Looking at the whole field of climate-conflict studies, he said, a key was to understand the reality of what might link short- or long-term climatic change to outbreaks of conflict.

BBC: Warm, wet - and warring?

The wedges paradigm, which provides a framework for formulating emissions reduction strategies based on currently available technologies, quickly became the gold standard in the field of climate change mitigation.

FORBES: Rethinking Our Response to Climate Change: Carbon Wedges 2.0

The field of implementing technical climate fixes, or geo-engineering, is full of controversy, and even those involved in researching the issue see it as a last-ditch option, a lot less desirable than constraining greenhouse gas emissions.

BBC: Climate 'tech fixes' urged for Arctic methane

What keeps climate scientists working away in our labs and in the field, is that we keep uncovering more evidence of how climate change will impact our planet and our lives.

CNN: Climate scientists and smear campaigns

However, climate change increases global risks, Field said.

CNN: Extreme weather: Get ready to see more of it, scientists say

The real challenge is figuring out whether a particular storm or flood was due to climate change or natural variables, said Chris Field, founding director of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology.

CNN: Extreme weather: Get ready to see more of it, scientists say

While Facebook is a concept of the mind that can migrate its human capital to the tax climate it deems best, Continental Resources cannot change the location of the Bakken oil field.

FORBES: The Irrational, Non-Economic Exuberance Underlying Hydraulic Fracturing