4 ms·

Apart from being quite callous, the further problem with his thinking is raising sea levels when the soil is clay is very problematic but possible to build wall

Apart from being quite callous, the further problem with his thinking is raising sea levels when the soil is clay is very problematic but possible to build walls to keep the water out. However when the soil is a porous swamp like in Miami there is literally no way to build dykes if the water flows upwards through the earth.

mytailorisrich 4y ago
It was not callous. It was an humorous way to illustrate his point (which was neither about Miami nor Amsterdam specifically) by using a claim that has been widely circulated (i.e. that Miami will be lost to rising sea levels).
- andy_ppp 4y ago
  One person's joke is another persons insult I guess. I am certainly not agreeing with the idea of someone being sacked for this, that's clearly insane.
  - mytailorisrich 4y ago
    Nobody cares that Miami was mentioned. The quote is taken out of context for sensationalist purposes and while people argue on that they don't discuss the real points and content of his speech in typical bikeshedding fashion. For instance, one key claim he made is that models by central banks on negative impacts of climate change on economy are using unrealistically negative hypotheses. That's what people should be discussing but of course most people, me included, lack the expertise to meaningfully do it.
yread 4y ago
Amsterdam also sits on porous (in theory) sand. Compacted sand lets only little water through though and that is pumped out. Bigger problem with his argument is that Amsterdam is lot more like London or Philadelphia than Miami - it's not really at the sea. There was an inlet Zuiderzee that was dammed, just like river Thames or Delaware river could be (expensive but probably doable). Miami is surrounded by sea
ekianjo 4y ago
> when the soil is clay is very problematic There's quite a few countries that converted marshes in actual land.

mytailorisrich 4y ago

It was not callous. It was an humorous way to illustrate his point (which was neither about Miami nor Amsterdam specifically) by using a claim that has been widely circulated (i.e. that Miami will be lost to rising sea levels).

andy_ppp 4y ago
One person's joke is another persons insult I guess. I am certainly not agreeing with the idea of someone being sacked for this, that's clearly insane.
- mytailorisrich 4y ago
  Nobody cares that Miami was mentioned. The quote is taken out of context for sensationalist purposes and while people argue on that they don't discuss the real points and content of his speech in typical bikeshedding fashion. For instance, one key claim he made is that models by central banks on negative impacts of climate change on economy are using unrealistically negative hypotheses. That's what people should be discussing but of course most people, me included, lack the expertise to meaningfully do it.

yread 4y ago

Amsterdam also sits on porous (in theory) sand. Compacted sand lets only little water through though and that is pumped out. Bigger problem with his argument is that Amsterdam is lot more like London or Philadelphia than Miami - it's not really at the sea. There was an inlet Zuiderzee that was dammed, just like river Thames or Delaware river could be (expensive but probably doable). Miami is surrounded by sea

ekianjo 4y ago

> when the soil is clay is very problematic There's quite a few countries that converted marshes in actual land.