Insurers confirm growing risks of climate change – ‘The trend of increasing damage to property and threat to lives is clear’

Stakeholders from the insurance industry met with members of the U.S. Senate to acknowledge the role global warming plays in extreme weather-related losses, and to issue a call for action. By Pat Speer, Insurance Networking News2 March 2012 The politics of global warming have typically involved much debate as to the role climate change plays […]

Wyoming lawmaker introduces doomsday bill

By JEREMY PELZER Star-Tribune capital bureau23 February 2012 CHEYENNE – State Rep. David Miller, R-Riverton, has seen the national debt rise above $15 trillion and protest movements grow around the country. Wealthy Americans are fleeing the country, he says, and confidence in the dollar has taken a hit around the world. If America’s economic and […]

Graph of the Day: Accumulated Property Damage from Hurricanes, 2000 – 2100

Accumulated property damage from 2000 to the year on the abscissa for hurricanes downscaled from the GFDL CM2.0 model, for constant climate (blue) and a warming climate under IPCC scenario A1b (red). The solid curves show particular realizations of a 1000-member ensemble, while the error bars show one standard deviation up and down from the […]

Millions of Pakistan flood victims still at risk – U.N. issues desperate plea for $440 million

16 February 2012 (presstv) – Millions of Pakistanis are still at serious risk of malnutrition and disease due to a weak international response to the country’s second major flooding crisis in two years. The Pakistan Humanitarian Forum (PHF) said Thursday that at least 2.5 million people in the flood-hit country are still suffering from the […]

Automobile use in Wales has decreased dramatically since 2007

By Claire Miller14 February 2012 CAR use in Wales has decreased dramatically since the start of the economic crisis in 2007, latest figures show. The data suggests that rising fuel costs are driving motorists away from using their car and instead looking to cheaper alternatives – with cars travelling 517 fewer miles each year than […]

Thailand flooding costs Lloyd’s of London $2.2 billion – Total cost estimated at $15-$20 billion

By Juliette Garside, www.guardian.co.uk 14 February 2012 Lloyd’s of London has estimated that it is liable for $2.22bn (£1.4bn) of net claims from the flooding that devastated Thailand last year. In a first calculation of its liability for the damage, released to the City on Tuesday, the insurance market said the claims were unlikely to […]

The nexus of climate change and war – ‘We don’t want to be the generation that catches the final curtain on civilization’

By Randolph T. Holhut, American Reporter Correspondent11 February 2012 DUMMERSTON, Vermont – There is virtually no doubt that global warming exists. Aside from a few cranks and those heavily invested in the fossil fuel industry, the scientific consensus is that the Earth’s climate is changing, and changing faster than ever before. What happens when the […]

Video: Clashes in Greece over bailout demands

By Harry Papachristou and Dina Kyriakidou, with additional reporting by Karolina Tagaris in Athens, Stephen Brown in Berlin; Writing David Stamp; Editing by Louise Ireland10 February 2012 ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos told his turbulent coalition government on Friday to accept a harsh international bailout deal or condemn the nation to catastrophe. […]

Greece’s Great Depression: ‘We are afraid the humanitarian crisis can develop into a humanitarian catastrophe’

By Keith Miller, NBC News correspondent8 February 2012  ATHENS – When you touch down in Athens, the signs of an economic slump are immediately evident. The arrivals hall in the domestic terminal is almost deserted, with flights within Greece having been cut back by about 25 percent. Outside the taxi pick-up point stretches a long […]

Graph of the Day: Projected Overall Capital Investment Gap for U.S. Water Infrastructure, 2010-2040

For drinking-water, wastewater, and storm water, this figure presents past and projected spending (blue bars) and the capital gap that is likely to occur should future spending follow this path. … [T]he overall capital gap for water infrastructure—which includes drinking-water, wastewater, and wet weather—is already significant: $54.8 billion in 2010. If spending increases at the […]

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