The Phone Number
Lonnie Click, fire chief for Benton County, Washington, has a phone number for BNSF Railway. Once a month during fire season, one of them calls the other. They're coordinating about the fire train—two tank cars full of water, a pump car, and a caboose that serves as a command center.
The railroad won't tell you who decides when to slow the trains. Someone in Fort Worth or Kansas City is making daily calls about heat restrictions, fire response, operational risk. The railroads spend $23 billion annually hardening their networks. Click has their phone number. He doesn't know their names.
The Phone Number
Lonnie Click, fire chief for Benton County, Washington, has a phone number for BNSF Railway. Once a month during fire season, one of them calls the other. They're coordinating about the fire train—two tank cars full of water, a pump car, and a caboose that serves as a command center.
The railroad won't tell you who decides when to slow the trains. Someone in Fort Worth or Kansas City is making daily calls about heat restrictions, fire response, operational risk. The railroads spend $23 billion annually hardening their networks. Click has their phone number. He doesn't know their names.
The Actuary Who Can't Calculate Whether to Have Children
CONTINUE READINGThis Week's System Shock
OSHA's first-ever federal heat safety standard finished its comment period in October and should become law by late 2025. The rule is straightforward: employers must provide water and rest breaks when the heat index reaches 80°F. At 90°F, workers get mandatory paid 15-minute breaks every two hours.
This covers outdoor and indoor work—construction sites, farm fields, warehouses, restaurant kitchens, manufacturing floors. Anywhere workers face heat above 80°F without reliable air conditioning. OSHA issued over $2 million in heat penalties last year alone, a preview of what enforcement looks like. Legal challenges will come, probably delaying things. But the shift from voluntary guidelines to actual requirements is happening.
What Mainstream Coverage Misses
Research Reshaping Risk Calculations
Flood Models Disagree 79% of the Time
Your flood risk assessment depends entirely on which model your insurer or lender happens to use.
The hidden limitation: Most models ignore forward-looking climate scenarios, making them poor guides for long-term property decisions.
Research Reshaping Risk Calculations
Insurance Portfolios Face Wildfire-Scale Climate Losses
Premium increases reflect insurers' investment losses from climate transition, not just physical disaster payouts.
The timing factor: Waiting compounds losses faster than expected—eight years of delay more than doubles the damage.
Research Reshaping Risk Calculations
Infrastructure Decay Will Cost Nearly a Trillion Dollars
Deteriorating infrastructure creates downward pressure independent of direct climate impacts like flooding.
The early warning: Moody's downgraded Shreveport's water bonds in 2023, citing infrastructure concerns—a signal for other jurisdictions.
Research Reshaping Risk Calculations
Supply Chains Disrupted Faster Than Risk Analysis
Companies analyzing climate risk proactively may offer more reliable product availability than reactive competitors.
Climate impacts on supply chains are non-linear and region-specific, not evenly distributed across geographies.
Past Articles
Summer Sagoonick filed her opening brief with the Alaska Supreme Court in June. The state's response isn't due yet....
The paramedic had been sitting in his rig outside the Houston hospital for two hours and forty minutes. His patient...
Mount Pleasant, South Carolina just sold $56 million in municipal bonds with a flood risk score of 4.8 out of 5. Zer...
Denise Fair Razo runs Detroit's Health Department with 250 staff and a $50 million budget. Last June, when five days...