Many gardeners work hard to maintain clean, tidy environments ... which is the exact opposite of what wildlife wants, says ecological horticulturist Rebecca McMackin. She shows the beauty of letting your garden run wild, surveying the success she's had increasing biodiversity even in the middle of New York City — and offers tips for cultivating a garden that can be home to birds, bees, butterflies and more.
In the first four months of 2026, the average wholesale electricity price in Spain was €44 per megawatt-hour. In Italy, it was €127. In Germany, €96. In the UK, €103. Spain is now cheaper than France, well below the central-European bloc, and within striking distance of the Nordic hydro-and-nuclear heavyweights that have always topped the cheap-power league.
This is not where most observers expected Spain to be. A decade ago, Spain was a cautionary tale of stranded solar investment and one of Europe’s more expensive power markets. Today it sits near the bottom of the price table, and the gap is widening.
The story behind that ranking is, on its surface, simple. Spain increasingly pulled gas out of its electricity supply, and the price of electricity followed. But it is more complex than that.
If you stack solar and wind against all fossil generation (gas plus the last embers of coal and oil), the lines crossed in 2022. That was the first year wind plus solar generated more electricity than every fossil source combined. Through the first quarter of 2026, the gap has widened further. Solar and wind delivered 44% of generation, fossil fuels 17%.
This is the structural story that many arguments about energy policy circle around. Spain did not just add renewables on top of a fossil base. It substituted. The fossil curve has been falling, year after year, while the renewable curve has been climbing.
OP: https://janrosenow.substack.com/p/spain-just-became-one-of-europes
So, I was inspired by u/sg_plumber post about the worst-case emissions scenarios (aka "Business As Usual") are now officially implausible and u/Muchaton replied to my questions under said post where they said that the worst-case scenario (RCP 8.5) was doomerism and is retired. The second-worst case (RCP6) is the new 'worst case' we should have been worried about. We're on track to do better than third-worst case RCP4.5, and it got me wondering how many more worst-case scenarios we've avoided and potentially going to avoid or are we still potentially doomed? I know this is probably a dumb question, but I just wanted to know for my peace of mind and to share with others, especially my younger brother. Be sure to leave your sources, and no doomer comments, please
I'm also concerned about this 'Super El Niño', which's apparently the strongest since the 1870s. Is there any hope to be found?
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hey sorry for this post I just have no one else to talk too about any of this. I try and be a positive and optimistic person in regards to climate change and hope for the future but at the minute I just seemed to have hit a slump, everywhere I turn seems to be negative headlines one after each other and it’s really affecting my mental health.
im only 26 and have always dreamed of being a mum one day but I genuinely feel so scared to even do that 😭 so sorry but I could really use some optimism right about now
