Could global warming turn Canada into a superpower?
25/09/2010 7:39:17 AM
Andy Johnson By the year 2050 Canada could be enjoying newfound status as a global superpower blessed with a developed north, plenty of fresh water, a growing population and new shipping lanes through the Arctic.
That’s the theory put forward in Laurence C. Smith’s new book “The World in 2050”—a scientific exploration of the effects of climate change over the next 40 years.
According to Smith’s 40-year projection, global warming will free up northern natural resources such as oil, gas and water. That in turn will attract immigrants and lead to new infrastructure and development for northern rim countries—NORCs, as he calls them—at a time when southern countries will be running out of resources and seeing their populations fall.
The north will also warm up, meaning fewer and fewer of those -40 Celsius days that tend to grind productivity to a halt.
But this is not a reason to celebrate, Smith is quick to point out. While Canada, Russia, the Scandinavian countries and northern U.S. will see significant benefits from a warming planet, the rest of the world will suffer catastrophic losses.
“Most climate change is overwhelmingly negative, I’m not a Pollyanna,” he told CTV.ca from his office at UCLA, noting that we are already experiencing the harsh effects of a warming planet.
“The pine beetle is devastating B.C. timber and summer heat waves knocked out 30 per cent of Russia wheat crop, so it would be disingenuous of me to suggest all of this spells nothing but good news. But alongside the bad news there will be some beneficial changes.”
Smith, a scientist and professor of geography and earth sciences at the University of California Los Angeles, set out four years ago to write a book about the negative effects of climate change in the north.
Hey I love the pine beetle… it makes great natural distress marks in the wood when it kills the tree- :) And global warming? Hey I could use a few extra degrees around here most of the time… And anyway.. where did all those dinosaurs go? Haiil Canada and on word and upward to become a dominating force in world shipping.. :)
-- Homer : "Oh, and how is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain."
The enviro-nuts want to drop the atmospheric Carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration from 400 to 300 parts per million. Let me put that in perspective. You ever been to an NBA stadium or NHL rink? They all hold about 20,000 seats. Do you know how many seats 400 parts per million is? 8. 8 seats out of 20,000. It is miniscule. Now if we drop the CO2 concentration by 100 parts per million (from 400 to 300) that is like taking 2 seats out of the building. See the difference? Let me put it another way. There are 10 seconds left in the game, home team down by 1. The sold-out crowd is going crazy. You can hardly hear yourself think. 2 fans decide to go and get a hot dog. Hear the difference? No, shhhh! Listen! Yeah, I didn’t think so. That is what we are talking about here, a miniscule difference in a naturally occurring gas that is key to life on earth. Without CO2 in the atmosphere, no plant life as plants rely on photosynthesis for life which requires CO2 in the atmosphere.
Now, consider if we did cap and trade. Would that make a difference when China and India have told the world go pound sand?
All this global warming stuff is a scam intended to make the guys like Al Gore fabulously rich in the carbon trading market. It is also backed by socialistic governments so they can “spread the wealth”. Sound like a familiar phrase?
Ice samples from the Antartic show atmospheric Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a result of warming, not the cause. We are definitely warming. Declassified information from the Artic subs going under the polar cap show that 1/2 the artic ice has already melted. Harbors in the north are freezing 2 weeks later and opening 10 days earlier than they were in the early 70’s. Is man the cause? Doubtful. WE have been in a 10,000 year anomoly. The earth’s climate has never been this stable for this long.
-- "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence Wake Up America!! Please read; http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/26-0
One more thing; don’t forget the Atlantic pump will slow down and make the world cooler as the salinity of the sea water is lessened by melting ice ;-))
-- "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence Wake Up America!! Please read; http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/26-0
Seems to me I’ve read somewhere that the earth goes into an ice age cycle every 10,000 years? I also understand that we are almost 5,000 years overdue. I ask does this sound real or can we start another rumor and make some Al Gore money off of it? Oh, another question. Do you suppose man has caused this too? The great industrialization? All the cow farts that we have emitting methane gas? Don’t bother me I’m pondering!
-- BobG, Lowell, Arkansas--------My goal in life is to be the kind of person my dog thinks I am! Make more saw dust!!
There is no question that man can become a better steward of his resources. The large imaginary step is that man is responsible ffor climate change.
Science, as you point out BobG, does not support this.
It seems our biggest problem in the immediate future is the increase in the human population and conserving both land and resources to fed ourselves in the future without destroying the habitat that makes it all possible.
The Global warming alarmists like to scare people with the melting Western Antarctic ice shelf while not mentioning that the much, much larger Eastern Antarctic ice shelf has been steadily cooling and expanding for years. Antarctica has 90 percent of the Earth’s ice and 80 percent of its fresh water.
-- Ohh mann...pancakes and boobies...I'll bet that's what Heaven is like! ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣
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