[Listen to “The Argument” podcast every Thursday morning, with Ross Douthat, Michelle Goldberg and David Leonhardt.]

This concludes my countdown of the top five most significant stories of 2018 . I realize I didn’t come close to covering everything important that happened this year. If I were doing a top 10 or top 20, I also would have found room for Brexit; family separations at the border; Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation; the continuing #MeToo fallout; the increasing assertiveness of China; the departure of Trump aides who constrained the president; and the tentative signs of an economic slowdown.

Now onto 2019 — with hopes for a better year than the one that ends today.

Related. Yesterday, “Meet the Press” devoted its entire show to climate change. It was a welcome change from just a few weeks ago, when the show hosted a climate denier as an expert panelist.

On yesterday’s show, Chuck Todd, the host, said: “We're not going to debate climate change, the existence of it. The Earth is getting hotter. And human activity is a major cause, period. We're not going to give time to climate deniers. The science is settled, even if political opinion is not.”

For more on the climate, be sure to read Justin Gillis’s recent Op-Ed arguing that a carbon tax isn’t the most effective way to address climate change, as well as pieces by Paul Bledsoe and The Times Editorial Board. And if you’re thinking about New Year resolutions, check out this short video from Eve Andrews of Grist — about ditching her car, for the sake of both the environment and her bank account.

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