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Blockbuster movies have big potential to change the conversation about climate change.  with a public that holds views on climate change that largely align with political affiliation, Hollywood might offer a rare opportunity to cut across these lines with a message that is both entertaining and eye-opening. Indeed, there is already evidence that movies such as "The Day After Tomorrow" can change consumer attitudes and beliefs about climate change.

National Geographic is dedicating its television programming to climate change topics for an entire week beginning October 30, in 171 countries and 45 languages. The programming will include the second season premiere of climate change series "Years of Living Dangerously," which explores a range of climate change topics through the eyes of celebrity correspondents. In addition, National Geographic's week of programming will feature Leonardo DiCaprio's new climate change documentary "Before the Flood."

But climate change is making it harder for resort owners and tour operators to make good on this promise. Climate change is having more of an impact on tourist destinations by eroding beaches and bleaching coral reefs. Mountain destinations are not immune either, as a warming climate melts glaciers and snow pack. The latest bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef has again brought to the forefront the growing impact of climate change on tourist destinations. According to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, warmer than usual waters have caused bleaching (PDF) along much of the reef, and have killed nearly a quarter of its coral.

Climate change is driving tropical fish northward, with species used to relatively sparse coral reefs suddenly finding an appetite for the more abundant vegetation of northern kelp and sea grass beds. That could lead to radical changes in northern aquatic ecosystems, researchers say. "The faunas are mixing, and nobody can see what the outcome will be," says marine scientist Ken Heck.

Sea level rise is caused primarily by two factors related to global warming: the added water from melting land ice and the expansion of sea water as it warms. The first chart tracks the change in sea level since 1993 as observed by satellites. The second chart, derived from coastal tide gauge data, shows how much sea level changed from about 1870 to 2000.

A slowdown in the pace of global warming in the early 2000s was likely due to changing aerosol emissions -- and future changes could have the opposite effect and accelerate climate change, researchers say.

A report in the journal Nature Climate Change said climate change and rising sea levels could threaten 13.1 million people living along the coastal United States. The study combines population projections with rising sea level models. The areas with the greatest percentage of people at risk are Florida's Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Smaller communities are threatened too and are dealing now with environmental changes.

Climate change is already taking a serious toll on the planet, leading to heat waves, water shortages, melting ice caps, dying coral reefs and the extinction or migration of fish stocks, according to a report from the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Decisions made -- or left unmade -- by policymakers in the immediate future will shape global society for the rest of the century, the panel's report warns. "Nobody on this planet is going to be untouched by the impacts of climate change," said Rajendra K. Pachauri, the panel's chairman

Climate change is already hitting America hard, according to a new study, leading to water shortages in dry regions, heavy rains in wet regions, more frequent and severe heat waves, worse wildfires, and forests die-offs. "Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present," the National Climate Assessment warns

the biggest clash between activists and corporations this year is on climate change, the survey says. Nine of the 11 experts in the MGO survey named climate change the lead issue in the 2014 proxy voting season.

BP's shareholders overwhelmingly supported a resolution on Thursday that would force the company to disclose some of its climate change-related risks. The shareholder vote was extraordinarily lopsided, with about 98% of shareholders approving the resolution, which had the backing of BP's chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg. The embrace of the climate change resolution is being called a watershed event in the history of climate-related shareholder resolutions, which investors large and small have been pursuing since 1999 to try to encourage oil, coal and gas companies to inform shareholders of their climate change-related risks and shift their investments into renewable sources of energy.

Humanity should stop pointing fingers and start finding solutions to climate change, writes astrophysicist Adam Frank. "While triggering climate change might not be our fault, not doing everything we can about it now that we know it's happening -- that would be our fault. Worse, it would be our failure as a species," he writes. 

Global warming will have a variety of effects on our planet, yet it may also directly impact our human biology, research suggests. Specifically, climate change could alter the proportion of male and female newborns, with more boys born in places where temperatures rise and fewer boys born in places with other environmental changes, such as drought or wildfire caused by global warming.

The Department of Defense is clear-eyed about the challenges climate change poses. "The pressures caused by climate change will influence resource competition while placing additional burdens on economies, societies, and governance institutions around the world," the most recent Quadrennial Defense Review, issued in 2014, states. "These effects are threat multipliers that will aggravate stressors abroad such as poverty, environmental degradation, political instability, and social tensions-conditions that can enable terrorist activity and other forms of violence."

With 2020 fast approaching, former United Nations Climate Change Chief Christiana Figueres has called on the global community to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change. Joined by a group of leading climate and business experts, Figueres has launched a campaign highlighting why 2020 is a critical turning point and how it can be achieved. The campaign draws on findings from the report 2020: The Climate Turning Point, which features the most up-to-date scientific basis for urgent action to reduce emissions, as well as a roadmap of action to 2020.

The report sheds light on the corporate leaders, the most effective strategies to address climate change, the changing global landscape after the U.S. decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement and the crucial role of non-state actors in advancing climate goals.

The current case claims that the government has done both too little to solve the problem of climate change and too much to worsen it-even while knowing of the risks it poses to citizens. There is little dispute that at least some parts of the government have been aware of the causes and costs of climate change for a very long time. 

H&M, Unilever, Nestlé and several other leading companies and investors have committed to reporting climate change through the Climate Change Reporting Framework or other comparable frameworks as a matter of fiduciary duty, whether or not required by current regulation.

Just a few days after the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, President Obama signed an Executive Order designed to encourage Americans to incorporate climate change awareness into their activities and plans.

President Obama issued an Executive Order designed to encourage Americans to incorporate climate change awareness into their activities and plans.

Federal agencies must disclose how their actions will impact climate change, according to White House guidance issued today. Read more: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2016/08/02/white-house-to-federal-agencies-consider-climate-change-impacts-of-your-actions/#ixzz4II292aQe