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**SNIP** Negotiators known as sherpas were stuck working into the small hours of Saturday morning, trying frantically to find wording that both climate sceptics and those looking for strong commitments could agree on. **SNIP** And China, one of the world's top emitters, joined France and the United Nations to issue its own statement, with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi saying countries must "strengthen our action." "All countries must remain firm in their confidence and deliver on the commitments in the Paris agreement," Wang added. But the divisions are unlikely to disappear soon, and the issue may prove even harder to...

The second night of Democratic presidential primary debates largely steered clear of climate change, drawing pushback from some green groups that had hoped to see the issue take center stage. The topic saw roughly seven minutes of airtime during the two-hour debate. The length of time devoted to the debates angered climate activists who have for months been calling for a debate devoted entirely to the issue. “Another debate, another climate section the length of a bathroom break,” tweeted the Sunrise Moevement, a youth advocate-driven group focused on climate issues. “By not discussing climate nearly enough, this debate allowed candidates...

... Oregon accounts for a tiny slice — 0.14 percent — of global emissions. A forecast from the state’s legislative revenue office predicted the measure would force a 23-cent-a-gallon hike by 2021 and more increases in the years that follow. By 2050, the forecast said, Oregon residents would be paying 3 additional dollars a gallon. Oregon, like the rest of the nation, has long been divided along urban and rural lines. But those divisions have deepened significantly in recent decades. Portland and other metropolitan areas have expanded and their residents have become increasingly Democratic, while Oregon’s rural areas have struggled...

Loggers, truckers and other opponents of a cap-and-trade bill in the Oregon legislature rallied on the steps of the state capitol in Salem Thursday as the deadline for its potential passage neared. Critics say the bill — aimed at limiting greenhouse gas emissions by auctioning off pollution allowances for carbon — would harm rural industries in Oregon such as logging and farming. It has been on hold since Republicans walked out of the Senate on June 20 and fled the state to deny the chamber’s Demoratic supermajority quorum to vote on the bill. “We want to support the 11 senators...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Friday night that an explosion at a Philadelphia oil refinery was due to climate change, arguing that the incident underscores the urgency of her Green New Deal. A vat of butane ignited and eventually exploded around 4:00 AM Friday at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions Refining Complex, followed by a series of smaller explosions as the fire worked its way through a mass of pipes carrying fuel across the complex.

MIDTOWN, NY — Dozens of people were arrested during a climate change protest in Times Square outside The New York Times building on Saturday. Demonstrators staged a die-in in front of the newspaper building and hung a banner on the facade. The Guardian reported that the protest briefly blocked Eighth Avenue between Port Authority and the Times building. Photos and videos posted to social media showed a group of people lying on the ground outside the newspaper's office. Some protesters climbed on the awning of the Times building to hang signs. Amanda Holpuch, a reporter for The Guardian, noted that...

SALEM -- A “possible militia threat” is shutting down the Oregon statehouse amid an ongoing walkout by Republican lawmakers who are blocking a vote on landmark climate change legislation with their absence. A spokeswoman for the Senate President confirmed late Friday that the "Oregon State Police has recommended that the Capitol be closed tomorrow due to a possible militia threat."

Footage from a Mansion House dinner shows Tory MP Mark Field grabbing a Greenpeace activist by the neck and forcing her out of the room. The incident occurred as a group of climate change protesters interrupted a speech by the chancellor, Philip Hammond. Field is the Foreign Office minister for Asia and the Pacific 30-second video.

Tensions boiled over in the Oregon Capitol this week as Republican state senators vanished in an effort to delay a vote on a climate change bill they oppose. On Thursday, Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, ordered the state police to find them and bring them back. It was only the latest chapter in a season of partisan division and frustration in the nation’s statehouses, where, for the first time in more than a century, all but one state legislature is dominated by a single party. In Oregon, where Democrats dominate both chambers, Republicans were unapologetic about their efforts to slow...

President Donald Trump's nominee for ambassador to the United Nations has broken with his viewpoint on climate change, saying it "poses real risks". Kelly Craft told lawmakers at her confirmation hearing she would "be an advocate for all countries to do their part in addressing climate change". In the past, she had claimed to believe "both sides" of the climate debate. Mr Trump has previously called climate change a "hoax" and questioned the scientific consensus on the matter. Earlier this month, Mr Trump said climate change "goes both ways" and blamed other nations for worsening air and water quality. In...

