The Brief

When California adopted a law to regulate greenhouse gases 23 years ago — the first state in the nation to do so — it focused on the future dangers of global warming. But while California’s emissions have declined, they have kept rising globally, and the climate has worsened. Now, in an effort to build back momentum, advocates are bringing attention to current-day harms driven by climate change.

Among those affected by rising temperatures is Amanda Nevarez, who was left homeless by the Eaton Fire, one of two wildfires in Los Angeles County that together destroyed more than 16,000 homes and buildings and killed 31 people last January.

Nevarez now sleeps in a trailer just big enough for a bed, parked at a garage in South Los Angeles, where her friend transforms old cars into electric vehicles. The fire accelerated the decade-long displacement of tenants like her from Altadena due to rising housing costs.

The blaze had several causes, including an unusual lack of rain, a condition blamed on climate change. Using weather data collected since 1950, scientists ran simulations showing the conditions that dried out the foothills were 35% more likely because of global warming.

Nevarez’s life in the tight-knit community was upended after smoke left her rented home uninhabitable. The movie director has relocated more than a dozen times, burned through two cars and had to give up nearly all her possessions. Available work in the film industry has been nearly nonexistent, while local rents remain stubbornly high.

“I’ve always had to adapt,” Nevarez said, recounting challenges like the Hollywood writers’ strike in 2023. Reduced government assistance for food made her life harder. “It’s just a chain reaction of things piling up.”

Her experience shows how climate change is worsening California’s suffocating living costs, a reality frequently glossed over in politics today.

Amanda Nevarez.

(

Aaron Cantú

/

Capital & Main

)

Democrats, who hold a supermajority in California, no longer trumpet policies to fight climate change, an analysis by the Washington Post found. While research shows most Americans are concerned about climate change, a December poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found only 4% of surveyed likely voters said the environment and climate change were the “most important problem” facing the U.S. Elected state officials and those seeking office are emphasizing pocketbook concerns.

Yet there’s a different way to view the issue than as a choice between tackling high prices or fighting climate change.

“You can’t solve the affordability crisis without solving the climate crisis,” said Noel Perry, the founder of Next10, which co-produced a report with UC Berkeley that identified the costs of global warming in everything from homelessness and rent to energy bills and groceries. He and other climate campaigners are trying to recalibrate their messaging to that political reality.

It’s true that California’s policies to discourage fossil fuel use add to costs. Power bills and gasoline are more expensive here than elsewhere in the country, which the state compounds by taxing to pay for grid upgrades in order to wean itself off oil and gas. Oil refineries and power utilities pass those costs on to consumers, widening income inequality, the state has said.

But climate pain is now a fact for many, added to the long list of other crises people face — inflation, mass deportations, housing prices and a frayed government safety net.

Heat, Drought and Floods

Rising temperatures, the clearest impact of climate change, are driving up home energy costs.

California faced its hottest summer on record last year, when Los Angeles broiled in summertime heat exceeding 110°F. Each additional day above 95°F increased the chance that the power to low-income households would be disconnected, as energy bills inch up an additional $20 to $30 a month, according to a 2022 UCLA study. Los Angeles DWP Chief Financial Officer Ann Santilli told NBC Los Angeles that bills “are very much driven by the weather.”

Among the state’s most energy burdened communities is a heavily Latino enclave in the San Fernando Valley, an area often exposed to the hottest temperatures in Los Angeles County. Residents of Arleta spend 6% of their monthly income on power and gas, impacting woman-led households the most, according to research by the Gender Equity Policy Institute.

Sitting among roughly 150 people gathered on a dusty church lot waiting to enter a food pantry in Arleta, a woman named Maria, who gave only her first name as she rushed inside, lamented high living costs and a lack of jobs. “There are rich people who live well, but the poor are now in a very bad state,” she said. A former assembly line worker for an aerospace company, she said she and her adult children now pool together their meager incomes.

Inside the small wood-paneled building, visitors shuffled past a mound of bread piled on a table and trays with potatoes and fruit stacked high. A lanky youth offered a warm smile and wildly varied surplus foods, from lasanga noodles to pickle mayonnaise, while early arrivals scored half cartons of eggs placed carefully in their bags. Lately, more people have started showing up at the pantry, a volunteer said.

