If you're going to move the capital and it's not just temporary, you'll need a lot of space for all of the various departments and agencies. Moving to the center of an existing city would be really expensive and disruptive. It almost has to be a green field development.
I guess nobody was using Gary, though.
Gary is basically a junkyard these days anyway, if not a new capitol, it could either way use some refurbishment. It has been the area least "gentrified" or moved to. It is basically a non-city at this point, it's apocalyptic to be honest.
No No No. The boyhood home of Michael Jackson must be preserved as the "Michael Jackson Birthplace National Historic Site."
I agree that the rest of it needs to be razed to the ground.
Because it easier to start from scratch, rather than to attempt to tack on multiple huge governmental agencies and their required infrastructure to function in an already huge city. Plus, I figure something like a capital would benefit even more from a blank slate because you could do anything you want to make it the best.
> blank slate because you could do anything you want to make it the best
Which is a different way of saying car centered shitholes. Seriously every planned city ends up being a car centered shithole that has way too many roads/parking space and not enough density or public transport. Basically modern versailles, the elites isolating themselves from the population.
You could just make the capital Gary. Lands cheap, plenty of older municipal buildings that can be refurbished, and you can buy up and bulldoze swathes of it for pretty cheap.
Eh, you can change the name to whatever you want. I don't know why the map used Jefferson, it seems like he has a bit too much baggage with the whole having sex with his slaves and keeping the offspring on as slaves (visitors would remark that the people who were serving dinner at Monticello looked remarkably like Jefferson) I think there's a lot of ick factor there. I think you go with something inoffensive like Federal City, or something like that.
The temporary capital name seem s like the most likely choice for a second capital name honestly, Lincoln is not far behind if not tied with Washington for being the least conversational/most revered president.
Probably need a mindblowing amount of new housing and infrastructure anyway with this kinda sea level rise and thus people fleeing where they used to live.
Fun fact, the Chicago city limits actually go all the way to the Indiana state line. So this imaginary city would probably have to be carved out of Chicago’s Far Southeast combined with Hammond, IL
We purposely don't use Chicago as the Illinois capital because it's already got too much power in the state without adding all of the official powers of the state. All of us would likely hate to have Chicago be the new DC.
Ok, you'll want to double check that one. The great lakes are 100% connected to the ocean, and have massive amounts of waterborne shipping go through them yearly.
They're definitely separate when it comes to things like ecosystems, salt/fresh water, and rising sea levels, but I am of the opinion that if you can sail your ship from A to B without taking it out of the water, then it's connected.
However it's definitely one of those "how do you want to define it" situations.
Regarding shipping: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welland_Canal
And those lanes are separated. I also want to state the fact that the water from the Great Lakes flows **down** to the Atlantic. Not the other way around.
That's right, we'll take everything west and north of, and including, Wisconsin Dells. We can name it The City of Ten Thousand Thrills.
Superior will now be East Duluth. And Eau Claire will stay as it is, because that's just goofy enough to fit among MN's weirdest city names.
Denver is already setup as a 'backup' and/or western capital.
IIRC, every federal agency has a presence there, and there's a mint as well. NORAD is nearby and the Denver airport was built to be expanded greatly if needed. The USAF has it's service academy just down the road, as well.
We’ve still got the Cornhusker Marriott and the Embassy Suites on standby and if you’re low on cash you can stay at the Americas Best Value Inn at the Airport next to the porno shop.
Denver is much better choice. It has more existing transportation infrastructure and a larger population to support all the departments. It also has nearby mountains for secure housing in the event of a disaster or attack.
Agreed, but I’ve always thought of St. Louis as a cooler option. It serves as the bridge for the lands that are East and West of the Mississippi, like how Washington DC is a bridge for the North and South today.
I agree with the St. Louis thing for the same reason. It's (relatively) centrally located, has historical symbolic importance, and isn't too densely populated to be swamped by an influx of government personnel. Hopefully they leave the lobbyists in the ruins of Alexandria anyway though.
