In his article on global-warming skeptics (feature, March 17), Mark Bernstein ’83 presents a nicely balanced discussion of some of the controversies surrounding this issue. However, a more nuanced discussion of the “dire consequences” of global warming might have been helpful. It is clear that increasing levels of carbon dioxide eventually will have a catastrophic effect on equatorial regions, in particular on the African continent. But such an increase in greenhouse gases could also prove to be a boon to subarctic regions such as Canada, Siberia, and Patagonia. When the Arizona desert expands into Kansas, and cornfields flourish along Hudson’s Bay, people will move. So it appears quite possible that global warming will result in a vast redistribution of human populations over the surface of the Earth during the 22nd century.
In his article on global-warming skeptics (feature, March 17), Mark Bernstein ’83 presents a nicely balanced discussion of some of the controversies surrounding this issue. However, a more nuanced discussion of the “dire consequences” of global warming might have been helpful. It is clear that increasing levels of carbon dioxide eventually will have a catastrophic effect on equatorial regions, in particular on the African continent. But such an increase in greenhouse gases could also prove to be a boon to subarctic regions such as Canada, Siberia, and Patagonia. When the Arizona desert expands into Kansas, and cornfields flourish along Hudson’s Bay, people will move. So it appears quite possible that global warming will result in a vast redistribution of human populations over the surface of the Earth during the 22nd century.