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It may come as a surprise to learn that we are in the middle of the third great coral bleaching event in human history. And scientists are calling it the severest yet. The last great bleaching event was in 1998 when 11% of the world's coral reef coverage was lost. Some areas like the Maldives lost as much as 90% of their reefs. This event is worse, possibly much worse. 38% of the planet's reefs will be affected, with 12,000 sq km of reefs killed off entirely according to experts.

Before this year there had been three major bleaching events identified in the modern history of the reef - 1998, 2002 and 2016. Researchers last month identified the signs of another bleaching event taking place this year.

The best climate scientists in the world are telling us that extreme weather events like hurricanes are likely to become more powerful.  When you combine stronger storms with rising seas, that's a recipe for more devastating floods.

TiE Silicon Valley, a not for profit organization dedicated to "fostering entrepreneurship in the Bay Area and globally," has announced an upcoming hackathon event focused on tackling three real-world issues within the "smart city" space: smart parking, waste disposal management and water access management. The event will begin in January 2016 and will last for two weeks. Winners will be invited to attend TiECon 2016, TiE's largest annual conference, and will also have an opportunity to win prizes and publicity.

Last month, an aerial survey of the northern section of Australia's Great Barrier Reef returned some pretty grim results, revealing that the World Heritage Site had been hit with the worst coral bleaching event in its history. The researchers have now continued their work along this magnificent stretch of coastline and the news isn't getting any better. The results of their end-to-end study now reveal that 93 percent of the reef has been affected by bleaching as a result of warmer sea temperatures in the area.

Recycling is paying off for Apple - to the tune of about $43.6 million in gold. According to Apple's environmental responsibility report, the company recovered 2,204 pounds (a little over a ton) of gold from recycled electronic devices last year from its take-back initiatives and other recycling events. The take-back initiatives allow customers to drop off Apple products at stores or mail them in to be recycled.

According to Apple's environmental responsibility report, the company recovered 2,204 pounds (a little over a ton) of gold from recycled electronic devices last year from its take-back initiatives and other recycling events. The take-back initiatives allow customers to drop off Apple products at stores or mail them in to be recycled.

Every Fall, college and universities across the country welcome companies on their campuses to provide networking opportunities for students. These events can include career fairs, interviews, and industry specific networking gatherings. One such company is PepsiCo, major user of Conflict Palm Oil and top corporate laggard in Rainforest Action Network's Snack Food 20. "Pepsi's palm oil supply chain is saturated with rainforest destruction, human rights and labor abuses, and species extinction," said Adam Stackable, an Oklahoma student, "I won't work for a company that uses Conflict Palm Oil." Adam and several other students confronted a Pepsi recruiter at Oklahoma State University and delivered a letter urging the company to take action to address the egregious practices in its supply chain.

The Arbor Day Foundation and Cabela's Outdoor Fund have partnered together to replant in forests devastated by natural disaster. The reforestation efforts, which include the planting of 200,000 trees, are critical to preserving wildlife habitat. Record wildfire seasons in recent years have destroyed millions of trees in forests around the country. Many areas burned so severely that natural regeneration is not possible, making the need to replant necessary. Insect infestations, disease and weather events also destroy forests.

The report ranks 171 nations in terms of their risk. It has two components: the exposure they face from extreme events like typhoons, drought and earthquakes, and their ability to deal with those catastrophes, or their vulnerability. Sea-level rise is a key driver of the assessment. Many of the top 10 nations facing high risks are located along coastlines.

In its proposal to host the 2024 Olympic games, the Paris bid committee proposed a plan that would cut the event's carbon emissions by more than 50% compared with the last two Olympic games. It involves providing public or shared transportation for all game spectators and housing most athletes less than 30 minutes from their events.

The events of 2016 have underscored just how volatile, complex and ambiguous the world is today. Drawing on insights that we have collected around the world from thousands of interviews and engagements with stakeholders and consumers, we take a look at the global shifts that will continue to shape the world for leadership organizations in 2017.

The Winter X Games in Aspen produces a big carbon footprint, the Aspen Times reports, but Aspen Skiing Company (Skico), which produces the games that ended Sunday, is taking measures to make the annual event more sustainable. Snowmaking is the biggest greenhouse gas emitter. Schendler estimates this accounts for 5 percent of Skico's overall annual GHG emissions. But by replacing older snowmaking guns with more efficient models, Skico is shrinking the event's carbon footprint, the paper reports.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is responsible for handling America's response to extreme weather events such as wildfires and floods, but some experts say the agency isn't adequately factoring climate issues into its strategic planning processes.

Mondelez International, Mars, Nestlé, and 12 other companies launched the Paper Cup and Recycling Group, which will promote paper cup recovery and recycling opportunities.

Thousands of researchers will descend on Boston this fall for an event billed as the world's largest gathering of synthetic biologists. The field is evolving so rapidly that even scientists working in it don't agree on a definition, but at its core synthetic biology involves bringing engineering principles to biotechnology.

The goal of President Barack Obama's newly signed executive order related to climate change is to improve disaster-management efforts during severe weather events and other disasters, according to these articles. It establishes a task force that will look at how federal funds are allocated for building projects and suggest ways to make infrastructure more resilient

As ever more species face extinction, we lose the vital ecosystem services they provide, such as honeybee crop pollination. For its continued existence, mankind is reliant upon an untold plethora of species that maintain the status quo. As they disappear, that existence becomes increasingly fragile.

Danish city officials announced the completion of what they claim to be the world's first neighborhood adapted for climate change in Copenhagen: the St. Kjeld neighborhood has been retrofitted with mini-parks, rooftop water collection, and raised sidewalks to direct excess water from extreme weather events and rising sea levels towards the harbor.

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.

This 60-second video is intended to amp up fans for Super Bowl 50 "the Bay Area way." In promotion of the "Play Your Part" campaign, the ad encourages fans to take public transit to the big game, bring their own water bottle, conserve energy, reduce waste, and otherwise contribute to a socially- and environmentally-responsible event. The campaign is part of the San Francisco Bay Area Super Bowl 50 Host Committee's larger efforts to make this year's Super Bowl "Net Positive."