Putting Florida’s Future at Risk with Global Warming
Philip Stoddard, former mayor of South Miami and current biology professor at Florida International University, is well aware of the serious financial risks posed by climate change. It’s a game of hurricane roulette every year in Miami, and former mayor Stoddard claims that the odds are getting worse due to global warming.
The poorest suffer the most directly as a result of natural disasters like hurricanes and floods. Low-income housing is frequently older, doesn’t meet the new wind standards, and has inadequate maintenance. These homes sustain more damage during hurricanes, and when the roof leaks, people’s possessions frequently become wet and damaged.
In Hurricane Andrew, many middle-class inhabitants of South Dade lost possessions to rain damage, but many lower-income families experienced the same thing in 2005 when the less severe Katrina-Wilma pair hit the area.
The only silver lining is that low-income households can benefit greatly from inexpensive income replacement insurance, as founded by FEMA. However, though we’d like to think that the people of Miami are steadily increasing their standard of living, the odds are stacked against that happening. The Equality of Opportunity Project, led by economist Raj Chetty, found that few people in Miami and the rest of the Southeast are moving up the economic ladder.
The longer people remain without improving their financial situation, the higher the risk that they would be severely impacted by storm losses. Many people find that relocating to a safer and more promising area is the best choice for the future. And according to the principles of probability, the sooner the better.