Climate change could, within a lifetime, destroy entire cities and societies, Sir David Attenborough
has told the UN Security Council.

Sir David Attenborough gives stark warning to the UN Security Council

On the other hand, I don't expect the price of seafront property to fall within my lifetime

Hopefully so. Can we start with California?

Tom

The question is a simple one: " Can we do anything about it realistically?"

They talk about climate change and the first thing to worry about is cities!?

It's very likely IMO that the point-of-no-return has already passed.

Even during the pandemic, CO2 emissions barely dropped. And that was with people just sitting at home, not driving cars, lots of factories being closed etc.

The sharp drop in global tourism has helped nature recover in certain hotspots - at the price of plunging millions back into total poverty.

The "interesting" question is anyway: what will happen when all the money that the 1st-world countries are currently burning through (by borrowing from the next generation(s)) has run out?

Well, that's where most people live:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City

Some of those will get uninhabitable, probably already in this half of the century.

Remember the water shortage in Mumbai last year?

BTW: once most of the glaciers in Switzerland have melted away, this will have profound consequences on the water-supply here around, too.

Surely the accelerated move to remote working by working from home will save those that used to live & work in the city
but can now work from anywhere, thanks to superfast broadband being rolled out nationwide.

Maybe cities will become the ghost towns of the future, as people forsake it for the healthier and cleaner air environment
of the countryside.

Point of new return is behind us. Maximum attention to avoid further warming is required. Problem is that any measures have lead time to effect of about 20 yrs. What is also missing is strategies to cope with climate change: gen-mod crops, nuclear power, energy storage etc.

Time to innovate

Because the impact on the cities could be catastrophic, as people will fight to survive. And the global urbanisation is not finished at all. Only in 2009 number of city dwellers equalled the number of rural population and it is projected that in 2050, two thirds will be living in cities.
At the same time most of the megacities (but not all) are coastal cites. Many of those cities have already claimed land from the sea, or have plans to do it.
https://3wqjvwh65v-flywheel.netdna-s...1-1300x604.jpg

Your chances rise proportional with the sea-level though.

And bearing in mind the uncontrollable forest fires in California last year due to an exceptionally dry year caused by ( yes you guessed it )
Climate change, avoid buying a home in forests or large wooded areas.

Not forgetting to always avoid low level flat areas of land particularly areas near rivers where the probability of flooding has doubled in
recent years caused by ( yes your right again ) Climate change leading to extreme rain falls.

Cities aren't bad per-se.
Densely populated, efficiently operated (and powered) cities are rather better than the "typical" American sub-urban sprawl of single-family homes for miles and miles...

What we need is an end to the current interglacial period - long overdue...

Absolutely. That's both on my mind each time I see someone build/buy a lovely piece of land. "This is lovely but the river is too close to my liking", while living next to a river used to be a privilege.
It's actually quiet peculiar how these aspects are already subject in daily thoughts.

Curious to see Malthusianism alive in 2021.

We need a better way to turn seawater into a sustainable resource for energy and potable water.

Yes, they are.

No, they are not.

Tom

Absolutely! Let's go on exactly as we did and find new cover ups. The day will come when humanity will complain there is not enough saltwater left for the inhabitants to survive (and the buggers did not adapt quickly enough).

Band-aid is the way to go! (Had to use the American term for this here as if I had used the British "plaster" I guess folks would have started boiling the tar).


And still, just to make sure:

I like it - therefore if sea water can be cheapily turned into drinking water ( no doubt more reliable than depending on a
constant annual rainfall to maintain reservior levels ) then the rising sea levels caused by the melting polar icecaps
in the North & South poles; could be offset by many countries tapping into to sea water to supply more drinking water,
shower, land irrigation & bath water to it's citizens.

Who knows it might save a few low lying islands being lost forever.