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From higher electricity bills to rising insurance premiums, climate change is taking a bigger bite out of Americans’ budgets — and we’re taking a closer look at how those costs could shape today's midterms. Plus, how the Trump administration is keeping coal plants running, what a new report reveals about climate change’s growing toll on our health, and how to give your Halloween pumpkins a second life.

In Focus

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The cost of living has dominated this year’s midterms. But there’s another issue wrapped up in those worries about household bills: the environment.

From higher electricity costs during extreme heat to rising insurance premiums in disaster-prone areas, the effects are getting harder — and more expensive — to ignore.

And voters are already making that connection: A survey from Yale and George Mason University found that nearly two-thirds of registered voters believe global warming is affecting their cost of living at least a little. 

But will those concerns ultimately translate into votes? We dug into how climate change is showing up in this year’s midterms — and why it could matter even when voters aren’t calling it by that name.

Around the Globe

The J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant in West Olive, Michigan, was scheduled to close last year, but the Trump administration ordered it to keep running. (Getty Images)

Coal plants have a powerful ally in the White House. A new analysis from the Environmental Defense Fund found that the Trump administration has supported almost half of the nation’s coal plants through “cash handouts, free passes to pollute, and requirements to stay online past their retirement dates.” Some of that help comes at taxpayers’ expense: According to the report, the administration provided $950 million in taxpayer dollars to 24 coal plants. It also gave 70 coal plants exemptions from Clean Air Act limits on toxic pollution.

A warming planet is taking a toll on humanity. A new Lancet Countdown report warns that climate change is a “global health emergency,” with harms accelerating faster than the world’s response. Researchers linked heat to an estimated 540,000 deaths a year, on average, between 2016 and 2023 — and attributed 68 percent of those deaths to climate change. The financial toll is mounting, too: Heat-related productivity losses cost the world more than $1 trillion in potential income in 2025. 

Your jack-o’-lantern deserves a better send-off than the trash. Pumpkins that end up in landfills release methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as they break down without oxygen. Composting gives those gourds a second life, turning them into nutrient-rich material for your garden. Don’t have a compost pile? Look for a local drop-off site or a “pumpkin smash” event. Before you toss yours, explore a few greener ways to say goodbye.

Photo of the Day

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Talk about taking the scenic route. A paddler and his dog navigate a flooded stretch of California’s Pacific Coast Highway, where high tides have closed the road in Huntington Beach.