Climate Change Costs: Planet Ecosystems, Extreme Weather, Eco-injustice, Our physical and mental Health, Our Diet, and our Security(financial, food, water, border) and related tipping points


11-21-2024 "Time to Wake Up"  Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) delivers his 295th speech urging his colleagues to wake up to the threat of climate change.     Senator Whitehouse led the Senate delegation to Baku, Azerbaijan this year for the U.N.’s 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP)—the largest and most important venue for world governments to gather to find international agreement on ways to solve the global climate crisis.  While at the Conference, Whitehouse participated in discussions on the future of U.S. climate policy, sea level rise and coastal resiliency, global methane enforcement, climate and trade policy, and corporate influence on climate policy.  Whitehouse also met with the Office of the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, the U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Climate Action, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program, and the Australian Minister for Climate Change and Energy 

 September 25, 2024

Is the climate crisis at risk of spinning out of control? Even among scientists, there is considerable disagreement about what near-term changes may be coming. Can we count on linear modeling of climate change, or do we need to prepare for a radically different future for the planet?                                Michael Oppenheimer:   Professor of geosciences and international affairs at Princeton University                                Stefan Rahmstorf:   Professor of physics of the oceans at Potsdam University                                                                                      Moderated by   David Wallace-Wells:   Opinion writer and columnist for The New York Times Magazine

9-12-24   September 11 | Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) delivers his 294th speech urging his colleagues to wake up to the threat of climate change.  Whitehouse discusses how climate change is already inflicting large economic damages in a variety of ways, as predicted across almost 20 Budget Committee hearings over the last 18 months 

8-16-24  The Florida insurance industry is collapsing, and it could take the whole housing market down with it. Homeowners are facing mounting debt, and the risk of losing their homes. Meanwhile, Governor DeSantis has taken $3.9 million in donations from the insurance industry. 

Jul 24, 2024

Forty million people depend on the Colorado River for water, but that vital resource is in peril. On July 24, 2024, PBS News science correspondent Miles O’Brien hosted “Tipping Point: Colorado River Reckoning,” that examined the challenges facing the Colorado River and those who rely on it.

Jan 16, 2024  Big Oil has known for more than 50 years that fossil fuels pose a huge danger to the climate. They covered it up to keep raking in profits.  It's one of the biggest corporate crimes in history.  Now California is suing to make them pay for the damage.

Jun 24, 2024  #AspenIdeas #ClimateChange #JohnKerry

Costs related to climate change are expected to reach $38 trillion annually by 2050, but who will pay for the adaptation and mitigation projects needed to combat the extreme weather? NBC News' Stephanie Ruhle moderates a panel with former U.S. climate envoy and Secretary of State John Kerry, Anne Finucane of the TPG Rise Climate Fund and Chair of Rubicon Carbon, and Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran, a energy and climate editor at The Economist. NBCUniversal News Group is the media partner of Aspen Ideas Festival.


5-27-24  In this "Story Block" we learn how climate had huge impacts during the "Little Ice Age" and how humans and other species were forced to become resilient in order to adapt and be resourceful enough to provide food for families.  It illustrates how cooperation between national leaders will be essential to our ability to cope with climate impacts

5-13-2024  Gresham College Lecture by Miles Allen      Climate Change is predicted to spark increasing threats to food security and demands for climate reparations, fueling geopolitical instability.              Probably the greatest risk of all, is tension over solar geo-engineering: the idea of reflecting away sunlight deliberately to modify global climate.          Recognizing solar geo-engineering as an inherently destabilizing technology, because any such program would inevitably be considered liable for bad weather everywhere, and ruling it out, would be very helpful                This lecture was recorded by Myles Allen on 16th April 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London           Myles is the Frank Jackson Foundation Professor of the Environment.       He has contributed extensively to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), including as Coordinating Lead Author for the 2018 IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C. He has published extensively on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and extreme weather risk, and the implications for adaptation and mitigation policy. 

4-17-2024  "The Economic Commitment of  Climate Change" : Kotz, M., Levermann, A. & Wenz, L. The economic commitment of climate change. Nature 628, 551–557 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07219-0 

Apr 10, 2024    Water Crisis in Hawaii

Long before there was a crisis in Hawaii involving flames, there was a crisis involving water: water that climate change was drying up, scarce water going to tourist activities instead of locals, and then tainted water that poisoned thousands with jet fuel from Red Hill. Months before the Maui wildfires, CBS News traveled to O'ahu to see what experts call an immense and existential threat to life on the island.


