America's Bipolar Climate Future

[questionmark]

New York City and New Bern, North Carolina both face the same projected rise in sea levels, but while one is preparing for the worst, the other is doing nothing on principle. A glimpse into America's contradictory climate change planning.

When Veronica White and Tom Thompson stand on the coastline of their respective cities, 680 kilometers (423 miles) apart, they gaze out at the same ocean, but see different things.

White, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, believes "we have to prepare the entire coastline for disasters, including storms and rising floodwaters." Thompson, a former city planner in New Bern, North Carolina -- an eight-hour drive to the south -- argues the opposite. "All this panic about the climate always amazes me, but people like to believe horror stories," he says.

Read more

[acidhead]

I just wet my bed.

[Gunn]

I totally misread the title of this thread and thought it said:

"America's Bipolar Future"

I became worried about that...I'm still worried about that.

Edited December 14, 2013 by Purifier

[Wickian]

Well sea levels have been naturally rising for quite some time well before the industrial revolution. Nothing wrong with preparing for the inevitable, AGW or no AGW.

Edited December 14, 2013 by Wickian

[Rafterman]

Quick, we need the Federal Gummit to swoop in with a multi-billion dollar building effort that will line the pockets of unions and cronies for decades and protect us - you know, like the levies in New Orleans did after Katrina.

[Gromdor]

I thought that the government dumped responsibility for the funding for the levees on the state and Gov. Jindal put it on the backburner. Does the south even have union construction companies? You are probably right about the cronies though.

[Rafterman]

I thought that the government dumped responsibility for the funding for the levees on the state and Gov. Jindal put it on the backburner. Does the south even have union construction companies? You are probably right about the cronies though.

The levies that failed were built by the Army Corps of Engineers decades ago. I'm sure Huey Long and all of his Dem buddies made millions.

Edited December 14, 2013 by Rafterman

[+and-then]

I thought that the government dumped responsibility for the funding for the levees on the state and Gov. Jindal put it on the backburner. Does the south even have union construction companies? You are probably right about the cronies though.

First, this happened pre-Jindal. But corruption no doubt was the culprit. Billions were sent to Louisiana to sustain and improve those levees and it was distributed to localities and pols used it as a slush fund. THEN the country had to eat the(much greater) costs of repairing a mess that could have been avoided. And NOT ONE person was ever indicted, let alone convicted of any wrong doing. Incredible when you think about it. I wonder how many poor black men are in prison in Angola for stealing a few hundred dollars?

[Gromdor]

So the levees are still not fixed/built, right? And any money the country sends will be eaten up by the politicians, corruption, and cronyism? Do people just not care now that they have Gov. Jindal?

[+and-then]

So the levees are still not fixed/built, right? And any money the country sends will be eaten up by the politicians, corruption, and cronyism? Do people just not care now that they have Gov. Jindal?

All I said was that Jindal was not governor in the years (many years) leading up to the Katrina debacle. I have no idea if money is still being sent without oversight these days - hopefully it is not. But after what happened there who knows? The party may STILL be going on. This is a state that coronated Huey Long after all...

[Gromdor]

Eh, at least under Huey Long they actually doubled the infrastructure. Seems like after his assassination Louisiana went straight down hill in regards to taking care of its roads and levees.

[+and-then]

Eh, at least under Huey Long they actually doubled the infrastructure. Seems like after his assassination Louisiana went straight down hill in regards to taking care of its roads and levees.

Old Huey wasn't ALL bad But he had himself a kingdom there for quite awhile. The current situation I don't know about but I remember as a kid growing up 2 hours away from N.O. by car that we commonly talked about the city drowning in it's "bowl" if the big one hit. Now if some poorly educated Alabama school kid had that figured out, you'd think the Feds and the city government in New Orleans would too. That money was just siphoned off and a bare minimum went to doing anything on the levees. There should have been a list of indictments a mile long after Katrina. No justice. And 1800 people DIED. Then Bush acted like an idiot -he should have bulldozed through the incompetent local government and helped those people. He'd still have been vilified but at least he would have done the right thing. That bit of incompetence allowed the whole focus for the wrongdoing to fall on him.

[Gromdor]

Which I guess brings us back to the topic. Seems like New Orleans is one of those places that was doomed to flood- global warming or no. I know it has history but it will literally take billions to fix the levee systems there and even after Katrina no one seems to care. It's just sitting there waiting for another hurricane. Isn't also on a giant termite nest?

[Winter Summer]

New Bern's population is around 30 thousand

New York's population is >8 million

Do the math. Which city would be easier to evacuate?

Quote: "When Veronica White and Tom Thompson stand on the coastline of their respective cities, 680 kilometers (423 miles) apart, they gaze out at the same ocean, but see different things."

NYC can't reasonably evacuate, so shoring up and fortifying makes better sense there.