Understood and I agree! For years we have been listening to people be flippant about climate change....the whole, oh we'll deal with it when it happens attitude.
I really hope and pray it doesn't get dire to the point where things like the aerosol spraying have to be considered. Like you say, unknown consequences.
Kind of off-topic, but is it expensive to live in Michigan? We have read that it's a very high-tax state, which I guess pales in comparison to climate change lol
I think I just panicked because right after I asked you about technology predictions regarding climate change, I switched topics and read what you had written. Perfect timing! ? ?
Kind of off-topic, but is it expensive to live in Michigan? We have read that it's a very high-tax state, which I guess pales in comparison to climate change lol
As with most places the answer is “it depends” - our state sales tax is 6% but that’s all most of us have ever known. The republicans did ram through an at the pump gas tax (after their ballot initiative was spectacularly defeated) that makes gas way more than surrounding states.
if you want a lake house or a big house in or near a major city - absolutely.
our personal income tax rates are pretty low and if you live in the burbs or go farther out you spend less on housing.
I wouldn’t leave here but - all my stuff is here already. Despite gerrymandering making the state legislature unevenly tipped red for most of my adult life Michigan is still very much a blue working class state. (2016 was a fluke!)
I know that Detroit, Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor are being touted as climate change refuge cities.
@polarberry And you just listed three places I would say “yes, that’s an expensive place to live” in Michigan :-). (GR is changing but is still the Devos capital of Michigan so I find GR tougher to label what you’ve described above). I grew up in the Lansing area so bigger cities and that goes along with that are built into me. I’m fast approaching a threshold where more of my life has been spent in rural areas. The good part of Michigan is that there are a ton of well settled and established towns were life is pretty simple and inexpensive. And the climate maps I’ve seen, the whole state is going to be a good place to be if things climate wise come to pass. I’m in no hurry to sell my patch of it and move, even if my house is too old and falling apart!
@polarberry High car insurance rates, high property tax rates, there is an income tax but only a 6% sales tax. No toll roads. Construction in the summer, too much snow in the winter to finish it. Water is generally cheap. I grew up in the Detroit area, Macomb county is blue collar. Oakland the wealthiest county in the state. Detroit is in Wayne county the city is not as great as it used to be it was on the upturn before covid, and there seems to be development in the downtown and midtown areas. West side of Wayne county in Canton per se there are million dollar homes being built. Royal Oak is the hip place for kids. Birmingham is the hip place for richer kids. My parents live in a co-op they had to put 10,000 down and after that they just pay a monthly fee which is reasonable, much better than apartments. My brother works for Ford and he's saving money for a house, his students are finally paid off and everything. Michigan is pretty and it's cool in the winter for the most part maybe a week of 90 something degree weather. It's getting hotter every year but compared to Texas in the summer, it's cold. Michigan gets droughts too, some years ago there was a drought and a lot of water evaporated off the lakes. There's always some politician from western states trying to build some pipeline of water from the lakes to the west. People keep on trying to fight that garbage.
The more I read about desalination, solar desalination in particular, the more I become convinced it is the answer to the world's water crisis. Solar desal is environmentally-friendly and cost-effective. Many solar desal plants are opening in Africa, giving freshwater to communities in dire need. And mobile solar desal plants the size of buses are in the works, the brainchild of a U of O professor who hopes to have them up and running next year.
Isn't there an agreement between the GL states and Canada that prohibits that pipeline idea?
There was a shooting in Minneapolis this morning, in a neighborhood called Dinkytown?
Forgot to ask-is Detroit as bad as you read about?
@polarberry Detroit downtown and midtown is awesome, the neighborhoods are hit and miss, east side is not very good because of the massive poverty people are desperate and do things in desperation. Northwest side is beautiful the area near University of Detroit Mercy. Hamtramck is inside the city and it's nice. It's getting better though.
Hubs had a layover there and didn't get to see much of it. I'd imagine the class divide is much like it is in many major cities.