Mar 31, 2024

Europe is now the fastest warming continent on the planet. The European Environment Agency has just published it's first ever Climate Risk Assessment, which finds that EU policies are nothing like robust enough to cope with what's coming our way. So, what's the plan??


2-14-24 Financial Times: With the Arctic warming, melting sea ice is opening routes to untapped petroleum and gas reserves worth an estimated $412bn. Nations within the Arctic Circle are making claims on those reserves by establishing exclusive economic zones, while others are investing billions to get a piece of the pie. The FT’s Myles McCormick explains the economic and environmental risks that come with mining this final frontier. 

entered on 1-21-24 from an article in The Journal of Climate Change and Health  , vol.3 August 2021 : Understanding Eco-Anxiety: A systematic scoping review of current understanding and knowledge gaps. Yumiko Coffey a, Navjot Bhullar a † et al


10-4-2022 NYT: Where I am Going to Go?:  Floridians Hit by a Hurricane and a Housing Crunch, Frances Robles, Audra Burch, Richard Fausset, Michael Majchrowicz

7-29-2022  Peter Carter, The Climate Emergency Institute. Fossil fuel subsidies, fossil fuel profits and fossil fuel emissions have never been higher. Fossil fuel subsidies are destroying the world and the future. Evil has never been greater. 

IPCC 6th report working group II Climate change 2022: Impacts Adaptation and Vulnerability  download final report

1-14-22 "Up an Atmospheric River Without a Paddle"  Compelling testimonies from knowledgeable people telling the TRUTH about some climate impacts and how we can expect to see them intensify globally.  Those interested in resilience and adaptation should watch this video. Special guest Raymond Ford, specialist in Mass Spectrometry, joins Dr. Peter Carter,  Paul Beckwith, and Regina Valdez as they discuss Atmospheric Rivers (ARs) and the other extreme weather events that have occurred during the past few years in British Columbia, Canada. As a resident of Central British Columbia, Raymond has personally experienced some of the extreme weather events that have occurred over the last few years. 

New York Times Magazine: The Climate Migration has Already Begun   "Interactive"

Climate Migration in our future may lead to a housing crisis in the USA . Climate migration and gentrification will accelerate as the United States faces an accelerating sea level rise, more intense heatwaves, wildfires, and even mega hurricanes, all worsened by a warming planet.  April 2021


On October 7, 2021 the PBS News Hour aired a compelling segment on how people of color are being left behind by an uneven flow of aid to those communities. This is an illustration of how those least able to cope with climate impacts, who are also those who are the least responsible for the causes of climate change are the ones that will bear the brunt of the impacts. Faith groups must step up to minister to "The least of these". The EEN or Evangelical Environmental Network are just beginning to realize their obligations to this ministry  

This episode explains where we stand with the global water crisis. It provides an understanding for how humanity can move forward into the 21st century.

The global business community can be a powerful force to drive action for nature - find out why we are confident that change is possible. Our Planet: Our Business, a new film for business inspired by the Netflix series Our Planet, is available to watch now. 

If there's a silver lining to the climate crisis, it's visible in the skies above China. The dramatic slowdown in manufacturing and driving has caused a reduction in carbon emissions and an improvement in China's air quality. Someone who has dedicated her life to climate change policy is Christiana Figueres, architect of the 2015 Paris Agreement. In her new book "The Future We Choose," she urges us to harness our technological, political, and economic potential to create long-term solutions. In the face of the very real threat climate change poses to our planet, Figueres tells contributor Sheelah Kolhatkar why she doesn’t lose hope. 

Managing Climate Risk in the US Financial System 9-10-20 Report Released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission

The E.P.A. Weakens Controls on Mercury NYT April 16,2020 Lisa Friedman, Coral Daveport     rolling back health controls in the middle of a pandemic

RELEASE: Future Climate Change Presents High-to-Catastrophic Security Threat, Warn U.S. National Security, Military and Intelligence Experts in New Assessment 2-24-2020Report 

This series of videos come from the "Arctic research Consortium of The Untied States.  As sea ice vanishes, Indigenous hunters in Alaska seek new prey.

As a child growing up along the Bering Sea in Alaska, Clyde Oxereok hunted walrus with village elders, relying on solid sea ice for nine months of the year. But as Arctic temperatures have risen, the ice is now dangerously thin, and only appears for three months. That’s transforming the foods that Indigenous communities hunt, forcing them to find new prey as the temperature steadily rises. These realities in Alaska serve as a bell weather for realities that all coastal cities face as the planet continues and warm and sea levels continue to rise.

