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I think you are correct. Unchecked climate change will send the wealthy and middle classes North. If History is any indicator, they will close the borders of th

I think you are correct. Unchecked climate change will send the wealthy and middle classes North. If History is any indicator, they will close the borders of their regions as tightly as possible and commit a pitance to "humanitarian aid" leaving the poor piling up in refugee camps on their borders. We have the examples of the U.S. border, Australia's camps on Naru, the various permeant refugee camps spread across the Eastern Mediterranean and many more as examples. As the situation becomes more intense, migrants will become more desperate and bold. The reaction from the wealthy enclaves will become more and more repressive. (Who themselves will be seeing a diminished standard of living). In my opinion, the only thing that could spare us this future is a global commitment to universal rights and more equal resource distribution. But this would require countries like the United States to write rights of non-citizens deeply into their constitutions. And that is likely unattainable at this time.

DoreenMichele 5y ago
Animals are already migrating to more northerly climes as recent articles on Svalbard attest.* What prevents people from doing the same is mostly international borders, politics and money. Before we had international borders, plenty of humans lived migratory lives as well. * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27479739 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27479739
- DubiousPusher 5y ago
  Absolutely. Even recorded history is full of migrations of large groups of people (anglo-saxons, repeated migrations out of the Asian steppe, mass migrations of the Native Americans after European arrival, etc). If we could reach high enough state of moral development we might even come to see migration as a human right. Though I believe impending material poverty will make that unlikely.
  - DoreenMichele 5y ago
    In spite of my own personal challenges, I'm actually more hopeful than many people seem to be. (Edit: at least for humanity. Not necessarily for myself.) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22028732 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22028732

DoreenMichele 5y ago

Animals are already migrating to more northerly climes as recent articles on Svalbard attest.* What prevents people from doing the same is mostly international borders, politics and money. Before we had international borders, plenty of humans lived migratory lives as well. * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27479739 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27479739

DubiousPusher 5y ago
Absolutely. Even recorded history is full of migrations of large groups of people (anglo-saxons, repeated migrations out of the Asian steppe, mass migrations of the Native Americans after European arrival, etc). If we could reach high enough state of moral development we might even come to see migration as a human right. Though I believe impending material poverty will make that unlikely.
- DoreenMichele 5y ago
  In spite of my own personal challenges, I'm actually more hopeful than many people seem to be. (Edit: at least for humanity. Not necessarily for myself.) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22028732 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22028732