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There's another link between climate change and jobs, but it's a lot less pleasant. If we fail to do anything about climate change, chances are large chunks of

There's another link between climate change and jobs, but it's a lot less pleasant. If we fail to do anything about climate change, chances are large chunks of the planet will become uninhabitable for humans. The rich and useful will move where they can live and work in comfort, and those countries that become uninhabitable will slowly become unable to afford the social welfare necessary to keep their population alive. Climate change will thus 'fix' the joblessness problem by causing widespread death of immobile humans. I hope we do something about this because it sounds fucking awful.

prewett 14y ago
> chances are large chunks of the planet will become uninhabitable for humans. That's a pretty big assertion there. We really don't know what will happen, but certainly some places will become more habitable (the Arctic and Antarctic). Heat doesn't necessarily mean desert, either. The tropical areas are great for plant growth. Also, historically, warm periods of global history had pretty abundant life. The Cretaceous period, for instance, was hotter and had more CO2 than the current amounts, but had huge plants and reptiles (dinosaurs). A warmer climate with more CO2 might make plants grow even better, giving better crop yields, for instance. I wouldn't mind a larger availability of tropical fruits, either.
- Schwolop 14y ago
  I've been re-reading Tim Flannery's 'The Weather Makers' again so perhaps I'm in a more pessimistic mood than usual. And yes, some places will become more habitable, but it seems fairly clear that these will be fewer in number than the areas that become less habitable. Not only this, but if (for example) all the areas that can currently grow wheat later cannot, but an equally large area subsequently can - we still won't be as well off as we are now due to the switching costs.

prewett 14y ago

> chances are large chunks of the planet will become uninhabitable for humans. That's a pretty big assertion there. We really don't know what will happen, but certainly some places will become more habitable (the Arctic and Antarctic). Heat doesn't necessarily mean desert, either. The tropical areas are great for plant growth. Also, historically, warm periods of global history had pretty abundant life. The Cretaceous period, for instance, was hotter and had more CO2 than the current amounts, but had huge plants and reptiles (dinosaurs). A warmer climate with more CO2 might make plants grow even better, giving better crop yields, for instance. I wouldn't mind a larger availability of tropical fruits, either.

Schwolop 14y ago
I've been re-reading Tim Flannery's 'The Weather Makers' again so perhaps I'm in a more pessimistic mood than usual. And yes, some places will become more habitable, but it seems fairly clear that these will be fewer in number than the areas that become less habitable. Not only this, but if (for example) all the areas that can currently grow wheat later cannot, but an equally large area subsequently can - we still won't be as well off as we are now due to the switching costs.