
Ask HN: How will your society react when the ocean rises into houses? - andrewstuart
And are there important ways to prepare for this, &quot;ahead of the rush&quot;?<p>And finally, when do <i>you</i> personally think it&#x27;s going to start happening in a dramatic way in your country?
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jppope
I'm working ahead of the game in California... looking for property inland
just a little bit ;) ... given the commitment the United States is making
towards climate change, I should have a nice beach front house in 20-30 years.
Now I haven't figured out how to keep it from being submerged passed 40 years
from now, but at least those 10 years will be great!

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ar-jan
I live in the Netherlands, where a significant area is below sea level. While
the safety of your house is relevant, I think the bigger question is what
would happen to the economy and infrastructure.

That said, I think current alarmist predictions of rising sea levels are
overblown, and the change for, say, the next 100 years will be manageable.

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noobermin
Tbh, by that point, the reality of rising sea levels will probably be too much
to ignore, not to mention a lot of those who believe otherwise will have been
dead by then.

The important way to prepare for it is to lobby lawmakers to change policy
before it happens.

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futureastronaut
In places where sea walls aren't built, people will move uphill. You can
prepare by purchasing currently undesirable properties that are at higher
elevations in affected metro areas.

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andrewstuart
This paints a picture of people quietly lifting their furniture and goods,
buying a house on a good hill in a good neighbourhood and moving there and
life goes on pleasantly.

How will society react as a whole? We're talking about multiple billions of
real estate and infrastructure wiped out.

Will it even be possible in a practical way for people to move uphill?

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futureastronaut
It's not easy to lift furniture quietly, but yes, like any other move, because
the flooding will be gradual. As far as how society reacts as a whole, look at
how the Houston and Baton Rouge metro areas absorbed refugees of hurricane
Katrina, a sudden event. I'm only speaking for my country as you asked. Things
won't be so peachy in Bangladesh.

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dredmorbius
Poorly.

Consider the responses to the Camp Fire (40k displaced in a state with no
housing slack), Sandy, Harvey, Florence, Katrina, Michael.

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gaspoweredcat
it wont, the city i live in is actually pretty high above sea level, im unsure
if its accurate but i once heard that if the ice caps were to melt it would be
one of the largest cities still above sea level, so at least we have one
positive point!

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notus
It's going to happen so slowly they won't need to react very quickly.

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hackeraccount
I'm imagining building lots of levees.

