I live in MN and have studied silviculture, and I can tell you that most forest professionals are terrified of what a rapid increase in annual temperatures will do to our forests. Trees don’t just move further north when it gets too warm. They sit there and are exposed to the lengthy droughts, increased insect predation and heat distress. If we are hit hard and fast with global warming – and all signs are pointing to this – there will be nothing ‘lush’ about the landscape here in the north. This is completely ignoring the delicate situation most countries find themselves in when it comes to large-scale agriculture, water shortages and fossil fuel shortages.

Yes, ecosystems will balance, and yes, humans will survive as a species, but your writing off of the devastation is simply irresponsible. There is almost no way to overestimate the impact of global warming on our quality of life.

In the first scenario (Ice Age), large areas of currently uninhabited/unihabital spaces will become inhabitable, temperate and more wet – Sahara, Gobi, Australia and Southwest/Mexican deserts. Yes, the global displacemetn would be large, and the economic fall devastating, but the end of humanity it will not.

The second scenario (large increases in global temperature) will melt the ice caps, raise the sea levels world wide – devastate large areas of land – many island chains, the southern us, bangladesh, Venice italy, etc. Meanwhile large areas of “too cold” land will become warmer, and more livable. Places with ice-cap will melt and leave large lakes and lush landscapes behind. The increased temperatures will result in a migration of flora species habitats – places like Wyoming, Minnesota, etc will become more arable, longer grow seasons, etc. Where some species will die off (polar bears), other species will migrate, etc. The downside is more disease and less healthy environments in the tropics. Again, the human and economic toll will be great, but it too does not spell the end of humanity, only a major re-balance.

I’m not trying to make light of this situation, and my compassion goes out to all those who could be effected, but its not all doom and gloom.

I agree that this is so serious that its getting to the point where it makes almost no sense to go to work in the morning, but rather dedicate every waking hour to promoting awareness and solutions. I need a support group to deal with this information and awareness, and there is no going back once you start to understand the situation we may be in for. We need to unify and make some big changes here asap. Any ideas? the only thing seeming to lack is people willing to forego an initial buck in order to put the available solutions into action by investing money,time, and effort into critical path methodologies for minimizing the damage. We have the capability to actually design mutually beneficial systems that provide everything we need on this planet…can we get cracking or is economic prosperity much more important than a future livable environment?