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How will the climate become less favorable for the rich? The areas most affected are disproportionally third world countries. In the west, food prices might ris
by semi-extrinsic 10y ago
How will the climate become less favorable for the rich? The areas most affected are disproportionally third world countries. In the west, food prices might rise some, but the rich won't care. Sea levels will rise, but it will be happening slowly (up to 1000 years for Greenland to melt completely), and governments will be mitigating that, so the rich won't be paying much there either. If you live in London, Paris, Rome, even on Manhattan, the 7 meter sea level rise won't mean anything. It won't do anything. Long Island and Jersey will need significantly mitigation though, as will areas of Palo Alto and Menlo Park, like the Googleplex, but we have hundreds of years to build those dikes, and we will easily be able to predict when and where they are needed.
- int_19h 10y agoIt's not just water level that affects quality of life. If, say, LA and SF become as hot as Dubai, I would imagine a lot of wealthy people who currently live there would start seeking a more comfortable place to live in. South Europe would be similarly affected.
- greydius 10y agoNot disagreeing, but Dubai is not a good example since Dubai is as hot as Dubai, and a lot of extremely wealthy people still live there.
- mirimir 10y agoTrue. But they mostly live indoors, except at night. And it takes a lot of energy for air conditioning! See http://gulfnews.com/business/economy/uae-s-per-capita-energy-consumption-among-the-highest-1.1171313 http://gulfnews.com/business/economy/uae-s-per-capita-energy...
- int_19h 10y agoHow many of those people are wealthy by virtue of being the citizens there? How many people who are _not_ from UAE choose to live there?
- mirimir 10y agoOnce aquifers are sucked dry, farming in semi-arid areas will crash. Rich will spend more for water, food, air conditioning, security, etc. Maybe they'll decide to move. But yes, they'll be fine.
- semi-extrinsic 10y agoWhy will global warming cause the aquifers to be sucked dry? On the contrary, don't we expect global warming to cause more precipitation, thus less load on aquifers?
- mirimir 10y agoWhile it's true that there will be more precipitation overall, models predict that the distribution will change. For example, northern US and Canada will be wetter, especially in winter, but central US will be dryer, especially in summer. The Ogallala aquifer is already depleted.