Ten Across Conversations

Phoenix, Arizona has seen meteoric population growth since 2010. Now the nation’s fifth largest city, its population increased by around 12% over the course of a decade. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, this highly-engineered metropolis has continued to expand at the second fastest rate in the nation between 2021 and 2022.

Counterintuitively, the region has experienced an escalation of extreme heat and drought risk. The summer of 2023 was the hottest globally since NASA’s records began in 1880 by 2.59 degrees Fahrenheit. This significantly contributed to the deadliest heat wave for Phoenix, with 579 fatalities attributed to the elevated temperatures.

Since August 2021, Phoenix has been grappling with federally declared shortages on the Colorado River, which has historically accounted for 38% of its overall water supply. To keep the river stable, the city recently agreed to a 30% reduction of this allocation over three years—enough to supply 450,000 households for year— in exchange for $60 million in water infrastructure improvements.

Statistics such as these are what have catapulted Phoenix to the top of many national and global climate resilience conversations. Reported figures are also what inspired our colleagues at Climate Now to seek our collaboration to reach experts on the ground in Phoenix and get at a better understanding of how the city has been able to maintain such steady population and industrial growth, despite perceived and actual risks.

This special long-form episode combines conversations with climate experts and business leaders closely involved in the state’s adaptation and sustainability efforts. Through their discussions, a clearer picture of why Phoenix is a coveted destination for many and how it plans to remain as one well into the future, appears. The moderators are Duke Reiter (Ten Across founder) and James Lawler’s (Climate Now founder).

The fifth National Climate Assessment, or ‘the NCA,’ was released by the U.S. Global Change Research Program in November 2023. This robust and thoroughly peer-reviewed collection of scientific findings among 500 experts describes current climate impacts and recommended adaptation strategies across every sector and region of the country.

The Ten Across Summit in Los Angeles took place less than a month after its release. To mark this moment and provide context for the next two days of discussions around water, energy, housing, insurance, and other key topics, we gathered NCA authors and experts in sustainable development to share their insights and reactions to the report.

This conversation led by NCA Southwest Chapter leader author Dave White, delves into the importance of this document, and provides context for how we should respond to meet the climate challenges ahead. The panelists expressed optimism upon its release, as the strategies included in the report arrive at a time where there has never been greater consensus or funding available around climate action in the Ten Across region and throughout the United States.

At our recent Ten Across Summit in Los Angeles, we opened the event with a conversation between Ten Across Founder and Executive Director Duke Reiter and the award-winning political analyst and culture writer, Ron Brownstein. In the discussion, Brownstein shared his observations on the mood of the nation going into the 2024 election and the challenges he sees ahead; challenges often felt most profoundly in the Ten Across region.

Listen in as both explore the growing divide in America, the future of U.S. climate adaptation and communications, and what's at stake if we are not able to break free from current political boundaries or jurisdictions to address the major issues of the 21st Century.

In the last few decades California has been preoccupied with preparing for immediate disasters such as extended drought, wildfire, and earthquakes, thinking relatively little about the slow-moving threat upon its shores. Lulled by a century of no more than nine inches of sea level rise, California’s coastal communities now seem to be caught unprepared for the adaptations required by the three and a half feet of inundation projected over the next 26 years.

In her new book “California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline,” Rosanna Xia explores California’s complex and hubristic relationship with its coast. From the Gold Rush to the passage of The California Coastal Act, to today and beyond, Xia examines the ways in which the state will have to adapt physically, culturally, and psychologically to a shrinking coastline fueled by climate change.

Listen in as Ten Across founder Duke Reiter and Xia discuss her writing in the context of this month’s extreme conditions coastal conditions and explore roles as both a traditional beat reporter and an author writing with a larger narrative purpose and style in this latest project.

In this special podcast distribution of our recent Ten Across Summit journalism panel, you’ll hear from six talented and prominent media professionals on how their work is changing alongside the climate. As the impacts of human-caused warming intensify and bleed into nearly every aspect of our lives, it has become an unavoidable story. With that in mind, this discussion explores best practices for writers, editors, and other leaders in the media to bridge this conversation with audiences without creating a sense of fatigue or hopelessness toward the future.

Join Ten Across founder Duke Reiter as he leads this fascinating forum among journalists from The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times, news editors from National Public Radio, American Public Media Group, and LAist, and the writer and executive producer of the Apple TV series Extrapolations.

A video recording of this panel discussion is also available to at 10across.com/category/video.

We’re back from preparing for and hosting our recent Ten Across Los Angeles Summit with highlights and reflections from the event and from our most popular 2023 Ten Across Conversations podcast episodes. Join Ten Across Founder and Executive Director Duke Reiter as he shares insights from the summit and reviews salient points made in some of the most popular podcast episodes, along with hints at what is to come in 2024.

Thank you for listening with us this year!

Podcast episodes by order of appearance in this recording:
“Experts Share Insights on the Ongoing Colorado River Negotiations”
“ESG: How Did A Well-Intended Idea Become So Polarizing?”
“State Preemption is on the Rise: What it Means for Cities”
“Alternative Visions of the Southern U.S. Border Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Today”
“10X Heat Series: Covering Climate Change as it Unfolds with Jeff Goodell”
“10X Insurance Series: Louisiana Grapples with Growing Natural and Financial Risk”

An influential and predictive set of events are currently playing out in Florida around climate, real estate, and insurance, which the rest of the nation would be well-served in keeping within their sights.
As the third largest and notoriously weather-beaten state, Florida has added 3.1 million new residents within the last decade—an amount greater than the entire population of Arkansas. This population boom in conjunction with more frequent, climate-fueled disasters, is placing an unprecedented and potentially unsustainable strain on the Florida insurance market.

