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#globalwarmingMake Global Warming A Serious Part Of Your Future Planning
I believe in global warming after reading a mass of data and studying a lot of happenings. What is not clear in my mind is if global warming is part of a natural cycle such as those when we have an ice age or it is caused by fossil fuels and human activities. My son is a scientist and I have one other dear woman scientist friend also from Brasil who would know this better than me.
Regardless of how we got here, we all must learn to deal with it and make it a part of our planning for the future. If you live near Miami, you have already seen its affects with more sea water flooding requiring an expenditure of some $350 million dollars for pumps to try to keep the sea water out. Here in California we had massive droughts that lasted for several years. We are out of this cycle now. But we have had destructive wildfires that have cost tens of billions of dollars and hundreds of live. Other areas have suffered massive flooding. Western Europe right now is having the worst heat wave in a long time.
I always believe that people can lie or exaggerate things, but true numbers always show what is happening. The property and casualty companies worldwide have seen the worst payouts ever to reimburse clients for their losses due to hurricanes, fires, floods, etc. The last published figure was $168 billion dollars for a previous year. If you have a homeowner’s insurance policy, you have noticed that your insurance carrier has become very tough at renewal time. Even a small claim or potential small claim can lead to the cancellation of your insurance policy. In our case, a little 17- pound dog bit a postman. It was a one-fang small bite drawing no blood. Still we had to take the dog off our policy or else. I have been with this insurance company since 1971. In the past, they were very kind and generous to a fault with claims.
Here are some of the things you must consider when deciding where to live, work, etc. as follows:
1) Are rising sea waters going to flood my area?
2) Will increased rain falls or unusual storms cause massive flooding in my area? (If you’re in the US and are required to have flood insurance, good luck if you must file a claim. CBS 60 Minutes aired a special on the Federal health insurance program. People had to fight very hard to get a claim approved. They ended up getting paid far less than the actual loss.)
3) Are you in an area prone to wildfires? As temperatures rise and droughts become worse, you face a heightened risk of wildfires that could take all you own and even your life. My sister is the survivor of a wildfire that burned down her house. We lost 100 years of family photos and records when her house burned down.
4) If you live in a cold climate, you might take comfort in the fact that your area will get warmer. It could very well get warmer in the summer but colder in winter.

There is another serious dimension to this problem. Elena and I live in what I describe as “a sweet spot.” We are in an area near the Pacific Ocean. In our case we are over a half mile from the ocean and sit some 53 feet above sea level. We would not feel the affects of sea level rise like people near the water. Our area has not had a tsunami since the 1700’s. If a tsunami hit, we would not feel the worst affects. Fog covers our area and keeps the vegetation moist. The probability of a wildfire is low. We have a good water supply that rode the last drought with no problems except some minor water rationing. Our house sits on hard rock and is solidly bolted down. It would ride an earthquake well.

Here is where it gets uglier. Let us assume that you are lucky enough or smart enough to find “a sweet spot” like ours; you will not, as the saying goes, goes “live happily ever after.” You will not, as the old saying goes, “Be able to fiddle while Rome burns.” Those people not as fortunate as you will find themselves in flooded or burned out areas. Agricultural production will fall. This means food shortages. In the past decade Europe has suffered a huge inflow of refugees. If you are in the US, you only have to look to our border with Mexico to see all the people trying to seek asylum here. If you are in South America, you know all about refugees from Venezuela. You are going to have tens of millions of refugees trying to get into “your sweet spot.”

This means that in picking a place to live, you need to find a remote place that is hard to get to. Australia and New Zealand come to mind. Anyone seeking to go there must find a ship, a boat or an aircraft to take them there. I have found a wonderful place in Patagonia with a massive lake, reasonable temperatures, no forests to burn and no seismic problems. I shall leave this spot a secret as I do not want too many people to know about it.