“Since September, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore has hauled more than 400 truckloads of debris from fallen houses. The Park Service reaches out to homeowners to try and recover associated costs, not always successfully.”

Americans are being pushed into an impossible choice: affordable homes in high-risk flood and fire zones, or safe neighborhoods they can’t afford. It’s a collision of the #housingcrisis and climate change, and policy failures are driving it.

A major challenge here is that >99.99% of Zillow/Redfin/Realtor users aren’t in a position to discern if climate risk scores generated via private, unregulated models are accurate and helpful vs. inaccurate and worth ignoring.

The Energy Department is renaming its National Renewable Energy Laboratory to the National Laboratory of the Rockies, a rebranding to align it with the Trump administration’s focus on fossil fuels.

Absolutely fantastic study comparing anonymized outputs of climate analytics models. Everyone loves to bag on flood (rightly so), but can we talk about how the spread here is "30mph breeze to Cat 5 hurricane" www.fca.org.uk/publication/... HT @ruarirhodes.bsky.social

Fundamentally, the collective goal is to reduce physical risks such that 1. consumers can access and afford high-quality private insurance, and 2. insurers can charge non-excessive premiums that make sense for their books of business. Financial innovation will help, but physical risk reduction is 🔑

"NCIUA says its financial analysis is that it will recoup $72 million over 10 years on the investment in roofs, some from avoided losses after storms but even more from having to purchase less reinsurance because their portfolio is less risky."

Interesting development on consumer-facing climate risk info in the property market. Zillow isn't quoted in the article, but seems their removal of First Street data may be motivated by material financial impacts of questionable property-level physical risk scores. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/c...

“…nearly 2,000 permits have been issued in both the Palisades and Eaton fire zones, according to the state’s rebuilding dashboard.“ Article notes ~340 of the projects have started construction. One large unit with fire-resistant features completed, thousands to go. therealdeal.com/la/2025/11/2...

Next year, day passes will cost $100 per person for international visitors at the 11 most popular national parks: Acadia, Bryce Canyon, Everglades, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite and Zion. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

🚨The Moore Lab at UC Davis is hiring!🚨 Post-doc for a project with @adamsobel.bsky.social on the valuation of climate information for adaptation Could be a good fit for an environmental economist or a climate scientist - flexible start date and location Apply by Dec 1st: recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07346

Philip Mulder and I are excited to share a major update to our working paper, "Property Insurance and Disaster Risk: New Evidence from Mortgage Escrow Data," with NYT coverage and making our data publicly available! www.nber.org/papers/w32579 (1/n)

Happy #MapMonday! Net migration in rural areas surged during the pandemic—and remains high. In many of these communities, migration is offsetting steep natural loss. See where in the dark green on the map, and read more in my new @harvard-jchs.bsky.social blog: www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/post-pa....

Acting FEMA chief out after short, troubled tenure

Had a fantastic time at #APPAM2025 in Seattle! Great conference, excited for next year’s Fall Research Conference in Boston. Yesterday I had the opportunity to moderate a roundtable titled “The Frontiers of Natural Hazard Risk Management Data” with an outstanding panel. Learned a ton from…(1/4)

A 50-year mortgage on a $400k home with 10% down and 6.25% interest rate would amount to $816k in total interest paid on the loan. That’s compared to $438k for a comparable 30-year. Amount of principal paid in first 10 years of loan? Only $14k for the 50-year, compared with $57k for the 30-year.

📢Global Carbon Budget 2025📢 Fossil CO2 emissions continue to rise in 2025 while the terrestrial carbon sink recovers to pre-El Niño strength. The key findings are covered in two reports this year: * ESSDD (preprint): essd.copernicus.org/preprints/es... * Nature: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/

According to a new National Association of Realtors report, the share of all-cash home buyers in the U.S. has increased by nearly twenty percentage points over the past two decades to 26% in 2025. www.nar.realtor/newsroom/fir...

Three German universities offering post-docs for researchers "who cannot conduct or continue their work in the USA appropriately because of actual political pressure. " www.uni-konstanz.de/zukunftskoll...

According to the National Federation of Independent Business: “Nearly half (49%) of small businesses in the construction industry reported labor quality as their single most important problem, 22 points higher than for all firms.” www.wsj.com/opinion/work...

Mayor Eric Adams on Friday vetoed a bill the City Council passed to prevent rental voucher-holders from contributing more than 30% of their income for rent. www.thecity.nyc/2025/11/10/c...

Following Hurricane Melissa, Jamaica will receive a $150 million payout in connection with a catastrophe bond purchased last year from the World Bank. The parameters in the contract rely on measurements and reporting from NOAA's National Hurricane Center. www.worldbank.org/en/news/pres...

Every month for the last 77 years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated Americans' unemployment rate This streak dies tomorrow Govt staff could not survey Americans about whether they're working or looking for work in Oct, the 1st time in 934 months This blind spot will remain forever

Looks like the three housing-related ballot measures passed in NYC today. Simpler zoning review on small parcels, faster review of affordable housing projects, and an appeal mechanism for rejected affordable housing proposals. Will be interesting to see how these affect future housing production.

