Another Modest Proposal: Charge Extra to Live in Disaster-Prone Areas of California

The California Legislature has a modest proposal under consideration. California spent $412 million fighting wildfires last fiscal year – a record. Just two weeks into the new budget year, the state has already burned through a third of that total. So the Legislature contends that if the State of California is to continue to protect homes in burn areas, owners must pay more fees for the priviledge of burning up.

Insurance companies love the idea. It's always in their best interest for us to pay more, and get less. Fire season in the West, Hurricane season in the East, Tornado season in the Midwest - it's always something. We should be expected to bear the brunt of it, right?

Lake Delton, Wisconsin

Local resident Steve Zowin said the water drained like a bathtub. The Wisconsin Dells calls itself the "waterpark capital of the world," but on Monday, when torrential rains caused Lake Delton to tear through an embankment, ripping apart Highway A and draining into the Wisconsin River, that waterpark capital is now a disaster area. Resorts are seeing cancellations - Zowin said his business is down at least 75%, which is huge - and another resident said that fishing will be gone for at least the next five or six years from Lake Delton.
But there is more bad news for local residents. Yes, not only did they lose homes, not only are they losing business because of the empty lake. Yesterday they learned that Lake Delton is Not Covered by National Flood Insurance.

The homes would have been covered by the National Flood Insurance program since 1975, but the village didn't adopt a new floodplain map. The village lost its floodplain designation by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and its eligibility to participate in the National Flood Insurance program.

So even though Lake Delton is a disaster area, it's not a Federal Disaster Area, and won't receive funds from FEMA. FEMA suspended the village from eligibility in the program seven years ago after the village failed to formally adopt an updated floodplain map called a Flood Insurance Rate Map, or FIRM. Lake Delton's village clerk and engineer said the map was not adopted because of "gross inaccuracies" in how FEMA expanded the floodplain.

FEMA said the village had three years to appeal the map, but never did file such an appeal. There is no record of a formal map revision petition from the village; Lake Delton was suspended, making homeowners inelligiable for flood insurance. And in a classic case of government officials pointing fingers at each other, the people suffer. This flood is not a flood. This flood is a Catostrophic Event. Yet the people suffer.

As we look at weather events globally - I'm only talking about hurricanes, cyclones, torrential rains, all causing these catastrophic events - I have to wonder at how much we have contributed to weather gone wild. Even more, I am appalled at government's callous disregard for the citizens whose lives are devastated by these events. But when that disregard is further impaired by misjudgment, mismanagement, greed and just plain stupidity, I become angry.

There are solutions that the United States can implement. Frankly, with a serious recession upon us, we could look to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's example of programs put forth in The New Deal. I think we could specifically look at The CCC, or Civilian Conservation Corps, which put unskilled, unemployed young men to work building roads, levees, and repairing the infrastructure. Perhaps, if we stopped spending money we don't have on an illegal war in Iraq, we might get to spend some of it on our failing infrastructures at home.

We've got a clear choice between Barack Obama and John McCain. McCain is more of the "heckuva job, Brownie" school of disregard. Obama will get things done.

Friday Grandbaby Blogging

So but I love flowers and insects and trees and birdies and fish and stuff and so we found out this report that Arctic Sea Ice broke the record for the lowest recorded ice area in recorded history. I know that the lowest recorded Golf score wins because my Daddy is teaching me golf. Not really yet but he got me my own plastic golf clubs and I play with them. But the lowest recorded sea ice is not a good thing. But so this this other scientist says it really won't break the record but it's close.

Mark Serreze of the National Snow and Ice Data Center said that there's a triple whammy. A high pressure system makes the clouds stay away, and lots of winds from the south with warm air, and lots of open water. I like no clouds and I like warm winds and I love water, but this is way too much of these things. My mommy says that I have to get out of the water after playtime is over.

There is still a whole month left before the sun sets in the Arctic, so there might be more melting ice. Where will the polar bears go to rest? They can't all go to the zoo, they don't like the zoo, they like to be outside. I like the zoo, but I'm two and I'm not a bear. My mama is coming to visit again soon, I talked to her on the phone yesterday and said "Hi mama. I'm TWO."

And then all these big government people are getting all mean about who owns what shipping routes and planting flags and threatening, like they can't share. They should all go to pre-school, we learn to share in pre-school. The Russians planted a flag in the sea bed in the North Pole, and the Canadians got all huffy. I think Government people never went to pre-school, I'd bet all my Elmos on it.

Bye-bye, I have to go to pre-school now.

Green Travel

Hat tip to Betmo for her call to action today about the environment.

Betmo says "it's important to note that travel is blamed for more than one quarter of greenhouse gases. before you think- 'my god- she wants to ruin everything- consider this- you can plan eco-friendly vacations. think about purchasing 'carbon credits.' many companies and non profits are sponsoring programs where consumers can use money to offset investments into eco friendly technologies and what not."

