Agnes by Tony Cochran for December 29, 2015

A highly charged discussion.

According to the state of Virginia, it’s not happening. All those Naval stations are sinking under their own weight. According to my back yard – well, YIKES is all I can say.

- whether it is or it isn’t – it won’t stop or ‘never have been’ just because someone reported it or didn’t report it – thinks it’s true or doesn’t think it’s true – but it sure gives everyone something to fight about – ahhhh the diversion of controversy and entertainment to keep the masses engaged in one up man ship and supposed intellectual superiority -

Well Trout, people are motivated by things that sometimes neither we nor they themselves completely understand. Zealots of any stripe think that all should be motivated by what motivates them. Makes for an interesting world sometimes.

Climate change has already affected Trout’s cap.

Agnes has a right to be concerned. If her trailer park becomes valuable beachfront property, it’s likely she and her grandma will be evicted.

Some folks will benefit, some will lose out. When sea level rises more than 80 feet, I will need some pontoons, most likely.

“Well if you are still around in 2100 it might just be 40’. However for ever foot vertically it can be as much as 100’ horizontally inland. ".I MIGHT be. Surely it’s cheaper to cure old age than all the associated ailments. (Or I could be dead before nightfall at the hands of a drunk driver. (NOTE TO ALL: You are more likely to be killed by a non Muslim drunk driver than you are by a radical but sober Muslim.)).Anyhoo, if changes happen slowly enough, natural migration patterns can move most with minimal effort. I live 80’ above sea level. Much of Florida is less than 6’ above sea level. Most of 20,000,000 people gotta get gone by the time of a 6’ rise.

“One day you will be on your own because the state will not have the money to continue to repair the damage. ".Ultimately we are all on our own, that’s why we band together. Moving sand around is just to keep the tourists coming and the fools buying buildings on beaches. When they no longer make the state money, it will forget them. They’ll want to be somewhere else by then anyway, so you’ll be able to buy a condo cheap, just remember to get an upper floor, say 80’ or so above current sea level. Get it before the 20,000,000 snap it up, though

“Fascists will benefit because in order to “protect us” such things as Democracy will be over thrown for corporate and govt dictators to monitor us with fewer rights for us, more for them.”.Nope.Fear doesn’t last that long and the people won’t give up their rights without good reason and only in the short term.Nor will corporations take over a money losing proposition like government..We will adjust and humanity will prevail, even if it involves lots of house boats and ski~doos.

Great stuff Mr. Cochran. Trout explains the problem perfectly.

I have ideas about the climate change problem. I agree it should be fixed even though I love hot weather. The way to go is more natural gas pipelines so we can make the burning of oil and coal obsolete. Also, the worst problem is China. It’s difficult to breathe in their cities. They got to get rid of their coal industry.

There are many science deniers here in America. They want to throw out science they don’t understand or they don’t like. Human caused global warming and evolution are good examples.

“Humanity” may prevail, but likely in reduced numbers and significantly less comfortable conditions. We can expect increased storm activity in addition to increasing sea levels.

“If we handle it correctly some would survive, among those a few will live with the best humanity has to offer technologically the rest will live hand-to-mouth if they can survive at all”.

You really think handling it correctly should result in most dead, most of the rest barely surviving and a self~selected handful prospering??You DO know that would be very poor handling, don’t you??Given sufficient energy, there is no reason all human needs couldn’t be exceeded a thousand times over. There is no shortage of available unharnessed energy. It can produce food, clothing, housing of the highest imaginable quality, produced by machines or biological constructs or things we can’t imagine in 2016 but which will be old hat in 2030 and obsolete technology in 2040.

“.The default govt for humanity is some kind of despotism or totalitarian control. Theocratic or secular.”.Fun to say, but not true..Despots and tyrannies are EXTREMELY inefficient. Their biggest fear is information in the hands of the people. Even though Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both want to limit internet information exchange, that doesn’t mean they will succeed even if elected. Most are even less likely to try..Theocracies are especially unlikely to survive because they absolutely require full agreement on doctrine from the beginning and from every newborn. Ain’t gonna happen. .Further, they require people of science to keep the machines running so the rulers wouldn’t be able to turn on the lights. I can’t remember but one semi~theocratic nation on Earth right now and they will soon collapse as what they have to sell drops in price and production. They will change or return to the dark ages they so recently semi~left. .Given free communication, they would have already lost most of their believers. They have to keep their women in the dark to keep them enslaved. That won’t last either..This is not related to global warming other than your fear that it would follow. Dictatorships are.not the wave of the future.

@Night-Gaunt49“In a drowned world most will be dead and happy for it.”.Most people would not be happy to drown, no matter what their situation.

.You seem to believe if all the ice on Earth melts the planet will all be submerged. Do the math.It wouldn’t..Current coastal areas would be submerged, but most areas wouldn’t.

(Florida is a special case, most of Florida would be under. This is reasonable since most of Florida was formed by sea creatures when sea level was higher. If sea level dropped a few hunred feet (as it has in the past) the Gulf of Mexico would be cut off from the Atlantic ocean and would dry up (as it did in the past, leaving the layer of salt which formed the salt domes from Alabama at least to Mexico).).Even if all were eventually flooded (which it wouldn’t be) that doesn’t mean everyone would die. We could build floating structures the size of cities. We could develop life forms to grow these structures of wood like trees or silica like diatoms do or calcium carbonate like oysters do. That last is less likely if the oceans become too carbonated, though.. You either know too little of what mankind can already do or cannot begin to imagine what we can learn to do.