by Daniel Brouse An AP-NORC poll reveals a deeply troubling contradiction in the American public’s understanding of climate change: Americans are increasingly experiencing the effects of extreme heat, yet fewer now believe climate change is actually happening. According to the poll, just 66% of Americans say climate change is happening, down sharply from 73% a […]
Category Archives: Business
Americans Are Feeling the Heat—But Fewer Believe Climate Change Is Happening
Strategic Petroleum Reserve Falls to Lowest Level Since 1983
As of July 31, 2026, the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) held approximately 304.8 million barrels of crude oil, its lowest level since March 1983. From its historic peak of roughly 726 million barrels in 2009, the SPR has experienced a cumulative drawdown of approximately 421 million barrels—about a 58% reduction. The decline has been […]
Wildfire Catastrophe Bonds Surge as Insurers Transfer Record Climate Risk to Capital Markets
by Sidd Mukherjee and Daniel Brouse A New Era of Climate Risk Finance Wildfire-exposed catastrophe bond issuance has surged to $5.183 billion year-to-date in 2026, rapidly approaching the full-year record of $5.55 billion set in 2025. Driven by escalating wildfire losses, expanding climate risks, and increasingly sophisticated risk models, insurers are turning to global capital […]
Climate Shock to the Food System
by Daniel Brouse How Extreme Heat, Drought, Disease, and Global Supply Disruptions Are Reshaping Agriculture and Raising Food Prices Introduction Climate change is increasingly affecting agriculture through multiple, interconnected pathways. Extreme heat, prolonged drought, erratic rainfall, declining water availability, wildfire, shifting pest and disease pressures, and disruptions to livestock production are converging to create a […]
Climate Change Impacts and You: The Rising Cost of a Changing Climate
by Daniel Brouse Introduction Climate change is no longer simply a future environmental threat. It is increasingly affecting American households through higher costs, declining air quality, extreme heat, infrastructure disruptions, property damage, and changing patterns of disease. Although catastrophic floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and other disasters dominate the headlines, the most widespread climate impact may be […]
Climate Change and the Global Insurance Crisis: Rising Losses, Retreating Insurers, and the Growing Protection Gap
by Daniel Brouse Climate change is fundamentally destabilizing insurance markets by driving increasingly severe financial losses, pushing premiums sharply higher, and causing insurers to reduce or withdraw coverage in some high-risk regions. As extreme weather events become more frequent and, in many cases, more intense, traditional underwriting models are being challenged by rapidly changing risk. […]
Heat-Triggered Flash Droughts: The Rapid Intensification of Heat, Drought, and Wildfire Risk
by Daniel Brouse The Trend Flash droughts are one of the three fastest-accelerating climate extremes. The share of global land affected by heat-driven drought has expanded dramatically—from approximately 2.5% in the 1980s to 16.7% in recent years. The rate of increase has also accelerated, rising roughly eightfold since 2000. This shift is important because heat-triggered […]
Consumer Solar Panels
Michigan State University’s technology sounds amazing because it can turn almost any window into a power generator. However, there’s an inherent trade-off: allowing light to pass through the window means not absorbing the visible energy needed to generate electricity, which limits energy efficiency. What may be even more promising are “balcony” solar panels. These systems […]
Greenland’s Melting Glaciers: Why Their Retreat Affects Everyone
by Daniel Brouse The overwhelming interest in Greenland’s dramatic iceberg rollover has raised an important question: Why should people who live thousands of miles from a glacier care? Glacial retreat reshapes nearby landscapes almost immediately, but its most significant impacts extend far beyond the Arctic. As glaciers disappear, the effects ripple through water supplies, food […]
Climate Change Hotspots: Highest Risk Over the Next Decade
by Daniel Brouse Climate Change Hotspots: Highest Risk Over the Next Decade