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Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Market Watch, a subsidiary of Dow Jones and News Corp, has provided advice on how we should climate proof our lives. But the assumptions behind their advice are as shaky as any climate model.
Here’s how your finances will be impacted by climate change
Our planet is warming, putting at risk not only our physical well-being, but our wallets.
2016 is shaping up to be the hottest year on record and scientists say global temperatures may rise by 7 degrees Fahrenheit before the end of the 21st century. As climate change escalates, cities are building sea walls, seeking new water sources for drought-stricken land, and storm-proofing their infrastructure in preparation. But while impending environmental impact of rising temperatures may be the most tangible, the often-overlooked effects on our pocketbooks may be just as worrisome, according to David Stookey, author of new book “Climate-Proof Your Personal Finances” published the Savvy Families Institute, an organization he heads that is based in Rhode Island.
“The physical problems are going to affect relatively few people in America — a much broader number are going to experience these problems financially,” he said. “The physical risks are nothing compared with the financial risks.” For this generation, at least.
…
Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/6-ways-to-prepare-your-finances-for-climate-change-2016-12-20
So what advice does Market Watch offer?
- Re-evaluate your budget – by this Market Watch expect food prices to soar by up to 84% by 2050. They recommend eating less beef. This prediction is nonsense – the agricultural technology of 35 years from now will cope with anything the climate can throw at it.
- Straighten out your insurance – they suggest increased mental health insurance, to cope with the stress of climate storms. How about mental health insurance, to cope with silly climate claims?
- Pick a climate-safe job – by this Market Watch suggests you get a job in construction, for repairing all that anticipated superstorm damage. This is bad advice, even if storm damage rises. Construction is rapidly being automated, in a few decades construction will be almost entirely robotic.
- Warming-proof your investments – Market Watch suggests investing in clean energy and nuclear energy. Clean energy is currently not competitive, and may never be competitive, so most clean energy businesses rely on massive government subsidies for their return on investment – subsidies which are subject to fickle political whims. Investing in a business which could be wiped out by the stroke of a politician’s pen seems a risky proposition.
- Climate-proof your home – This is good advice anyway, check your home has adequate protection against flood risk and other natural threats
- Consider making a move – One of the cities on their “low risk” list is Seattle. Seattle is facing a serious risk of an offshore mega quake which could raise gigantic tsunamis. 15% of Seattle is built on “liquefiable land” – land which turns to Quicksand in the face of a major Earthquake. I suggest a list which overlooks such a major issue is as badly researched as most other climate claims.
Overall a very poor effort, from a news outlet which claims to have investment expertise. Even if their assumption are right, which seems doubtful, the advice they provide would be a suboptimal response to those assumptions.
Aghh we’er all gonna die…. those bastards!
Another stupid ‘Graph’ with no value set for 0.0, with just a ‘reference to’,
it’s just meanigless to many casual readers.
I think this site should insist that all publishers of ‘Graphs’ state a value for 0.0 so as not to confuse the general public.
That spaghetti graph seems quite clear to me. The observations are considerably different from the projections/predictions of the global warming models. The models are worthless.
Actually if you remove the CO2 bias from the models, some of them ain’t bad.
I.e the models work if we assume that CO2 has litt;e or no impact on global temperatures….
Not to pick on the graph but…
the “Observations” lists the “Squares” as the average of 2 satellite measurements
and lists the “Circles” as the average of 4 balloon measurements
But, in the index, the circles are said to represent “AVG 2 BALLOON”
Also, is there a version that doesn’t have the “Observations” box covering the most recent data?
“Savvy Families Institute?” A dot-org in RI? Does anybody but me realize that today any IDIOT can get tax-exempt status for their “cause,” which need not have any relationship to the rest of the world’s reality?
Market Watch must really be reaching to pull garbage like this off the Internet to fill up Fake News columns.
Repent – The End is Near
Heal yourself by divesting all your wealth to a charity (me). Your salvation is assured (somehow).
100 years in the future – all is well.
Rather like advice to invest in mortgage based securities ten years ago?
Why does the “Observations” legend box hide the actual observation data after 2012?
It’s a five-year running mean, so the last point is 2-3 years behind the last data.
Hmmm, Seattle is on the other side of the Pacific plate (aka. the ring of fire) from New Zealand. Ask anyone in Christchurch, NZ about liquefaction. What a mess that caused in the big earthquakes of a few years ago.
Here’s some financial advice: Take a short position on News Corp
This is more bs, part of the whole fear-mongering campaign.
In 1982 they said this:
In 1989 they said this:
2000 came and went, and what had happened? Nothing. Zilch. Nada. No “ecological catastrophe as irreversible as any nuclear holocaust.” No “entire nations under water.” The sea had risen … about a quarter inch.