Poverty surged when the U.S. did not renew pandemic relief efforts such as unemployment and rent assistance. Driven by high living costs, California has a higher share of residents living in poverty than any state except Louisiana. At the same time, a typical $100 grocery bill in 2019 now costs $130 in the state, partially a result of crop disruptions caused by drought and heat in Florida, California and elsewhere.

The squeeze is tighter for workers lacking permanent legal status, who aren’t eligible for federal public benefits programs and risk being detained when they leave home for work. “I think they’re going to evict us because we can’t afford the rent anymore,” said pantry visitor Guadalupe Salazar, a home health care aide whose husband stopped working as a gardener for fear of being swept up in the federal immigration raids.

Other research shows people hit hard by drought and floods. One study found that during a severe drought in 2015, the poorest residents of Glendale in Los Angeles County, with households earning less than $10,000 a year, spent 6.5% of their income for water, compared to 1.5% for households earning the median income of $52,451.

Further north, in the San Joaquin Valley farmworker town of Planada, where many residents lack permanent legal status, heavy flooding in 2023 left almost a quarter of the residents behind on bills and rent.

After the Flames

Los Angeles fires ranked as the world’s costliest disaster zone in the first six months of 2025 — far worse than Myanmar, where there was a big earthquake, or Brazil, where there was a severe drought. But since 2017 wildfires have frequently caused tens of billions of dollars in property damage, lost wages and health care costs each year.

The fires also drive up power bills. Ratepayers of Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric saw a rise of between $12.97 and $24.42 for a “Wildfire Fund” surcharge. The fund is raising $21 billion to pay out claims to victims of fires sparked by power lines. A new law increases it by an additional $18 billion through 2045, half from ratepayers and the rest from shareholders. Home insurance premiums, too, are shooting up due to rising fire damage.

For now, paying rent and power bills aren’t things that Nevarez needs to worry about. Instead she worries about mold — cleaning it and breathing it from the walls of her trailer. Most of it is now gone, but a damp smell lingers. She runs an air purifier at night.

To use the bathroom, she has to enter the garage, stepping past a yellow Ferrari spilling its wiry guts. The owner of Left Coast EV, Rev. Gregory “Gadget” Abbott, is preparing to install a salvaged battery pack and motor in place of the powertrain engine. The two friends met at the annual Burning Man festival. They enjoy each other’s company, sometimes cooking communal dinners with roommates using vegetables from a rooftop garden.

Nevarez, right, chats with Rev. Gregory “Gadget” Abbott at Left Coast EV.

(

Aaron Cantú

/

Capital & Main

)

“I’m trying my hardest to lay out tracks in front of me to go forward,” said Nevarez, who said she feels like she’s fallen through the cracks. But with help from Abbott, she can work on film projects without the daily grind of just trying to survive. “If it wasn’t for him, I don’t know where I’d be today.”

Amid converging affordability crises, some advocates are looking to energy and insurance companies to foot a big chunk of the climate bill.

Climate groups want to compel oil and gas companies, whose products heat the planet, to deliver reparations, including cash payments for those who’ve suffered from climate change. Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit that fights for consumer rights, sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom urging the state to pull wildfire compensation dollars from utility shareholders instead of ratepayers and force insurers to expand fire coverage.

But it’s an uphill climb. Legislation known as the Climate Superfund Act, a potential first step for making polluters pay for climate damage, stalled in Sacramento last summer before being shelved. While politicians, including some Democrats, take a step back, global temperatures continue to rise, upending lives in ways that continue to multiply.

Copyright 2025 Capital & Main

President Donald Trump spent most of 2025 hacking away at large parts of the federal government. His administration fired, bought out, or otherwise ousted hundreds of thousands of federal employees. Entire agencies were gutted. By so many metrics, this year in politics has been defined more by what has been cut away than by what’s been added on.

One tiny corner of regulation, however, has actually grown under Trump: the critical minerals list. Most people likely hadn’t heard of “critical minerals” until early this year when the president repeatedly inserted the phrase into his statements, turning the once obscure policy realm into a household phrase. In November, the U.S. Geological Survey quietly expanded the list from 50 to 60 items, adding copper, silver, uranium, and even metallurgical coal to the list. On Monday, South Korean metal processor Korea Zinc announced that the federal government is investing in a new $7.4 billion zinc refinery in Tennessee, in which the Department of Defense will hold a stake.

