The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Aug. 30, edition that 21st century fire burns are not the same as those in the past, and insurance companies know this. The Globe's guest columnist John Vaillant writes that the situation is now so existentially, quantitatively dangerous that State Farm and Allstate are refusing fire coverage for new homes and businesses across entire swaths of the continent. Other insurers are watching, and the implications for Canada are grave. The planet's biggest contributor of carbon emissions, the fossil-fuel industry, seem to be getting a pass on the havoc they play a part in. Here is Exxon Mobil chief executive officer Darren Woods, "At the end of the day, we're a molecule company, not an electron company." In other words, Exxon intends to develop, sell, and burn petroleum products for the foreseeable future while making no effort to transition to renewables. Shell's new CEO, Wael Sawan, had the chutzpah to tell the BBC that cutting oil production would be "dangerous and irresponsible." Meanwhile, Suncor has sold off its forward-looking renewables business, and hired former Exxon VP Rich Kruger as its new CEO. As Mr. Kruger said himself, "I play to win." Consequences be damned.