The resolution naming 2020 the International Year of Plant Health recognized plants' role in fighting this global "change"
Climate Change
"Wait until the evening before opening night", said Rossini of writing these instrumental pieces played before operas
Overtures
This, this, this Greek letter, gently down the clue; it was "resh" in the Phoenician alphabet, now it's there for you
Rho
The Ladyjacks of Stephen F. Austin were queens of the lanes in 2019, rolling to the NCAA women's title in this
Bowling
Fuzzy freestone fruit (5)
A peach
Read some Yeats or Dickinson on March 21, World this Day
Poetry Day
Male ballet dancers generally don't wear these on their feet; one exception is when men play the stepsisters in "Cinderella"
Pointe shoes (toe shoes)
Revelation 1:8 states, "I am" these 2 Greek letters, "the beginning and the ending", which really covers things
Alpha & Omega
Columbia foiled, sabered & epeed its rivals to win this 2019 NCAA title
Fencing
South American cloak (6)
A poncho
In 2019 World Space Week commemorated the 50th anniversary of this
The moon landing
This American dropped his drip style for one dubbed "Black Pourings"; a 1951 show of them sold none
(Jackson) Pollock
If you don't know it's the 2nd-to-last letter in the Greek alphabet, you'll let out a heavy one (with a different spelling)
Psi
In 2019 TCU fired on all cylinders to win the school's third NCAA title in this weapon, with air & smallbore competitions
Rifle
Square, rectangle or rhombus (13)
A parallelogram
2019 to 2028 is the "Decade of Peace" named for this South African
(Nelson) Mendela
10-letter word for your friend who wears outlandish colorful clothes, or for the showy late Gothic style seen here
flamboyant
It's basic math! This is celebrated every March 14th
Pi Day
The ACUI sponsors a championship in this billiards game, one higher than another named for stripes & solids
nine-ball
Stolen, like the "Letter" in an Edgar Allan Poe story (9)
Purloined
An annual November "Awareness Week" showcases the rising global problem of resistance to this important class of drugs
Antibiotics
This longtime exhibit of officially sanctioned French art crammed paintings onto walls
The Salon
If Sophocles signed his name, he'd begin by writing this letter
Sigma
Keep your Frisbee off the roof, er, rough, in the CDGNC, short for the College this National Championship
Disc Golf
Social outcast (6)
A pariah