Climate change is making some homes uninsurable

Climate change has fundamentally changed the nature of the risk for homeowners and insurance companies alike. Senior business correspondent Peter Armstrong says catastrophic losses paid out in Canada now average $1.8 billion a year.

Connect with CBC News Online:

»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»

[Leggir]

Same happened in Western Australia where the fire risk is huge. Entire cities are uninsurable.

[liquidgal]

Doesn't make sense to constantly bring our immigration higher. Especially if this is effecting our farms. Not only here in Canada, but in USA also. When we get most of our food for winter from the USA & Mexico.

[jonathanbelanger]

Alot of people have houses that were built on flood prone areas, alot of times developers and city officials knew but where there is money in little brown envelopes being passed around like candy anything can be built pretty much anywhere by unscrupulous people

[radwulfeboraci]

If you can't get insurance on these properties, you can't get mortgages. Good luck with your retirement fail-safe. May as well bulldoze them now to avoid 'confusion' in the real estate market.

[tedpaulus]

Wow, flood plain maps changed over a period of 50 years? That’s so extreme!

[annamosse]

I am signing this petition, because AUSTRALIA is the driest country in the world, we need more done for the environment, but we need to look further into the future. Our weather is getting hotter, and it is putting pressure on families that can’t afford the heating and cooling bills. We need to adopt how those people in Coober Pedy live and build homes that are built within the earth, or partly underground.
This plan will not only be cheaper for housing, for many people, it will also be cheaper for heating and also cooling because, though it is very hot in Coober pedy, their underground homes are not only cool in summer it is also warm in winter and in some cases do not need to use
heating and cooling at all.
These submerged homes could have beautiful floral gardens and lawns above ground, but also spacious garages, BBQ and entertainment areas and sheds, think of the amount of room you would have. Apparently the under ground and partly submerged homes, are beautiful and spacious inside and very comfortable. There are ways of bringing light into these homes without any problem and for those who which to have a room that is flooded with light, a single living area can be built that is either partly submerged in the ground or above the ground that is attached to the submerged home. A family can have the best of both worlds, and save a whole lot more money, than they would if the home was built all above ground and squashed together with the shed, garage, entertainment area, and lawns for kids to play on. THINK ABOUT IT. Lucy

[James-kesx]

I bough a house boat on dry land.
Problem solved!

[Blackmark]

Drought across the western prairies. Perhaps we need to reinstate the massive grazing herds that kept the ecosystem vibrant. Sounds counter intuitive especially since we've been conditioned to think of grazing animals as the problem. But I suggest you

[muuhoang]

New Orleans is 5ft below the sea level; and every year, people built plastic shield around their house secured by sand bags. However, a lot of residents saw an opportunity of collecting insurance payment, especially when the flood was declared as national emergency and more federal money was pouring in, so they want their house to be flooded. Insurance companies also took advantage of the situation by granting handsome payouts so the customers continued to stick with them. The Katrina hurricane was aware but the city took a gamble of low chance (of broken levees) and high impact. It was not climate change at all.

[farmermatt]

Climate change and insurance.... I can’t decide which is the biggest scam

[trytrustinmejc]

They dont mind takeing in all that money for years but hate paying out when it comes time to pay out

[Wargutz]

I am going to start building and selling house stilts for when the rainy seasons come.

[Irigoyen]

And who is responsible?
The government must pick up the tab as they are responsible.

[DaveTan]

All those for bankrupting the insurance companies breath now.

[garrydurnford]

Who cares! the faster they're all underwater the better!

[Leggir]

Bjorn Lomborg said 10 years ago (Cool It) we should be building for Climate Change. If you're in a flood plain, well you better have a floatable house, or build it on stilts. If you're in a fire prone area, keep trees away from the house and build with fire resistant materials.

[eleanor]

When I first learned of the danger that our planet was in I wanted to have a job that helped turn it around. However, I feel as though unless you have some major ability to change many people's minds and most importantly their ACTIONS (which arguably only a select few celebrities, politicians, etc do) then any help you give is negligible.

Additional, I feel like going into a career where one of your biggest motivators is to change how people live and how the world is run essentially (if you agree that flaws in these two things are the driving force of climate change) only to have your efforts be almost pointless would cause so much frustration and unfulfillment.

For example, I used to get mad at my family when they didn't recycle properly. Recycling in and of itself arguably isn't even helpful as its only another way to get rid of waste you've already made and many local recycling schemes don't work efficiently or don't make people aware of how precise they have to be. At large, I think people aren't changing on a scale that's of any significance, despite the populations 'concern' around climate change.

I think that mindset is everything and although many people are aware and concerned to some degree about climate change it isn't their overarching concern and doesn't preced their desire to live how they want and buy what they want. However an issue on this scale demands everyone to fight against it for us to have any chance.

I also feel that the problem is so multifaceted (in terms of what causes it and still being able to satify people, bearing in mind their current expectations) that no one has an actual solution. Not because there isn't one but because we'll have to 'sacrifice' a lot to ever start to turn things around. I say 'sacrifice' because I'm not sure what could really be more of a sacrifice than the planet which sustains all life, but many people seem to be able to think of something worse.

Some would say this is very pessimistic and morbid but I'd say it's realistic. I continue to do things that I once started in hopes to help the planet, but mostly because I prefer them now/they're cheaper/I don't miss how I used to do things. I eat plant based, don't drive, buy second hand, cook from scratch, buy/own very few things and probably other things besides that don't come to mind because they are so second nature now. I hope that climate change is all some global hoax or that Trump is right but I fear not. I'm also divided because of what I believe is best politically and what I know is best for the planet. I guess at this time our planet should come first.

[komerwest]

As in the past people are going to have to move.

[Vivra_Verra____]

We have to do something about climate change soon. Or else it will be too late.

[totallynatural]

Accelerating AGW is due to the CO2 emissions from billions of cars, power plants, destruction of forests and the ocean, factories, cattle, . . . 1 + 1 = 2. Which means the phi ratio = 1.618. Which means that AGW is accelerating.