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You know, this was my first reaction. I'm a civil engineer. I met a big-wig from AECOM (one of the largest engineering contractors in the county) at a confere

You know, this was my first reaction. I'm a civil engineer. I met a big-wig from AECOM (one of the largest engineering contractors in the county) at a conference and we sat for dinner and I asked him, why not move the people? He said it would be easier to build the pipes and the pumps than it would be to rebuild the other infrastructure, homes, offices, restaurants, and social systems those people would need after you moved them. (specifically I asked about Las Vegas, and a plan to import water from other parts of Nevada). My take-away was that "sustainability" isn't a factor in these decisions. If you want to set up yourself for a sustainable future, you have to vote with your feet. Nobody will can make that decision for you. Climate change is going to have a lot of negative effects on some parts of the globe. But there will also be a lot of opportunities, and other regions will prosper as their climates become more hospitable or productive. The challenge is trying to anticipate those changes and making responsible decisions.

hotpotamus 4y ago
The other problem with moving seems to be that you might find people in the place you want to move to aren't so welcoming. And that might happen more and more as there are less inhabitable places in the world.
- corrral 4y ago
  There's tons of space in the US. It's just that lots of it's really humid in the Summer and really cold in the Winter (and, overall, pretty wet—go figure) and quite flat and you might have to drive an entire day or more to see mountains or a body of water that you can't see the other side of. Which, I can already guess some folks' reaction to that: "there are no mountains, huge lakes, or oceans within a 10-hour drive? I'd rather die than live like that!" And I get it. It does suck, for all those reasons. It sucks a lot. But there's water, and millions of people getting by OK—if a bit fatter, partly on account of the outdoors being so shit.
  - hotpotamus 4y ago
    It seems there are millions of people who want to immigrate to the US and I suspect would be willing to move to such places, but they are not welcomed.
bombcar 4y ago
Large amounts of people moving from California move to ... Arizona which doesn't really help the water issue much. But the AECOM guy wasn't wrong - the amount of "investment" even in a smaller town is insane - the LA basin is worth something like 2.3 trillion in land value alone. That kind of pricing can justify absolutely massive projects. For those looking to move from California, I would suggest considering other factors such as sustainability come into play - Texas and Arizona aren't the only possible destinations. Though I doubt we can solve California's water problems by all buying Wisconsin Cheese whilst living in Minneapolis.

hotpotamus 4y ago

The other problem with moving seems to be that you might find people in the place you want to move to aren't so welcoming. And that might happen more and more as there are less inhabitable places in the world.

corrral 4y ago
There's tons of space in the US. It's just that lots of it's really humid in the Summer and really cold in the Winter (and, overall, pretty wet—go figure) and quite flat and you might have to drive an entire day or more to see mountains or a body of water that you can't see the other side of. Which, I can already guess some folks' reaction to that: "there are no mountains, huge lakes, or oceans within a 10-hour drive? I'd rather die than live like that!" And I get it. It does suck, for all those reasons. It sucks a lot. But there's water, and millions of people getting by OK—if a bit fatter, partly on account of the outdoors being so shit.
- hotpotamus 4y ago
  It seems there are millions of people who want to immigrate to the US and I suspect would be willing to move to such places, but they are not welcomed.

bombcar 4y ago

Large amounts of people moving from California move to ... Arizona which doesn't really help the water issue much. But the AECOM guy wasn't wrong - the amount of "investment" even in a smaller town is insane - the LA basin is worth something like 2.3 trillion in land value alone. That kind of pricing can justify absolutely massive projects. For those looking to move from California, I would suggest considering other factors such as sustainability come into play - Texas and Arizona aren't the only possible destinations. Though I doubt we can solve California's water problems by all buying Wisconsin Cheese whilst living in Minneapolis.