For those who say, "But we just can't afford to do anything about Climate Change."
Tell them, "We just can't afford Not to ..."
The Scary Truth About How Much Climate Change is Costing You
by Coral Davenport, NationalJournal.com -- February 8, 2013
[...]
“I could be billing $150 an hour for my workers,” he says. “Instead, this is what we’re doing. And then it’s another two days or more after the storm to put it all back.”
Afterward comes the long wrangling with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has paid out about $250,000 each time to repair Strickland’s damaged building, replace his furniture, and truck in an arsenal of fans and dehumidifiers to dry everything out.
Strickland wants a more permanent solution. He has thought about selling the building, but he’s worried that after being hit by three floods in 10 years, he’ll have a hard time finding a buyer. Instead, he’s looking into elevating the structure on stilts. Local contractors have bid the job at $1.5 million to $2 million. He’d like to use the post-Sandy $250,000 from FEMA to help offset the cost, but the federal government pays for cleanup only, not prevention.
“At some point, you’d think they’d say, ‘Enough is enough. Let’s pay for a permanent solution.’ But either way, somebody’s paying,” he says.
It's a case of pay for a small fix now, or pay for a MUCH BIGGER Fix later.
"But either way, somebody’s paying."
Like that old saying goes "A stitch in time, saves nine." Of course that implies you have to act in time ... with real preventative steps.
The fallout from Extreme Weather, due to Climate Change is Expensive. Very Expensive.
And procrastination will only make it more so ...
[continuing ...]
Climate change is causing major disruptions to the nation’s transportation and energy infrastructure, leading to increased power outages and fuel-price spikes, and slowing the movement of goods and people. Heavy levels of carbon are acidifying the oceans, destroying the organisms that support the nation’s seafood industry.
All of this comes with costs. A 2012 study by the Madrid-based group DARA found that extreme weather associated with climate change is costing the world economy $1.2 trillion a year, destroying 1.6 percent of global gross domestic product. The study projects that the effects of climate change could cut global GDP by 3.2 percent a year by 2030.
[...]
If we do nothing, we can expect
double the current impacts to Global GDP, in just 17 short years.
Here are a few more of those startling Economic Findings from that global community DARA report:
REPORT: CLIMATE CRISIS ALREADY CAUSING UNPRECEDENTED DAMAGE TO WORLD ECONOMY; HUMAN IMPACT ON LARGE-SCALE (pdf)
DARA -- Climate Vulnerable Forum
NEW YORK, Wednesday 26 September 2012 – DARA and Climate Vulnerable Forum report: Most comprehensive ever assessment of the current global impact of climate change released today.
20 governments commissioned the independent report, the first of its kind to show that tackling the global climate crisis would already reap significant economic benefits for world, major economies and poor nations alike.
[...]
KEY FINDINGS INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING ESTIMATES:
[...]
• Losses for lower-income countries are already extreme: 11% of GDP on average for Least Developed Countries already by 2030
• Major economies are heavily hit: in less than 20 years China will incur the greatest share of all losses at over 1.2 trillion dollars; the US economy will be held back by more 2% of GDP; India, over 5% of its GDP
• Economic losses dwarf the modest costs tackling climate change: emission reductions at just 0.5% of GDP for the next decade; and support to the vulnerable: a minimum of 150 billion dollars per year for developing countries
[...]
Would you ignore big hits like that to
your Nation's Future GDP? So why do we?
Why to we trade a 0.5% Savings Stitch now -- in exchange for a 2.0% tear to our Economy later?
Talk about "saddling future generations, with an unforgivable debt" ... as the Republicans are so often prone to do.
Climate Change is real; the Economic Impacts of Climate Change are very real too.
And "Either way, somebody’s paying."
For those who say, "But we just can't afford to do anything about Climate Change."
Tell them, "We just can't afford Not to ..." (by a margin of 4 to 1)