Headline News Archive
In episode 210 of America Adapts, Dr. Carolyn Kousky, Associate Vice President for Economics and Policy at the Environmental Defense Fund, returns to discuss the climate challenges in Florida's property insurance market. She outlines how Florida faces significant economic risks due to hurricanes and other disasters, with 36 presidential disaster declarations since 2000.
The episode delves into the complexities of the state's insurance system, focusing on three key programs: Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, and the Florida Insurance Guarantee Association.
Dr. Kousky addresses the reliance on smaller insurance companies; the critical role of reinsurance; and the impact of climate change on insurance pricing and availability. Doug and Carolyn have a broader conversation about the insanity of the Florida system of the existing property insurance market and how it could lead to price gouging for Florida citizens living in less at risk areas of the state.
Claudia Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, became the first woman to be elected president of Mexico, winning Sunday’s vote in a landslide.
Sheinbaum, 61, received nearly 58 percent of the vote, according to preliminary results from the Mexican electoral office.
High ocean heat content and the anticipated development of La Niña are expected to fuel an above average hurricane season in the North Atlantic this year, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA).
NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center forecasts a range of 17 to 25 named storms (average is 14). Of those, 8 to 13 are forecast to become hurricanes (average is 7), including 4 to 7 major hurricanes (average is 3).
FULL STORY
NBC MIAMI STORY with John Morales
The Florida Policy Project in partnership with Carolyn Kousky, PhD and Lorilee Medders, PhD, are releasing The Evolution of Florida’s Public Private Approach to Property Insurance. This extensive, deep-dive report provides a primer on Florida’s insurance market. The report describes in detail the past, current and future opportunities for property insurance in Florida.
FULL REPORT
Climate change is impacting Central Florida municipalities’ budgets and is expected to cause major budget losses as cities rely on property taxes from coastal structures that may be underwater in the future, according to a study from researchers at Florida State University and Cornell.
Researchers believe the United States will likely see two feet of sea level rise over the next 21 years, and chronic or bi-weekly flooding will cause property values to drop, among other things.
FULL STORY AND INTERVIEW with Linda Shi (Cornell), William Butler (FSU), and Zachary Eichholz (Cape Canaveral)
As researchers increasingly face many kinds of attack over their work, there is debate about how to support and protect them.
Every day around the world, scientists are being abused and harassed online. They are being attacked on social media and by e-mail, telephone, letter and in person. And their reputations are being smeared with baseless accusations of misconduct. Sometimes, this escalates to real-world confrontations and attacks.
Such threats to scientists aren’t new; those researching climate change and gun control, for example, have endured abuse for decades.
FULL ARTICLE in Nature
Mud holds profound insights into how our planet operates. It serves as a linchpin in how carbon moves around our planet. It’s a key player in regulating Earth’s climate by storing and cycling carbon. Mud also acts as a repository for organic carbon, playing a pivotal role in its sequestration and burial across landscapes.
According to a comprehensive new study out in Nature Geosciences, University of Florida Geological Sciences Professor Thomas Bianchi and his colleagues document that mud, and the tremendous stores of organic carbon it holds within its matrix, is shifting where it is and isn't at a global scale due to human activity and climate change. These shifts have tremendous implications for the fate and carbon storage benefits of coastal wetlands, including salt marshes and mangrove forests, and as well as the rich biodiversity that is sustained by the world's tidal mudflats.
Florida is ground-zero for climate change impacts as our natural and human communities are forced to grapple with increasing heat, flooding, sea level rise, and wildfire risk.
Archbold approached Florida Atlantic University to assess overlaps between land conservation in the Florida Wildlife Corridor and the resilience of the state’s nature and people to advancing climate change.
Archbold’s conservation program is using the Florida Wildlife Corridor and Climate Change Report’s results to credibly motivate the Corridor’s protection.
The report's executive summary is available here.
Companies that proactively manage climate risks boost their valuations, while those with a passive stance are discounted in the equity market, according to new research.
A pioneering study from the University of Florida has quantified corporations’ exposure to climate change risks like hurricanes, wildfires, and climate-related regulations and the extent to which climate risks are priced into their market valuations. The research also exposes a costly divide – companies that proactively manage climate risks fare much better than those that ignore the threats.
The "Corporate Climate Risk: Measurements and Responses" is published in the Review of Financial Studies.
