Have you seen the photos of Paradise, California? Of this year's hurricanes? Depending on where this person lives, they may already be experiencing very serious effects. Good-bye retirement savings if you have to rebuild or migrate to a less-vulnerable area.

I'm not quite sure you are making a point in line with the person you are responding to. The California fires are terrible but:

1) You have to be ready for terrible fires even if the future climate prognosis is great.

2) The residents of Paradise, California with substantial savings are going to be much better off than those without.

If anything, Paradise validates the idea that you should save and invest more in preparation for a hostile future rather than less. They aren't going it alone, they are still part of a large and functioning America.

I agree; you should save if you can. But perhaps you should not expect it to last until your retirement (or perhaps even you yourself will not last until your retirement) as climate disasters become more common and deadly.

I was responding to someone who said we would not see a Mad-Max-like world in our lifetimes; my point was merely that some people already are seeing such a thing. (Though I admit I never saw the Mad Max movie, so I may have missed the mark.)

We've banned this account for posting flamewar comments and ignoring multiple requests to stop.

Is that even close to what I said?

[edit: but on second thought, maybe more of us should consider donating some portion of our retirement savings to those who have had their entire lives wiped out by disaster and are immediate distress. Thanks for the nudge.]

Define "immediate"?

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/10/un-says-climate-genoc...

No one reading HN today will ever experience it

+ The 5 warmest years on record have been in the 2010s

+ The 20 warmest years on record have been since 1995

We're already experiencing it.

I live in British Columbia and for the past 3 summers have had to spend at least all of August indoors with doors and windows sealed shut due to the dangerous levels of particulates in the air. I am already experiencing it.

Particulates – is that smoke from forest fires caused by hot dry weather?

More or less. The fires are caused mostly by lightening and dry winds (some human caused too) by also contributed to by a lot of fuel from overly wet spring followed by dry hot summer.

A small increase in temperature results in a significant increase in lightening which is the big worry.

So you don't believe the fiery hellscape that is California in 2018 is climate related at all?

Weather is not climate. Natural disaster is not climate.

Changes in average precipitation rates is climate, and california's fire season is now year-round.

Please reread the guidelines. Intentional obtuseness is not conducive to healthy discussion.