3 ms·
Civilization is build around the existing climate and the cost of re-building around a new climate will be very very large. For example, most cities are near bo
by marcinzm 6y ago
Civilization is build around the existing climate and the cost of re-building around a new climate will be very very large. For example, most cities are near bodies of water and rising sea water will threaten them. So we have to either move a lot of cities (to now scarcer land) or build massive walls around them (that need to survive hurricanes in many areas). There's also thing we don't fully control like the ecosystem (fishing, pollinating insects, etc.) that would be very hard (read: expensive) to rebuild if it collapses and would probably have second order effects we'd also need to adjust for. Then there's any health issues from things like high CO2 which would probably require mass scale genetic engineering to really deal with.
- missedthecue 6y ago"Civilization is build around the existing climate and the cost of re-building around a new climate will be very very large" But the climate will change over decades and centuries. People move, nation's build and rebuild, and crops change over centuries, climate change or not. Think how different the world and human diet was in 1900 compared to today. I think a lot of people look at climate change as a war, where bullets start flying and suddenly there are 20 million refugees at your door. Climate change is slow and incremental, at least as currently predicted.
- marcinzm 6y agoWhy do you think people will slowly react over decades rather than putting things off until the last possible moment when they have no choice but to adjust very quickly? If humanity could plan over decades without short term need driving them then climate change wouldn't be an issue in the first place.
- missedthecue 6y agoYou don't need to plan decades in advance to switch out one crop for another between growing seasons or to build a seawall.