Saturday, June 10, 2017

Republicans: don't worry about this video. Where you live won't be affected by sea level rise (but maybe climate refugees). ... by gimleteye

Great visual (audio, meh), imagining -- from today's perspective -- what NYC will look like flooded by sea level rise from HUMAN-INDUCED global warming.

A true perspective of that future day requires more work. Here is a start.

The water flooding coastal cities will be filthy. That is what's happening on the bay side of Miami Beach, with only a few inches of sea level rise being pumped off city streets.

Second, the buildings that flood, including the basements and lower floor/s skyscrapers (whose condos in NYC now trade for tens of millions), will succumb to mold and squatters living on high floors.

Still, this video should make you think: what will our cities really look like when sea levels rise and the tax base flees the coasts?

There will be no law and order because civilization will have retreated to higher ground.

There will be no electricity. Eventually, what nighttime light there is, will be of buildings set on fire.

If there is food and other necessities, they will be handled by small boats and/or pirates.

I could write the script today, and it would not veer far off from the most dystopian science fiction. But the questions I prefer to ask: what kind of governance is best able to protect ordinary people from massive stresses unleashed by climate change?

A government by and for the people is what the Framers of the Constitution had in mind. That certainly is NOT what we have today. Want evidence?

Just take a quick look at what the GOP Congress has proposed within the revision of Dodd Frank legislation, passed after the financial crisis (less than a decade ago!) and meant to address excessive risk taking by "too big to fail" financial institutions.

Republicans want to change the law governing shareholder resolutions and who gets to propose them. As in, the public interest to protect taxpayers and citizens against climate change impacts just got another knife in the back.

"What does the new House bill say? Under the Financial Choice Act passed yesterday, the $2,000 threshold is gone. A shareholder would have to own at least 1 percent of the company to file a resolution -- a prohibitively high bar for most investors. For a company the size of, say, ExxonMobil, that would be about $3.4 billion."


And you thought all you had to worry about was ISIS? #MAGA? No sir, worry about the US Chamber of Commerce. Be very worried indeed.


two°C - New-York City from Claire&Max on Vimeo.

1 comment:

Sharon said...

People need to watch two movies, Waterworld and Soylent Green, We are here now.Get ready.