Moving Day Newsletter

A newsletter exploring the connections between climate change, vibrant living, and influence.

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Articles

Global temperatures are going sharply up while US cities' financial ability to cope with the ravages of accelerating climate change is going sharply down

1 week ago | susanpcrawford.substack.com | Susan Crawford

The buildup of risk being caused by our nationwide reluctance to deal with the consequences of climate change is becoming more obvious. The bill will likely end up being paid by ordinary Americans, and particularly people who live in cities. It turns out that 2015 was an important year for the intersection of climate change and finance.
Moving Day

2 weeks ago | susanpcrawford.substack.com | Susan Crawford

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The Trump administration is dismantling FEMA's biggest climate adaptation program

2 weeks ago | susanpcrawford.substack.com | Susan Crawford

Cities in America face a high-heeled climb: How do you pay for climate adaptation efforts—updating stormwater infrastructure, retrofitting existing buildings to meet modern building codes, moving homes out of harm's way—in the absence of federal assistance or local political support? The picture grew gloomier this week with news that one of the few federal programs supporting pre-disaster work will be shuttered.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sold his mansion in a Charleston flood zone-and is making some good points about managing climate risk

3 weeks ago | susanpcrawford.substack.com | Susan Crawford

Last month, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that his father was a real estate developer and a "boom-bust kind of guy." He told Chamath Palihapitiya and David Friedberg of the popular "All-In Podcast" that was where his "passion for risk management came from." Sec. Scott Bessent speaks with podcast hosts David Friedberg and Chamath PalipapitiyaWhen it comes to physical climate risks, Secy. Bessent's recent personal real estate moves are prudent.
Only the private sector can stop the privatization of NOAA

4 weeks ago | susanpcrawford.substack.com | Susan Crawford

As elements of our financial system reprice to take into account the realities of rapidly accelerating climate change, business-minded people who might have been confident that the whole thing was a hoax are starting to change their minds. No amount of hectoring could convince them, but the reality that their home insurance premiums are suddenly climbing slowly changes their view.
Everyone is talking about Greenland

1 month ago | susanpcrawford.substack.com | Susan Crawford

Visiting remnants of icebergs in Greenland, July 19, 2024The news from Greenland is extraordinary right now. It's always extraordinary these days. I’m not talking about Mr. Trump’s annexation plans. I’m talking about the climate. The Arctic has entered a "new regime" of heightened extremes that will never be stable again. One day last week, nighttime temperatures in Greenland were 36 degrees F above normal. It was 52 degrees F that night, which is warmer than it usually is in July.
What happens if climate adaptation goes private?

1 month ago | susanpcrawford.substack.com | Susan Crawford

"If the physical effects of climate change are dramatically accelerating," someone asked me this week, "why aren't the capital markets reflecting this? Shouldn't we be seeing movement to make money off this phenomenon?" Good question. Some signs are visible: Insurance markets are steadily repricing to reflect physical climate risk (WSJ: L.A. Has Big Plans to Rebuild After the Fires.
Listen to Buffett and Powell: It's good to be a large financial institution

1 month ago | susanpcrawford.substack.com | Susan Crawford

Large U.S. financial institutions know that—whatever the politics of the moment—the accelerating effects of climate change will have significant economic consequences. They are managing this risk by avoiding it. A dozen or so years from now, large banks won't have branches in risky areas and will stop writing loans there.
Praising Florida's insurance market while criticizing California's misses the point

2 months ago | susanpcrawford.substack.com | Susan Crawford

A recent editorial in The Wall Street Journal asserting that Gov. Ron DeSantis had "headed off an insurance disaster" in Florida while "California's insurance price regulations" were "blowing up in a big way" touched an online nerve, triggering more than a thousand comments—many from incredulous Florida homeowners wondering where the Journal got its facts.
California's FAIR Plan needs a billion-dollar bailout after the deadly LA fires

2 months ago | susanpcrawford.substack.com | Susan Crawford

It isn't surprising that the California FAIR Plan—the state's insurer of last resort for homes that are otherwise uninsurable—needs an immediate infusion of $1 billion in order to continue to pay claims arising from last month's horrific Los Angeles fires. The fires are shaping up to be the most expensive wildfire event ever, with insured losses of at least $30 billion.