Discussion
Soil people, would it be right to say that people imagining that northern latitudes will receive a bounty from global heating are foolish fantasists?
In the sense that land that has relatively poor soils due to millennia of frigid conditions does not suddenly become bounteous?
Certainly there is nothing in the Canadian Shield, which covers northern Quebec and Ontario, which could replace the verdant farmland of the southern parts. Warmer temperatures could as easily bring drought and fires as the right amount of rain. And the heat won't change the daylight hours.
IIRC, there are some relatively small patches of agricultural land on the Canadian shield, but nowhere near enough to replace what's in the south. Generally speaking, it's not just the cold weather that's keeping us from doing more agriculture on the shield.
A lot of the area is muskeg, which I don't think is very amenable to farming, or development in general.
Thank you. Muskeg is a new word for me I’ll read into
RE: https://mas.to/@maugendre/117147110182077158
@urlyman
Northern latitudes do not have relatively poor soils in general. It depends:
@maugendre thanks. It’s obvious to me that, as Gustaf says, the negatives far outweigh the benefits. I take your point about my sweeping generalisation.
I note that Gustaf says “Russians are starting to realise they will not be able to expand agriculture into permafrost areas for a very long time because you cannot suddenly grow food on soils that are forested”
@urlyman
... which brings us back to your first point: "people imagining that northern latitudes will receive a bounty from global heating are foolish fantasists" 😐
@urlyman
Northern latitudes do not have relatively poor soils in general. It depends:
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