by Natasha Geiling (Climate Progress)

In the strongest city-supported opposition to fossil fuels in the country, the Portland Oregon city council voted last week to pass a resolution that opposes any new infrastructure that would transport or store fossil fuels within the city or its adjacent waterways.  While Portland can’t unilaterally ban fossil fuels from being shipped via rail, road, or water, While Portland cannot, due to interstate commerce laws, it can enact local laws that limit the transportation and storage of fossil fuels within the city itself, making it prohibitively expensive, or too time consuming, for fossil fuel companies.

Portland’s 350.org activist Andriana Voss-Andre observed:

“We seem to be reaching some sort of tipping point where people are waking up and realizing the enormity of the issue,”

She added, “That we got a unanimous vote was jaw-dropping.  It was an inspiring moment for all of us.”

Read the full story here.

By Anna Hirtenstein (Bloomberg Business)

The Swedish government recently announced that their aim is to become one of the world’s first nations to end its dependence on fossil fuels. They will be investing an extra 4.5 billion kronor (US$546 million) into renewable energy and climate change action in their 2016 budget.

Read full story here.

By Mychaylo Prystupa (National Observer)

The fossil fuel industry is clearly at a tipping point.   We are on the eve of the Paris Climate Talks.  One week ago President Obama killed the Keystone XL pipeline. Yesterday, Prime Minister Trudeau killed the Enbridge pipeline and set forth a plan to end subsidies for big oil.

Could this is the beginning of the end for the dirtiest crude oil on Earth?

Read full story here.

By Bill McKibbon (The New Yorker)

The denial of the KXL pipeline is just the beginning.  The fossil-fuel industry—which, for two centuries, underwrote our civilization and then became its greatest threat—has started to take serious hits, and here’s why.

Read the article here.

By Damian Carrington (The Guardian)

           Above: Massive thermo-solar plant in Beni Mathar Morrocco

The IEA said investment in oil exploration and production was set to fall by 20% in 2015, as high cost projects in the US, Canada, Russia and Brazil continue to be shelved.

“Renewable energy has become a mainstream fuel.”

Read the full story here.

Coral Davenport, New York Times

President Obama finally rejected the oil infrastructure project that would have dealt the final blow to the environment and (as per the State Department) would have offered only 35 permanent jobs after construction.  Had it not been for scientists and climate activists in both Canada and America, it truly would have been “game over” for Mother Nature.

This will come as a great relief to those who live in the heartland of America. One only wonders what will happen to the farmers who had their land seized through eminent domain for the pipeline.

As for Alberta, oil extractors have turned water into poison and an arboreal forest the size of England into a surreal, Hell-on-earth.

Read full story here.