# When will Climate Change become dire? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 21, 2019, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-climate-change-become-dire/843739 "2019-11-21T00:10:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-climate-change-become-dire/843739/221 "2023-05-30T00:30:38Z")
> [@cjackson](#): > > Going at the rate we’re going now, how long until the most dire consequences of climate change occur? How long until even the billionaires are suffering its effects? While billionaires may pay scientists to release public statements favorable to their financial interests, I would assume they also make sure to get the actual facts so they can make their own plans for dealing with climate change. So how dire is climate change going to be? Billionaires are building space ships. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2023, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-climate-change-become-dire/843739/222 "2023-05-30T01:04:50Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > While billionaires may pay scientists to release public statements favorable to their financial interests, I would assume they also make sure to get the actual facts so they can make their own plans for dealing with climate change. Literally true … particularly ironic since ExxonMobil was among the most aggressive of the big climate change deniers, and among the most invested in secret “dark money” funding of campaigns to deny and undermine the science – all while keeping secret some of the most accurate data anywhere on how much fossil fuels were driving climate change. > The findings suggest that ExxonMobil’s predictions were often more accurate than even world-leading NASA scientists. > > “It really underscores the stark hypocrisy of ExxonMobil leadership, who knew that their own scientists were doing this very high quality modelling work and had access to that privileged information while telling the rest of us that climate models were bunk,” Naomi Oreskes, professor of the history of science at Harvard University, told BBC News. > > The findings are a “smoking gun”, suggests co-author Geoffrey Supran, associate professor of environmental science and policy at the University of Miami. > > “Our analysis allows us for the first time to actually put a number on what Exxon knew, which is that the burning of their fossil fuel products was going to heat the planet by about 0.2C of warming every decade,” he said. > **[ExxonMobil: Oil giant predicted climate change in 1970s - scientists](https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-64241994)** > > Researchers claim to put a number on what Exxon knew about temperature rise as early as the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![2\_More\_Bits](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2_more_bits/32/4148_2.png) [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2023, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-climate-change-become-dire/843739/223 "2023-05-31T15:43:37Z")
Well, there’s suffering and there’s “suffering.” ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2023, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-climate-change-become-dire/843739/224 "2023-06-01T19:25:05Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Anyone with beach front property in FL trying to buy insurance is suffering the effects. Not just “beach front”, and not just Florida. Due to the increasing destructive power of hurricanes, home insurance in Florida is nearly four times the national rate. Major national insurers are pulling out, and **[some of the regional insurers are at risk of bankruptcy](https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/01/business/florida-homeowner-insurance-rates/index.html)**. Meanwhile recurrent wildfires have made insuring homes even more dire in California, where **[State Farm, the nation’s largest home and auto insurer, has pulled out altogether](https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/28/business/state-farm-california-insurance-wildfire/index.html)**. Existing policies will continue to be honored, but no new homeowner policies will be issued. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-climate-change-become-dire/843739.md?page=11)