Peggy ‘The Kiki’ Hill

DC All-IN SPECIAL # Issue 1 Cover by Mitch Gerads Mark Hamill / Joker Variant

The United States accounted for 50% of the world's increase in emissions last year. And it was driven by data centers. While many assume China is driving the world's rising carbon emissions, the latest energy data reveals that the United States played a far larger role last year. According to the Energy Institute's 2026 Statistical Review of World Energy, North America accounted for 47% of the global increase in carbon emissions during 2025, with the U.S. responsible for almost all of that growth. Despite a 28% surge in domestic solar capacity, clean energy was unable to keep up with skyrocketing power demand, causing U.S. coal-related emissions to jump by 13%. This dual growth of fossil fuels and renewables demonstrates that green energy alone cannot curb emissions if overall electricity consumption rises faster than clean generation can scale. The primary driver of this massive energy demand is the rapid expansion of the artificial intelligence industry. The report highlights that the U.S. is home to roughly 40% of global data center electricity consumption as tech companies race to construct the infrastructure necessary to power advanced AI models. This massive digital expansion has created an environmental paradox for the tech sector: while major companies publicly pledge to reduce their carbon footprints, their insatiable demand for computing power is actively driving a national resurgence in fossil fuel reliance. Striking a balance between pioneering technological innovation and building a clean, capable electrical grid remains one of the most critical challenges of the modern era. source: Energy Institute. (2026). Statistical Review of World Energy (75th ed.). Energy Institute in partnership with Ember, KPMG, and Kearney.

Virtually every fish in one of Arizona’s largest lakes has died after the reservoir fell to less than 1% of its capacity. This spring, the mountain snow that feeds the reservoir reached just 2% of its normal level. With almost no inflow, the lake shrank dramatically, the water overheated, oxygen levels collapsed, and nearly 100% of the fish suffocated. But drought wasn’t the only reason. Even as the reservoir was collapsing, water continued flowing downstream to supply farms under agreements written decades ago, when a snowpack collapse this severe was considered unthinkable. The ecosystem kept losing water while the climate that sustained it had already changed. The rules were built for a world that no longer exists. Climate change isn’t only testing ecosystems. It’s testing the systems we built to manage them. Before and after: San Carlos Reservoir, Arizona (2023 vs. 2026). [Source: NASA Earth Observatory, June 2026.]

Microsoft, Amazon, and Google produced a third of France’s carbon emissions by constructing and building data centers, per The Guardian

Patient thought we won’t address the elephant in the room . Today’s foreign body;

Statement from the Office of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina).