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Brazil just ratified the Paris Agreement -

In order for the landmark deal to enter into force, 55 countries representing 55 percent of global emissions must ratify it. Not counting Brazil, the totals so far are 27 (mostly small, with the exception of the United States and China) countries and 39.08 percent. There's hope that the addition of the world's 7th-largest emitter will encourage other countries to get a move on. Washington Post

International body votes to ban the domestic ivory trade -

Delegates at the International Union for Conservation of Nature congress in Hawaii are calling on countries around the world to save elephants by shutting down legal markets for ivory. Though the motion is not legally binding, conservationists hope it will help curb poaching, which killed nearly a third of Africa’s savanna elephants between 2007 and 2014. The Guardian

Most humpback whales are no longer endangered -

This week the U.S. government decided to treat the whales as separate groups instead of a single population, resulting in the delisting of nine of the 14 humpback populations. While some are cheering the move as a conservation success, others say it's too soon and that the whales still need federal protection to fully recover. Christian Science Monitor

Humans destroyed a tenth of the world's wilderness in just 25 years -

A new study says human activity degraded an area of pristine ecosystems twice the size of Alaska between 1993 and today. Much of the loss—about a third—happened in the Amazon; 14 percent occurred in central Africa. The authors say there's no way to restore such places to their former state, and that if we keep going at the same rate,  significant wild areas won't exist by the end of the century. The Guardian

California adopts ambitious climate change law -

This week Governor Jerry Brown signed new legislation that will require the Golden State to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030. The move makes California a global leader in climate policy—the state is the world's sixth-largest economy and whether it can achieve its targets will set a precedent for other economic powerhouses. We're routing for you, Cali! Los Angeles Times 

Political polarization on climate change is on the rise in the United States -

A new study finds that today's Republicans are less likely to accept that humans are causing climate change than they were just a decade ago. A separate report suggests that conservative media is helping to drive the denial, uncovering pervasive misinformation about climate science in newspapers like the Wall Street JournalThe Guardian