Of all the various experts gathered to speak about global warming and sea level rise at last Fridays Living on the Edge conference on Nantucket, Franklin W. Nutter, president of the Reinsurance Association of America, delivered perhaps the most disturbing message.
His insight was not related to the phenomenon itself so much as to the chances of a meaningful and concerted response. It was about politics and psychology more than environmental science.
Mr. Nutter spoke about the relationship between disaster preparedness, disaster relief and electoral results. The record showed that people reward politicians for disaster relief, but not disaster preparedness, he said.
It is far more politically advantageous to wait for the worst to happen and then offer help than to offer means by which the disaster might be averted in the first place, he said. People were grateful for money spent cleaning up a catastrophe, but resentful of expenditure aimed at averting catastrophe.
He suggested that explained a lot. Like the fact that between 1985 and 2004, natural disasters cost America some $16.5 billion in damage to property and crops, resulting in the expenditure of some $3 billion in federal disaster relief money. But the amount spent on disaster preparedness was just $195 million.
And that reality in turn, was just a political expression of human psychology: people underestimate risk, particularly when the risk does not seem immediate.
Experts Affirm Sea Level Rise - 10/1/10 - Vineyard Gazette Online
His insight was not related to the phenomenon itself so much as to the chances of a meaningful and concerted response. It was about politics and psychology more than environmental science.
Mr. Nutter spoke about the relationship between disaster preparedness, disaster relief and electoral results. The record showed that people reward politicians for disaster relief, but not disaster preparedness, he said.
It is far more politically advantageous to wait for the worst to happen and then offer help than to offer means by which the disaster might be averted in the first place, he said. People were grateful for money spent cleaning up a catastrophe, but resentful of expenditure aimed at averting catastrophe.
He suggested that explained a lot. Like the fact that between 1985 and 2004, natural disasters cost America some $16.5 billion in damage to property and crops, resulting in the expenditure of some $3 billion in federal disaster relief money. But the amount spent on disaster preparedness was just $195 million.
And that reality in turn, was just a political expression of human psychology: people underestimate risk, particularly when the risk does not seem immediate.
Experts Affirm Sea Level Rise - 10/1/10 - Vineyard Gazette Online