• Climate Change

Small Businesses Hit Hard By Climate Change, Struggle To Recover

• Fire
• flood
• insurance
• small businesses

The Houston Chronicle published an eye-opening story about how extreme weather events are leaving many small businesses in ruins.  The paper reported that, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, nearly 40 percent of small businesses never reopen following a natural disaster, and another 25 percent fail within months.

Why This Matters:  Big companies can recover from extreme weather events, but small businesses with slim profit margins will struggle to stay afloat.  Red states along the Gulf of Mexico may be ground zero of this phenomenon, along with California.  Helping small businesses recover is another climate impact we will need to deal with in the years to come given the increase in the frequency of extreme weather events.  

• Sustainability

Insurance companies setting houses on fire in the name of research

• insurance
• natural disaster
• preparedness

Recent natural disasters forced the insurance industry to recalculate its risks–and quickly. As NPR reported, “The past two years have been particularly costly for insurance companies that are on the hook for billions of dollars in damage done by hurricanes, wildfires, floods and other disasters. As these disasters become more frequent and expensive, in part […]