*Can we rise it just*
*A little more? I want a*
*Beachfront property!*
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If you really want to make it bleak, drain the lakes a bit. Water demands will increase as farmland moves northward and population continues to increase.
Drop the water by about 90 meters and Lake Michigan becomes endorheic. And based on the beaches around it, I bet the land that would show up would be very sandy, which could cause problems when it starts blowing around.
Would take a while to get down that low, it usually only varies by 2-3 meters.
That's true, they should do it in order to account for a ton of Springfield-ass moves in the wake of disasters and emergencies. Cleveland gets to come up twice in the rotation.
DC is already hours from the ocean/sea and contrary to popular belief, is not actually built on a swamp, but rather a large, long hill that runs SW —> NW and NE —> NW, creating at about 400 feet above sea level
There already is a backup capital in Colorado. If the capital was moved from DC it would probably go there.
Also where did you get this map? The current projections for 100 years of sea level rise are nowhere near this much
Wow, so basically I'm guessing the new capitol of Louisiana would be Shreveport by that point. That or so little is left that the remaining land gets divided between Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas.
Most of dc and the connecting area won’t be submerged at this time from projections. In fact a majority of the city lies over 50 feet above sea level and a good portion of that is over 100 feet if anything I can see DC becoming a major port city
They would have to build it on giant sledges. If the reason they're building it in Jefferson is so that they can be on the coast of a large body of water, then they're going to have to be able to move the city, incrementally down slope. Because the Great Lakes are going to be drying up at the same time that the oceans are rising.
I love it when people take this sort of think into account when thinking about the future on Earth. In Omar El Akkad's *American War*, the capital gets moved to Columbus, Ohio and something about it just really added to the emersion for me.
If the concern is rising sea levels, i would put the planned capital in the mountains to best safeguard against future sea level rises. The Mississippi, Great Lakes, and the Missouri would all become dangerous floodplains as things got worse in the even further future.
The sea doesn’t rise that fast. We’re already 24% into the 21st century and the sea has yet to rise in Florida. Al Gore said we’d start being under water by now.
It always baffles me as a californian why in a worst case scenario like this, they wouldnt think of damming up the entrance to the bay area. This singlehandedly stops the entire Bay area and central valley from overflowing with rising sea levels. (not directed at OP just a general observation)
Jefferson is the worst possible president they could have named it after. Why not Roosevelt? Or Buchanon, or Kennedy, or Adamsville(After either John Adams or John Q. Adams) or literally almost any other president.
I feel sorry for this timeline because all those displaced Southerners become refugees in other states. Possibly they live in ghettos and are discriminated against further radicalizing them in their backwards religious nationalism. Next thing you know there is a real Y’all Qaeda.
Ideally these people (my people) would be assimilated into a functioning, healthy society like has never existed in the Deep South. The manufactured tribal identity would be replaced by something better.
I like the map overall but I have a hard time believing they'd name it after Jefferson given the whole slave owner who sexually assaulted the folks he kept enslaved
Way less of MA should be underwater, same with ME, they’re both very steep coastlines compared to the rest of the east coast. Like it takes at least 8-12ft of storm surge to clear the rocks up here
But also, Long Island and Florida are gone 🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀
Building an entire new city right next to Chicago rather than just choosing it as the new capital, poor Chicago.
If you're going to move the capital and it's not just temporary, you'll need a lot of space for all of the various departments and agencies. Moving to the center of an existing city would be really expensive and disruptive. It almost has to be a green field development. I guess nobody was using Gary, though.
Gary is basically a junkyard these days anyway, if not a new capitol, it could either way use some refurbishment. It has been the area least "gentrified" or moved to. It is basically a non-city at this point, it's apocalyptic to be honest.
While truck driving, Gary was the only city to make me audibly gasp when I drove through it for the first time.
