Environment

"We're afraid that we're going to start seeing significant damage to the natural resources in parks and potentially to historic and other cultural artifacts. We're concerned there'll be impacts to visitors' safety. It's really a nightmare scenario."

"The Earth is getting hotter. And human activity is a major cause, period. We're not going to give time to climate deniers. The science is settled, even if political opinion is not."

We have to make decisions now which will literally determine whether organized human life can survive in any decent form.

This new select committee is simply a revival of an old climate panel but has even less authority than its predecessor.

“The evidence, if we needed any more, continues to stack up."

“This is our reality now.”

The persistent year-round runoff even in the coldest months is the "the greatest contributor to sea level rise."

That drier (and warmer) future appears to be arriving much faster than expected for places like Cape Town and Phoenix. And yet business-as-usual seems to still be the order of the day.

“Their decision to withdraw is regrettable and Australia urges Japan to return to the Convention and Commission as a matter of priority.”

There were bright spots and victories among the attacks on biodiversity, climate and public health.