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Water it seems, is not our friend. Climate change seems mostly to be about water, and how we currently live with it. The melting of the ice-caps over the next

Water it seems, is not our friend. Climate change seems mostly to be about water, and how we currently live with it. The melting of the ice-caps over the next 100 years or whatever will result is rising sea levels. Potentially a rise of hundreds of metres. The additional energy in the atmosphere leads to heavier rains, and hence more runoff. When that runoff goes through a building we call that flooding. In other places a lack of rain is leading to water shortage and drought. Sea level rise is long term, flooding and droughts are here now. In the short term we need to allow water more space to flow. Retreating from the waters edge can be done, and it can be paid for "collectively". It's a relatively small-scale action, and it can happen progressively year on year. Simple rules to condem areas after say a second flooding would be a start. Retreating from a 100m sea level rise is too large a scale to contemplate. Sure it'll happen "slowly" but the number of people involved is a sizeable fraction of all humanity. Inland small towns everywhere should be considering planning and zoning that would happen if they grew by a million people. New cities, on the new waters edge, will be created from nothing. At this point we can stretch out the time line, but I think the course is set. There's no putting the genie back in the bottle now. But I'm confident we will adapt. This isn't an extinction event. Humans adapt better than anything else.

olivermarks 4y ago
When do you think Barack Obama will have to move to higher ground? He only bought his massively expensive sea front property recently... https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/real-estate/a30169311/barack-michelle-obama-buy-marthas-vineyard-house/ https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/real-estate/a30169...
- oefrha 4y ago
  Even if that property were completely flooded tomorrow, he could easily afford a twice as expensive one on higher ground. Their book deal alone can pay for six of those. So not sure what your point is. That rich people don’t need to care? That much is obvious.
jjcon 4y ago
> The melting of the ice-caps over the next 100 years or whatever will result is rising sea levels. Potentially a rise of hundreds of metres. If literally all the ice on the planet melted and ran into the ocean the ocean would only rise 70 meters [0] (so 100s of meters is genuinely physically impossible). The current WORST case scenarios as modeled by the IPCC would put us on track for <4 meters of rise by 2300, 280 years from now [1] [0] https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-would-sea-level-change-if-all-glaciers-melted https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-would-sea-level-change-if-all-... [1] https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/148494/anticipating-future-sea-levels https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/148494/anticipating...
- mr_toad 4y ago
  Those are just the worst case scenarios that bureaucrats will put their name to. If the east Antarctic ice shelf goes we’re looking at 50 meters.
  - jjcon 4y ago
    So ignore nasa, ignore the international panel on climate change… you got this one figured out better than our best scientists? Sorry that sounds just as bad as the most extreme climate deniers.
PradeetPatel 4y ago
Exactly, instead of treating climate change as an apocalyptic event, the entire world need to band together and tackle this unique challenge. We can enable this by spreading education and awareness, and do our part to slow down climate change.
- 88840-8855 4y ago
  Yeah.. unfortunately we still fight about some piece of land and who should rule over it: one corrupt country or another corrupt country. It will not work. But nevertheless, I agee, we must stop pretending that life will end and we must stop run around like headless chicken pretending we COULD stop it IF. We wont stop it, we might slow it down, but it is already here and it will hit us harder as nobody is going to sacrifice his wealth for it. We must stop finding solutions for how to deal with it.
  - c1sc0 4y ago
    We can absolutely stop it. But it requires a geo-engineering approach that still is too much of a taboo. Solar radiation management gives us a “pause” button that buys us time to get our shot together. Iron fertilization is another approach. Geo-engineering does not take trillions of dollars. It’s well within reach of a single billionaire for the case solar irradiation and of a dedicated group of millionaires for iron fertilization.
    - sofixa 4y ago
      The problem with geo engineering is that we can't beta test it on a planetary scale, and if it goes wrong / has side effects, there's no planet B.
  - progman32 4y ago
    The pointless power struggles will continue as they always have. Of course, this does not absolve us of the responsibility to help find a solution or at the very least support those who do so.
- progman32 4y ago

olivermarks 4y ago

When do you think Barack Obama will have to move to higher ground? He only bought his massively expensive sea front property recently... https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/real-estate/a30169311/barack-michelle-obama-buy-marthas-vineyard-house/ https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/real-estate/a30169...

oefrha 4y ago
Even if that property were completely flooded tomorrow, he could easily afford a twice as expensive one on higher ground. Their book deal alone can pay for six of those. So not sure what your point is. That rich people don’t need to care? That much is obvious.

jjcon 4y ago

> The melting of the ice-caps over the next 100 years or whatever will result is rising sea levels. Potentially a rise of hundreds of metres. If literally all the ice on the planet melted and ran into the ocean the ocean would only rise 70 meters [0] (so 100s of meters is genuinely physically impossible). The current WORST case scenarios as modeled by the IPCC would put us on track for <4 meters of rise by 2300, 280 years from now [1] [0] https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-would-sea-level-change-if-all-glaciers-melted https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-would-sea-level-change-if-all-... [1] https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/148494/anticipating-future-sea-levels https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/148494/anticipating...

mr_toad 4y ago
Those are just the worst case scenarios that bureaucrats will put their name to. If the east Antarctic ice shelf goes we’re looking at 50 meters.
- jjcon 4y ago
  So ignore nasa, ignore the international panel on climate change… you got this one figured out better than our best scientists? Sorry that sounds just as bad as the most extreme climate deniers.

PradeetPatel 4y ago

Exactly, instead of treating climate change as an apocalyptic event, the entire world need to band together and tackle this unique challenge. We can enable this by spreading education and awareness, and do our part to slow down climate change.

88840-8855 4y ago
Yeah.. unfortunately we still fight about some piece of land and who should rule over it: one corrupt country or another corrupt country. It will not work. But nevertheless, I agee, we must stop pretending that life will end and we must stop run around like headless chicken pretending we COULD stop it IF. We wont stop it, we might slow it down, but it is already here and it will hit us harder as nobody is going to sacrifice his wealth for it. We must stop finding solutions for how to deal with it.
- c1sc0 4y ago
  We can absolutely stop it. But it requires a geo-engineering approach that still is too much of a taboo. Solar radiation management gives us a “pause” button that buys us time to get our shot together. Iron fertilization is another approach. Geo-engineering does not take trillions of dollars. It’s well within reach of a single billionaire for the case solar irradiation and of a dedicated group of millionaires for iron fertilization.
  - sofixa 4y ago
    The problem with geo engineering is that we can't beta test it on a planetary scale, and if it goes wrong / has side effects, there's no planet B.
- progman32 4y ago
  The pointless power struggles will continue as they always have. Of course, this does not absolve us of the responsibility to help find a solution or at the very least support those who do so.
progman32 4y ago