Thursday, September 29, 2016

Welcome to the Anthropocene

This time it's Windsor, Ontario. Insurers won't carry the losses any longer. Governments are expected to make good "once in a century" calamities that now arrive every few years. That can't last. It won't.

Welcome to the Anthropocene.

2 comments:

Unknown said...
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Toby said...

We grew up in a period of rather tame climate and built accordingly. We didn't expect rivers to rise so we built low. We didn't expect deluges so we didn't provide adequate drainage. We didn't expect long drought to dry out the forests so we built in amongst the trees. We didn't expect extra strong tornadoes or hurricanes so we didn't fasten the roof down with metal plates. We got away with ignoring nature but now the pigeons are coming home to roost.

The whole point of insurance is shared risk however modern insurance companies don't like sharing risk. Insurance companies skirt the concept of taking money under false pretenses. The fine print is almost unreadable and has clauses that exempt whatever they decide after the event. There's a good opportunity here for fiery politicians to hold some corporate feet to the fire.