The Insurance Industry Can't Weather Another Wildfire Season Like This UNLESS...
Вставка
- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- Wildfire seasons have gotten more and more destructive, culminating in the catastrophic Lahaina disaster with a death toll of over 100 people making it the most deadly disaster in Hawaiian history. The Lahania fire is also the most deadly wildfire in a century, eclipsing the Camp Fire, Paradice, California tragedy only 5 years later. Now, the insurance industry which was already nearing collapse in many mainland US states is reassessing insurance in Hawaii. So, what does all this mean?
Remember the 2008 Financial Crisis? Experts warn that the same thing may be happening again, but this time, CLIMATE CHANGE is the culprit. Increasing natural hazards, from wildfires and hurricanes to rising sea levels and catastrophic flooding are threatening the very foundation of our real estate system in huge swaths of the country. State Farm, All State and Farmers Insurance all stopped writing new policies in the entire state of California. And we're seeing similar stories unravel in other states due to different threats, like in Florida and Louisiana. Could the real estate bubble be popping? Where else might be affected?
Well, there is a potential solution that we will explore in this episode. The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety is rolling out a program called Wildfire Prepared Home. They believe that if widely adopted, the program could limit wildfire destruction enough to save the at-risk industry. This includes a home-out approach, focusing on the Home Ignition Zone developed by researchers like Jack Cohen at the US Forest Service and IBHS.
Weathered is a show hosted by weather expert Maiya May and produced by Balance Media that helps explain the most common natural disasters, what causes them, how they’re changing, and what we can do to prepare.
*****
PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: to.pbs.org/Dona...
*****
Subscribe to PBS Terra so you never miss an episode! bit.ly/3mOfd77
And keep up with Weathered and PBS Terra on:
Facebook: / pbsdigitalst. .
Twitter: / pbsds
Instagram: / pbsds
![[UA] NAVI проти G2 Esports | Blast Premier Fall Final](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QWlIm4FGESQ/mqdefault.jpg)
America: Let's make sure that profits are always privatized, and losses are *always, always, always, ALWAYS* socialized.
As it should be. Let the peasants pay.
Exactly Backwards thinking. Our political and economic system is too outdated and antique to combat the problems of the society it’s time for a full 360 change.
Would insurance exist under Socialism? 🤔
How would the wealthy buy a bigger boat, a better elevator for their car, or a 20th monster house if profits aren't privatized? Blame the poor for the rich n entitled one's woe.
Nice life you got there. Be a real shame if a flood hit and you had a heart attack. Oh you pay taxes and have always been contributing member of society? Sorry loser your home insurance and health insurance don’t cover such things. You forgot to sign page 827 of your agreement and last year we lobbied congress to make all heart attacks a consequence of lifestyle and no longer covered.
In completely unrelated news our CEO made 135 million dollars this year and we used the latest government subsidies to buy back 500 million of our own stock adding another 35 million in profit to our shareholders. Lol. Have fun being dead and homeless.
A lot of this has to do with irresponsible development. I live outside of Houston. In the past two years, some large subdivisions have popped up on land that used to be rice fields--you know, the ones you have to pump out before you can harvest them. Every few years we get a 20 inch rain. No one has to guess what is going to happen in those neighborhoods the next time we get a good rain.
Counties and govenment need to limit where people can live unless they are able to meet those new building standards and land management. If they can't, tell them to move on. Especially with government backed insurance, they need to really get all in everyone's faces, which i'm sure a lot of homeowners won't like.
California too, where Ronald Reagan ended the restrictions about building in mudslide and fire-prone areas. Those building restrictions need to be brought back.
@@kittimcconnell2633 Agreed.
@@artboymoy and the developers will like it even less...
@@glendabanta4832
No, but we will have to take a page out of the ADHD manual:
Ask not if you would like .
Ask how sorry you will be down the road if you DON'T handle right now.
Insurance: we’re here in case something happens!
*something happens*
Insurance: we don’t actually have to be here
They're not there for when everything happens
there should not be insurance in the first place
@@yuanruichen2564insurance is a great concept the issue is that when a company just does insurance it exists to not fulfill its promise.
😂😂😂😂😂
One of the big failings of modern society is wanting to all have the same architecture, everywhere.
It's something that started in Europe and has spread to many places.
Homes should be built to the conditions they will face.
For example: If you live in a hurricane zone where strong winds and flooding are an issue.
why not build round buildings on pillars? Maybe make them out of concrete too.
If you're in an area that's prone to extreme rain you'll need to raise your house up, and have a very steep roof to help shed water quickly.
Architects should draw inspiration for these kinds of houses from builds made in countries that have had problems like this for centuries.
People used to think the Indigenous peoples of the plains were uncivilized because they were nomadic.
However, when your local weather brings deeply cold winters or things like tornadoes, being mobile is an advantage.
If you're threatened by the weather, you just move somewhere else for a while.
Just because permanent settlements worked in Europe, doesn't mean they work everywhere.
Climate change is going to make adaptability in many things a very important tool for humans.
Lol climate change
@TG-ts3xn Yeah, dumbass. Or did you just not notice all the pollinators (bees etc.) vanishing and droughts across the planet that are unprecedented since prehistoric times?
Why do they build so close together?
tbh I have no clue what you are talking about.
Houses around europe look vastly different.
Compare Finland, Austria, Spain and they don't look the same.
In hot climate the insulation is not that relevant - in alpine areas the roofs are much steeper - in tundra regions they have a cellar more likely etc.
I’m using the techniques I learned I the military to build.
Earth bags, rebar and cement.
Building a dome only helps maintain a passive solar gain.
I expected this to also cover the regions that will get too hot, lack sufficient water, and/or face flooding/sea rise. Also lacking was any mention of suburban sprawl's disproportionate fire risk.
Ever seen what happens when a bird flies over a large solar plant? Bursts into flames. Now add that everywhere with more black top of course since we're growing. We have machines patented for creating hurricanes and can end any severe weather with frequency and vibration if we wanted just need to offset what's happening which isn't difficult just expensive to a average person. Maybe diversity hires and trans kids will save us all in the future were moving to if the pedos can't seem to help today. Or we could try the non drug or alcohol using Trump with no pedophilia claims and go back to no war. Somehow that's painted evil and wrong which is why I refuse to let my kids watch this cnn10 crap in school.
