In news on the environment and climate change, scientists have been stunned by the unprecedented warm temperatures in the North Pole, which has surged above freezing temperatures in the middle of the winter. Meanwhile, a number of retired U.S. military generals and admirals say rising sea levels are flooding an increasing number of U.S. military bases around the world. In Nigeria, leaders from across Africa are gathering to discuss the escalating hunger crisis of 17 million people who depend on Lake Chad, which is shrinking due to climate change. And in China, more than a quarter of a million companies that discharge air and water pollution will have to start paying an environmental tax beginning in April, under China’s new Environmental Protection Tax Law.