Climate Change: Where We'll Have to Live and Where We'll Need to Leave

[littlemissmartypants]

Climate Change: Where We’ll Have to Live and Where We’ll Need to Leave

By John Loeffler

August 23rd, 2019

https://interestingengineering.com/climate-change-where-well-have-to-live-and-where-well-need-to-leave

Climate change is a global phenomenon, and no place on Earth will be truly safe from it’s effects, but some places will fare better than others.

As climate change becomes more and more of a reality, people are naturally thinking more about how it is going to impact them directly.

Stronger hurricanes, melting ice sheets, and crippling heat waves quickly become the norm around the world, and people are starting to look for where they might have the best chance to weather the worst effects of climate change.

The bad news is that no place on Earth will be unaffected by climate change. Our climate is all-encompassing, so everything will undergo some kind of transformation in response to changes in the climate; the only question is how these changes will affect the life forms that live there.

Some places will certainly fare better than others, while others will become entirely uninhabitable fairly quickly. By 2100, it will be a different planet, and these are the ways we are likely to try to adapt.

Places likely to see major population exoduses due to climate change

What most people are most concerned about is what are the places that will be most negatively affected. In many cases, people simply want to know if they need to start packing their bags and get out while they can still sell the house they bought along the coast, even if they take a loss on the sale. They aren't alone.

One of the most critical dangers of climate change is that as the sea levels rise and heat scorches arable land and turns them into deserts, while it evaporates reservoirs of drinking water in many parts of the world. All of the preparation we're making to somehow allow our city to ride out the climate crisis is doomed to failure. You can hold back the rising seas for a very long time, right up until the day that you no longer can.

Right, normal topographic map of Florida: Left, lt. blue colors land 10m above sea level, dk. blue 5m above sea level Source: NASA/JPL/NGA

...snip...

Much more at the link: https://interestingengineering.com/climate-change-where-well-have-to-live-and-where-well-need-to-leave

[pamdb]

1. Where to live

I used to think I’d like to leave western Michigan for someplace warmer. Now I’m thinking, not
So much. At least we have water.

[bronxiteforever]

2. K& R. The part about the pathogens

and that after the thaw human beings will encounter diseases that we have no prior exposure to is especially chilling.

[Boomer]

7. That risk is way exaggerated

The fact that these viruses and pathogens were iced before humans arrived on the scene is actually in our favor. They haven't evolved to exploit the human body.

The biggest threat to humans is viruses that thrive in domestic animals, like chickens and pigs. They are reservoirs for viruses that are constantly recombining and mutating, and very rarely one of those mutation is compatible with human physiology and we're infected. Most of the time, however, species-specific viruses don't affect us at all.

[Mountain Mule]

3. Famine will wipe us out before we get the chance to make any major moves (nt)

[Autumn]

4. Agree. I think eventually the politicians will attempt to save the coastal cities and low lying

cities until it's too late. By the time that hits, it will be too late to do anything about feeding millions of displaced people. There will be a lot less areas habitable for growing food to feed millions.

[mountain grammy]

5. Yep, that's where the wealth is.

Miami will spend billions on pumps, etc, all for nothing.

[Autumn]

6. Yes, all while ignoring the problem that will kill millions.