And Now for Some GOOD News

In the midst of all the usual gloom and doom reports on what's happening in and to our environment, on corporate-greed driven ravages and indifference, comes a report from "the second-largest industry in the world in terms of assets," the insurance industry. From the CS Monitor today: New combatant against global warming: insurance industry.

Insurance companies, who like to stay out of the limelight, are becoming leading business protagonists in the assault on global warming.

Because of the industry's size and scope it...

...has a direct link to most homeowners and businesses. It insures coal-fired power plants as well as wind farms, so it can influence the power industry's cost structure. With its financial muscle, the industry could help advance the use of new financial instruments designed to allow companies to trade greenhouse-gas emissions in the same way that commodities are bought and sold.

It also "...has the ability to change behavior, policies and communicate with clients," says Nancy Skinner, US director of the Climate Group, which lobbies for business and government action to address global warming

Because insurance companies "like to stay out of the limelight," you may not have read too much about the fact that they have been among the first large business interests to understand what is happening, and will continue to happen, as a result of global climate change.

"Climate change represents an ever- increasing risk, a risk far too great to ignore," says Clement Booth, a member of the Board of Management at Allianz AG, one of the world's largest insurance firms...

Not only are companies realizing what is happening, they are taking active steps to do something about it:

In the US, one of the more unique and potentially far-reaching efforts will be rolled out this fall by Fireman's Fund. After a building is damaged, Fireman's will specify that it must be repaired with "greener" materials, including consumer electronics that must have Energy Star ratings from the Environmental Protection Agency. If a building is a total loss, it will be rebuilt as a "green" building. The insurer also plans to pay for an engineer to make sure ventilation systems and boilers are installed properly, which could also save energy.

This will be a boon to the green building industry, as well as an object lesson to homeowners and others construction customers in ways to save energy and cut down on carbon emissions in their everyday life. Read the whole thing, it'll give you an endorphin boost for sure.

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