An exposé on the public health impact of factory farming across the United States, told through the eyes of residents in five rural communities. When pushed to their limit, these citizens turned activists band together to demand justice.

The ongoing Human Rights and Climate Change investigation turns the spotlight on the experiences of Filipinos. It’s a chance for their story to be heard. Add your name to support people and communities taking action on #ClimateJustice → https://act.gp/2IDSKsZ

Landfills, chemical waste facilities and power plants are more often built in poor and minority communities, which don't have the power or money to advocate for themselves. For decades, these communities have called for environmental justice: the idea that people shouldn't be forced to deal with more pollution because they belong to a certain race, national origin or income bracket. It's a simple notion, but America has struggled for decades to implement any policies that actually protect poor and minority communities from environmental toxins. Now, President Trump's budget seeks to end the Office of Environmental Justice and cut overall funding to the EPA by 31%. What will happen to the marginalized communities that most need a government advocate?

Climate Justice is Racial Justice 8-2017

Mental Health and Climate Change: Ecological Grief, Greenland residents trauma due to climate emergency. The Guardian; 8-12-2019  

One million species face extinction, U.N. report says. And humans will suffer as a result

Darryl Fears a national reporter for the Washington Post, submitted this article on May 6, 2019. This U.N. biodiversity report states:

Current global response insufficient;‘Transformative changes’ needed to restore and protect nature; Opposition from vested interests can be overcome for public good.

Health and Well-being Climate Adaptation Plan  (H-CAP) The goal of the H-CAP is to support human health and wellbeing services to be innovative and resilient in managing the risks associated with a changing climate,      and to harness the opportunities provided by responding to the challenges of climate change. It provides a preliminary climate change adaptation framework and guidance  for stakeholders across health care, aged care, and childcare services.

The Diet that Helps Fight Climate Change  12-12-2017  You don’t have to go vegan to fight climate change. Research shows that small changes to our diets can make big differences.

EPA: Climate Impacts on Human Health (Historical EPA site as of Jan. 19, 2017) current site: www.epa.gov

A new report on climate change has concluded that rising temperatures are seriously harming human health. The report from a group of universities and UN agencies says that more people are being affected by heatwaves, a poor diet and the spread of disease.

National Security Council Lessons Learned from study on Ebola by Dr. Chrsitopher Kirchoff July 11,2016

‘Climate change adaptation and health’ is a short animated film that aims to inform viewers in an entertaining and easily understandable way about the impacts of a changing climate on human health. The film aims to raise awareness on the urgency of adaptation measures in the health sector to increase its resilience and responsiveness to negative consequences of climate change. Hence, the film shares information on direct and indirect consequences for human health caused by, i.e., natural disasters or altering permissive environments for malaria and dengue fever. Subsequently, the health system must be strengthened at all levels and the burden of diseases needs to be monitored, compared with climate data and analysed. This enables a need-based planning in the health sector and other sectors.

The Center for Climate and SecurityThe Center for Climate and Security (CCS), a non-partisan institute of the Council on Strategic Risks, has a team and distinguished Advisory Board of security and military experts. CCS envisions a climate-resilient world which recognizes that climate change threats to security are already significant and unprecedented, and acts to address those threats in a manner that is commensurate to their scale, consequence and probability.

In our series, Issues That Matter, we take a closer look at climate change. Former Vice President Al Gore has spent decades working on this global issue, winning a Nobel Peace Prize for his work. Gore joins "CBS This Morning" to discuss how the U.S. still might meet its Paris climate accord commitments despite pulling out of the agreement, the climate-related national security issues facing the world today and what he thinks is driving the opposition who don't believe in global warming.

CBS this Morning: Issues That Matter

Secretary of State John Kerry delivers remarks on climate change and national security at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia on

November 10, 2015.

Published on Nov 10, 2015

What causes climate change (also known as global warming)? And what are the effects of climate change? Learn the human impact and consequences of climate change for the environment, and our lives.

You don’t have to go vegan to fight climate change. Research shows that small changes to our diets can make big differences.

This video explains the climate-smart agriculture approach including its objectives and why it is needed.

Climate change will hit farmers, herders and fishers the hardest. The Climate-smart agriculture approach promotes the development of the technical, policy and investment conditions to achieve sustainable agricultural development for food security under a changing climate. It seeks to: increase sustainably agricultural productivity and incomes, help adapt and build resilience to climate change impacts and wherever possible, reduces and/or removes greenhouse gases.