Climate Change: Desperate Measures

Four Don Quixote-style climate change projects—and how likely they are to succeed.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


While politicians still debate the when and if of climate change, some governments and corporations are already bankrolling massive projects to stave off the catastrophic effects. But are they just global warming boondoggles?

Action

Good Fences? India’s proposed 10-foot-tall, 2,135-mile immigration fence along its eastern border is a top priority now that climate change is threatening poor, crowded Bangladesh. Cost: At least $1 billion

Dam Yangtze. In an effort to keep Beijing and its surrounding provinces from turning into desert, China is redirecting water over 2,000 miles from the Yellow and Yangtze rivers toward the arid north. Cost: At least $37 billion

Move ‘Em Out. In 2008, the president of the Republic of Maldives (average height above sea level: five feet) suggested starting a fund to buy a new homeland for the country’s 400,000 people. Cost: Unknown

Just Desert. A consortium of companies wants to erect huge solar installations and wind turbines in the Sahara to provide most of North Africa’s energy and 15 percent of Europe’s by 2050. Cost: $630 billion

  Divider Lines
 
   
Distraction?

Definitely. There’s no completion date for the fence, much of which runs through remote mountains; patrolling it long term would cost an estimated $149 million per year.

Probably. Diverting water from the polluted Yangtze may lead to higher concentrations of waste, and some usable water will evaporate in transit.

Probably. The plan is unpopular among Maldivians. Earlier this year the president told the New York Times that citizens “would rather die here” than leave their homes.

Probably not. Even if the project falls short, the carbon savings and technological breakthroughs it could foster would make it worthwhile.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate