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

Louisiana’s Governor Declares State Of Emergency Over Disappearing Coastline

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 145 posts

Re: Louisiana’s Governor Declares State Of Emergency Over Disappearing Coastline

#61

Post by _fizz_buzz_ »

adolph wrote: post #29

The first two comments seem to associate anthropogenic climate change with the changes in Louisiana's coastline. A more likely culprit is hydrologic mismanagement. The coastline was formed by waterways that periodically changed channels and dumped sediment in different areas. In relatively recent times cities on the existing waterways became politically influential enough for the federal government to build a series…

Sea levels have risen due to global warming by about 20 cm in the past century. This is most definitely one of the reasons for the receding coastline in Louisiana. They are both contributing factors.

Re: Louisiana’s Governor Declares State Of Emergency Over Disappearing Coastline

#62

Post by throwaway5752 »

adolph wrote: post #29

The first two comments seem to associate anthropogenic climate change with the changes in Louisiana's coastline. A more likely culprit is hydrologic mismanagement. The coastline was formed by waterways that periodically changed channels and dumped sediment in different areas. In relatively recent times cities on the existing waterways became politically influential enough for the federal government to build a series…

It doesn't have to be one or the other. In fact, it's likely that it's both (rising sea levels exacerbating natural delta silt deposition disrupted by dredging and loss of mangroves)

Re: Louisiana’s Governor Declares State Of Emergency Over Disappearing Coastline

#63

Post by philipov »

bkkssnn wrote: post #58
philipov wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'I'll be gone; you'll be gone.'

The thing i still don't get is that most of these people have kids right? How can it not be a relevant issue for them ?

I suspect there is a lot of "If I don't do it first, someone else will, and they'll be the ones to make all the profits" going on. In that kind of environment, the best thing you can do for your kids is make as much money as possible so at least they will be rich enough to enjoy whatever's left.

Re: Louisiana’s Governor Declares State Of Emergency Over Disappearing Coastline

#64

Post by 0xfeba »

holtalanm wrote: post #60
scottlegrand2 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The members of the creative class who live in the major cities and take mass transit or bike or walk to work have the right idea. Bonus points for working at home or going full Mr. Money Mustache. Unfortunately that's not practical for most people. Also, we overinvest in our highways and cars because there seems to be almost no collective will to build a national transportation network beyond that. And I don't want t…

You'll have to pry the beef from my cold, dead fingers.

Hey, I'll take a synthetic meat burger. Just get some fat on it and I'm good.

Re: Louisiana’s Governor Declares State Of Emergency Over Disappearing Coastline

#65

Post by gavinpc »

bkkssnn wrote: post #53
arbuge wrote: post #36

Meanwhile, on CNN's front page today: http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/20/us/louisiana-climate-change-sk...

>Dotson gets red in the face, repeating that scientific studies showing climate change as affecting weather patterns or warming the Earth are simply wrong. This godly redneck can tell yearly temprature average fluctuations by 0.1 degrees, and using it as anecdotal proof that climate change is a fraud. >"The climate is exactly the same as when I was a kid. Summers hot, winters cold."

In his mind, he's still a kid.

Re: Louisiana’s Governor Declares State Of Emergency Over Disappearing Coastline

#66

Post by snomad »

coldpie wrote: post #12
scottlegrand2 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The members of the creative class who live in the major cities and take mass transit or bike or walk to work have the right idea. Bonus points for working at home or going full Mr. Money Mustache. Unfortunately that's not practical for most people. Also, we overinvest in our highways and cars because there seems to be almost no collective will to build a national transportation network beyond that. And I don't want t…

It'd be great if the conversation were about how we can solve these problems, but currently the conversation is about whether the scientific reality of climate change is actually a hoax invented by the Chinese. So long as these yahoos keep getting elected, we've got a long ways to go before we start talking about cutting beef out of our diet.

Then don't take about global warming. Talk about conserving water, talk about providing cheaper forms of energy for cars / home, talk about enhancing federal / state parks, etc.

Re: Louisiana’s Governor Declares State Of Emergency Over Disappearing Coastline

#67

Post by ainiriand »

ThomPete wrote: post #45
spodek wrote: post #3

I've been asking people to name the most effective leaders in the area of global warming. When I say my answer, they look surprised, but then agree: the Koch Brothers and Donald Trump. They are leading people not to change their behavior and this is the result. No one is leading in the direction of reducing consumption with nearly the effectiveness as them. Instead of leading ourselves, the overwhelming majority of A…

Dont think this is a climate change issue.

It never is.

Re: Louisiana’s Governor Declares State Of Emergency Over Disappearing Coastline

#68

Post by obstinate »

treehau5 wrote: post #44
scottlegrand2 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The members of the creative class who live in the major cities and take mass transit or bike or walk to work have the right idea. Bonus points for working at home or going full Mr. Money Mustache. Unfortunately that's not practical for most people. Also, we overinvest in our highways and cars because there seems to be almost no collective will to build a national transportation network beyond that. And I don't want t…

Can I still eat lots of poultry and pork? If so, I'd be down with less beef. I'm down to about one hamburger and one steak a week.

Yes. Cutting beef from your diet and replacing it with other meats cuts about 80% of the difference in carbon emissions between the typical American diet and a vegetarian diet.

(Although the total difference in carbon emissions from diet are subsumed by the emissions of one cross-country plane flight [1] [2], so if you're concerned about optimizing the inner loop, that's what you, as a typical reader of this site, probably need to look at.)

[1]: http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/food-carbon-footprint-diet

[2]: http://calculator.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx?tab=3

Re: Louisiana’s Governor Declares State Of Emergency Over Disappearing Coastline

#69

Post by s_kilk »

obstinate wrote: post #26
scottlegrand2 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The members of the creative class who live in the major cities and take mass transit or bike or walk to work have the right idea. Bonus points for working at home or going full Mr. Money Mustache. Unfortunately that's not practical for most people. Also, we overinvest in our highways and cars because there seems to be almost no collective will to build a national transportation network beyond that. And I don't want t…

They (we, I should say, as a city slicker myself) have the right idea, provided we don't wipe out all our annual carbon savings in one go by flying to Thailand for holiday.

> provided we don't wipe out all our annual carbon savings in one go by flying to Thailand for holiday.

I fear this is the thing that'll prevent any real progress toward managing climate change. While everyone will accept using canvas bags instead of plastic, they also want to keep the luxuries they've become accustomed to.

Re: Louisiana’s Governor Declares State Of Emergency Over Disappearing Coastline

#70

Post by averagewall »

ehnto wrote: post #16
averagewall wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with losing coastline? There's no shortage of land in America or the world in general.

Entire cities will have to be moved as even a few meters of rise can flood an entire region. It is not as if we just lose a bit of beach, if sea levels rise then everything at the new level that can be sought by water through rivers or otherwise will be under water. Not Atlantis style, but no longer habitable by cities as we currently build them. What's more, the coastline going missing is but one symptom. Weather pa…

That's a very vague prediction. It might not be worth doing anything at all, other than planning where to move cities to gradually as the need requires. If we pull out all the stops to prevent it now, we might have wasted our resources - spending more than we saved by preventing it. Almost every building that exists today was build in the past 100 years. We can surely keep up some of that work in the next 100 years.

Are there any more concrete numbers about how much destruction is expected from global warming? It's not infinite and it must be less than some amount of money.

Post reply on HN