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Welcome to Talking Climate with Katherine Hayho. Each episode, we explore how climate change is affecting the people, places, and things we love, and what we can do to make a difference. From science to solutions and stories that inspire, you're in the right place for real talk about real change. Two years ago, I wrote about how XL Energy was building a 710-megawatt solar farm to replace Minnesota's largest emitting coal power plants and use the same infrastructure that the coal plant used to connect to the grid. Well, thanks to a tip from bad astronomer Bill Platt, I'm happy to report that this solar farm, which boasts 1.7 million panels, is now up and running. A proposed fourth phase of the project could increase the generating capacity to 910 megawatts, enough electricity to power around 190,000 homes. This week we're talking about the health benefits of clean stoves, growing heat stress, and 300,000 reasons for hope. Let's dive in. Good news. I have warned you before about gas stoves and the health risks they pose, even when they're not in use. If you have asthma or you know someone who does, the first thing to check is whether they have a gas stove, because replacing it with an electric option could make a huge difference for their health. A new study from Ohio that found when people with poorly controlled asthma swapped out their gas stoves for electric ones, hospital admissions and missed work or school days dropped by 70%. Improvements were about twice as much as you typically see with medical treatment of asthma, said the project's leader, Professor Ash Sagel of Case Western Reserve University. This isn't all good news, though. The study was supposed to run for three years and pay to replace gas stoves with electric induction ones in 1,200 homes. But the U.S. government terminated the grant in May 2025, five months after the study began, and rolled back Biden-era rebates for those hoping to switch out their appliances for greener options. As economist Gernot Wagner mentioned when he guest edited Talking Climate, you can buy a cooktop for under $60 at IKEA. So this isn't a deal breaker. But full stove plus oven induction units cost at least 10 times more than that, which is why rebates matter. Not so good news. The number of heat stress days people are experiencing is climbing rapidly, and a new study has factored in humidity, wind, and solar radiation alongside temperature to measure heat the way people experience it. Compared with the 1970s, an additional 1 billion people now experience at least one day of extreme heat stress each year, defined by the study as feels-like temperature of at least 46 degrees Celsius or 114.8 degrees Fahrenheit. The study found that extreme feels-like temperatures have become more frequent on every continent, and the spatial footprint of hazardous heat has expanded, exposing previously unaffected regions. Our bodies need nighttime to recover from this heat, but the study found that nights are actually warming faster, 0.32 degrees Celsius per decade, than days, 0.27 degrees Celsius. When it stays hot at night after a dangerous day, our bodies get no relief. And there's more bad news. The data set the scientists used in this study doesn't capture microclimates, including the effects of urban heat islands, which means the study's estimates likely underestimate the risks that city dwellers face. What you can do. Talking climate reader Uli Nagel wrote to me this month with a big number. 300,000. That's how many free children's books her program has now sent to elementary students across the United States. In the coal state of West Virginia, close to one in five elementary students has now received one. The series, written by Madeline Rosenberg and illustrated by Paul Maiselle, teaches kids where their energy comes from, how to waste less of it, and what those panels on the neighbor's roof are actually doing. These books give kids a story that helps them understand our energy future and their own power to shape it. They just started and kept going. And that's exactly the kind of climate work that gives me hope. Thank you for this, Uli, and keep up the good work. Thanks for listening to Talking Climate, narrated by Ann Cloud. Post-production and mix by John Crowley at Loudmouth Studio. For more resources, links, and actions you can take, check out the full newsletter at www.talkingclimate.ca. Until next time, keep talking climate.
