[GWSG] Home values; values & revenue; SLR maps; Whitehouse hopes; fossils falter; weatherpersons on climate; Hansen in 1988

[Tilley, Al]

1.       Between 2000 and 2017 the value of US homes at risk from increased flooding and exposure to forest fires declined while the homes with less risk increased in value. Growing numbers of people are familiar with the storms, floods, and wildfires which accompany global warming.  https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-climate-change-home-sales/



2. As coastal property values decline, so will state revenues from property taxes. Those states which depend most on such taxes are most at risk of instability. Climate adaptation planning should gauge the risk and consequences of destabilized local and state governments. The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that coastal liabilities in Florida alone will run into the billions in the next few decades. https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/06/18/sea-level-rise-climate-change-zillow/



3. The Environmental Defense Fund lists several sites supplying online maps which indicate the vulnerability of coastal communities to flooding. http://blogs.edf.org/growingreturns/2018/06/20/coastal-resilience-public-sector-technology-mapping/

One problem with using the maps to gauge vulnerability is that ground water levels, not sea levels, determine coastal flooding in most cases. Perhaps people knowledgeable on the topic could supply rule of thumb guidelines for getting from sea level to risk. Ground water does rise and fall with sea level but is usually higher. How much higher can depend on the nature of the region's soil and rock. The location of buried infrastructure and its sensitivity to flooding is another major consideration, as are transportation routes and their vulnerability. Still, sea level maps can be used to give a rough idea of vulnerability. We deserve to know what risk we are running, and the information has been hard to come by-even, I suspect, withheld.



4. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island), a former State Attorney General successful in prosecuting mobsters, has been giving a monthly address on the necessity of climate action to the Senate for several years, often to a small audience. He describes why he is hopeful that we are close to enacting a carbon price, and why the lawsuits against fossil fuel companies have a chance to moderate their influence. https://grist.org/article/senator-climate-is-a-winning-issue-and-dems-are-missing-out/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily



5. A new report analyzes the increasing weakness of the fossil fuel industry. Bill McKibben observes that pressure in the right directions could speed the process. https://grist.org/article/despite-trump-wall-street-is-breaking-up-with-fossil-fuels/



6. Since 2012 Climate Central has educated about a quarter of the US weather broadcasters about the basics of global warming. Stories which included global warming as a weather factor have increased fifteen-fold in five years. A quarter of tv meteorologists worry that if they mention global warming their management will be upset. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/global-warming-now-brought-you-your-local-tv-weathercaster-n884831



7. Thirty years ago James Hansen's congressional testimony supplied the first widely covered warning about global warming. His estimates of the approaching problems have proven accurate. https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/listening-to-james-hansen-on-climate-change-thirty-years-ago-and-now?utm_source=EHN&utm_campaign=9a030f71d3-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8573f35474-9a030f71d3-99031877 ?

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