For years, researchers have analyzed ice cores and tree rings to investigate ancient climates.  In Africa, scientists evaluated communal toilets for answers.  The University of Leicester reported that climate clues have been found in latrines used by rock hyrax which is an animal that resembles a large guinea pig, related to the elephant.  When the animal unloaded on the rock toilets, the urine crystallized and stacked up in stratified accumulations called “middens.” Within the “middens,” organic molecules are preserved.   Archaeologists believe that these animals have used the same “drop” zones through generations and from these zones researchers can also ascertain a region’s climate over 30,000 years.  Hyrax urine preserves organic matter over time scales for thousands of years and the results will be compared to computer generated data of past climates. Also, in my many years of "parade experience," insurance policies only cover a nuclear disaster and no policy will cover a pandemic. Years ago we would purchase rain insurance for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.  In 1788, Benjamin Franklin first proposed crop insurance for storms, blight and insects and the first tornado insurance policy was issued in 1865.  The Tobacco Growers’ Mutual Insurance Company of North Canaan, Connecticut wrote the first hail insurance policy in 1887. A revised type of coverage for weather began with weather derivatives or coverage involving low-risk and high-probability weather.  It also represents an agreement or formal contract between two or more people or companies designating the price of a given asset. Similar to an insurance policy, derivatives are used as a contractual mechanism to hedge risk. Weather derivatives are structured using standard weather indices and are applied to weather situations.