The United States produced a lot of good news on climate action in 2014. At the top of the list: The Environmental Protection Agency proposed in June the Clean Power Plan, new rules for the first ever limits on carbon pollution from power plants.

With power plants serving as the largest source of U.S. emissions – producing more than any single country except for China, this is a historic step forward for the country.

And speaking of China, remember news of the climate deal with this country – the two largest emitters of greenhouse gas emissions? That too signals a sea change in the global discourse around climate change. It shows that climate action is at the top of the list of priorities for the Obama administration, and eliminates the argument that we cannot act without China.

Sure, neither the Clean Power Plan nor the U.S.-China deal is the ultimate cure for climate change, but they are both critical parts of the solution.

It was a demand from people across the globe, not the good will of political leaders, that brokered these deals. Eight million Americans, including nearly 50,000 Mainers, commented in support of the Clean Power Plan. And with more extreme weather events and visible pollution hovering over some of the world’s major cities, climate change is directly impacting people’s lives.

So despite calls by Sen. Mitch McConnell and other allies of the fossil fuel industry to take down the Clean Power Plan, I expect 2015 to be a year of climate action even more than 2014 proved to be because the majority of the world’s people want it.

Laura Dorle

Portland