Climate Change Will Eventually Cause a Horrible Epiphany: Certain Parts of the World Will Soon Be No Longer Habitable
I just Googled “caribbean uninhabitable,” wondering if I could be the only person on Earth who believes that climate change will eventually render that part of the world unable to support human civilization. We’re now learning that it could take over a year to restore power to the entirety of Puerto Rico. What will we conclude if, at this time next year, another Cat 5 hurricane knocks down what just took billions of dollars and 12 months to repair?
It would take a special kind of person (an idiot?) to want to build a house in a region that is so prone to super-virulent storms that it is highly likely to be destroyed within a matter of a few years. And even if you’re willing to take that chance, what happens to property values when tourists (who contribute the majority of these islands’ GDP) take their dollars to places that aren’t likely to be evacuated and washed away? I guess there will be people who schedule a late summer or early fall vacation in that part of the world next year, but one certainly has to question their intelligence.
When we try to ascribe a dollar value to the cost of climate change, it may be a good idea to include the entire present-day value of the real estate in this entire region. That’s a lot of coconuts.
We should do more to avoid the climate change, because in recent years, the extreme weather is much more frequent.
Craig,
Good grief Craig, you’ve got to stop with this pessimism before you become one of those weird survivalists living with stockpiled cans of food in a disused missile silo !
For a man who lives in Santa Barbara, a location by your own theory about to become underwater, or destroyed by earthquake, fires, etc. calling other beach loving residents “intelligent” is a bit odd !
(People still live in Pompeii !)
Waterside, beachfront properties are highly prized. Island property sales and prices are on the increase.
Hurricanes, Typhoons, cyclones, are nothing new. Even Tsuami’s, massive earthquakes, etc don’t deter humans from rebuilding . We’re a persistent, resilient, resourceful and determined species.
We take natural disasters in our stride.
As Lawrence pointed out, maybe, without realizing it, you’re just getting old and curmudgeonly 🙂 ? It’s starts with hating the music of young people, loud parties, new fashions, etc.
Before you know it, you’re either wearing a grey pony tail, or your pants up ’round your chest:).
My Daughter sent me information from the Pacific ocean nation, Cook Islands, that of the 15 island making up the archipelago, nine have actually increased in size over the past 50 years.
The exact nature and effects of climate change are still unknown, and many result defy early predictions.
“The exact nature and effects of climate change are still unknown, and many result(s?) defy early predictions.”
Yup. Anything’s possible. I happen to be a fan of science, but that’s just me.
Craig,
Well as a “fan of science” you should know making predictions with ‘absolute certainty’ is unscientific !
Accurate predictability is based on knowing all the elements of the dynamic, while being able to guarantee no new or unknown element emerge or occur.
No true scientist would guarantee to be all knowing, with no new knowledge left to be discovered. Only prophets, and cult leaders claim the gift of absolute truth.
Those Olympian Oracles you worship, may not be real scientists, or then again it might be you, the acolyte, who has attributed to your heroes an infallibility they neither sought or accepted.
But, c’mon, don’t you find the evidence of Pacific islands actually enlarging interesting, even a little intriguing ?
If we believed the alarmists, these islands should be submerged by now !
Your ideas about the relationship between climate change and the valur of real estaste is really logic. Thanks for rasing such a good idea.
Craig,
Puerto Rico was already completely bankrupt. 8 years of mismanagement from “conservative” style governance with very low tax rates for wealthy people had racked up a debt level that the country couldn’t easily repay, and then the Great Recession happened… forcing the government to take extremely high interest loans to cover the spread, and forever raising the interest on bonds that they had to take out.
As the government of Puerto Rico faced this, they slid into a debt spiral: they cut spending on infrastructure, policing, and schooling… which made them less desirable of a country to live in, so the wealthier people just started moving to the continental states.
This has continued for the past 7 years or so… leaving their people heavily burdened with debt, dilapidated infrastructure, and no wealth left on the island to tap to put things back together after Maria. It’s likely that in the wake of the devastation, literally anyone on the island that can possibly do so will sell their possessions and come to the continental U.S. to start over, leaving the tattered mess of debris for those who are too poor to abandon the island.
The bonds will have to be defaulted on, and the spiral will continue to collapse.
Unless DC chooses to make some significant investments now to help these desperate people, we are looking at the sudden impoverishment and desperation of at least 2.5 million people.
It’s tragic… and we need to be looking for solutions NOW rather than bitching about the fact that some people are engaging in peaceful protests for defensible reasons.
Glenn,
The woes besetting Puerto Rico are far deeper that your facile description.
Attributing the economic or environmental difficulties the Island is encountering is not the result of some profligate “conservative style” government.
Puerto Rico has suffered (and benefited) from a long and often confused relationship with it’s colonial master, the United States.
Puerto Rico is evidence of US hypocrisy in foreign policy and administration. Well meaning US citizens like Craig have a Readers Digest of ‘US Moral leadership’ , which is completely contrary to the behavior of the US in such places as Puerto Rico.
The ‘Government of Puerto Rico’ is a peculiar hybrid without any real degree of sovereignty. The US exerts is authority through entities such as PROMESA, a US government Control Board that ‘oversees’ (and can override or alter) the Puerto Rico Government.
Puerto Rico’s economy also suffers from being obliged to obey US mandate4s such as the Jones Act, which adds greatly to the cost of transport, restricts trade with other nations, and adds a complicated raft of regulations to and already confused bureaucracy.
The US Congress can make laws concerning the lives of Puerto Rican’s, including taxation, yet Puerto Rican’s have no voice in the US elections. (what happened to “no taxation without Representation eh?).
When the 88-year-old earthen Guajataca Dam bursts adding to the already massive destruction of the Island’s infrastructure, it should be remembered this long neglected structure was always under the authority of a US Government Agency.
Rebuilding Puerto Rico is a US responsibility. The estimated cost of $35 billion should be borne by the US as well as the US federal government absorbing the current debt of $ 72 billion.
That’s the price required for owning colonies.
( Although, it must be conceded, FEMA and the US military do seem to be mounting an effective relief operation).
Yes, global warming is a very scary trend. This should attract people’s attention. From now on, everyone should make great efforts to protect the environment.
Yes, climate change will do great harm to human beings. So we should protect the environment and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.