I'm not optimistic. As climate becomes less favorable, the rich will focus capital, energy and resources on mitigation. For themselves, I mean. The poor will just starve and die.
No, they will move towards the rich (and cooler) countries. They already do. what we are seeing on the coastd of Europe is only the humble beginning. Wait until the Arab countries become uninhabitable, then 500 million prople will have to look for a new place.
These lands aren't already mostly uninhabitable, being deserts? Most people in Egypt live near the river system, and in UAE they live on the coast. These countries are already much hotter than typical western countries, yet many rich live there. I think it would take more than "a little too hot" to make them move out, such as specific business reasons like no more oil.
How will the climate become less favorable for the rich? The areas most affected are disproportionally third world countries. In the west, food prices might rise some, but the rich won't care. Sea levels will rise, but it will be happening slowly (up to 1000 years for Greenland to melt completely), and governments will be mitigating that, so the rich won't be paying much there either. If you live in London, Paris, Rome, even on Manhattan, the 7 meter sea level rise won't mean anything. It won't do anything. Long Island and Jersey will need significantly mitigation though, as will areas of Palo Alto and Menlo Park, like the Googleplex, but we have hundreds of years to build those dikes, and we will easily be able to predict when and where they are needed.
It's not just water level that affects quality of life. If, say, LA and SF become as hot as Dubai, I would imagine a lot of wealthy people who currently live there would start seeking a more comfortable place to live in. South Europe would be similarly affected.
Not disagreeing, but Dubai is not a good example since Dubai is as hot as Dubai, and a lot of extremely wealthy people still live there.
How many of those people are wealthy by virtue of being the citizens there? How many people who are _not_ from UAE choose to live there?
Once aquifers are sucked dry, farming in semi-arid areas will crash. Rich will spend more for water, food, air conditioning, security, etc. Maybe they'll decide to move. But yes, they'll be fine.
Why will global warming cause the aquifers to be sucked dry? On the contrary, don't we expect global warming to cause more precipitation, thus less load on aquifers?
While it's true that there will be more precipitation overall, models predict that the distribution will change. For example, northern US and Canada will be wetter, especially in winter, but central US will be dryer, especially in summer. The Ogallala aquifer is already depleted.
Which is no different than how things have worked at any point in the past. And yet civilization advances.
Yes, except thanks to the wild card that is technology, seemingly towards its own destruction.