I write this for you youngsters for my future will not be very long. I still am concerned about the coming years, but not in the way you need to be. I was motivated to write this by another very recent diary: The retreat away from the US coastline is beginning. Actually, by my standards, it is a bit late to be acting, but so many of us procrastinate for a variety of reasons. We moved here to Mathews County Virginia in 1998 just before I retired from going to the University in Richmond every day. We bought a waterfront Condo on Gwynn's Island facing Milford Haven which separates the Island from the mainland. I bought a canoe and fished and ate fish to my heart's content. It was fun to be on the pier cleaning the usual large catch I got when the guys with the big power boats came in and cleaned their measly few. Then came the storms and the handwriting on the wall that the repairs would be continuous from now on. As a systems scientist I am a long time believer in the global warming evidence and also have been among those who thought the warnings were far too conservative. Friends gave up their houses or elevated them some years back. Flood insurance got outrageous if you could even get it. This was all before the housing market went crashing down. We sold the Condo and bought a house in the woods on higher ground. It turns out that as the water levels go up it may not even be high enough. The sale of the Condo made it clear that a big percentage of it's value was attributed to the scenic view. The woods are pretty neat too and we got house for the money this time, the view being free. I grow a garden that feeds us nicely all year round and we don't have any complaints. Read on below for if I were younger, I would be feeling more insecure for sure. I wonder what reasonable people will do in the future?
Just what are the future concerns we need to have? Let me try a short list:
Water shortages.
Severe weather and climate changes.
The exhaustion of our soil.
The ecological changes that will come with global warming.
The changes in the oceans-salinity, acidity, pollution, etc.
The pile up of more and more waste.
The need for clean, sustainable energy.
The change in our ability to move around and ship things all over the globe.
The economic consequences of all this.
And more.
What is being done to plan for what is coming? I try to keep informed, but I really do not see that much. Moneyed people believe they can buy their way out of any situation. What about the 99%?
Am I being a "gloomy gus" or are we asleep? Let me know what you think. Electoral politics are like a computer game it seems. The entertainment value seems to far exceed any meaningful outcome. But then I have been saying this since the 1960s and no one much cares. Do we really need a weatherman to tell which way the wind is blowing?