 Water
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As Flo’s Losses Climb, Federal Insurance Program Is Already More than $20B Under Water And Will Expire in November
As of late Monday, damage estimates from Hurricane Florence and its aftermath were already between $17 and 22 Billion and climbing according to CNBC and Moody’s, making it one of the top ten most expensive storms in history. Most of that damage is to private property rather than to businesses. But for homeowners, the storm itself could be the least of the headaches associated with Hurricane Florence. Many of them will face huge financial issues and potentially a total loss unless they have flood insurance. Many private insurance companies stopped writing hurricane and flooding coverage for homes close the to ocean in North Carolina. According to ABC news, only about 35% of those properties at risk from Florence had flood insurance of any kind. Many people cannot afford to buy private flood insurance of any kind.
There is a state insurance plan in North Carolina, called the beach plan, which according to ProPublica, had 198,039 coastal policies representing roughly $74 billion in potential exposure. Despite the insurance issues, building continued and the state plan’s liability increased steadily in the last decade adding $20 billion in exposure. Currently, that N.C. state plan only has about $3 Billion in reserves. There is also a federal flood insurance program and its mandatory for people who live in flood-prone areas, but few people are required to buy it and you must live in a flood-prone area to be eligible for the federal insurance.
Those not covered will be eligible for federal disaster relief in the form of low-interest loans that must be repaid. There is also a cap of $34,000 on the amount of disaster assistance available to an individual or household but that won’t be enough to cover repairs caused by this type of catastrophic flooding. For example, for Harvey, the average damage caused by flooding during around $80,000.
Why This Matters: FEMA says it is ready to handle the flood of claims its about to receive. But if Havey and Sandy are any indications, it could be a long and difficult process once the claim is filed. And the flood insurance program itself was already $24 Billion under water before last year’s storms hit and needed to be bailed out after Harvey and Maria’s gigantic losses last year. Ultimately last year the program hit its $30.5 billion statutory limit on borrowing. Congress was forced to renew the program and forgave some of that debt, but the program remains approximately $20.5 billion in the red, according to FEMA. And the Congress only passed a short-term extension of the flood insurance program last July and it will expire in November.
To Go Deeper: If You Or Someone You Know Needs to File a Claim, learn more about how here.
Food For Further Thought: There has been an ongoing issue with federal relief funding should be allowed to be used to rebuild homes in flood-prone areas. This is a topic worthy of debate — seems obvious that is not a good idea. But all climate risks should be thought of this way. There are 1 million homes being planned over the next 30 years for fire-prone areas of California as well.
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 Forests
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National Forest Foundation Plants 2.8 Million Trees in 2018
This week, the National Forest Foundation (NFF) announced that so far in 2018 it had planed 2.8 million trees which is the largest number of trees planted in a single year by the NFF. This is part of the effort to keep up with the commitment NFF made this past Earth Day to plant 50 millions trees throughout America’s forests by 2023. The NFF is the nonprofit partner of the U.S. Forest Service and works with the service to restore priority sites on America’s 193-million-acres of national forest. It also engages Americans in community-based and national programs that promote the health and public enjoyment of the National Forest System.
As the Hastings Tribune reported, the 2018 tree-planting projects occurred on 25 different forests across the country and reforested approximately 13,000 acres, an area equal to planting a forest across more than 10,000 football fields. These reforestation projects improved local watersheds and improved wildlife habitat for threatened and endangered species like the Kirtland’s Warbler, the red cockaded woodpecker, the grizzly bear and the Canada lynx. These projects are also restoring thousands of acres that have been impacted by recent wildfires in the western U.S.
The NFF has also recently partnered with two other leading nonprofits, the American Forest Foundation and the Arbor Day Foundation, to work together to increase the pace of reforestation on America’s national forests.
Why This Matters: Trees and forests have been called the “forgotten climate change solution” because of the simplicity and immense ability they have to capture CO2. Unfortunately, natural disasters such as wildfire, insects and disease outbreaks are jeopardizing the health of forests throughout the country and they increasingly need our help to stay healthy. In addition to helping impacted forests, each tree planted by NFF will sequester an average of 11 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year, meaning that in the next 100 years, these 2.6 million trees will sequester more than 13 million tons of carbon dioxide. That’s equal to the annual emissions from more than 280,000 cars!
What You Can Do: It only costs $1 to plant a tree with NFF! Or if you’d like to organize a tree planting day in your community here are some easy steps to get you started.
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 People
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Photo: Bill Clark CQ-Roll Call,Inc
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Bill Would Force Public Companies to Disclose Climate Risks
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is leading an effort in the US Senate along with other Democratic colleagues to introduce a bill requiring public companies to disclose more information about the risks they face due to climate change. The bill called the Climate Risk Disclosure Act would require public companies to disclose critical information about their exposure to climate-related risks. It directs the SEC, in consultation with climate experts at other federal agencies, to issue rules within one year that require every public company to disclose:
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Its direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions
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The total amount of fossil-fuel related assets that it owns or manages
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How its valuation would be affected if climate change continues at its current pace or if policymakers successfully restrict greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Paris accord goal; and
- Its risk management strategies related to the physical risks and transition risks posed by climate change
As Market Watch noted, Warren also received a letter of support signed by twenty-nine organizations, including The Sierra Club, Greenpeace and the Center for International Environmental Law, that strongly support the Climate Risk Disclosure Act of 2018. The Union of Concerned Scientists added that among other provisions, the bill would tighten requirements for fossil fuel companies to disclose how they detect, mitigate and seek to reduce leakage of methane, a potent global warming gas. The bill’s introduction comes just days after the EPA issued a proposal to roll back rules meant to limit the release of methane from oil and gas extraction.