How come there are no climate change winners. Let's see milder winters would be a good thing. Never talked about...
@@byrnc927Milder winters aren't a good thing in many regions. Snow melting over the year is often an important source of fresh water. If it just falls as rain during the winter, much of it will just wash away into the rivers and eventually oceans, leaving behind heavy erosion. Also, people in colder climates often don't have as much air conditioning, and their houses are designed around retaining heat, exacerbating the hotter summers.
@japzone
Thanks for the feedback.
So, not one single location on earth will benefit from milder winters? Not one? No winners whatsoever?
Yeah okay.
@@byrnc927 You might get some locations that tangentially benefit from milder winters, but most of humanity already lives in mild to warm climates. Most people that live in colder climates adapted to do so, in culture, architecture, agriculture, and business. So while there will be Pros to now living in a warmer place, the Cons will be equally disruptive. Not to mention warmer winters often means hotter summers. Everything is a balance, humans who moved to an area decades or centuries ago spent a long time adapting how they do things to fit that local climate. To have that upended in just a couple decades is going to hurt, and that's if things don't keep heating up. If things keep going the way they are, we could see mass migrations of people moving in response, and that'll affect everyone.
Maybe we must stop building low quality, bad kind of houses in this country.
But then his profits go don, he they can’t have that
Maybe people build where it's logically viable. As in... away from danger zones. We all know where they are, year after year.
Why do we think our forefathers migrated here to there on a repeated basis? They knew what was up.
We do too, yet we're to ideologically stubborn that... we throw caution to the wind. Until we get punched in the mouth. Then... we wanna open the eyes. Right?
Remember the story of the Three Little Pigs...
My wife and I moved to Oregon several years ago only to watch wildfires increase, destroying forests and communities. We've decided that we have no plans to purchase another home when we live in a world that's in the process of falling apart. We'd rather not be tied to a ludicrously overpriced house when odds are it will be destroyed (and/or suffer catastrophic value loss) within the next decade, leaving us with a financial boat anchor tied around our necks. This isn't just about Oregon. Home prices are insane everywhere worth living and there is no safe place to hide from climate change. Instead, we bought a well-built, off-grid travel trailer so we can move around as needed and bail out of our rental home quickly if a disaster strikes here.
Why is Montana so expensive? There's nothing there
@@greenkoopa Greed
@@yoboo6167 them beefy boi barons I guess
Gas stations can burn, too ...
I found a picture from 1915 of the home I was born in. Prairie fires were the hazard and fire departments were nonexistent. The solution was that all walls, doors and the roof had to be metal. Anything flammable had to be at least 20 feet away from the house according to my grandpa.
Sounds not smart. Metal gets heated very fast. Never heard of stone or concrete?
This happened at a small scale around New Orleans after Katrina. A lot of people's insurance rates either exploded or the insurance companies wouldn't cover their houses anymore. There were a lot of people that were interested in moving but couldn't because after the storm they were underwater both figuratively and literally.
Yeah but how about all the people who are in the way? And the golf courses? Gotta have golf.
doubled my money on the house in the year after Katrina, because the supply of livable houses was reduced drastically so an untouched house on the market was in high demand.
the wealthy in LA do everything possible to keep their population working in their plants and fields. They dont care about their housing, only that they work for low wages and cant leave.
The entire concept of for profit insurance is unnecessary and inherently exploitative.
It's really quite simple. Nationalize insurance, apply different rates to different risk by AREA not by state, and cut profit out of the equation. There is no need to have wealthy oligarchs skimming off the top and crying for subsidies when their free lunch machine becomes slightly less profitable. They contribute nothing to this situation and still want their supposedly deserved cut at the expense of hard working people.
Yes, the Govt does everything so well. Wake up.
It just fumbles me that insurance is not optional.
Something being obligatory in a country like USA is setup to be a money grab with no real benefits.
And since is a private company, when things go veeery wrong, they can just declare bankruptcy and get away with the money with their Switzerland bank account
@@matrixistdifficult to do get things done when you actively elect politicians whose sole purpose is to prove it's disfunctional.
@Konanan Politicians are not qualified to even understand their own jobs, so why should they haven't heard power to make decisions in the 99.9999999% of society they know nothing about? Nobody can run anything better than those who do it for a living, be it farmers, builders, teachers, or bankers. Add monetary influence to politicians, and you have guaranteed failures
You do understand the flood insurance is currently done in the way you describe. It’s a mess. Completely insolvent. Zero mitigation solutions offered. Really dumb idea.
The government needs to enact programs to reintroduce wild beaver populations to all of the American West. Beavers create a "land sponge" and greatly reduce the risk and effect of wildfires. There used to be literally hundreds of millions of beavers across this continent and if we return them to their rightful place, we can greatly reduce the risk of wildfires.
Ecological restoration in many forms is going to be crucial, and the beavers could definitely take some of that work off our hands
Good idea! Buffalo also help break surface tension in the prairie to help rainwater soak in. Rain gardens are another good idea.
The climate is beyond any noticeable repairs before human extinction.
We passed the tipping point centuries ago with the burning of forests for about 8000 years.
See Guy Macpherson, humans wiil be extinct around 2026l.
@@foxgloved8922 Restoration is critical, but also recognizing where we shouldn't force restoration. An example is places that have been contaminated with chemicals, metals, or massive landscape changes. We can't revert those without great cost, but oftentimes certain plants and animals are able to thrive in those new ecosystems wild the "original" life can't anymore. Forcing back the original life while displacing the newer life will just kill both.
Something tells me the level of water usage in CA would severely limit the effectiveness of such a strategy
A partial solution would be infill development (specifically “missing middle”, transit oriented housing) in parking lots in less climate-threatened areas.
and reforst & marsh the areas that are affected creating a natural barrier to weakened areas. You can't jsut knock down nature and not have a butterfly effect.
@@narrgamedesigner2747 you should look into urban growth boundaries. They do this in Oregon to control sprawl, not that it's perfect but I think it helps
Yes, Thank you. We need to accept single family houses are not a good solution for most people, especially if they are going to cost more to insure.
