This September 2014 Low Carbon Economy Index by multinational accounting firm Pricewaterhouse-Coopers measures how G-20 countries are performing relative to their agreement at the 2009 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to do what they must to keep global temperatures within 2 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels. The result: almost everyone is falling short. Their performance is critical; together they account for 85 percent of global carbon emissions.
National Security & Climate Change -2014
2014 National Security & Climate Change Report (in English, .pdf file) issued by the Center for Naval Analyses Military Advisory Board.
U.S. Climate Change Review -2014
Overview (in English, .pdf file) of the 3rd National Climate Change Assessment Review, explaining its impact on the United States
2014 Climate Change Report
A special supplement to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 95, No. 9, September 2014 entitled Explaining Extreme Events of 2013 From a Climate Perspective.
Climate Change Economics
A report released 09/2014 by The Global Commission on Climate and the Economy -a group of former senior government officials advised by some of the world’s leading economists- found that “an ambitious series of measures to limit emissions would cost $4 trillion or so over the next 15 years, an increase of roughly 5 percent over the amount that would likely be spent anyway on new power plants, transit systems and other infrastructure.”
Though comprehensive and straightforward, the report does not include a blueprint to simultaneously solve the global water crisis and the gap in the distribution of wealth and income. Plan A does.
Global Climate Report Feb. 2017
2017 year-to-date temperatures versus previous years. Report from National Centers of Environmental Information.
State of the Ocean 2015 – WWF
WWF (World Wide Fund For Nature) report describing how marine life has declined, in some cases, by 50% since 1970 due to over-fishing, ocean acidification and other human activity.
Limits to Growth
Report (in English, .pdf file) on limits to growth on financial markets and consequential impacts, presented by the Global Sustainability Institute (GSI), Anglia Ruskin University.
Benefits of New Construction
• Residential construction has a positive, direct impact on the U.S. economy.
• For each new single-family home that is built, NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) estimates that three jobs are created.
• Jobs are generated in the industries where lumber, concrete, lighting fixtures, heating and cooling equipment, and other products that go into a home are produced. More jobs are created when real estate agents, lawyers and brokers provide services to home builders and home buyers, and none of them can be outsourced or relocated.
• About half of the three jobs created by building an average single-family home are in the construction industry. Other jobs are spread over other sectors, with manufacturing ranking second.
• And housing is “Made in America.” Most of the products used in home construction and remodeling are manufactured here in the United States.
A Generator of Tax Revenues that Builds Vibrant Communities
• A strong housing industry not only means more jobs, but more money in our communities.
• Home building increases the property tax base which generates revenue that supports local schools and communities.
• For each new single-family home that is built, NAHB estimates that it generates a total of $90,000 in government revenue — $67,000 in federal taxes and $23,000 in state and local taxes.
Housing Can Put America Back to Work
• The gap between current production and potential housing construction is roughly 1 million homes. That represents close to 3 million untapped American jobs.
• In normal times, housing accounts for more than 17 percent of Gross Domestic Product. Restoring the health of the housing industry is a crucial first step in putting America back to work.
Low Paying Jobs
Extensive study (in English, .pdf file) by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, TX describing the loss over the last 20 years of middle-skill jobs in the U.S. labor market, a “barbell economy.”