written 13 September, 2026
published 20 September, 2026
One of the basic flaws in our economy is the assumption of absolute separation of the parts, in a world that is fundamentally whole. The damage a company creates while pursuing profit is not their responsibility unless proved in a court of law. Even then, all they have to do is declare bankruptcy and their issue is resolved. But the actual damages endure, and someone winds up paying those costs, usually having gained little to no profit in the original deal. This is fundamentally inequitable and socially destructive.
A good example was presented by Dan Walters, a syndicated columnist in the Ukiah Daily Journal, writing recently about California's wildfire liability problem. The last decade saw a sharp increase in massive, economically costly wildfires, many started by malfunctions in electric utility infrastructure. The fundamental question is: who pays?
Burned out homeowners need funds as soon as possible to begin rebuilding what has been destroyed. Electrical utilities are reluctant to pay complete restitution because it affects their share value, and they must remain profitable to continue providing socially essential electricity. Being a regulated monopoly, they can't raise rates without State approval, and if rates are too high the power becomes unaffordable, something the State wants to avoid.
Insurance companies face a similar problem. Destructive fires are happening faster than current rates can support. They are also State regulated and need approval for rate increases. If they can't raise rates enough to remain profitable, the companies stop writing policies and perhaps leave the state entirely. Again, something the State wants to avoid.
Any real solution must examine WHY fire damages are increasing: the growing climate crisis.
The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is now 50 percent greater than in preindustrial times 250 years ago, primarily due to fossil fuel combustion. An increase of similar magnitude ended the last ice age, melting ice sheets several miles thick, creating the recent 12,000 year interglacial period that allowed the explosion of human civilization.
Believe it or not, the climate today is not the same as when this country was founded. Human activity has changed the composition of our atmospheric chemistry, creating a world that is measurably hotter. This produces extended heat waves, longer droughts, more extreme flooding, and stronger storms, as the planet struggles to distribute the increased atmospheric heating.
In the last 50 years, global climate disaster costs have increased by a factor of ten even after accounting for inflation, now $4 trillion in the last decade, and planetary heating is accelerating.
The recent disaster in Nepal is the result of glacier melt caused by increasing temperatures in the Himalayas. California's fire insurance problem is the result of increasing heat and drought. Prolonged drought has reduced water flow in the Colorado River, threatening California agriculture and power production from the dams on the Colorado. The oceans capture 90 percent of the added heat, and are hotter now than ever in recorded history. This has killed 90 percent of coastal kelp, and impacted 80 percent of the world's coral, destroying the fisheries they support. Europe is warming faster than any other continent, and heat killed 175,000 people there this year.
Because the climate changes are slow, and our attention is dominated by day-to-day issues, we don't often see the problem directly. Climate change is inexorable, like termites eating the foundation of our home, or rust destroying the structural integrity of a bridge. But there are tipping points in any system, both in nature as well as in our consciousness. At some point, it's too hot outside, or some disaster hits, changing our awareness.
The solution to the climate crisis is clear: stop adding to the problem by changing our energy system, and begin removing some of the existing carbon dioxide to get back to an atmospheric composition that we know supports human civilization. This won't be simple, because we need to change decades of invested infrastructure. But the knowledge exists. The hardware exists. What is needed is the political will.
Fortunately, people are beginning to recognize the climate crisis is killing us and our economy. All over the world, societies are being forced to adapt to what is happening, beginning to change the way they do business. They see the profit driven, fossil fuel funded climate deniers are liars, and are refusing to support politicians who spouts those lies.
America is currently a laggard in this movement. Is this the election where that change happens here?
