The United States is still debating its wall with Mexico. As Victoria Vernon & Klaus F. Zimmermann have documented, building walls between countries has become fashion over recent decades signalling the widespread rising fears about globalization. The number of walls have increased from under 10 to nearly 80 within half of a century.
GLO Discussion Paper No. 330, 2019. Walls and Fences: A Journey Through History and Economics – Download PDF
by Vernon, Victoria & Zimmermann, Klaus F.
Now climate change may bring a dramatic shift into the game of walls: “Even though estimates about rising sea levels vary, the Center for Climate Integrity has published an analysis which estimates that the U.S. will have to invest $416 billion in constructing seawalls between now and 2040. At state level, Florida is expected to have to spend $76 billion on seawalls over the next two decades with while Louisiana will have the second-highest bill at $38 billion. ” (statista, see also chart below.)
Will climate change soon replace our fears about migration? Surely not, since forced mass migration is already predicted around the world as a consequence of rising sea levels.
A recent novel has thought the (our?) story to the end:
John Lanchester: The Wall, Faber & Faber, Ltd. London, 2019.
After the change, Britain is surrounded by a wall facing endless water. The Young have to serve on the wall as Defenders to kill the Others as soon as they attack as boat people to invade the island. Shooting climate refugees is a daily business. A brutal, if not boring exercise where some Defenders are forced to become Others and are lost on the sea, with a surviving couple left alone with their love.
More statista details for an analysis behind the figure.
Ends;
