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Comment by RA_Fisher | Hacker News Reader

So, basically, we should restructure our entire economy so some multi-millionaire's luxury vehicle and lawn won't flood on an island?

Or ... spend hundreds of billions to save a wealthy municipality hundreds of millions?

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It's one thing when Miami Beach gets flooded. As you said, it's a small wealthy suburb, and it can afford to protect itself against rising sea levels. On the other hand, the entire country of Bangladesh isn't much farther out of the water than Miami Beach. If you think the instability in Syria is bad now, what will happen when a country with literally ten times as many people becomes uninhabitable?

Syria is bad because of their location, and the interest of major powers. Unfortunately, unless China and/or India take an interest, Bangladesh lacks the money or military power to do anything to disrupt the rest of the World. We can sit back and ignore them dying, and I'm afraid that's what we'll do.

Can't the people migrate or try to? That's a large part of what forced the Syrian issue.

It's going to suck for India. Otherwise they're kind of boxed in by the south-east Asian jungles and the Himalayas.

Syria is bad because of cultural and political issues mainly.

That's a good point, sincerely.

> So, basically, we should restructure our entire economy so some multi-millionaire's luxury vehicle and lawn won't flood on an island?

The economy will restructure itself and the area will depopulate. The article mentions the role of banks and insurers. Almost nobody can afford to buy a home without a mortgage or to self-insure.

Already, many Florida homeowners have only one option for homeowner's insurance: the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, which is a non-profit "insurer of last resort". There is no profit in insuring the Florida coasts.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_Property_Insurance_Co...

This is astonishingly narrow focussed. Obviously sea level rise will affect more than Miami.

As the article says, this is a much bigger problem than just Miami.

> Globally, it’s estimated that a hundred million people live within three feet of mean high tide and another hundred million or so live within six feet of it. Hundreds of millions more live in areas likely to be affected by increasingly destructive storm surges.

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