It’s a scam.
@@vanguardian2864it's a scam on so many levels. Financial and economic, political, social, and ecological
😂 😂 😂 Wow. The world is literally on fire. USA- how will this effect my bottom line.
I mean it's so unintentionally on point it's meta.
This video: " What if we are just looking at this from the wrong angle? What if we could just reduce the risk?"
Me: thinking "oh wait are they actually going to address the core cause of these disasters and talk about how important it is to stop using fossel fuel, push for strong climate action legislation, abolishing the insurance industry, and work to protect more of our natural land thru ECOLOGICAL not economical policy and action?"
This video: "rates would go down and insurrers wouldnt have to leave the state."
Me: facepalm "fuck me for thinking they would talk about how to solve the issue instead of a bandaid that allows insurance companies to keep making profit"
The viedo: goes on to discuss how the "more scientific" solution is to make buildings that can handle these extreme weather events so that insurance companies will still be willing to insure them"
What I imagine this conversatoin to be like:
Person: hey so there are wildfires threatening my apartment, should we maybe do something about those fires?
Insurance: no see the fire is not the issue, its just that your appartment building is too flamable.
Person: ??? But isn't the fire the thing that is the problem?
Insurance: hahaha no silly goose, the problem is when we loose profit, we don't care about the fire, just the damage that could be caused if you dont continue to give us money. You see if you just spend a ton of money, move to a place that is made to handle the fire, then you can still pay us and as far as we see it the problem is resolved! Also don't vote to regulate our pricing because then we won't have enough to help you out when the fire hits your building.
Reducing the risk sounds good. But, I am also thinking maybe, just maybe, smaller homes would help also. Thinking for first time home buyers.
And using less fossil fuel will also help
A good first step would be to quit using taxpayer dollars to subsidize ever-larger homes in the exurbs. Tax expenditures such as mortgage interest deductions and property tax deductions scale with the size of the property, thereby encouraging more extravagant development. Environmentally pious California is even worse than the federal government in this regard. If we really need taxpayers to subsidize home-ownership (which I doubt), it should be of a fixed value targeted toward entry-level buyers.
A developer near Houston wanted to build a 94-home community on 50 foot lots...their zoning request for the smaller lots was denied by council members and homeowners who lived in an acre + neighborhood nearby.
“I’m against smaller lots in the first place,” said one council member. “That’s the reason I ran (for City Council).”'
If developers and builders could, they would totally build smaller homes.
I am guessing that they were going to be big homes on small lots- like row houses. If it was truly tiny homes and an open environment, then the neighbors would have welcomed it. Smaller lots should have restrictions to limit footprints of the homes.@@julianschwertzthewoodlands4161
Paradise, California was like one of the last affordable, working-class towns in California. Most houses there were pretty modest, 1200-1600 square feet. The whole place burned to the ground in an hour.
im surprised they are not covering the ocean currents on the brink of collapse, thats literal doomsday scenario fuck the home prices. Hank covered the ocean currents thing like 6 years ago and id never thought id see that happen this fucking early.
Our house insurance in North San Diego County went up from $1,000 a year to $2,200. We put in ember safe vents, and pruned many plants. We had already taken out 25 foot high junipers (go up like a torch) away from the house. We had already removed the mulch next to the house and replaced it with gravel. Another insurance company gave it to us for about $1,000 less. But we are going to do more. We are going to replace our wood gates that touch the house with aluminum gates. Heck, if they drop our insurance, I'm going to look into sprinklers for the top of the house.
@tedtimberson4262huh?
@tedtimberson4262 We spent billions creating the problem. Most solutions homeowners can take may cost thousands but usually return more over the term of the investment either in insurance savings, resale value, or even energy costs. IF done wisely of course. And when it comes to fire safety, honestly. If it saves the house that's a hell of a lot better than being homeless with no belongings afterwards.
~ was in the Oakland Hills fires.
@tedtimberson4262you're honestly right. And at minimum this does not make housing more affordable. California has dumb policy
Aluminum burns, although you need to heat it up first pretty well.
@tedtimberson4262 I think you need to seriously look into the increased rate of fires throughout the southwest and all the way into Florida. This isn't like medical insurance where the entire thing is really a scam now adays. Home insurance they pull out if the overall risks of large-scale damage from a specific disaster type becomes apparent.
Fire Insurance in all these areas has tripled or more in the last decade directly due to the increased fire risks in those same areas.
Some of the worst parts insurance companies have completely withdrawn from, like they have done in the past with earthquake and flood and now hurricane insurance.
And finally, it's NOT and never should be about just what the insurance company wants. Are those good steps for anyone to take to protect themselves and their homes? If yes, then really the insurance is an afterthought. In this case, having seen the damage from these fires in person, I would have to say it's worth a few grand.
Houses made of wood and cardboard, what could go wrong
This is one of the main reasons why I don't understand why people are flocking to areas like Texas that are at risk due to climate change. You buy a house there now, what happens in 25 years? Will you be able to sell it? Will the market have totally disappeared? How many major repairs will you have had to have made due to climate change? And will you have been able to find affordable insurance over that period of time? It just seems like a stupid investment at this point. But as you said, renting costs will also go up due to insurance and loss of homes on the market. Moving to those places just seems incredibly short-sighted.
Cities like Corpus Christi and Galveston are going to be underwater before a new 30 year mortgage could be paid off, anyway.
because politics has broken their brains and ideology is more important than science. plus lots dont plan to live that long and assume they will just pass the climate buck. source: me an ex floridian who gtfo
Texas only has hot summers, I’m more concerned with people moving to Florida, hurricane season will hit Florida badly this year
@@Vrjm81 The widespread collapse of the Texas power grid in February of 2021 suggests Texas has broader issues than hot summers.
@@knudsenj100 very true but hot summers and cold winters don’t cause as much damage to infrastructure like fires, floods, or hurricanes.
The power grid issue Texas had could be prevented with more sustainable energy sources like solar power.
You know the climate crisis is officially here when capitalism flees California, the 6th largest economy on Earth by itself.
Yup, this should terrify people
People are leaving California because it's expensive and has very high crime. Also the air pollution in California is I think the worst on the nation.
