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I have no idea whether or not global warming is a reality or not, although I'm inclined to accept it for no other reason than all the melting glaciers around the world. That said, I can confirm that the insurance industry, especially the property carriers, is crapping its collective pants about the hurricane forecast for the next few years. If more people in MS, AL and LA had bought flood insurance, 2005 would have been the worst year for the industry ever. As it stands, roughly half the Katrina claims aren't covered. Let me put it this way - Katrina alone wiped out all of Allstate's profits back to 1992, the year of Hurricane Andrew. Andrew and Allstate are famous because the storm losses basically equalled all premiums that Allstate had ever written in Florida.
My property folks are seeing huge increases in premiums in all the Southern coastal states. If there's a chance that the wind could hammer the building, the rates are going up as much as 400%, and in a lot of cases, that's a very good deal. I know if 3 companies that have stopped writing coastal wind business altogether.
What does all of this mean to the topic at hand? Well, there are 2 committees that I know of that are talking about how to counteract global warming storms. There's at least one environmental organization that I know of (my friend works there) that is working with a few insurance companies to offer credits for low emmissions, etc.
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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo
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