A Princeton glaciologist says a set of mega-engineering projects may be able to stabilize the world’s most dangerous glaciers.

CLICK HERE - West Antarctic Ice Sheet Collapse – The Fall and Rise of a Paradigm

theatlantic.com - by Robinson Meyer - January 11, 2018

 . . . What if scientists could prevent one catastrophic symptom of climate change—a rapid rise in global sea level, for instance—without messing again with the weather?

Michael Wolovick, a glaciology postdoc at Princeton University, believes it may be possible.

For the past two years, Wolovick has studied whether a set of targeted geo-engineering projects could hold off the worst sea-level rise for centuries, giving people time to adapt to climate change and possibly reverse it.

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Health workers attending to an H7N9 avian flu patient in Wuhan, China, in 2017. CreditCreditAgence France-Presse -- Getty Images

CLICK HERE - WHO - Pandemic influenza preparedness Framework for the sharing of influenza viruses and access to vaccines and other benefits (68 page .PDF document)

Despite an international agreement, U.S. health authorities still have not received H7N9 avian flu specimens from their Chinese counterparts.

nytimes.com - by Emily Baumgaertner - August 27, 2018

For over a year, the Chinese government has withheld lab samples of a rapidly evolving influenza virus from the United States — specimens needed to develop vaccines and treatments, according to federal health officials.

Despite persistent requests from government officials and research institutions, China has not provided samples of the dangerous virus, a type of bird flu called H7N9. In the past, such exchanges have been mostly routine under rules established by the World Health Organization.

Robert Ashley, Lieutenant General, U.S. Army - Director, Defense Intelligence Agency - March 6, 2018

dia.mil - March 6, 2018

The United States faces an increasingly complex array of challenges to its national security.  The military environment has shifted from the existence of the United States as the single power able to dominate challengers and to deter aggression through conventional means to one in which foreign militaries are emerging with near-peer and, in some areas, peer capabilities.  Adversaries have studied the American way of conflict and have developed, and will continue to develop, capabilities to mitigate or upend longstanding U.S. military dominance in all warfighting domains—terrestrial, maritime, air, space, and cyber—raising the complexity of the threat environment and risk to the United States.

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A B-6K strategic bomber aircraft of the Chinese Air Force is seen before the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, October 25, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer

CLICK HERE - U.S. - Defense Intelligence Agency - Statement for the Record: Worldwide Threat Assessment - March 6, 2018

reuters.com - by Idrees Ali - August 16, 2018

China’s military has expanded its bomber operations in recent years while “likely training for strikes” against the United States and its allies, a Pentagon report released on Thursday said.

The assessment, which comes at a time of heightened U.S.-China tensions over trade, was contained in an annual report that highlighted China’s efforts to increase its global influence, with defense spending that the Pentagon estimates exceeded $190 billion in 2017.

People take part in protests ahead of a G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany July 2, 2017. Placard reads "Global Warming is NOT a Myth". REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke/File Photo

CLICK HERE - STUDY - PNAS - Trajectories of the Earth System in the Anthropocene

reuters - by Nina Chestney - August 6, 2018

The world is at risk of entering “hothouse” conditions where global average temperatures will be 4-5 degrees Celsius higher even if emissions reduction targets under a global climate deal are met, scientists said in a study published on Monday . . .

 . . . Around 200 countries agreed in 2015 to limit temperature rise to “well below” 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial levels, a threshold believed to be a tipping point for the climate.

However, it is not clear whether the world’s climate can be safely “parked” near 2C above pre-industrial levels or whether this might trigger other processes which drive further warming even if the world stops emitting greenhouse gases, the research said . . .

Torrential rains destroyed about 2,500 houses in En Nahud, West Kordofan, on July 23, 2018 (RD)

dabangasudan.org - August 3, 2018

The heavy rainfall in Sudan in the past weeks has caused the collapse of hundreds of homes and at least 211 school buildings. In eastern Sudan’s Kassala, rains and floods not only destroyed dozens of houses, but also a large number of crops. People in West Kordofan fear the spread of diseases . . .

 . . . People in En Nahud in West Kordofan, where flash floods destroyed a large number of houses on July 23, fear the spread of watery diarrhoea (suspected to be cholera) and other epidemics.

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Hackers working for Russia compromised power companies' networks, giving them the ability to cause blackouts, federal officials warn.  Getty Images

Hackers could have caused blackouts, federal officials tell the Wall Street Journal.

cnet.com - by Steven Musil - July 24, 2018

Hackers working for Russia were able to gain access to the control rooms of US electric utilities last year, allowing them to cause blackouts, federal officials tell the Wall Street Journal.

The hackers -- working for a state-sponsored group previously identified as Dragonfly or Energetic Bear -- broke into utilities' isolated networks by hacking networks belonging to third-party vendors that had relationships with the power companies, the Department of Homeland Security said in a press briefing on Monday.