The research team also shared their climate risk measures at www.corporateclimaterisk.com
You can read more here.
As Florida faces an influx of people and rapid land development, there are growing needs when it comes to effectively protecting critical landscapes.
Researchers at the University of Florida Center for Coastal Solutions and Center for Landscape Conservation Planning recently developed a tool to help address some of those needs. The Land Conservation Optimizer Tool helps identify optimal conservation lands in Florida that could help improve water quality if they are protected, according to the UF Center for Coastal Solutions.
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Florida, with the expertise of AECOM and Cambridge Econometrics, has published a first-of-its kind economic study on the impacts of decarbonizing Florida’s economy: Economic Benefits of Decarbonization in Florida. The report looks at two decarbonization scenarios—achieving a power grid with net zero emissions by 2035 (Net Zero Power System) and achieving net zero emissions economy-wide by 2050 (Net Zero Economy). The decarbonization of our economy—reducing greenhouse gas emissions (including carbon dioxide) in manufacturing, transport, energy and other parts of our economy—can drive vast job growth and prosperity for Florida. Decarbonization will expand and create higher-paying jobs, offering opportunities for workers of all skills and education levels, as well as lower consumer costs. This report was built on the Getting to Neutral report that the FCI produced previously.
Read the full press release here.
Risks from natural hazards are growing due to climate change and habitat loss. Both insurance and nature-based solutions (NBS) can play important roles in reducing risks. Practitioners in the fields of risk management, insurance, and environmental management have many common goals for assessing risks and developing practical tools for risk reduction.
Read the full report here.
How should the public—and scientists—cope with the daunting uncertainties of climate change?. By Adam Sobel
Interesting piece in the journal Nature about the intersection of the planet’s future and the human condition.
Read the full article here
The coldest winter temperature of the last few decades is a strong explanation of variations in mangrove species, size and coverage, in a new paper out in British Ecological Society. PhD student Yiyang Kang, Dr. David Kaplan and Dr. Michael Osland used this information to predict how mangroves on Florida's Gulf Coast will respond to rapid warming under climate change.
Read the full paper in the Journal of Ecology
High-resolution land cover data is now available through NOAA’s Digital Coast. This data provides communities with the foundational data needed to assess coastal resources, analyze land use, prepare for disaster risks, and adapt to a changing climate.
Land cover is a foundational data set that provides valuable information for a range of applications, including natural resource management, land use planning, disaster risk reduction, and climate adaptation. By comparing one year to another, people also use the information to document how the landscape has changed over time.
NOAA, in conjunction with several partners, released a high-resolution version of this data product, moving from 30-meter resolution to 1-meter.
This platform utilizes public data from leading climate scientists to provide a comprehensive depiction of Florida's future climate challenges and economic impacts. Utilizing public data, this tool serves policymakers, researchers, and the public, actively contributing to fostering informed decision-making and proactive measures in the middle of Florida's evolving climate landscape.
University of Florida students from several colleges/disciplines including Architecture, Geography, Anthropology, Statistics, Journalism, Forestry and Conservation, and Plant Sciences presented their findings from their year-long fellowship funded by the FCI. Many thanks to these students for their hard work and to their mentors for their inspiration!
Deadline to apply for 2024-25 Fellowship at UF is March 22!
See details & application information here.
The University of Florida (UF) Student Senate passed a Green New Deal (GND) resolution Tuesday, with supporters saying they were the first public college in the country to do so.
The student government is calling for the university to implement the school’s Department of Sustainability climate plan, more transparency in investments that UF has in the private sector, the cutting off of any additional funding from the fossil fuel industry for research, divesting the school’s endowment from the fossil fuel industry and including groups in the plan that have been most impacted by climate change.
Invasive species are a serious threat in Florida. Invasive species are defined as non-native or exotic organisms, which cause ecological or economic harm or negatively affect human health in a new environment where they are not historically found (United States Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS] 2012b). An invasive species can be a plant, animal, or other type of organism (Evans 2012). Because invasive species' natural predators and parasites usually are not present in the new environment, their populations can grow unchecked causing significant impacts in the new environment
The Florida Climate Institute (FCI) is a multi-disciplinary network of national and international research and public organizations, scientists, and individuals concerned with achieving a better understanding of climate variability and change.