Climate Gentrification — an entitlement for the rich

Gilbert Gaul shows unmistakably what we thought we knew all along: disaster relief and flood insurance have become a stealth entitlement for the wealthy. In his excellent The Geography of Risk, Gaul piles up the evidence through research, interviews and actual examination. It is a patient and relentless investigation. The government encourages the rich to build luxury second homes in floodplains, because they know the government will pay them to rebuild after a storm. And as these are often vacation homes, there’s no rush. The only stress is filing the paperwork.

Even in North Carolina, where it is illegal to claim the seas are rising, their Republican Senator works to make federal funds easily and quickly available, because North Carolinians “are entitled” to it. In Florida, where the former governor banned talk of rising seas by his staff, the federal government spends billions bailing out homeowners, rather than buying them out. After a hurricane, there isn’t a rush to relocate. There’s a rush to build even more.

Climate Change Deniers Come A-begging

Gaul examines the outrageous positions of people in North and South Carolina, Florida, Texas and (especially) New Jersey. He is thorough, fair and stunned. In Texas, there is simply no zoning. Anyone can build anything anywhere and the (federal)…