Rich Residents Build Defenses Against Rising Seas; Poor Ones Leave | Hacker News Reader

Rich Residents Build Defenses Against Rising Seas; Poor Ones Leave

scientificamerican.com

Thankfully, I have come to realize that we are all in this together. The challenge to us all is - can we think outside our own problem - to address a greater problem - for all of us.

The title of this article begs that same question.

What percentage of your actions is self-serving? Since we are mobile focused, I challenge this community to create an app that questions our motives in any given situation. Or is there an app already out there that does this? (edited formatting)

Is this trying to imply that poor people have ocean-front property?

I haven't lived near the ocean for 35 years, but where I lived back then ocean-front property was a status thing and not cheap.

Since then, I've lived inland. Here, lake-front or even river-front homes are again status symbols and some of the most expensive property.

What's up with the poor on the waterfront? Is that really a thing?

Rich people sleep indoors at night, poor ones just sleep outside

They had to address the "Obama just bought oceanfront property" rebuttal at some point I guess.

Are you saying you thought "anonymous sources on a gossip site said a former president is buying a beach house" was an argument against the global consensus on climate change?

(https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/obamas-mansion-marthas-vin...)

C'mon. The Obamas attempted to buy the property. That's the point. The people who keep telling us AGW is real and is going to flood the coasts don't act as if the global consensus is true. I don't see any exodus of wealthy people from exposed coastal areas. Aren't they supposed to be the far-sighted ones who plan ahead?

Barack Obama is 58 years old. Michelle Obama is 55. His children are 18 and 21.

The projections have sea level rise reaching that property in 65-80 years. That's long enough for him and his family to enjoy it for the rest of his and Michelle's life, and for his children to inherit it and enjoy it for most or all of their lives.

I haven't seen anyone seriously say that we need to abandon existing coastal property. We just need to be cognizant of sea level rise and take that into account when deciding on the present value of the property.

> C'mon. The Obamas attempted to buy the property.

According to an unsourced article from a gossip rag.

> I don't see any exodus of wealthy people from exposed coastal areas.

We're commenting on an article about wealthy people taking action to protect their exposed coastal property.

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