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WASHINGTON, Dec. 21-- The year of 2019 is one of climate change. It saw the hottest June and July on record, dwindling sea-ice coverage, and more frequent extreme weather. However, the U.S. administration responded this global challenge by comprehensively rolling back its environment policies. On Thursday, U.S. influential magazine Science named U.S. moves to get things backwards in tackling climate change as a breakdown of the year. The U.S. government has forged ahead with a range of policies that make it more difficult for the United States and the world to curb emissions of greenhouse gases. It came as a rising proportion of Americans believes climate change is real, humans are contributing, and government is responsible to make a difference. A Pew Research Center survey showed that 57 percent of Americans now considered climate change a "major threat" to the country, up from about 40 percent in 2013. But public opinions did not translate into political actions. "To really deliver on our climate goals, we do need strong federal action," said Rachel Cleetus of the Union of Concerned Scientists. Researchers from Harvard University Law School who tracked environmental regulatory rollbacks of the current U.S. administration found a total of 66 rules have been scrapped or relaxed since September 2017. A similar tracking effort by Columbia University Law School showed that the administration and Congress scaled back or wholly eliminated 132 federal climate mitigation and adaptation measures. | 
