Disaster-Insurance Premiums Provide a Guide to Smarter Living

Stewart Williams, an Australian geographer, argues that insurance premiums can be an accurate gauge of a home’s readiness to meet environmental threats. If disaster insurance on your dream home seems unreasonable, maybe you shouldn’t be living there.

Of course, Williams admits, some homeowners will continue to pay out the nose to live in large houses in fire- or flood-prone areas. But the rest of us? We should think about adapting our lifestyles to better suit the changing world. Paying less for insurance will be just one of many positive side-effects of such a shift.