It established a brand new city in the region.

For some time, China has claimed the islands in the South China Sea and the surrounding waters as Chinese territory. It says that historical findings in the area, namely pottery shards and some old maps, mean the entire region belongs to China, full-stop. 

From the perspective of the UN Convention on the Laws of the Sea, however, a number of Southeast Asian countries have legitimate claims to territory in the South China Sea.

In effort to clear up any gray area, China has established its new prefecture, called Sansha and located on Yongxing Island, which is meant administer the Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha Islands and their surrounding waters in the South China Sea.

Yes, it's controversial.

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Even the numbers people don't want to put a number on it. It's very complicated, they say, and largely dependent on uncertainties like when and where the world's worst-ever storm will hit.

But dollar signs tend to drive the point home, especially when they come before, say, 13 figures. And so it is with climate change.

Deciding the cost of a heatwave -- like the one that recently swept the United States -- helps determine how quickly something is done about it.

In other words, numbers drive policy.

Here's another uncomfortable, and inconvenient, truth about climate change:

As the U.S. struggles with economic malaise, as Europe digs out of debt, the Middle East rises up and Japan and China confront economic challenges of their own, environmental problems are on the march.

This is making life harder by adding economic costs, political complexities and additional human suffering to just about every corner of the planet.

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