My team has been working on a report that provides policymakers with clear situational awareness on the wildfire situation in California. I'm so proud of the work product we have produced.

Trump is going after his enemies w/help from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, whose leader Bill Pulte has provided info he claims shows ppl like Lisa Cook & Letitia James committed fraud. Now the FHFA IG, whose info may have undermined the cases, is getting fired. www.reuters.com/world/us/wat...

Nice article highlighting recent property insurance regulation challenges in California, including spatial analysis ones. Wrinkles definitely emerge when integrating: -ZIP- and county-level targets; -property-level policies; -raster data on fire hazard severity. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/u...

Had a great time at this event in DC last week. Learned a ton from attendees, especially about the latest developments in Congress and at the White House re: disaster programs. Staying tuned for FEMA Review Council’s report to come out before 2026. Thanks to @nlihc.org for organizing and hosting!

Tomorrow, 11/1, tens of thousands of Massachusetts residents who heat their homes with #heatpumps will start getting a discounted electric rate that lasts through April. The notifications (like the one attached) have been going out for the last few weeks. www.wbur.org/news/2025/08... @wbur.org

Terrible. According to NYC's comprehensive real-time flood sensor network, FloodNet, water levels this afternoon in Ditmas Park were measured at 15+ inches above ground level. dataviz.floodnet.nyc/dashboard/pr...

Two people died in flooded New York City buildings on Thursday after sudden and intense rain brought a deluge of water to the city in a major afternoon squall. buff.ly/ZMd1Ow4

NOAA’s hurricane research division staff has been cut from 52 in 2020 to 28 in 2025, almost a 50% cut. They’ve resorted to using volunteers to man the critical radar and dropsonde stations on Hurricane Hunter flights. Senseless cuts in an era of climate change making the strongest storms stronger.

What we're witnessing with #Melissa is ultra rare in the history of known hurricanes in the Atlantic. This level of sustained intensity and feasting on every joule of ocean heat content without any real disruption is incredible. Not hyperbole: Jamaica is facing a generational catastrophic event.

Melissa is Jamaica-bound as a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane. The forecast is as dire as it gets. Preparations to protect life and property across the island should be rushed to completion. Melissa threatens to be the worst Jamaica's ever experienced ⬇️

🧪🧵 Future change to #ThwaitesGlacier, Antarctica constitutes the largest uncertainty in #sea-level rise forecasts. The Science Coordination Office of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration recently issued a briefing document summarising some key findings - thwaitesglacier.org/findings

Peak autumn colors in Lexington, MA this weekend. 250 years since local residents here changed the course of history 🇺🇸🍁

The Texas Solar for All Coalition won a $250M award from EPA’s competitive Solar for All program, $54M of which was intended for Harris County. Funds in question would have installed rooftop solar on single-family and multifamily buildings in low-income communities. harcresearch.org/research/tex...

California’s FAIR Plan seeks 36% rate increase as wildfire risk and insurer exits surge. With $650B in exposure but just $1.5B cash on hand, the math no longer works. Homeowners face costly coverage, rising assessments, and a volatile market going forward. open.substack.com/pub/susanpcr...

Scientific debate and uncertainty about an area’s objective flood risk can be leveraged for short-term personal and political objectives. Great paper from 2018 by Prof. Sarah Pralle highlights the politicized nature of FEMA’s flood hazard mapping process: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Boston Common today 🇺🇸

Extraordinary NEW story: We Found That More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days. @nicolefoy.bsky.social w/ photos by @sbmaneyphoto.bsky.social

New Nature paper from recent Rutgers postdoc Yucheng Lin (now at CSIRO in Australia) updates the global sea level curve for the last several millennia and places modern Chinese relative sea level rise in historic context

Earlier today the federal bank regulatory agencies (Federal Reserve System, FDIC, OCC) announced withdrawal of the interagency "Principles for Climate-Related Financial Risk Management for Large Financial Institutions" which were originally issued in 2023. www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/p...

Neptune Insurance's IPO is an indicator of a rekindled private market for flood insurance in the United States, buffeted by improved modeling. Coincides with a years-long decline in the number of residential policies written by FEMA's NFIP. www.wsj.com/finance/the-...

MIT refuses to accept White House terms for funding, other schools still mulling reut.rs/471tkNZ

Six more houses in the Outer Banks have collapsed as Hurricanes Humberto and Imelda rumbled in the Atlantic. All were unoccupied. https://wapo.st/42iGmFE

New from the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, read about tariffs impacting home construction and renovation costs. taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/recen...

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

Characterizing the potential and limits of using satellite imagery and machine learning technology to measure ground conditions, from Proctor, Carleton, Chong, Fransen, Greenhill, Katz, Murayama, Sherman, Tseng, Druckenmiller, and Hsiang https://www.nber.org/papers/w34315

A coalition of solar energy companies, labor unions, nonprofit groups and homeowners sued the EPA on Monday over its termination of $7 billion in grants intended to help low- and moderate-income families install solar panels on their homes.