Just as we've begun to contemplate the implications of our changing physical environment - rising sea level, warmer temperatures, potentially stronger storms, ocean acidification, and so on... yet another cause for concern. Higher insurance rates are upon us!
In my own state of North Carolina, rates have increased by 25 percent since May. The reason? Fear we'll be hit by a storm as strong as Hurricane Dean or as destructive as Katrina.
Officials with the N.C. Rate Bureau, which prepares rate requests for insurance companies, don't specifically blame global warming for more hurricanes. But the insurance rate increase was based on historical records of hurricane strikes, plus scientific data showing increased ocean temperatures in recent years. Some scientists think the warmer waters are fueling more intense hurricanes.
The assertion is based on a simple recipe: Warm seas feed tropical storms. Hurricanes generally occur where sea surface temperatures exceed about 80 degrees. In the Atlantic, sea surface temperatures and hurricane activity vary from decade to decade.
In these times of Cat 5 storms, hold tight to your wallet folks! But then again, they say money talks, so maybe it's just what's needed to collectively recognize 'The Times They Are a Changin'...
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I remember Hurricane Dean. Fell apart over our local mountains, though the thunderstorms it raised did reach the coast. :)
So... you suggest that the way to reach the taxpayers' minds is through their wallets? Makes sense to me...
We as a society produce little of note, worth, or true value. Our people exist for their own pleasure rather than for any great purpose. Those few of us that care about the world beyond our own precious selves fritter away our vital energy bickering about which causes we must espouse and then force onto other peoples or nations - or indeed upon our own.
Our society is one with a voting public - largely ignorant and apathetic, it's true, but voters nonetheless. We have a system designed to let us set governmental policy if we care to. Yet we have been betrayed by those we elect so often that it seems a joke to suggest that we should effect change through the democratic institutions.
Don't get me wrong, here; while I'm vehemently opposed to most of the current administration's policies, the opposition has demonstrated their own deep corruption and self-serving vice. Repeatedly. I hesitate to name names; I'm sure you can all think of a few.
We need to demonstrate the courage of our convictions. We need to be willing to sacrifice ourselves for the good of the country, the world, and the human race. What I ask is no less than the willingness to stand for office, to run a vocal and intelligent campaign, and to get rid of the present lot of politicians. And this must be done first on the local level; those with intelligent minds will soon see it as inevitable truth.
For years, we as Americans have been content to let others govern us. The time has come for us to stand up and govern ourselves.
John, I so applaud what you have written. If only, We The People, as a whole, had the interest and courage with ability to take back the principles for which our nation was founded.
For the "shining" too many years of this particular administration, so many have instead become complacent, and even apathetic because of the constant corruption and frustration over no consequences for the corrupt.
We must become better again, so we can hold our heads high and stand proud.