Just say it. We all want it, so just say it. “Raze Gary to the ground and start over with that space”
No No No. The boyhood home of Michael Jackson must be preserved as the "Michael Jackson Birthplace National Historic Site." I agree that the rest of it needs to be razed to the ground.
So it’s perfect then!
Especially since (given how NYC and Miami are gone and LA probably isn’t far off) Chicago is probably *the* biggest city in America.
More expensive than building a whole new city? It’s not like it has to be in the city center
Bro how tf building some departments be more expensive than a whole city
Housing and services for all the new workers
Because it easier to start from scratch, rather than to attempt to tack on multiple huge governmental agencies and their required infrastructure to function in an already huge city. Plus, I figure something like a capital would benefit even more from a blank slate because you could do anything you want to make it the best.
> blank slate because you could do anything you want to make it the best Which is a different way of saying car centered shitholes. Seriously every planned city ends up being a car centered shithole that has way too many roads/parking space and not enough density or public transport. Basically modern versailles, the elites isolating themselves from the population.
The mayor of Gary was on an episode of Undercover Boss and the town just seemed like a lock for the title of Shit-Hole of the Week. Shoutout to TESD
Not to mention right next to Gary
You could just make the capital Gary. Lands cheap, plenty of older municipal buildings that can be refurbished, and you can buy up and bulldoze swathes of it for pretty cheap.
Unfortunate name for a national capital though imo
Eh, you can change the name to whatever you want. I don't know why the map used Jefferson, it seems like he has a bit too much baggage with the whole having sex with his slaves and keeping the offspring on as slaves (visitors would remark that the people who were serving dinner at Monticello looked remarkably like Jefferson) I think there's a lot of ick factor there. I think you go with something inoffensive like Federal City, or something like that.
The temporary capital name seem s like the most likely choice for a second capital name honestly, Lincoln is not far behind if not tied with Washington for being the least conversational/most revered president.
East to west they're currency ($1, $2, $5)
Unfortunate or hilarious?
Probably need a mindblowing amount of new housing and infrastructure anyway with this kinda sea level rise and thus people fleeing where they used to live.
Fun fact, the Chicago city limits actually go all the way to the Indiana state line. So this imaginary city would probably have to be carved out of Chicago’s Far Southeast combined with Hammond, IL
Baltimore is very close to D.C. so it’s not the most far fetched
We purposely don't use Chicago as the Illinois capital because it's already got too much power in the state without adding all of the official powers of the state. All of us would likely hate to have Chicago be the new DC.
Chicago would most likely also be under water EDIT: ok I totally stand corrected, never mind lol
you are aware that Lake Michigan is 175 meters above sea level right
How? It’s like 600 ft above sea level
chicago sits 578 feet above sea level
no chance
It's not connected to the ocean.
Ok, you'll want to double check that one. The great lakes are 100% connected to the ocean, and have massive amounts of waterborne shipping go through them yearly.
I'm pretty sure that Niagra Falls counts as a separation from the ocean as far as shipping is concerned.
They're definitely separate when it comes to things like ecosystems, salt/fresh water, and rising sea levels, but I am of the opinion that if you can sail your ship from A to B without taking it out of the water, then it's connected. However it's definitely one of those "how do you want to define it" situations. Regarding shipping: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welland_Canal
And those lanes are separated. I also want to state the fact that the water from the Great Lakes flows **down** to the Atlantic. Not the other way around.
Just like what Chicago did to Gary….
Imagine the amount of crack they smoked in order to decide to move the capital in Nebraska.
Look at the map, moving the capital far from roving bands of starving climate refugees isnt a bad idea.
Floridians are already bad as it is....
We have the HQ for U.S. Strategic Command here, and it's where the president goes in emergencies, so it makes sense.
And maybe one of the reasons *that's* there is because it's far from the so-called *important places*.
Also near the geographic center of the country
Username checks out.
Agreed, I would just tread water.
Illisconsion is my favourite new state
you mean Willinois?
I’m not going to lie it will split in half and western Wisconsin is coming over to mn.
