Our Rising 'Climate Costs': Are They Really Proof of Climate Change Causing More Devastating Extreme Weather Events?
Dr. Jessica Weinkle argues that a practical approach rather than emotional media coverage is needed to make necessary conclusions about extreme weather and other climate events.
Hannes Sarv
Aug 07, 2024
Jessica Weinkle, associate professor at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, says the rationale of the media coverage on climate change and its consequences often leaves much to be desired. She cites examples of how natural disasters and extreme weather events have been communicated. Following the news, one might get the impression that the increase in extreme weather events is an undeniable fact. The fact that the damage caused by natural disasters, measured in monetary terms, has increased significantly is often offered as proof of this.
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However, Weinkle explains that this is a little misleading. Of course, weather events such as hurricanes or floods caused by heavy precipitation are a major problem for a society experiencing them. However, it is misleading to attribute the associated material losses, which have increased over time, necessarily to climate change. “There's two separate issues in that. There's the geophysical event, and then there's the social impact. And you might measure the social impact by cost,” Weinkle explains. This social impact, or the financial damage associated with these events, which increases over time, is importantly linked to the state of the society as a whole, she says. For example, one would have to examine how many houses are there and how much could their location be potentially affected by a disastrous event. Or how many cars would be damaged by extreme weather conditions? What kind of property is there in those houses and cars that could potentially be destroyed? It is logical that if extreme weather destroys property in, say, the United States, the amount of property destroyed and hence the financial cost of the event would be significantly greater than in a poorer country.
https://www.freedom-research.org/p/our-rising-climate-costs-are-they
