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California and Florida now lead the country in climate change risks

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Re: California and Florida now lead the country in climate change risks

#11

Post by no_wizard »

Aloha wrote: post #3

California and Florida were indeed sold where the idea of a perfect climate - by land speculators. In both places the reality of the situation was not what was promised: California with periodic drought, and a general shortage of water in the places people wanted to live. Drought which brings fire, followed by wet years, which bring mud. My entire childhood was punctuated by dry, fire, rain, mud - rinse and repeat, l…

>Climate change may be making these problems more extreme

It most certainly is. The periods of drought are lasting longer and are more intense, and the colder periods aren't as cold and aren't nearly as "wet"

Climate may still be cycling as it did historically, however its happening with more intensity for hotter months and colder months aren't getting as cold. If models are even semi-accurate, the western Sierras may not even get snow packs in the winter at all but the highest elevations

Re: California and Florida now lead the country in climate change risks

#12

Post by Dig1t »

Aloha wrote: post #3

California and Florida were indeed sold where the idea of a perfect climate - by land speculators. In both places the reality of the situation was not what was promised: California with periodic drought, and a general shortage of water in the places people wanted to live. Drought which brings fire, followed by wet years, which bring mud. My entire childhood was punctuated by dry, fire, rain, mud - rinse and repeat, l…

California could solve their water problem if they wanted. Desalination is a proven technology that could alleviate all of California's problems. Israel gets over 50% of their water from it.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/israel-proves-the...

California could power it with nuclear energy; they already have nuclear power plants and they have all of the engineering talent they need to make it happen. They are simply choosing not to solve their problems. In fact they are doing the opposite, they are shutting down their nuclear reactors and exacerbating their water problems by continuing to allow farmers to use all their available water on inefficient crops like almonds.

It's honestly mystifying how a state full of so many smart people and with one-party complete control of politics is unable to solve a basic problem for which they have all the tools. They really don't have any excuses.

Florida, on the other hand, yes they do have a hurricane problem. I don't know what they can do about that.

Re: California and Florida now lead the country in climate change risks

#13

Post by chrisco255 »

paxys wrote: post #2

California and Florida are the 1st and 3rd most populous states in the country. We hear about the effects of climate change disproportionately in these states simply because there are a lot more people affected (by sheer number) than elsewhere. Otherwise the problems are the same as everywhere else.

I was born in Florida, and the climate is basically the same as it has been since the 90s. When I was young I would explore all the abandoned orange groves in central Florida, that suffered from repeated freezes in the 70s and 80s, where prior to those decades, citrus was reliably grown (orange trees are extremely vulnerable to freezes). If anything the current climate is a return to 19th/20th century norms for Florida. You can reliably track the swings in climate in the state by looking at the growth line for citrus, and the freeze line in general, which has been tracked for close to 200 years. I suppose I'll start worrying about the climate when they're able to grow oranges in Georgia.

I wish climate change were scary enough to keep the state from doubling in population every 10-20 years, but alas.

Re: California and Florida now lead the country in climate change risks

#14

Post by mcntsh »

(Coastal) California still has the perfect climate compared to basically everywhere else in the US, even considering the "dangerous heat waves, extended droughts that threaten the water supply, and uncontrollable wildfires."

Writing this from the east coast where we have wild fires, 500 AQI days, *months long of 85+ degree days with high humidity. Pretty sure California got more rain this year than New York.

Re: California and Florida now lead the country in climate change risks

#15

Post by fodkodrasz »

xnx wrote: post #6

Weird that the article doesn't mention air conditioning, which basically makes life in Florida possible. Florida population almost doubled in 10 years with widespread air conditioning: https://theparklander.com/2017/07/07/floridas-sweltering-lif...

> air conditioning, which basically makes life in Florida possible

the linked article itself explains that life was indeed possible without AC, and describes the way it went.

Re: California and Florida now lead the country in climate change risks

#16

Post by [deleted] »

chucksta wrote: post #8
paxys wrote: post #2

California and Florida are the 1st and 3rd most populous states in the country. We hear about the effects of climate change disproportionately in these states simply because there are a lot more people affected (by sheer number) than elsewhere. Otherwise the problems are the same as everywhere else.

They are substantially worse areas for natural disasters then other regions of the US https://www.envistaforensics.com/knowledge-center/insights/a...

[deleted]

Re: California and Florida now lead the country in climate change risks

#18

Post by jart »

mcntsh wrote: post #14

(Coastal) California still has the perfect climate compared to basically everywhere else in the US, even considering the "dangerous heat waves, extended droughts that threaten the water supply, and uncontrollable wildfires." Writing this from the east coast where we have wild fires, 500 AQI days, *months long of 85+ degree days with high humidity. Pretty sure California got more rain this year than New York.

Yeah the weather people in the Bay Area consider a calamity, east coasters would call Tuesday.

Re: California and Florida now lead the country in climate change risks

#19

Post by intrasight »

pfisch wrote: post #9
Aloha wrote: post #3

California and Florida were indeed sold where the idea of a perfect climate - by land speculators. In both places the reality of the situation was not what was promised: California with periodic drought, and a general shortage of water in the places people wanted to live. Drought which brings fire, followed by wet years, which bring mud. My entire childhood was punctuated by dry, fire, rain, mud - rinse and repeat, l…

While that is fine, it seems like we should also continue to decarbonize right? I'm personally all for geoengineering solutions, but even that is just a bandaid. We do need to address the core problem here. We are having record high heat almost every day it seems like. Eventually it will get so hot the problems will become extreme, possibly beyond our ability to continue to mass produce food.

Why do you say that geoengineering is just a bandaid? The planet is heated by the sun and by nothing else that I'm aware of. Geoengineering is really the only solution. There's no likely plan to decarbonize.
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