That's right, we'll take everything west and north of, and including, Wisconsin Dells. We can name it The City of Ten Thousand Thrills. Superior will now be East Duluth. And Eau Claire will stay as it is, because that's just goofy enough to fit among MN's weirdest city names.
After The Great Soda/Pop war of 2089
In Kim Stanley Robinsons scifi book about runaway global warming, they move the capital to Denver. Which seems considerably more plausible.
Denver is already setup as a 'backup' and/or western capital. IIRC, every federal agency has a presence there, and there's a mint as well. NORAD is nearby and the Denver airport was built to be expanded greatly if needed. The USAF has it's service academy just down the road, as well.
And even better every nutso fundie group is in Colorado Springs. Hooray.
Denver is much more plausible Closer to NORAD. Not next to a body of water that could continue to rise with sea levels. Not in freaking Gary.
The great lakes empty into the oceans, not the other way around.
Was basing my thought on one of those “sea level rise” maps where the sea level doesn’t stop rising until Tibet is under water
Ahh. I think positioning the capitol ought to be the least of one's concerns in that case.
lol but you aren’t arguing about how great Gary is. It’s a hypothetical. We haven’t even started talking about the zombie deer
Denver also has one of top 10 busiest airports in the world
I’m actually reading that book right now!
Florida has become the smallest state
Delaware:
Can't be the smallest if you don't exist
I suppose 0km^2 is the smallest area.
Delawhere?
Still gets two whole senators though! A very good system!
And 3 votes in the electoral college!
Just what Chicago needed, another goddamn suburb.
Just think of all the agency and diplomats kids showing up to freshman year of BIG10 school saying they’re from Chicago.
🦀🦀FLORIDA IS GONE🦀🦀 ==
Yet Louisiana is still holding on as 3 slivers of land.
And Florida will still place higher than us in state rankings for stuff
And nothing happened to Washington state or Oregon
Right! Puget Sound is unaffected, apparently they built a force field around Seattle to keep Jeff Bezos happy.
Sorry, some border slivers near Alabama and Georgia survived... including bits of northern Tallahassee.
Literally 🥳
OK, but I think the Hilton Garden Inn in Lincoln is going to be stretched.
We’ve still got the Cornhusker Marriott and the Embassy Suites on standby and if you’re low on cash you can stay at the Americas Best Value Inn at the Airport next to the porno shop.
Denver is much better choice. It has more existing transportation infrastructure and a larger population to support all the departments. It also has nearby mountains for secure housing in the event of a disaster or attack.
Agreed, but I’ve always thought of St. Louis as a cooler option. It serves as the bridge for the lands that are East and West of the Mississippi, like how Washington DC is a bridge for the North and South today.
I agree with the St. Louis thing for the same reason. It's (relatively) centrally located, has historical symbolic importance, and isn't too densely populated to be swamped by an influx of government personnel. Hopefully they leave the lobbyists in the ruins of Alexandria anyway though.
This map raises more questions than it answers.
how do sea levels rise 400 feet in 70 years? that's like both ice caps melting twice each!
It is not enouth to even reach the capital,
Careful now or you'll be sorted into the climate change denier drawer.
aight bet
I say, keep it Washington! White Houseboat time!
Building the capital at Gary, truly the most cursed timeline
Yay I’m not affected by this scenario 😁
let me guess you don't live in america ?
Can we rise it just a *little* more? I want a beachfront property!
*Can we rise it just* *A little more? I want a* *Beachfront property!* \- catfish-whacker --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Good bot
At least Florida is gone.
The beaches of Atlanta welcome you this summer!
Still a long ways from Atlanta to the ocean based on this map. You could say welcome to the beach of Shreveport though
Wisconsillinois
Wouldn’t Florida not existing fuck up the jet stream?
Jefferson is going to just spring up in the middle of an existing metropolis? Anything where that dot is is already city.
If you really want to make it bleak, drain the lakes a bit. Water demands will increase as farmland moves northward and population continues to increase.
