The Coolest Summer of The Rest of Our Lives

Welcome back to Data for Climate Progress — your one-stop shop for all things climate at Data for Progress. Catch us here every month for our latest climate polling, juicy insights, and can’t-miss reading lists.

As always, we’d love to hear from you — drop us (Grace Adcox and Catherine Fraser) a line at gracea@dataforprogress.org and catherine@dataforprogress.org.

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— Catherine and Grace

We held a great happy hour in DC this month at Franklin Hall! Thanks to everyone who came out – the people are really what make this work worthwhile. We’re lucky to be in community with such great partners and people! Stay tuned – we’ll be sharing more about our New York Climate Week happy hour soon! 👀

• This month, three separate heat domes hit the U.S., with millions experiencing dangerous highs in the 100s. Just this week, 70 million Americans will be under excessive heat advisories. Heat is a silent killer – the deadliest weather phenomenon in the U.S., in fact. As climate change exacerbates the frequency and severity of extreme heat, workers in the U.S. lack protections, like access to air conditioning and cooling and water breaks. As the nation swelters, our polling finds that voters increasingly tie intensifying extreme weather events to climate change, with 67% saying that climate change is making heat waves worse. What’s more, an overwhelming, bipartisan majority of voters (88%) support requiring employers to provide drinking water, rest breaks, and air conditioning or shade to workers during extreme heat conditions. Read the full brief here and find coverage of our survey in The Guardian here.

• After the Office of Management and Budget proposed a rule requiring that federally funded research “advance the President’s policy priorities,” we’re left wondering what Russ Vought’s seventh-grade science teacher ever did to him. The rule would put politics over science, and give the White House – read: politicians and the Trump administration – greater influence over federal research funding decisions. We find that voters oppose this rule and want scientists — not Trump’s cronies – deciding what to research. In fact, a majority of voters (70%) say panels of scientists and experts should decide which research proposals receive funding based on scientific merit. Read the full brief here.

• We know you’ve seen the American Petroleum Institute ads, the sunny BP commercials, and the proud “clean-burning natural gas” proclamations on the side of city buses. But just in case you weren’t already convinced of fossil fuel greenwashing, a new report from our friends at the Center for Climate Integrity has the receipts. Their new report documents how the natural gas industry promoted the misconception that natural gas is a “clean” climate solution while downplaying the significant climate impacts of methane pollution and leaks. Unfortunately, our new polling with CCI suggests these greenwashing efforts have been relatively effective, with most voters (68%) holding favorable views of natural gas before learning more about its negative impacts. The good news, however? Support for natural gas declines by 23 percentage points after respondents are presented with information about methane pollution and the industry’s misleading messaging, with 45% holding favorable views of natural gas at the end of our survey. Voters are ready to hold the industry accountable for misleading the public, too: A strong majority support their state filing a civil lawsuit if oil and gas companies knowingly misled the public about the health and climate impacts of natural gas. Read the full brief here.

• As construction begins on Micron’s $100 billion semiconductor chip manufacturing campus near Syracuse, New York, community members and groups have raised concerns about the megaproject’s environmental impacts. We teamed up with Jobs to Move America to understand how registered voters in Onondaga County view Micron’s chipmaking complex. We find that 70% of registered Onondaga County voters support the megaproject, though 60% feel the project will have a negative impact on the environment. What’s more, an overwhelming, bipartisan majority (87%) support legally binding requirements for Micron to make investments in job creation, environmental protection, and public infrastructure. Read JMA’s press release here.

By Catherine Fraser

Nearly 1 in 4 Americans are experiencing dangerous levels of heat today, amid the third heat dome this summer. Wildfire smoke and extreme heat conditions are set to blanket most of the country this week. Meanwhile, wildfires rage in Spain and France, where more than 300,000 people have fled their homes. In France, government orders are driving what may be the largest non-wartime evacuation in the country’s history.

As members of Congress head home to their districts for the August recess, they’ll be among the over 340 million Americans experiencing the climate crisis right in front of their eyes. The climate crisis is all around us this summer. It’s in the masks worn to protect from poor air quality, the heat advisories and cooling centers, and the skyrocketing electricity bills as air conditioning units run constantly.

And yet, Democrats remain largely mum on climate change. And, as Kate Aronoff points out, they’re not the only ones – mainstream media largely is, too. Just look at this screenshot from The New York Times, taken today (July 29):

It’s not just The New York Times that’s failing to say *why* it’s become hotter; just look at this Washington Post article from July 24:

“The background influence of rising global temperatures”?! The Washington Post even had to wonder to itself if it has, indeed, been a hot summer:

I mean, come on!

These three screenshots aren’t exceptions – they’re part of a broader “climate hushing” trend. Climate change reporting fell by 14% in 2025, and the University of Colorado Boulder’s Media and Climate Change Observatory has found that U.S. coverage of climate change has decreased since its peak in 2010. Last month, amid another heat wave, NBC, ABC, and CBS all led their broadcasts with stories of extreme weather, yet failed to mention climate change. As the FAIR project put it, it’s as if these heat records were broken by some “unknown force.”

All the while, the wildfires and heat waves rage on.

Yet, even as our media and elected leaders fail to make the connection between climate change and intensifying extreme heat, wildfires, and extreme weather events, Americans are still making that connection.

A majority of voters (61%) think that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, and most think that climate change is making those weather events worse. This includes 67% who think climate change is making heat waves worse, as well as wildfires (64%), droughts (63%), and flooding and flash floods (62%).

We can and must talk about climate change, and we can do so in a way that’s tangible and grounded in the ways in which climate policy can deliver affordability and meaningful improvements in the day-to-day lives of Americans. To that end, you can find more on our work to advance a working-class climate agenda here.

• Run, Don’t Walk: Naomi Klein is on Substack: “Everyone Has A Right To Cool...In This Heat,” by Naomi Klein (Patterns)

• “Reimagining ownership and governance for carbon dioxide removal (CDR): exploring existing alternative models to advance equity and justice,” by Giulia Belotti, David Branigan, Holly Caggiano, and Sara Nawaz (Carbon Management)

• “Selling Stability: The Problem with Pitching “Climate Stabilization” as a New Category of Climate Response,” by Holly Jean Buck (African Tech Futures Lab)

• “Louisiana communities are left in the dark on toxic air — and industry helped keep it that way,” by Ames Alexander (Floodlight)

• “Naturalness catalyzes public support for carbon dioxide removal and low-carbon energy technologies,” by Gonzalez-Coffin et. al (Nature Communications Earth & Environment)