The surge of natural disasters around the world are heartbreaking. So much suffering and destruction. But I always have the same, perhaps facile, reaction when I see, from my comfortable distance, death and destruction wrought from hurricanes and wildfires: "Why are people putting up developments in areas that are naturally prone to hurricanes and wildfires?" Why do we place homes on stilts on the sides of hills prone to landslides and earthquakes? Why do we carpet the desert with housing developments and asphalt and golf courses, and then moan when the water runs out? Around the world, overpopulation causes great poverty, famine, and death when people are forced to live under constant threat of natural disasters — made worse through climate change. But people who develop expensive homes in spits of land jutting out into the ocean, or in forested areas, or in the desert should reflect on the potential dangers and suffering they're causing. Oh, and they're often "no-government" right-winger s who'll be the first to demand government disaster relief, while they cash in on an already over-burdened insurance racket.