To wonder why we’re not doing more to stop Britain going under water

[Fleetheart]

I learned yesterday that in 30 years only, because of global warming and rising sea levels, much of Lincolnshire and other areas (Cardiff for example), will be permanently under water.
We are seeing such changes, and yet don’t seem to be making this a massive deal. Climate change activists are still being seen as cranks; when really this is an unprecedented change to our way of life. Not only that, but immigration will keep on rising as others from abroad will want to move to higher land. Not a weird science fiction fantasy but real.

Because unless you can get the entire world population to agree and do the same thing what individual people or even countries do will have little impact.
We, at best, may be able to slow down the areas of climate change that humans are responsible for but you’re not going to reverse or stop an inevitable outcome at some point.
Nuclear power is probably one of the ’cleanest’ energy sources but people are too afraid of it.

I guess I am thinking also, if this is happening and accepted, then we do need to manage our towns, start moving people from these areas into higher ground, stuff like that

"Not only that, but immigration will keep on rising as others from abroad will want to move to higher land"
You lost me there I'm afraid. Do you think people are going to want to move to our smaller country which is getting smaller apparently because the coast is disintegrating....rather than move to higher land in their own countries, which may not even be anywhere near the coast,?

I think most people just dont think it's happening.

"ie, we need to stop flying"

Never going to happen.

It's not flying we need to stop, it's having children. Having one child results in exponentially more damage to the planet than if you flew.

In about 1990 there was a prediction predicted Blackpool would be underwater by 2020 due to rising sea tides. I lived near there at the time, so I remember it well.
There's about a month to go...

I used to live in Suffolk before moving to Australia. When I was at school in the early 90's, we were taught that by 2020 all of east Anglia would be under the sea and that London would be a coastal city...

Bangladesh is pretty short of high ground onto which it can move its population

The uk is pretty short of high lying food growing land

Rising water levels will likely be accompanied by increasing difficulties in food production
Which will lead to unrest, populations moving to try to survive

Yip, the uk is a daft place to move to as it isn't able to be self sufficient,but it is seen as rich and therefore people in the uk have a higher chance of survival

Yes, flying needs to be cut back, say a flight every 2 or 3 years per person.
Meat consumption needs to be cut back, say a portion a month
Car travel , say a few thousand miles per year per person

The uk energy and transport infrastructure needs to change

And this all should be done against a background of global cooperation, so that countries like the us that don't pull their weight are ostracised and subject to punitive taxation

We can see what needs to be done. We can see that we could have a happy, healthy, well fed global population if we did it.

But short term selfish interests still dominate

And yes, some work has been done to counter the first effects.

Tidal barriers have been created or extended. Shore defences have been enhanced. Because otherwise, we would already have lost more land. But along the east cost, it has been admitted that there are now villages that will drop into the sea. Homes are being abandoned at an increasing rate despite more money being spent on the sea defences

And I guess that's my question; the scientists, geographers, enviroment experts can see what is happening. They can project, maybe not precisely but within a few decades of when. So why is it so difficult for our leaders to acknowledge this and really make some proper plans to safeguard our future. Some uncomfortable decisions i think

What is it you propose be done?

We could build flood defences. We could ban building on flood plains or insist properties there be built on stilts. We could provide tax breaks for businesses to set up in the north and west and make it prohibitively expensive for them to operate in the south east moving people away from the areas likely to be effected. There are things that could be done but many of them would be hugely expensive and/or unpalatable to many people.

What would you choose?

“but I do recognise that we don’t hear about much and yet these changes are really scary. I didn’t realise until I heard from these scientists yesterday.”

But do you think we should hear about it because we can solve the problem? I mean what would the general public be able to contribute to this (apart from maybe panicking, refusing to buy property in so called vulnerable areas etc)

@arnoldwhatshisknickers, I honestly dont know; like I said, i am no expert, but i have never aspired to lead the country! I would love to know that those who do lead were working collaboratively as per @Mldgebabe's post. For me thats the most significant policy.

I suppose if we all understood it better we would ensure we had the right leaders in place, well maybe that's pie in the sky

Also worth remembering that the east coast has been eroding for centuries regardless of current climatic issues.

To protect areas like East Anglia you would need Dutch style planning and engineering. Should we protect it or let nature take its course? If we choose the former who should pay?

Do you think if the U.K. goes under water, they’ll let me move to Florida? 🤔

Most of the easy measures that could be made are not profitable.
Don’t build on flood plains.
Plant trees, they absorb a huge amount of water, their roots bind the soil and help prevent erosion.
Design surfaces to be porous to rainwater, rather than concrete.
Improve drainage, create buffer zones around the coast.
Design homes for flood zones.

Personally I would like to see the following

Incentives for businesses to move out of the south east
Tree planting programmes
Investment in urban farming
New builds to have living roofs
Properties in flood plains designed to account for rather the fight against the reality of their location
Investment in nuclear energy in the short term and tidal in the long term

Yes! That kind of thing is what we need. Now to have a look at what each party is promising in their manifestos.

What exactly can be done in a place where the cost of living is already so high many are not 'just choosing cheapness and convenience' but barely making ends meet to begin with?

Sorry OP but if you look at grams CO2 per kg per km you will see that flying is less CO2 to move goods (or passengers) once you get to the 450km and above range. You are forgetting too the particulates in diesel are much more harmful than jet exhaust.

Reducing flying will only reduce the gases if the entire trip is not done at all. As in you don’t drive instead or ship the goods by land or sea. That is what the scientists agree on. Avoiding unnecessary trips for leisure.

Why do you think Greta Thurburg is sailing on yachts that are wind and solar powered? Because taking a cruise ship running on diesel engines is worse than flying.

You can put sea defences in but they will not last long and may have the effect of stopping natural defences (gravel and sand) from moving along shore and potentially being lost from the coastal cycle completely. You then end up with a double whammy of having nondefences along a whole stretch of coast. Plus, erosion of some areas feeds the defence of other areas. It’s not an easy solution to just ‘fix’ it. Best to just not buy a house near the sea if it’s an eroding coast.
South Britain is sinking because Scotland is still bouncing back from the ice sheets in the ice age. Add sea level rise and the south coast is a risky purchase.

Florida is sinking. They have sinkholes and salt water intrusion going on. But it’s been sinking for over 10,000yrs so nothing new. Miami has tidal pumps and defences similar to those in London.

East Anglia in the U.K. was a swamp, it was drained a few centuries ago from 1650? On wards using Dutch style engineering...windmill powered water pumps, dykes, drainage ditches and so on. I remember reading that the last English fled to the island of Ely when the French conquered England under William of Normandy.