@@moabman6803 "and has very high crime" - not really, not compared to many places.
"the air pollution in California is I think the worst on the nation." - not in most of California. And the air quality has improved greatly since increased emission standards were put into place years ago.
@TheOriginalDanEdwards OH crime is terrible in California. I've never seen so much. It's why businesses are shutting down. I used to live in a neighboring state. The pollution would blow over from California, it was terrible. Never experienced anything like it.
H.G. Well's "The Time Machine" saw humans evolve into underground dwelling Morlocks. This was caused primarily because of the home insurance crisis. The care-free Eloi however, still inhabited the surface, but were at heightened risk of natural disasters as well as being eaten by certain predators. So, rising home insurance rates also impacted life insurance premiums as well.
😂
Certain predators mostly being the Morlocks
These stories are scary enough for those of us living them. Can your directors/editors go for some less scary music? 🤣😭
Totally agree. Emotional music is so patronising and heavy-handed. Let us draw our own emotions and not have them pressed onto us.
Even if it doesn't pop the housing bubble, I think it will play a significant role in future volatility. Look no further than Florida. Even now, insurers are fleeing the state in droves.
Housing market not going to pop. Not when your options are go homeless or pay extortionate amounts in rent. High rental prices are the only thing propping up this insane market & I don't see "rent popping"
I don’t want ,Floridians moving up here to New England
@@kevinmanan1304 It will pop when new home sales can't get insurance. Which happens when insurance companies leave the state. Not to mention that there is an upper limit to rental prices as people will move to other cities/states if they can't afford to stay.
@@JoeNunyabidness So builders will stop building homes? Or they'll build to rent. Only thing that will topple the current housing market is a "pop in rent" which won't happen due to insurance.
Building in an area and building altogether are not the same.
Climate change will most certainly pop the housing price bubble in vulnerable markets. One of those is Florida, already experiencing major jitters as insurance companies are pulling out left and right.
Unfortunate but true. 😥
Don't worry, the free market loving politicians in Florida will be happy to have the government step in as the insurer of last resort to prop up housing prices, something that is already happening.
Trying to convince my parents to leave Florida while their property still has value.
@@RealMTBAddict - I hope they aren’t in a condo!
I’m staying put in New England. Not dealing with that
I live in the Central Cascades outside of Seattle. I live in a forested rural area. I have a metal roof and my insurance company actually charged me more for having it, rather than giving me a reduction because of fire-prevention. The County is changing their policy to allow homeowners to clear their land for 100' surrounding structures, of brush and trees, without permits for fire prevention. This will remove shade and weather protection for our homes, leading to higher energy consumption. The 100 feet will do nothing if we have a catastrophic fire- the fire jumped the Columbia River when it was a mile wide, in the 2019 Oregon fires.
Yes it does, just ask any firefighter which homes they give up on when fighting a fire.
Insurance companies are allowed to collect premiums for 20 years when nothing happens and then leave when convenient. Thats the problem.
Or... insurance should be a public service we pay with tax payer dollars because what do they really do for us. We give them money, and they save it for a rainy day in some cases literally. Then they do their very best to deny our claims, so they can keep the money and make profit. I get we need to pay the administrative fees, but after that? No. There is no reason that the executives for those companies make millions and millions of dollars because they literally took our money and refused to pay it back when we needed it.
THIS 👆 why do we act like private insurance is the only way, like it's some unavoidable natural occurrence.
@@Ren_1312 Because they lobbied, and it's basically illegal not to have it. You can't secure a home loan without one.
@@marywalker5397 Yes, laws definitely have an effect. Things like this should not be privatized I think.
But it's not just corruption. Banks want mortgaged houses insured to reduce their risk and guarantee they don't get stuck with nothing. It's not because they love insurance companies, it's because they don't want to assume that risk, so they force the buyer to get insurance before getting a loan.
Cities want houses to have insurance because if a huge disaster does hit, if people aren't insured, the entire city might go bankrupt as it loses half its population in one year.
Those aren't arguments for PRIVATE insurance, just the concept of insurance, but those entities don't really care WHERE the insurance comes from.
@@jordanledoux197 We're cornered into a system where we have to have it without a reasonable alternative. There is no reasonable alternative because our lawmakers are lobbied/bribed by for-profit insurance companies.
Great video. I've been working on efficiency improvements for my old house- insulation, air sealing, fixing out dated designs, etc.. Have also been working on outdoor aspects like drainage and properly trimming nearby trees and bushes to protect it. There's a lot of stuff to deal with and hard to see impacts from various approaches that homeowners have to deal with to protect your property, and if you can't do it yourself, it gets expensive.
So many people i know work so hard yet can barely afford the most basic cost of living..
It baffles me. Even tho Society is struggling, We are yet to even attempt to implement a concept around: "The better off the lowest income people are doing; The better off the rest of the economy could be doing." -Think of it like a ecosystem in nature. The littlest things might seem insignificant yet, if they crumbled away, the entire ecosystem could crumble. The last things remaining would be the top things in the food chain.. the whales would all be gone once the plankton crumble away, the sharks would eat the whales. Then once all that's left is sharks, the sharks would eat the sharks. *(Think of this but as a analogy for our economy and our modern day society..)
If we instead decided to support the lowest people in the ecosystem, there would be a beneficial dispersion towards other aspects of the society benefiting. All because the lowest people would be flourishing. (I say flourish but I really mean: Able to obtain the most basic living standards..) Yet even that would Vastly improve our current state of our economy & society
*Also imagine this analogy in our economy. The more help we invest in the lowest level people, the more it would trickle into every facet of our economy. If poor people can pay their rent & not go homeless: landlords would get $, businesses would get $, banks would get $, local small shops would get $, mortgages & bills could be paid, insurance companies would get $, Taxes would get $, So essentially that $ would go out & filter right back in to improve our Country while simultaneously improving our quality of Life. Every bit of the economy would somehow find a way to benefit off of this situation... I don't get why we haven't even Given it a chance?? If it doesn't help? Then by all means stop it and figure out what else we should do. (I hope we TRY something soon, before things get any more unstable. The worst thing we could do is continue on doing exactly what we are currently doing.)
