Flooding of US Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Begun
1–10 of 73 posts
Re: Flooding of US Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Begun
#2> Local governments, under pressure from annoyed citizens, are beginning to act. Elections are being won on promises to invest money to protect against flooding.
Interesting. I do recall that in 2012, North Carolina's House Bill 819 prohibited the state's Coastal Resources Commission from calculating sea-level changes using recent data.
Re: Flooding of US Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Begun
#3As I wrote in HN's dialog about a New York Magazine article on global warming https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12471815:
As usual, nothing about prevention.
Global temperatures and the sea level are rising because of human behavior. If we want different results, we have to behave differently. Engineers and scientists know engineering and science but not so much leading people to change their behavior.
It's easy to blame others: "Listen to me! If you don't you'll be sorry!" isn't effective. Also, what fraction of engineers and scientists have, say, flown in a plane or something similarly polluting in the past twelve months?
If you want to change behavior, you need to learn and practice leadership skills and apply them to yourself as well as others. The science is clear. More is nice and I agree we should keep pursuing it, but the best way to decrease the effects of global warming is to change our behavior. (This is why I moved from science to leadership.)
This article's writing about flood-proof architecture and other rearranging-deck-chairs-on-the-Titanic behavior is necessary since it's too late to stop a lot of change, but it's not too late to stop the change that we -- you and I -- are contributing to now. As much as I wish past generations had changed their behaviors so we wouldn't see these problems today, future generations will wish we had changed our behavior today. Even if you don't have kids or grandkids, I would think caring about human society in general and empathy and compassion for future generations would be enough to focus on changing our behavior proactively, not just reactively fixing problems others bequeathed to us.
Re: Flooding of US Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Begun
#4> Local governments, under pressure from annoyed citizens, are beginning to act. Elections are being won on promises to invest money to protect against flooding. Interesting. I do recall that in 2012, North Carolina's House Bill 819 prohibited the state's Coastal Resources Commission from calculating sea-level changes using recent data.
Scary, using laws to prohibit people doing math. It's the equivalent of putting your fingers in your ears and humming loudly.
Re: Flooding of US Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Begun
#5Will the US see large engineering works this century to prevent flooding? Large stretches of Florida have quite alot of property right on the sea barely above sea level, would these property owners demand protection?
Re: Flooding of US Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Begun
#6As I wrote in HN's dialog about a New York Magazine article on global warming https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12471815 : As usual, nothing about prevention. Global temperatures and the sea level are rising because of human behavior. If we want different results, we have to behave differently. Engineers and scientists know engineering and science but not so much leading people to change their behavior. It's easy…
Would you like to give some examples of the leadership in behavioral change you'd like to see? I personally doubt anything save huge taxes on gasoline are going to do anything to change behavior. You can decry driving by people still need to get to work.
Laws are the only drivers of change so massive. We're fighting over oil pipelines to pump more oil for use, not which green energy gets tax breaks. And even with outrageous prices caused by taxes meant to make dangerous activity prohibitive, people still smoke.
Cash-for-clunkers-for-EV? "Infrastructure spending" in EV charging nationwide? Federally supported replacement of coal fired power plants?
People aren't going to change behavior at all because of flooding except for maybe those people under water. But they'll just move.
Re: Flooding of US Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Begun
#7> Local governments, under pressure from annoyed citizens, are beginning to act. Elections are being won on promises to invest money to protect against flooding. Interesting. I do recall that in 2012, North Carolina's House Bill 819 prohibited the state's Coastal Resources Commission from calculating sea-level changes using recent data.
It was a sad day to be a North Carolinian...
Re: Flooding of US Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Begun
#8As I wrote in HN's dialog about a New York Magazine article on global warming https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12471815 : As usual, nothing about prevention. Global temperatures and the sea level are rising because of human behavior. If we want different results, we have to behave differently. Engineers and scientists know engineering and science but not so much leading people to change their behavior. It's easy…
Would you like to give some examples of the leadership in behavioral change you'd like to see? I personally doubt anything save huge taxes on gasoline are going to do anything to change behavior. You can decry driving by people still need to get to work. Laws are the only drivers of change so massive. We're fighting over oil pipelines to pump more oil for use, not which green energy gets tax breaks. And even with out…
Fixing FHA loans and ending the growth Ponzi scheme that is municipal infrastructure spending would be two huge things that could reduce US contributions to the problem.
Re: Flooding of US Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Begun
#9As I wrote in HN's dialog about a New York Magazine article on global warming https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12471815 : As usual, nothing about prevention. Global temperatures and the sea level are rising because of human behavior. If we want different results, we have to behave differently. Engineers and scientists know engineering and science but not so much leading people to change their behavior. It's easy…
I too would like to see examples from your site. Does your book on mental models relate to this topic beyond surface relationships?
Re: Flooding of US Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Begun
#10We all know by now CO2 and CH4 leads to a warmer planet. We also know what's driving greenhouse gas levels to rise across Earth. Contributors are deforestation, intensive animal farming, and primarily the combustion of carbon fossil fuels like coal, tar sands, oil, natural gas etc.
But here is the underlying problem, despite us knowing how bad things are, (97+% of scientists who study this field agree we are causing the planet's climate to shift away from the temperate climate we thrived in) not enough is being done at present to truly solve the problem. What really is disheartening and what no one in the media and government is talking about is how in 2015 CO2 levels rose by the largest amount in human recorded history. 3.05 PPM http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/gr.html
We are being lied to, often mislead by our governments that uniform actions are being performed to save the planet for the future of man. Vested interests in the fossil fuel industry continue to drive climate change. Yes, solar and wind energy are starting to become incredibly efficient and cheap but not enough of it is coming online in proportion to fossil fuel burning that persists and is also installed annually. If we do not rally against it, our ability to live on this planet is at stake. The lives of our posterity are also at risk because of the burning. Even if you chose not to have kids, it still makes our work and lives meaningless if our species and other species on this planet go extinct because we allow dumping in our atmosphere to go on unfettered. It will not be until we take extreme actions not on a country level but as humanity together that we will slow the burning and save ourselves.
What are these actions you might ask that will actually be effective? These can range from banning fossil fuels entirely, global carbon pricing system, banning deforestation, changing human diets, extreme uniform investment in renewable energy and potentially fourth generation nuclear reactors, more funding for developing nations to install alternative energy sources, and to shift the transportation grid towards sustainability.