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by lxcfan 2328 days ago
Real estate prices are priced by mostly by current demand, not future oncoming disasters.

Much waterfront property is _already_ vulnerable (and expensive to insure) today, regardless of whether you believe in consensus climate science, due to storms and flooding in current climatic conditions. That house by the ocean is going to destroyed at some point, the only question is when and how.
3 comments
josinalvo 2328 days ago
I have seen ample consensus amonsgt reputable scientists that the earth is getting warmer, and this fact is due to human activity (e.g https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/17/do-scientists-agree-on-clima...)

I have not yet, however, seen any such research on consensus for the effects of climate change. Is there a large, documented consensus on any estimate of sea level raise?

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lxcfan 2328 days ago
Sorry, perhaps the emphasis in the way I wrote that comment made it unclear what I was saying.

My point was that real estate market prices are much more heavily influenced by current conditions, and current demand, rather than hypothetical future conditions. The price elasticity of demand has little to do with whether the buyer believes that the property will flood in future decades due to climate change. Someone who wants a beachfront mansion is probably going to buy it for close to the same price whether or not s/he believe it will still be there in 50 years, just as s/he might buy an expensive car that will similarly degrade and need expensive maintenance exceeding the original purchase price over time.

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keanzu 2328 days ago
> Much waterfront property is _already_ vulnerable (and expensive to insure)

If we are talking about the US then there's government flood insurance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsTKAqHwj0s

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IanDrake 2328 days ago
Well, I don't believe in "consensus" [insert field] science because that's an oxymoron.

If you still believed what was once the consensus, you would believe in some crazy stuff. Science is skeptism of the consensus, not the other way around.

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dkarras 2328 days ago
>Science is skeptism of the consensus

As long as the skepticism is evidence based, of course.

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