In the USA Billionaires pay politicians to write the laws that benefit them, so this will never happen. They're all devoid of empathy -- in other words they're mostly psychopaths.
We did try it, but greed won out and it was built on faulty foundations and haphazard conditons such as wealth, conquerors, racism, and misogyny so we created Caste and thusly the origin of our discontent. all in a futile effort to fuel the endless human ego and neverending consumptions of short term pleasures of now. My mom told me something her dad told her: "If something doesn't seem to make sense, it's probably making someone money." I'd like to mend that to add that it doesn't even matter if it makes money, it matters if it makes a selfish but socially powerful/wealthy person feel good, or strokes the ego, because for some miserable sapiens that is the closest they get to ever feeling happy.
I like this thinking. I have a personal saying " Greed and ignorance destroys all that is good". And it could be said that society is trapped within our "leaderships" insanity..."Keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome"... is that not the definition of Insanity? A clear and present wake up call.
Make the oil companies pay. Sounds like a scam when insurance companies refuse to insure anything but homes that are rarely gonna need it. Especially considering that we are basically forced to get it.
If only we used hemp products which are fire, disease, mold and insect resistant. Hemp makes fuel, wood, paper; 50,000 products that replace fossil fuels and forest products.
Just here for the “akshally climate change ain’t real” comments.
Short answer: No. In the Netherlands houses are not insured for flooding damages, never have been. Housing prices are fine here.
What we need are more life time politicians on planes to fight climate change. How else can they travel between mansions.
Best way to prevent climate change: fire 90% of the politicians and defund the federal government.
Great show! Thx!
I don't know if anyone mentioned this but the fossil fuel industry is pushing the cost to other industries like insurance. I'm sure someone is doing a profit verse loss analysis for the e economy as a whole. Would like to see this.
Also homes are not built right anyway….
Seems to me that fossil fuel companies should be making up the difference to insurance payouts, since they are the primary responsible party for the increased risk
But muh 100 billion in annual profits?
I dislike how this video doesn’t talk about the horrible forest management policies that have made California a tinder box.
Do you understand how much forest there actually is in the West? California: 33 million acres (19 million acres of this is Federal land). By comparison, Oregon and Washington, two states people associate with forests, have a combined 2.5 million acres. The entire USA has 304 million hectares (751,200,360 acres) of forest. How many people do you think it would take to "manage" California's 33 million acres on a consistent basis and who are you trying to blame for it?
I live in Oregon. No amount of "management" can counteract how climate change is drying out our forests. We have almost constant forest management here, and we're still burning every Summer. Pretending this is about management so you can find someone to blame won't change the reality of what's happening to the planet.
@@CeresOutpost Climate change is a scam. The earth has been heating and cooling for millenniums. In many instances the fires that have burned out of control are because the state doesn’t allowed for proper fire management. They don’t allow controlled burns and handcuff people from doing their jobs under the guise of environmentalism.
Do you live out west Georgie Boy? Because anyone who does is FULLY aware that "forest management" cannot deal with what is happening.
End is nigh. Might as well enjoy yourself before the whole shit-house caves in...
Chug whiskey and Hail Satan!
California already requires a certain degree of wildfire durability for new construction (including home rebuilds) in designated fire hazard zones... the requirements are probably not as stringent as the 3rd party certification, so definitely room for improvement... but 1 huge problem is that some local communities do not adopt the new construction requirements, such as the rural county where Paradise is located. Their attitude seems to be build it as cheap as possible, let it burn, and someone else will pay to replace it.
It’s interesting that the denialist conservative movement went from “climate change is fake news” to “climate change is normal, stop panicking”. 😂😂😂😂
40 million people, large area, high income. Are we comparing states per capita, per GDP, per individual median income?
I wonder how all of this will affect migration - and the resulting booms and busts of cities - in the years ahead. Will Detroit, for example, become one of the most sought-after places to live? Maybe I should start buying up real estate there!
We installed a 20,000 gallon tank under ground and I just turn on the fire sprinklers as we call them, when there is a fire. Total cost was 15K. I don't know why this isn't mandated. When there is a fire, the pressure drops significantly due to the fire department. We also clear brush. Never burned even when our neighbors did.
That sounds pretty cocky and prideful. Hope it works out for ya
American cities need to be safe and clean with green energy. More parks in green less traffic..we have too many rental apartments in our cities.. not enough owners, and for it to be affordable…
Why do I hear boss music? No, seriously. There are a lot of great points and facts in this video. It doesn't need manufactured distress from a soundtrack designed to unsettle an audience.
Easy fix stop building in disaster prone places.
Don't line inside/around a forest that evolved to burn or just don't live next to a forest without fire proofing your home.
Don't cut trees down on hill sides for homes then wonders why landslides went up there it's because you removed the things holding the soil together then added massive amounts more weight then the native landscape by adding homes and roads.
If tornados happens there or flooding from the ocean don't rebuild there move or increase the homes ability to not be destroyed when it happens again.
There used to be regulations to this effect. Ronald Reagan ended them when he was governor in CA. Now people can literally build in the path of a landslide or as you say, in the middle of a fire-prone forest.
I’m just glad there’s measures that people can take to help fortify their homes instead of being wholly reliant on insurance
Climate change doesn’t want to be ignored, and humans are dragging their feet when it comes to addressing it. Thank You for educating Terra❤
the fact houses are not made in factories in the first place were everything from plumbing to electricity can be easily diy is a problem specially if we are talking about ergonomics
its called big data people its actually easier then rocket science because proof isnt debatable by these clown scientists when you have a million people say this is the way then this is the way houses should be ergonomic expirences filling the roles we need from them laundry food water poop dishes big cities should be thought of as the scale of china with a stability and security only a country can reasonably build for itself
California is building fire resistant homes. Florida is gonna have to build underwater bases like in BioShock or Subnautica, or maybe a pineapple like SpongeBob.
@@scoops2 funny, but tragic 😄
I’m pretty sure it’s a scam. It’s a scare tactic used as an excuse to expand the government. The feeble minded fall for it all the time.
Climate change is a HOAX!
