[Silence]
[Instrumental Intro: sly blues-rock guitar, bass, piano, and a steady cash-register rhythm]

[Intro]
They said it was distant
(Too far away)
Something for tomorrow
(Not today)

But tomorrow came knocking
(On the front door)
And suddenly the mocking
(Costs a little more)

[Verse 1]
The roof needs fixing
(The storm came through)
The premium’s rising
(What can you do?)

The insurer’s nervous
(So am I)
The policy’s canceled
(Well, goodbye!)

[Refrain]
What will change you, honey?
(Money!)

Need some assurance
(About insurance)
And the fate
(Of the interest rate)
Taxes are taxing me
(Climate reality)

What will change you, honey?
(Money!)

[Verse 2]
Mortgage payment climbing
(The rate went high)
Climate risk pricing
(You wonder why)

The lender’s calculating
(The risk in the loan)
Location, exposure
(You’re on your own?)

Higher cost of capital
(Higher cost of debt)
When risk gets repriced
(You ain’t seen nothing yet)

A house isn’t just a house
(It’s an asset, you see)
It’s weather, water, wildfire
(And geography)

[Pre-Chorus]
You can ignore
(A temperature chart)
You can debate
(The science part)

But when the bill
(Comes through the door)
You start asking
(What was this for?)

[Refrain]
What will change you, honey?
(Money!)

Need some assurance
(About insurance)
And the fate
(Of the interest rate)
Taxes are taxing me
(Climate reality)

What will change you, honey?
(Money!)

[Bridge]
Climate change
(Prices rearrange)

Risk becomes
(A financial cost)

And the cost becomes
(A consumer loss)

[Break]
What happens
(When the wallet feels it?)

What happens
(When the market reveals it?)

What happens
(When the numbers don’t lie?)

You can close your eyes
(But when the bill comes… you cry!)

[Refrain]
What will change you, honey?
(Money!)

Need some assurance
(About insurance)
And the fate
(Of the interest rate)
Taxes are taxing me
(Climate reality)

What will change you, honey?
(Money!)

[Instrumental: cash-register percussion, blues guitar solo, piano stabs]

[Final Chorus]
Climate short changed
(Short changed!)
Paying for the weather
(Again and again)

Climate short changed
(Short changed!)
Everywhere you turn
(It’s the cost of the trend)

[Final Refrain]
What will change you, honey?
(Money!)

Need some assurance
(About insurance)
And the fate
(Of the interest rate)
Taxes are taxing me
(Climate reality)

[Outro]
What will change you, honey?
(Money!)

Climate short changed
(Deranged!)

You don’t need to love it
(You don’t need to hate)
You don’t even have to
(Participate)

But if the price keeps rising
(You’ll probably find)
Climate change
(Has changed your mind)

Climate short changed
(Short changed…)

Money…
(Honey…)

See…
(Climate reality.)

About the Song
When Climate Change Hits the Wallet: Insurance, Interest Rates, and Taxes

What will actually change consumer behavior when it comes to climate change?
💰 Money.
Insurance. Interest rates. Taxes.

For years, climate change was largely treated as an environmental issue. But that is changing as climate risk increasingly enters the household economy.

🏠 Insurance premiums and availability are being affected by rising climate risks.
💰 Climate-related economic and fiscal pressures are affecting the cost of capital.
🧾 The growing costs of climate damage, adaptation, infrastructure, and energy transition are increasingly flowing through tax systems.

These forces can reinforce one another:
Climate change → financial disruption → higher household costs → changed consumer behavior

Consumers may ignore a temperature graph. They are much less likely to ignore an insurance cancellation, a higher mortgage payment, or a rising tax bill.

Climate change does not have to be universally accepted before it changes behavior.

It only has to become cost prohibitive to ignore.

