The 15th storm to hit the eastern US "in the nastiest winter in recent memory" promotes a fresh burst of concern from reinsurers. The concern expressed is not limited to windstorm activity. According to Stephen Leatherman, Director of the University of Maryland's Laboratory for Coastal Research, sea level along the eastern US coast has risen by one foot over the last century, causing beaches to recede an average of 60-90 metres, and is expected to rise an additional 14-19 cm during the next 20 years, further threatening the $2 trillion [US] worth of insured property along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Franklin Nutter, President of the Reinsurance Association of America, professes that "the insurance business is first in line to be affected by climate change... it could bankrupt the industry". Time magazine's correspondent, Eugene Linden, writes: "These risks and the crucial role played by the [US] $1.41 trillion insurance industry in the global economy could change the dynamics of the debate about global warming. Last fall Nutter told an industry conference that climate change is an issue in which it may prove to be in the industry's interest to assume an advocacy role. ...Insurers have already had an impact on climate change through their actions in the marketplace. Soaring premiums and insurance cancellations alert residents of coastal areas that changes in weather patterns can have profound economic consequences. With 50 percent of the US population living within 50 miles [80 km] of a coastline, ordinary people may also begin to draw a similar connection between climate change and their own well-being, should the windstorms continue." ("Burned by warming", Time Magazine, 14 March 1994).
GREENPEACE Climate Impacts Database