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

theguardian.com

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

#31

Post by oscillonoscope »

whyenot wrote: post #21
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 grif…

There is no legal mechanism left that could correct course at this point. You would need to have a constitutional amendment to drastically reshape government and that's DOA. All that's left is snow decline and eventual dissolution

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

#32

Post by actionfromafar »

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...

And war in the middle east is going to make it happen faster!

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

#33

Post by estearum »

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 why the federal subsidies for flood insurance need to end

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

#34

Post by estearum »

actionfromafar wrote: post #32
calibas wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

And war in the middle east is going to make it happen faster!

Way too many Americans either don't know or disbelieve that a substantial chunk of the body politic, and now our elected and military leaders, actually literally believe this type of stuff.

IMO any eschatological beliefs whatsoever should be 100% universally disqualifying for any political or military position, no matter what book title or special ancient zombie character they're filed under.

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

#35

Post by estearum »

trunkiedozer wrote: post #13
ortusdux wrote: post #7

Miami too. The city is build on porous limestone. No amount of levees, seawalls, or dams will save it.

Yet those in the know keep building there. Weird isn’t it?

Uhh... "those in the know" are the actuaries and if you were to take away the subsidies provided for homeowners and developers to deny basic mathematical facts, the entire area would be totally unbuildable already.

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

#36

Post by dragonwriter »

oscillonoscope wrote: post #31
whyenot wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 grif…

There is no legal mechanism left that could correct course at this point. You would need to have a constitutional amendment to drastically reshape government and that's DOA. All that's left is snow decline and eventual dissolution

The absence of a legal mechanism does not imply the absence of a mechanism (or even the absence of a peaceful mechanism.)

While there is a legal process for amending the Constitution which, as you note, is likely intractable in the status quo conditions, Constitutional change—whether peaceful (even if there is the implicit consequence of force if compromise is not reached) or not—historically and globally is often an extralegal process that is retrospectively legalized, rather than a legal process under pre-existing rules.

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

#37

Post by marcosdumay »

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...

AFAIK there's no fixing in the plan. They just expect Jesus to take them away and finish breaking everything down so everybody else suffers.

I don't normally interact with people that believe that. But from a distance it looks like the second half is about as important as the first.

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

#38

Post by otterley »

crystal_revenge wrote: post #30
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 gro…

Discussing climate change has never been banned; this sort of claim is easily disproved by even the most cursory of searches in the box below. Try it.

Here, I’ll say it right now: climate change is real, it has deleterious effects on our world, and we should take collective action to mitigate or even reverse it.

Now, there’s an expectation that commenters conduct themselves appropriately and contribute to the overall well being of this site. If a person misbehaves when discussing this or any topic, that’s when they get spanked.

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

#39

Post by tbrownaw »

msla wrote: post #20
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

There's precedent: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2140747-laws-of-mathema... > “The laws of mathematics are very commendable, but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia,” said Turnbull [the Prime Minster of Australia]

Was he wrong? That sounds like it was about some sort of mandatory-mitm scheme or ban on e2e encryption. Like, yes, you can pretty easily make it impossible for the government to decrypt your bits, but the government can just as easily arrest you for it.

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

#40

Post by rasz »

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...

Isnt he already running the country now?
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