1.  For the first time since countries began gathering 30 years ago to wrestle with global warming, the U.S. did not send any top government officials to the U.N. Climate Summit (COP30) held on the edge of the rainforest in Brazil this past November.  Since the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the U.S. and 197 other countries made pledges to hold the average global temperature rise to preferably 1.5 C (2.7F) by controlling the greenhouse gas pollution that is dangerously heating the planet, causing dangerous heat waves, wildfires, water and food shortages, and coastal flooding.  While there has been some progress, Earth's annual temperature jumped about 0.83 degrees F since 2015, one of the biggest 10-year hikes on record, according to the European climate service Copernicus. In addition to the 140 countries who did attend the climate conference, about 100 American leaders, mayors, governors, and business leaders participated, sending a message that climate change issues be prioritized, focusing on global coalitions to create jobs and cut toxic pollution.  

2.  A decade after world leaders from 198 countries reached a landmark agreement in Paris that aimed to slow and then stop the planet from warming, the U.S. is withdrawing from the 2015 Paris climate agreement, although it is technically a party to the agreement until January 27, 2026.  As the U.S. backs away from its pledge, it has also teamed up with other oil-producing nations to oppose both a global plastics treaty and a first-ever global fee on carbon pollution in the shipping industry, while compelling Europe to abandon a climate law, according to the European Climate Foundation, a research organization.  Researchers at CICERO Center for International Climate Research in Oslo find that despite carbon emissions continuing their relentless rise, technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles are proliferating rapidly, although their effectiveness is uncertain due to policy changes that reduce economic incentives for renewable power.  By contrast, fossil fuels benefit from the $7 trillion in annual global subsidies.

3.  The U.S. was a key player in the 1992 Earth Summit, the first gathering of world leaders to address climate change, and two years ago in Dubai, world governments endorsed a transitioning away from fossil fuels responsible for heating the earth's oceans and atmosphere, keeping global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 C (2.7 F).  But the lack of decisive action at COP30 (the U.S. did not participate) leaves the earth heading for at least 1.7C ot temperature rise according to Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research in Germany.  Despite demand from more than 80 countries (including Colombia, France, Germany and the U.K.) to endorse a "road map" for phasing out the use of fossil fuels, other countries, led by Saudi Arabia, refused to sign any agreement targeting fossil fuels. Also missing from the final text was a road map for halting deforestation, the second-most-potent driver of global warming. According to Rockström, humanity can avoid a nightmarish future only by "phasing out fossil fuels in an accelerated, orderly, and just way,"

4.  More than 2 degrees F have been shaved off future warming projections since the 2015 Paris climate agreement, but research at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research in Germany warns that efforts are not keeping up with the more costly, dangerous and extreme weather afflicting the planet.  According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the decade since 2015 saw the most Category 5 Atlantic hurricanes and the most billion-dollar weather disasters in the U.S. (193 disasters for a total bill of $1.5 trillion).  The bright spot is that renewable energy is now cheaper in most places than polluting coal, oil, and natural gas.  Last year, 74% of the growth in electricity generated worldwide was from wind, solar and other green choices, while 17 million electric vehicles were sold worldwide, up from a half-million in 2915.