Well, Blow Me Over (Previously Posted)

The insurance industry in Florida has decided that trees are the ultimate enemy and must immediately be abolished. Many homeowners were informed that if they did not immediately cut down all the trees surrounding their homes, their insurance would be cancelled. Seems that the threat of hurricane damage from trees outweighed the environmental and ascetic benefits of trees. In some perverse way you could almost understand their thinking. Of course, if you ordered all your policyholders' trees to be destroyed, you probably had pretty good research to support your stand.
At the last day of the national hurricane conference at Disney World, Peter Vickery (one of the nation's leading engineers) said that "big trees around homes buffer the structure against the vicious winds of hurricanes and tropical storms. Sturdy trees can reduce the wind load on adjacent buildings by as much as 40%, which can mean the difference between massive structural damage and little or no damage. Overall, the reduction in wind load greatly outweighs the risk of trees falling on the house."
In addition to and totally separate from the tree issue, the Institute for Business and Home Safety is planning to open its own "lab for high quality research" to check the validity of product claims and perform studies beneficial to homeowners and policymakers. For example, "You can throw a coconut at the window at 90 miles per hour and it won't go through it. The problem is some manufacturers make claims but consumers may not always get the protection they deserve or expect." This lab will be financed by the insurance and re-insurance industry to avoid competing for limited funds currently going to university research.
The landscape business here in Fl. is in dire need of help with the halt to home construction. If the insurance industry were to finance the replanting of those trees they destroyed, their policy holders would benefit from the obvious less severe hurricane damage. The homeowners would pay less in electric bills to cool their homes and would have additional income to stimulate the economy. Businesses dealing in growing and planting trees could rehire their workers. Those workers would have income to stimulate the economy. It could just go on and on. At the very least, the insurance industry could donate their funds to university research. Maybe then impartial research could be conducted and schools wouldn't have to lay off professors. Students could be educated. They would then become productive members of the work force and just maybe they wouldn't come up with some hair brained scheme to cut down every tree within a half mile of your house.