19 March, 2024

Lucy Sherriff Los Angeles, California Hello and welcome to this edition of Future Earth, coming to you from me, Lucy Sherriff, a climate reporter for the BBC based in Los Angeles. This week we see how climate-change-fuelled extreme weather events such as wildfires and floods are making parts of the US increasingly difficult to insure. This isn't just a big-picture financial story, it's an intensely stressful daily reality for locals in climate-vulnerable regions. Plus, an ancient breed of cattle reviving rural Portugal and the destructive power of fungi.    CLIMATE CONVERSATION The pain of becoming uninsurable When extreme weather hits, it can be a huge financial as well as an emotional burden for local residents. Credit: Alamy Last month a friend of mine told me she's selling her Los Angeles home. Not because she can't afford the mortgage payments – the house is paid off – but because she can't afford the insurance. She pays $1,200 (£940) a monthbecause she lives in an area with a high wildfire risk – and the looming threat of a large earthquake.   It's a story I've been investigating over the past few months – as extreme weather in the US grows more frequent and intense, insurance companies are either drastically hiking their prices or telling Americans they can no longer offer them home insurance.   In some high risk areas, such as in parts of Florida and California, insurance companies are so concerned about making a loss that they are stepping back from offering new policies entirely.   My friend is not the only person I know being forced to move. Frances Acuña, a community activist in Austin, Texas, thought she'd be in her home forever, but is moving out this spring. Her annual insurance had risen from $450 to $1,893 (£355 to £1,490) because her neighbourhood was recently designated a zone that was likely to flood. She simply couldn't afford to pay it. Others in her community just go without. The risk of flooding is rising as the climate changes, leaving many homeowners unable to get insurance cover for their property. Credit: Getty Images One in 13 American homeowners are currently uninsured, amounting to around six million people, according to a recent report, which notes that uninsurance is an important contributor to racial inequality.   Plus the most severe harms from climate change also fall disproportionately on underserved communities, who are least able to cope with the impacts. Rising seas, rising rents "I've been asked why I'd live in a flood zone," says Frances. "If we live in a flood zone, it's not because we love to see how high the water comes inside our homes, it's because we can't afford to live on higher ground." (This is especially evident in Miami, where higher ground areas such as Little Haiti – home to low-income and communities of colour – are now being gentrified by the wealthy looking to escape sea level rise in the luxurious Miami Beach.)   It's a crisis waiting to unfold; one weather event could mean a household loses everything with no way to rebuild or repair their home. And with the country's climate worsening, the economic disparity in America only appears set to become more extreme.   Read my full report on the extreme weather making American homes hard to insure. NUMBER OF THE WEEK 10,800 The number of solar panels that the English football club Manchester City plans to install on its stadium and training hub, in a first for a Premier League club. TAKE A MOMENT How bad are avocados for the environment? The Climate Question's expert panel answers your questions about climate change in this episode on BBC Sounds. Listen now CLIMATE QUIZ Which popular fruit has been making headlines for a likely increase in price due to climate change? A. Pear B. Pineapple C. Banana Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter for the answer. THE BIG PICTURE An ancient breed returns  The tauros is a specially bred relative of the long-extinct aurochs, the wild ancestor of the modern cow. Credit: Diana Takacsova The rocky slopes of Portugal's Côa Valley have become one of the most sparsely populated regions in Portugal. Poor soil and a lack of water make it a hard place to farm, but the reintroduction of an old friend to the landscape could help to reverse the valley's fortunes. A herd of tauros - a species bred to be similar to the large, extinct aurochs - is bringing positive change to the ecosystem: smaller herbivores gather near the herd, and the composition of plants in the region is changing too. In summer, the herd might have the most impact, removing excess dry vegetation that could otherwise fuel wildfires, as Marta Vidal writes. BEFORE YOU GO • Environmentalists are rocking the boat on deep sea mining research in the Pacific Ocean. • Scientists are pumping salt water onto the Arctic sea ice to thicken it ahead of the summer melt - a plan some scientists have called "insane". • The first wave of wind turbines in the UK are coming to the end of their lifespan - so what happens next to the enormous blades?