An annoying, persistent myth of climate discourse is the idea that trying to stop the planet from becoming a charred hellscape is antithetical to the affordability of life’s basic needs. Have you seen charred hellscapes? They tend to be short on the essentials, and shortages usually make things more expensive.

Consider housing. Home insurance is already ludicrously expensive in many parts of the country, and the soaring cost is putting this foundational material of Maslow’s pyramid even further out of reach for many Americans. And the main reason premiums have risen more than 46% since 2021, triple the rate of inflation, is the effect a changing climate is having on natural disasters. In housing, as in so many other basic needs, the environment directly influences affordability.

In fact, in two-thirds of U.S. counties, home-insurance premiums now cost more than property taxes, according to new research from Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Andrew John Stevenson.…