She's absolutely right. My-Climate works with Sustainable Travel International to help offset the impact of travel. They offer a presentation to Travel Agents, and I am going to take this to my boss to make our agency a member of this program. It is essential to be a part of the solution.

Thank you to Betmo for making my day a lot brighter!

What am I willing to give up?

David Morris has a powerful article at Alternet which talks about George Monbiot's new book, Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning, due out in July of 2007. Referring to Al Gore as our generation's Paul Revere, he says that Monbiot picks up where Al Gore leaves off - offering real, hard core solutions to change. Monbiot's solutions require real sacrifice - and at a level most Americans probably are unwilling to make.

Monbiot writes: "We wish our governments to pretend to act. We get the moral satisfaction of saying what we know to be right, without the discomfort of doing it." I read this and got an uneasy feeling - does this indeed describe me? My generation? Otherwise, wouldn't I be putting myself on the front line, running for office and trying to actually implement change?

Mr. Morris writes: "By claiming we can solve the problem of climate change painlessly, environmentalists confuse us. They offer stark and rigorous presentations terrifying us about the near-term, dire consequences of global warming. And then they offer generalized, almost blithe assurances about how we can avoid these dire consequences without great sacrifice. We are horrified and soothed at the same time. It's a dangerous strategy. Many who focus on the catastrophic present-day images of An Inconvenient Truth believe we have gone beyond the point of no return, which leads to cynicism and passivity. Those who are spurred to action believe that buying a hybrid car or taking an eco-vacation will address the problem." (emphasis mine.)

I am a Hybrid car driver; I focus on eco-vacations; I use responsible light bulbs; I recycle. I do all kinds of little things, and feel really uncomfortable about my "moral superiority." Because I fly. I take several long distance flights each year. I drive to and from work, when I know that I can work from home - this is an issue with my employer, who seems to want me in the office rather than working remotely. I shop. I use my car a lot. I am more than troubled by this, I am actually terrified about my contribution to global warming.

Morris writes again: "Monbiot launches his investigation by asking a crucial question rarely discussed by Al Gore and other U.S. environmentalists: How does the responsibility of the world's largest polluters differ from that of the rest of the world? The average American generates more than 10 times the greenhouse gas emissions as does the average Chinese, and perhaps 30 times more than the average citizen of Bangladesh. (The gluttony of the average citizen of the UK is not far below that of the average American)."

On Gore's website, I've taken the test about my footprint. I am average for America. This puts me at 10 times the emissions of the average Chinese person.

Morbiot's book is written for people who already believe that Global Warming is a crisis; it is not written for those people who have their head in the sand and think this is a bunch of hooey. I haven't yet read it, as it is not out until July, but just from Morris's article, I am aware of the sacrifices I have to make - and again, I ask: am I willing to make them?

I am not willing to not have access to my grand daughter. Does this mean I have to move back to Chicago? I am willing to drive less. What else am I willing to do? On another post, another blogger pointed out that the meat and poultry industry are major polluters - am I willing to become a vegetarian? What am I willing to do? What are you willing to do?

Our man-made catastrophe

According to the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, global warming is "very likely" caused by human activities and has become a runaway train that cannot be stopped.

In a report that was leaked to the press a full 8 hours before it was to be published, the IPCC said that temperatures will rise 3.2 to 7.8 degrees by 2100. It also projects that sea levels will rise between 7 and 23 inches over the century, probably more given the rate of the ice melt from Greenland, and the Larson B ice shelf in Antarctica.

This particular report is a scientific document that doesn't offer solutions. Those are to come in another document to be released later this year. But if you have seen An Inconvenient Truth, you know there are solutions.

There is a virtual march to end global warming that can connect you with others who are working at home to become carbon neutral. Reduce your impact: turn off lights at home; recycle; use renewable energy sources. There are things we can do as individuals. We can also demand our local governments to take action.

The obvious solution would be to cut emissions of carbon dioxide, the most important greenhouse gas, by reducing the use of fossil fuels in automobiles, factories and power plants. In California, the "How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb Act" would ban incandescent lightbulbs by 2012 in favor of energy-saving compact fluorescent lightbulbs. The bill, introduced on January 31st by California Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, would make California the first to ban incandescent lightbulbs as part of California's groundbreaking initiatives to reduce energy use and greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

The 1997 Kyoto Protocol was designed to reduce such emissions, but some major countries, including the United States, China and India, have no defined targets. President Bush withdrew the U.S. from the protocol in 2001, arguing that it was an "economic straitjacket" and that it failed to set standards for developing nations. The U.S. can, and must, do better. If we cannot get our Federal Government to step up and make change, then other states must follow California's lead. And we, as individuals, must be the change we want to see in the world.

Never, never give up hope; never, never, fail to act.