Bending the Curve: Is climate change fixed?

Environmental news has a habit of emphasizing what is going wrong. Rising temperatures, habitat loss, expensive energy, endangered species, and so on. The problems are real, but we’re not paying enough attention to what’s changing for the better. Bending the Curve hopes to highlight positive progress on the environment.

Welcome to Bending the Curve, a new series of blog posts and YouTube videos highlighting environmental achievements, successes, and results.

In this first episode of Bending the Curve, we discover that renewable energy is growing rapidly. Some of the most frightening climate projections are becoming less likely. Electric vehicles are attracting new interest. And one of the world’s most endangered whale populations has just had an unusually successful breeding season.

The Worst Climate Scenario Is Becoming Less Likely

Scientists regularly use different scenarios to estimate how much the planet could warm by the end of this century. These range from relatively optimistic outcomes to extreme scenarios based on very high greenhouse-gas emissions.

According to a report highlighted by The New York Times, researchers increasingly consider some of the most severe warming scenarios unlikely. An earlier worst-case scenario suggested that global temperatures could rise by roughly 5 degrees Celsius, or 9 degrees Fahrenheit, by the end of the century.

More recent data and modeling suggest an outcome closer to 3.5 degrees Celsius, or a little more than 6 degrees Fahrenheit. The likely range described in the story is approximately 2.5 to 3 degrees Celsius.

Why are these scenarios looking a little better? One important reason: the energy system is changing.

Solar and wind power have become cheaper. Electric vehicles have become more practical and affordable. Governments and industries have also adopted policies that reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Those changes are beginning to show up in the projections. They show that the trajectory is not fixed. Human choices are already changing it.

Higher Gas Prices Are Driving Interest in Electric Vehicles

High gasoline prices are painful for drivers, but they can also change purchasing decisions.

Canary Media reports that rising fuel prices are encouraging more consumers to consider electric vehicles, particularly in Europe. European EV sales were reportedly **27 percent higher in April, 2026 than during the same month the previous year**. Rising gasoline prices contributed to that growth, along with the increasing availability of inexpensive Chinese-made electric vehicles.

The picture is different in the United States. American consumers are also showing growing interest in EVs. According to the report, shopping platforms including Cars.com and CarGurus, have recorded increased searches for electric vehicles as gasoline prices have risen.

But American drivers don’t have access to many of the inexpensive Chinese EVs available elsewhere. Consumers appear increasingly willing to consider electric transportation when gasoline becomes expensive. But whether they actually make the switch may depend heavily on whether affordable EVs are available.

Why aren’t they buying? Tariffs and national-security regulations have effectively kept those vehicles out of the U.S. market. The lesson is straightforward: Price matters in the clean-energy transition.

Environmental benefits may attract consumers, but affordability can turn interest into action.

Wind and Solar Pass Natural Gas in April

The electrical grid has passed another milestone. According to Canary Media, wind and solar power combined generated more electricity globally than natural gas during April. It’s the first month in which the two renewable sources crossed that threshold.

The same report notes that solar alone supplied a large share of the world’s additional electricity demand during the previous year. Other low-carbon energy sources contributed much of the remainder.

Coal remains an especially formidable competitor. It still generates more electricity globally than wind and solar combined. But the trend is moving against it.

For decades, renewable energy was treated as a supplemental source of power. Now it’s becoming the power source of choice in a warming world.

Is the Renewable Transition Really Too Slow?

That brings us to another common claim by activists and some politicians: the world simply isn’t moving toward renewable energy fast enough to make a meaningful difference.

The environmental news site Earth.Org examined several renewable-energy myths, including the idea that the transition is proceeding so slowly that little progress is actually being made. The numbers from China provide a striking counterexample.

In May 2025 alone, China reportedly added 93 gigawatts of solar capacity. Put another way, the pace of installation was roughly equivalent to adding 100 solar panels every second throughout the month. China’s combined wind and solar generating capacity also surpassed its total thermal-power capacity for the first time in early 2025.

The broader Asian energy transition is equally important. About 74 percent of new renewable-energy capacity added worldwide in 2025 was installed in Asia, according to the figures discussed in the story. Fossil fuels remain deeply embedded in the global economy, but the energy transition is happening.

A Welcome Baby Boom for North Atlantic Right Whales

Though the earth’s biosphere is going through challenging times, there’s some encouraging signs. Inside Climate News reports an unusually successful breeding season for one of the world’s most endangered large whales: the North Atlantic right whale.

The species came dangerously close to extinction during the era of commercial whaling. By the early 20th century, only a tiny number remained. Protection allowed the population to recover somewhat, and today roughly 340 North Atlantic right whales survive.

This year’s news is particularly encouraging: 23 calves were born.

For a species with such a small population, that’s a significant number. Some years produce very few calves, and occasionally none at all. Of course, not every calf will survive to adulthood.

North Atlantic right whales continue to face major threats, and changing ocean conditions could alter the location of the food they depend upon. Climate-driven changes in ocean currents and temperatures may force the whales farther north in search of suitable habitat.

Still, a strong breeding year offers something conservationists don’t often get with critically endangered species: breathing room.

Watch Bending the Curve: Episode 1 on YouTube.

Have you come across an environmental success story that deserves more attention? Share it in the comments below.

Image by victor sky from Pixabay