A look at our changing climate
Glaciers are melting, seas are rising and small islands are becoming submerged.
A recent article in the January 21 Bloomberg Businessweek magazine stated that extreme weather tops the list of long-term risks facing the world. For the third year in a row, extreme weather events top this list.
Respondents are increasingly worried about environmental policy failure and our ability to adapt to our changing climate. Another article in the Wall Street Journal a few days ago discussed the fact that 鈥淪tates look to Act as Oceans Rise.鈥� Tired of waiting for leadership from the federal government, they are proposing to spend billions of dollars to protect coastal regions from rising oceans and extreme weather. This will probably not be a long term solution as Mother Nature usually wins these coastal armament battles.
Hurricanes and fires in 2017 cost the United States $300 billion. This number is from the National Underwriter, an insurance publication, January issue. Insurance premium rates will have to rise to keep pace with increasing costs. For insurance to work, it must collect premiums from the many to pay the losses of the few. So too will rates for flood insurance as taxpayers grow weary from repeated bailouts of a government sponsored program that continues to charge less than it should and then sends the final bill to the taxpayers. Last year, this was $24 billion. This would buy a lot of infrastructure for many of our citizens rather than a small group who continue to build homes along the coasts and in floodplains.
Only a few still hold to the belief that climate change is not a problem. It doesn鈥檛 matter if it is natural or man-made. The problem is what can we do? More heat in the atmosphere means more energy and more energy means bigger storms, fires and extreme weather events. I will trust the scientists any day over the politicians who only want to keep kicking the can down the road so they don鈥檛 have to deal with climate change on their watch.
Perhaps there is away forward without killing our economy. Some want to go green, others continue with fossil fuels. Ask the town of Falmouth, Mass. 鈥� population 32,000 鈥� about their recent venture with wind turbines. The town spent $10 million on two turbines in 2011 and now is losing money and decided to move the turbines as health issues and a recent court decision have shut down both. The town still has a bond to pay off and it will cost several million to move the turbines.
It was also interesting to see the tweets last week after the visit from the polar vortex and the record-breaking cold suggesting that something happened to global warming. Even with a warming planet, we will still have cold, ice and snow. How quickly some are to jump on the issue. Winter is not going away, it will just look different. One polar vortex or heat wave does not make for climate change. How quickly the weather turned and we got to enjoy some 50 and 60 degree weather after the cold spell.
Another interesting article I read in the January 20 issue of the Wall Street Journal was about the collapse of the California Utility PG&E into bankruptcy after the devastating fires this summer. This collapse could be a business milestone: the first major corporate casualty of climate change. Few people expect it to be the last.
Let鈥檚 continue to have the discussion. There are answers that will work. We need leadership.