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Really disheartened that it will hit during my lifetime. Had hoped to dodge it, really. How do you, as an individual, prepare for this?
by tormeh 7y ago
Really disheartened that it will hit during my lifetime. Had hoped to dodge it, really.
How do you, as an individual, prepare for this?
- ummonk 7y agoPrimarily, make sure you live at elevation (i.e. > 20 feet). Also helps if you've got temperate or cool local weather, so it doesn't get unpleasant decades from now.
- ggreer 7y agoThe most pessimistic IPCC projections estimate a 1 meter rise in sea level over the next century. For comparison sea level rose by 20cm in the past century.
- adrianN 7y agoThe IPCC might underestimate: https://phys.org/news/2019-08-scientists-evidence-high-level-sea.html https://phys.org/news/2019-08-scientists-evidence-high-level...
- ggreer 7y agoNowhere in that article are timelines mentioned. Yes sea levels will continue to rise, but it will take over a thousand years to melt the ice caps.
- ummonk 7y agoTides, hurricanes etc. tend to result in flooding somewhat above sea level already. 20 feet is probably still overly pessimistic but I'm just erring on the conservative side.
- malka 7y agoSuicide is a good option
- imtringued 7y agoCollective suicide by climate change? At least you won't feel left out.
- dang 7y agoPlease don't do this here.
- shoes_for_thee 7y agoAvoid procreating. Put your money into prepping instead of your 401k. Make a plan to kill yourself when it all becomes too much to bear. Enjoy the time you have.
- ForHackernews 7y agoDon't have kids unless your dream is for them to suffer and live with a steadily declining quality of life from their childhoods. Try to get rich enough before the worst effects become widespread that you can buy your way out of some of it.
- bostik 7y agoI upvoted you, because as cynical as your comment may be, I believe yours is the most rational approach. I believe that in our lifetime we will see the western countries effectively barricade their borders. When an unannounced ship approaches with desperate human beings on board, fleeing the wars, we won't be even allowed to think about accepting them. The ships will be, not stopped and turned around, but torpedoed and sunk on sight. The corpses will be harvested for feed and fertiliser. From that point onwards, in another couple of generations, there won't be any sanctuaries left. Not even for the richest. They will all have been overrun, pillaged and plundered. My only consolation is that I am old enough to not necessarily witness all of it.
- ganzuul 7y agoChanged careers to something society can't do without. Hoping they will pick the machinist over the instagram model for the space ark.
- jacobwilliamroy 7y agoBasic stuff. Learn horticulture, soil science. Understand whether or not your area is viable for a sustainable settlement and move along if it's not. Best to do all your moving while you can still afford to drive. Do exercise, strength training, cardio. Bodyweight stuff or yoga is great for everyday life activities. How far can you carry 60 pounds of supplies and equipment? Make friends, obviously. Learn how to resolve conflict non-violently. You and everyone else will constantly be running into conflicts and someone is going to have to remember how to meet everyone's needs without killing people.
- faissaloo 7y agoIt's also probably a good idea to learn how to resolve conflicts violently and accept the consequences of that.
- jacobwilliamroy 7y agoSlug throwing is pretty basic stuff. Doesn't take very long to learn that.
- Seanzie 7y agoThere are many ways to prepare for climate catastrophe, but here's one you could try: 1) Read Paul Ehrlich's book "The Population Bomb". If you don't have time, just watch the movie "Soylent Green" to get the gist of it. 2) Look around you for any sign of planet-wide famine. 3) ??? 4) Profit!
- fallingfrog 7y agoI’ve been thinking lately that starting a commune might be one way. Think about this: a commune counts as a nonprofit entity. So you don’t have to pay taxes. If you own your land, there is no rent. The commune can run a business, and there’s no payroll tax and no boss, so all the profits can directly be spent on food and supplies. So you can live super cheap. You can have a little fleet of cars and bicycles, free for use, other facilities- and now, you’re not going to lose your job, you’re not going to become homeless because of a medical bill, when things go south you have mutual defense and support. Sounds better than going it alone, doesn’t it?
- pharke 7y agoThere seem to be a bunch of self-centered pessimists replying to you so I'll try to give a real response. If you don't already work in an industry that is doing research towards or creating a product that makes a difference, change careers. The solution to this, both on an individual and collective level, is not to give up and hide in a hole hoping you die quietly in your sleep. The solution is to fucking solve the problem. We need smart people in engineering, nuclear science, agriculture, bioscience, and politics. People that give a damn and aren't satisfied to sit on their asses and wistfully dream of eco-primitivist utopias. Put your resources into skilling up and move to a center where shit is getting done. Talk to people that are working on the problem and find a job that is actively moving the needle. If we can't fix it then at least you'll die trying rather than cowering.
- AstralStorm 7y agoEven if we can't fix it we can make it much better and less misery for everyone involved. The question is, how many people do you want to sacrifice to eat your delicious cow and drive a SUV?
- pharke 7y agoProhibition doesn't change the sum total of misery in the world, it just evenly distributes it. The only way to reduce the total amount of misery is to increase the standard of living of more people. Everyone should be able to eat delicious cow and drive SUVs if they want to. The problem to solve is in how we reduce the harm those things currently have on the environment, there are many options for that other than "just take away the SUVs and cows so no one has them".
- faissaloo 7y agoLearn as much as you can and practice being resourceful, information is power, medicine, chemistry and biology in particular are extremely important. If we have to endure catastrophic collapse being able to construct things like makeshift air cooling, air and water filtering systems from raw and waste materials will be paramount.
- manicdee 7y agoClimate apocalypse is not something that “hits” it is something that grows. It started decades ago and will get gradually worse over time. What you as an individual can do to prepare is put pressure on the suppliers of goods and services (including your government) to take their role seriously and reduce emissions. Stop using single-use plastics, stop buying groceries that are individually shrink-wrapped. Buy fresh fruit and vegetables and prepare your own meals. Walk where you can, try to use public transport for commuting (it takes longer, but someone else is driving so you can do your morning and evening reading & correspondence on the bus/train) Basically do everything you can to reduce your energy consumption, both directly and indirectly. Energy consumptions is a very good proxy for personal contribution to emissions, including the embodied energy in things like plastic utensils and fast food wrappers/boxes/bags. Rather than watching a movie on Netflix, read a book. The internet services and domestic devices used to watch a movie will consume more energy during that movie session than a year of reading on a tablet or paper books (with a bed lamp book light). Apart from overpopulation, the biggest contribution to global emissions is the extreme energy consumption lifestyle of western countries. We offshore a lot of the production and point the finger at China, but China’s emissions are mainly from manufacturing and transport which is mostly for products being sent to western countries.