What Has Climate Change Cost YOU?

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Many folks believe we are already well into seeing and feeling the effects of climate change. People seem to be buying lots of air conditioners, EV’s and complaining about the increased costs of fossil fuels and the added expense of carbon-free replacements.

But what has it cost you personally?

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I’m sure there’s some monetary hit due to higher fuel prices and such. But mostly, it has cost me:

  1. Stress of how this plays out in the future
  2. Sadness to see changes at the National parks such as Glacier NP
  3. More smoke-filled summers due to wild fires (I’m sure some caused by Climate change and others by backwards forest management policies of the last several decades).
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  1. I’ve had costly vacations wrecked by unprecedented wildfire smoke, noted below.
  2. We’ve had “500 and 1000 year flood events” just about every year since 2015, and 2017 was the big one which flooded much of Houston… Harvey. Several of my friends lost their homes - FEMA and insurance companies rebuilt - meaning the cost of insuring my home in Houston has become totally outrageous, unsustainable over the long run, and it’s worse in Florida I’ll bet
  3. The cost of electricity during heat dome events is considerable, as is water to keep everything from just dying off, which it did in 2011
  4. Speaking of 2011, our favorite nearby Texas State Park, Bastrop SP, burned almost totally in 2011
  5. Winter Storm Uri in 2021 was thought to be a climate change driven extreme weather event… where you get wild deviations from the mean we’re used to. 10 F in Texas, and 100 F in Siberia in the summer, that kind of thing. I was without power and heat in a lightweight Texas home for days and it was what, 10 F out? We were miserable. She wasn’t diagnosed at the time, but my wife had cancer - if she had been sicker, yes, it could have been really dangerous for her
  6. Incremental wear and tear on my two EXPENSIVE AC units, one upstairs, one downstairs. When one of those goes, it’s like, “ooops $10,000”.
  7. Texas is tax-free State? Look at the line items above and tell me if it’s tax-free. Also, we pay $5000 in property taxes each year. Tax-free my eye.
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Friends who remain climate change deniers… a cost not measured in dollars.

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My wife and I have lots of friends who are climate-change deniers. We even get into the occasional conversation about it. But we don’t take any of it personally.

A lot of the differences seem to lie in the position that “I don’t like anyone telling me what I must do.” I can understand that, I don’t either.

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One area I think it is costing everyone is in insurance. All the floods and fires and hurricanes etc. are driving up insurance for everyone.

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For a while longer, I think we’ll hear the argument that it’s just a normal & natural cycle that’s been occurring for thousands of years. That’s a real possibility when taken one incident at a time.

But the data keeps accumulating and building in one direction that doesn’t appear to be slowing or turning around. It’s gonna have to be a case where the majority of the folks paying the bills all agree that it’s time to take real action. I’m hoping it’ll be in time to make a difference.

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I suppose nobody really does, but there are times when you get told what to do when it really is for your own good and that of others. That starts with parental advice and continues to some extent throughout life… like it or not. :smiley:

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Even before Al Gore, Carl Sagan tried to warn us. Here he is testifying before congress in 1985 - 38 years ago!! And his predictions are the same as today! So I don’t hold out a lot of hope we will solve this in the next 10 years when many scientists say we will be past the “point of no return”. Carl Sagan testifying before Congress in 1985 on climate change - YouTube

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It amazes me that little is reported in the mainstream news. Nobody wants to hear it, but heck, I don’t like hearing about the latest shootings, or the latest political nonsense.
This is news that we really need to hear, and also, suggestions of what we can possibly do.

I guess we’ll hear it on the news when it’s a worldwide crisis – no more food or water, millions of people dropping dead from starvation and heat.

I worry so much about the kids – they didn’t make this mess, and I wonder if they are equipped to deal with a world that’s going to be very different that our current one.

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Still thinking the world will end

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Agreed not too un-similar to the vaccines

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Change zoning laws to use our cars less. This way we can avoid disturbing ecology managing ecosystems

Being a developed country means we have tools at our disposal to use our resources carefully

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In keeping with the forum’s theme…what has it cost you in dollars and cents?

The U.S. has sustained 360 weather and climate disasters since 1980 where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including CPI adjustment to 2023). The total cost of these 360 events exceeds $2.570 trillion .

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Besides arguing with friends and family deniers, it hasn’t cost anything monetarily. In addition to living in northern Ohio that hasn’t yet had to deal with our own forrest fires, hurricanes, flooding, a rare tornado, I have chosen to switch my electric provider the one with the best rates for 100% renewable energy. So I guess I could have cheaper electric bills each month but only by a few dollars. I also switched to an electric range 12 years ago because I thought it would be safer as I age.

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Predictions like these have come and gone and will continue to do so. Al Gore, AOC etc.

How long has there been climate change or changes in weather trends? None of these trends of change have proven to be permanent but always in flux. For how long have we had technology that has been able to accurately measure these trends vs how long they have existed? The periods are eons apart and incomparable.

One thing that is in-arguable is that the affects of climate change will always be at some point in the future.

So just as valid of a question is… How much has the uncertainty of climate change predictions cost you?

As a side note a discussion on EV…

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By nonother than the famous
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Of PragerU fame. :slightly_smiling_face:
NOTE: PragerU is not an accredited university, nor do we claim to be. We don’t offer degrees, but we do provide educational, entertaining, pro-American videos for every age. View counts represent cumulative views from our website and social media channels.

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As it relates to climate change what are Al Gore’s and AOCs qualifications?

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Do you feel that the fact the earth’s temperature has steadily increased in lock-step with the Industrial Age and man-caused atmospheric CO2 is just a coincidence?

And what was going on prior to a million years ago is irrelevant to the discussion because humans didn’t exist before then. What has happened since then is real important because it could cause conditions making human life impossible on earth.

And for the last million years or so is what’s important, and things are heating up!

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Obviously you didn’t read my previous post and didn’t watch the video of Carl Sagan Testifying before congress. I think Carl Sagan can qualify as an expert and as you can see if you watch the video, Al Gore was there. He may not be an climate science expert but he had access to many.