Climate and economic risks 'threaten 2008-style systemic collapse

The gathering storm of human-caused threats to climate, nature and economy pose a danger of systemic collapse comparable to the 2008 financial crisis, according to a new report that calls for urgent and radical reform to protect political and social systems.

Hurricane Florence in North Carolina in 2018. The report
 fears relentless floods and fires in the US could threaten
financial institutions.

The study says the combination of global warming, soil infertility, pollinator loss, chemical leaching and ocean acidification is creating a “new domain of risk”, which is hugely underestimated by policymakers even though it may pose the greatest threat in human history.

“A new, highly complex and destabilised ‘domain of risk’ is emerging – which includes the risk of the collapse of key social and economic systems, at local and potentially even global levels,” warns the paper from the Institute for Public Policy Research. “This new risk domain affects virtually all areas of policy and politics, and it is doubtful that societies around the world are adequately prepared to manage this risk.”

Until recently, most studies of environmental risk tended to examine threats in isolation: climate scientists examined disruption to weather systems, biologists focused on ecosystem loss and economists calculated potential damages from intensifying storms and droughts. But a growing body of research is assessing how the interplay of these factors can create a cascade of tipping points in human society as well as the natural world.

Read the story from The Guardian by Jonathon Watts - “Climate and economic risks 'threaten 2008-style systemic collapse.”

Emphasizing the need for urgency in addressing climate change

A small part of the preamble of the Paris Accord on climate change action signed by 195 countries in December 2015 says: “Recognizing that climate change represents an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to human societies and the planet and thus requires the widest possible cooperation by all countries, and their participation in an effective and appropriate international response, with a view to accelerating the reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions, Also recognizing that deep reduction in global emissions will be required in order to achieve the ultimate objective of the Convention and emphasizing the need for urgency in addressing climate change…”

Taken from “Unprecedented Crime: Climate Change Denial and Game Changers for Survival” by Dr Peter Carter, and Elizabeth Woodworth.

Productivity Commission pulls no punches on 'appalling' energy crisis, calls for carbon price

Basil Fawlty couldn't have done it better.

Don't mention the war... or the carbon tax.

Treasurer Scott Morrison last week stood at the lectern and delivered a thundering dissertation on the urgent need for cuts to company taxes.

The occasion was the release of the Productivity Commission's latest report on how best to lift our living standards.

So convincing was the Treasurer's speech, so lucid his argument, a reasonable person may well have formed the impression that the commission endorsed his major policy initiative.

Sadly, not. In fact, not a single sentence on company tax is to be found anywhere in the entire report, the modestly titled 'Shifting the Dial: 5 year productivity review', which runs to six chapters with various forwards and appendices.

Read the ABC News story by Ian Verrender - “Productivity Commission pulls no punches on 'appalling' energy crisis, calls for carbon price.”

South Asia floods: Appeals for help as monsoon rains cause havoc in India, Nepal, Bangladesh

There is an urgent need for rescue and relief services on the Indian subcontinent as severe monsoon flooding spreads across India, Nepal and Bangladesh, leaving more than 1,200 people dead since the rains started.

Oxfam says two-thirds of Bangladesh is under water.

Oxfam said its Bangladesh staff reported two-thirds of the country was under water and in some areas the flooding was the worst since 1988, creating an urgent demand for humanitarian supplies.

Wide scale flooding in an arc stretching across the Himalayan foothills caused landslides and washed away tens of thousands of homes and vast swathes of farmland.

The UN said about 40 million had been affected.

Read the ABC News story - “South Asia floods: Appeals for help as monsoon rains cause havoc in India, Nepal, Bangladesh".