Icelandic government officials recently met to discuss a dramatic scenario: what if the current that circulates Atlantic waters weakened significantly, or collapsed altogether?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/73093686

The ocean currents are changing, with major implications for climate around the world. Yet our new article published in Nature Sustainability suggests most governments are not preparing for this possibility. Of 91 national adaptation plans submitted to the U.N. climate convention, only two even mention that key Atlantic current, and neither sets out concrete action in response to its possible collapse.

  • t3rmit3@beehaw.org
    2·
    14 hours ago

    I think you’re thinking too extreme on this; we’re not talking Mad Max desert planet survival, we’re talking “can afford to buy oranges when they’re $30 a dozen”, “can afford gas at $20 per gallon”. Or even $100. Taylor Swift spends more on aviation gas in a year than most people earn in their entire lifetimes in aggregate. She can afford to keep buying stuff when you or I plain can’t anymore.

    A lot of people will just break under the financial burden that dwindling supplies driving prices up will impose, waaaay before the supply chains themselves get close to collapsing, because the prices are trending upwards (in part) in order to maintain the supply chain.

    The point is that the people rich enough to influence global climate trends aren’t going to feel the pressure in their lifetimes (unless they’re made to), because they have the money to handle the effects of it.