Now 2015 has come on gone, 15 years after we were already supposed to have hit doomsday. And what happened? Nothing. The sea .. is the same. The temperatures .. is the same. The storms … are the same. No friggin change in climate. So they got to change it from “climate change” to something else.
But the Chicken Littles continue their never ending Crying Wolf. No, no disaster is going to happen. And you’re not going to need to get a “climate safe job” either.
Paul Ehrlich had nearly everyone dying of famine in the early 1970’s, so I cannot be writing this and you might not have ever been born. Just how old is that Aesop story about “crying wolf”?
Tom Halla
During the ’70s Holdren and Ehrlich were warning of the coming ice age: http://www.wnd.com/2009/10/112073/
They were warning that Antarctica would get too much ice and cause disaster:
Holdren and Ehrlich warned: “Even more dramatic results are possible, however; for instance, a sudden outward slumping in the Antarctic ice cap, induced by added weight, could generate a tidal wave of proportions unprecedented in recorded history.”
The solution to global cooling was of course: sharply cutting back fossil fuel use and de-industrialization. The solution to global warming: sharply cutting back fossil fuel use and de-industrialization:
“A massive campaign must be launched to de-develop the United States [to save us from global cooling!].” -John Holdren, 1973, Obama’s current Science Czar
“Isn’t the only hope for this planet [to save us from global warming] the total collapse of industrial civilisation? Is it not our responsibility to ensure that this collapse happens?” -Maurice Strong, ex UNEP Director
Too true., Eric. Ehrilch seems to predict imminent doom right soon now every few years. I was just recalling what I remember as the first time the apocalypse did not occur on schedule.
The other thing that I have noticed, is that no matter what doom they are predicting, the solution is always the same.
One world government and socialism.
And don’t forget Hansen’s famous claim about the FDR being underwater.
Eat less beef because the price may go up someday. That’s useful advice!
I prefer to reverse it: IF the price of beef goes up, I’ll eat less of it.
Or raise cattle. ~¿~
Market Watch: “Pick a Climate Safe Job”
Considering who’s going to occupy White House, a Climatologist probably won’t be a good career choice.
I feel really sorry for those climatology students who will graduate next June. Good luck in paying THOSE student loans back! Idea! maybe they can apply to George Soros or Mr Steyn [the big Democratic party sugar daddy] to pay off their loans for them?
Market Watch is looking to sell ads. Useless as a source of information.
“climate storms” — What the ….?
This one is silly: Climate-proof your home.
The word is “weather”, not climate. Climate is an abstraction, roughly meaning a pattern of weather of many years. Just step outside to experience weather.
This one is unnecessary: eat less beef.
I live in cattle country and beef is way more expensive than pork or poultry. Thus, we eat less of beef than of the other two, and they are shipped into our region. We can’t even raise beef and process it more cheaply than buying pork or chicken. Besides, cattle are a hard way to spend one’s time.
Government should subsidize cattle and help get high quality protein to more people, or at least to me!
I think Market Watch is a GREAT source of information.
See
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/aapl/insideractions
A lot of insider selling lately..
In contrast, see PBI
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/Stock/PBI/insideractions?CountryCode=US
a relatively low PE, plenty of insider buying lately.
You were probably referring to advice columns, in which case you’re correct.
While loading the 2 pages, 27 ads were blocked.
But, yes, I used to examine lots of things such as the insider trades, but no longer do so. Not only does that take time but the buying and selling and follow-on paper work meant less time to do other things I find more enjoyable. Time is not retrievable.
@John F. Hultquist
Wasn’t it Einstien, or some other intellectual wag that said something like “I have been dead for billions of years and it caused me not the slightest inconvenience”?
Perhaps time IS irretrievable, we just don’t know it yet.
Aw pants!……..retrievable…..not irretrievable.
Milking the last dregs of CAGW alarm. The author says he headed 3 (failed, or he would not be flogging this nonsense book) VC startups. He now styles himself a business literacy trainer to Fortune 500 companies because he says he has a Harvard MBA (did not, as an alum, check the alumni directory to verify). In my experience, the Harvard MBA is only permission to start becoming business literate. Sort of like learning how to read in first and second grade. Literacy comes much time and many books later. His ‘Institute’ is mainly a vehicle for selling his book. There isn’t anything else there. Checked before commenting.
Warmer weather? Good, I can play more golf in Ohio.
I can think of several climate proof jobs:
prostitute (very long historical record of existence that has stood against numerous catastrophes)
soothsayer (never a shortage of suckers to fleece)
huckster/con-artist (see above)
or you could go for the trifecta and wrap all three into one and enter politics
What is the difference between a soothsayer, huckster/con-artist and a politician (the second oldest profession).
Um…a soothsayer sells you lies, a con-artist sells you useless junk, and a politician does both?
I might think these would create a very tortured Venn diagram (or maybe just nested?)
