In The News

About half the world’s people live near coasts, and climate change is putting their livelihoods at risk. A risk assessment report from the World Economic Forum points to “failure to adapt to the effects of climate change as the single greatest risk, in terms of impact, to societies and economies around the world,” explains Maria Damanaki, global managing director for oceans at the Nature...

Drought is devastating some of Africa’s poorest countries, threatening water supplies, power generation and agriculture. Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Swaziland have declared states of emergency. But some nations, like Ethiopia, are in denial about the impact of the abnormal sea and air patterns known as El Niño and the continent’s inability to handle population growth. Ethiopia’s...

Fort McMurray, built around Canada’s oil sands industry, is engulfed by wildfires, prompting evacuation of the almost 90,000 residents. Thousands of homes were destroyed with damages already estimated at near $1 billion. The tragedy, suggests economist Todd Hirsch, offers a reminder on social priorities. “The first part of the word ‘economics’ is derived from the ancient Greek word oikos, which...