The timber industry is probably thrilled with this report. I might prefer non-flammable building materials - stone, concrete, brick exteriors -- steel studs for walls. This video is one huge "business as usual" message.
We currently have a nationwide housing shortage. If climate change makes populated areas uninsurable and/or uninhabitable that would devastate the housing market in that area. But people need to live somewhere so wouldn't we have a corresponding increase in prices and additional housing shortages in the areas that people migrate to?
The rust belt has lots of homes and is far away from most of the natural disasters.
Yes, it will and we're seeing this happen in the rust belt already. Houses in major cities in Michigan Ohio, and Indiana have doubled in the last 5 or so years.
No, we don't have a housing shortage. There are so many unoccupied buildings / homes in the US. What we have is an excess of greed.
You assume those unoccupied hoses are livable. An abandoned building even in just a few years can start to go bad and requires all sorts of repairs.
@@lunasophia9002 We have been building fewer housing units than the number of new households being added to the population for over a decade. We are short over 6 million homes, so yes there is a housing shortage. Yes, the price is another issue - when there is more demand for something than there is supply the price increases. If we could magically fix the price we would still be short millions of homes.
The future is scary enough we don't need the freaky music
I find it hard to imagine ANY house/structure withstanding a raging forest fire. To me, climate change is the main issue
In theory a concrete house with a metal roof and doors could resist such a fire.
@@LamarreAlexandre Tell that to housing developers. I live in Southern California, and new neighborhoods filled with large wooden houses are springing up all around wildfire-prone mountains. They really don't care.
One option is to build "fire breaks" into the landscape itself, via hiking paths, canals, and road networks, along with branching "red" and "green" zoning within towns and cities that either require or prohibit the development of outdoor green space, depending on which zoning option your property falls into. Fire breaks are an established technique for controlling the spread of wildfires - but I think the better option would be to simply maintain the fire breaks at all times, given the high risk of wildfires in certain areas.
Just add exterior sprinklers to the house, doesn't seem very complicated to me
Forest fires are caused by the local authorities lack of proper forest maintenance to prevent fires. California for example doesn't really maintain its forests so when they catch fire it's pretty devastating.
In CA my rates went up an additional $1000/yr but I have neighbors just around the bend who have been dropped and other neighbors who have been dropped and can’t find insurance replacement! This is only the beginning of the melt down. It’s scary!
Damn the system is collapsing
Yikes, where in CA are you?
Yes, where in CA you live?
@@sydneywright7114 May be it is time to get ahead of the coming great climate migration
Time for affordable, modular housing and a wealth tax.
You must be joking. Housing is a supply and demand issue. Prices rise when demand outstrips supply. Period.
California is also dealing with a state insurance commission and commissioner who are foot dragging way beyond their normal over regulation.
yep, not just housing, but general everything bubble - hard-boiled people don't need roofs anymore.
Building fire-resistant homes is not a long-term solution: it only allows us to ignore the problems of urban sprawl which themselves drive climate change. If anything, policy changes that disincentivize people from building (or re-building) in fire zones in the long term are the only solution (and I know several California legislators who know exactly this and are working on bills to address it)
Its definitely needs a multi prong solution.
The most important thing is declaring certain areas as being unacceptably risky for development. (All the usual things that drive up insurance rates)
Then we need to build context sensitive homes. The 2x4 construction cookie cutter suburban home is super cheap to build, it also is only long term viable in the northeast where we don't get regular earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires, or mudslides. (It can always happen, but these events are very rare due to the climate, and government policies like burn bans during high risk periods like early spring when the snow is gone but the wild grass isn't green yet)
Damn, so if you live in an expensive market that's relatively safer from climate change like WA, it won't get better soon? 🥺
Yup. We are in deep trouble as they will head here in droves. They are already flooding here from places like California to escape fires.
And even being in a safer area isn't a sure thing. WA and Oregon have been seeing more California-like weather.
@CortexNewsService I know we aren't safe. We hit 110 degrees a few summers ago which was scary. That's why I said relatively.
Maine’s been the same way. People who have lived and worked here all their lives can’t afford to buy or even rent in some places now because mortgages and interest rates are just insane right now. The only people who can afford houses up here are people moving from out of state, or businesses who pay cash in hand for the properties to upsell them later.
@@Kyl0_benSame happening in MI. Lakeside communities are even worse, now the haven of the rich and investors. Help wanted ads everywhere, but service wages historically low in MI and now housing becoming out of reach. Rentals turning into Airbnbs, vacation homes, etc.
We have not begun to experience insurance rate increases. Humans and Corporations always never plan ahead. The hand writing has been on the walls for 10 years.
Never thought about denser zoning as a form of climate resilience
Denser zoning also preserves agricultural land, which is being eaten up by suburban sprawl.
Its 2 fold:
First bigger buildings tend to be made of less flammable materials while also having sprinklers to resist fire.
Second, denser zoning reduces the expansion into high risk areas. (Assuming the city itself isn't a high risk area)
The world is burning 🔥 water is undrinkable our economy & society is disintegrating
but are you insured?
so I’m so glad you made this point. Hopefully I can buy a house. Maybe they should just hand out tents to all Americans so they too can live under a bridge . Better act quickly before the bridges collapse!
Insurance companies pay claims? Since when? Seems like every time I read a story they found some tiny clause to get out of it.
This video ignores the crime wave that is the insurance industry. Don't want to poke that bear, eh?
We should think of alternative types of housing.
Like, tent. We can fold up and leave fast in case of emergency.
Does crashing of prices of homes in extreme climate regions mean spiking of prices of homes in moderate climate regions?
Yes
Here's a thought- maybe we should just stop building in recurring, disaster-prone areas? PBS Terra fails to answer the two key questions: just how much is it going to cost to build a climate-safe abode in a disaster-prone area, and can the typical person afford to pay it? Houses are already trading at a more than 5X multiple of median income nationally (and even more locally), even when most conservative banks will only lend at no more than a 3X multiple (and that's with 20 percent down, which most people either can't muster or don't do). This short documentary gets one thing right: if an insurer refuses to insure an abode (or a building), then banks will not finance the property, and insurers are unwillingly at the vanguard at addressing climate change.
