“Developer Socialism”

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This is another take on a topic covered in some earlier postings, but it is worth considering again.  See: Subsidized insurance is developer socialism

Government has become the insurer of last resort precisely because – unlike politicians – free market insurers are not in denial about climate change. Allstate once insured more than a million homes in Florida. It now covers about 400,000, and reportedly plans to reduce that to 100,000.

Private insurers see little profit in paying out damages to rebuild oceanfront properties that are almost certain to be ravaged anew.

“With the federal government taking on such an enormous share of the financial burden and nearly all recovery responsibility, there is little incentive for disaster-prone states to take action to reduce risk,” The SmarterSafer coalition, whose members include some of the world’s largest insurance companies, stated in 2015.

This notion that the feds will keep picking up the tab for damages in disaster-prone areas that should not have been developed in the first place, prompted FEMA Director (and former Florida emergency disaster czar) Craig Fugate to go off on a remarkably candid rant in a recent interview with Blomberg News.

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Slow Onset Climate Disasters Under Consideration

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News article from Newtok, Alaska: Can the U.S. deal with slow-motion climate disasters?

The village of Newtok has requested a federal disaster declaration from President Barack Obama to address ongoing erosion and thawing permafrost. It’s one of the first tests of whether the nation’s disaster relief laws can be used to deal with the slow-moving impacts of climate change.

 

Contribution of the Elderly to Community Resilience

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New article (8 pp.) from Dan Aldrich: Creating Community Resilience Through Elder-Led Physical and Social Infrastructure.

Natural disasters and rapidly aging populations are chronic problems for societies worldwide. We investigated the effects of an intervention in Japan known as Ibasho, which embeds elderly residents in vulnerable areas within larger social networks and encourages them to participate in leadership activities. This project sought to deepen the connections of these elderly residents to society and to build elderly leadership and community capacity for future crises.

Methods: We carried out surveys of participants and nonparticipant residents across the city of Ofunato in Tohoku, Japan, 1 year after the intervention began. Our surveys included questions assessing participation levels in Ibasho, demographic characteristics, efficacy, social networks, and a sense of belonging.

Results: Regression analysis and propensity score matching of more than 1100 respondents showed that regular participation in the Ibasho project had a statistically significant and positive connection with various measures of social capital.

Conclusions: Given its relatively low cost and focus on deepening cohesion, we suggest that this community-based project could be replicated and scaled up in other countries to deepen resilience, elder health, and social capital. Moving away from an emphasis on investing in physical infrastructure, we believe that disaster risk reduction strategies should center on social infrastructure

Cost of Weather Disasters in 2016

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Here are two articles re a new report from NOAA:

Climate-based disasters caused $46 billion in damage and killed at least 138 in the 48 contiguous U.S. states last year, with inland flooding emerging as the costliest weather event for the first time since 1997. The number of billion-dollar occurrences was the second-highest since 1980,  with one less than the 16 in 2011, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. It was also the second warmest year behind 2012 over 122 years, and the 20th consecutive warmer-than-normal year.

Scientific Reports on Sea Level Rise

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At least one regular reader takes issue with this matter, but the Diva finds the scientific evidence compelling.

Coastal resilience:Accelerating sea level rise requires collaborative response

Recent estimates suggest that global mean sea level rise could exceed two meters by 2100. The projections pose a challenge for scientists and policymakers alike, requiring far-reaching decisions about coastal policies to be made based on rapidly evolving projections with large, persistent uncertainties. Policymakers and scientists must thus act quickly and collaboratively to help coastal areas better prepare for rising sea levels globally, say climate change experts.

 

Assessing Climate Resilience in 250 Cities

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Resilience: Assessing climate resiliency of more than 250 U.S. cities

The University of Notre Dame’s Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN) has announced it will assess the climate vulnerability and readiness of every U.S. city with a population over 100,000 — more than 250 in all — in an effort to help inform decisions by city officials on infrastructure, land use, water resources management, transportation and other adaptive strategies. The Urban Adaptation Assessment (UAA) will also integrate a social equity analysis, which will investigate how vulnerable groups are disproportionately harmed by climate hazards, such as extreme heat, flooding and extreme cold.

Article re Importance of FEMA Administrator Selection

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The Diva ran across this article from a source she is unfamiliar with. Reader discretion advised!  From Vice.com, Trump May Want to study how Obama Made FEMA Great Again.
The Diva apologizes to readers for the 4-letter words in this article and doubts that President Obama actually used the language ascribed to him. But, most of the article is interesting. Be glad to get factual corrections from readers.