Green Links for Today
1. Mike Tidwell has written a piece on how he is personally adapting to climate change. I prefer the first part of the article where sketches his "small ball" investments he is making to protect himself against anticipated climate change. He then overreaches when he turns to the future of our food supply. "If that happens, Iowa is done for. Corn and wheat will wither and die on a scale never before seen. That's because heat-triggered mega-droughts will intensify across much of America's "continental interior" regions, scientists say, as flooding increases elsewhere. Iowa and much of the Heartland will resemble a scrub desert. How will we feed ourselves adequately if our breadbasket is a desert? Answer: We won't, and there will be social unrest as a result. How much is anyone's guess, but people don't sit still when food gets scarce. Indeed, when the options are extreme hunger or pillaging the neighboring village, history tends to favor pillaging."
Mike needs to take a course in micro economics but his piece is still worth reading. If he anticipates these challenges then so will farmers and corporations. Agriculture can migrate to other areas. Farmers can discover new heat resistant crops. GMO can play some role in offering us new strategies. He is ruling out migration, innovation and diffusion of best practices from other areas (such as India) that have practice with dealing with extreme climate. He is certainly correct that if we continue with business as usual farming and IF worst case climate change plays out then we have a big problem but recognizing these points is the start of the solution. This is one of the big ideas in my Climatopolis. Doom and Gloom sell newspapers but they also plant the seeds for our adaptation!
To see some creative adaptation responses by individuals read the comments posted here.
2. The Hamilton Project at Brookings has now published my paper with David Levinson on reforming highway financing and investment.
3. Ed Glaeser has an Opinion Piece in today's Los Angeles Times where he discusses two of our recent papers on cities and greenhouse gas emissions.
Mike needs to take a course in micro economics but his piece is still worth reading. If he anticipates these challenges then so will farmers and corporations. Agriculture can migrate to other areas. Farmers can discover new heat resistant crops. GMO can play some role in offering us new strategies. He is ruling out migration, innovation and diffusion of best practices from other areas (such as India) that have practice with dealing with extreme climate. He is certainly correct that if we continue with business as usual farming and IF worst case climate change plays out then we have a big problem but recognizing these points is the start of the solution. This is one of the big ideas in my Climatopolis. Doom and Gloom sell newspapers but they also plant the seeds for our adaptation!
To see some creative adaptation responses by individuals read the comments posted here.
2. The Hamilton Project at Brookings has now published my paper with David Levinson on reforming highway financing and investment.
3. Ed Glaeser has an Opinion Piece in today's Los Angeles Times where he discusses two of our recent papers on cities and greenhouse gas emissions.
posted by Matthew E. Kahn at 9:46 AM
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