Why This Matters: As the Atlantic explained, a Global Investor Survey found that 81% of asset owners and 68% of asset managers viewed climate change as “a material risk or opportunity across their entire investment portfolio,” while The Economist Intelligence Unit estimates—conservatively—that private investors are at risk of losing $4.2 trillion between now and the turn of the next century because of a warming planet. There are many reasons why investors care about climate risks and they currently have very little access to such information which could increase transparency in the marketplace. The current argument from the right is that action on climate change is too costly to the economy but the investment community understands that it’s actually quite the opposite.
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 Animals
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Protection of 50% of Planet Needed by 2050 to Halt Extinction Crisis
A rare editorial published in the journal Science co-authored by an unlikely duo, chief scientist of the National Geographic Society Jonathan Baillie and Chinese Academy of Sciences biologist Ya-Ping Zhang, calls on the global community to double down on conservation and protect at least half of the world’s ocean and land areas. If we don’t, they warn that there will be a wave of extinctions that will be devastating. Baillie and Zhang forcefully argue, “If we truly want to protect biodiversity and secure critical ecosystem benefits, the world’s governments must set a much more ambitious protected area agenda and ensure it is resourced.”
In making this call to conserve, these two scientists join the renowned biologist and naturalist E.O. Wilson, whose acclaimed book Half-Earth argues that we must conserve half the Earth’s land and sea in order to provide sufficient habitat to safeguard the bulk of biodiversity, including ourselves. Wilson created the Half-Earth Project which is intended to campaign to raise conservation efforts to a new level and enhance our resilience. Why is fifty percent so important? According to Wilson, a full representation of the Earth’s ecosystems and the vast majority of its species can be saved by preserving half the planet’s surface.
Why This Matters: There is an upcoming global meeting in 2020 — the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Beijing, China — where all nations can agree to set biodiversity targets for the future. If governments agree to set minimum targets of 30% of the oceans and land protected by 2030, with a focus on areas of high biodiversity and/or productivity, they can stave off a major extinction crisis and ensure the health and wellbeing of future generations.
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 Sustainability
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Reducing Plastic Waste at Sports Stadiums
We’re about to reach the time of the year where the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL all occur simultaneously. While it’s an exciting time to be a sports fan, it also means that stadiums are filled with excited fans that generate a ton of trash. In fact the Super Bowl game just on its own generates 40 tons of trash that largely gets sent to the landfill. While stadiums and sports teams have committed to recycling programs it still doesn’t get at the problem of unnecessary plastic consumption. Imagine if instead of all those fans purchasing their water in plastic bottles they were able to head to a hydration station and fill their water bottles with fresh, cold water.
As Sierra Magazine explained, the feasibility of water-refill stations at sporting events was displayed at the 2017–18 Volvo Ocean Race, “The World’s Toughest Sailing Event,” which has been held every three years since 1973. For the latest race, Volvo partnered with Stockholm-based Bluewater Group to provide hydrations stations and purified drinking water at the international yacht race’s 12 stopover cities. Single-use plastic water bottles were discouraged in race villages. At the Volvo Race, Bluewater used four hydration stations in the various race villages, with each station set up to provide 7,000 gallons of water a day, or the equivalent to 55,000 single-use 16-ounce plastic bottles. “We saw a massive reduction in the use of single-use plastic bottles at the 12 stopovers,” says Robin Clegg, the Volvo Race’s sustainability communications manager. “We avoided the use of 388,207 in total.”
Companies that provide hydration stations are ready fro roll up their sleeves, it’s just a question of if our sports stadiums will make the commitment to sustainability.
Why This Matters: For years, sports arena renovations eliminated or drastically reduced the number of water fountains to instead force fans to spend money on bottled water. While this may have been great for the bottom line of stadium owners, it’s a terrible move for the planet considering how much water gets sold at major sporting events each year. Since sports stadiums have such massive purchasing contracts with beverage companies they have the potential to not just normalize refillable water bottles but to also shift the market away from single-use plastic bottles. Already, Coke (Dasani) and Pepsi (Aquafina) are working on pilot projects for automated self-serve water stations, it’s just going to take the will of the owners.
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 Cosmos
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One Cool Thing: NASA Launches A Satellite to Measure Ice Loss
On Saturday, scientists at NASA gained a new eye in the sky that will enable them to closely monitor melting glaciers, ice sheets, and sea ice. The satellite, called ICESat-2, will give researchers the sharpest look ever at the dramatic increases in melting of the Earth’s frozen regions that are collectively known as the cryosphere. ICESat, which stands for Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite, will provide important information about how quickly the ice on Earth is melting and sea level is rising. And with pinpoint accuracy — according to The New York Times, NASA says it will be able to measure the change in elevation of the ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland to about a sixth of an inch, less than the width of a pencil. Not a moment too soon. Check out the launch highlights in the video below.
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Highlights of the ICESat-2 Launch from the United Launch Alliance
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