Pacific northwest climate6/12/2023 “Who will lose? And what’s in it for you?”Īs cringeworthy as such questions might seem, the general sentiment apparently persists. “If the world warms, who will win?” the column asked. As for the overwhelming majority of inhabited Earth, well, shame about your underwater cities. In this vision, thawing permafrost in upper latitudes would create fertile new farmland, while melting polar ice would helpfully open up Arctic navigation routes for warships and cargo. states – could reap major benefits from climate change. When these biospheres burn, they make climate change worse, perpetuating a vicious cycle.Ībout 16 years ago, a controversial column in the Atlantic suggested some people – particularly those in Canada, Russia and cold-weather U.S. At risk are the region’s boreal forests, which store significant amounts of carbon. Meanwhile, large areas of Alberta and neighboring provinces are burning in what is already one of the busiest wildfire seasons in Canada’s history, with the peak still months away. This follows a Washington heat wave last August that killed 10 people and the regional “heat dome” of 2021 that killed nearly 800. Temperatures have soared above 90 degrees Fahrenheit this week in parts of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, nearly 30 degrees higher than usual for May. A third Pacific Northwest heat wave in as many years is the latest example of what makes this idea deadly nonsense. Places with fairly cool climates will remain comfortable, the thinking went, while the rest of the planet cooks. For a long time, people have mistakenly thought of global warming as a sort of zero-sum game with obvious winners and losers.
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