Taken from the website of the World Future Society:
Top 10 Forecasts from Outlook 2007

No.8. The costs of global-warming-related disasters will reach $150 billion per year. The world’s total economic loss from weather-related catastrophes has risen 25% in the last decade. According to the insurance firm Swiss Re, the overall economic cost of catastrophes related to climate change threatens to reach $150 billion per year in a decade or double the present level. The U.S. insurance industry’s share would be $30–$40 billion annually. The size of these estimates also reflects increased growth and higher real-estate prices in coastal communities.

No.2. Dwindling supplies of water in China will impact the global economy. With uneven development across China, the most water-intensive industries and densest population are in regions where water is scarcest. The result is higher prices for commodities and goods exported from China, so the costs of resource and environmental mismanagement are transferred to the rest of the world. As a nation, China already outconsumes the United States on basic commodities, such as food, energy, meat, grain, oil, coal, and steel.


also read points 5 and 6 and weep....
at:  http://www.wfs.org/forecasts.htm

hail Newt, eh.....

Why do I get the feeling that you're rubbing with your hands with glee at all this? This must be the answer to your dreams... Bugger the poor sods who've lost everything....

And before you even make the accusation - no, I can't see how you can pin these floods on man-made CO2 emissions. We've had floods in this country for ever, and always will, it's what the weather does sometimes.

 http://progcontra.blogspot.com/2007/07/uk-flooded.html

So what happens to those, probably including yourself, who depend on government handouts to eat? Should the entire 60m population of the UK suddently start growing their own carrots to survive?

And, how precisely is the UK cutting CO2 emissions by 90% going to have an effect unless we force this onto countries like China and the US?

aparanty budda said that if you were in your garden one day doin your gardening. and your just about to plat a tree after hvain dug a hole and prepared all the bit's ( i'm not a gardener, or a good speller). and you get a phone call telling you the world is going to end tomorow. what do you do ? do you forget about the tree and the garden? no. you plat the tree with the same care and love for nature, as you would have done, before the phone call. love brings love , and no matter how hopless a situation is you will gain nothing by giving up.