Climate Synposis: misery, peril, insurance & the ballot box

It's not your imagination, says the New York Times. Summers really are getting hotter. But the National Review ridicules the climate activists as "merchants of misery" who are taking away summer fun. The partisan divide over climate change is deep, and Al Gore's symbolic meetings in Pittsburgh and his discussions of a "climate crisis" might not help, points out the New Republic.

But do you remember when there was bipartisan consensus on climate change? This week's Time Magazine does. Maybe history can repeat, now that the Congressional Climate Solutions Caucus grew to 50 members. Yet for now, partisan combat and self-interested climate denial continues. Texas utility companies that knew about climate change in the 1970s have funded climate denial campaigns, reveals an investigative report from the Texas Observer. And an essay by Texas Republican Lamar Smith says "Don't Believe the Hysteria Over Carbon Dioxide," because climate change can be beneficial to things like Arctic shipping.

While leaders in the Trump Administration continue to tell the Washington Examiner about their plans for a red-team blue-team "debate" over climate science, The Hill and InsideEPA note the criticism of a former Environmental Protection Agency transition team leader who calls the debate idea "silliness." The Washington Post reports that Senate Democrats want an inspector general to investigate whistle blower allegations, because the Secretary of Interior has allegedly reassigned Senior Executive Service officials in retaliation for speaking up on climate concerns. Pacific Standard magazine suggests the Trump Administration is engaged in an "assault on science," The Union of Concerned Scientists' released a new report entitled "Silencing Science from Day One," and another New Republic article warns that the culture of fear in Washington is making it a hard time to be a climate scientist.

Perhaps, instead of looking to federal politicians, people seeking climate solutions should pay more attention to their insurance, because Fortune Magazine warns that climate change will remake the entire industry. A report in Insurance Journal explained that private flood insurance has struggled in Florida due to the "very unusual peril" and "tremendous uncertainty.” Proposed reforms of the National Flood Insurance Program would require disclosure of prior flooding events before properties can be sold.

Simply put, a hot, wet Earth costs cold, hard dollars. Increases in lightning, hail, hurricanes, tornadoes and "Super el-Ninos" means greater amounts of economic damage and bigger insurance claims.

"The number of tornadoes observed in the first quarter of 2017 was twice as high as the average for the last 10 years." a reinsurance analyst explained.

In fact, freak weather events could cause a food crisis overnight, warns the Washington Post. And showing awareness of the risk, California has put itself in the leadership of the discussion. The state's Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones responded to oil and coal states threatening to sue if California continued to ask insurers to publicly disclose their investments in coal, oil, gas, and utilities:

Climate change and its related impacts pose risks not only for people, businesses and communities, but also for insurers and insurance markets." wrote Commissioner Jones. "While politically popular in your states, denying or ignoring climate change, its impacts and related risks is contrary to the evidence based approach that lies at the core of our system of state based insurance regulation."

The media industry could also benefit from a science-based approach, says journalist David Perlman. Finally retiring at 98-years old, he directed some of his parting words at his own colleagues, telling the Independent about the consequences of reduced investment in science journalism:

“The failure of people to understand that this is real science, and it's just as scientifically valid as an issue today as is the fact that we're going to have an eclipse of the sun on August 21." Mr. Perlman said. "That's not a theory — that's going to happen. And the climate is going to change more, and more and more."

More may be coming, but radical change is already underway. It might even be underestimated, warns a recent study in the journal Nature. Providing citations to the accumulating evidence, Carbon Brief created an interactive map of the world showing how climate change affects extreme weather. Lake Tahoe is warming in unprecedented ways, and in the surrounding basin, the trees are dying. New exotic and invasive species are competing for rapidly changing habitat in Greenland and the United Kingdom. Heavier rainfall events are causing more runoff and water pollution, and will continue to do so, concludes a new study in Science, and National Geographic and the Washington Post further explained how this nutrient pollution will cause algae blooms and affect human health.

Global warming gets real in the Arctic, says the Guardian and photographs released this week from NASA's Operation Icebridge show melting ponds, algae growth and a transforming region. Popular Science summed up the NASA photos and observations in a headline saying hurry up and "Sea ice, before it's too late." Because when it comes to climate change, says Slate, hope is dangerous.

For months, hope has fueled the Our Children's Trust litigation, but the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an unusual stay of the case this week. The Washington Post characterized it as a pause, but others think that the judiciary will avoid being the ultimate arbiter in the controversy over climate change:

"No judge wants to be a target of organized hatred" notes the Washington Monthly. "What do you think would happen to a federal judge who offended right-wing sensibilities today? Sadly, the fight for a stable climate will not and cannot be won in American courts. The fight will, and must, be won at the ballot box."

Climate Monitor thanks the many publications that report on rising seas and the changing climate each week. Learn more about the subject by watching our videos on Roku, on Amazon, and online at www.climatemonitor.tv

In addition to the sources named above, this week's project acknowledges Climate Central, the Guardian, KCRA, the Houston Chronicle, the Independent, Insurance News, Pension Funds Online, Salon, Times Union, and US News.