Rising sea levels are going to mess with the internet

Thu Jul 26 19:56:34 UTC 2018

And just to be abundantly clear.  I am not denying climate change and I am all for eliminating pollution and our impact on the planet in general.  However I firmly believe that there will be further climate change regardless of what humans do.  That is the cycle of the planet so far and way before we were here.

My main argument is against the case that rising sea level constitutes some kind of emergency for network infrastructure.  I don't believe it is an emergency and believe that our infrastructure is constantly evolving and all of these routes will be handled in the natural course of things.  I say this coming from years of network infrastructure engineering and installations and time spent in trenches, central offices, and manholes all around the world.  Given that the backbone of the Internet is mostly running on fiber optics which are highly water resistant, localized coastal flooding is less of an issue than ever.  Did you ever look into how far an oceanic cable comes ashore before it hits the landing station?  If you did you would not be worried about a few mm of ocean rise.

Steven Naslund
Chicago IL