Human response to climate change - The Global Climate System: Patterns, Processes, and Teleconnections - page 269

Figure 8.7 Time
distribution of catastrophes
that have caused 1997
equivalent losses of between
$10 million and $100
million, in 5-year periods,
and the US population.
(Changnon et al. 1997 :
permission from American
Meteorological Society)
industry and national and state governments (Changnon 1999a ). These large
losses led some to believe that the predicted global climate change with more
extremes had begun and that the financial impacts would be severe.
Climate-sensitive activities in the United States experience both economic
gains and losses, depending on the type and magnitude of the climate condi-
tions. Good growing-season weather conditions bring high crop yields,
whereas cold winters bring high heating costs. Major storms produce damage
that translates into economic losses (Figure 8.7 ), but some individuals and
institutions also experience financial gain in the aftermath of damaging
events (Changnon 1996 ). Winners often are found later in the storm area
and in unaffected regions because most extreme conditions do not cover
much of the nation. For example, rebuilding homes after damaging hurricanes
benefits the construction industry, and farmers producing crops in unaffected
areas during a serious drought benefit from increased incomes as prices are
driven upwards by crop losses. Seldom are the economic gains resulting from
extremes assessed; and often when they are assessed, they are incomplete
(National Academy of Sciences 1999). A few comprehensive impact-oriented
studies of recent major events, such as the 1988 drought (Riebsame et al. 1991 ),
Hurricane Andrew (Pielke 1995 ), and the Midwest flood of 1993 (Changnon
1996 ), found the value of the gains ranged from 30 to 55 percent of the losses.
The complex issue of economic impacts due to the climate has never been
studied extensively. The NAS (1999) assessed the nation's economic impacts
from natural hazards, noting the paucity of national efforts to collect loss and
gain data systematically. However, increasing attention given to the eco-
nomic impacts of climate during recent years by scientists and economists has
led to the collection of data on several events and to studies defining many
climate impacts. Nevertheless, many economic impacts are measured poorly,