This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Crime & Safety

Can New Jersey Insure Against the Next Sandy?

Disaster-specific damage coverage among concepts aired at Rutgers conference on impact of climate change

The impact of climate change goes far beyond the obvious issues of public safety and disaster planning, participants stressed during a conference held yesterday at Rutgers University.

New Jersey should be considering future costs, long-term health risks, and even social justice issues when considering how to deal with a warming climate, they said. The good news is that there are some creative ideas on how to deal with the varied effects of climate change, regardless of its cause.

For instance, New Jersey could protect itself against the vast cost of future disasters like Superstorm Sandy by taking out insurance that would pay in the event of hurricanes or other natural calamities. State or county governments could buy policies that would compensate them for the increasingly frequent and severe climate events expected as a result of rising global temperatures and disrupted weather patterns;

Find out what's happening in New Milfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Megan Linkin, a natural hazards expert for the reinsurance company Swiss Re, told a panel at the conference, “Climate Change in New Jersey: Leading Practices and Policy Priorities,” that such policies are already in place in other states and countries whose governments have entered into public-private partnerships with insurers to protect specific locations or whole states from specified natural hazards.

Read more at NJSpotlight.com

Find out what's happening in New Milfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

NJ Spotlight is an issue-driven news website that provides critical insight to New Jersey’s communities and businesses. It is non-partisan, independent, policy-centered and community-minded.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.