AQABA - Nearly 300 government officials, scientists, aid workers and activists from across the Arab world are working together in Jordan to draw up the first joint regional platform for disaster risk reduction (DRR).

While the climate change discussion in Washington is moving at a glacial pace, nature is responding to climate change at record speed. The animal, plant and insect kingdoms aren't interested in public policy. They don't read political blogs. They adapt because they have to. They must change to survive.

Debate about climate change has been cut out of the national curriculum for children under 14, prompting claims of political interference in the syllabus by the government that has failed "our duty to future generations".

Used in a presentation to promote a new California measure to fund an $80 million early warning system, this graphic shows the progression of earthquake shockwaves along the Andreas Fault, from the Salton Sea to downtown Los Angeles.