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Comment by martythemaniak | Hacker News Reader

Here's the crux of the argument - all the resources (time, money, energy, social costs, possible wars etc) that would be spent adjusting to climate change could instead be spent on productive uses.

The costs of being energy efficient today outweight the possible risks from having to pay for the consequences.

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well, i guess we'll have to move, be it sooner or later. a lot of migrations have happened in the last 500 years. why insist on status quo for 200-400 more years?

> The costs of being energy efficient today outweight the possible risks from having to pay for the consequences.

i'm curious, is there any research to back up these claims?

Because just about every habitable location on the planet is already claimed by some group. People do not just up and move en mass without huge social and political implications. Wars would be inevitable in this supposed future.

Also: those that have the resources to adjust to climate change ARE NOT the same as those who feel the heaviest weight of the stresses of drought, violent storms, water access, etc. Those with the most resources are also the least likely to be politically instabilized by the effects of climate change.

So you have a mismatch of effort: those who can don't have an incentive to fix the problem for those who can't.

(Or have a counter-incentive: I'm reminded of the anti-monsanto anti-gmo fad in the USA -- despite the fact that GMO foods are our best weapon in producing drought resistant crops for regions most heavily affected by those problems!)

The only transgenes in use for plant crops are for pest resistance. I don't know if they have anything for growth habits or metabolic engineering. All of that is done with classical breeding, and I might add that recently breeders have been breeding towards less resistance to drought; high response to irrigation and fertilizer means less energy "wasted" as roots leaving more for seeds.

They have transgene drought resistant crops that basically are no better than non-transgene versions.

However, if we stop the research now (by attacking the researchers through monsanto or by passing oppressive gmo regulation that forces them out of the industry), we will never develop superior drought resistant crops.

I believe that the precise modification of crops will be critical to responding to the stresses of climate. Classical breeding can only help us so much and the true impact of climate stress is still in the future.

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