Before we forget last year...

PRESENTED BY CYANISTES CÆRULEUS

Today, I’m not even going to try to keep up with the first two weeks of 2026, I need to bake a carrot cake. All I’ve got for you is an overview of 2025 in climate, a brief check-in of Congress, and some great jobs listings. Diving in:

2025 ranks as the third-highest year—after 2023 and 2024—for billion-dollar climate disasters in the U.S., according to the U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters website. This was a NOAA project led by scientist Adam Smith until he was illegally fired by the Trump regime. (Smith was hired to continue his project by Climate Central.) As Rob Lenihan summarizes:

NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, which have not yet been dismantled by the Trump regime, announced that 2025 was the lower 48’s fourth hottest year on record, behind only 2024, 2012, and 2016. We lost out to Europe and the world, where it was the third hottest year on record, cooler only than 2023 and 2024.

In response, the House GOP is voting today to effectively block private pension funds from considering climate change in their investment strategies (H.R. 2988).

It’s not all bad in the House, though, as Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La., no relation) hold on the chamber slips.

Led by Democrats, the House yesterday passed the bipartisan, mostly-not-terrible-given-the-circumstances FY26 Financial Services-General Government-National Security-State appropriations minibus last night, easily turning aside an anti-D.C. amendment from Rep. Chip “Munk” Roy (R-Texas). The Senate will pass it today before going on break for a week.

Yesterday, the Republican Senate caucus reminded America that they are lily-livered traitors to the Constitution. Days after Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) voted to restore the Constitutional authority the Senate has over declaring war after Trump invaded Venezuela, they both flipped their votes last night to “never mind.” Most of the Senate Republicans are in favor of Trump’s neutering of Congress, but some of them—Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in particular—are pure cowards, letting themselves be turned to eunuchs because they fear their mad tyrant’s wrath.

What’s this I hear? Is it the return of a beloved Hill Heat feature? Why, yes, it’s…

ERMAGEHRD, JERBS!

There are several great openings for climate politics right now:

Climate Cabinet is hiring a senior communications director ($160,000, remote).

The clean-energy U.S. Energy Foundation’s c(4) arm, the Energy Action Fund, is hiring a program manager for political campaigns ($130K - $144K, remote).

Earthjustice is VP of electoral strategies ($301,000–$334,400, DC).

The Jane Fonda Climate PAC is seeking a deputy director ($135K-$150K, remote) and an executive and operations assistant ($85K-$100K, remote though LA preferred).

Here are other great jobs:

The American Flood Coalition is hiring a DC/hybrid operations director ($120K to $180K) or operations associate director ($95K-$130K).

The Wildlands Network is looking for a storytelling and content manager ($55,000-65,000, remote).

The clean-energy finance group Reunion is hiring a chief of staff (pay unlisted, hybrid LA, SF, or Seattle).

The Reimagining the Economy initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School is hiring a project manager ($76K-$ 130K, Cambridge).

The Center for American Progress has an opening for an Executive Vice President, Communications and Strategy ($220,000–$260,000, DC).

The Friends Committee on National Legislation, the Quaker lobbying group, is looking for a lead sustainable energy and environment lobbyist ($61.5K-$75K, DC).

Thanks for subscribing and spreading the word. If you’ve got job listings, event listings, or other hot news, I want to hear it. Connect with me—@[email protected], @climatebrad on Threads, and @climatebrad.hillheat.com on BlueSky.