To “be” climate is the hardest thing of all, yet there’s nothing else to be. Climate denial persists because we don’t want to go here. Contradicting science is the least of it; we compartmentalize; we detach; we disown consequences. We watch our leaders work their hearts out for a strong climate agreement, while toying with a deal to lift a ban on oil exports.

Faraday announces $1 billion electric-car factory, Texans rent their roofs for solar power, Paris accord boosts clean-energy stocks, and more news of the week in clean energy solutions 

"If the world were a bank," a French labor leader said in exasperation during the Paris climate negotiations, "it would have been rescued by now!" In this telebriefing, four Northwest climate action leaders share unfiltered ringside observations on the negotiations' final stages. With KC Golden, labor leader Jeff Johnson, clean tech business leader Tim Miller, and Portland sustainability manager Michael Armstrong.

The Paris Agreement sets the stage for the immediate future of coordinated, international climate action. Much of the actual progress will depend on local and regional action; every Northwest oil terminal abandoned, ton of coal left in ground, and solar panel installed, fuels the ambition of the U.S., Canada, and therefore countries around the world to meet and exceed our carbon-reduction goals. 

Today in Portland, five west coast mayors announced aggressive commitments to aggressive action on both climate change and equity. The announcement comes directly after a Paris gathering of international mayors talking climate change; it also closely follows the groundbreaking climate resolutions passed last month in Portland. Here's the story of how those resolutions came to be.