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Systems Changes Needed in Governance, Insurance and Disaster Preparedness
I was in the room seven years ago when David Houle, the futurist, addressed the annual conference of Sarasota County realtors. If you don’t know, Sarasota is a seaside city on the Gulf coast of Florida. It has several heavily populated barrier islands just a couple feet above sea level. He said, “When will it […]
Hieroglyphic Stairway – my great, great grandchildren won’t let me sleep
It says above that I authored this. I did not… just found this poem and posted it. I’ve embedded the transcript below, but I think you’ll enjoy this video of the author reciting it more (you may need to click the replay button at the bottom left of the YouTube screen). Hieroglyphic Stairway by […]
A Clear and Present Danger
To many, my desk is a cluttered mess or a jigsaw puzzle of disconnected pieces that can never be assembled into a coherent picture. To me, my desk is a highly organized panorama of easily accessible tools of my craft interspersed with remembrances and waypoints of travels, adventures, people, places, joys, sorrows, hopes, philosophies, beliefs […]
Resetting the Realities of Our Climate Crisis
Reality, and one’s perception of reality, can change with a single event. An example would be the “earth rise “ photo taken by NASA astronauts in 1968. Though we knew that the earth was round, it was not until that photo that we saw it as a round planet in space. Another might be […]
How to ‘Be Prepared’ in 2023
I was a Boy Scout. Since 1907 the motto of the global Scouting program has been, “Be Prepared”. Yet the 2023 Scout Jamboree was woefully unprepared for a myriad of severe weather-related issues that befell it in South Korea in early August. First, prior to the opening of the Jamboree, torrential monsoon rains caused […]
We Are All Earthlings
There is a scene early in the movie Top Gun: Maverick to which I am particularly sympathetic. It immediately follows the moment when Maverick (Tom Cruise) has tested an experimental aircraft past its breaking point. We then see Maverick walking into a small rural town, entering a diner and after drinking a glass of water […]
“The Era of Climate Change is Over. The Era of Global Boiling Has Arrived.”
The Director General of the United Nations made this statement a week ago. He is right, we have now entered the era of global boiling. June was the all-time hottest month in human history, and July just beat it. The two hottest months in measured history have been the last two months. Why? Well, […]
Insuring Climate Risks w/ AI, IoT, Satellites & Big Data
Insurers are being overtaken by the pace of change. Our climate crisis (among several other factors including technology) is redefining the nature of risk. The industry needs to move quickly to keep up with consumer expectations, close protection gaps, and respond to emerging threats. Now is a moment of truth for insurers to consider their […]
The Insurance Industry Must Evolve to Meet the Growing Risks of Our Climate Crisis
About 40% of the US population lives in an area vulnerable to climate impacts including sea level rise, extreme weather and forest fires. How do we pay for the damages that occur and distribute the risk? This is a huge concern for the insurance industry in particular. Ten insurers have gone belly up in […]
Climate Resilience Planning Could Have Averted Southwest’s Christmas Debacle
Southwest estimates the loss from their scheduling system meltdown to be around $825M. Those are just the direct costs of lost revenue from canceling more than 15,000 of its flights starting on Dec. 22. It doesn’t include the costs for fines, brand erosion and systems upgrades which will increase the loss to well over a […]
