For each degree C warming of the earth, 4 million square kilometers of permafrost will be lost.
And 4 million square kilometers of agricultural land will be gained. This highlights one of the great absurdities of AGW alarmism. On the one hand there is alarm created about our inability to sustain a growing population, or even the current population with adequate food supplies, and on the other hand there is alarm about increasing CO2 levels which have the effect of increasing crop growth.
If a doubling of CO2 levels results, on average, in a 30% increase in crop yield, as many studies indicate, then the current world-wide food production is about 12-15% greater than it would be if CO2 levels were at preindustrial levels.
If CO2 levels rise to 560 ppm within the next 40 years or so, world-wide crop production will be around 30% greater as a result, compared with preindustrial levels of CO2. That's a very significant benefit.
When the ice in Greenland began melting in the 10th century AD, the Vikings took advantage of that change in climate and emigrated to the country which was then uninhabited. They grew crops, raised cattle, and flourished until the start of the Little Ice Age.
If we are as smart as the Vikings were (and some of us are), then we should encourage migration to the areas where the permafrost is melting, and grow the appropriate crops for the climate.
Some people are already doing this. Here's one story of such a farmer.
http://modernfarmer.com/2014/01/permafrost-farming-possible/"Undaunted by the conditions, Meyers, 59, together with his wife Lisa, has dedicated the past six years of his life to growing organic food on 17 acres of permafrost for his hometown of Bethel, Alaska. (With 6,000 residents, it’s the largest community on the delta.)
To get at the soil, Meyers first had to develop a method for thawing it, a two-year process of clearing and amending each field with manure, composted tundra and a “slurry” of salmon, some lake water and a small amount of dry molasses to “increase biological life”. Raised beds and high tunnels help mitigate the cold temperatures and short growing season, and a vast underground root cellar stores and extends the lifespan of the harvest."As the permafrost gradually thaws through natural processes, the work of such farmers will become easier and more land will become available.
I've often wondered 'what is wrong with these AGW alarmists?' What's the problem? Why the insistence on sequestering CO2 from coal-fired power plants when CO2 is proven to be such a great help in greening our planet?
My explanation is that most people are
sequestered in cities and removed from the natural processes of nature. They want to keep things the same, apparently oblivious to the fact that continual change is unavoidable. It's a fact of life and the universe. Everything is in a continual process of change.
We survive according to our capacity to adapt, and this process has been continuing for the past 6 million years with regard to the development of Homo Sapiens. If we fail to adapt, we perish. Using CO2 levels as a control knob is not adaption. It's an attempt at power and control based upon extreme hubris, like a Communist dictator or tyrant trying to control his subjects.
Civilizations in the past which have perished due to 'natural' climate changes, have collapsed because of their inability to adapt to the changing conditions. They were set in their ways.
In our modern era, we have the tremendous advantage of understanding the historical changes in 'natural' climate which have not only caused havoc to entire civilizations in the past, but which regularly cause havoc in local regions today, in terms of floods, droughts and hurricanes, which the AR5 IPCC report admits are not necessarily increasing in frequency and severity.
Adaption is the key, not arrogant control.
