To borrow a trope from Chris Rock, I don't agree with the people who think we should eat the rich...but I understand.

From Scientific American:

That’s the question some observers and critics of “climate services” are asking. The fast growth of this field in recent years marks a profound shift in how our society creates and uses science. Rather than focus broadly on the regional, national or global impacts of rising temperatures, providers of climate services create data tailored to specific decision-makers: the mayor of a coastal city, say, or the CEO of an energy utility. This field is spawning an industry of climate services companies that sense the potential for massive profits by selling customized data to clients who want to learn in explicit financial detail where and how much climate change will affect them.

One of the industry’s leaders, a Silicon Valley executive named Rich Sorkin, made the case for climate services in May to the U.S. House Subcommittee on Environment. He argued that taking the big-picture climate science produced by federal agencies and turning it into hyperlocal threat assessments is a crucial and effective way for cities, states, companies and investors to better prepare for the climate emergency.

How did we produce an entire sector of the economy made up of people with no consciences at all?

In his statement, he likened Jupiter’s impact on climate science to the disruptive influence of Amazon, Microsoft and Google on supercomputing: “In nearly every case, the private sector is leading the adoption of these new technologies, driven by brutal competition for profits.”

And for companies like his, those profits can be lucrative. Jupiter’s clients include players in oil and gas, insurance and defense. A new customer can expect to pay anywhere from US $200,000 to US $500,000 to learn how it is exposed to floods, heat, storms, fires and other impacts of climate change. A yearlong subscription could start at US$1 million, Sorkin says, “and for large corporations might be substantially more than that.” Other companies are also trying to cash in on the financial fear and insecurity prompted by rising global temperatures and unpredictable weather.

Don't be worried, however. The brilliant new disruptor class Acknowledge The Risk that poor people may simply be fed into the maw of the climate crisis because, hey, the poor will be with us always, even underwater.

Even industry leaders acknowledge the risk of a not-so-distant future where the wealthy and powerful have better information and tools for protecting themselves from the devastation of climate change than the poor and vulnerable. “That’s a huge concern, and I’m certainly not going to pretend that we have the solution,” says Emilie Mazzacurati, the founder and CEO of Four Twenty Seven, a California-based climate services company that was recently acquired by Moody’s. When it comes to climate adaptation, she adds, “there is massive inequality and massive concerns over equity that we’re not going to solve with data.”

Jesus, these really are the fcking mole people, too.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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