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Rising groundwater caused by climate change could devastate coastal communities

thinknewsmedia.com

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Re: Rising groundwater caused by climate change could devastate coastal communities

#41

Post by nawgz »

dgfitz wrote: post #37
nawgz wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, Capitalism will surely solve the problem that Capitalism wrought, and using tools like Regulation and Policy is sure to hamper Capitalism and not help consumers or the environment at all! How sad it is that the comment suggesting we try to not continue overpopulating the globe is downvoted while this propaganda piece isn't.

We're not overpopulating it anymore. That "solution" presents its own problems. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53409521

If by "we" you mean "the first world as it devolves into wealth inequality", sure, but it's clear there's nearly 8 billion people, so a 2.4 fertility rate not projected to turn til the end of the century probably still leaves us with 9 billion people by 2070 don't you think?

And indeed, it is a massive problem that we face, but do you truly think proposing regulation-free unhampered-by-policy capital-c Capitalism - in an era we are watching abuse against employees rise while wages drop - is the answer? I find that laughably propagandist.

Re: Rising groundwater caused by climate change could devastate coastal communities

#42

Post by q1w2 »

olivermarks wrote: post #3

Who is 'thinknewsmedia' who wrote this 'could' article? The link to Vkontakte at base suggests the site is Russian?

You are right to be suspicious. While the original author of the article isn't from the site - it is very very interesting to see it propagated by Russian sources.

Good catch.

Re: Rising groundwater caused by climate change could devastate coastal communities

#43

Post by pelasaco »

trhway wrote: post #33
pelasaco wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Population control. There is no way that we can fit 9-10 billion people on earth and are still able to be sustainable.

I suppose you can just schedule a cron to submit in 10 years the same post with updated number to say 12B :) Even with population control (suppose we found a way to do it and managed to avoid the large negative consequences of it which would be plenty) the uncontested growing consumption by the current population would do the planet anyway. Speaking about solutions - until significant part of Sahara desert and the li…

> Speaking about solutions - until significant part of Sahara desert and the likes aren't covered by solar panels, i wouldn't believe that anybody (who matters) is taking the climate change seriously

I think it is harder than we think, at least for the goals that Europe wants: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OpM_zKGE4o

The caveat about population control, is different than how we, humans, do with all other wild-life on planet earth, we cannot reduce the available food and habitat to lower the carrying capacity, compensate for the missing predators by killing individuals in the population, or slow the population's ability to reproduce..

We have to come up with a ethic solution. But people cannot put 3-5 kids or more on earth and don't have the means to raise them accordingly.

Re: Rising groundwater caused by climate change could devastate coastal communities

#44

Post by nawgz »

IntrepidWorm wrote: post #38
nawgz wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, Capitalism will surely solve the problem that Capitalism wrought, and using tools like Regulation and Policy is sure to hamper Capitalism and not help consumers or the environment at all! How sad it is that the comment suggesting we try to not continue overpopulating the globe is downvoted while this propaganda piece isn't.

Probably because population control threads so often devolve into eugenics.

Sure, and Capitalism devolves into late-stage regulatory-capture wealth-inequality race-to-the-bottom massive globally scaled abuses of both people and the planet. To propose that we just simply have to let "capitalists" fix the solution they have wrought is facile at best, and honestly strikes me as clearly malicious when in the same breath it is implied regulation and policy are the the enemy.

Re: Rising groundwater caused by climate change could devastate coastal communities

#45

Post by wongarsu »

phicoh wrote: post #19

There is one thing I don't understand about the article. The rise in groundwater level should follow the average increase in sea level. It is not like a big wave would suddenly affect the groundwater level. Assuming houses last for 50 years and during the next 50 years the sealevel can increase by around 50cm, it should be easy to check if buildings near the coast are high enough that they can accept this change in s…

Sea level rise in itself is a complicated subject. Some regions of the ocean see easily twice the global average of sea level rise, while other regions barely change (currents and winds have a large effect on sea level). On the coast this gets further complicated because the ground itself is also moving up or down (mostly due to settling, or century-long rebound from the loss of glaciers) [1].

I would assume ground water adds another layer of complexity since it also depends on local geography

1: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/...

