554: Sea walls won't protect us from our garbage. Stopping polluting gives us our best chance.

My notes that I read from for this episode:

Sea wall for Manhattan, like Holland: expensive, huge, likely won't work
Controversial already. Natural solutions might work better.
Let's say they worked.
On Staten Island, Fresh Kills
Also everywhere, all coasts unprotected
Now think of Cancer Alley Gulf coast, oil refineries and global toxic dumps
All that pollution will be dispersed to seas and biosphere
I'd guess hundreds of thousands of years
Think of the suffering
Challenge is more than energy. Also thermodynamics. Everything will disperse.
Best solution: stop using fossil fuels now.
Yes, we'll face problems, but we'll solve switching problems more easily than global garbage.
Not an option: keep going as we are and maybe the problems won't happen.

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