Donald Trump’s trade war has shaken global markets and confidence in the U.S. dollar. After Trump threatened to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for not lowering U.S. interest rates the stock market cratered. Meanwhile, the U.S. economy appears headed toward a recession where a growing number of consumers fear tariff-triggered inflation will cost working families thousands of dollars over the next year. According to a recent survey, consumer confidence has fallen by 32 percent since January, the steepest drop since the 1990 recession.
(“Check Your Privilege,” Economist, April 16, 2025; “Dollar Has Further To Fall, Says Goldman Sachs Chief Economist,” Reuters, April 24, 2025)
Trump appointees at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are planning to eliminate long-standing requirements for polluters to collect and report their emissions of the heat-trapping gases that cause climate change. According to ProPublica, the rules change would reduce the number of industrial facilities mandated to report greenhouse gas emissions from 8,000 to 2,500 facilities in certain sectors of the oil and gas industry.
(“Trump’s EPA Plans to Stop Collecting Greenhouse Gases Emissions Data from Most Polluters,” ProPublica, April 10, 2025)
In Sri Lanka’s northern agricultural heartland, many farming families have been devastated by a worsening pattern of floods and drought caused by the intensifying climate crisis. Foreign Policy magazine reports that Sri Lanka is among the world’s countries most vulnerable to climate impacts. As erratic, extreme weather events become more frequent, farming has become an increasingly precarious livelihood.
(“Sri Lanka Climate Exodus,” Foreign Policy, April 8, 2025)