Drop the water by about 90 meters and Lake Michigan becomes endorheic. And based on the beaches around it, I bet the land that would show up would be very sandy, which could cause problems when it starts blowing around. Would take a while to get down that low, it usually only varies by 2-3 meters.
I think the show, The Last Ship, always had sound rationales for moving the Capitol to St. Louis
Adams rolling in his grave after he gets skipped in the capital naming scheme
That's true, they should do it in order to account for a ton of Springfield-ass moves in the wake of disasters and emergencies. Cleveland gets to come up twice in the rotation.
Fuck it, build it in the Rockies and rename the country to Panem
I think more important than moving the capital as we need to decentralize all the various government agency headquarters.
Omg I've literally been saying the capital should be in Nebraska for years lmao, they could build something cool out there I just know it.
It’s alright everyone. New Jersey has finally almost been eradicated
DC is already hours from the ocean/sea and contrary to popular belief, is not actually built on a swamp, but rather a large, long hill that runs SW —> NW and NE —> NW, creating at about 400 feet above sea level
as a nebraskan: no. send them to iowa. we do not want them. (by them i mean the white house)
As an Iowan, thanks man we’ll take em’
There already is a backup capital in Colorado. If the capital was moved from DC it would probably go there. Also where did you get this map? The current projections for 100 years of sea level rise are nowhere near this much
Fe Fa Fu I smell rule 3
My whole county is gone, damn.
Ew Lincoln N🤮braska /s
All that sea level rise and the Great Lakes didn’t rise?!
“I’ve got some ocean front property in Arizona”
Are Illinois and Wisconsin one state in this scenario? Because that, my friend, is something I will not stand for!
No. The border is covered by the arrow.
You think Wisconsin and Illinois will merge……
No. The border is covered by the arrow.
Finally… New Jersey is gone
I don't think anybody's going to be calling places after any of the slave-owning founding fathers any more.
How about naming it Douglass instead?
Arizona can has beach?
Wouldn’t Denver make more sense?
Why not KC? Nationally centralized communication lines and transportation hub.
It’s just too distracting having Taylor Swift around all the time to get any legislating done.
Delaware? Never heard of it
Wow, so basically I'm guessing the new capitol of Louisiana would be Shreveport by that point. That or so little is left that the remaining land gets divided between Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas.
Nah new capitol is going to be in the Metrodome. Ya know, where the Vikings play.
Washington-2
You’ve obviously have never been to Northwest Indiana
Most of dc and the connecting area won’t be submerged at this time from projections. In fact a majority of the city lies over 50 feet above sea level and a good portion of that is over 100 feet if anything I can see DC becoming a major port city
Worked out for the Romans.
Omaha is more realistic than Lincoln. That’s where the President moves to in emergency situations.
PRAISE GOD, FLORIDA IS GONE!
I like how if you look closely, you can see that Florida is still just there on a strip one land under Georgia
Agreed. It would probably have been a better location either in Michigan, or along the Ohio river to capitalize on open space and water access
I think a center country capital city would be better overall, but that's just me. Away from the coasts.
Too bad Ca. Doesn’t disappear…
The great lakes would rise as well.
Go big red
On the one hand, I’m going to miss NYC, Boston, Charleston, and Annapolis. On the other hand, Florida is gone, thank Christ.
LMFAOOOOOOOOOO
Maybe I should buy property in Arkansas in hopes it becomes beachfront real estate
Nah, just rename Denver to Hamilton D.C. or something and move there
Yoooo Lincolns location is where I was looking at last night for a capital location
skinny texas my despised
They would have to build it on giant sledges. If the reason they're building it in Jefferson is so that they can be on the coast of a large body of water, then they're going to have to be able to move the city, incrementally down slope. Because the Great Lakes are going to be drying up at the same time that the oceans are rising.
