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Tokyo Preparing For Floods 'Beyond Anything We've Seen' (tampabay.com)
In the face of an era of extreme weather brought on by climate change, global cities are working to improve their defenses. The New York Times reports (Warning: may be paywalled; alternative source) of Tokyo's $2 billion underground anti-flood system that consists of tunnels that divert water away from the region's most vulnerable floodplains. The city is "preparing for flooding beyond anything we've seen," says Kuniharu Abe, head of the underground site. From the report: But even in Tokyo, the onset of more frequent and intense storms has forced officials to question whether the region's protections are strong enough, a concern that has become more urgent as the city prepares to host the 2020 Olympic Games. Across Japan, rainfall measuring more than 2 inches an hour has increased 30 percent over the past three decades, the Japan Meteorological Agency estimates. The frequency of rainfall of more than 3 inches an hour has jumped 70 percent. The agency attributes the increase of these intense rains to global warming, heralding a new era in a country that is among the world's wettest, with a language that has dozens of words for rain. [...]
Experts have also questioned the wisdom of erecting more concrete defenses in a country that has dammed most of its major river systems and fortified entire shorelines with breakwaters and concrete blocks. Some of these protections, they say, only encourage development in regions that could still be vulnerable to future flooding. In eastern Saitama, where the Kasukabe facility has done the most to reduce floods, local industry has flourished; the region has successfully attracted several large e-commerce distribution centers and a new shopping mall. Still, the Kasukabe operation remains a critical part of Tokyo's defenses, say officials at Japan's Land Ministry, which runs the site. Five vertical, underground cisterns, almost 250 feet deep, take in stormwater from four rivers north of Tokyo. A series of tunnels connect the cisterns to a vast tank, larger than a soccer field, with ceilings held up by 60-foot pillars that give the space a temple-like feel. From that tank, industrial pumps discharge the floodwater at a controlled pace into the Edo river, a larger river system that flushes the water into Tokyo Bay.
Experts have also questioned the wisdom of erecting more concrete defenses in a country that has dammed most of its major river systems and fortified entire shorelines with breakwaters and concrete blocks. Some of these protections, they say, only encourage development in regions that could still be vulnerable to future flooding. In eastern Saitama, where the Kasukabe facility has done the most to reduce floods, local industry has flourished; the region has successfully attracted several large e-commerce distribution centers and a new shopping mall. Still, the Kasukabe operation remains a critical part of Tokyo's defenses, say officials at Japan's Land Ministry, which runs the site. Five vertical, underground cisterns, almost 250 feet deep, take in stormwater from four rivers north of Tokyo. A series of tunnels connect the cisterns to a vast tank, larger than a soccer field, with ceilings held up by 60-foot pillars that give the space a temple-like feel. From that tank, industrial pumps discharge the floodwater at a controlled pace into the Edo river, a larger river system that flushes the water into Tokyo Bay.
I'm amazed about the willingness of people to believe fake news such as global warming. Scientists have yet to present credible evidence that humans are causing global warming. The propagandists continue to promote their message that humans are responsible, but without hard evidence, we shouldn't believe that humans are causing the Earth to get warmer. There may well be legitimate reasons to prepare for possible dosasters, especially in an area that experiences powerful typhoons. But that isn't a reason to invoke the myth that humans are causing global warming.
You are the only one to invoke it, there is not a single word about human causes in TFA and it's entirely irrelevant in its context.
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
Troll.
Humans are causing global "warming" and that is more complicated than just warming, it's causing weather extremes, changes in food (food absorbs more carbon, becomes less nutritious and much larger) and sea level rise from melting ice.
If all ice melts today, the entire eastern seaboard of the United States will be flooded up to I95. The West coast will fare a bit better.
At the rate things are going right now, humans will not be around much longer. It will simply get too hot, and we haven't figured out how to grow vegetables in climate controlled environments. Nuclear war isn't going to be the end of us, failing to adapt will. If the United States is unwilling to pay attention to the evidence today, then the United States is going to end up being the Somalia of 22xx, where it has to steal supplies from it's neighbors, where as countries that decided to adapt will be the only ones able to produce anything.
You are the only one to invoke it, there is not a single word about human causes in TFA and it's entirely irrelevant in its context.
The effect of global warming is visible for pretty much anyone to see. Probably much worse than the scientists say since they only talk about things that they have hard proven evidence for - "beyond reasonable doubt" rather than the "balance of probabilities" standard you would use to decide something in a civil court or a sane person would use to decide whether to take action. The only possible way the global warming denialists can persuade people to ignore that reality is for them to challenge everything which even suggests that the weather is getting more unstable. For you this is irrelevant. For him this is another fact; a part of reality; a challenge to his lie. There are massive amounts of clear scientific evidence showing that humans are causing global warming. He knows it. Anyone educated who just reads up on this in detail knows it. Anyone who simply has a basic scientific understanding and an attention span more than five years to remember the denialists previous predictions knows it.