3 ms·

You're joking, right? It's hard to tell, because people propose "adaptation" seriously quite often. The loss of all coastal cities would be apocalyptic.

by graeme 8y ago

pliny 8y ago
While many cities are on a coast, very few of those are built within 1m of sea level, which the 'worst case' (by 2100) projected in AR5. Loss of coastal cities over 100 years is not apocalytic, that is a time scale where people can/will just replace buildings near the advancing coastline with buildings further inland.
- betterunix2 8y ago
  I am not sure things are quite that linear. Sure, few US cities are on the coasts, but the ones that are happen to be some of the most important pieces of the freight distribution network and economy of North America. If the frequency of catastrophic storms increases by a relatively small amount, we will cross an inflection point and there will be a rapid cascading failure across the entire continent.
godshatter 8y ago
If we lost them all tomorrow, sure. But sea level is rising slowly enough that we can go quite a while just abandoning the land right on the coast that is becoming unusable as it becomes unusable. People will see the writing on the wall and either move farther inland or to some other city, without the apocalyptic aspects. Some cities without higher ground nearby will have a harder time, though. I'm curious if anyone knows of a source of statistics for land area that has been abandoned due to rising sea levels. How quickly is this happening now?
- ForHackernews 8y ago
  https://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2017/06/sinking_feeling_louisiana_coas.html https://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2017/06/sinking_f... https://www.economist.com/united-states/2017/08/26/louisiana-fights-the-sea-and-loses https://www.economist.com/united-states/2017/08/26/louisiana... https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/24/us/jean-lafitte-floodwaters.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/24/us/jean-lafit... > Between 2004 and 2008 alone, Louisiana shrank by more than 300 square miles.

You're joking, right? It's hard to tell, because people propose "adaptation" seriously quite often. The loss of all coastal cities would be apocalyptic.

by graeme 8y ago

You're joking, right? It's hard to tell, because people propose "adaptation" seriously quite often. The loss of all coastal cities would be apocalyptic.

pliny 8y ago

While many cities are on a coast, very few of those are built within 1m of sea level, which the 'worst case' (by 2100) projected in AR5. Loss of coastal cities over 100 years is not apocalytic, that is a time scale where people can/will just replace buildings near the advancing coastline with buildings further inland.

betterunix2 8y ago
I am not sure things are quite that linear. Sure, few US cities are on the coasts, but the ones that are happen to be some of the most important pieces of the freight distribution network and economy of North America. If the frequency of catastrophic storms increases by a relatively small amount, we will cross an inflection point and there will be a rapid cascading failure across the entire continent.

godshatter 8y ago

If we lost them all tomorrow, sure. But sea level is rising slowly enough that we can go quite a while just abandoning the land right on the coast that is becoming unusable as it becomes unusable. People will see the writing on the wall and either move farther inland or to some other city, without the apocalyptic aspects. Some cities without higher ground nearby will have a harder time, though. I'm curious if anyone knows of a source of statistics for land area that has been abandoned due to rising sea levels. How quickly is this happening now?

ForHackernews 8y ago
https://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2017/06/sinking_feeling_louisiana_coas.html https://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2017/06/sinking_f... https://www.economist.com/united-states/2017/08/26/louisiana-fights-the-sea-and-loses https://www.economist.com/united-states/2017/08/26/louisiana... https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/24/us/jean-lafitte-floodwaters.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/24/us/jean-lafit... > Between 2004 and 2008 alone, Louisiana shrank by more than 300 square miles.