The Masters of Disasters:  Legal Liability and Insurance Coverage in the Age of Climate Change

The podcast features a lecture by Professor Daston on the evolving understanding of natural disasters in law and insurance, arguing that the traditional category of "purely natural disaster" is disappearing. She discusses how legal courts are expanding human responsibility for disasters, while insurance companies are creating catastrophe bonds that treat disasters as financial risks. Daston concludes that this shift emphasizes consequences and blame, with the state playing an increasingly important role in managing disaster risks and providing security, and also answers audience questions about predictive algorithms, GDP models, changing concepts of nature, and the involvement of energy companies in insurance deliberations.