Hey HN,<p>I'm wondering: what are expected to be the best places to live in 2050, considering climate change and the potential for impending societal collapse? What are the characteristics of such places? What should we keep in mind?<p>Thanks!
My vote goes to Switzerland too.<p>I migrated here years ago, felt unhappy and travelled a lot. Only with getting older and mostly trough the current pandemic i realized how lucky i actually am.<p>- We still practice small scale farming communities that are commercially feasable due to smart import taxes<p>- We have multiple altitudes, climate zones and languages,
something for everyone.<p>- We have a well working society and government most people are very accepting for. Something most countries don't seem to have as seen recently.<p>- We are kinda well protected (good army, mountains, plenty of weapons in private homes [if that's good or not, it might be in this scenario])<p>- I think no country did show how it values the independent individual responsibility more than Switzerland in the recent months. No hard lockdowns, no weird laws that just suddenly appear, no swiss being locked out because of weird border issues, ... Most things were done by repeatly explaining why its necessary and not by enforcing it<p>- Very good education (for free or at least affordable) and the option for home schooling.<p>- Quality food is affordable. Swiss always think i am joking, but in reality the price difference between organic meat and not is less, and especially the availability is good compared to any other country i've been to. We also generally use less fertilizers than anyone in the EU
As long as we are not talking WW3,
Russia is hands down best place to be, it could easily stay cohesive with a lower standard of living, has been switching to internal supply chains for a decade now, has swaths of empty land and population not foreign to a concept of living off land, but most importantly it is under populated.<p>Low population density - check<p>Good defense - check<p>Cultural and societal background necessary for a post collapse - check<p>Carrying capacity of land - check<p>Energy (oil/atomic) - check<p>Nukes - check<p>Base of LOWER(more resilient to supply chain disruptions) tech industry - check<p>Benefits from climate change - check
The best place to be is home. In an emergency situation, your own government (the one you hold the citizenship for and have cultural ties with) is the one you can rely on.
Non-citizen residents will get shafted.
Any country that is too foreign will be hard to navigate (I mean navigate the bureaucracy) in an emergency situation. And also consider, as a foreigner your ties with the locals are going to be weak so you will need to fend for yourself.<p>I mean, as an EU citizen who has lived in multiple EU countries, this is also true today when everything is smooth sailing.<p>In any emergency situation it won't take long for anti-foreign sentiments to become a cause for concern.
The older I get the more I appreciate the US Midwest (where I am originally from and where I live now). There are quite a few advantages in your doomsday scenario as well!<p>- Cooler climate, and far away from many natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. This should make the effects of warming/climate change milder.<p>- Plenty of fresh water<p>- Diverse local economy including manufacturing and agriculture<p>- Far away from international borders (except Canada)<p>- Cheap land in 2021, so easy to move to if you are already in the USA
North Mediterranean area, Catalonia or French Riviera. France is one of the best natural defense (alps) countries with the atomic bomb. Spain is self defended by the sea. You have The Pyrenees and The Alps as barriers. Access to water, rivers.
You should probably look at some prepper forums.<p>Best guess is someplace remote, decent soil, good supply of water, somewhat mountainous (CO2 is heavier than O2 although probably negligible, lower temperatures higher up, better chance of rainfall if weather patterns shift and you are located between 2 bodies of water), and not too far south but also not too far north (not sure how fast ocean currents would slow and what affect that would have in each location). Probably best to find a small group of trustworthy and like minded individuals/neighbors to plan with.
Any place that have good governance as for now should be a good place to start with. You would want low crime rate, good public service, good hospitals etc. Note that I sat good _public_ *** because money can practically buy all those but I doubt everyone on HN has the money as of year 2050.<p>If you are anticipating climate change and societal collapse the more reason to go for a strong central government (as well as a strong standing army). There is not a lot of choices out there.
My go-to place in a collapse scenario has been Delta, Colorado. Good farmland, good water supply, not much surrounding society to collapse, surrounding desert and mountains form a barrier to armies or armed gangs, mountains for timber, coal nearby. You might even be able to use hydro for electricity. The downsides are oil and metals - I'm not sure either would be very accessible.
Maybe it's just me. But if societies collapsed in 2050, you really aren't going to get a choice as to where you live unless you are the 0.1%. You will most likely have to choose a place where your race fits in with the population.<p>For example, I seriously doubt if Asians will live happily in Russia or Poland or Europe in general if society is collapsing.
In a societal collapse scenario, you probably want to live in a country with decent defence ability and enough clout to throw its weight around in international diplomacy, even if quality of life is lower than some of the smaller, better located, better governed countries. Eg. Germany over Sweden.
The Vancouver archipelago. Lots of land high enough to adapt to climate change, rich fisheries, access to fresh water, diverse community with less racism than most places.
There will be masses of climate refugees fleeing tropical countries and heading towards the poles. Which countries will let them in and which will push them back into the sea?
Don’t know if I will be alive at around that time but my vote is for South India. That’s where I am from(born and raised). Just want to rest where I was born.
“Considering climate change”:<p>Ask yourself what type of answer you’d have gotten in 1970s when the climate change fear at the time was that we’d all be freezing.