Read the full report: “When Climate Change Hits the Wallet: Insurance, Interest Rates, and Taxes”

From the album “Present Tense“

[Silence]
[Instrumental Intro: Driving psychedelic groove, pulsing bass, swirling synth, chiming electric guitar]

[Intro]
Something’s moving
(Feel it now)
Something’s growing
(Oh, and how)

Hold on tight
(To the ride)
Acceleration
(On every side)

[Verse 1]
More energy
(Coming in)
Less escaping
(That’s the thing)

Inertia
(There’s your clue)
What was started
(Coming on through)

[Refrain]
Acceleration
(Accelerating)
There’s no debating
(Need education)

Inertia’s momentum
(Nature’s agendum)

[Verse 2]
See the risk
(Up it goes)
Tisk, tisk, tisk
(And danger grows)

Feedback calls
(One by one)
Then they couple
(Here they come!)

[Refrain]
Acceleration
(Accelerating)
There’s no debating
(Need education)

Inertia’s momentum
(Nature’s agendum)

[Psychedelic Jam I]
[Wah-wah guitar / pulsing bass / swirling synth]

Accelerate!
(At a rapid rate)
[Bridge]
Acceleration
(In the change)
Coupling
(Rearrange)

Inertia
(Holds the past)
Momentum
(Makes it last)

[Refrain]
Acceleration
(Accelerating)
There’s no debating
(Need education)

Inertia’s momentum
(Nature’s agendum)

[Psychedelic Jam II]
[Drums drop out / bass pulse / guitar feedback]

Accelerating…
(Exacerbating…)

Coupling…
(Doubling…)

[Final Refrain]
Acceleration
(Accelerating)
There’s no debating
(Need education)

Inertia’s momentum
(Nature’s agendum)

[Outro]
Acceleration
(Accelerating)
Coupling’s generating
(Feedback’s activating)

Inertia’s momentum
(Nature’s agendum)

[Instrumental Fade]

[Silence]
[End]

About the Song
Climate Change, Acceleration, and Inertia: 4–7°C of Warming

Climate change is not simply a matter of temperatures gradually rising.

It is an energy problem.

More energy is entering the climate system than leaving it—and most of that excess energy is being absorbed by the oceans.

That creates INERTIA.

But something else is happening.

As warming crosses critical thresholds, self-reinforcing feedbacks become increasingly active:

🔥 Warming → 💧 More Water Vapor → 🔥 More Warming ↺

☁️ Fewer Low Clouds → ☀️ More Energy Absorbed → 🔥 More Warming

🟠 More Tropospheric Ozone → 🌎 Stronger Greenhouse Effect → Faster Carbon-Cycle Response

These feedbacks don’t operate independently. They interact, couple, and reinforce one another.

That changes the mathematics of climate change.

The 1.5°C threshold is not simply a number on a thermometer. It is a tripwire for a climate system increasingly dominated by feedbacks and nonlinear responses.

The result is a new climate reality:
ACCELERATION + COUPLING + INERTIA

The question is no longer simply how much greenhouse gas humans emit. It is how quickly the climate system begins amplifying the warming we have already created.

Having tripped the 1.5°C tripwire, both the acceleration and inertia of climate change have created a new reality. The most likely scenario is global warming of approximately 4°C this century. If humanity does not reach net zero by 2035, approximately 4–7°C of warming by 2150 becomes the most likely scenario.

The Times They Are a-Changing: Climate Change, Acceleration, and Inertia 4–7°C

From the album “Present Tense“

[Silence]
[Instrumental Intro: dark psychedelic groove, pulsing bass, distant siren-like synth]

[Intro]
Denial…
(It’s not real)
Obfuscation…
(It’s no big deal)

Suppression…
(Don’t show the proof)
Normalization…
(What’s the use?)