A number of the world’s biggest oil producers have pledged to support “economically meaningful” carbon pricing policies in response to a call by Pope Francis for some form of carbon tax to fight climate change. ExxonMobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Chevron, and Eni, along with major asset managers such as BlackRock and BNP Paribas, declared in a joint statement Friday that governments should set pricing schedules at a level that encourages business and investment, while “minimizing the costs to vulnerable communities and supporting economic growth.” On Friday, Pope Francis warned of disastrous consequences if humanity does not react swiftly...

PARIS — The leadership of Airbus appeared at a press briefing ahead of the Paris Air Show on the company’s 50th anniversary with an all-new team and a new style. Chief executive Guillaume Faury led the group, talking about the company’s plans not only to automate and digitize production but to address concerns over climate change by “inventing the decarbonized aviation of the future.” He was followed by new sales chief Christian Scherer, who proved a solid replacement for his firebrand predecessor John Leahy by not only talking up the Airbus jets but declaring their vast superiority to Boeing’s airplane...

The Green party in Germany has said it intends to ban industrial farming as part of a wide-ranging and costly package to combat climate change should they come to power. Katrin Goering-Eckardt, the party’s leader in the Germany parliament, said her party would establish a fund worth at least €100 billion to finance climate projects including dam construction, reforestation and environmentally friendly transportation projects. Ms Goering-Eckardt did not go into further details on a timeline for the prohibition of intensively reared meat. But the proposal is likely to stoke up debate over whether the Greens are still Germany’s Verbotspartei (prohibition...

Inskeep said: When you talk to scientists about what would be necessary to get to zero carbon emissions, they often talk about people having to change their daily behaviors — drive an electric car; that’s not such a bad change. Live in a smaller house. People might feel uncomfortable with that. Have fewer children. Eat less meat. Are you not going to demand any kind of sacrifice from anyone in order to get to zero carbon emissions? “Yeah, we’re going to have to make an investment as a country,” O’Rourke said. “It is not going to necessarily be easy.” “Here...

Ice is melting in unprecedented ways as summer approaches in the Arctic. In recent days, observations have revealed a record-challenging melt event over the Greenland ice sheet, while the extent of ice over the Arctic Ocean has never been this low in mid-June during the age of weather satellites. Greenland saw temperatures soar up to 40 degrees above normal Wednesday, while open water exists in places north of Alaska where it seldom, if ever, has in recent times. It’s “another series of extreme events consistent with the long-term trend of a warming, changing Arctic,” said Zachary Labe, a climate researcher...

Wednesday on ABC’s “The View,” co-host Joy Behar said it would be hard for 2020 presidential hopeful and former Vice President Joe Biden’s initiative to find a cure for cancer because “a lot of cancer is environmentally caused.” Co-host Meghan McCain said, “Vice President Biden said he’s going to promise to cure cancer if he’s elected. It’s one of his big promises.” She continued, “He already had a big initiative that he helped government for brain cancer. This should be at the forefront. I don’t know why curing cancer hasn’t been.” Behar said, “To that statement, I would say that...

A small but growing number of Republican lawmakers are urging action on climate change, driven by shifting sentiment among GOP voters and the effects of global warming, from stronger hurricanes to more-destructive wildfires. The group backs policies rooted in what they consider GOP principles, favoring market-based solutions rather than government regulations. Many are loyal supporters of President Trump, but they part with him on climate change, which he has dismissed as hyped. Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida says the GOP needs to advance sound conservative proposals to combat climate change and embrace science, or risk long-term political damage. “How...

Seventy-five conservative groups signed a public letter to Congress opposing “any carbon tax” days after reports that Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney openly considered backing carbon tax bill. “We oppose any carbon tax,” conservative groups, led by Americans for Tax Reform, wrote in their letter, which was published online Monday morning. While the letter is not specifically aimed at Romney, it’s meant to warn Republicans that their conservative base is not in favor of taxing carbon dioxide emissions.

While this may not produce more than a few ripples on the pond of the global warming discussion, I wanted to point everyone to a great article from our friend Jeff Dunetz that touches on this subject. For some time now (dating back to the Obama administration) there were signs posted at Glacier National Park warning tourists that they would need to snap their glacier selfies quickly because the massive ice formations would all be gone by 2020. Well, it’s nearly the middle of 2019 and not only are the aforementioned glaciers not gone, most of them are actually growing.With...

Angel Portillo doesn't think about climate change much. It's not that he doesn't care. He's just got other things to worry about. Climate change seems so far away, so big. Lately though, Portillo says he's been thinking about it more often. Standing on the banks of a swollen and surging Arkansas River, just upriver from a cluster of flooded businesses and homes, it's easy to see why. "Stuff like this," he says, nodding at the frothy brown waters, "all of the tornadoes that have been happening - it just doesn't seem like a coincidence, you know?" A string of natural...