Quote:
Originally Posted by molson
The economic impact will hurt us before the direct environmental impact does. How we deal with less of the earth's surface being habitable, as population grows. How we deal with environmental migrants (the migrant waves of the future). Humans are extraordinary adaptable and have the ability to figure this shit out. If it's our top priority.
|
I suspect you are correct about us feeling the economic impact first, but I fear it will take an environmental disaster to affect real change.
I liken it to 9/11. Sure, the cruise ship and airplane hijackings of the 80s and 90s (along with Munich and Tehran) put Islamic terrorism on the political map for the first time, but even the WTC bombings didn't quite get it to where wars were launched. That took 9/11, an extreme event costing thousands of lives, to make us truly aware.
I think there will be a climate change 9/11. My guess would be a massive series of hurricanes that result in Florida being partially submerged and uninhabitable, or a similar water event deluge in lower Manhattan. But I think it might take more than one. I'm thinking parts of Shanghai becoming flooded and uninhabitable. The U.S. won't be scared if China gets hit and China won't care if the U.S. gets hit. It will take two 9/11 level climate change events to occur for the two biggest economies to get on board.