Climate Change

The Daily Beast reports: President Trump said during a White House briefing on Thursday that he is a “big believer” in climate change and that it is “not a hoax” soon after his administration announced a plan to overhaul an environmental policy act. When asked by a White House pool reporter if he believes climate change is a hoax, the …

The New York Times reports: Federal agencies would no longer have to take climate change into account when they assess the environmental impacts of highways, pipelines and other major infrastructure projects, according to a Trump administration plan that would weaken one of the benchmark environmental laws of the modern era. The proposed changes to the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act …

CNN reports: The Australian state of New South Wales has declared a state of emergency and could begin forced evacuations from fire-stricken areas, as emergency crews battle deadly blazes and brace for a dangerous weekend ahead. State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said Thursday that the emergency declaration would come into effect Friday morning as weather conditions are expected to deteriorate significantly …

The BBC reports: Sydney’s Lord Mayor has defended the decision to press ahead with the city’s New Year’s Eve fireworks display, despite calls it should have been cancelled due to the bushfire crisis. Speaking earlier on Tuesday, Clover Moore said the celebration would “give hope to people”. Parts of Australia have been ravaged by bushfires intensified by high temperatures and …

Reuters reports: Thousands swarmed to beaches on Australia’s east coast on Tuesday to escape fierce wildfires bearing down on several seaside towns, as the government readied naval vessels and military helicopters to aid firefighting and evacuations. Government officials called for Australian military support and assistance from U.S. and Canadian fire crews as authorities confirmed two people had died overnight, taking …

Reuters reports: Teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg said on Monday that talking to U.S. President Donald Trump at a United Nations summit on global warming would have been a waste of time since he would not have paid any attention. Thunberg said: “Honestly, I don’t think I would have said anything because obviously he’s not listening to scientists and …

The Hill reports: Former first lady Michelle Obama sent a message of encouragement to 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg early Friday morning after she faced ridicule from President Trump, telling the teenager to “ignore the doubters.” Trump tweeted Thursday that it was “ridiculous” that Time magazine chose Thunberg as its 2019 “Person of the Year,” an honor he was …

Axios reports: President Trump called TIME’s decision to name 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg as its 2019 Person of the Year “so ridiculous” in a Thursday tweet.Thunberg responded in September to another tweet from the president that mocked her attitude and tactics, saying, “I honestly don’t understand why adults would choose to spend their time mocking and threatening teenagers and …

NBC News reports: Greta Thunberg, the soft-spoken Swedish teen who became a global conscience for climate change and environmental activism, has been named Time’s Magazine’s Person of the Year for 2019. The magazine announced 16-year old Thunberg as its choice Wednesday exclusively on “TODAY.” Thunberg quickly bloomed into one of the world’s most notable and youngest climate change activists. She …

The Associated Press reports: Inga is troubled: His reindeer are hungry, and he can do little about it. Climate change is altering weather patterns here and affecting the herd’s food supply. “If we don’t find better areas for them where they can graze and find food, then the reindeers will starve to death,” he said. Already pressured by the mining …

Politico reports: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sought to assure nations at the U.N. conference in Madrid today that the U.S. would join its efforts to fight climate change despite President Donald Trump’s move to pull the U.S. out the Paris agreement. “By coming here we want to say to everyone, we’re still in,” Pelosi said at a press conference in …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed a prominent climate scientist to pursue a defamation lawsuit against a conservative magazine and a think tank that compared him to a convicted child molester. The justices declined to hear appeals filed by National Review magazine and the Competitive Enterprise Institute seeking to overturn a lower court’s ruling that allowed the …

CNN reports: Veneto regional council, which is located on Venice’s Grand Canal, was flooded for the first time in its history on Tuesday night — just after it rejected measures to combat climate change. The historic Italian city has been brought to its knees this week by the worst flooding there in more than 50 years. And the council chamber …

USA Today reports: Fix global warming or cook dinner on a gas stove? That’s the choice for people in 13 cities and one county in California that have enacted new zoning codes encouraging or requiring all-electric new construction. The codes, most of them passed since June, are meant to keep builders from running natural gas lines to new homes and …

CBS News reports: A 25-year-old New Zealand lawmaker shut down a heckler during a climate change speech with a two-word comeback aimed at older people. Chlöe Swabrick, who belongs to the Green Party, silenced a fellow Parliament member by retorting, “OK, boomer” — a phrase popularized by young people to call out folks from the baby boomer generation. The phrase …

Reuters reports: The United States’ withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement “won’t change the course of things” and is a “marginal” choice, according to French President Emmanuel Macron. “When China, the European Union and Russia commit to [the Paris Agreement], the isolated choice of this or that [country] isn’t enough to change the course of things,” Macron said in a …

Courthouse News reports: Scientists around the world – 11,000 of them from 153 nations – have declared a state of climate emergency, calling on the world to make urgent and meaningful changes to avoid serious and unknown consequences. The scientists made their declaration Tuesday in the journal Bioscience, on the 40th anniversary of the first world climate conference held in …

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration formally notified the United Nations on Monday that it would withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change, leaving global climate diplomats to plot a way forward without the cooperation of the world’s largest economy. The action, which came on the first day possible under the accord’s complex rules …

The Associated Press reports: The Weather Channel is moving beyond cold fronts and heat waves to wade into the politics of climate change, with a special planned for early next month that includes interviews with nine presidential candidates on the topic. The campaign’s most prominent climate change skeptic — President Donald Trump — declined an invitation to participate. The hour-long …

The Oregonian reports: Organizers of the Oregon Republican Party’s drive to recall Gov. Kate Brown conceded Monday that they did not manage to gather the necessary 280,050 valid voter signatures to put the recall on the ballot. Party Chairman Bill Currier did not return phone calls to The Oregonian/OregonLive, but he said on Monday’s Lars Larson Show that “we did …