You might think that global warming occurs only in distant territories, far from our reach. In our imagination, it manifests in the depths of Alaska, in the drying lakes of Chad, or even in the swingeing droughts of Syria, claiming millions of lives. In truth, “a tenth of the world’s [properties]”, even in looming cities with no signs of nature, are currently impacted by the ferocious claws of global warming (The Economist 2024). We are all affected by the “global warming” we once considered so distant, right NOW.
“From tornadoes battering midwestern American suburbs to tennis-ball-size hailstones smashing the roofs of Italian villas, the severe weather brought about by greenhouse-gas emissions is shaking the foundations of the world’s most important asset class.” – The Economist (2024, p1.)
However, due to the delay in our actions, the cost of protecting the climate could potentially eradicate 9%, or 90 out of 1000, of the world’s housing within around 15 years. Specifically, the erosion of various and increasing parts of the world would greatly diminish housing areas, reducing the chance of areas being used for housing. Climate change not only threatens our essential housing needs and leads to skyrocketing housing prices, but it also poses a risk of eradicating 25 trillion U.S. dollars from the hands of the American people, an amount not much less than our national annual GDP.
To prevent this scenario from catastrophically affecting the broader population, our government has devised a bill comprising three consecutive parts: paying for reparations caused by climate change, investing in ways to prevent similar damages in the future, and modifying house prices to decrease the volatility of expenses related to climate regulation. By doing so, house prices will remain unstable, prone to rapid increases or decreases, primarily determined by the factor of climate change.
This indicates that if one chooses to buy a house worth 1 million dollars today, after a year, if that individual wants to sell that house, it could be worth 0.5 million, instantly losing half a million. This instability in housing, "accounting for 11.9% of national GDP in 2021," will partially shatter the economy (Weinstock 4).
Hence, we are all on the brink of danger. If we do not act NOW, an unstable era will unfold, affecting every one of us around the globe because we didn’t take our last chance to protect the climate.
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