[MCN] Old refrain : To heck with saving the environment from changes in the climate. Saving the economy is more important, right?

[Lance Olsen]

Excerpt : Indicating the worldwide scale of threat to the economy, World Finance magazine recently pointed out that, “It is becoming more and more apparent that the developing threat of climate change is not simply damaging the earth’s natural ecosystem, but is also harming the world economy <https://www.worldfinance.com/markets/climate-change-continues-to-wreak-havoc-on-the-global-economy>." 

Indicating this risk specifically for the US economy, a 2018 Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond staff analysis found that even a modest one degree Fahrenheit temperature increase begins to take the wind out of the economy’s sails. In fact, the study found evidence that “rising temperatures could reduce U.S. economic growth by up to one-third over the next century <https://doi.org/10.21144/wp18-09>."

The concern didn’t stop with that one report. In January 2019, American Banker magazine warned that “the planet is warming at an alarmingly rapid rate, and unless swift action is taken to curb the emission of greenhouse gases, the economic costs will be severe. <https://www.americanbanker.com/news/why-banks-should-stress-test-for-climate-change>"

Citing “huge costs seen in climate inaction,” Business Insurance magazine points directly to what we all face if we fail to stop “the potential dire economic consequences of climate change. <https://www.businessinsurance.com/article/00010101/NEWS06/912325939/Huge-costs-seen-in-climate-inaction>" 

The Bloomberg Climate Changed newsletter summarized the situation on February 7, 2019: “The last five years were collectively the world's hottest on record <https://link.mail.bloombergbusiness.com/click/15941830.21105/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmxvb21iZXJnLmNvbS9uZXdzL2FydGljbGVzLzIwMTktMDItMDYvMjAxOC13YXMtdGhlLWZvdXJ0aC13YXJtZXN0LXllYXItb24tcmVjb3JkP3V0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX3NvdXJjZT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJnV0bV90ZXJtPTE5MDIwNyZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249Y2xpbWF0ZWNoYW5nZWQ/58ffbaf7dd4c29967b8b4646Be4f6e8fd>. That warming, which NASA and NOAA directly link to human activity, has immediate financial consequences.” The summary added that “Climate change isn't just an expanding threat to the environment; it's already a massive drag on the economy.”

It’s not just banks and insurance companies at risk from a hotter world. Households and individuals galore will take direct hits, some from rising seas that destroy homes once regarded as the epitome of the the American Dream, others from the heat and drought so basic to fires that burn homes to the ground, and yet others when drought dries up household wells — what’s a house worth when it loses its water? 

Household and personal exposure to climate risk doesn’t end there. Thanks to low interest rates, many households pulled money out of savings accounts and used it to buy shares in the stock market. Pointing out that households are exposed to climate risk from this quarter, too, Financial Advisor magazine recently warned that “climate change could sandbag investment portfolios in 2019 <https://www.fa-mag.com/news/climate-change-could-threaten-investments-42339.html>.”

As if all that isn’t risky enough for individuals and households, their pension funds are exposed to climate risks. A pensions industry newsletter, Professional Pensions, has warned of “the major economic impact of climate change and the serious long-term threat that it poses to pension funds' investments <https://www.professionalpensions.com/professional-pensions/news/3027746/parliamentary-committee-probes-uks-top-25-pension-funds-over-climate-risk-mitigation>. 

Something’s happening here, and what it is is becoming increasingly clear. After decades of claims that protecting the environment endangers the economy, it turns out that we’ve been endangering both. 

End of excerpt :
https://mountainjournal.org/why-rising-temps-mean-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it <https://mountainjournal.org/why-rising-temps-mean-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it>


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"Ignorance of remote causes disposeth men to attribute all events to the causes immediate and instrumental: for these are all the causes they perceive."

Thomas Hobbes, 
Chapter XI. Of the Difference of Manners.
 <https://www.bartleby.com/34/5/11.html>
https://www.bartleby.com/34/5/11.html <https://www.bartleby.com/34/5/11.html>

Excerpt : 
And the cause of this is not always that a man hopes for a more intensive delight than he has already attained to, or that he cannot be content with a moderate power; but because he cannot assure the power and means to live well which he hath present, without the acquisition of more. 
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“Here we discuss the capacity of conservation organizations to adapt to changing environmental conditions, focusing primarily on public agencies and nonprofits active in land protection and management in the US. After first reviewing how these organizations anticipate and detect impacts affecting target species and ecosystems, we then discuss whether they are sufficiently flexible to prepare and respond by reallocating funding, staff, or other resources. We raise new hypotheses about how the configuration of different organizations enables them to protect particular conservation targets and manage for particular biophysical changes that require coordinated management actions over different spatial and temporal scales. Finally, we provide a discussion resource to help conservation organizations assess their capacity to adapt.”

Paul R Armsworth et al. Are conservation organizations configured for effective adaptation to global change? Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2015; doi:10.1890/130352

<<https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/99fb/7332339eba74185274972c8b31eb21ea116f.pdf <https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/99fb/7332339eba74185274972c8b31eb21ea116f.pdf>>>




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