With no sign of progress in setting global emissions limits, a steady stream of reports gives cause for alarm to those who are already worried.
It gives cause for optimism.
Meanwhile, Petroecuador, the Ecuadorian state oil company, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Petrobras, Brazil's state oil company, to exploit ITT, an oilfield representing around a quarter of Ecuador's total oil reserves.But more than his public spending and other populist policies, it is the growing strength of the president's grip on power that is giving cause for alarm.
At first sight, the figures give cause for alarm.
The few occasions the public has been allowed a glimpse of the inner workings of police departments in the 1990s have given cause for alarm.
Neil Saunders, managing director of Conlumino, said: "The ongoing scale of the decline - which accelerated in the second quarter of the trading period - does give cause for alarm.
Now at nine in the world rankings - up from 10 last month, his lowest position since 2008 - and with his place at the season-ending ATP Finals in London far from secure, the bare facts about Murray's season could give cause for alarm.
While all of this sounds pretty grim, and can give cause for alarm, there is a fairly simple solution to combat the problem: Brush and floss your teeth, and see a dentist for regular check-ups.
Time may tell otherwise, but the representatives of the younger generation show less promise for the future than they give cause for present alarm.
Certainly, by then people had come to take for granted the unique greatness and invincibility of the empire; even the ominous events of Aurelius' reign failed to shatter their conviction that the empire was impregnable; and the internal disturbances of the preceding reign had not given cause for much alarm.
Endangered species have cause for alarm.
