Anyone considering the environment/global warming in your post-FIRE location?

[DeskJockey2028]

A thought just occurred to me.  For those considering changing locations or even staying put, have you thought about the impact of rising temperatures, unstable weather and big, scary storms? I see a bunch of folks looking to retire to Florida. FLA has always dealt with hurricanes but with larger, bigger, more violent storms (potentially) on the way does this make it less attractive?

Has near beach-front property in Alaska suddenly become more attractive? :)

Seriously though - with the change in global temperature over next few decades affecting everyone, how does it affect your outlook on a great location to retire?

[TravelJunkyQC]

I consider the environment in my present and future expenditures (as in, I'm prepared to pay a little more if something doesn't negatively impact the environment as much as its alternative), but I haven't thought about it in terms of where I'd FI. I suppose I like the idea of FIing in Costa Rica for their fantastic lack of dependency on fossil fuels, but I know this isn't what you were talking about. Interesting to think about... Thanks for the pondering!

[Mississippi Mudstache]

Doesn't really change things for me. There's very little certainty about the effects of global climate change from a site-specific perspective*. Your example of a supposed increase in the size and frequency of hurricanes in Florida is interesting, since Florida just recorded its first hurricane strike in 11 years - and even that was pretty minor, barely above a tropical storm. I don't think there's any convincing evidence that Florida should be expecting a dramatic increase in hurricane activity within my lifetime.

*I will add that you won't catch me moving anywhere near the coast that's at or below sea level (eg, some parts of New Orleans and Miami) since the macro effects of climate change will have a very predictable effect on sea levels.

[mozar]

I have thought about it.

[GuitarStv]

I have a house on the top of a hill, well away from water.  We're not far from the great lakes though, so drought/water rationing should be less of a problem here.  Warmer winters and summers should be survivable.

It's not something that I worry about much, but the thought of it is always in the back of my mind.

[zephyr911]

Yeah, I've thought about it a bit.

Conveniently, my family lives in a nice cool northern location with plenty of hills, and I just want to be close to them.

Location aside, most of my non-index holdings are related to renewable energy. If I can crack the code on water investments, I may add that next.

[AlanStache]

I have a place that sea level rise will affect at some point, more immediate things going on in my life but I have no intention of holing it for decades to come.  My other place I specifically bought on very high ground so that I wont be directly affected by sea level raise - this one i worry more about a general economic (lots of ship yards and Navy basses) impact than soggy carpets. 

[BDWW]

I've been trying to convince the wife we need to move further north. It's getting too hot here in the summers, and I don't think it hit -30F once last winter. Usually we get at least a week straight of cold weather. Oh well, at least we woke up to some snow Monday when we were camping.

[DeskJockey2028]

I'm in the Northeast as well, and a good few hundred feet above sea level/flood level too. We plan on buying a new home in this same area as our family is near, kids still in school, etc.

[cloudsail]

I think about this a lot. We love living in California but are concerned about the drought. If it continues, will this area eventually become not so nice to live in? We have family in the Pacific Northwest but we hate the constant rain. However, is it likely that in the future maybe it won't rain as much there anymore?

[wenchsenior]

Doesn't really change things for me. There's very little certainty about the effects of global climate change from a site-specific perspective*. Your example of a supposed increase in the size and frequency of hurricanes in Florida is interesting, since Florida just recorded its first hurricane strike in 11 years - and even that was pretty minor, barely above a tropical storm. I don't think there's any convincing evidence that Florida should be expecting a dramatic increase in hurricane activity within my lifetime.

*I will add that you won't catch me moving anywhere near the coast that's at or below sea level (eg, some parts of New Orleans and Miami) since the macro effects of climate change will have a very predictable effect on sea levels.

Same.

[Digital Dogma]

I'm currently planning on building a house in 4 years and this has crossed my mind more than once. I'm going to focus on soil erosion control, drainage, direct sunlight exposure time, and flooding potential (for utilities and driveway access). I've already got an idea of where I want to build, its half-way up the side of a hill where a knoll protrudes with a flat space for building/leach field/yard. Its ~2000 feet above sea level, but its a reservoir source so there is a significant accumulation of storm water that feeds into the wetlands in the valley. My plan is large diameter crushed stone on all steep uphill and downhill surfaces, bolder retaining walls at the base of the crushed stone slopes, and a buffer zone at the front/back of the house just in case. Additionally, leaving as many trees around the house as I can should aid in soil stability.

The thing that worries me most is erosion causing a landslide above or below the house. That worry is partially assuaged by the fact that most of the hill is granite bedrock and I'll probably have to rent an excavator jackhammer to build a basement and leach field there in at least part of the footprint.

Higher atmospheric temperature means that the same air can hold more moisture per cubic foot, which will likely lead to greater rainfall events and more energetic storm systems.

[Rocket]

Yes. I have two houses.  One in Los Angeles and I worry about not having enough water in the future.  2nd is in RI about 30 feet above sea level.  Both places will be severely affected by climate change.   I see the changes now but both will remain livable in my lifetime I'm guessing.  I'm going to sell the CA house soon and move someplace not in a flood zone or near the ocean and not Florida.  Vermont probably or western Mass.

