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Senate Democrats have announced that they will delay the introduction of climate change legislation, passed by the House earlier this summer, casting doubt on whether the U.S. will be able to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions before the U.N. climate summit this December.  The bill is expected to be delayed until late September at the earliest, with Democrats citing health care legislation and Senator Kennedy’s death as complicating efforts.

I’m still hopeful that the Senate could pass the climate bill before the U.N. summit, but the clock is ticking and the rest of the world is watching to see if the U.S. will take a leading stance on curbing emissions, where in the past we have fallen woefully behind.

If we fail to take bold steps to combat climate change, it will be extremely difficult to convince countries like China and India to cut their pollution levels.  The delay also threatens to disrupt climate discussions later this month at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, which aims at dealing with the financial needs for combating climate change on a global level.

I’m also anxious to see what “tweaks” Senator Barbara Boxer has in mind for the legislation, and hope that the bill won’t become too watered down by compromise to prove effective.

Find out below what you can do to help solve the climate crisis.