5 ms·

And some areas will actually become more habitable - closer to the poles.

by xenocratus 6y ago

scarmig 6y ago
It turns out that beachfront property in Siberia was a great deal!
- londons_explore 6y ago
  Lots of siberia is permafrost... When that melts it usually becomes boggy marshland. Not great for your holiday resort.
daxfohl 6y ago
Those siberian methane craters make me second guess whether any of that land would be habitable either.
scythe 6y ago
Unfortunately, the geometry of a sphere is such that half of the total area of Earth is between +/- 30 degrees latitude. The areas that will be improved are much smaller than the areas that will get worse.
masklinn 6y ago
> And some areas will actually become more habitable - closer to the poles. These areas have no soil worth speaking of so agriculture is not an option, the ecosystem will not be stable so no foraging or hunting, and the grounds will be extremely unstable as they'll be thawing continuously, and the surface will just be soggy bog. As all extreme locales the long winter night also tends to trigger depression in many.
graeme 6y ago
We in Canada already inhabited pretty much all the habitable land up here. The bits that aren’t widely settled aren’t suited for agriculture even in summer. People say this northern land thing with no actual experience of what unsettled lands look like. Google Muskeg if you want to see your promised land. https://www.google.com/search?q=muskeg&hl=en&prmd=imvn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjLo_LTwdrsAhWNMd8KHftMB9cQ_AUoAXoECAoQAQ&biw=375&bih=553 https://www.google.com/search?q=muskeg&hl=en&prmd=imvn&sourc... There’s also the boreal forest, but the consensus is that’s at a tipping point and will eventually perish in wildfires. Might be useful savannah eventually but will not be pleasant during the transition. There have already been massive wildfires in northern canada and siberia. https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.3198892#click=https://t.co/3NEaJz0R7I https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.3198892#click=https://t.co/3NEaJz0R...
- PeterisP 6y ago
  Our ancestors practiced slash-and-burn agriculture. A boreal forest that burns down in a wildfire should result in reasonably fertile land.
  - graeme 6y ago
    They slashed and burned forests in fertile regions. Boreal forests are nothing like that. “ Soils in the boreal forest are typically podzols (from the Russian word for “ash”), gray soils that are thin, acidic, and poor in nutrients. These soils lie beneath a mat of coniferous tree needles and other organic material that accumulates due to the slow decomposition rates and limited soil microorganism activity that occurs in the cold climate. Tannins and other acidic compounds from this layer cause the upper layers of soil to become acidic (Lakehead University 2007). Podzols are formed when precipitation exceeds evaporation, and nutrients, minerals, and organic matter are leached by downward-moving acidic water from the upper soil layers. These soils are unsuitable for agriculture, but can support numerous species of trees, shrubs, and other plants that have adapted to these soil conditions.” http://www.ramp-alberta.org/river/boreal/canada/physical+environment.aspx http://www.ramp-alberta.org/river/boreal/canada/physical+env...
    - PeterisP 6y ago
      The limited activity of soil microbes is caused by cold climates, and as the local climate in that forest warms up, we would expect microbes to decompose all that organic material better, improving the soil. Regarding soil acidity, wood ash is highly basic, so large quantities of ash from a major fire would help reduce the acidity. In essence, with warming climate and mass wood fires we would expect also the soil in these areas to change in ways that are better for agriculture; the only question is about the speed of that change. Also, the whole point of slash-and-burn agriculture in northern europe was that it was infertile and lacking nutrients otherwise - it was not a way of increasing the quantity your fields, you would abandon your fields after a couple of years to overgrow with forest, and slash-and-burn a new one for that temporary influx of nutrients in soil that is otherwise lacking them.
- 6y ago

And some areas will actually become more habitable - closer to the poles.

scarmig 6y ago

It turns out that beachfront property in Siberia was a great deal!

londons_explore 6y ago
Lots of siberia is permafrost... When that melts it usually becomes boggy marshland. Not great for your holiday resort.

daxfohl 6y ago

Those siberian methane craters make me second guess whether any of that land would be habitable either.

scythe 6y ago

Unfortunately, the geometry of a sphere is such that half of the total area of Earth is between +/- 30 degrees latitude. The areas that will be improved are much smaller than the areas that will get worse.

masklinn 6y ago

> And some areas will actually become more habitable - closer to the poles. These areas have no soil worth speaking of so agriculture is not an option, the ecosystem will not be stable so no foraging or hunting, and the grounds will be extremely unstable as they'll be thawing continuously, and the surface will just be soggy bog. As all extreme locales the long winter night also tends to trigger depression in many.

graeme 6y ago

We in Canada already inhabited pretty much all the habitable land up here. The bits that aren’t widely settled aren’t suited for agriculture even in summer. People say this northern land thing with no actual experience of what unsettled lands look like. Google Muskeg if you want to see your promised land. https://www.google.com/search?q=muskeg&hl=en&prmd=imvn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjLo_LTwdrsAhWNMd8KHftMB9cQ_AUoAXoECAoQAQ&biw=375&bih=553 https://www.google.com/search?q=muskeg&hl=en&prmd=imvn&sourc... There’s also the boreal forest, but the consensus is that’s at a tipping point and will eventually perish in wildfires. Might be useful savannah eventually but will not be pleasant during the transition. There have already been massive wildfires in northern canada and siberia. https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.3198892#click=https://t.co/3NEaJz0R7I https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.3198892#click=https://t.co/3NEaJz0R...

PeterisP 6y ago
Our ancestors practiced slash-and-burn agriculture. A boreal forest that burns down in a wildfire should result in reasonably fertile land.
- graeme 6y ago
  They slashed and burned forests in fertile regions. Boreal forests are nothing like that. “ Soils in the boreal forest are typically podzols (from the Russian word for “ash”), gray soils that are thin, acidic, and poor in nutrients. These soils lie beneath a mat of coniferous tree needles and other organic material that accumulates due to the slow decomposition rates and limited soil microorganism activity that occurs in the cold climate. Tannins and other acidic compounds from this layer cause the upper layers of soil to become acidic (Lakehead University 2007). Podzols are formed when precipitation exceeds evaporation, and nutrients, minerals, and organic matter are leached by downward-moving acidic water from the upper soil layers. These soils are unsuitable for agriculture, but can support numerous species of trees, shrubs, and other plants that have adapted to these soil conditions.” http://www.ramp-alberta.org/river/boreal/canada/physical+environment.aspx http://www.ramp-alberta.org/river/boreal/canada/physical+env...
  - PeterisP 6y ago
    The limited activity of soil microbes is caused by cold climates, and as the local climate in that forest warms up, we would expect microbes to decompose all that organic material better, improving the soil. Regarding soil acidity, wood ash is highly basic, so large quantities of ash from a major fire would help reduce the acidity. In essence, with warming climate and mass wood fires we would expect also the soil in these areas to change in ways that are better for agriculture; the only question is about the speed of that change. Also, the whole point of slash-and-burn agriculture in northern europe was that it was infertile and lacking nutrients otherwise - it was not a way of increasing the quantity your fields, you would abandon your fields after a couple of years to overgrow with forest, and slash-and-burn a new one for that temporary influx of nutrients in soil that is otherwise lacking them.
6y ago