[begood]

Now that summer in PA feels like summer in NC used to, yeah, I think about it. It's hard to imagine going farther north, given how much I don't like even the PA winters, but I also can't imagine moving South again, despite the LCOL lure.

And I'll take a lake over a beach anyday. :)

[Cycling Stache]

House in Miami.  Long-term plan is to sell in case sea level rise is the problem that's predicted (and to move to our desired location).  Of course, you wouldn't know that there's any concern whatsoever by the development that's taking place here, but it will become an issue when the banks decide there's a risk and start rejecting 30-year mortgages.  It will be interesting to see if/when the banks start taking action on it. 

I will add that, when reading about flooding, sea-level rise is only one way flooding occurs.  There is quite a bit of flooding that takes place due to heavy rains, even in places far from large bodies of water or significantly above sea level.  Miami's issue is more a long-term problem if the predictions are accurate.  In any event, I figure we'll sell in 10 years or so, or if catastrophe happens, we've saved on the $50k per year in rent we were paying before buying a house a few years ago, and take the loss on the rest.  Using the optimism gun on that one.

[StarBright]

Yes!

We had a chance to "cheaply" rent-to-own property from family in Southern California, a potential job in the Santa Barbara area, and a job in Ohio. We moved to Ohio. Climate change wasn't our only deciding factor but it was discussed. I am very uncomfortable living in a place that does not have enough of it's own water and seems to be constantly in drought. I wanted to live in a place that could grow food and sustain life.

We recently bought a home in OH and made sure it was outside of the 100 year floodplain abd that it was a well built house with good natural ventilation (looked specifically for older homes that were built pre-AC). I also bought a house with a basement because the last few years have seen an increase of cluster tornadoes in this area.

[clarkfan1979]

I am considering it a little. I would really like to retire in a ski town or have a second home in a ski town. Some ski resorts are at risk for closing due to global warming. The resorts with higher elevation and colder weather will become more desirable when the other resorts start to close.

[mwulff]

We didn't consider it when we bought our house, but it turns out that we are 16 meters above sea level. That is nice because it means that we won't drown when the icecaps melt, but then again many critical utilities would probably be interrupted.

We do however try to do our bit to contain the problem. We drive an electric car powered by solar panels on our roof and we try to recycle everything and not waste unnecessarily.

My main comfort is that our solar panels and inverter will work even if the grid is down, so when we get a battery we are ready for the zombie apocalypse.

[mozar]

We drive an electric car powered by solar panels on our roof and we try to recycle everything and not waste unnecessarily.

Wait what? Where did you get this car? I thought a car wouldn't have enough surface area with current solar technology to power a car.

[undercover]

We drive an electric car powered by solar panels on our roof and we try to recycle everything and not waste unnecessarily.

Wait what? Where did you get this car? I thought a car wouldn't have enough surface area with current solar technology to power a car.

I read this as they charge the car at home via the solar panels on their home.

[mwulff]

We drive an electric car powered by solar panels on our roof and we try to recycle everything and not waste unnecessarily.

Wait what? Where did you get this car? I thought a car wouldn't have enough surface area with current solar technology to power a car.

I read this as they charge the car at home via the solar panels on their home.

You sir, are correct. We are fortunate enough that the car is home a lot of the time. So it's almost always plugged in and can trickle charge during daylight hours.

[AlanStache]

We drive an electric car powered by solar panels on our roof and we try to recycle everything and not waste unnecessarily.

Wait what? Where did you get this car? I thought a car wouldn't have enough surface area with current solar technology to power a car.

I read this as they charge the car at home via the solar panels on their home.

You sir, are correct. We are fortunate enough that the car is home a lot of the time. So it's almost always plugged in and can trickle charge during daylight hours.

I did the math for an on-board solar car and posted it in some other thread; it is theoretically possible but utterly stupid in 99.999999999999% of cases.  ie unless you are Mat Damon and stuck on Mars it is just way better to keep the solar cells off-board.   

[Metta]

Seriously though - with the change in global temperature over next few decades affecting everyone, how does it affect your outlook on a great location to retire?

We eventually want to move to New Mexico and we are very worried about global climate change's effect on availability of water. Our fears were exacerbated when the town of Magdalena, NM very publicly ran out of water. What this has primarily done to our planning is that we decided that we want to be connected to a large city's water (Albuquerque) so that we are not dependent on short-sighted, small town officials or on our own wells.

[mozar]

You sir, are correct. We are fortunate enough that the car is home a lot of the time. So it's almost always plugged in and can trickle charge during daylight hours.

I got too excited.

[Metric Mouse]

Doesn't really change things for me. There's very little certainty about the effects of global climate change from a site-specific perspective*. Your example of a supposed increase in the size and frequency of hurricanes in Florida is interesting, since Florida just recorded its first hurricane strike in 11 years - and even that was pretty minor, barely above a tropical storm. I don't think there's any convincing evidence that Florida should be expecting a dramatic increase in hurricane activity within my lifetime.

*I will add that you won't catch me moving anywhere near the coast that's at or below sea level (eg, some parts of New Orleans and Miami) since the macro effects of climate change will have a very predictable effect on sea levels.

Seems NOAA data agrees with you, across most severe weather types.