But what even is a critical mineral?

The concept dates back to the first half of the 20th century, especially World War II, when Congress passed legislation aimed at stockpiling materials vital to the United States’ well being. President Trump established the critical minerals list in 2018, with the defining criteria being that any mineral included be “essential to the economic and national security of the United States” and have a supply chain that is “vulnerable to disruption.” A mineral’s presence on the list can convey a slew of benefits to anyone trying to extract or produce that mineral in the U.S., including faster permitting for extraction, tax incentives, or federal funding.

As Grist explored in its recent mining issue, critical minerals are shaping everything from geopolitics to water supplies, oceans, and recycling systems. If there is to be a true clean energy transition, these elements are key to it. Metals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel form the backbone of the batteries that power electric vehicles. Silicon is the primary component of solar cells, and rare earth magnets help wind turbines function. Not to mention computers, microchips, and the multitude of other things that depend on critical minerals.

Currently, the vast majority of critical minerals used in the United States come from China — some 80 percent. In his first term, Trump tried to increase domestic production of these minerals. “The United States must not remain reliant on foreign competitors like Russia and China for the critical minerals needed to keep our economy strong and our country safe,” he said in 2017. Securing a domestic supply was also a cornerstone of former president Joe Biden’s landmark climate bills, the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Now, as Trump has taken office again, he’s made critical minerals an ever more central part of his policy platform. We’re here to demystify why this has been a blockbuster year for critical minerals in the United States — and where the industry may go in the future.

A highly unusual strategy

In March, Trump issued an executive order meant to jumpstart critical mineral production. “It is imperative for our national security that the United States take immediate action to facilitate domestic mineral production to the maximum possible extent,” he said. The executive order was just the first step in a coordinated effort by the Trump administration to strengthen U.S. control over existing supply chains for copper, lithium, cobalt, manganese, nickel, and dozens of other critical minerals and to galvanize new mines, regardless of concerns raised by Indigenous peoples. The Trump administration has sought to accomplish these goals by both reducing the regulatory barriers to production and by investing in the companies poised to do it.

Since then, Trump has signed agreements with multiple countries to increase investments in critical minerals and strengthen supply chains. Most recently, the U.S. made a deal with the Democratic Republic of Congo, which holds more than 70 percent of the world’s cobalt. He has pushed federal agencies to make it easier for mining companies to apply for federal funding, and is inviting companies to apply to pursue seabed mining in the deep waters around American Samoa, near Guam and the Northern Marianas, around the Cook Islands, and in international waters south of Hawaiʻi — prompting global outrage and opposition from Native Hawaiian, Samoan, and Chamorro/CHamoru peoples. At the same time, Trump’s volatile tariff policies have made it harder for American companies to source minerals, and cuts to federal funding have harmed mining workforce training programs and research into critical minerals.

While the Biden administration provided grants and loans to various mining companies, Trump is deploying a highly unusual strategy of buying stakes in private companies, tying the financial interests of the U.S. government with the interests and success of these commercial mining operations. Over the past few months, the Trump administration has spent more than a billion dollars in public money to buy minority stakes in private companies like MP Materials, ReElement Technologies, and Vulcan Elements. In Alaska, that strategy has involved investing more than $35 million in Trilogy Metals to buy a 10 percent stake in the company, which is a major backer of a copper and cobalt mining project in Alaska.

In September, the Trump administration finalized another deal with the Canadian company Lithium Americas behind Thacker Pass in Nevada, which is expected to be the largest lithium mine in the U.S. The Biden administration approved a $2.23 billion loan to Lithium Americas in October 2024; the Trump administration then restructured the loan and obtained a 5 percent stake in the project and another 5 percent stake in Lithium Americas itself. (A top Interior Department official has since been reported to have benefited financially from the project.) That’s despite allegations that the mine violates the rights of neighboring tribal nations and is proceeding without their consent, which Lithium Americas has denied.

The outlook for critical minerals

Historically, the federal government has only taken equity stakes in struggling companies, such as through the Troubled Asset Relief Program that sought to stabilize the auto industry and U.S. banks during the 2008 financial crisis. “What we’re talking about here is something very different, which is an industry that has not yet launched,” said Beia Spiller, who leads critical minerals work at the nonprofit research group Resources for the Future.