“Politicians are the lowest form of life on earth. Liberal Democrats are the lowest form of politicians.”
General George S. Patton
OK, I give up. What IS the difference between a soothsayer, huckster/con-artist and a politician (the second oldest profession)?
Climate safe jobs
Polar bear greeter (“hello, we’re so sorry we melted all your ice, but welcome back to dry land, we’ve set up a lovely den for you and your cubs right over here on this hill…) CHOMP
North pole rotten ice tester (okay let’s all jump up and down and see if this ice can support us all, [jumping in unison] SPLASH!
Mid-troposphere, tropical hot spot locator: (I can’t see it. Me either. What are we doing out here, and how long do we have to stay out here on this god-forsaken atoll? I don’t know, all I know is the bugs are eating me alive? Trenberth says just a few more years.)
Chief COP meeting travel agent (what part of Dr. Michael Mann needs a KING SIZE bed in his suite and the minibar stocked with Skittles when he arrives, don’t you understand?)
… classic parasitizing of a worthy cause for profit … except the cause is not worthy of logical proof, so not even a legitimate cause to parasitize.
What a stretch !
The physical problems are going to affect relatively few people in America
The mind boggles. Few people will be affected, yet disaster is imminent. This is, I suppose, progress for the alarmist side. From we’re all gonna die, to some of us will be unemployed. Its not as bad as we thought.
and scientists say global temperatures may rise by 7 degrees…
Who?…..Bill Nye
The planet’s temperature will rise well beyond seven degrees. It will absolutely become uninhabitable … in a few billion years. I totally stand behind that prediction 100%. 🙂
If you can’t believe the science guy, who can you believe????
Bill Nye? The science Guye?
I’ll stick to Guye Fawkes…..the …err….Fawkesy bloke.
Best advice ever. Listen to the government projections/advice about the economy or anything, do the exact opposite, about a decade later reap in spades.
The Left is beyond frantic. The nonsense articles have increased by an order of magnitude. The MSM had it in for Reagan and both Bushes, but Trump is taking stick like no one ever. MSM has been undressed, their sycophantic nature exposed for all to see, and changes will result. Boston Globe published an article praising Kerry’s accomplishments as SecState, despite the chaos in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
This is new…
Absolutely correct; the left and the greens are in meltdown mode. And it is so much fun to watch. Oh look! The spittle is dribbling out of the corners of their mouths. Full froth can’t be far behind.
Market Watch is a clickbait operation. Having watched its advice over several decades, you’d have been much better off doing the exact opposite of what they recommend.
I have read the Wall Street Journal since 1962, when I had a job that included scanning economic reporting in the WSJ and the New York Times. Even then the Journal was far and away the better paper. The Journal’s news columns were always to the left of its editorial position and still are, although the quality of the research and reporting is still generally better than any other US paper I have ever read. Sadly, however, its climate stories are not much above the average.
Climate safe job? I have no idea what to suggest to young people these days. It seems to me that no jobs are safe.
The advice to invest in renewable energy is terrible (not to say negligent, irresponsible).
Gimme all your money and I’ll climate-proof your finances.
My first thought when glancing at the accompanying graph – I could accurately represent this graph by using a very THICK crayon on a chalkboard!
Invest in the future by divesting yourself of the belief that CO2 produced by humans leads to catastrophe.
The mid boggles, well, at least the educated and experienced mind boggles.
It would be interesting to know if ANYBODY follows ANY of this advice.
If they do, you will be able to identify them easily: they will be the ones standing on the corner with a sign reading “Will work for food”. I suggest you throw them a coconut.
Why doesn’t the chart go to 2016? Surely there must be data. It stops around 2011 (for the observations)…
The plot is 5 year running average, also called moving mean.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_average
If you mean by “chart” the one at the top of this post then be aware that it is a models versus observations graphic that has nothing to do with the Market Watch article.
This is a bit like seeing a tennis star or Mr. T. on a box of cereal, or a bunch of pretty flowers on a seed packet. These things are not inside.
We have data almost to 2017, Why is there no data to 2016??? I still don’t get it…
More clearly. The chart is a screen grab from another time, another post, another author. It is there to attract attention — nothing more. It is not meant to contain information relevant to this specific post.
Anyone can make an updated chart — if one wants to. I do not. Apparently, Eric Worrall did not. You can do so, or not.
Merry Christmas.
This one of those things where the contrarian approach is called for.
A more appropriate question would be how to find a safe climate job. These will shortly become as scarce as hen’s teeth.
Not to be picky, but you know that the Global Temp is over the models at the moment. Should really update your graphic.
It isn’t actually.
It may be over the models’ lower bound.
https://moyhu.blogspot.com/2016/12/current-global-temps-compared-with-cmip.html#links
That is a bait and switch. Christy’s graph uses MSU Stokes’ uses thermometers.
