climate change and recession

The upcoming recession is being talked about in the news right now, and it's mainly being blamed on oil prices and the sub-prime mortgage situation. But there's another area where the US economy is leaking money: the insurance industry. They've taken a beating from the bad weather caused by global warming. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted a 21st century rise in ocean levels of 32 inches, but now they say it could be twice that: 64 inches. This is what happened the last time the earth got this hot, 100,000 years ago. This news has the insurance industry terrified, since they’ve already lost $75 million from natural catastrophes in 2007. cIn MarketWatch, Steve Goldstein quotes insurance expert Torsten Jeworrek as saying, "The trend in respect of weather extremes shows that climate change is already taking effect and that more such extremes are to be expected in the future. We should not be misled by the absence of megacatastrophes in 2007." The 11 warmest years worldwide have been recorded during the last 13 years.