Contrary to popular belief, California is not the problem. Sure, California is a big state, but most folks in California do not live in wildfire prone areas (which are rural) where the risks to insurers is mostly clustered for that particular risk. PBS Terra admitted what the real problem in California is: insurers cannot increase premiums at will--and at rates that they want, which would make already unaffordable housing in California that much more unaffordable.
The real problem in insurance is all along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts and centered around Florida, as anyone who studies the insurance industry will tell you. The sunshine state is a good case in point, as the most recent aftermath of a hurricane disaster shows. Peoples' homes were collectively destroyed, and they want to build back, fully expecting to be made whole in doing so by their insurers (who are increasingly refusing to pay up on claims); however, the individual homeowners don't want to build back to the highest standard because 1) they know that yet another hurricane disaster will come along and destroy their re-built home, no matter what standard they build to, and 2) rebuilding to the strongest standard costs a lot of money--money that they don't want to pay, EVEN WHEN THEY HAVE THE MONEY TO PAY (which, quite a few have, but many do not).
Understand that even if made whole (based on the value of the home pre-disaster), the homeowners would have to come out of pocket to build back to the highest standard; that is, they would have to come up with the difference between the cost to rebuild to the highest standard (which would give them and their abode the best chance of survival) and the check that they get from the insurer for the pre-disaster market value of the home that they lost. Florida has about three-quarters of the population of California, yet has a multiple of California's exposure to potential insured losses (something like 10X, according to an insurance broker acquaintance of mine) because unlike California, most folks in Florida cluster in the most disaster-prone areas of the state, with little or no protections from disasters. And that's just Florida, folks. And then you go up and down the Gulf and Atlantic coasts...
There's a reason why Ron DeSantis is campaigning on a promise to make America Florida. He just forgot to mention two little, unimportant words: he wants to make America PAY FOR Florida, because that is the only way to make owning a home affordable for those who own homes there. And yes, Florida in particular has quite a few problems in its insurance market (and according to those that live there, they've got nothing to do with climate change), but the fundamental problems still remain: folks actively choosing to live in recurring, disaster-prone areas, not living in a climate-safe abode, fully expecting to made whole when disaster strikes and turning belligerent (often to the point of violence) when told to bear some--but not all--of the cost of protecting themselves post-disaster, and not pre-disaster, mind you.
We are not looking at the end of the current housing bubble, folks. No, we are looking at something more disturbing. We are quite literally bearing witness to the end of the housing market as we have long known it.
Welcome to the era of unpleasant choices, and most unpalatable decisions...
In hurricane and tornado areas it’s better to build houses made of concrete…. Wood don’t last
My concern is that people will not pay attention.
I just moved from SW FL to central NC a couple months ago. Spent my whole life in south FL and lived through many hurricanes with devastating losses, particularly Ian last year. Yet there are still TONS of people moving to the area. And why? So they don’t have to shovel snow a couple months out of the year? Now they just whine about how hot it is and how they have to keep the AC going all year round. Beats the hell out of me.
Exactly. I’ll take 4 seasons with just a couple months of freezing temps in North Carolina over 95 oppressive heat a full half the year in Florida.
The journalist was indoor, not out in the field, but why the cap and weekend tshirts 🤔?
Very thought provoking, especially the connection to the combined insurance risk in states with the last resort plans and the prior combined risk of sub-prime loans.
Yeah, it does familiar; socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the rest of us.
Politicians create the simplest of plans that sounds good, with actual performance secondary by a large margin. To many politicians are nothing more than debaters and cheerleaders, not problem solvers.
Many politicians have look to dump the risk on to someone else rather than minimize the risk itself. They have a lot of practice shifting blame, less so on coming up with practical solutions.
Californians don't have mandatory firebreak regualtions already!?!?
In Australia we have local enforceable regulations combined with national standard to make homes resistant to catching fire
People should not live when disaster is elevated. For example very small percentage of people live in wooded areas of California. Do Not distribute the expenses of insurance of the minority (usually the wealthy) that lives there to the majority (more average income people) that do not.
Maybe the Oil companies who were hell bent to keep polluting and are guilty bringing us to this point should contribute.
For those of us that live in a safer zone, property value increases steadily every year.
As things get worse, everyone will want to move here, pretty much guaranteeing large increases in property prices for the foreseeable future.
It is gonna suck when the masses crowd up the otherwise nice territory
My friend in Corfu survived the recent fire because she built a cement and stone wall around it..and stayed with a hose
Another significant factor to look at is how the insurance companies manage their funds. Like, which percentage is still in fossil fuels and similarly destructive industries? In other words, how much of this damage do they themselves contribute to causing, also in this way? I’d be surprised if any of them have already divested fully.
Exactly the root cause is climate change. yes these changes will mitigate the affects but it’s only targeting the symptom. I hate how policy makers think. Just totally reactionary 🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️
The lack of entry level homes for sale will pop the housing market. I'm not sure today's generation wants or can afford 4000 sq ft homes with triple car garages.who's going to buy them all as they come up for sale?
As a Board President for an older high-rise condo in NOVA, master insurance for the building is becoming a real challenge with few options. We've taken many steps to be resilient and minimize claims, but the global market driven by the likes of California and Florida are compounding additional challenges we face of being in an older high-rise. So, while our specific building is well protected from fire and climate risk, we still suffer the consequences of an insurance market in turmoil.
I have a friend who lives in an aging development in NOVA as well, and they've had to require special assessments to cover insurance premiums this year. 3 totaling hundreds of $$ per unit. Lots of angry residents.
You're so hot you're melting more ice caps than climate change.
We don't believe in science.- Florida
They don't believe in ethics or good educational standards either.
In GLOBAL WARMING considerations, why has there been no serious attention to the increasing VOLCANIC and WILDFIRE activity over the past few years? Humans are not the only culprit polluting earth.
The amount of pollution a single volcano blast puts out is overwhelming - millions of times that of cities. Major fires as well. Occasional clips will mention volcanic pollution, but not in proportion to human contribution.
Also, thermal vents have been found beneath both the polar and Antarctic ice caps. But this contribution is disregarded.
SERIOUS INVESTIGATION is needed into the relative pollution contributions of human activity vs. NATURAL DISASTER POLLUTION.
