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Netherlands seems to be the Sea Level one, which its level is just what percent of people live below sea level (according to its label). Netherlands does lie ei

Netherlands seems to be the Sea Level one, which its level is just what percent of people live below sea level (according to its label). Netherlands does lie either at or under sea level today, and they have a giant sea wall they recently spent $617 million to update and future proof it until only 2050[1]. As sea levels rise, some countries will be able to afford to do this, and others won't. To build one to protect New York City might cost $119 billion, for example[2] (and they've already spent $1.4 billion). For the people who don't keep putting money building and maintaining giant walls to keep the sea out, yes those places will become unlivable. For India it mostly shows up for the water stress index, and yeah, it seems to be having issues with water today[3]: "India placed thirteenth among the world's 17 ‘extremely water-stressed’ countries, according to the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas released by the World Resources Institute (WRI). The country, followed by neighbouring Pakistan, was under ‘extremely high’ levels of baseline water stress." "A region is said to be under ‘water stress’ when the demand for water there exceeds the available volume or when poor quality restricts use." "The World Bank too had warned about the region’s water stress last year. Countries there were “withdrawing water from underground reservoirs faster than it could be replenished and were essentially living beyond their means,” it said." So they're getting away with it right now because they haven't totally drained all the groundwater, but they're steadily depleting that. Eventually that won't be the case (especially by 2100), and that region will most likely become unlivable. [1]: https://www.theb1m.com/video/the-sea-wall-that-saved-a-nation https://www.theb1m.com/video/the-sea-wall-that-saved-a-natio... [2]: https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/new-york-119-billion-sea-wall-proposal/ https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/new-york-119-billion-se... [3]: https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/water/india-world-s-13th-most-water-stressed-country-wri-66066 https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/water/india-world-s-13th...

tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
I assumed Netherlands was due to the sea level, but it shows that the "uninhabitable" definition they're using is nonsense. Because the Netherlands is very much inhabited, and inhabitable, it just requires occasionally spending $35 per person on a sea wall. By that definition, most of the world is unlivable because you'll die (within hours!) if you sit naked outside at night in winter. And clothing and an insulated, heated house costs a lot more than $35 every few decades. Likewise, desalination will become cheaper and cheaper. That's not "future maybe technology" like fusion or carbon capture, that's something that's already in use today, at a cost that will become feasible as the cost goes down and India develops more.
tomrod 5y ago
Interesting. I know of a religion that spends 10-20MM USD per "temple" and has built about 150 of these in the past twenty years. So what I'm hearing is that we could future proof the Netherlands fairly substantially for a fraction of this particular religion's profits (let alone all religions).

tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago

I assumed Netherlands was due to the sea level, but it shows that the "uninhabitable" definition they're using is nonsense. Because the Netherlands is very much inhabited, and inhabitable, it just requires occasionally spending $35 per person on a sea wall. By that definition, most of the world is unlivable because you'll die (within hours!) if you sit naked outside at night in winter. And clothing and an insulated, heated house costs a lot more than $35 every few decades. Likewise, desalination will become cheaper and cheaper. That's not "future maybe technology" like fusion or carbon capture, that's something that's already in use today, at a cost that will become feasible as the cost goes down and India develops more.

tomrod 5y ago

Interesting. I know of a religion that spends 10-20MM USD per "temple" and has built about 150 of these in the past twenty years. So what I'm hearing is that we could future proof the Netherlands fairly substantially for a fraction of this particular religion's profits (let alone all religions).