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Just curious, is anyone doing anything to prepare for predicted weather? They say that carbon has now reached 400 ppm (and growing). Seems the second year in a row where we didn't have much of a spring (although better than last year)...I dream of buying land and building a small home, but it seems nearly impossible to do because of 'rules' and regulations
Its not really a thread about whether you believe in it or not, its a thread asking what you've done to prepare like weathering your home better, etc. If you think its all a sham then please move on...
Just curious, is anyone doing anything to prepare for predicted weather? They say that carbon has now reached 400 ppm (and growing). Seems the second year in a row where we didn't have much of a spring (although better than last year)...I dream of buying land and building a small home, but it seems nearly impossible to do because of 'rules' and regulations
Sort of. I'm not buying any low-lying property near the ocean. In the next three decades it would be a good idea to divest yourself of any Florida real-estate you might have. Now, the problems won't start for 50+ years, but I wouldn't want to be (or want my kids to be) the one[s] left holding the bag in 2040.
I am building a house near the sea (not in the USA). In selecting the land, I'm mindful to keep it at least 30 meters above MSL (5 meters for climate change, 25 meters for Tsunamis). The parcel of land is away from unstable hillsides (in case of mudslides) and the foundation will be on pilings driven into the bedrock, but that's more for earthquake protection, and doesn't have much to do with climate change. My architect is working to include good drainage and land-holding, storm-resistant landscaping. Construction will be steel-reinforced concrete with heavy-duty retractable storm shutters and a backup generator in a protected courtyard, because this is in a Typhoon-prone area and I expect the storms to only become more intense thanks to climate change.
This is actually not all that different from the common construction in the area, but this home, while beautiful, will physically be a bunker that should stand for a few hundred years, despite enhanced storms and rising sea levels. The land should last more-or-less forever. Hopefully my progeny will keep it in the family, or benefit from selling it when prices rise in the future. Of course, I can do all this because prices are very cheap right now. In a few years the land value and other costs will rise as the nearby city expands and more people in this country become wealthy and want to have a vacation home near the sea. But now is a great time to get my foot in the door and build against future needs and storms. Climate change isn't my first consideration, but it is a significant contributor to where and how I build.
If I were living in Tornado alley or somewhere in the USA with Hurricanes, where flimsy wood-frame and siding construction is about all I could afford (or a pre-existing house with same) I would just make sure my insurance covered storm damage well enough that I could rebuild, and keep all my important documents in the cloud, online. I'd dig a storm shelter if there wasn't already a basement. Again, I wouldn't live in any low-lying areas for an extended period of time. If I ended up with a stake in some family property in such an area, and I would sell my lot the next time the market goes up, and advise anyone else I knew to do the same.
Its not really a thread about whether you believe in it or not, its a thread asking what you've done to prepare like weathering your home better, etc. If you think its all a sham then please move on...
Can't do much, I spent all of my money preparing for the 2012 end of the world, and well... before that I went broke preparing for the Y2K. Guess I will just have to die with the rest of the people who didn't prepare for this disaster. /shrug
Perhaps the more important question is: what is the gov't doing to prepare for the increase in weather disasters? Should low-lying coastal cities/towns be relocating people to higher ground? Who would pay for that? People in NJ have been urged to vacate their homes and relocated, but have refused, and want to spend money instead to build barriers along the shoreline.
The economy is already struggling. What's going to happen when there's more and more disaster clean-up to deal with?
Perhaps the more important question is: what is the gov't doing to prepare for the increase in weather disasters? Should low-lying coastal cities/towns be relocating people to higher ground? Who would pay for that? People in NJ have been urged to vacate their homes and relocated, but have refused, and want to spend money instead to build barriers along the shoreline.
The economy is already struggling. What's going to happen when there's more and more disaster clean-up to deal with?
I'm not aware of anyone here who has been urged to vacate their homes (who is going to just walk away from in some cases, million dollar properties?) however many are being required to raise their homes now. They should have gotten serious about dunes a long time ago. I hear in places like Oklahoma people are being urged to build shelters when they rebuild. It's not just the shoreline, weather is changing in many areas. I do believe some areas will be gone totally in 50 years (like the shoreline, which is why I rent, lol). I am preparing a better evacuation kit over the summer and getting more disaster supplies, as I expect evacuations here to be a more regular occurance than they used to be.
It was in NYTimes this week; a certain coastal community in NJ was asked to relocate, and of course people refused. I'm not sure raising the homes up on stilts would help; how do you decide how high to make the stilts? What if it turns out not to be high enough?
Weather has always been around and will be at least for my lifetime. The local extremes of weather may become more common or less common, but it is foolish not to take the possibility of an extreme into account. To that extent, the original question becomes meaningless. As for long-term changes, those will be longer in coming than this generation need be concerned about.
The far more pressing issues are the increasingly world-wide spreads of invasives and diseases. For generations there were unique ecosystems and enough distance between them that stuff could be completely wiped out in one, and others would survive just fine. With globalization and the speed of transport, that is no longer true.
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