There Goes the Neighborhood, err, Continent
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If the predictions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change hold true, a minimum increase in temperature of 2.5ºC will result in 600,000 square kilometres of cultivable land will be demolished. And this is just Africa.
May 15th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
That map is overtly ‘optimistic’ - NOW
- ntm, after another 2.5°C
In other words, that is the 1990’s precip-zone map, not 2030.
SA, you know that I know this for a fact (feet on the ground)
May 15th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
I don’t doubt your experience. That map is from a economist publication printed today. I don’t have the source date for the map, however, but this is the map they used.
How much worse do you think it will be?
May 16th, 2007 at 5:37 am
Much worse, thanks to self-reinforcing positive feedback loops.
A 2.5C air (atmospheric) temperature change will be sufficient to:
1) Melt most of the polar sea ice, decreasing the earth’s albedo effect as dark seas replace white ice.
2) Decrease cloud cover (again, with the reduced reflectivity).
3) Melt million of square miles of permafrost in North America, Europe, and Asia (releasing massive amounts of frozen methane and locked up co2 and carbon)
4) Melt most of the world’s remaining sub-arctic glaciers (Alps, Kilimanjaro, Himalayas, Andes, etc) and reduce snowpack accumulations, combined producing MOST of the fresh drinkable water on the planet.
5) Possibly disrupt oceanic circulation patterns, such as the thermohaline effect and gulf stream, with corresponding localized climate effects.
6) Melt some (the only question is how much) of the massive quantities of marine methane hydrates (clathrates), which will currently hold most of the world’s methane, seriously exacerbating the problem.
May 16th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
How much worse than starving to death enmass does it ‘need’ to be?
Most of those in Africa know at least something of what actual hunger (ntm untreated disease and total absence of infrastructure/services) is ‘all about’, However, less 1 in 100,000 in the US ‘understand’ (have a FREAKING clue) - IMO. Therefore, a new definition (benchbark) for UGLY will appear on the homestead’s horizon - then door step.