COP 22 UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/03/eating-less-meat-curb-climate-change
Curbing the world’s huge and increasing appetite for meat is essential to avoid devastating climate change, according to a new report. But governments and green campaigners are doing nothing to tackle the issue due to fears of a consumer backlash, warns the analysis from the thinktank Chatham House.

The global livestock industry produces more greenhouse gas emissions than all cars, planes, trains and ships combined, but a worldwide survey by Ipsos MORI in the report finds twice as many people think transport is the bigger contributor to global warming.


“Preventing catastrophic warming is dependent on tackling meat and dairy consumption, but the world is doing very little,” said Rob Bailey, the report’s lead author. “A lot is being done on deforestation and transport, but there is a huge gap on the livestock sector. There is a deep reluctance to engage because of the received wisdom that it is not the place of governments or civil society to intrude into people’s lives and tell them what to eat.”

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jun/03/hillary-clinton/yes-donald-trump-did-call-climate-change-chinese-h/
"Trump’s tweet said, "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.""
President Elect and Climate Change ...  

http://www.dw.com/en/australia-ratifies-paris-agreement-amid-fears-of-trump-withdrawal/a-36334612
"Ratification of the agreement confirms Australia's ambitious and responsible target to reduce emissions by 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2030," Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said in a joint statement with the two ministers.

With its relatively small population of 24 million and continued heavy use of coal-based energy, Australia is considered one of the world's worst per capita greenhouse gas polluters

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/turnbull-government-ignoring-trump-election-proceeds-with-paris-climate-agreement-ratification-20161110-gsm5m1.html
The ratification also comes just before Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg head to Marrakech, Morocco, where a global meeting is taking place to work on the implementation of the Paris agreement.

"Almost a year from the Paris Conference, it is clear the agreement was a watershed, a turning point," Malcolm Turnbull told a media conference. "The adoption of a comprehensive strategy has galvanised the international community and spurred on global action."

Adam Bandt, the Greens climate change spokesman, also applauded the government's move.

"The Trump presidency is a direct threat to the Australian way of life as it makes it harder to stop runaway global warming," Mr Bandt said.

He noted President-elect Trump reportedly plans to appoint Myron Ebell, a prominent climate change denier, to head the US Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA has been a key conduit of President Obama's climate policies.

"Trump has started a climate war in the United States and if he carries out his threats, there will be a rise in civil disobedience as people start taking direct action to stop new gas and oil developments in particular."

New report on the effects of climate change -
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-global-warming-changing-nature-human-assisted-evolution-a7410286.html

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/354/6313/aaf7671

The many observed impacts of climate change at different levels of biological organization point toward an increasingly unpredictable future for humans. Reduced genetic diversity in crops, inconsistent crop yields, decreased productivity in fisheries from reduced body size, and decreased fruit yields from fewer winter chill events threaten food security. Changes in the distribution of disease vectors alongside the emergence of novel pathogens and pests are a direct threat to human health as well as to crops, timber, and livestock resources. Humanity depends on intact, functioning ecosystems for a range of goods and services. Enhanced understanding of the observed impacts of climate change on core ecological processes is an essential first step to adapting to them and mitigating their influence on biodiversity and ecosystem service provision.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/health/india-air-pollution-health.html
In December 1873, London was blanketed for a week in a yellow fog so thick that people could not see their feet. “Ladies & gentlemen,” Mark Twain said in a public lecture at the time, “I hear you, & so know that you are here — & I am here, too, notwithstanding I am not visible.”

Some 780 people died and 50 prize cattle on display at the Smithfield Club panted, wheezed and eventually died of asphyxia. Still, it took 83 more years of noxious air before the country passed the Clean Air Act in 1956.

This history, described in “London Fog: The Biography,” is a lesson in just how difficult it is for governments to put public health first when it comes into conflict with economic development, the political power of industry and even the polluting habits of their people.

Air pollution is the fourth top cause of death globally, after poor diet, high blood pressure and smoking, with more than one in 10 deaths linked to it in 2015, according to the Global Burden of Disease, a vast data trove compiled by more than 2,000 researchers led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

The group estimates that roughly 6.5 million people died from both indoor and outdoor air pollution in 2015. Two million of them died in India. Deaths from outdoor air pollution have risen to 4.2 million in 2015 from 3.5 million in 1990.