Investments worth trillions at risk from climate change: study

Climate change could put trillions of investment dollars at risk over the next 20 years, a global study released on Wednesday said, calling for pension funds and other investors to overhaul how they allocate funds.

Risks from more extreme weather, continued delay in climate policy by governments and uncertainty over the shape of a new global climate pact were major concerns, while renewable energy, agriculture and infrastructure could be opportunities.

The study, led by global investment consultancy Mercer, describes climate change as systemic risk because it challenges the conventional allocation of assets and requires new ways of assessing climate policy and change risks.

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EU ministers to ban wasteful practice of discarding fish at sea

Reform is expected for the fishing quotas system which requires fishermen to throw away large amounts of their catch

Ministers from across the EU will take the first steps today towards ending the practice of discarding fish at sea, in the most radical change to fisheries policy in 40 years.

At the first high level meeting on the subject, the EU fisheries commissioner, Maria Damanaki, is expected to drive home her message that the current system of fishing quotas must be reformed to spare fishermen the need to throw away large amounts of their catch.

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Coastal flooding expected when king tides and rain storms collide this week

The highest tides of the season will arrive in California this week in tandem with forecast rain, a powerful combination that could lead to coastal flooding.


The so-called king tides occur twice a year when the gravitational forces of the sun, Earth and a full moon align. The ocean is expected to surge starting Wednesday and peak at its highest level Thursday morning.

If the waves meet ocean-bound runoff from the expected rains, there could be flooding.


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WWF calls for 'scaling up' of beef production to combat deforestation in Brazil

In an interview with the Ecologist, WWF Brazil CEO Denise Hamu says increasing productivity can help combat deforestation in the Amazon

More intensive beef production can limit deforestation in Brazil where the space used to rear cattle is ten times what you see in other countries, according to WWF Brazil CEO Denise Hamu.

The majority of deforestation in the Amazon is being driven by the spread of cattle ranches with one report estimating that 40 per cent of Brazil's cattle are currently kept within the confines of the Amazon, where illegally occupied forest land is available cheaply. In total, cattle occupy around 80 per cent of land already in legal use in the Amazon.

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Flying less is more, say businesses

New research published today by WWF suggests that, following the recession, businesses are making a permanent commitment to fly less.

Nearly half of UK businesses said that they had cut business flights over the past two years and, of these, 85% said they don’t intend to return to ‘business as usual’ flying. Together, these findings suggest that future business flying will not return to pre-recessionary levels.

The report, Moving on: why flying less means more for business, found that nearly all companies who have reduced their flying say it’s possible to stay profitable and competitive while flying less.

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Veteran meteorologist: How a warmer Arctic disrupts global weather

As part of a post on the WWF US Climate Blog, meteorologist Dave Eichorn from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry has explained in a video report how arctic warming is disrupting weather patterns to the south, especially in winter.

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Yep.  Things are changing.  This is probably going to inconvenience a fair number of people . . .to the point of death in some cases, if we refuse to adapt.  But I continue to maintain that we need to stop seeing this as something catastrophic and stoppable.  Climate change is normal.  It really is.  It's been going on for billions of years . . .or we would STILL be one giant swamp full of primitive lifeforms.  Climate is a driver of evolution.  Climate is a cycle that we have had to adapt to for the entire million or so years of being human . . or humanish.

During past shifts, we merely migrated.  North when it go too hot, south when it go to cold.  And that is our problem now, migration is not really an option when there are nearly 7 billion of us and most of the good land is taken.  So this time, we need to hunker down.  But this isn't hard.  We are in the position to evaluate the evidence, find suitable locations away from the most extreme weather (as we are no longer tied to the shores for easy transportation and access to water).  We can build dense metropolises which can house millions and millions of people.  These cities can be green, sustainable and self contained.

And we can stop breeding.  Seriously.  Why is more of our funding not focused on allowing folks to choose when they procreate?  According to one source, 49% of all pregnancies are unplanned, mostly among the poor and uneducated.  And 82% of all teenage pregnancies are unplanned.  We could halve our population growth by just finding a dependable, easy to use birth control and making it freely available.  (For the US that would mean a declining population, in other countries it would just rein in their out of control growth.)

There are many other things we can do to prepare.  But the one thing we can't do is stop it.  Even if magically we could make the carbon offset scam work, the climate would continue to change.  We have millions of years of fossil records that assure us of that.  We have our very existence to assure us that climate change happens, since it was climate change that ended the reign of the dominant lifeforms 65 million years ago, giving rise to mammals and, ultimately, to humans.

So we have two choices: adapt or die