Climate Change - Business as Usual

Unpredictable weather is on the increase. Scientists, politicians, business leaders and activists all agree climate change is happening. They differ only in what needs to be done about it. Politicians and business leaders are finding increasing ways to make money out of the destruction of the planet with initiatives as varied as carbon trading to expensive green solutions. Activists meanwhile believe we need a change in culture and mindset if we are ever to deal with climate change. They argue we need to think and act locally, that we need to be self-sufficient in our lifestyles.

Climate change is, and will, continue to bring severe weather patterns. Whilst people like to joke about how we could do with some warmer weather, and dream of long hot summers, the reality is very different, and much scarier. This is one of the reasons people have started to talk about "climate change" instead of "global warming". Whilst global warming is happening, the language gives a false impression. We will experience severe and variable weather. Torrential rain, flooding, gales etcetera are all set to become the norm rather than the exception.

Storms and rising water levels are already bring new challenges to the home insurance industry. Recent deluges have seen claims rocket, and premiums soar. After recent incidents such as the flooding of Tewkesbury and the devastation at Boscastle, businesses have had to re-evaluate how they are insuring against extreme weather. This has lead to some companies now refusing to insure home owners living on the flood plains, or in other vulnerable areas, such as exposed coastal homes.

However, with new applications rising as rapidly as the water levels - a growth of 150% was reported on the morning of the last predicted storm - the home insurance industry is meeting the challenge and has quickly realised there is profit to be made from climate change.

Specialist home insurance companies are emerging, set up to charge extortionate rates to those who the more mainstream ones are refusing to touch. The insurance industry is, as ever, ready and willing to capitalise on others justified and genuine fear and misery.

Whilst shopping around at price comparison sites may get you a better rate, the principle remains the same - climate change is becoming just another commodity. The business world has been fast to recognise and grab the new opportunities for money making.

However, herein lies the problem. Climate change has been caused by the growth of Western capitalism. If we allow this growth to continue, we will end up with a devastated world where, as usual, the rich will get richer and the poor will be screwed.

It is only when we start tackling the roots of capitalism that we can deal with climate change and see green shoots of recovery. This is if we ever hope to build a future for our children which is beneficial to both people and planet.

Insurance re-assurance guaranteed

Only a fool would risk not having home insurance, surely? It makes such perfect sense, doesn’t it? The monthly premiums are hardly extravagant, and in return you get to rest assured that if you have a fire, get broken into, have a burst pipe, damage something, or have something damaged by the weather, et cetera, your home insurance policy will cover you for most of all eventualities.

Okay, so call me a fool. Or a complete and utter stupid idiot, as the wife did when we returned home from a two-week holiday abroad to find out we had been broken into and robbed of virtually every material possession we had that could be carried out the door.

Not that she called me that straight away. Sure she was upset when we first got home, surveyed the scene, read the letter from the police and then phoned them to get the details. But my wife’s a practical woman, rational in a crisis; it’s one of the reasons I married her. She put the kettle on and started to get all philosophical. She wasn’t about to let the low life that robbed us ruin a beautiful holiday. It was only material possessions they stole. They could all be replaced. Our home insurance policy would take care of it.

That’s when practicality, rationality and philosophy went right out the door, faster than our plasma screen television, dvd player, and stereo, et al. That’s when she called me a complete and utter stupid idiot. It was a long night: hell hath no fury like a woman who feels the need to make a point over and over again in order to get it through her husbands thick skull.

To be fair, what she had to say made sense and, despite my best efforts, what I had to say didn’t! Well it’s hard to argue with someone who keeps telling you that for a monthly payment the equivalent of a decent Indian take-away, you can have peace of mind that your home and the contents within it are insured.

My argument was that I was sick and tired of paying a monthly premium for house insurance and never getting a return on it. It was like giving money away to insurance companies for nothing, I said. The more I said it, the more I thought about it, the more I knew it was a non-starter of an argument.

I realise now, I always knew really, it just took the wife four hours of shouting to remind me, that you’re not giving away money to insurance companies for nothing. Your paying for peace of mind, for reassurance that IF something happens you’ll be covered. Even if you never make a claim it is still money well spent, because you never know what’s round the corner.

What price peace of mind? Well if it means I’ll never have to get the piece of my wife’s mind that I got when she found out I hadn’t kept up our home insurance policy, it’ll be worth it to ensure we are insured for evermore.

I’m just glad I never mentioned to her that I didn’t bother getting holiday insurance!