Obama Reminds Us: We Can’t Afford To Be On The Sidelines
Dear Friends & Neighbors,
Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States (Presented at: WindermereSun.com)
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Former President Barack Obama comments on international cooperation to end climate change at the COP26 international climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in the video published on Nov 8, 2021, “Obama on climate change: We can’t afford anyone on the sidelines“, below:
Actor and former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has become a champion of clean air and renewable energy, and speaks powerfully about tackling climate issues, in the video published on Oct 29, 2021, “Arnold Schwarzenegger calls leaders ‘liars’ over climate change – BBC News“, below:
ABC News’ Alex Perez reports on how climate change is taking a toll on the Windy City, and what steps Chicago is taking to protect against it’s most damaging effects, in the video published on Nov 5, 2021, “The costly effects of climate change on Chicago“, below:
The impact of climate change is already very real for villagers on an island in northern Alaska. They’re being forced out of their homes because of rising sea levels. Alaska is home to rapidly retreating glaciers where the rate of melting is among the fastest on the planet. Sophie Raworth presents BBC News at Ten reporting by climate editor Justin Rowlatt in Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, in the video published on Nov 5, 2021, “Alaska’s melting glaciers force people from their home as sea rises – BBC News“, below:
From the moment we wake up to when we go to sleep we are all using energy, this emissions from this constant generation of energy has caused the world to warm by roughly 1℃, in the video published on Nov 4, 2021, “When The World Gets 1°C Hotter | Climate Change: The Facts | BBC Earth“, below:
If global temperatures rise three degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the results would be catastrophic. It’s an entirely plausible scenario, and this film shows you what it would look like, in the video published on Oct 30, 2021, “See what three degrees of global warming looks like|The Economist“, below:
From western wildfires to east coast flooding, climate change is wreaking havoc on American homes. In this thrilling and emotional documentary, CNBC follows life after fire victim Jenna Johnson narrowly escaped California’s deadliest and most destructive fire, the Camp Fire. Meanwhile, standing in his flooding garage, Miami Beach resident Curt Dyer debates raising his house 4 feet to escape the water. Watch the full documentary to see how climate change victims are trying to protect themselves and their homes. The rain fell steadily at Curt Dyer’s Miami Beach, Florida, home on a mid-July day this summer. He opened the door to the garage and pointed to the flood already collecting in his driveway. He said it wouldn’t be long until the whole garage flooded. Even though he faces daily nuisance flooding, the 30-year Miami Beach resident said he is not considering moving. “It’s paradise living here.” Dyer estimates he’s spending about $250,000 in renovation costs to make his home more resilient to flooding. While that figure includes some upgrades to the cabinetry in the kitchen, the main structural change will raise the driveway 3 feet and pitch it so water will flow into the street. He’s also raising his guest bedroom and bathroom 4 feet. Jesse Keenan, associate professor of real estate at Tulane University, says these types of resiliency fixes, which are primarily available to the wealthy, create a game of musical chairs with home equity. As long as homeowners like Dyer are able to sell their property at a higher price after resiliency investments, they come out on top. Eventually, however, a homeowner or bank could end up losing everything if a flood or other disaster destroys the house and makes the property unlivable. Over time, this risk will increase insurance rates and make it harder to get mortgages. “We anticipate a rapid decline in valuation,” Keenan told CNBC. “Only the wealthy can afford to live, for instance, in high-risk coastal areas, because everybody else can’t insure it and won’t be able to get a mortgage.” In fact, homes exposed to sea level rise sell for about 7% less than their unexposed counterparts, according to a study published in 2019 in the Journal of Financial Economics. That discount jumps to 10% when the owner of the property is not living there. Flooding is the most common and most expensive natural disaster in the U.S., according to FEMA. Ninety percent of all natural disasters in the U.S. involve flooding and just 1 inch of water can cause $25,000 of damage to a home. A 2018 Insurance Information Institute survey found that only 15% of American homeowners have flood insurance. Keenen fears all this combined will lead to a situation where only the wealthy will be able to protect themselves from climate danger. Dyer said registering his flood claims has been relatively simple but he and his husband are paying out of pocket for these major renovations. But it’s worth it to make his dream home complete, and he expects Miami Beach will continue to be livable for at least another 20 years. “If I didn’t have the resources and the capability to make the repairs, I would probably have no desire to live in these conditions in this environment. It would be unacceptable. But I do have the resources. I have the ability to make the correction. So I’m going to do it,” he said, in the video published on Sep 16, 2021, “Can Homeowners In The U.S. Afford Climate Change?” below:
The Mountain West may soon be beyond our natural resources and may become uninhabitable, in the video published on Oct 5, 2021, “How The West Was Lost: Climate Change | Meet The Press Reports“, below:
As the temperature of our planet continues to go up, there will be more and more climate refugees throughout the planet. In addition to needing our national policy addressing the issue of these climate refugees, all of us living on this planet need to do every thing within our individual power to help bring down the global temperature by: using solar and wind energy and other renewable energy, driving or riding in electrical vehicle, wasting less food, eating more locally grown food, reducing waste, recycling more, reusing more, and planting more trees.
So, no matter where you/we are, let’s be part of the solution!
Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker More about the community at www.WindermereSun.com
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