I guess when you live near a coast, humoring nutcases and think-tanks isn’t as attractive:
HuffPo — Despite the devastation that Katrina brought to New Orleans in 2005 and now Sandy has brought to coastal communities in New York and New Jersey, few cities have even finished planning for climate change, a recent study by JoAnn Carmin of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found.Just 13 percent of U.S. cities had completed such an assessment, according to the study, which in total looked at 468 cities worldwide. Planners said they had few resources available to help their cities adapt to a changing climate – not just the threat of more storms – with a large number listing securing funds as a major challenge to their ability to plan.
You know what makes it even harder to plan? When state and local budgets are cut to the bone to finance tax cuts for zillionaire moguls and a huge chunk of the populace is endlessly by actors paid to tell them the problem doesn’t even exist.
quote; “You know what makes it even harder to plan? When state and local budgets are cut to the bone to finance tax cuts for zillionaire moguls and a huge chunk of the populace is endlessly by actors paid to tell them the problem doesn’t even exist.”
Exactly.
And who will suffer, in the end?
The people, they will be on the hook as far as paying for it (monetarily), and they will be the ones to suffer (physically) from it.
Slightly on a tangent here sorry but interesting items here via Aussie ABC TVs Lateline show :
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2012/s3639093.htm
The emergency science to ward off the worst effects of climate change, from space-based mirrors to chemicals blasted into the stratosphere.
& see also :
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2012/s3639096.htm
Interview with David Keith, Professor of Applied Physics at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, from Calgary: A leading scientist in the field of geo-engineering.
Geoengineering – terraforming Earth? What do folks think?
Personally, I think the same science and industry that helped get us into this mess is going to have to play a major role in getting us out of it as well.
Which isn’t to say we’re NOT going to have to do a lot more in other ways as well, we certainly are.
Not the very rich whose flood insurance for homes built in risky places is subsidized by taxpayers. They are never too proud to take money from those foolish enough not to be rich.
Don’t forget that earlier this year the South Carolina state legislature was actually considering legislation PROHIBITING preparations based on predictions of sea level rise from climate change. This was a combination of standard GOP denial and protecting the interests of property developers in coastal areas.
I think “prepare” is the wrong verb. It’s anachronistic.