Lately, I am seeing more websites guiding corporate leaders on where to make wise business investments, insurance decisions, and plant relocations in view of climate-related disasters. Extreme weather events such as the wind-driven California fires are costing our country almost $150 billion annually in infrastructure damage, labor and public service disruptions, and losses in property value.
A survey of 300 business executives conducted in June 2024 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that 61% had suffered business disruption and 55% had faced damage to physical infrastructure due to extreme weather events. Nearly two thirds said their operating costs were rising as well as insurance premiums in this era of climate change.
At Climate Central, a group of researchers has refined the science of event attribution whereby they are now able to analyze extreme weather events quickly and document links to climate change within a matter of days. Under the moniker, “World Weather Attribution” scientists assisted the media in accurately reporting on some 20 extreme weather events between 2014 and 2017.
Climate Central also features a table showing which of our 48 contiguous states are lowest and highest in climate risk, and Idaho comes in at #21 with #1 being lowest risk (Vermont) and #48 being highest (Florida). The top nine states for highest climate risk are all in the south, with California ranking 38th.
More communities are using the U.S. Climate Vulnerability Index to evaluate their resilience down to the Census-tract level based on 184 indicators that show greater or fewer challenges in facing climate change. If a business wants to move to Bonneville County, ID, for example, they can find variable rankings based on multiple environmental, social and economic factors across our county jurisdiction.
Despite the growing number of climate data centers to assist the private and nonprofit sectors, most Republicans and Republican-led governments continue to downplay the reality of climate change, much less prepare for it. Even worse, the incoming Trump administration is seeking advantage over other countries as climate change impacts their most vulnerable landscapes.
This is likely the case with our President-elect seeking to acquire Greenland and making Canada our 51st state. While claiming climate change to be a hoax, Trump hypocritically talks of exploiting our neighbors and allies by gaining access to their newly exposed land and minerals as ice sheets melt.
Manifest Destiny was “the idea that the United States is destined – by God, its advocates believed – to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent. The philosophy drove 19th-century U.S. territorial expansion and was used to justify the forced removal of Native Americans and other groups from their homes. The rapid expansion of the United State intensified the issue of slavery as new states were added to the Union, leading to the outbreak of the Civil War.” (History Channel citation)
If Congress goes along, “MAGA-Fest Destiny” will surely lead to equally bad outcomes for our country. Let us hope saner, 21st century voices prevail.
Jan Brown is a retired nonprofit executive who is State Committeewoman for the Bonneville County Democrats and Region 7 Representative on the Idaho Democratic Party Executive Committee.