming, and simulated without added greenhouse gases and other anthropogentic changes, which shows no significant warming

How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world: IPCC AR6 Figure 2 - Thee bar charts: first chart: how much each gas has warmed the world. About 1C of total warming. Second chart: about 1.5C of total warming from well-mixed greenhouse gases, offset by 0.4C of cooling from aerosols and negligible influence from changes to solar output, volcanoes, and internal variability. Third chart: about 1.25C of warming from CO2, 0.5C from methane, and a bunch more in small quantities from other gases. About 0.5C of cooling with large error bars from SO2.

Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:

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Trump to Ease Restrictions on Climate ‘Super Pollutants’ | The administration will delay a phase out of hydrofluorocarbons, potent planet-warming chemicals used in air-conditioning and refrigeration. (www.nytimes.com)
submitted 5 days ago by silence7@slrpnk.net to c/climate@slrpnk.net
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I'll note that new consumer appliances shifted away from these a while back. So the cost benefit isn't for consumers; it's for corporations which have large existing systems which are leaking.

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[–] trailee@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 days ago

HFCs include popular refrigerants such as R-134a, which was introduced as a less bad alternative to CFCs such as R-12, but which has also been superseded by even less bad alternatives such as R-1234yf. This has been good for American manufacturing, as it stimulates turnover in durable goods (expensive) rather than just recharging leaking systems with additional refrigerant (cheap):

Air-conditioning and refrigeration manufacturers had supported the original restrictions, saying less harmful chemicals were available and that a shift toward those alternatives was already underway. The original rule was also seen as a win for American companies like Honeywell and Chemours that produce and sell alternatives to HFCs.

“American manufacturers did what Congress and the first Trump administration asked them to do: They invested in new equipment, new refrigerants, new production lines and American workers,” said John Hurst, the executive director of the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy, an industry group. “The administration has now changed course in a way that weakens those investments.”

So this move is a combination of environmental middle finger and drag on US GDP, hurting sales of domestic manufacturing.

Allowing Kroger to further limp along their leaking refrigerators will be somewhat meaningful to their bottom line, by delaying capital expenses that they’ve been expecting to incur (and presumably budgeting for). But it’s not going to be meaningful to retail grocery prices.

Consumers owning old vehicles with bad A/C might benefit from being able to buy more R-134a for a bit longer, but that’s not what’s motivating it, since Trump doesn’t care about the little guy.