Insurance

Can Climate Change EVER be affordable?

Pay now or our grandchildren will pay later!  That was the message in our Blog entitled “Global Warming Choice”. This blog was a response to Premier Rob Ford’s announcement that repeal of Ontario Legislation  on climate change ” would make life more affordable in Ontario”. The important question is: if no effective action is taken … Read more

The impact of Climate Change on your insurance rates

In our event linking Climate Change to Insurance, Eric Monkman of Monkman, Gracie & Johnson Insurance Brokers told his audience of about 30 people at Trinity United Church Hall Tuesday evening that insurance claims from extreme weather have climbed dramatically over the last few years and will continue to increase as climate change worsens. In … Read more

A Wake up call!

The last days of October have produced two serious reports about the dangers presented by unchecked climate change. Last year, global atmospheric CO2 levels hit a record high, a high not seen since 3 million years ago. Significantly, the rate of increase of emissions in 2016 was higher than any other recent year. These circumstances led Erik … Read more

Damage from Extreme Weather Events – the Insurance Industry saw it coming!

Two months ago, we commented on the extraordinary amount of damage caused by successive hurricanes hitting the Caribbean Islands and the US Southern States.  There is no doubt that the increased severity of these “natural” events is a result of global warming. The world-wide insurance industry has for many years warned of this possibility.   Four … Read more

Living in an Age of Unpredictability

Lester Brown, President of the Earth Policy Institute, described one of the disturbing aspects of climate change in these words: “Climate instability is becoming the new norm.  The time when we could use climate trends of the recent past as a guide to future climate conditions is now history.  We are moving into an age … Read more

Letter to my British Cousins

We wish that Canada was in the same league as the UK in mitigating GHG emissions and taking practical steps to adapt to global warming. Here are examples of the large differences between the attitude of our two countries.

Response to Climate Change!

The theme of 4RG’s May Climate Change Forum in Peterborough, Ontario, was “A Tale of Two Cities”.  This theme compared the measures undertaken by the UK and Canada in the field of climate change policy, regulation of emissions, introduction of renewable sources of energy and practical measures to guard against flooding due to extreme weather events.

Peterborough, Ontario suffered extensive flooding damage in 2002. Governments repaired much of the damage, but did next to nothing to prevent similar damage in the future. Unfortunately in 2004 Peterborough was hit by a second flood of even greater magnitude.  If steps had been taken in the interim to avert damage from such an event, the loss could have been much reduced.

Peterborough, England also experienced flood damage on several occasions.  Prior to the second flood, UK authorities at both the national and borough levels took practical measures to control the effects of extreme weather events.

Read moreLetter to my British Cousins

So what are the costs of global warming?

Our most recent blog pointed out that the costs of extreme weather events have not – at least to our knowledge – ever been clearly incorporated into the costs of Global Warming. A report released this week by the Carbon Disclosure Project, a British non-profit group that gathers information on the environmental policies of large … Read more