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When Manhattan or Miami get hit by two mega storms back to back in consecutive years. When the damage is such that we can’t rebuild fast enough then it will be

When Manhattan or Miami get hit by two mega storms back to back in consecutive years. When the damage is such that we can’t rebuild fast enough then it will be a wake up call.

ars 8y ago
> When the damage is such that we can’t rebuild fast enough Never gonna happen. People are far far far more resilient and capable than that.
- themagician 8y ago
  It definitely will. Sandy caused so much damage to southern Manhattan that it took 6 months just to get back to functional. Had another storm happened the next year it would have destroyed things still being rebuilt. And once the pumps fail on Miami Beach it’s game over for a while. Hit it twice in a row and who knows what will happen. Miami Beach will likely be the first wealthy city in the US that will have to be abandoned. They’ll build a wall to protect Manhattan and the subway, but no one is building a wall for Miami Beach. And look at Puerto Rico. If it gets hit again this year you might as well just evacuate the island. The power grid is still being repaired as we speak from last year. Another massive storm and certain areas can expect to have no power or running water for years.
Joeri 8y ago
Likely it still won’t change pollution attitudes, because these are two distinct domains. One part of government will be implementing disaster recovery strategies like building dikes and relocating people, a wholly different part will still be encouraging dead dino use, ironically because the economy will be in a tough spot and “the damage is already done”. What will change attitudes is cost. The cost of fossil fuels is only going up, the cost of renewables is only going down. They will cross over.
bitanarch 8y ago
That is too optimistic a view on humanity. For people to "wake up" from this... they i. Have to be able to reason and select the correct explanation among many possible explanations to why it happened. ii. Have to accept the (correct) explanation that flatly places the blame on themselves, rather than other soothing options. The base case in my mind is really more like inland people would point to the flooded coastal cities (including those along the south - logical consistency doesn't matter) and say it's God's punishment for being liberal. There can be many variations... you can easily invent excuses that don't involve God or politics. But the point is, it has nothing to do with them. That's the perfect kind of explanation for people to move on, because it places no blame on them.

When Manhattan or Miami get hit by two mega storms back to back in consecutive years. When the damage is such that we can’t rebuild fast enough then it will be a wake up call.

ars 8y ago

> When the damage is such that we can’t rebuild fast enough Never gonna happen. People are far far far more resilient and capable than that.

themagician 8y ago
It definitely will. Sandy caused so much damage to southern Manhattan that it took 6 months just to get back to functional. Had another storm happened the next year it would have destroyed things still being rebuilt. And once the pumps fail on Miami Beach it’s game over for a while. Hit it twice in a row and who knows what will happen. Miami Beach will likely be the first wealthy city in the US that will have to be abandoned. They’ll build a wall to protect Manhattan and the subway, but no one is building a wall for Miami Beach. And look at Puerto Rico. If it gets hit again this year you might as well just evacuate the island. The power grid is still being repaired as we speak from last year. Another massive storm and certain areas can expect to have no power or running water for years.

Joeri 8y ago

Likely it still won’t change pollution attitudes, because these are two distinct domains. One part of government will be implementing disaster recovery strategies like building dikes and relocating people, a wholly different part will still be encouraging dead dino use, ironically because the economy will be in a tough spot and “the damage is already done”. What will change attitudes is cost. The cost of fossil fuels is only going up, the cost of renewables is only going down. They will cross over.

bitanarch 8y ago

That is too optimistic a view on humanity. For people to "wake up" from this... they i. Have to be able to reason and select the correct explanation among many possible explanations to why it happened. ii. Have to accept the (correct) explanation that flatly places the blame on themselves, rather than other soothing options. The base case in my mind is really more like inland people would point to the flooded coastal cities (including those along the south - logical consistency doesn't matter) and say it's God's punishment for being liberal. There can be many variations... you can easily invent excuses that don't involve God or politics. But the point is, it has nothing to do with them. That's the perfect kind of explanation for people to move on, because it places no blame on them.