[Verse 1]
First you say
(It’s going away)
Nothing to see
(Nothing to say)

Just another cycle
(Just another phase)
Nothing to worry
(Nothing to raise)

Turn down the warning
(Turn down the sound)
Turn down the evidence
(Bury it underground)

If nobody sees it
(Did it happen?)
If nobody says it
(Keep it hidden)

[Refrain]
Obfuscation
(Suppression)
Normalization
(Regression)
Devolution

There’s no denying
(Your denying is lying)
Causing harm
(Turning off the alarm)

The situation’s dire
(Fire! Fire! Fire!)
Temperatures going higher
(Fire! Fire! Fire!)

[Verse 2]
Obfuscation
(Make it complicated)
Fragment the pieces
(Keep ’em separated)

Is the signal clear?
(Well… maybe not)
Is the danger near?
(We forgot!)

Move the goalpost
(Move it again)
Call it uncertainty
(Call it a trend)

When the pieces don’t connect
(Nothing seems wrong)
When the warning gets diluted
(It doesn’t belong)

[Refrain]
Obfuscation
(Suppression)
Normalization
(Regression)
Devolution

There’s no denying
(Your denying is lying)
Causing harm
(Turning off the alarm)

The situation’s dire
(Fire! Fire! Fire!)
Temperatures going higher
(Fire! Fire! Fire!)

[Verse 3]
Suppression
(Don’t show the evidence)
Cut the connection
(Between cause and consequence)

Climate shock
(Food disruption)
Food disruption
(Economic destruction)

Economic shock
(Migration)
Migration
(Political instability)

Political instability
(Conflict)
Conflict
(Adaptive capacity… gone!)

[Break]
One domino
(Falls)
Then another
(Calls)

Climate shock!
(All fall)

[Verse 4]
Normalization
(The new abnormal)
Every record
(Becomes ordinary)

Another flood
(That’s just weather)
Another fire
(That’s just summer)

Another storm
(That’s just the season)
Another warning
(That’s just a reason)

Yesterday’s extreme
(Becomes today’s baseline)
Today’s emergency
(Becomes tomorrow’s headline)

Until the extraordinary
(Feels ordinary)
And the impossible
(Feels necessary)

[Bridge]
That’s the trick
(You see?)

Not making the danger disappear
Just making the danger
(Disappear from here)

Out of sight
(Out of mind)
Out of time
(Out of line)

The future…
(Keeps calling)
And the dominoes…
(Keep falling)

[Instrumental: escalating drums, distorted guitar, pulsing synth]

[Refrain]
Obfuscation
(Suppression)
Normalization
(Regression)
Devolution

There’s no denying
(Your denying is lying)
Causing harm
(Turning off the alarm)

[Outro]
The situation’s dire
(Fire! Fire! Fire!)
Temperatures going higher
(Fire! Fire! Fire!)

Domino…
(After domino)
Down we go
(Down below)

[Silence]
[End]

About the Song
UK Climate Security: From Suppression to the Domino Effect

Climate change is increasingly moving from the category of environmental problem into the category of systemic risk.

A recently reported UK national-security assessment warned that climate and ecological disruption can cascade across borders—affecting food security, economies, migration, and political stability.

The problem is not simply the initial climate shock.

It is what happens afterward:

Climate shock → food disruption → economic shock → migration → political instability → conflict → reduced adaptive capacity

That is the Domino Effect. Denialism has become part of the feedback loop—delaying recognition, obstructing action, weakening resilience, and ultimately amplifying the consequences and accelerating the climate crisis.

The four stages of climate information failure are also important:

Denial — “The risk isn’t real.”
Obfuscation — “The risk isn’t clear.”
Suppression — “The evidence isn’t shown.”
Normalization — “The risk is real, but nothing fundamentally changes.”

When systemic risks are fragmented, delayed, or hidden from public discussion, society loses valuable time to prepare.

Climate risk is no longer just about what happens to the climate.
It is about what climate disruption does to everything connected to it.

🌎 Climate change → systemic risk → cascading consequences

Climate Denialism, Obfuscation, Suppression and Normalization

“Present Tense“

[Silence]
[Instrumental Intro: Bright ’60s surf-rock guitar, spring reverb, driving bass, snappy drums]

[Spoken]
Down at the Jersey Shore…
(For sure!)

