California forges ahead with climate balance, despite hard times
This strikes us as a really positive sign: despite calamitous financial events everywhere on earth, California is not throwing its ecological goals out the window, still adopting one of the most aggressive plans to put carbon back in balance in the world.
In crisis, it’s easy to forget our long-term plans we had just moments before. If the world’s fifth largest economy can keep from losing its head, think about how the rest of us can make positive moves in 2009!
Global Climate Change: Insurance gets in on the act
No, I don’t like to write about climate change ALL the time, but it seems an important issue, so here’s more food for thought.
The effect of carbon dioxide on the atmosphere has been a subject of discussion for years, but I really pay attention once it’s being dealt with by industries that seemingly have nothing to do with it. Do oil companies have a stake in the game? Of course. But what about insurance and finance?
Check out this well-researched paper from the Insurance Information Institute about the impact global climate change will have on the entire industry of risk management. It seems that the industry doesn’t just view climate change as another risk factor - it’s an issue that could change the very nature of actuarial tables and assessing uncertainty. A total game changer.
-Garland
Permanent shift of climate expectations?
This week in the United States has been pretty freaky for weather. Snow and wind in Iowa, lashing cold
rain back in DC, and the first days of baseball seeming pretty out of place.
Assuming that this particular spate of strange weather is due to climate change, I have a specific question — will our expectations be forever altered?
We - and all of nature - expect certain ranges of weather at certain times. We think it should be warmer in the spring and then progressing steadily to summer. All flora and fauna thrive in certain places based on these expectations.
What if those are no longer operative…for the foreseeable future? The really serious forecasts on climate change aren’t even for this decade but for 2040 - 2100.
What if animals (humans and other) can never really rely on past expectations again. What of our picnics? Our ski vacations?
Did we put our summer homes in the right place?
Does Vermont actually become a livable climate?
Where will cities spring up?
Who will win? Who will lose?
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