Miami — Fierce hurricanes, heat waves, floods and wildfires ravaged the planet in 2017, as scientists said the role of climate change in causing or worsening certain natural disasters has grown increasingly clear. It was also the year the world’s second largest polluter, the US, turned its back on the 196-nation Paris climate deal meant to limit global warming to under 2°C over pre-industrial levels. US President Donald Trump, who has dismissed global warming as a Chinese hoax, vowed to quit the 2015 Paris accord and tapped fossil-fuel allies to key environmental posts. His administration also dropped climate change from the list of national security threats, announced plans to auction off vast swaths of the Gulf of Mexico to oil-and gas-drilling, and signed a proposal to eliminate the Clean Power Plan, aimed at limiting the release of polluting greenhouse gases. Trump says the goal is to make America a dominant source of energy for the world, and to create jobs. "Together, we are g...
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