Within the last few years at least 15 commercial insurance providers have either pulled out of the state or closed, after experiencing historic underwriting losses amid various natural and legal circumstances. A lack of private insurance options has driven home and auto premiums two to three times higher than the national average in parts of the state, while significantly diminishing the quality of coverage.

While the governor and state legislators are taking steps to repair private insurer’s ability to remain solvent by providing a subsidy to purchase reinsurance or attempting to clamp down on consumer litigation, a larger aspect of the equation seems to remain ignored.

The state has become adept at recovering after a storm, but many experts argue there is still much to be desired in Florida’s climate adaptation and resilience efforts. This could potentially lead to an “insurance bubble,” as more human and physical capital flocks to its threatened shores.

In this episode, Ten Across founder Duke Reiter and disaster law professor Latisha Nixon-Jones assess the way forward for Florida regulators and homeowners as the conditions for an insurable market are appearing to deteriorate.

A drought on the Mississippi River has pushed a massive saltwater wedge from the Gulf of Mexico toward New Orleans, contaminating clean water supplies for several Louisiana river communities. Aside from the obvious public health concerns, this salty water is highly destructive to pipes and appliances within residents’ homes.

Unfortunately, this risk comes at a time when local insurance industry services have never been more constrained or inaccessible. At least twelve insurers have been declared insolvent since the record-breaking 2020 and 2021 Atlantic hurricane seasons. Many of these insurers were regional and halted operations in Florida as well.

Increased tropical cyclone risk and property value concentrations within high-risk areas, as well as an uptick in fraudulent or standard consumer claims, have all been linked to the shrinking availability of home policies in the Gulf. Though it can be hard to pinpoint exactly where the Louisiana market crisis begins or will end, the impacts to consumers are undeniable. According to the nonprofit risk analysis firm First Street Foundation, insurance rates for residents have seen a 90% increase over the last year, while the quality of coverage has steeply declined.

James Donelon, the Louisiana state insurance commissioner since 2006, has attempted several reforms to bring premiums down while increasing insurer diversity, but they haven’t always proven fruitful. Tim Temple, who will succeed Donelon after an uncontested commissioner race, has advertised broad market deregulation as a way of enticing insurers back into the state. Some experts are skeptical.

In this episode, Ten Across founder Duke Reiter and climate adaptation expert Dr. Jesse Keenan delve into the current limitations of insurance and community resilience as climate risk increases in Louisiana and why massive improvements in state policy and infrastructure are still needed to achieve greater safety and success within its coastal communities.

With climate change, it is becoming harder to find comprehensive and affordable home insurance policies across the nation— and especially in California, where the state’s four largest private insurers have significantly reduced their coverage within the last year due to increasing construction and reinsurance costs, and wildfire risk.

Earlier this year, State Farm and Allstate stopped underwriting in the state, while Farmers and USAA have continued to drop policyholders within high-risk fire regions. Nearly all these moves were preceded by insurer warnings that the California regulatory system had become too restrictive; therefore, premiums no longer reflected the home’s actual risk. Underwriters also couldn’t turn a profit— State Farm’s California subsidiary lost more on claims within the first three months of 2023 than in all of 2022, according to The LA Times.

With more residents joining the state-run FAIR Plan, a last-resort policy option, it became clear a legislative move would be necessary to reinstate a diverse and thriving private insurance market. After legislators failed to produce a reform proposal before adjourning this fall, Governor Gavin Newsom tapped State Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to expedite and roll out a plan.

Lara then introduced the Sustainable Insurance Strategy. Though the reforms aren’t slated to go into effect until the end of 2024, the commissioner hopes it will bring private insurers back to at least 85% of their statewide market share within high-risk areas.

In this first episode of a three-part series on insurance, Ten Across founder Duke Reiter and United Policyholders co-founder Amy Bach discuss the details of this latest proposal, including what impact it may have on consumers.

The first eight months of 2023 brought $23 billion in damages from weather-related events, a new record at this point in the year. Those events included unique flooding from atmospheric rivers in California; an extended heat dome over Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, and other parts of the US; the Category 3 Hurricane Idalia in Florida; and of course, the horrific wildfires in Maui. The human and physical toll of these disasters cannot be overstated, and recovery will be a long process.

With two months left to go in the Atlantic hurricane season, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is dangerously close to running out of funds. In August, FEMA Chair Deanne Criswell informed Congress that life-saving services provided by the agency could stall without an increase in their budget before the end of September. But with House Republicans struggling to come to a consensus on a key military funding bill, the US government could enter a shutdown on October 1.

If FEMA is constrained and comprehensive insurance policies become unavailable to homeowners in states like California, Louisiana, and Florida, where risk continues to increase, how will communities recover— let alone prepare for the next shock? This is a question that disaster researchers like Dr. Samantha Montano, are working to answer. Listen in as Ten Across founder Duke Reiter and Dr. Montano discuss the changing nature of disaster response, recovery, and mitigation, as well as the outsized role New Orleans plays in determining the future of US emergency management.