3:47 I was in butte county when that happened (it’s how I got my 🐈⬛) and talk about homelessness- hotels, shelters etc were full. Then they started giving stuff to people homeless from the fire but if you looked homeless from drugs or craziness- they didn’t want to help you. Now the number of people traumatized now co mingled with the currently homeless -how many people picked up a substance use habit? The system perpetuates dysfunction addiction and crime.
Some research suggests people become addicts from the trauma of homelessness more often than become homeless from the dysfunction of addiction.
I can’t believe your story did not talk about building homes with Compressed Earth Blocks which is inexpensive and fireproof.
Great video! Places like California, Texas and Florida won't be inhabitable at all in 20 years if keep doing what we've been doing for the last 200 years.
Texas hasn't changed. It's still the same hot, tornado, hurricane hell it's always been.
I don't in a high fire hazard zone, but my premium has more than doubled to cover all those burned CA homes.
LOL...launching a video with: more billion dollar disasters happen each year since 1980....I mean, wow what a hilarious use of data.
You know what else costs more since 1980? literally everything.
It was reluctant to watch this video since I am going to school for hazard planning, and I hate thinking about the risks associated with all the extra home buying in Florida and Texas. We aren't building homes right, we're depending on private insurance to cover the costs, and climate change is only getting worse
So places with low risk are being inundated by people fleeing high risk areas and driving up prices. Here in Colorado housing prices are not going down because everyone keeps moving here. There is no supply, all demand! Maybe talk about states where people are fleeing to instead of ignoring us resulting in millions of people moving to states not designed for that many people.
Talk about that.
The low-risk areas aren't that low risk anymore. I'm in Illinois. Just this year we've had three disasters. Straight-line storms that toppled trees and powerlines in Central Illinois that took weeks to repair, floods in Chicago miles away from the lakefront and an honest to god dust storm that caused an 85-car pile-up on an interstate. We've been in a drought for a year with the only significant rain being from storms that are powerful enough to destroy homes. And Illinois is one of the climate refuges.
So, California is screwed, to be sure, because it's mandating insurance companies to deal with coverage that they aren't getting paid for. That alone is an incentive to leave the state for insurance companies.
The reality is, insurance is getting a lot more expensive in multiple states because of the risk to insurance companies. Most states have rules in place to where if they're in the state they need to cover the people who want insurance, although some states have gotten rid of that because of companies leaving and the threat of the others leaving too.
So two things, one is the type of construction in the US in different risky areas probably needs to change. It's almost impossible to build a home to handle an F5 tornado, but you can build homes that don't burn up easily and can deal with hurricane winds and flooding and this type of construction happens around the world. You have cement walls, just like many buildings do.
The other issue is people need to stop being divided by climate change, and at least one Republican led state understands this now as they are approving large solar and wind farms, and also SAYING that they can't say no to different forms of power when they need more power and oil isn't going to be here forever, which is certainly true with the current rate of consumption. You can't even deal with mitigating risk when a significant portion of the country doesn't want to acknowledge the risk. Well, businesses no matter WHO runs them have to deal with risk effectively or they go bankrupt. Businesses need politicians to understand REAL risk and work together to form policy that works well for business along with citizens. Otherwise the US is in for a world of hurt in a future that's much closer than part of the country wants to admit.
I agree there is man made climate change but I also think it's probably too late to save our environment. It's going to change, things are going to suck and the pressures created by the climate will lead us to another world war. After that it's going to be like a Mad Max type world. We are so addicted to oil.
And the petroleum companies made sure of it through their lobbying and misinformation over decades.
Ridiculous. It's never too late, though we do need to take more radical Climate action.
That’s not climate change this happens every so many centuries but this time it’s worse because the environment is treated worse by the ones Who created the chaos of these things building dams and cutting off the
Water veins they go through Corporate excavation would be the main problem an what does that have to do with the citizens... almost every waterway has been cut off and move somehow to different areas and some
Waterways.have actually dried out because they’ve cut off the main water vein by building homes sky rises roads and much more.
Example of the Colorado river which feeds into Nevada soon they won’t have water..
They were springs all over Nevada no more.. gone.
Native American
So we’re supposed to hunker down in air tight homes surrounded by yards of gravel and hope the fire burns around and up and over us. Then what🤷♀️? Live to peer out at another ash filled day?
Louisiana residents pay $3k each for corporate subsidies. The national average is $300. They subsidize corps that depend on the river and Gulf, so they couldn't leave the state if they wanted. Tax the corps, build an emergency fund, too easy.
Advice to everyone in the Southwest and Southern United States. Sell your homes and move North. If your in your 60s or older then you probably can stay but the younger generation will need to relocate.
We cannot drive in snow.
Listening to an expert talking about this topic and then he says "conflageration.." er.. what? Goes back and listens again... I must have heard it wro... "conflageration"...
I mean, it's up on the screen, right there, with proper spacing, showing how to pronounce it...
I'm going to have trouble with this. Mispronouncing a word is no big deal... I do it myself... But not in the area I'm supposed to be an expert in (OK, there aren't many of those...) and not in a recorded video...
Couldn't someone have asked him to re-record that bit???
Now I'm going to have to try to get past that from the expert... ...
Many of Kalifornya's wild fires were avoidable. Government policy and lazy maintenance by energy companies has caused many of their problems. As humans we've created many of our own problems by living in areas that renew themselves via wild fires. In those areas we have suppressed those fires and built living spaces there. That math doesn't add up.
Ya proper forest maintenance limits fires.
Most of the forests in California are maintained by the federal government though, and they have no interest in actually changing anything
Most are from lightning strikes on dry tinder. There’s only so much tinder removal they can do.
@@magesalmanac6424 oh for sure! Not every fire is preventable. I just mean that more towards the people who get mad at the state government for the sake of shitting on California. They should be doing more controlled burns though, and going back to traditional ways of land management.
Spelling words wrong on purpose doesn’t make you seem clever
Commodification of housing, i.e. Capitalism, means human habitation is not the priority, profit is. So Airbnb, flippers, foreign investors & hedge funds now own the majority of housing….until this changes the working class are screwed