Hey, remember when we were not supposed to listen to people who aren’t climate scientists?
Two names you’d never expect to hear together: Beyoncé and Fannie Mae. But in her song “YA YA” on her new album, “Cowboy Carter,” she sounds an alarm that’s growing louder in communities across America. “Wildfire burnt his house down/Insurance ain’t gonna pay no Fannie Mae.”
We appreciate that Beyoncé raised this issue. For the record, Fannie Mae would help this man. While we don’t make home loans or collect payments (we buy and back mortgages), we do offer payment relief and other help if disaster strikes our homeowners.
However, Beyoncé has a point: An estimated one in 13 U.S. households are uninsured and two-thirds are underinsured. This means that millions of families have limited or no protection against growing climate-related risks, such as wildfires and other disasters.
For housing, climate change is a today problem. Each year since 2021, the U.S. has averaged 22 natural disasters with damage exceeding $1 billion. Last year brought 28. In the 1980s, the average was three per year. Forecasters already project this year’s Atlantic hurricane season will be “extremely active,” with the most storms since 1995.
So, we’re supposed to listen to a woman with no college degree, who has her own massive carbon footprint. The average American’s is 16 tons per year. Beyonce/JayZ had 9.5 million pounds from their 144 fossil fueled flights in 2023 alone. This doesn’t cover all the concerts, fossil fueled vehicles, mansions, and so forth.
That 2023 had more natural disasters exceeding $1 billion is just one event, especially when property, housing, and buildings are way more expensive. Now, if this happens year after year after year it would create a track record. But, it still cannot prove anthropogenic causation. Just that the world has warmed. And the last person we need to listen to is a pop star who didn’t even write the lyrics who was virtue signaling then flies back to her mansion.
Read: Good Grief: We’re Apparently To Take Advice From Beyonce On Global Boiling And Housing »