On the front lines of climate change: With his curly, salt-and-pepper hair and thoughtful demeanor, Chris West looks like just another mid-career professor as he crosses the streets of Oxford University. But West, trained as a zoologist, is more an activist than an academic these days. From his cramped office around the corner from Balliol College, he directs the government’s UK Climate Impacts Program, which educates individuals and businesses in Britain about the risks they face from climate change and the ways to cope with it. Time

Security Council to debate climate change: The UN Security Council will debate climate change for the first time on 17 April, the result of a British campaign to force it onto the agenda of a body that deals with matters of war and peace. “The traditional triggers of conflict are likely to be exacerbated by the effects of climate change,” Britain’s UN ambassador Emyr Jones Parry told a news conference on Wednesday at which he outlined Security Council business for April, when Britain holds the rotating presidency. ABC News (US)

Global warming driving Australian fish south: Global warming is starting to have a significant impact on Australian marine life, driving fish and seabirds south and threatening coral reefs, Australia’s premier science organisation said on Wednesday. But much more severe impacts could occur in coming decades, affecting sea life, fishing communities and tourism. In particular, warmer oceans, changes in currents, disruption of reproductive cycles and mass migration of species would affect Australia’s marine life, particularly in the south-east. Scientific American

Not all Apples are green: Electronics manufacturers are going greener every year — but some still lag far behind. And the worst of all? The iconic Apple. It came last in a new survey published by Greenpeace for its policies on recycling and the use of toxic chemicals. Guardian

Palm oil doesn’t have to be bad: As traditionally practised in South-East Asia, oil palm cultivation is responsible for widespread deforestation that reduces biodiversity, degrades important ecological services, worsens climate change, and traps workers in inequitable conditions sometimes analogous to slavery. This doesn’t have to be the case. MongaBay