The waves are rockin’…
(Rollin’!)

The wind is blowin’…
(Howlin’!)

[Big Yell]
SURF’S UP!

[Instrumental Hit]
[Instrumental, Driving psychedelic surf-rock guitar, pounding drums, rolling bass, distant wave sounds]

[Verse 1]
Down the shore
(The water roars)
Barrier island
(Takes the score)

Sand gets thin
(The tide comes in)
Hold that line
(One more time)

[Refrain]
Dangerous surf
(Down the shore)
That’s for sure

Changing Earth
(Man’s demand)
Mother be dammed!

Surf’s up!

[Verse 2]
Nor’easter’s coming
(Here tonight)
Winds will be humming
(What a fright)

Flood warning
(Coast to coast)
High tide rising
(That’s no boast)

[Pre-Chorus]
Full moon
(Coming soon)
Pulling on
(The and on and on)

[Refrain]
Dangerous surf
(Down the shore)
That’s for sure

Changing Earth
(Man’s demand)
Mother be dammed!

Surf’s up!
(Down to earth)
Surf, surf, surf!
(Yup…)
Surf’s up!

[Instrumental Jam I]
[Surf guitar / crashing drums / bass rumble]
Wave!
(Wave!)
Wave!
(Crash!)
Sand!
(Gone!)
Shore!
(More!)

[Verse 3]
Federal money
(Going down)
Who’s gonna pay
(For this town?)

[Refrain]
Dangerous surf
(Down the shore)
That’s for sure

Changing Earth
(Man’s demand)
Mother be dammed!

Surf’s up!
(Down to earth)
Surf, surf, surf!
(Yup…)
Surf’s up!

[Bridge]
How much
(Can we spend?)
How long
(Can we pretend?)

How high
(Can we build?)
How far
(Will we yield?)

The question changes
(Year by year)
From saving beaches
(To staying here)

[Psychedelic Surf Jam]
[Extended guitar feedback / ocean sounds / tom-tom rolls]
Keep pumping!
(Pump! Pump!)
Keep building!
(Pump! Pump!)
Keep fighting!
(Lump upon lump)

But the ocean
(She doesn’t care)
Comin’ in again
(To lay your beach bare)

[Verse 4]
You can improve
(A mountain of sand)
But you can’t move
(The sinking land)

You can build
(Another wall)
But the waves
(Still bring on the fall)

[Refrain]
Dangerous surf
(Down the shore)
That’s for sure

Changing Earth
(Man’s demand)
Mother be dammed!

[Outro]
Surf’s up!
(Down to earth)
Surf, surf, surf!
(Yup…)
Surf’s up!

[Silence]
[End]

About the Song
Climate change and coastal impacts are becoming a big problem along the Southern Jersey Shore, with the barrier-island towns taking the brunt of the punishment. Federal funding for beach nourishment has also become much more limited, and sand itself is becoming a finite commodity.

The next couple of days should be an interesting experiment. A powerful, rare September nor’easter is hitting the Jersey Shore tonight, bringing widespread coastal flood warnings, dangerous surf, and wind gusts up to 50 mph. The National Weather Service has issued a Coastal Flood Warning for Atlantic, Cape May, Ocean, and southeastern Burlington counties from Wednesday afternoon through early Saturday morning. The system is also coinciding with an approaching full moon, which can significantly exacerbate tidal flooding across vulnerable shorelines, coastal roadways, and back bays.

At some point, we’re going to reach a hard physical and economic limit. You can keep pumping sand onto a beach, but you can’t manufacture an unlimited supply of sediment or indefinitely out-engineer rising seas and increasingly energetic storms.

The question may eventually stop being, “How much will it cost to save the beach?” and become, “How long can we realistically keep trying?”

“Present Tense“