Sea levels rising twice as fast as thought in New Zealand

[Lightspeed]

https://old.reddit.com/r/newzealand/...hought_in_new/

The major new projections show infrastructure and homes in Auckland and Wellington - as well as many other places - risk inundation decades earlier than expected.

For example, in just 18 years parts of the capital will see 30cm of sea level rise, causing once-in-a-century flood damage every year.

[Lightspeed]

This is the link you want:

Sea levels rising twice as fast as thought in New Zealand

[Lightspeed]

What I am waiting to see is what the number of mass causalities in a single event or set of events that shocks the world is.

We already get thousands of deaths at a time in single regions, so that's obviously not enough. I think a billion at once would be massively disturbing. So somewhere in between is a figure that would evoke a collective "oh fuck".

Given the way India is looking, I don't think we're far off from finding out what that number is.

[Ab]

Kudos Lightspeed, I knew about this as a story because of this thread - THEN I started seeing it elsewhere.

Have you read David Wallace-Wells's The Uninhabitable Earth yet?

Rising sea levels in NZ is going to be an inconvenience for most people. Some coastal roads and beach properties are going to take damage every winter. In somewhere like Bangladesh, that's millions of deaths. In the Pacific Islands, that's nations gone, Waterworld style. In India and Pakistan and places near the centres of large landmasses, people are just going to drop dead in the street from heat stress.

[Caesar]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

This is the link you want:

Sea levels rising twice as fast as thought in New Zealand

Well somebody doesn't like that information getting out.
Cyber attack hits website showing projected sea level rise

[Cyberbob]

These billions person problems really feel like democracy and capitalism are two things we are going to have to overcome to solve them. “For the good of humanity” doesn’t really enter the dialogue if it can’t be solved this fiscal year or this administration.

[DrTiTus]

What's awkward is that even if sea levels aren't rising (climate change mission accomplished), the fact the land is sinking at the same rate, means it's just a shitty place to live. Shouldn't have added that part, because now I just don't care.

Having lived in Eastbourne, that road is already fucked and gets flooded regularly. It's barely above sea level, so tides are enough to cause trouble.

[Trigga*happY]

Originally Posted by Cyberbob

These billions person problems really feel like democracy and capitalism are two things we are going to have to overcome to solve them. “For the good of humanity” doesn’t really enter the dialogue if it can’t be solved this fiscal year or this administration.

I've often wondered if democracy is only really a post war interim solution. Where everyone wants the same thing, but in slightly different flavours. In a world of peace and free capitalism, democracy devolves to a plutocracy. The biggest reason we haven't abolished carbon emissions is because the politicians are afraid of losing wealthy donors, ergo those wealthy donors are really the ones in control.

Somewhere along the way, we have to find an offramp that actually leads to the people having the power, not just the 1%. We have to appoint politicians who will actually enforce climate action, not just promise it then negotiate it away.

[_indigo1]

Ever see that thing where thousands of people log in and try to crowd control a cloud-enabled game of Pokemon by typing controller buttons into a chat window?

That's democracy.
It's no wonder it can't accomplish anything.

Edit:
This - https://www.theverge.com/2014/2/17/5...sourced-gaming

[Trigga*happY]

I get what you're saying, but no, that's anarchy. Democracy in and of itself is benign and beneficial, it's what society does with it that's problematic. Success is where we direct control, unfortunately we have paired success with financial security. Despite all the tired motivational posters, money does buy happiness and poverty is depressing. That's not to say it's impossible to be happy without it, but it sure helps.

[_indigo1]

Incorrect.
The example is democracy because everyone has equal input but the rules of the game are well defined and executed by a representative (the game character)

Anarchy would be if the game *had* no rules and there were no standard commands to type into chat. As if each person in the chat had a character in the game world simultaneously.

But that's irrelevant.
What is relevant is I was making the point that democracy is directionless on all but the smallest timescales and therefore incapable of tackling problems that scale in time.
It can literally go in circles or stand in the corner and jump repeatedly just as a crowd controlled game character does when looked at on the wider timescale.

I mean - this is not really news though. Just depressing.

[Ab]

Someone should make a movie about this stuff, but make it about a different disaster so we can pretend it's "fictional", like an imminent comet impact or something

[Trigga*happY]

Originally Posted by _indigo1

Incorrect.
The example is democracy because everyone has equal input but the rules of the game are well defined and executed by a representative (the game character)

Anarchy would be if the game *had* no rules and there were no standard commands to type into chat. As if each person in the chat had a character in the game world simultaneously.

But that's irrelevant.
What is relevant is I was making the point that democracy is directionless on all but the smallest timescales and therefore incapable of tackling problems that scale in time.
It can literally go in circles or stand in the corner and jump repeatedly just as a crowd controlled game character does when looked at on the wider timescale.

I mean - this is not really news though. Just depressing.

Indeed, i apologise! I skim read parts of it, but went back and indeed I was mistaken. The point I was making I guess, is that Democracy works in the first 50 years after a major war, but after that, there needs to be stable progression path to something other than a plutocracy, which seems to be where all of our efforts tend to take us.

[_indigo1]

Honestly sometimes I envy the unifying clarity of purpose of a (popular) dictator.
I mean - not all the other stuff that comes with it - but the thought of a nation united under a goal is powerful.

Once we're done replacing all GP's with AI, I think government is next.

[Lightspeed]

Putin's popular.

[_indigo1]

Sure, and imagine the comfort and unity felt among those who buy into his picture of the world and choice and justification of actions.

[Lightspeed]

This will be the new normal before too long, we're gonna have to change up the crops we're accustomed to:

Levin storm 'will have effect on national supplies'

[Lightspeed]

Fossil fuel firms ‘have humanity by the throat’, says UN head in blistering attack

He said: “We seem trapped in a world where fossil fuel producers and financiers have humanity by the throat. For decades, the fossil fuel industry has invested heavily in pseudoscience and public relations – with a false narrative to minimise their responsibility for climate change and undermine ambitious climate policies.

“They exploited precisely the same scandalous tactics as big tobacco decades before. Like tobacco interests, fossil fuel interests and their financial accomplices must not escape responsibility.”

Nice to dream in any case.

[Ab]

These properties are toast

https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/...sed-to-fund-it

[Nothing]

Is this the thread where I'm supposed to bump this?

[MadMax]

👍

[Lightspeed]

Scientists fear mass bleaching of Fiordland sea sponges the largest of its kind