“Whether that’s going to work, I think is unlikely,” Spiller continued. “The best way to get an industry up and running is to have policies that raise the tide for everyone, not just choosing winners.”

In reference to Lithium Americas, Spiller said, “If you actually look at the cost fundamentals, it’s not a very competitive company.” Lithium Americas mines metal from clay, an old process that requires a lot of land, open pit mines, and heavy machinery — whereas some newer operations use direct lithium extraction, which is more cost effective in the long term. “So we just took an equity stake in a company that is going to face headwinds in terms of costs — now the American public faces that downside.”

It must also be stressed that the Trump administration’s rapid push to shore up the U.S.’s control over critical minerals isn’t about transitioning the country away from fossil fuels. Instead, the whole effort seems to mostly be geared toward military uses. Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” allocated $7.5 billion for critical minerals, $2 billion of which will go directly to the national defense stockpile. Another $5 billion was allocated for the department of defense to invest in critical mineral supply chains.

In October, a former official at the defense department told the Financial Times that the agency is “incredibly focused on the stockpile.”

“They’re definitely looking for more, and they’re doing it in a deliberate and expansive way, and looking for new sources of different ores needed for defense products,” the unnamed official said.

Last week the administration announced that it plans to take equity stakes in more mining companies next year. It’s possible, Spiller said, these investments could extend to outfits that are piloting deep-sea mining. That carries a new set of risks, as many banks refuse to insure deep-sea mining operations, it’s unclear whether seabed mining operations will be able to even get off the ground before the end of Trump’s term, and the legal repercussions associated with undermining the Law of the Sea could fracture the stability among global powers — and make global climate action that much harder.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the name of MP Materials.

This article originally appeared in Grist at https://grist.org/energy/the-year-the-us-doubled-down-on-critical-minerals/.

Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at Grist.org

Happy New Year! We here at LAist are wishing you all the best for a fun and safe New Year’s Eve. As you’re making those last-minute end-of-year donations, don’t forget to click that donate button so we can keep you in the loop on all the best things going on in L.A. in 2026 and for years to come.

Our friends at Licorice Pizza will surely be hitting the town this holiday week; they suggest checking out Faster Pussycat at the Whisky on Tuesday, or singer-songwriter Rocco Deluca at Zebulon that night. There’s also legendary percussionist Pete Escovedo at the Catalina Bar & Grill the same evening. On New Year’s Eve, you have a wide range of options, including The Roots at Disney Hall, funk band Lettuce at the Bellwether, Mike Posner at Academy LA or El DeBarge at the Blue Note. And, of course, there will be big dance parties all over L.A., from downtown’s free annual extravaganza at Grand Park to Hollywood’s Club Decades.

Elsewhere on LAist.com, Chef Roy Choi tells us the secrets to his Korean taco empire, and you can pick some shows to binge-watch before heading back to work after the holidays.

Events

Kwanzaa Celebration

Monday, December 30, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Expo Arts Center
4321 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

(

The African American Cultural Center of Long Beach

/

Eventbrite

)

Join the African American Cultural Center of Long Beach (AACCLB) for a vibrant and meaningful Kwanzaa celebration honoring African American heritage. The event will feature a candle-lighting ceremony, dance performances and a traditional Karamu feast.

Rose Parade float decorating

Through Tuesday, December 30 
Rose Bowl 
1001 Rose Bowl Drive, Pasadena
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

Thursday, January 1, 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Rose Parade 
Pasadena 
COST: FROM $117; MORE INFO 

Ohio State Buckeyes cheerleaders participate in the 136th Rose Parade.

(

Jerod Harris

/

Getty Images

)

Every year, I say I’m going to do it: I’m going to forgo New Year’s and decorate floats very, very early in the morning. I never do, but don’t be like me. Surround yourself with roses and get those floats all pretty for TV! This year, there’s a special float with the theme “Rising Together” to honor the one-year anniversary of the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires. Or grab a ticket — free for fire survivors — and head up to watch the Rose Parade in person on New Year’s Day. Later in the week, on Jan. 2 and 3, there’s Float Fest, where you can check out the elaborate floats after their big hurrah.

