Comment by Maursault | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Maursault | Hacker News Reader

Unfortunately, even if the Dredge Act is repealed and everything got dredged, Climate Change will raise sea levels and change the course of rivers, probably making the investment in dredging worse than a wash.

I apologize in advance for this rant. My alternative idea is going to be unpopular. How about we take what we've figured our about what's causing Climate Change, where all those things actually are, and stop it all immediately, by force if necessary, and just deal with the interruption in luxury. And then we immediately figure out another way for all the things. And make the uber rich pay for it all. I mean... would it take more than 10 years to get back to where we were without killing the planet and everything on it? I could go 10 years without electricity, nearly everybody could, but it wouldn't even be remotely like that, we'd just have a lot less power for a while. Really, I feel like if the air was right now actually smokey everywhere from pollution from burning bunker fuel, and temperatures were insane, shippers would still want to dredge because they are losing money. I think the author has great points, and I like his style, I just don't give a damn about... Goddamn ships. Oh, those poor shipping companies, and those poor poor consumers.

The uber rich decide the laws and control the government and security forces though so that will never happen.

Instead you end up with hypocritical rules against normal people like in the lockdowns where you could still travel abroad if owned multiple houses, etc. - like now how the EU has introduced fuel duty on airlines, but not on private jets.

And reducing supply lines leads to supply-side inflation like we're seeing in Europe now - 10+% inflation, interest rates going up, possible rationing coming in winter, etc. - no-one wants that.

I'd just try not to worry about it, we can't change anything anyway. Just focus on what you can do yourself, like trying to work remotely to buy a house in a less affected area, etc.

> I could go 10 years without electricity, nearly everybody could

During the power crisis in Texas in February 2021 some homes and businesses were without power for several days, resulting in at least 246 deaths, with some estimates as high as 702 killed as a result of the crisis.[1]

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power

False equivalency. I did not suggest waiting for extreme conditions of inclement weather before pulling the electricity out from under intensive care units without notice. We have this tool we can use to mitigate anything like that from happening. It's called a plan.

I replied to the wrong comment, but you found it anyways...

Ah, righteo, a plan. You did write immeidately and by force, which sounded less like a plan.

You should have assumed the opposite. How many successful military operations are you aware of that were not planned, and/or that waited around and took their sweet time?

All people need some form of energy every day, at least for cooking their food, and in most modern houses, also for preserving their food.

In my case, that energy must be provided as electricity, or else I would starve.

Other people might be able to substitute something else for electricity, e.g. they might have access to a forest, to collect wood and burn it for cooking, and they might make food reserves that can be kept at the ambient temperature, e.g. pemmican.

Those people might not need electricity, but they are not less dependent of an energy source for staying alive, than the people who need electricity every day.

I certainly use less electrical energy every day (less than 200 W average power for the entire house) than the energy that would be consumed by someone burning wood for the same purpose.

The people who do not cook at home and are not less dependent on electricity or another source of energy for staying alive, they just pay someone else to cook for them, while consuming the same energy elsewhere.

Yeah, again, you are imagining something like a Mad Max post apocalyptic scenario where everyone is left to fend for themselves or starve, but we can feed everyone very efficiently without any electricity or heat if we just planned it.

What? How would you cook the food without heat? How would you grow and harvest the food without Electricity. Sure it could be done in limited amounts, but to feed the worlds population without electricity, its not possible.

Even if you someone magically found a way to harvest all the food by hand, How would you distribute to everyone? Without electricity our highly efficient distributions systems don't work.

I could make a plan to launch myself into outer space. Doesn't mean my plan will work. It also doesn't mean that the people that my plan will inconvenience are just okay with it.

Sorry neighbors I need to build a launch tower here I'm taking over your backyards, you can have them back in a few years its okay, its part of the plan.

I guess astronauts don't eat, huh. The only thing that needs cooked is meat. No one at all needs to eat meat.

Actually climate change means more demand for dredgers, especially for things like sand suppletion.

Without sand suppletion some places (eg. parts of the netherlands below sea level) would not be able to protect their coastline, which can (worst case) lead to the loss of towns and cities.

A lot of operations involving the sea, coast, and sand are not one off operations. It's more a case of continuous maintenance and vigilence.

Makes you wonder why the elites who push climate change and rising sea levels are all buying premium beach front properties around the world!

I’m still waiting for the earth to freeze over according to the “agreed science” from the 1970s-80s.

> I’m still waiting for the earth to freeze over according to the “agreed science” from the 1970s-80s.

I think that occurs immediately after fresh water dilutes the oceans and shuts down the Thermohaline circulation. Europe freezes, then everything else freezes. [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_meridional_overturnin...

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