Extreme weather costs will hurt insurance co’s and you!

Climate News Links on March 16, 2022

Payouts for increasing damages from floods, wildfires, and winds hurt the insurance companies. They must choose to not insure the risk or recover costs from customers

Lismore locals clean up after their town was again inundated, this time by record flood levels.(AAP: Jason O’Brien)

by Michael Janda, 12/03/2022 in ABC News

Insurers brace for rising flood damage amid climate change, and they warn you should too: As New South Wales and Queensland clean up after what are likely to be the costliest floods in Australian history, insurers have a stark warning — prepare for things to get worse, especially along the east coast.

Featured image: Lismore floods regularly. This picture of the town is from the 2017 inundation.(ABC North Coast: Ruby Cornish) from the article.

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

NB4 East Coast lows kill 21+ citizens — worse to come

William P. Hall on March 10, 2022

As long as global warming continues ever more extreme weather can be expected. Is our govt. doing enough to help mitigation & adaptation?

Jason O’Brien/AAP via The Conversation

by Barbara Norman, 09/03/2022 in The Conversation

The floods have killed at least 21 Australians. Adapting to a harsher climate is now a life-or-death matter:

The devastating floods in Queensland and New South Wales highlight, yet again, Australia’s failure to plan for natural disasters. As we’re seeing now in heartbreaking detail, everyday Australians bear the enormous cost of this inaction. It’s too soon to say whether the current floods are directly linked to climate change. But we know such disasters are becoming more frequent and severe as the climate heats up. In 2019, Australia ranked last out of 54 nations on its strategy to cope with climate change.

Read the complete article…

Featured Image: The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (2021) projects that ten year extreme weather events will become more common compared to the pre-industrial era. Based on data from Fig. SPM.6 of: Climate Change 2021 / The Physical Science Basis / Working Group I contribution to the WGI Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change / Summary for Policymakers. IPCC.ch SPM-23. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (9 August 2021). Source states: ● Hot temperature extremes over land – 10-year event – Frequency and increase in intensity of extreme temperature event that occurred once in 10 years on average in a climate without human influence; ● Heavy precipitation over land – 10-year event – Frequency and increase in intensity of heavy 1-day precipitation event that occurred once in 10 years on average in a climate without human influence; ● Agricultural & ecological droughts in drying regions – 10-year event – Frequency and increase in intensity of an agricultural and ecological drought event that occurred once in 10 years on average across drying regions in a climate without human influence. / Date: 29/20/2019 / Author: Femkemilene / Licensing: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International.

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

ABC’s detailed report on Lismore’s NB4 flooding

William P. Hall on February 28, 2022

NB4 record overtops previous floods by 2 meters and it is still raining! LNP didn’t cause the flood, but have denied the climate emergency

by Jean Kennedy and Bronwyn Herbert, in ABC News
Lismore flood emergency sees people stranded on roofs, evacuation warning issued for entire NSW Northern Rivers

  • The flood levee has been breached at Lismore with the peak still to come
  • Evacuation orders are in place for several areas across north east NSW
  • There are fears a man was washed down a drain in Lismore last night
Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

Second definition problem: Not all oils need to be fossil

William P. Hall on February 26, 2022

Some oils are from nuts. The chemical industry can work with other feedstocks than fossils. Safer to try to remove the petroleum from chemicals.

by Tom Egelhoff, 20/02/2022 in Medium
No More Fossil Fuels? Are You Nuts? I think we have a definition problem here. I don’t think people are anti-fossil fuels they are anti-fuel. Fossils just happen to be the source of that fuel.

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

State of the Arctic in 2020: bad news for our future

William P. Hall on February 26, 2022

Amer. Meteorological Society’s 2020 State of the Climate reports accelerating Arctic warming (Arctic amplification) that drives world climate

Zach Labe samples that data to show midwinter temperature over the Barents and Kara Seas has risen by more than 2 °C per decade!

Note: over the next few days I will be posting a comprehensive post on the full State of the Arctic article and the warnings we should be taking from it.

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

Vexed issue of harvesting flood-plane water not solved

William P. Hall on February 26, 2022

NSW Senate blocks plan to allow agribusiness to harvest more than 5x flood plane water even than allowed for in Murray-Darling basin plan

by Anne Davies, 24/02/2022 in The Guardian
NSW parliament rejects flood plain harvesting laws for third time over sustainability concerns: Labor, the Greens and crossbenchers unite to disallow water capturing licences despite minister already moving to issue them

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

Great idea! photovoltaic covers for irrigation canals

William P. Hall on February 26, 2022

Good for agriculture: Save scarce water from evaporation to pay for installing solar panel covers, supply energy, and generate profits

by Dan Gearino, 24/02/2022 in Inside Clean Energy
In Parched California, a Project Aims to Save Water and Produce Renewable Energy: Plan calls for building solar canopies over canals, and may be the first project of its kind in the United States [but not elsewhere]

Featured image: A conceptual rendering of solar canopies covering part of Turlock Irrigation District’s 110-foot-wide main canal, near Turlock, California. Credit: Turlock Irrigation District. From the article

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

White House fights climate denial and delayed action

William P. Hall on February 26, 2022

Past denial & blocking of climate action is hurting society. How do we respond to accelerate effective action to deal with the emergency?

Maxine Joeslow, 24/02/2022 in The Washington Post Climate & Environment
White House science office to hold first event on countering climate change denial and delay: Leading climate scientists will meet with officials in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

Antarctic sea ice reaches NB4 low extent this summer

William P. Hall on February 25, 2022

Southern sea ice coverage fell below 2 million km² for first time since satellite records began in 1979, exposing more ocean to solar heating

For details see NSIDC.org

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

Gov’t gives fossil fuel free pass for excess emissions

William P. Hall on February 25, 2022

A fifth of Australia’s fossil fuel facilities emit more more GHGs than approved – with no penalties/costs applied for excess emissions

by Adam Morton, 24/02/2022 in The Guardian
A fifth of Australia’s fossil fuel facilities emit more greenhouse gas than originally estimated, report says: Australian Conservation Foundation says blowouts show government’s safeguard mechanism is ‘failing’ to control industrial emissions.

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.