FEATURES

24 Private Equity’s Green

Façade Is Being Funded by Your Pension The growth potential

of decarbonization efforts is a double-edged sword for municipalities. JAMES BARATTA AND RYAN BIEBER

VOLUME 87, NUMBER 5 • This issue of The Progressive went to press on September 20, 2023.

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30 Youth Lead the Way

on Addressing the Climate Crisis With the slow pace of international negotiations, climate litigation is an increasingly important tool. TINA GERHARDT

32 A Power Struggle

in the Pine Tree State Maine’s ballot initiative

to make electricity a public good could set a national precedent for giving power to the people. GLENN DAIGON

38 The Costs of Climate Change

in Central America The region could lose hundreds of billions per year by 2100, a study says.

JEFF ABBOTT

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40 Minnesota Emerges as a

Leader in Climate Action All electricity in the state

will be carbon-free by 2040. SARAH LAHM

35 Evicted into the

Climate Crisis What it ’s like to be evicted

during a hurricane. ELIJAH de CASTRO

41 How the

Wood Pellet Industry Is Threatening Small Southern Tow n s In Garysburg, North

Carolina, a plant that claims to be carbon-neutral has endangered residents and local forests. JAMES L . VANHISE

44 A Supreme

Court Accountable to No One SCOTUS’s

decisions last term called into question the court ’s legitimacy. This term, we should expect more of the same. BILL BLUM

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49 Gen Z Is Taking the Reins A variety of young candidates

are signing up to run for elected office at local, state, and national levels. SHARON JOHNSON

THE PROGRESSIVE | 3