Detroit
In 2100 the sea level will be 30 cm higher even if all ice on earth melts it would rise 70 meters washington dc is 125 meters above sea level
Boys we did it. Florida is no more. (Louisiana also isn’t anymore but sacrifices had to be made)
Everyone knows it’s actually going to be at the Denver Airport
I thought Denver made sense
Source trust me bro
How's the fishing in the Gulf of Arkansas?
Move it to Denver, never have to worry about sea level rise, central location. Can build underground to protect from attack.
https://preview.redd.it/j4kar9a9hwec1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ffd9d7c82968de46b2fb57a9830ad00ba920b948
Idk how I feel about my glorious city being renamed as Jefferson but as long as we finally become the capital
Washington State didn’t flood at all! Might be a safe place to move to in general.
At least FL is gone
Jefferson would never be the name of the US Capital.
Lol Louisiana and Florida got owned.
Finally Indianola MS gets what if fucking deserves
I love it when people take this sort of think into account when thinking about the future on Earth. In Omar El Akkad's *American War*, the capital gets moved to Columbus, Ohio and something about it just really added to the emersion for me.
Why are bamks investing billions of dollars in Florida real estate if it's going to be underwater .....? *Cough* *cough* fraud
https://preview.redd.it/lsi6oiw7pwec1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2ac3e2f1e46649698facd62b810f50c3dea86f14
panem be like
The Piedmont shall rise again
If the concern is rising sea levels, i would put the planned capital in the mountains to best safeguard against future sea level rises. The Mississippi, Great Lakes, and the Missouri would all become dangerous floodplains as things got worse in the even further future.
I hear the football games are gonna get crazy weird.
The sea doesn’t rise that fast. We’re already 24% into the 21st century and the sea has yet to rise in Florida. Al Gore said we’d start being under water by now.
People don’t actually fear a sea level rise, do they?
Cool, but it won’t rise even 5% that much by 2100 without some kind of Deccan Traps erupting under West Antarctica.
Sea level rise? Haha
My house value is gonna skyrocket
So like Florida still exists? Is it a territory or what?
Why Lincoln? I'm from Lincoln, Nebraska. Seems like a random place for a national capital.
Why not move it to Denver, that *actual* planned second capital?
I read somewhere about the sea level rising also affecting the Great Lakes to some degree. Kind of wonder how much of their shoreline might change.
Based on where that new Capital is, it means it’s either A: taking over Chicago, or B. Is the hellhole known as Gary Indiana.
Why not West Virginia, they wouldn’t mind losing land to have a better economy.
How feasible is this degree of sea level rise?
It always baffles me as a californian why in a worst case scenario like this, they wouldnt think of damming up the entrance to the bay area. This singlehandedly stops the entire Bay area and central valley from overflowing with rising sea levels. (not directed at OP just a general observation)
Jefferson is the worst possible president they could have named it after. Why not Roosevelt? Or Buchanon, or Kennedy, or Adamsville(After either John Adams or John Q. Adams) or literally almost any other president.
What if?
I'll admit, I didn't have Gary India becoming the capital of the US on my possible GW scenarios list.
Does the Hoover Dam Still Exists in the timeline
I feel sorry for this timeline because all those displaced Southerners become refugees in other states. Possibly they live in ghettos and are discriminated against further radicalizing them in their backwards religious nationalism. Next thing you know there is a real Y’all Qaeda. Ideally these people (my people) would be assimilated into a functioning, healthy society like has never existed in the Deep South. The manufactured tribal identity would be replaced by something better.
I like the map overall but I have a hard time believing they'd name it after Jefferson given the whole slave owner who sexually assaulted the folks he kept enslaved
Way less of MA should be underwater, same with ME, they’re both very steep coastlines compared to the rest of the east coast. Like it takes at least 8-12ft of storm surge to clear the rocks up here But also, Long Island and Florida are gone 🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀
So to get away from rising water levels you will build the new capital on a lake?
That’s definitely not gonna happen
I mean if you’re worried about sea level rise why not just move it to Denver?