In the UK we have coastline erosion that is increasing in intensity and speed thanks to global warming. The people living right at the edge of the coast (to get the sea views) are mostly retirees or older families. Because of this there is a great reluctance to move further inland, partly because of the expense but also because they believe that they will be dead before their homes get washed into the sea. Instead they bleat on about how the government aren't protecting them by reinforcing the cliffs and sea walls. They don't want to move away from the seaside and they don't want to admit that global warming is coming for them.

I expect you will find a similar situation in the States where people are too invested in where they live to make the right move in time. Instead they will hold on and call on the government to make the problem go away. However, like king Canute, you can't hold back the tides; which are getting higher each year. So even if billions were spent building higher and higher sea walls, eventually the sea will come in. However, I suspect that people will still hold on and refuse to go until the water laps around their collective waistlines.

At the moment the 'stampeding elephants' are still too far way to feel like a real danger and people will just stand still and enjoy the view. Humans always leave things to the last minute and that last minute is still years away (we hope). No matter how much we call people's attention to the advancing elephants it will not be seen as an urgent crisis until people are being crushed under foot. And expect those who can 'climb trees' to claim it doesn't effect them.