[dohboi]

I couldn't think of any other rubric to put this under, though I'm sure others will think of many other examples for their own reasons...well...anyways, here's this:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... risk-grows


As Storms Get Stronger, Building Codes Are Getting Weaker


Officials ignore warnings from insurers, federal government
Home builders push state officials to change the rules

The showdown in the Florida statehouse last year had all the drama of a knock-down political brawl: Powerful industries clashing. Warnings of death and destruction. And a surprise last-minute vote, delivering a sweeping reform bill to the governor’s desk.

The battle wasn’t about gun control, immigration or healthcare, but about making it easier to ignore national guidelines on building codes. To the surprise of the insurers, engineers and safety advocates who opposed the change, the home builders won -- in a state that gets hit by more hurricanes than any other.

Three months later, Hurricane Irma smashed into Florida.

A report being released on Monday shows Florida isn’t alone in easing up on building regulations even as the effects of global warming escalate. The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety examined building policies in 18 Atlantic and Gulf Coast states and found that despite the increasing severity of natural disasters, many of those states have relaxed their approach to codes -- or have yet to impose any whatsoever.

"There’s no longer the automatic assumption that codes are good," Julie Rochman, the head of the institute, said in an interview. "We just have an incredible capacity for amnesia and denial in this country."

[dissident]

US politicians are exceptional. But not in a good way.

[Outcast_Searcher]

So, as an example, Hurricane Andrew reducing MANY homes to kindling because of poorly constructed roofs didn't serve as good ammunition for the insurers? Or perhaps the politicians are being paid off better by the homebuilders than the insurers.

It's not like the insurers won't make the home-owners pay for the risk over time.

If you wanted to sum up the main cause of humanity's overall problems with one concept -- my vote would go to short term thinking. (AKA, a form of idiocy).

[KaiserJeep]

I am now and always have been an advocate of exceeding the minimum standards for both residences and commercial buildings, and even for the infrastructures of civilization. The Romans built roads, aqueducts, bridges, and the like that are still in use two millenia later, it's completely possible to do so. One must get out of the mindset of going with the lowest bidder.

In the context of your own home, you can build a typical suburban residence with a lifetime of 50 years between major remodels or complete replacement, or you can build something more substantial. It is up to you, and it's cheaper to build in rather than retrofit such features.

If we here at Peak Oil are correct about the cost of energy, it will in a decade or two become too expensive to heat a typical American home with fossil fuels. However, if one owns a residence built to the Passivhaus standard or even a Net Zero Energy residence, you will still have a comfortable place to live.

[Newfie]

.....
If you wanted to sum up the main cause of humanity's overall problems with one concept -- my vote would go to short term thinking. (AKA, a form of idiocy).

I’ve recently come to the same conclusion.

[Newfie]

On an ever so slightly brighter note:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil- ... SKBN1GX185

[Ibon]

.....
If you wanted to sum up the main cause of humanity's overall problems with one concept -- my vote would go to short term thinking. (AKA, a form of idiocy).

I’ve recently come to the same conclusion.

Nature functions in balance and harmony made up of a collection of individual members of countless species all focused in the moment of their existence. This is the ultimate in short term thinking. Actually just being. No long term planning required. And this results in a balanced complex system. Of which humans were a member up until 8000 years ago or so when some of us started assembling together in civilizations that functioned outside the matrix of natural ecosystems. How many generations is this actually? 8000 divided by say an average of 40 years per generation and you get around 200 generations. Not a very long time to figure out how to self regulate. How to replace the self regulation that nature always provided.

We are toddlers at the game of civilization.

[Outcast_Searcher]

On an ever so slightly brighter note:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil- ... SKBN1GX185

All five companies argued in court papers on Tuesday that they should not be held liable for warming, which is caused by “billions” of parties and “complex environmental phenomena occurring worldwide over many decades.”

This seems indisputable.

Lawsuits for everybody? Now THAT sounds productive.