On November 19, the House Natural Resources Committee Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee held an oversight hearing on U.S. preparedness for and response to volcanic hazards.
A new study in the journal Nature suggests that wildfires be treated like other natural disasters, such as earthquakes or floods, where officials focus on adaptation and loss mitigation as opposed to prevention and response.
The House passed three bills the week of November 17 regarding the science that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses to issue environmental regulations. The bills attempt to change to how EPA reviews scientific data and how it issues permits.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report on November 3 that synthesizes its published findings on climate change over the last 13 months.
On November 12, President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a climate change agreement, pledging to cut greenhouse gas emissions and collaborate in an international effort to combat global temperature rise.