5 ms·

Why bet on it becoming worse? Why won't it become better?

• scarmig 14y ago
  Because of the infrastructure that exists. If industrialization had occurred in an era of elevated temperatures (even +5C from now) it would be less of a problem. An LA without water is just a desert. Whatever combination of desalination, increased air conditioning, and migration ends up being done to mitigate the effects of climate change is expensive. Really expensive. Unfortunately, many people who are loathe to interfere with the economy via the government are all too happy to decide that they know enough about Caribbean fisheries, rice paddy cultivation in Burma, and civil infrastructure in Doha to say that a government policy that will likely significantly and adversely affect all of them is fine.
  • guard-of-terra 14y ago
    There are countries that, having their infrastructure completely devastated by the war (think Dresden or Minsk) managed to rebuild it more or less completely in less than a decade. I guess that if there's no war and the infrastructure is intact (just inadequate), you can do that in even less time.
• Gravityloss 14y ago
  It might become better too, though it's unlikely that a rapid change in the climate is usually something that the nature can adapt to very well, meaning decline or even collapse. Let's give an analogy: if you push a button, you have a 50% chance of losing your house. Do you do it, since "just as well, nothing might happen"? 30%? Often, stability has a lot of value by itself.
  • guard-of-terra 14y ago
    It's too radical. Chance to lose everything paralyzes you and clouds your judgement. In reality it's like 50%, nothing happens; 25%, climate becomes slightly better (why won't it?); 25%, climate becomes slightly worse. So why bother a lot now? We could be dead in dozens of fun ways even without climate change.