Wednesday, January 17, 2018

World Economic Forum Global Risks Report Highlights Weather


Leaders and experts across the globe believe extreme weather events and natural disasters pose the likeliest threats to the world, according to a new report, and the likelihood of their occurrence makes them even more concerning than weapons of mass destruction.

While the World Economic Forum‘s annual Global Risks Report for 2018 found that weapons of mass destruction were ranked as the most impactful threat, they were ranked as less likely to occur than extreme weather events, food and water crises, large-scale involuntary migration, or ecosystem collapse. Other threats that especially concern the roughly 1,000 experts in government, policy and business surveyed include cyberattacks, terrorist attacks and data fraud or theft.

Almost all respondents, 93%, predict that “political or economic confrontations/frictions between major powers” will increase in 2018, and 80% expect “state-on-state military conflict or incursion” and “regional conflicts drawing in major power(s)” to heighten this. https://goo.gl/vxdhTj

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Climate Code Red:

What we learned about the climate system in 2017 that should send shivers down the spines of policy makers

Much of what happened in 2017 was predictable: news of climate extremes became, how can I put it … almost the norm. There was record-breaking heat on several continents, California’s biggest wildfire (extraordinarily in the middle of winter), an ex-tropical cyclone hitting Ireland (yes, Ireland) in October, and the unprecedented Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria that swept through the Atlantic in August. The US government agency, the NOAA, reported that there were 16 catastrophic billion-dollar weather/climate events in the USA during 2017. Read More