> The risks inherent to weather and climate are growing all the time.

Risk is subjective, so this doesn't mean much without quantifying what you feel is risky to you. Moreover, of all the risks we have heard expressed in the population, there is no unary growth value. There is a change in distribution, and some risks have grown, but some risks have also shrunk. If you are relying on the reader to bring their own idea of what the risks are, this is almost certainly going to be false.

I expect you say this with good intentions, trying to instil fear in the reader to convince them that climate change is something to pay attention to. But this kind of "absolute truth" that doesn't hold up to scrutiny is what actually turns people off paying attention to something that justifiably does warrant attention. Let's do better.

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tingletech an hour ago | parent | next [-]

I thought risk was defined as probability times cost (or at least that is what you are trying to minimize in risk management) -- so if the probability of costs goes up, would not also risk? You don't have to enumerate each specific risk to believe that risks are growing.

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9rx an hour ago | parent [-]

I'd say more commonly we say consequence, but I think you can fairly use cost and consequence interchangeably here. They have similar meaning. However, consequence/cost too are subjective. Thus risk is also subjective. Something cannot be objective if its variables are subjective.

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infinite_spin an hour ago | parent [-]

Costs are tangible, making them objective, even if they have underlying subjectivities. The cost of milk is objective, even if your purchasing habits are subjective.

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9rx 38 minutes ago | parent [-]

You are correct that "cost" has more than one definition, but, as already discussed, the one we are talking about equates to consequence, not an amount of money. Your milk analogy doesn't fit. Whether or not a so-called consequence is seen as a consequence is in the eye of the beholder.

	▲	infinite_spin 25 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I'm well aware of the narrowing you imposed. Consequence in these terms still equates to an objective reality, even if the underlying source of it can be described as subjective. The consequences of rising milk prices is an objective reality, even if your purchasing habits are subjective.

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breakyerself an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There is significantly more moisture in the atmosphere now meaning the storms that el nino brings will have a greater capacity to cause flooding. The water the piles up on the west coast of north America will be in addition to the sea level rise that already occurred. Making coastal flooding worse. A drier winter in the Pacific northwest means less snowpack and therefore less water available in the summer with global warming this is exacerbated by the loss of mountain glaciers which help balance seasonal variability. Heating the western Pacific means el nino has always been bad for fisheries there, but layering it on top of global warming can increasingly devastate fish populations there.

Our infrastructure and agriculture are designed around a climate regime that is increasingly becoming a thing of the past. I think your attitude about this shit is nonsensical

	▲	EdwardDiego 25 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		The moisture is a side-effect of the additional energy in the atmosphere - warmer gases can hold more water vapour. And that's the thing - our climate is a massively complex system of interacting systems, and now we've put more energy into it, and it'll show up in the variability.

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esalman 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

"Risk is subjective" until damages occur to someone and it's time to file an insurance claim.

	▲	9rx 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		If there is something you don't believe is a risk, who are going to file a claim with? Normally insurers expect you to arrange insurance beforehand, which requires identifying something you believe is a risk.
	▲	nsoam an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Yes, that’s the exact definition of subjective

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Sharlin 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

"Yeah, tens of millions died and hundreds of millions were displaced, but in the meantime we made a lot of value for the shareholders so it wasn't all bad."