Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 230 posts

Re: 'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level

#21

Post by whyenot »

comrade1234 wrote: post #4

I would be surprised if the USA is even able to plan far enough ahead to put in a sea barrier/gates in time to protect New York City, similar to London. New Orleans? At least the old town is elevated.

I am increasingly pessimistic about the long term future of the US. What are the chances that we will still be one country in a generation or two? Trump might have poured gasoline on the fire, but the federal government has been in decline for years. Congress is completely dysfunctional. The filibuster prevents the senate from doing anything. The president is at war with the civil servants and more interested in grift, punishing percieved enemies and erecting monuments to himself instead actually leading.

Addressing climate change requires massive changes and a lot of political courage. There is none.

Re: 'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level

#22

Post by MengerSponge »

calibas wrote: post #17
comrade1234 wrote: post #4

I would be surprised if the USA is even able to plan far enough ahead to put in a sea barrier/gates in time to protect New York City, similar to London. New Orleans? At least the old town is elevated.

Our long term plan is for Jesus to come back and fix everything. I wish I was joking...

That's the short term plan, baby! The long term plan is to be the elect who get raptured first.

Re: 'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level

#24

Post by fsckboy »

madrox wrote: post #10

My roots are in Louisiana, and this makes me incredibly sad. It is such a unique place that has no like, and drives all tourism in the state. Where will tourists celebrate Mardi Gras after it's gone? Baton Rouge? Sadder, still, to know that nothing will be done. No one will be relocated. Just one day a weather event like a hurricane will happen to destroy the area and it will be labeled derelict with no funds to rebu…

[flagged]

Re: 'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level

#25

Post by 2ndorderthought »

fsckboy wrote: post #24
madrox wrote: post #10

My roots are in Louisiana, and this makes me incredibly sad. It is such a unique place that has no like, and drives all tourism in the state. Where will tourists celebrate Mardi Gras after it's gone? Baton Rouge? Sadder, still, to know that nothing will be done. No one will be relocated. Just one day a weather event like a hurricane will happen to destroy the area and it will be labeled derelict with no funds to rebu…

[flagged]

Have you seen housing prices lately? It's insane for the average person especially if no one will be buying your home and you still have a mortagage

Re: 'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level

#26

Post by kelseyfrog »

fsckboy wrote: post #24
madrox wrote: post #10

My roots are in Louisiana, and this makes me incredibly sad. It is such a unique place that has no like, and drives all tourism in the state. Where will tourists celebrate Mardi Gras after it's gone? Baton Rouge? Sadder, still, to know that nothing will be done. No one will be relocated. Just one day a weather event like a hurricane will happen to destroy the area and it will be labeled derelict with no funds to rebu…

[flagged]

Aquaman is going to have to buy a lot of homes.

Re: 'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level

#27

Post by fsckboy »

2ndorderthought wrote: post #25
fsckboy wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Have you seen housing prices lately? It's insane for the average person especially if no one will be buying your home and you still have a mortagage

so, you're talking not about renters but about homeowners, and you're saying housing prices are up everywhere else except they are down in New Orleans? I'm not from NOLA so I'm not going to bone up on prices, but I do doubt what you are saying holds water.

Re: 'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level

#28

Post by mort96 »

fsckboy wrote: post #24
madrox wrote: post #10

My roots are in Louisiana, and this makes me incredibly sad. It is such a unique place that has no like, and drives all tourism in the state. Where will tourists celebrate Mardi Gras after it's gone? Baton Rouge? Sadder, still, to know that nothing will be done. No one will be relocated. Just one day a weather event like a hurricane will happen to destroy the area and it will be labeled derelict with no funds to rebu…

[flagged]

This is decent advice on an individual level. Despite the fact that you probably can't sell your doomed house for a lot due to the current situation, planning a move is probably a good idea for those who can afford it.

But it's not really a solution on a population level. For one, if everyone sold their house because it'll soon be underwater, who'd they sell their house to? Aquaman? For two, a lot of people just won't be able to afford an expense like that. A large portion of the US lives paycheck to paycheck, and it's not easy to "just save up" a few hundred thousand when that means giving up on basic necessities.

Re: 'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level

#29

Post by californical »

fsckboy wrote: post #24
madrox wrote: post #10

My roots are in Louisiana, and this makes me incredibly sad. It is such a unique place that has no like, and drives all tourism in the state. Where will tourists celebrate Mardi Gras after it's gone? Baton Rouge? Sadder, still, to know that nothing will be done. No one will be relocated. Just one day a weather event like a hurricane will happen to destroy the area and it will be labeled derelict with no funds to rebu…

[flagged]

Generally I agree, and we’ve known this for a long time but people stay in denial. It’s the same thing in Miami.

Unfortunately though, the solution isn’t that easy.

For one, if you own property there, you’re basically either caught holding a bag with life changing amounts of money lost, or trying to pass it off to another sucker which just feels unethical.

For two, families and communities make it hard for people. Many rely on their friends and family as support systems. Elderly for example, may only have their family taking care of them and their poker night friends are the only ones they have left - if they go somewhere, that system becomes fragmented and people get left behind. Maybe you are the main caretaker of an elderly relative, so you can’t leave them behind, but if they follow you then they lose the rest of their network.

I’m sure there are tons of other reasons but just knowing there’s an imminent threat at some vague point in the future is sometimes not enough for people to willingly go through all of the suffering that I mentioned above, and more that I’m not metioning

Re: 'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level

#30

Post by crystal_revenge »

bypdx wrote: post #2

Rather than relocate, we can make discussion of climate change illegal or just tax the blue states to build a sea wall around the entire city

> discussion of climate change illegal

Well discussing it was de facto banned on HN for many years (still wouldn't be surprised if this post disappears soon).

Any climate change post that was anything other than "everything is fine because of electric vehicles/solar/wind/etc", especially if it dare suggest that the situation was dire, would quickly get 'flagged' by the vocal minority (but still surprisingly large group of people) on HN who don't want to believe in climate change. Years ago, on different accounts, I would complain about HN's status-quo enforcing censorship logic, only to be boo'd away. This community is, at it's heart, one that has been a part of the process of encouraging climate change.

I stopped complaining when I realized that nobody is seriously interested in tackling climate change (where you have to keep fossil fuels in the ground), so we're going to experience the full consequences of it (and yes, it does pose an existential risk). The annoying part is that people will continue to deny anything is happening no matter how aggressively visible real the impacts are.

At this point there really is no reason to discuss climate change any more, most people really can't deal with the reality of what it represents (even people who think they are 'green').

Post reply on HN