Ho-hum. Just another plug to hype a book.. Might have been paid for it..
Many of the old brand names in media, such as Market Watch or Consumer Reports, are unrecognizable today as they have wandered away from their core mission and have become dispensers of progressive agit/prop. Fortunately, the internet gives us many alternatives.
S’funny, here in the tropics, the two main products seem to be cattle & sugar, so I can’t see how beef production will be affected by a little warmth.
Absolutely, some of Australia’s best beef country is well tropical.
Total nonsense. We don’t know the future. So, the best preparation is less depencency on land and nature, which btw is a key ingrediënt of progress anyhow. Progress is allmost synonimus with power. We need power sources that are reliable , cheap and abundant. That’s our warrenty against whatever to come. Nuclear is the only technology which may succeed fossil. Energy transition must start with vigorous nucleat research, there is no choice. Land and nature dependent energy systems will cause regression to a feudal state: few rich and many poor, their servants.
Robotic construction, give me a break! 3D printing ‘houses’ (sheds in reality) is a dead end fantasy.
I’d like to see robots doing this.
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2015/january/blue-whale-to-take-centre-stage-museum.html
I started in engineering writing computer drawing software for the top consulting engineers in UK (because writing your own was the only practical way to get it in those days). There was much talk of complete 3D models of buildings being the way to go. 40 years later it still is just talk while everybody who has to put up and repair buildings every day just gets on with 2D drawings that IK Brunel would have no trouble reading.
Started on the wine a bit early, sorry!
Like the large scale 3D printed models of buildings this firm is producing you mean?
http://www.hobsstudio.com/introducing-largest-3d-printer-uk/
Griff, get real, there is no comparison.
Nigel S. Thank you, I have sent my recently graduated Zoologist daughter the link to this. There is a bursary supported placement available and she would love it if she could get it.
I would also love it if she could get it, better still, I got it!!!! 🙂
One of my favourite places on the planet. Debate Climate Change there, and the will to dominate nature evaporates with every step.
Humans are but a moment in time, we have no idea.
My advice for a safe job pick, no matter what happens:
Get a job in wine production.
If it is a hot day, people like to drink white wine.
If it is a cold day, people like high alcohol reds, or a port.
If the economy is going badly people need a drink, to drown their sorrows.
If the economy is doing well people like to party and celebrate.
Make sure that the winery you work for owns a tanker, or has access to tankers. That way if their is a local shortage of grapes, you can haul in juice or wine from elsewhere, and still have product to sell!
Depends on your definition of “construction.”
GE uses it for jet engine parts that used to be “constructed” in some other way.
In other news: Vegetables are grown in buildings without using tractors.
Farmers that still need tractors no longer need drivers.
Years ago, I spent a summer swinging a hammer. Hammers have been replaced.
Wages, medical insurance, and retirement costs, where avoidable, will be.
A craftsman who is able to design, construct and repair houses will never get jobless. There is always something to improve or repair.
People love to live in houses with individual designs and craftsmanship.
If one needs a wonderful, individual, earthquake-proof house which lasts for centuries he should think about the half-wooden or timber framework houses like they have built for centuries, and still are lasting.
Here in Germany you will get them to the same prices as prefab houses, and you can still save money by doing a lot of work by yourself.
The climate extremist social mania is infecting every nook and cranny of our public space. I hope someone will dramatically and publicly disrupt this process before more serious damage is inflicted by this nonsense.
Umm, here is my recommendation.
If you are in the Green Industry, get out.
If you invest in the green Industry, get out
If you plan on going into the Green Industry, don’t
If you are in university, avoid environmental studies
If you are going to university, avoid environmental studies.
Frankly I am surprised that Tesla is still doing well. That is a company that is almost solely reliant on the AGW theory being dangerous.
Yeah, yeah yeah. Climate Armageddon’s-a-comin’…. again!
Well, for what it’s worth, if Dow Jones, or any other financial institution, is interested in GW, there’s money to be made.
So lets put our money where our mouths are. How about a sceptic betting fund? I have no idea how that works as I largely disagree with gambling. However, in this case, I’m prepared to suspend my objections (OK, I stand to make a small fortune [very small, but a fortune to me] on a safe bet).
If all of us chipped in £5 or $5, betting against the predictions of the alarmist’s, and roll it over to the next failed prediction, there would be tens of thousands of people who don’t believe in AGW with a few bucks in their pocket.
There are innumerable clever people on this site who, I have no doubt, could come up with a bet, or several, that would be a reasonable proposition, if not already in place at the bookies (British term for bookeepers?). A donation of all winnings to go to charity perhaps? Say, 20%.
And what a way to rub the alarmist’s noses in it.
Yes, pick a climate safe job like teaching in the inner city schools.