Re: Rising groundwater caused by climate change could devastate coastal communities

#46

Post by notyourday »

pelasaco wrote: post #26
_Microft wrote: post #5

Someone submitted this a few posts earlier: "The Amazon is turning into savannah – we have 5 years to save it", https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29540946 Two sides of the same coin but the groundwater problem seems easier to solve. Not because it is technically easier but because the incentives for (rich countries) seem to be a lot stronger. Preventing the own area from flooding is way less abstract than indirect…

Population control. There is no way that we can fit 9-10 billion people on earth and are still able to be sustainable.

> Population control. There is no way that we can fit 9-10 billion people on earth and are still able to be sustainable.

All BRICs are below replacement already.

Re: Rising groundwater caused by climate change could devastate coastal communities

#47

Post by pjmorris »

deltree7 wrote: post #20
_Microft wrote: post #5

Someone submitted this a few posts earlier: "The Amazon is turning into savannah – we have 5 years to save it", https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29540946 Two sides of the same coin but the groundwater problem seems easier to solve. Not because it is technically easier but because the incentives for (rich countries) seem to be a lot stronger. Preventing the own area from flooding is way less abstract than indirect…

Capitalism and Free Market. On an individual basis, apart from zero-cost sustainable habits, if you are capable, become a master of science, attempting to solve energy, material, carbon and climate issue at a physics level. If you are a craftsman, observe all the day-to-day activities of humans, tinker/hack and attempt to solve the same workflows more sustainably. If you have a solution either through hacks or scienc…

> Here's what will 100% not work -- Activism or Trying to 'Policy' out of your way of Climate Change problems.

Two questions:

1. Are you familiar with the concept of the tragedy of the commons? [0]

2. How comfortable are you with the idea that capitalism and free markets are policies?

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons

Re: Rising groundwater caused by climate change could devastate coastal communities

#48

Post by mensetmanusman »

colechristensen wrote: post #11
mensetmanusman wrote: post #6

It’s basically a foregone conclusion that the water levels will rise and envelop a large number of properties that exist due to the value of coastal real estate. Humans, because we are mostly water, love being close to water and seeing water. The question in my mind is whether we will get a waterworld type situation, or if everything will be left to be destroyed and we will re settle the new coasts.

There isn't enough water for a "waterworld situation", the icecaps have been completely gone in the distant past and there were rainforests near the poles. There also won't be a singular event that will be over, coasts are going to slowly walk inland.

Oh, aha, not waterworld over all the land, just floating houses within the mile of coast as it exists.

Re: Rising groundwater caused by climate change could devastate coastal communities

#49

Post by KennyBlanken »

IntrepidWorm wrote: post #36
davidw wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Markets and capitalism are part of the solution, of course, but you absolutely do need policies to direct all that energy, at a high level. Absent "policies" and enforcement, the cheapest way for a factory to dispose of waste is to dump it in the river. Same thing applies to CO2: dumping it in the atmosphere is cheap right now because the policies to deal with that externality aren't quite there. An obvious example o…

Carbon tax gets proposed often, but it does not work on its own as a singular policy. Existing implementations of this see the money raised by the carbon tax diverted to equally environmentally costly ventures. There really is no easy way to incentivize a society driven by capital to be environmentally responsible because capitalism necessitates a near-sighted and self-centered approach to these things. Take the focu…

The reason carbon taxes work is because the upper echelons of society are responsible for far, far more carbon dioxide and pollution than the overwhelming majority of the world's population.

Despite what we've been told, the planet won't be saved by worker-bees biking to work. It'll be saved by not having the ultra-wealthy flying everywhere in their private jets, and not spending tens of millions of dollars on multiple homes that are lavishly equipped / use massive quantities of energy to heat and cool / have armies of people keeping them clean and the grounds manicured.

Re: Rising groundwater caused by climate change could devastate coastal communities

#50

Post by pitaj »

pelasaco wrote: post #26
_Microft wrote: post #5

Someone submitted this a few posts earlier: "The Amazon is turning into savannah – we have 5 years to save it", https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29540946 Two sides of the same coin but the groundwater problem seems easier to solve. Not because it is technically easier but because the incentives for (rich countries) seem to be a lot stronger. Preventing the own area from flooding is way less abstract than indirect…

Population control. There is no way that we can fit 9-10 billion people on earth and are still able to be sustainable.

Overpopulation is a myth.
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