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Its fascinating that Russia is the biggest country in the world and its mostly cold. Seems a like it could fit a billion climate refugees in there, I'm sure its

by rr808 4y ago

Its fascinating that Russia is the biggest country in the world and its mostly cold. Seems a like it could fit a billion climate refugees in there, I'm sure its just a matter of time.

vegai_ 4y ago
Also interesting that they seem to be doing everything they can to exacerbate the problem.
aabhay 4y ago
This is how I have always thought of the geopolitics of climate change, that Russia would have a massive advantage. Then I did some research on it, and it turns out that it’s not exactly true. The currently fertile land in Russia would desertify, creating lower crop yields. And the areas north that might enter the fertile zone do not necessarily have the ecology to support mass food cultivation. At the very least, it would still require mass artificial fertilization and a huge population migration that would essentially imply a global refugee crisis.
- rr808 4y ago
  Sure - they may have to import food, but many countries in the world do this already. Moving food importers from Egypt to Russia doesn't need more food production in Russia.
  - bwestergard 4y ago
    Where would Russia import from? It's not as though an equivalent amount of equally productive soil receiving favorable rainfall would materialize immediately.
    - rr808 4y ago
      Ukraine, ha. I guess that is a reason they're invading.
- Jensson 4y ago
  Russia is 50% forests, they could easily add more farmland if they needed to. The country isn't some infertile tundra, most of it is just normal northern forests, similar to Scandinavia where you can farm just fine as long as it is warm enough.
  - aabhay 4y ago
    Converting forest to mass farmland isn’t trivial. A lot of these forests are actually wetlands and peatlands that take lots of time and work to convert.
throwaway0x7E6 4y ago
they have 7000 nukes to prevent that scenario
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
2143 4y ago
It's a bad idea underneath the surface. Literally. Here's why: 1. Two thirds of Russia sits on permafrost consisting of frozen organic material. 2. If permafrost melts, microbes in the soil feast on the aforementioned organic matter. As part of digestion, carbon dioxide and methane are released. 3. Permafrost has already started to melt. 4. Once it melts, greenhouse gases are released (due to microbe feasting). This causes further increase in temperature, which causes further melting, which causes further release of greenhouse gases, and so on. It is a positive feedback loop; the process seems to have started, and will likely accelerate in the future. 5. Nobody really knows what to do about this. If everybody moved to Russia, that'll probably accelerate the warming process. To know more, check out [1], about which there was an HN discussion at [2]. [1] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/17/the-great-siberian-thaw https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/17/the-great-sibe... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29900445 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29900445

by rr808 4y ago

Its fascinating that Russia is the biggest country in the world and its mostly cold. Seems a like it could fit a billion climate refugees in there, I'm sure its just a matter of time.

vegai_ 4y ago

Also interesting that they seem to be doing everything they can to exacerbate the problem.

aabhay 4y ago

This is how I have always thought of the geopolitics of climate change, that Russia would have a massive advantage. Then I did some research on it, and it turns out that it’s not exactly true. The currently fertile land in Russia would desertify, creating lower crop yields. And the areas north that might enter the fertile zone do not necessarily have the ecology to support mass food cultivation. At the very least, it would still require mass artificial fertilization and a huge population migration that would essentially imply a global refugee crisis.

rr808 4y ago
Sure - they may have to import food, but many countries in the world do this already. Moving food importers from Egypt to Russia doesn't need more food production in Russia.
- bwestergard 4y ago
  Where would Russia import from? It's not as though an equivalent amount of equally productive soil receiving favorable rainfall would materialize immediately.
  - rr808 4y ago
    Ukraine, ha. I guess that is a reason they're invading.
Jensson 4y ago
Russia is 50% forests, they could easily add more farmland if they needed to. The country isn't some infertile tundra, most of it is just normal northern forests, similar to Scandinavia where you can farm just fine as long as it is warm enough.
- aabhay 4y ago
  Converting forest to mass farmland isn’t trivial. A lot of these forests are actually wetlands and peatlands that take lots of time and work to convert.

throwaway0x7E6 4y ago

they have 7000 nukes to prevent that scenario

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

2143 4y ago

It's a bad idea underneath the surface. Literally. Here's why: 1. Two thirds of Russia sits on permafrost consisting of frozen organic material. 2. If permafrost melts, microbes in the soil feast on the aforementioned organic matter. As part of digestion, carbon dioxide and methane are released. 3. Permafrost has already started to melt. 4. Once it melts, greenhouse gases are released (due to microbe feasting). This causes further increase in temperature, which causes further melting, which causes further release of greenhouse gases, and so on. It is a positive feedback loop; the process seems to have started, and will likely accelerate in the future. 5. Nobody really knows what to do about this. If everybody moved to Russia, that'll probably accelerate the warming process. To know more, check out [1], about which there was an HN discussion at [2]. [1] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/17/the-great-siberian-thaw https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/17/the-great-sibe... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29900445 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29900445