Officials said the campaign had claimed "hundreds of victims" and is likely continuing, the Journal reported.

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ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLES WITHIN THE LINKS BELOW . . .

Emergency workers among damaged vehicles in a open parking area of northern Athens after a flash flood struck the Greek capital. Photograph: Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP/Getty Images

Exclusive: Prof Michael Mann declares the impacts of global warming are now ‘playing out in real-time’

theguardian.com - by Damian Carrington - July 27, 2018

The extreme heatwaves and wildfires wreaking havoc around the globe are “the face of climate change,” one of the world’s leading climate scientists has declared, with the impacts of global warming now “playing out in real time.”

Climate change has long been predicted to increase extreme weather incidents, and scientists are now confident these predictions are coming true.  Scientists say the global warming has contributed to the scorching temperatures that have baked the UK and northern Europe for weeks.

The hot spell was made more than twice as likely by climate change, a new analysis found, demonstrating an “unambiguous” link.

New #ebola species discovered by scientists from @OneHealthUCD and @ColumbiaMSPH as part of a US-funded effort (@PREDICTproject) to find unknown viruses that have the potential to cause outbreaks in people.https://t.co/cNSrMnaaln

— One Health Institute (@OneHealthUCD) July 27, 2018

CLICK HERE - STUDY - The Lancet - Persistence of Ebola virus after the end of widespread transmission in Liberia: an outbreak report

apnews.com - by Maria Cheng - July 23, 2018

A Liberian woman who probably caught Ebola in 2014 may have infected three relatives a year after she first fell sick, doctors reported in a study published Monday.

There have been previous instances of men spreading Ebola to women via sexual transmission — the virus can survive in semen for more than a year — but the new case is the first time scientists have suggested that Ebola was spread from a woman after such a prolonged period.

The rare possibility of Ebola spreading long after infection highlights the importance of monitoring survivors, especially with the imminent end of the most recent flare-up of the disease in Congo.

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PHOTO: Workers and volunteers are working hard to clear mud and debris from roads and towns. (AP: Takaki Yajima/Kyodo News)

The death toll from Japan's worst flooding disaster in 36 years has risen to 200, as authorities continue to search for dozens still missing.

abc.net.au - July 12, 2018

Heavy rains hit much of western Japan from Thursday last week, with 583 millimetres of rain falling between Friday and Saturday morning alone.

Millions were forced to evacuate due to floods and landslides, with most of the 200 people who have died from the Hiroshima and Okayama prefectures.

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Quebec has had a deadly week-long heat wave - AFP/GETTY IMAGES

A heat wave in the southern part of the Canadian province of Quebec has been linked to 54 deaths, officials say.

bbc.com - July 6, 2018

The sweltering weather began last Friday with temperatures hitting 35C (95F), high humidity and, on the last day, a smog advisory.

The death toll climbed every day this week, with most of the victims between the ages of 50 to 85.

This summer's heat wave was among worst the province has seen in decades, officials say.

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ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLE HERE - Canada heatwave: more than 30 deaths reported as extreme weather continues

CLICK HERE - Swiss Re - News Release - Swiss Re establishes thermal coal policy to support transition to a low-carbon economy (4 page .PDF file)

insurancejournal.com - July 3, 2018

Swiss Re announced it no longer is providing re/insurance to businesses with more than 30 percent exposure to thermal coal across all lines of business.

The thermal coal policy applies to both existing and new thermal coal mines and power plants, and is implemented across all lines of business and Swiss Re’s global scope of operations.

This move marks the implementation of Swiss Re’s thermal coal policy announced in June 2017, which aims to manage carbon-related sustainability risks and support the transition to a low-carbon economy, the company said in a statement.

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ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLE HERE - Swiss Re limits thermal coal coverage

Debris and plastic litter found by Tangaroa Blue, an Australian Marine debris initiative, on Christmas Island, Australia in this undated handout. Tangaroa Blue/Handout via REUTERS

reuters.com - Alison Bevege - June 30, 2018

Australia’s biggest supermarket chains are scrambling to combat “bag rage” as frustrated shoppers vent their anger over the removal of single-use plastic bags . . .

. . . The union conducted a survey earlier this week and of 132 (employee) members who responded, 57 said they suffered abuse due to the plastic bag ban . . .

. . . The U.N. wants to eliminate single-use plastic by 2022 and says more than 60 countries have so far taken steps to ban or reduce plastic consumption.

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submitted by Carrie La Jeunesse

Corporate sustainability teams could play an important role in building resilience to environmental risks.

bloomberg.com - June 4, 2018

According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2018, three of the top five threats in terms of likelihood are environmental: extreme weather, natural disasters and the failure of climate change mitigation . . . 

. . . The reason for the seismic potential of these environmental risks isn't just the risks themselves, but also their knock-on effects. In a global economy, every corporate executive has to consider the potential for cascading risks to threaten the systems that underpin our economy and society.

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