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The Russian and Canadian permafrost tundras will be incredibly productive farmland once they thaw. The main food problems will come near the equator, where peop
by howlin 10y ago
The Russian and Canadian permafrost tundras will be incredibly productive farmland once they thaw. The main food problems will come near the equator, where people tend to be poorer. They'll lose farm land as well as fish stock in the oceans.
- Diederich 10y agoIndeed. That's been the traditional wisdom, which I was also on board with for a long time. What I'm concerned about is 'weather weirding'. On average, everything gets warmer, but because there's a lot more overall energy, the highs get higher, and the lows get lower, along with more extreme rain/flooding, along with more extreme drought. And, of course, a lot more intense storms. I hope I am wrong, and it seems like the analysis of this line of thought is just starting to ramp up. Anecdotally, it's why, for example, we got something like 10 or 12 '100 year' and '500 year' weather events in the US in 2016.
- nikdaheratik 10y agoExcept that they'll also emit more methane as they thaw which could drive temperatures even higher in the interim. And it will also cause precipitation patterns to be more erratic, which is bad for farming in general.