Happy Friday! Happy Mother’s Day Weekend! Whether you are a mother (of anything you nurture… humans, plants, animals, books, art) or you know a mother, I wish you a great weekend.
This week’s must read: From our Executive Director Bob Inglis comes this piece, Climate policy can help Florida’s insurance policies (The Invading Sea)
“Just in case the reader doubts the connection between insurance premiums and climate change, note that insurance companies are pricing in the risk. Their actuaries apparently all agree that climate change poses significant risk,” Bob writes. “If they didn’t, perhaps a climate-change-disputing insurance company could cut their premiums and thereby pick up a whole lot of business in Florida. No company is pursuing that strategy. It’s pretty solid proof that the insurance industry is convinced that climate change is real.”
“The numbers make the case. Privately insured losses in Florida due to Hurricane Ian are estimated at $46-67 billion. Federal flood insurance claims have mounted to $10 billion. Of course, these insurance payouts have come only after homeowners have fulfilled their deductibles. And a news hurricane season is about to start.”
Read on!
EcoRight Speaks, Season Six, Episode 13: Dr. Ed Maibach, Director of GMU’s Center for Climate Change Communication
This week on the EcoRight Speaks, we are in conversation with Dr. Ed Maibach, a distinguished University Professor and Director of George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication. He co-directs the Climate Change in the American Mind polling project, is principal investigator of Climate Matters—a climate reporting resources program that supports TV weathercasters as local climate educators, and he helps direct the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health—an educational initiative that currently involves 37 national medical societies.
It is in that last role that he has some interesting information to share with listeners on medical professionals as trusted messengers on climate change. He shares this and other riveting trends in the episode!
Coming up next week, my conversation with Andrew Jones (not the former Atlanta Braves baseball player) the executive director and co-founder of Climate Interactive. An expert on international climate and energy issues, Jones is a system dynamics modeler and designer of simulation-based learning environments. He’s going to talk about his ground-breaking climate simulator, En-ROADS.
Former Majority Leader and Senator Bill Frist calls for climate action:
At a hearing before the Senate Budget Committee, former Majority Leader and Senator Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) called for action on climate change.
“I am appearing before you today drawing on three distinct experiences. First, as a heart and lung transplant surgeon who has been fortunate to travel across the United States and around the world. I have seen firsthand the detrimental effects climate change is having, and will have, on people, their communities, and nations. Yes, climate change is an environmental crisis, but it’s also a public health crisis, a food crisis, and a threat to our economic security,” he said in his testimony. “Second, as a former Senate Majority Leader and a former member of this committee from 1995-2002, I am intimately aware of how a stable federal budget is critical to the fiscal health of our economy and national security. Climate change is an economic issue. It affects individuals, families, and businesses of all sizes. The fallout from climate change – from increased droughts and flooding to hotter temperatures to rising sea levels – cost the United States billions of dollars every year.”
Frist serves as the chair of the Board of Directors of The Nature Conservancy, a conservation organization with over 900 scientists and science staff across 79 countries and territories.
(Yes, we are working on getting him on the EcoRight Speaks… stay tuned!)
Ode to Bob: She’s practically a columnist now for all that she’s been published lately. Enjoy this very personal latest Invading Sea op-ed from our EcoRight Leadership Council member and proud Floridian (on the beach above) Mary Anna Mancuso. Her tribute to Bob Inglis is both touching and spot on! As she puts it, not all heroes wear capes.
“In the years since leaving Congress, Bob has dedicated his time and energy to calling on fellow Republicans to level up their climate change ambitions. In the Sunshine State alone, Bob has traversed the state speaking with key groups about the importance of solving the climate crisis by using the power of free enterprise,” she notes. “Bob’s push for revenue-neutral, border-adjustable carbon tax gets to the heart of the matter: There is no tipping fee for polluting carbon into our shared atmosphere. But there is a cost to be paid by all of us.”
Just a few scenes from Ohio, where Bob and Angela are making new friends, talking about conservative approaches to climate action!
Have a lovely weekend.