The Gullah and Geechee. You crack me up.
Posted by f_galton on Jan 28, 2013 at 1:53 PM
This is a very important article and suggests the plausible course of events in coming decades. Even the most reactionary members of the super-rich wil be forced by climate realities to drop funding the irrational denialism. They will inevitably seek to build massive structures to protect what they have but that reaction is based on a faulty premise. If we keep burning fossil fuel, water levels will continue to rise long past 2100 and overwhelm any barriers. And it seems likely that temperatures and sea levels are already set on a course that cannot be reversed for centuries or millenia - even if we switched over to completely renewable energy sources next week. The only solution may be to abandon great stretches of the coast and rebuild NY and other such cities farther inland.
I can see conservatives and liberals alike coming together in future decades to support the kind of barriers discussed in this article but in the end a whole new way of life transcending both failed ideologies will have to emerge. To think we can preserve a city like New York, much as I love it, intact for ages is no more than a wish or a dream.
Posted by Joseph_Ryan on Jan 28, 2013 at 2:47 PM
Silly. This generation has been sacrificing the poor for years, most especially since Clinton. Specifically on the complex issue issue of air quality/destruction of our ecosystem, this generation is a lost cause. Face it, Americans are like a person sitting in his idling car, pouring huge amounts of carcinogens into the air, who rolls down the window to yell at a passing smoker for “polluting my air.”
Posted by Dh Fabian on Feb 1, 2013 at 7:34 PM
You’re thinking two hundred years ahead? Funny, that’s about seven generations. Good thinking
Posted by Steve Woodward on Feb 11, 2013 at 1:21 AM
@“But political will does not develop out of thin air. To achieve this vision will require broad-based social mobilization…. One thing is certain: Rather than allow the political conversation to revolve around cold cost-benefit calculations, we must redefine the problem in social and ecological terms….
Well, good luck with the political will; it should be very, very evident that “political will” is a function of bux. Broad-based mobilization, in a city like New York!, means REALLY broad-based, as in the entire city of Manhattan as well as all the surrounding counties. Otherwise, the only “political will” that NYC will ever respond to is these fucking developers. Location, location, location. And the developers don’t give a rat’s ass about protecting NYC from surges; they make **big-time money** off of disasters, and this kind of prevention is simply not on their radar. Hate to be pessimistic about this, but it’s every person for themselves, and God help the poor and the indigent.
Posted by superbad2011 on Feb 12, 2013 at 2:35 PM
Reader Comments
The Gullah and Geechee. You crack me up.
Posted by f_galton on Jan 28, 2013 at 1:53 PM
This is a very important article and suggests the plausible course of events in coming decades. Even the most reactionary members of the super-rich wil be forced by climate realities to drop funding the irrational denialism. They will inevitably seek to build massive structures to protect what they have but that reaction is based on a faulty premise. If we keep burning fossil fuel, water levels will continue to rise long past 2100 and overwhelm any barriers. And it seems likely that temperatures and sea levels are already set on a course that cannot be reversed for centuries or millenia - even if we switched over to completely renewable energy sources next week. The only solution may be to abandon great stretches of the coast and rebuild NY and other such cities farther inland.
I can see conservatives and liberals alike coming together in future decades to support the kind of barriers discussed in this article but in the end a whole new way of life transcending both failed ideologies will have to emerge. To think we can preserve a city like New York, much as I love it, intact for ages is no more than a wish or a dream.
Posted by Joseph_Ryan on Jan 28, 2013 at 2:47 PM
Silly. This generation has been sacrificing the poor for years, most especially since Clinton. Specifically on the complex issue issue of air quality/destruction of our ecosystem, this generation is a lost cause. Face it, Americans are like a person sitting in his idling car, pouring huge amounts of carcinogens into the air, who rolls down the window to yell at a passing smoker for “polluting my air.”
Posted by Dh Fabian on Feb 1, 2013 at 7:34 PM
You’re thinking two hundred years ahead? Funny, that’s about seven generations. Good thinking
Posted by Steve Woodward on Feb 11, 2013 at 1:21 AM
@“But political will does not develop out of thin air. To achieve this vision will require broad-based social mobilization…. One thing is certain: Rather than allow the political conversation to revolve around cold cost-benefit calculations, we must redefine the problem in social and ecological terms….
Well, good luck with the political will; it should be very, very evident that “political will” is a function of bux. Broad-based mobilization, in a city like New York!, means REALLY broad-based, as in the entire city of Manhattan as well as all the surrounding counties. Otherwise, the only “political will” that NYC will ever respond to is these fucking developers. Location, location, location. And the developers don’t give a rat’s ass about protecting NYC from surges; they make **big-time money** off of disasters, and this kind of prevention is simply not on their radar. Hate to be pessimistic about this, but it’s every person for themselves, and God help the poor and the indigent.
Posted by superbad2011 on Feb 12, 2013 at 2:35 PM