Extreme weather is becoming more common, and the economic impact is soaring. Last year there were 16 weather events in the U.S. that caused at least $1 billion each in damage, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The cumulative cost was $306 billion\u2014easily surpassing the previous one-year record of $215 billion set in 2005. In September a report from the nonprofit Universal Ecological Fund, \u201cThe Economic Case for Climate Action in the United States,\u201d estimated that total climate-related economic losses and health costs in the U.S. averaged $240 billion a year over the past decade. The authors project the annual cost will rise to $360 billion over the next 10 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Extreme weather is becoming more common, and the economic impact is soaring. Last year there were 16 weather events in the U.S. that caused at least $1 billion each in damage, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The cumulative cost was $306 billion\u2014easily surpassing the previous one-year record of $215 billion set in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4062,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"portfolio_category":[46],"portfolio_tag":[],"class_list":["post-4058","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_category-data-viz"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n