Situation Report

Richard Oswald stands in a frozen puddle surrounded by unharvested corn. Wet conditions have made harvesting difficult for Oswald and other farmers.  Photograph: Amy Kontras for the Guardian

The changes have become more radical’: farmers are spending more time and money trying to grow crops in new climates

theguardian.com - by Chris McGreal - December 12, 2018

. . . Climate change is likely to make it harder to grow crops, and to make those that do grow more vulnerable to diseases and pests because of rising humidity. The report said heat and diminishing air quality will take its toll on livestock. Farmers will collectively have to spend billions of dollars to adapt. The effects are already seen from prolonged drought in Kansas and torrential rains in Iowa.

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kfdm.com - by Cassidy Wood - December 11, 2018

Orange County homeowners are struggling to balance large loan payments and credit card debt after rebuilding from Harvey.

With many programs becoming available for those who need help rebuilding, there is one group of people who feel they are being left behind; homeowners who began rebuilding shortly after the storm using their own financial means. These homeowners are taking out loans and increasing their debt and now need help; homeowners like Linda Rose . . .

. . . After Harvey, Rose got some money from flood insurance; but her policy would go up substantially unless she rebuilt her home feet higher. So, Rose, and the rest of her neighbors on Meadowlark Street in Bridge City, are paying out-of-pocket to elevate their homes.

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Global investors managing $32tn are urging governments to phase out all coal burning. Photograph: Alexander Koerner/Getty Images

UN summit urged to end all coal burning and introduce substantial taxes on emissions

theguardian.com - Damian Carrington - December 9, 2018

Global investors managing $32tn issued a stark warning to governments at the UN climate summit on Monday, demanding urgent cuts in carbon emissions and the phasing out of all coal burning. Without these, the world faces a financial crash several times worse than the 2008 crisis, they said.

The investors include some of the world’s biggest pension funds, insurers and asset managers and marks the largest such intervention to date. They say fossil fuel subsidies must end and substantial taxes on carbon be introduced.

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Protesters demonstrate against rising costs of living they blame on high taxes near the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris on Dec. 8, 2018.  Sameer Al-Doumy/ AFP/Getty Images

chicagotribune.com - apnews.com - by ELAINE GANLEY and JOHN LEICESTER - December 8, 2018

The rumble of armored police trucks and the hiss of tear gas filled central Paris on Saturday, as French riot police fought to contain thousands of yellow-vested protesters venting their anger against the government in a movement that has grown more violent by the week . . . 

. . . Amid the melee, President Emmanuel Macron remained invisible and silent, as he has for the four weeks of a movement that started as a protest against a gas tax hike and metamorphosed into a rebellion against high taxes and eroding living standards . . .

. . . Macron on Wednesday agreed to abandon the fuel tax hike, which aimed to wean France off fossil fuels and uphold the Paris climate agreement. Many economists and scientists say higher fuel taxes are essential to save the planet from worsening climate change, but that stance hasn't defused the anger among France's working class.