NYELA Celebration + Community Collage

Wednesday, December 31, 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. 
Gloria Molina Grand Park 
200 N. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A.
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

(

Courtesy Grand Park LA

)

The annual fireworks and music celebration, with headliners Bardo and Ceci Bastida, in downtown’s Gloria Molina Grand Park will usher in 2026 in a big way. In addition to music and art, the event features a Community Collage activity with photographer Josh Madson, where attendees can take part in professional portraits — part of Community Collage’s initiative ahead of LA28, where the team “aims to photograph 40,000 Angelenos for future public art murals across the city ahead of The Olympics and Paralympics.”

Santa Monica Beach House New Year’s Eve

Wednesday, December 31, 8 p.m.
1212 3rd St. Promenade, Santa Monica
COST: $23; MORE INFO 

(

Santa Monica Beach House

/

Eventbrite

)

Missing Burning Man? Celebrate New Year’s Eve with an “After Burn” party on the Third St. Promenade, featuring dance, drink and a party spilling out onto the street.

Jason Bentley’s Metropolis NYE

Wednesday, December 31, 9 p.m. Del Monte at the Townhouse
52 Windward Ave., Venice
COST: $40; MORE INFO

KCRW’s own Jason Bentley will be spinning all night at L.A.’s oldest bar, Venice Beach’s historic Townhouse.

New Year’s Eve with The Roots

Wednesday, December 31, 7 p.m. 
Disney Hall
111 S. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A. 
COST: FROM $69; MORE INFO

Questlove performs with The Roots during the Back Cove Festival at Payson Park on August 02, 2025 in Portland, Maine.

(

Astrida Valigorsky

/

Getty Images

)

The biggest ticket on New Year’s Eve is for The Roots, fast becoming a Disney Hall tradition. Questlove and friends will get you revved up for 2026 with energy, a big dance party and the best acoustics in town.

Middle Aged Dad Band New Year’s Eve Blowout

Wednesday, December 31, 9 p.m. 
Lodge Room
104 N. Ave. 56, 2nd floor, Highland Park 
COST: FROM $65; MORE INFO 

The Middle Aged Dad Band show is sure to have some celeb appearances, karaoke go-tos, hilarious comedy moments and an all-around feel-good vibe. Embrace your inner (or outer) uncool dad mentality while still staying up till midnight at a show.

Fiorelli Pizza x Imperia Caviar kit

Preorder through Tuesday, December 30
8236 W. 3rd Street, Beverly Grove
COST: $140; MORE INFO

(

Courtesy JS2 PR

)

Pizza and caviar? On the couch? For New Year’s? Don’t mind if I do. Beverly Grove's Fiorelli Pizza is partnering with Imperia Caviar for a fun DIY caviar pizza kit: a vodka sauce pizza with a side of crème fraîche, truffle potato chips and a full ounce of Imperia's caviar. Pre-order via email (lizg@fiorellipizza.com) or phone (424-466-7161); it will be available via delivery apps on Tuesday, December 30 (while supplies last).

Grand Kiev Ballet

Tuesday, December 30, 7 p.m. 
Wilshire Ebell Theatre
4401 W. 8th Street, Mid-City 
COST: FROM $44; MORE INFO  

(

Courtesy Grand Kiev Ballet

)

One more Nutcracker to wrap up the year, and this one is special. Acclaimed Ukrainian dance company the Grand Kyiv Ballet has danced through the war and is still able to blow audiences away with its dazzling production of The Nutcracker. Stay in the holiday spirit for a few more hours and enjoy this top-notch performance of Tchaikovsky’s beloved classic.

NYE Hike to the Wisdom Tree

Wednesday, December 31, 7 a.m. 
Griffith Park Merry Go-Round, Lot #2
Griffith Park
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

An intermediate hike hosted by 213 Hikers, this early morning walk is not for the faint of heart. Get up early and plan your pre-midnight nap accordingly while making your way to greet the last day of 2025 at the Wisdom Tree in Griffith Park — and maybe make some new friends to kick off 2026 right.

Flow Into the New Year yoga class

Thursday, January 1, 10:30 a.m. 
One Down Dog Yoga 
2150 Colorado Blvd., Eagle Rock
COST: VARIES; MORE INFO

(

Dane Wetton

/

Unsplash

)

New year, same me telling you to go to yoga and set those 2026 intentions with a solid flow class. This one is at One Down Dog in Eagle Rock, but many local studios are hosting classes that are geared toward getting you out of your head and onto your mat for the new year. Ohm.